Technology...ya gotta love it.

     I have been without internet service most of today and part of a day earlier in the week.  I hadn't realized how dependent I was on the internet.  It is our only source of news plus communications by email.  I really missed it.  Cable and television I don't miss at all.  They are really an intrusion in our lives.  We have been without T.V. for 2 1/2 years now.  As a consequence, we read more and sit less.
 
     I was happy to read a comment in a letter to "Ask the Sports Doc" this week on the Runners World website.  Someone wrote in that he was newly diagnosed with hip osteoarthritis but didn't want to quit running for health reasons.  The Sports Doc gave several suggestions to try including the suggestion to try minimalist shoes and change foot plant to mid-foot or fore-foot to decrease the pounding that running can cause.  He did not insist that running was bad for you.  You can find the blog in its entirety on the Runners World web site.

     I read the book "The 80/10/10 Diet" by Dr. Douglas N. Graham.  I agree with the 80% carbs, 10% protein, 10% fat goals for our diets.  He suggests, however, we should ideally eat raw foods exclusively and omit nuts, seeds, and cooked grains and legumes.  I am not quite ready for that, however will try eating more raw fruits and salads every day...maybe trying one meal a day of his program.

     Have a happy and exercise-filled weekend.

A boss, a bully, or a leader.

     Someone we know has a new boss, a really bad boss.  He is someone who likes to keep everyone under his thumb.  He has alienated his entire department, and morale is as low as it is possible to be.   Given the current economic and job environment, employees stay, and he gets away with it.
     We are all familiar with bad bosses.  My husband once had a boss who spent hours verbally berating members of his staff in front of all their peers on a daily basis.  His temper was so volatile that when he finally was fired, armed security were called in to escort him out...even the person doing the firing was afraid of him.
     I have had some bad bosses, too, but most were just mediocre at their jobs.   A few were petty and unable to see the forest for the trees.
     Are you familiar with  "The Peter Principle"?  It is a 1969 book by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull.  It states that "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence."   An employee is promoted as long as he works competently.  Eventually he will reach a position where he is no longer competent, so he will no longer be promoted.  In time, every post will be occupied by an incompetent employee.  All work being done will be accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence.  This seems to apply to many bosses who have reached their levels of incompetence.
     
"A boss creates fear, a leader confidence.  A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes.  A boss knows all, a leader asks questions.  A boss makes work a drudgery, a leader makes it interesting."
                                                 Russell H Ewing

     I was talking to my Mom last night.  She was telling me how she had cared for her two youngest grandchildren, my nephews.  One wanted to eat candy in their new car, Mom let him, saying, "Okay, I trust you."  He was careful and did not spill in the car.  She couldn't find any glue-sticks, so let the preschooler use regular glue.  She said, "Okay, I trust you,"  and he was very careful when he completed his project. 
     Would it be so hard for a boss to trust in the wealth of talent surrounding him?  To delegate, to have a little faith in the abilities of others, to recognize and encourage the growth of those talents?  I think bosses need to take a lesson from parenting and from grandparenting.  It would be a better world and businesses would flourish in an environment with fulfilled employees. 
     None of this really helps out my friend currently going through the "horrible boss" phenomenon, though.  My unsolicited advice:  just keep the faith, the economy will eventually turn around, better jobs will be out there, and your many talents will be recognized.  Karma and the fates will catch up to this guy.  They always do.  This job is just that, a job, it is not you or who you are.  And when it is your turn to be the big boss, should you even want that responsibility, and I know you are qualified for it, you will be the kind of boss who exhibits leadership and integrity, and who recognizes and encourages talent.

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."  Eleanor Roosevelt

"When you pray, move your feet."   Old African Proverb

and my very favorite:

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."  
                                        Antoine de Saint-Exupery

  

Fans on the Field

     Way back in April, I blogged about trying to make exercise fun after reading the book "Play as if Your Life Depends on It."   I also have blogged about kedging or setting goals to pull yourself forward during those times when you've lost the wind in your sails.  Today we met our kedge and it was a lot of fun.
     We ran/walked the "Fans on the Field" 10k (6.2 miles) which is held to benefit a wonderful charity:  the National Sports Center for the Disabled  (http://www.nscd.org/).  The race starts near the Bronco's football stadium, now called Sports Authority Field at Mile High.  You then run to the Pepsi Center where you run inside around the Avalanche Hockey Rink.  Next you go to Coors Field and run along the warning track along the 3rd base side.  You finish back at Mile High running along the field. 
     We did okay.  It was hot, we were dehydrated, but we had a blast.  We ran into several people from our Saturday morning running group. We will be doing this run again.  It is a great cause.

Before the race started

In the Pepsi Center by the Hockey rink.

Me finishing.

Me finishing, as seen on Jumbotron.

Dean looks waaay too happy.

     Now we have to set our next kedge. 

If I can't accomplish anything else today I can:

My list:
     1)  Hug my husband and tell him I love him.
     2)  Smile.
     3)  Make my bed.
     4)  Eat fruits and vegetables.
     5)  Brush and floss.
     6)  Wear my seatbelt.
     7)  Wear sunscreen.
     8)  Do 1 plank.

     Have you heard of the plank a day revolution?  It was started by Dr Sherry Pagoto. (see her Blog http://www.fudiet.com/ ) 
     Instructions for doing a plank can be found here:  http://exercise.about.com/od/abs/ss/abexercises_10.htm

     Now, I really hate ab and core exercises, but doing 1 plank a day, only 60 seconds a day, should be doable.  I am now on day 19 of one plank-a-day.  I will try for a streak of 365.  

  
     I am continuing to jettison "stuff" to give to charity.  I found 4 pairs of dress shoes I didn't even remember having.  I no longer wear heeled, pointy-toed shoes, now preferring shoes that actually look like feet, so out they go.  I also found 16 sturdy, but empty, shoe boxes.  Why in the world was I saving those?  It's true that the stuff we own comes to own us, and it feels good to free myself of some of it.
    As the song says, "tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free."  I am working on it and hope to "come 'round right."
 
"Do one thing every day that scares you."  Eleanor Roosevelt

"I'm not the curator of the museum of me." Wendy Reid Crisp

     I have been sorting through closets making piles of things to donate to charity.  I am bad at this and save most everything for a rainy day, but am trying to follow my husband's lead.  Still, most of the pile contains things that are his. 
     I have a closet of old clothes that maybe I will wear again,  stacks of books and music I want to read and listen to again.  Will I? 
     This advice is from the book "When I Grow Up I Want to Be 60", from the chapter entitled "Stuffed":  

          I am not the curator of the Museum of Me.  I am a pioneer, entering the frontier of the New Sixties.  Best to travel light.

     What should I jettison next?

Caveat Emptor...let the buyer beware

                          http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/arsenic-in-chicken/

     Here is another interesting research study, this one is in regard to the presence of large amounts of arsenic in meats, especially in chickens.  Three fourths of the arsenic in the American diet comes from animal products.  The worst source is the poultry industry as they feed arsenic products to the flocks to increase the rate of weight gain.  Due to crowded filthy conditions, chickens are infested with internal parasites and arsenic poisons these parasites.  It also gives the carcasses a pinkish color which consumers prefer.  Arsenic is a poison and having it in our diets is not a good thing.


     The days are definitely getting shorter and cooler.  The average person gains 1-2 pounds every autumn and winter, and those pounds are generally retained.  Over ten years you can easily gain ten pounds.  When the weather is cold, we stay inside, our metabolisms decrease, and we turn to comfort foods which are generally higher calorie.  In the distant past with no reliable winter heating, weight and fat gain over the winter may have meant the difference in whether we survived or not. Now with our easy access to forced-air heating we no longer need or want the genetic tendency to gain those pounds.   It is too easy to curl up under blankets and just "veg" out.
     It is time for me to develop my battle plan for the winter months and holidays.
          1.  Get some sunshine every day.  Keep more lights on indoors in the room I am occupying.  
          2.  "Just do it."  I hate indoor exercise and using the treadmill,  but need to plan for it on those icy days of winter.  I need to change my attitude.   I will search for some good exercise dvds from the library to try, as well. 
          3.   Do a recipe search for healthy comfort food...baked apples,  air-popped popcorn, etc...to replace all the fresh fruits of summer that we love so much, and to keep healthy treats on hand.
          4.  Turn on lively music to liven my mood and increase the likelihood of dancing around and burning a few more calories.
     Those sound easy enough.
      

   

Interesting research

     At the website http://www.nutritionfacts.org/  in "vegetables versus breast cancer,"  I learned that there are 7 vegetables that are natural dietary sources of aromatase inhibitors.  Estrogen makes most breast cancers grow.  70% of breast cancer tumors can make their own estrogen from testosterone using the enzyme aromatase, thus the popularity of pharmaceuticals called aromatase-inhibitors.  6 vegetables do the same by lowering levels of aromatase in the body by 20%---they are bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, celery, green onions and spinach.  One vegetable, mushrooms, lowers the level of aromatase in the body by 60-65%!  Amazing.  Eat your veggies, especially mushrooms.  The type of mushrooms with the most aromatase inhibitors:  white button mushrooms, easily found in most grocery stores.

     At the same website, they reported on "how to treat diabetes".  A head-to-head study was done comparing the American Diabetes Association diet compared with a vegan diet.  Within 16 days of being on the vegan diet, diabetics were able to lower their insulin dose by 1/2.   The ADA diet slowed progress of the diabetes so that the diabetes worsened only a little during the study.  On the vegan diet, the diabetes actually got better.

     Small amounts of dark chocolate may improve health in a similar way to exercise according to a study done on mice.  Aerobic exercise increases the number of mitochondria, which produce the energy used by the cells.  The epicatechin in chocolate appears to do the same--particularly in heart and skeletal muscles.  This is still early research and only done on mice, so not a reason to stop exercising, but adding a bit of dark chocolate every day may help.

     According to the World Cancer Research Fund, a healthy diet and active lifestyle could prevent nearly 3 million cases of cancer a year.  Currently there are 12 million newly diagnosed cases of cancer annually---many due to junk/fast food diets, cigarettes, alcohol, and inactivity.   Let us all aim to be part of the 3 million prevented cases.

Forks over Knives

     I finally got to watch the documentary "Forks over Knives."  It was a good basic overview of the work of the Doctors I have been mentioning---T. Colin Campbell, Caldwell Esselstein, Neil Barnard, John McDougall, etc.  It reminded me that Ruth Heidrich, Ph.D., is my absolute hero!  She is a raw vegan, cured her metastatic breast cancer with diet and exercise 30 years ago, and is still competing in Ironman length triathlons in her upper 70's. 
     The takeaway from the film for me:
          All whole foods contain calcium.
          All whole foods contain protein.
          Medical tests are fallable.
          Information is power.
          You can have control over your own health.

Sylvan, abounding in trees, wooded.

Sylvan Lake

 
     We went camping this week at Sylvan Lake State Park, about 15 miles South of Eagle, CO.  It lived up to its billing as being sylvan.   Aspen groves, pine, fir and spruce abound.  The lake is surrounded by mountains....Red Table Mountain and Mount Eve, a winding red cliff.
     We stayed in Sneeve's Cabin.  Anthony Sneeve was the original landowner back in the early 1900s, a reported misogynist by nature.  We were glad to have the heat the little propane stove provided us at night.  The weather was cool and damp and a reminder that October is just around the corner.

Sneeve's Cabin, Cabin # 9

     We took a 5 mile hike up Sneeve Gulch trail which wound 2 1/2 miles steeply up through aspen groves.  There were frequent meadows with wildflowers, as well.  It was truly gorgeous.


A view of Sylvan Lake as we began our hike up Sneeve Gulch Trail.

      We also walked around the lake several times and took other short, beautiful hikes.  One day it rained hard and continuously so we went to Plan B and drove to Aspen, CO, as we had never been there.  The drive through Glenwood Canyon was gorgeous.  We  window-shopped under store awnings to avoid the rain.  We had a fantastic nutritarian lunch at the Pyramid Bistro, located upstairs from the Explore Bookstore in an historic Victorian  house on Main street.  We highly recommend eating there if you are ever in Aspen, CO.
    This Stellar's Jay came around at every mealtime and screeched to let us know he was hungry too.  He was a funny guy, and would suddenly puff out his chest feathers until he looked like a blue puffball.  I wanted to make him work for his dinner, so put a nut on each rock encircling our campfire area.  He followed right behind me eating as fast as I could place the nuts.  I imagine this is not a new game for him, that kids and goofy adults like me have done this all summer long.

     We hope to go back there again in future years and hike more of the many great trails available, weather permitting of course.  It was a fun, active vacation and went too quickly.  Hiking is a great and enjoyable exercise....3 hours can pass by without even being noticed.
     Sidenote:  We hadn't realized that hunting season had started for bow and muzzle-loading hunting.  We saw more hunters in their bright orange garb than we saw wildlife.  Next time we go in September, we will know to wear vivid bright colors, and will feel safer.

"Doing the right thing is almost always a revolutionary act."

     Another chapter from the book "When I Grow Up I Want To Be 60" by Wendy Reid Crisp.  This chapter is titled "Subversive", and states that doing the right thing is almost always a revolutionary act. 

     "What to do?  Something, anything.  One voice, one candle, one small step.  And no one can tell me what to do.  I know what to do.  I don't always do it, but I know what to do."

     Isn't that the truth!  We all know what we should be doing, but actually doing it, consistently, is more difficult.  I'm not sure 60 year olds are subversive or revolutionary, but we have moved on into activism. 

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean.  But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."     Mother Teresa

Special Forces in Smocked Dresses

     I received a couple of good books for my 60th birthday on the subject of turning 60.  My favorite is by Wendy Reid Crisp and is called:  "When I Grow Up I Want to Be 60."  Each chapter is about an "S" word, "S" as in Sixty.  This is from the "Sharpshooters" chapter.

     "Let the boys win," said my third-grade teacher.  "It's important to them.  And don't show off.  No one will like you."  We were Special Forces in smocked dresses, walking softly, carrying our intelligence as concealed weapons.  Eventually, we were unmasked--it's stressful for a ten-year old to pretend to forget what a planet is or purposefully misspell 'foreign'.  Sadly, however, our third-grade teacher was right, and never more so than when we entered the business world.  Feminist movement or not, smart women--and there are so many of us!--make people nervous.  As well we should.  The weapon is no longer concealed--and at sixty, we fire at will.

     I love that....special forces in smocked dresses carrying our intelligence as concealed weapons, and now, firing at will.
     Thanks for the books Mom and Dad.

The only ones more idealistic than young people are the elders.

     I read an interesting article by Michael Meade, D.H.L., entitled "Where have All the Wise Men Gone?"  He stated that we live in a time of great forgetting, and compares "olders" to "elders".   Growing older happens to everyone. Growing wiser and becoming an elder only happens to those who continue to grow as they age, to find meaning and purpose in life and death.
     I especially liked this comment:  "An old idea suggests that the only ones more idealistic than young people are the elders."  It isn't that they have a naive belief in the attainability of humanity, peace and justice,  healing and compassion,  but knowing that without commitment to them, there is no hope to their attainment.  My hope is that I continue to grow as I age, to develop the long term vision he speaks of, and to live a life of compassion.
     The full article can be found at:
          http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-mead-dhl/older-vs-elders_b_954780.html

     Yesterday we volunteered at "The Festival of the Bastardino and Doggie Plunge"  which celebrates mixed heritage dogs and benefits Freedom Service Dogs.  Hundreds of dogs came to the Pirate's Cove water park in Englewood, CO to swim and play.  All came out looking wet, tired, and very, very happy.
      I got to visit with Jonas and his new family as he was one of the doggie plungers.  You may remember that we fostered Jonas for 6 weeks.  He looked so happy and is doing great.  He remembered me and got me good and wet.   

  

    

Osteoporosis drugs

     In a follow up to Wednesday's blog, the FDA today is convening a panel to discuss the problems linked to long-term use of bone building drugs. Read at:
          http://health.msn.com/medications/osteoporosis-drugs-safety-subject-of-fda-panel

     On another note,  38 chimps who had been imprisoned in laboratories in Austria for HIV research, were released to a sanctuary.  For the first time in 30 years they were able to experience sunshine, grass, and the out-of-doors.  They hugged each other and appeared to smile and wave.   A little bit of happiness in the news for a close relative of ours.  Side note: they had all been injected with HIV and were HIV positive, but none ever got full blown AIDS so the 30 years of research had absolutely no result or value. 

                  

Building strong bones.

     There has been a lot of press lately about the side effects of osteoporosis drugs and their efficacy.  There have also been several recent studies showing bone growth due to foods.
     Green tea builds strong bones according to preliminary research done in Hong Kong.  Chemical compounds in green tea can stimulate bone formation and also slow its breakdown. 
     Dried plums keep bones strong.  Florida State University investigators doing a year-long study found that compounds in dried plums alter the way bones are remodeled and have been shown to reverse bone loss.  To eat the same amount of dried plums equivalent to that given in the study, one would need to eat 10 per day.
     Blueberries have a powerful effect on building strong bones in lab rats, which may also work in humans.
     Calcium rich foods include leafy green vegetables, legumes (beans), and a variety of fruits and vegetables.  To keep calcium in our bones we need exercise and vitamin D.  Animal protein, excess salt and caffeine, and tobacco can cause calcium loss from our bones.
     It all comes down, once again, to exercise, a little sunshine, and eating lots of fruits and veggies.

"Drinking a cup of tea a day will surely starve the apothecary."   Ancient Chinese Proverb

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."  C.S. Lewis

"I am Chinese.  Tea is in my very bones."  Kit Chow

Right here in Nebraska.

                         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttPE_l2Y5LU

     I hope you had a fun Labor Day weekend.  We did.  We drove home to Nebraska to visit with family.  It felt like summer when we left, 3 days later it is autumn.
     I have always enjoyed people-watching.  It is a great pastime for long waits in airports.  We've discovered that other good places to people-watch are at truck stops and rest areas.  I talked to a woman with no neck at one large rest area.  She is the janitor and cleans it 3 times a day, seven days a week, year-round;  yet she was perky and friendly.  We met her both coming and going on our 1200 mile round trip.   She was cheerful and talkative both times.  Truckers are also interesting...they come in all shapes and generally large sizes.  The next time you are on a driving trip, pause at a truck stop or rest area and just watch the people as they come and go from  their vehicles.....where they stop to eat, what they eat, what they are wearing (PJ's and pink fuzzy slippers more often than not), how they look compared to the people in your environs.
     Have you ever shopped in a truck stop?  There are all kinds of cool paraphernalia, gifts, and odds and ends...things you will never find collected anywhere else on earth and that you didn't even know you needed.
     We passed a semi hauling stacks of empty wire cages with white feathers swirling in the wind.  Dean said he had previously seen 2 semi loads carrying the same types of cages, but stuffed with live chickens. He hadn't pointed them out to me as he knew they would make me sad.  Thousands of living, breathing birds had a few tortured fearsome last hours while we drove.  It did make me sad. He knows me well.
     We got to watch a great high school football game, interrupted at half-time by severe Nebraska weather causing the second half to be postponed until the next day.  Because of lightning we missed out on seeing the marching band's half-time show and the performance by our nephew and niece. Another one of our nephews played on the line for the visiting football team.  He is a starting center and noseguard.  He played extremely well, but his team lost. It's early in the season, though, and can be made up.
     We stayed with my brother's family the first night, game night.  Then we went to my parent's farm the next day.  Dad drove us around the surrounding sections and we saw how the landscape has changed.  Entire farmsteads have been plowed under to make way for more corn.  My Dad was born where there is now just a corn field.  Many roads are now "minimum maintenance" and have eroded into soft dirt canyons.  The remaining farmplaces have no connections to the farmland surrounding them.  They are small rural dwellings, islands in the sea of corn.
     Dean and I did get out for a longish walk/jog.  It is so quiet everywhere, and peaceful.  No traffic noises.  Just the occasional "moo" from pastured cattle, their sounds traveling far in the quiet air. We saw lots of monarch butterflies flitting around a shelter-belt, as well, and fed my brother's massive Saint Bernard, a friendly mountain of a dog.  We got to visit with 4 of my 5 brothers.
     My Mom grows an excellent garden and fed us well with tons of fresh produce.  She and Dad loaded up our car with more of the same.  We are really enjoying it.  I  miss not being able to grow a garden where I now live. Mom has always had a fantastic garden, and fresh-picked is best.
     We are Nebraskans at root.  Going there is going home, although we've been away for decades.

My Mom; My Nephew Sam, the football lineman:  My Dad

  

"The mountains are calling and I must go." John Muir

     We had family visiting us last weekend and drove up the Mount Evans highway, the highest paved road in North America.  We drove to near the top of Mount Evans and then hiked the short rocky path to the 14265 foot summit.  It was glorious being up amidst the clouds and thin air, and to be higher than everything around us.        

At the summit.

     John Muir, a Scottish-born American naturalist (1838-1914) and an early advocate of the preservation of wilderness said to "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.  Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine into trees.  The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."
     He knew whereof he spoke.
    

     This picture shows a krummholz formation (stunted trees near timberline on a mountain) of Rocky Mountain bristlecone pines (Pinus Aristata).  Bristlecone pines live longer than any other living organism. The oldest bristlecone pine is 3000 years old and is in California.  The oldest Rocky Mountain bristlecone pines are found on Mount Evans and are 1700 years old.
     I love these trees.  I had thought to come back in my next life as a big oak tree, treehugger that I am, but this would be better.  I would like to be a bristlecone pine in a krummholz formation as we all "travel the milky way together, trees and men" as John Muir suggested.  Can you imagine spending clear nights at timberline viewing the brilliant stars and the milky way?  It could be a nice way to spend 1700+ years.
    
    

     There were many of these unidentified plants lining the highway above timberline.  I found them fascinating.  They reminded me of the alien plant, Audrey II, from the 1986 movie "The Little Shop of Horrors."  I will have to watch that movie again to see if my memory is correct.  

"I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues."  Dr. Seuss

"I believe a blade of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars."  Walt Whitman


     Wishing you all a fun and relaxing Labor Day Holiday weekend.  Enjoy the last beautiful days of summer.

Vegetables, the new meat.

     Interesting articles brought to my attention:    
 
     On Aug. 30, 2011 on Food Navigator there was an interesting article with good news.  Euromonitor International states that sales of meat have slowed considerably as the growing trend towards meat-free or meat-reduced diets impacts consumer markets.  They go on to state that low-meat diets are fast becoming commonplace in Europe and North American markets.  Euromonitor predicts a gradual increase in the population of vegetarians, semi-vegetarians, meat-reducers, and 'vegivores' set to consume more meat free foods than ever before.  It called vegetables the new meat.
 
 http://www.foodnavigator.com/Financial-Industry/Meat-free-drive-is-impacting-consumer-markets-Euromonitor


     Also interesting was the August cover story in Newsweek Magazine which advises people to just say "NO" to excessive health-care testing and treatments.  "More health care often means worse health."  Dr Steven Nissen, a noted Cleveland Clinic cardiologist, says that we spend almost twice as much per capita on health care (as other developed countries) with no gain in health or longevity.  In a paper in Archives magazine, a panel of physicians announced its first list of tests and treatments that should be dropped altogether for certain patients and ailments:  antibiotics for sinus infections, imaging for low back pain, osteoporosis screening for women under age 65, EKGs and other cardiac screening for low risk patients.  For more info see:

 http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/08/14/some-medical-tests-procedures-do-more-harm-than-good.html


     I viewed the movie: "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" in which an Australian got tired of years of treatment for an auto-immune disorder and went on a physician-monitored 60 day vegetable/fruit juice fast followed by a permanent life-change to a plant-based healthy diet.  He lost weight and got off all of his meds, as did another man who joined him on this journey to health.  Their stories were fascinating.  He said, "When I scraped my knee as a kid I didn't have to do anything, as long as I got out the way.  It just got better."  I loved that comment.  Maybe we all need to just get out of our bodies' way.

If you have family, you're rich.

     Do you remember the TV show M*A*S*H?   On that show the character, Colonel Potter, said:  "I don't care how poor a man is, if he has family, he's rich."  Colonel Potter was a wise man, and we are very, very rich.
     The week before last we flew to Wisconsin to spend 3 days in a Door County cabin with our children and grandchildren.  It was absolutely wonderful.  My husband taught the grandchildren how not to catch fish, but they had fun casting.  They especially liked being on the water, learning to row a rowboat, and playing games of horseshoes.  A state park and Lake Michigan were nearby for hiking, swimming, and burying people in the sand on the beach.  A campfire and marshmallow-roast at night were fun, as well as standing at the end of the dock to view the night-time sky.  What more can anyone ask of a vacation? That plus being thankful for Dean's regaining his health.
     We will have to do this again soon.  It is so rare that all eight of us can be together at once since we live in different parts of the country.  We are everlastingly grateful to our kids for setting it all up. 
    

Our beautiful family.

                                        

Dean and I.

Celebrating my birthday with cake and a game of Apples to Apples.

Stars and a tree in the Wisconsin night.

"Like branches on a tree, our lives may grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one." 
                                                    author unknown

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family.  Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one."
                                                    Jane Howard