Happy New Year!

I want to wish everyone a very Happy and Peaceful
New year! Bets

Rosenberg Thanksgiven

Not a great picture, but this was our Thanksgiving. It was delicious.

What do these 4 have in common? When?

Thanksgiving 2006

We had a great thanksgiving with Gilbert/Stewart plus Colleen,Gabe.
Jacques is down from the Big Apple. What wonderful food and best
Company! I Loved being among the great Family members!!! love,Bets

More Macaca...

Apparently "macaca" is a derogatory term in more than one language referring to people of a darker color than the dominant race...and there seems to be some argument about the term. Whatever it is, the "Macaca Incident" helped George Allen lose a very strong lead in the Virginia senatorial election, and enable the Democrats to regain control of BOTH houses! If you haven't seen/heard the original incident, or even better, the comedic slicing by Jon Stewart et al.,
Here's the original clip of Allen at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r90z0PMnKwI

and here's a terrific bit from STephen Colbert, also at YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n38jj7rwRVE

Enjoy!
SteveG

"I Am Macaca" - Aren't we all?

One of the things I liked and was most encouraged by last week was George Allen's concession of his senate seat to Jim Webb on Thursday. What I find most encouraging is that Allen resisted the temptation to force the country to go through another couple of weeks of strident partisan maneuvering during a ballot recounting process - to which Allen was legally entitled. Maybe this is a first step back toward civil politics!

If you haven't seen, heard, or read any of the news stories or comedy bits about the "Macaca Incident" you've missed something. Here is an article from today's Wash. Post from "Macaca" himself - nicely done!

Steve


"A VIRGINIA WELCOME I Am Macaca," By S.R. Sidarth, Washington Post, Sunday, November 12, 2006; Page B02.

This past summer, between my third and fourth year of college, I decided to volunteer for the campaign of Democratic Senate candidate Jim Webb in my home state of Virginia. For most of the summer, I worked behind the scenes at the campaign headquarters in Arlington, helping set up field offices statewide and performing other odd jobs. In the second week of August, I was dispatched by the campaign to serve as Republican Sen. George Allen's tracker on a "listening tour" across the state. Tracking was a rather solitary pursuit; I videotaped Allen's public appearances whenever I was admitted into an event and killed time between stops in places I had never been to before.

Then, on Aug. 11, my experience took a strange -- and now famous -- turn. On that day in Breaks Interstate Park, located on the Kentucky border, Allen acknowledged my presence for the first time in one of his stump speeches. I was singled out at a GOP picnic, identified as "macaca or whatever his name is" -- despite the fact that Allen knew my name, as we had been traveling the same route for five days -- and then "welcome[d] to America and the real world of Virginia."

Allen's actions that day stood out because they were not representative of how I was treated while traveling around the state. Everywhere I went, though I was identifiably working on behalf of Allen's opponent, people treated me with dignity, respect and kindness. I cannot recall one event where food was served and I was not invited to join in the meal. In southwest Virginia, hospitality toward me was at a high point.

The night before the incident in Breaks, I stayed at the home of Jewel Jones, Webb's aunt, in Gate City on the Tennessee border. I was treated like family even though I was a guest for only half a day, and I received a grand tour of the area where Webb's ancestors have lived for more than a century. The following day, at the picnic in Breaks, even after Allen's comments highlighted my outsider status, I was not allowed to depart without eating, because as one woman put it, "Political differences are set aside at the dinner table." In the same spirit, I was given accurate directions to Allen's next event, held in Bluefield the following morning.

After Allen's remarks, my heritage suddenly became a matter of widespread interest. I am proud to be a second-generation Indian American and a practicing Hindu. My parents were born and raised in India and immigrated here more than 25 years ago; I have known no home other than Northern Virginia. The hairstyle inflicted upon me by two friends late one night also became newsworthy; for the record, it was intended to be a mullet and has since grown out to nearly the appropriate length.

The larger question that this experience brings up is: How far has society progressed on the issues of race and openness? By 2050, according to most projections, the United States will be a minority-majority nation. But the fact that Allen believed I was an immigrant, when in fact I am a native Virginian, underlines the problems our society still faces.

Then again, Webb's victory last week gives me hope that Virginia will not tolerate playing the race card. It is still hard for me to accept that I could have had a pivotal role in the election results; I would not wish the scrutiny I received on anyone. But I am also glad to have helped Webb. Every little bit counted, especially in an election decided by about 9,000 votes out of nearly 2.4 million cast.

The politics of division just don't work anymore. Nothing made me happier on election night than finding out the results from Dickenson County, where Allen and I had our encounter. Webb won there, in what I can only hope was a vote to deal the race card out of American politics once and for all.

sr.sidarth@gmail.com

S.R. Sidarth is a senior at the University of Virginia.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

Home at Last!

I came home a day early from my last trip of Oct. 2006. I just couldn't imagine being receptive and functional for one more day in Portland, Oregon. And I rationalized my decision by noticing that I would save more money by eliminating one hotel night than it would cost to make the flight reservation change.

So, I'm really looking forward to sleeping at home for many nights in a row, something that didn't happen in October.

And then all 3 kids and spouses and significant others will be with us for Thanksgiving!

Now, back to bed to catch up on sleep. Daylight unsaving time has arrived at just the right moment for me!

Love,
Steve

PS: This spate of travel began with the death of my laptop and double separation from my luggage. Now Sally has let me take her laptop and I've got most things that I need working on it - and my new computer should arrive this coming week.

T-shirt Sentiment

"I am Not Infantile, You Stinky Butt Poophead."

T-shirt worn by "hero" Steve Solomon in Kill all the Lawyers by Paul Levine.
[Hope Gary is not offended by the title.]

We are in the situation Room

I was actually in Barnes and Noble, and Wolfe Blizter was too. He is my height,
He asked me nothing very interesting:Are you in line, I said no, go ahead,
You never know in Washington area(Bethesda,Maryland). Bets

And Nate thank you!

Dear Nate, or whom ever, thank you. Bets

Thank you Sally and Dorothy

Dear Sally and Dorothy,

It was great to get your notes of Congradulations,Thank you both!

In fact last Thursday I was at the school because they
needed someone to fill in until the woman who would
be training me, was coming in on duty. It was a bit hectic
and I was getting phone calls and had to use the page
system for the first time to contact a teacher for a parent
who called with very little training. lucky she came in with
my new boss with in 15 minnutes. Great experience.
Love,Bets

Part-time Job

Dear Family,

I am starting my Part-time job next Wednesday as a receptionist at the
Katherine Thomas School. And it will be a nice start from3:30 to 7:30pm
So that is one step forward. Bets

Steve at Work!

I kind of love this picture of Steve at the FAHE conference last summer. He was presenting to someone or other. I liked the chain of acquisition. A friend said she'd seen the picture in the FAHE bulletin- a paper publication. I went and looked at the publication to see if it was a good enough picture of Steve, and then I emailed the director of the organization. She emailed me the picture. No problemo! It may really be a whole new world--at least in some respects.
Love to you all.
Sally

Kudos for Noelle

Vote for Aunt Noelle!
The site is set up weird so you have to scroll through the artists until you find her if you want to vote (I think they randomize the artists so you can't just go to the one you know), but there's a lot of neat stuff on there. To just see her stuff, you can click here and click through the arrows on the left to see the whole body (pardon the pun) of work, including a recognizable forehead.

Botox Beach Bereavement Club?

Ugh. Quite disappointed with movie last night: Boynton Beach Bereavement Club... Amusing premise, lots of well-known actors who were highly successful, esp. in comedy, 10-40 years ago. Actually more disturbed and distracted than disappointed. Sally Kellerman's and Dyan Cannon's faces are just too bizarre - not quite Michael Jacksonesque, but almost. And then there's Dyan Cannon's body and frenetic, jerky movements... I kept waiting for the movie to turn into an alien invasion plot that would finally show us the creatures living inside those artificial ALMOST lifelike human bodies.... now that I think of it, _Cocoon_ did have alien invaders and much older-than-usual actors. And that was a really good movie. Jessica Tandy didn't look like a failed skin rejuvenation experiment!

Copies of cards commemorating 35th Wedding Anniversary of Sally & Steve [9/4/1971]:

Oscar Levant... One of my minor heroes...

I cannot remember why I began watching the Oscar Levant late-night talk-show on TV in the 50s, or where I watched it from in the house, or why my parents allowed me to... It was certainly one of the more unusual and one of the first talk shows. If you want to learn more about Oscar Levant, read his autobiography, aptly titled "Memoirs of an Amnesiac". Today, in the Wash. Post book review section, in a review of a new biography of Elizabeth Taylor, it says, unkindly but amusingly:

"It's equally apparent that she is a timid and rather unintelligent woman whose deepest aesthetic impulses are reserved for the baubles on her fingers and whose idea of morality was to marry every man she slept with. ('Always a bride,' quipped Oscar Levant. 'Never a bridesmaid.')"




See below for more....
Love, Steve

REMINISCING (Column): Oscar Levant: Early-Night Talk Show Host, By ROGER M. GRACE, Metropolitan News-Enterprise Thursday, August 15, 2002 Page 18

Yesterday marked 30 years since Oscar Levant died. Levant was an internationally known figure—but here in L.A., he’s probably best remembered as the spontaneous, if not erratic, host of local talk shows.

It was a coup for KCOP, Channel 13, to sign Levant in 1958 to appear on a twice-a-week live program, interviewing and pontificating in the early evenings. Levant had been at one time the highest paid concert pianist in the nation. He was a composer; author of an autobiography, “A Smattering of Ignorance” (1940); and an actor high in the credits in movies such as “An American in Paris” (in which he played every instrument in the orchestra in a fantasy sequence) and “Band Wagon.” In radio days, he was a regular panelist on “Information Please,” and accompanied Al Jolson on the piano and engaged in repartee with him on the “Kraft Music Hall.”

And he was a wit extraordinaire, coming up with such one-liners as “Every time I look at you I get a fierce desire to be lonesome” and “What the world needs is more geniuses with humility, there are so few of us left.” A genius he was—and humility was not among his virtues. He once remarked, “I am no more humble than my talents require.”

When he began his career as a local TV host, Levant, a hypochondriac, would blink incessantly and regularly clutch his heart. (It had been four years since his heart attack.) After several weeks, these nervous habits ceased, and he was later to joke about them.

But his habit of smoking, constantly, persisted. And as one watched him constantly bring the cigarette between his second and third fingers to his lips, it was evident he did not favor shirts with French cuffs. Or, it appeared, any cuffs at all. Could it be that my perception was correct that under that ill-fitting suit coat was a short sleeved shirt?

Levant was able to lure to KCOP guests no other local talk show host could hope to attract. He knew many of them personally. His interviewees included U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, writers Aldous Huxley, Christopher Isherwood, and Ben Hecht, entertainers Fred Astaire, Jerry Lewis and Sammy Davis Jr., and baseball manager Leo Durocher.

Oscar Levant is seen with wife June Levant, a former actress, who assisted him on his local television show. Levant was known for his irreverance, sponaneity, and wit, as well as his hypochondia.

I recently talked with Lloyd Thaxton, then a free-lance announcer who did some of the live commercials on the show (and was later a network quiz show host). He remembered the night Astaire was there. Here was a world renowned performer, a show business legend who had been on the stage and in movies. Yet, Thaxton told me, Astaire was “kind of nervous about being on television.” He explained: “Fred Astaire had never done television before.”

Astaire, he recounted, sat on a stool during the interview and clung to that stool. Even when Levant went to the piano to plunk out some tunes, and Astaire did some footwork, “he never got off the stool to tap [dance],” Thaxton brought to mind.

Thaxton also recalled the night Oscar Levant went off the deep end, on the air. He was at the piano, playing. His wife and regular on the show, June Levant, was on the dais. He asked her to read aloud some of the letters from readers, as she frequently did. June Levant complied; Oscar Levant visibly was “getting steamed” as he heard a succession of commendations to his wife for the job she had done filling in for him during a week he was off sick. “You could just see him tensing up,” Thaxton said.

Levant had enough. As Thaxton remembers it, Levant blurted out to his wife: “You and [station manager] Al Flannagan can take this show and shove it up your a— .” He stalked off the stage.

Though the words being shouted were indecipherable, viewers could hear “Al and Oscar arguing outside the door,” Thaxton said. For about two minutes, he related, the camera was on a motionless set. Levant then reemerged, and commenced “really, really fierce playing,” which gradually became moderated,” Thaxton continued. Just before the show went off the air, he recalled, Levant walked over to his wife, “kisses June on the cheek, and says ‘I’m sorry.’ ”

Levant made an on-air prediction once. After telling viewers not to buy Philco television sets—the product of his sponsor—he forecast that he’d be fired. He was.

He also predicted he would land a job on KHJ-TV, Channel 9, remarking that they’d take anyone. His show switched to Channel 9 in late 1958, airing Tuesdays and Fridays from 7:30-9:30 p.m.; soon after, the Tuesday telecasts ceased.

In 1960, Levant launched a one-hour weekly syndicated talk show, aired on KCOP on Mondays at 9 p.m. It was short lived.

Levant wrote two more books, “Memoirs of an Amnesiac” (1965) and the “Unimportance of Being Oscar” (1968). He died of a heart attack on Aug. 14, 1972, at the age of 66.

Matching Tattoos - on Kathrin & Sally 8-19-2006

Can you tell what part of their anatomy you're seeing? Can you tell which is which? 

Humor [offensive?]

Been too long since anyone added something to the family blog!
I just found a Website of quotes and humor - searching for the source of the quote
"Stupidity killed the cat, curiosity was framed."
Still haven't found the source, but i did find a collection of many very funny (and many crude) jokes:

http://www.coolquotescollection.com/black1.aspx

The more general page, including non-offensive quotes:
http://www.coolquotescollection.com/

Love, Steve
Recovering from minor back muscle/nerve strain

Mommy's birthday

Happy (backdated) birthday to my dear sweet mother!

Official Senor Birthday - Steve!

Well, I'm officially "senior" now. Here are a couple of photos from last night to prove it. Sally & I had a delightful (2nd annual!) dinner with Alan, Debra & Mark. Slightly less elegant this year, but quite tasty - Burmese dinner + Cold Stone Creamery dessert.
















Love to all,
Steve
PS: Interesting to realize that our Family Blog is just a little more than 1 year old - began early June, 2005! Fascinating to look back now at the postings, comments!

triskaidekaphilia

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY COUSIN ZACH!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO STEVE! on July 16th

I hope that Steve has a birthday that he will do what he really wants.
Steve have a great Day. Love,Bets Stewart

Another great Dorothy

As most of you probably know, Conrad Rosenberg (my dad's dad) died last Sunday. I found this poem particularly appropriate and felt like sharing.

CONDOLENCE
by Dorothy Parker

They hurried here, as soon as you had died,
Their faces damp with haste and sympathy,
And pressed my hand in theirs, and smoothed my knee,
And clicked their tongues, and watched me, mournful-eyed.
Gently they told me of that Other Side--
How, even then, you waited there for me,
And what ecstatic meeting ours would be.
Moved by the lovely tale, they broke, and cried.

And when I smiled, they told me I was brave,
And they rejoiced that I was comforted,
And left to tell of all the help they gave.
But I had smiled to think how you, the dead,
So curiously preoccupied and grave,
Would laugh, could you have heard the things they said.

Job Interview on thursday

I am going for an interview on thursday and it
will be very interesting. The job is for a Front
desk Agent at the Dolce International Hotel
resort and confernce center. The location
will be in Potomac not far from our old
neighborhood in Bethesda. We shall see.

Applied for 2 jobs

It is will be a great relief to some people
that I have applied for 2 jobs and yes it
feels good. Hope that all is well for everyone
and stay cool!

Mazel tov

A big hearty congratulations to Leah who is graduating this weekend! Woohoo!

Sylvia Stultz Died - 6-18-2006

Sally, Kathrin and I visited early this afternoon when Sylvia was alive but unconscious. Sally was on her way to Sylvia's house just a little while ago for a special version of a weekly "holy names" ceremony when she learned that Sylvia had died. They're doing the ceremony anyway tonight - a small group of very close friends gathering together and singing a little and loving a lot.

Here's a photo from our visit last weekend when Sylvia was dozing frequently, but still able to tease and joke with us. She was also able to explain how she managed dying so well. She made a conscious, explicit decision to expect those close to her to welcome invitations to help her. She believed, quite correctly, that many would respond with appreciation and love to the love that she was able to express to those she gathered in.

Joys, Sorrows, and Bad Hair Days

[Please don't judge this article by the title or even by the interesting first few paragraphs.
This article is about the real feelings we have when we are young and when we are old - the feelings that cannot be prevented or banished. Without ever using the terms, this article is about happiness and depression and, perhaps,
about how we must accept life's inevitable sorrows if we want to receive life's joys. – Love, Steve ]

“Learning the Mane Things in Life,” By Alaka M. Basu, Washington Post, Saturday, June 17, 2006; P. A19

Back then, in a convent school in small-town India, the nuns taught us an English that was at once correct and respectable. We did not make the kind of grammatical errors made by our friends in the lay school next door ("Why you are not coming to school yesterday?"). Nor did we innovate in more picturesque ways, like my friend's cousin from that other school who announced to us that his teacher "had a mustache under her arm." Indeed, we were expressly forbidden to speak of such body parts and the hair therein.

In our school, when we talked of hair, it was very clear that it was the hair on our heads. And we never used physical attributes as metaphors for other things. Or at least we never used plausible descriptions of ourselves metaphorically. It was all right to talk about blue eyes and golden curls and the happiness and sunshine that these could signify. But we were to be strictly unconcerned with -- if not unaware of -- our own physical states. So how could a physical description be synonymous with a state of mind? How could a bad hair day mean anything but a bad hair day? Unsurprisingly, at that time, I had never even heard of the expression. All I knew of was bad hair itself.

But the lessons the nuns taught were clearly poorly absorbed. For even a simple term such as "bad hair," something on which a clear, literal definition was surely possible, meant different things to us and to those who controlled us. To our mothers, bad hair was hair that was cut so short that, when it was worn loose down the back, one could not sit on it. Bad hair was what resulted when we refused to let Granny massage her home-extracted hibiscus oil into our scalps twice a week. (Here we were one with the nuns, who also gagged on the smell of that oil.) Bad hair was hair that fell in bangs on the forehead, and caused our eyelashes to flutter unduly through them. Bad hair was hair that smelled of some capitalist-conspiracy-inspired shampoo instead of the sandalwood incense in which live coals were bathed for us to dry our freshly washed hair over.

In other words, bad hair was hair that we all secretly longed to have, hair that we vowed to get the day we were released from the clutches of the school-home combine. A few of us longed for it more openly and defiantly; and the even fewer of us who gave in to this longing impatiently ahead of schedule were the "bad hair girls" whom mothers warned their daughters not to play with. But the boys liked us.

We were also liked by Sister Aquinas, the newly arrived nun from Wales, fresh-faced and ready to fall in love with everything about India. She welcomed dissent in any form, whether in our hairstyles or in our refusal to recite "The Charge of the Light Brigade" one more time.

Soon all the bad hair girls formed a bold and confident group around Sister Aquinas. She agreed that it was not immoral to want to look nice (we often wondered if she ever regretted her own clean-shaven head). But she also told us that it was immoral not to discover all the other joys that the world had to offer, joys that did not spring from male admirers alone. So she took us for long walks along the beach to savor the sand under our toes and the sunset above our heads; she introduced us to "How Green Was My Valley" and "The Scarlet Pimpernel." She assured us that it was important to know our native literature and our own gods as well as we were being taught to know William Golding and Jesus Christ.

And she taught us the true meaning of romance. She cured us of our giggly definition of "romantic" as that which pertained to boys. She explained that one could have a romantic temperament, that there was something called the romantic imagination, that one could have a romance with the seas, with any category of humanity or, as she had done, with God. She explained that the word "romance" and "roam" had the same root -- a root that celebrated the urge to let all one's physical and intellectual senses wander. I have still not discovered if this derivation is correct. If it is not, I would rather not find out.

It was also Sister Aquinas who agreed with us that we were not too young to have unexplained moods and urges. But then the stoic side of her took over. She believed that our "bad hair days" were not to be embraced in the same way as the days on which we could not stop singing. They were to be challenged, to be overcome and to be forgotten. Here we parted company with her. To us, romanticism was as much about unexplained sorrow and anger as it was about being happy. And we were damned if we were not going to squeeze out every last negative impulse that a bad day had in store for us.

Except that we did not call them "bad hair days" at that time. We called them days on which we "had got up on the wrong side of the bed." These were days on which not only did one look terrible but everything else seemed to go wrong as well. Looking back, I marvel at the frequency and cynical angst with which we complained that we had got up on the wrong side. As if that explained everything. Explained why we were not answerable for our behavior, explained our impatience with those who did not live by our rules, explained our boredom with the pettiness of our small-town lives.

But I see now that what explained all this more than any bed was our cocky youth. Bad hair days are more familiar to the young and the tough. With time they diminish, not because one's life improves but because one loses some of that callous sense of entitlement. One also learns to one's relief that few dark days last forever.

But my own respite has also come from an unexpected direction. At long last I have more and more unadulterated, unambiguous and literal bad hair days. There would be no disagreement among my friends, my high school nuns (including Sister Aquinas) and my mother about the awfulness of this bad hair. But how pleasant these bad hair days are when one thinks of their metaphorical alternatives.

And so, on these bad hair days, I beam at the world. Let such bad hair days last as long as they like. What's 10 literal bad hair days compared with one metaphorical bad hair day?

The writer is associate professor of sociology and director of the South Asia program at Cornell University.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

Guess who?

Recognize this person? Hint: This was scanned in from a photo that is more than 10 years old.

Shostakovich

Such a burst of postings!

Here's some music:

I'm happy to take requests, but I have to have access to the mp3 file, which limits things quite a bit.

GODSPEED SAILING SHIP

HI EVERYONE, Wat,Mary, Bets, went to Alexandria, Va and got to wait
in line 2 hours for a tour of this replica of a 400 year old ship that
originally sailed from england to america. from 1606 -1607.
Really nice day to walk around too. Bets

3 Goofy People - Mothers Day Dinner 5/2006

 

Another audio test - with instructions for YOU to add your own audio to our family blog without using a computer at all!

Click on this next button to hear a new audio message from Steve - and a special guest appearance by Yuri. Read below for instructions about how YOU can add audio to this blog!
Love, Steve

Here [below] are instructions for adding your own audio clip to this Family Blog. All you need to do is use the telephone! You don't even have to have your computer turned on. The recording gets put here automatically for you!

1. Telephone 1-415-856-0205
Don't press any keys while the voice is speaking to you!

2. When asked for "your Primary Number" enter 301 587 8439
When you're finished, the voice will read back that number to you.
If it sounds correct (3015878439), then press 1.
If there was a mistake, press 2.

3. When asked for "your PIN" enter 1111 then press #

4. Wait for a nice gong-like tone, then start recording!
Just talk into the phone in a normal voice.
When you're done, press #

5. If you're satisfied, DON'T FORGET TO PRESS 1 AGAIN TO PUBLISH YOUR RECORDING!
[Otherwise, press 2 to review, 3 to re-record]

6. Hang up! Visit the family blog through a computer and hear what you did!
NOTE1: Listen carefully to the Voice Prompts

NOTE2: You can add a comment at the end of your recording and/or in text accompaniment that the listener should use the "back" or "return" function of his/her browser to get back to the blog after listening to the recording. If a listener closes that window instead, he/she will have closed the browser entirely and gone away from the blog.

The result is a single new posting on the Family Blog - but with no title or text or picture at all. You can then go to the family blog through your computer and click on the new audioblog button whenever you want to hear what you recorded. You can also do whatever you usually do to add something to the family blog to add some title, etc. to make a new posting which will be separate from your sound posting.

You can get a lot fancier if you wish. On the other hand, you can just do the telephone thing and not worry about making it any fancier at all!
Love,
Steve

I was trying something too fancy here...

now I've sort of fixed it.....
[Jill, could you please change the music for us? Do you take requests?]

Prayers for Sylvia and Uncle Josh & Aunt Vicky

Hi Everyone,

We are thinking and having prayers for Sylvia.
Its hard find words. Also congratulations for
Uncle Josh and Aunt Vicky!

We are fine but we did have a car accident
and my car is being repaired now and
that is good. One more week without a car.
It takes a lot of planning to figure where
everyone will be, skills thinking ahead of
time.

We did have a great time with Nate and
Coleen in Boulder when we were there
for Spring Sing. Then in Denver spent
time with Davis and Patty Ortiz is lady
friend. Well hope all goes well for all
of you. Love,Bets

Welcome Henry Elias Walters! - Posted on behalf of Aunt Victoria Gilbert

I'm an Aunt!!!
Congradulations Bridget and Andrew Walters!!!!! Henry Elias Walters was born a healthy eight lbs. yesterday evening!!! I cannot wait to meet him. All our blessings, wishes, and love for this new incredible person. Thank you God!!!...Now if only I could convince them to let me keep this one!!!!
The proud Crazy Aunt Vicky

Email Sally Gilbert helped Sylvia Stultz write/send last night

[NOTE: Sally is planning to have her "birthday party luncheon" tomorrow in Sylvia's hospital room. Sylvia will probably be going home Monday.]

-----Original Message-----
From: Sylvia Stultz [mailto:sls20008@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 6:11 PM
Subject: News
Dear Friends,
I am sorry I’ve been out of touch. I’ve been in quite
a swim.

Since March it seems like I’ve been in the hospital
more days than out. I had a few surgeries-- a planned
insertion of a feeding tube -- an unplanned hip
replacement for a broken leg. And I’m now in the
hospital waiting for news about the possibility of
neurosurgery (unlikely).

The issue now is pain management related to a tumor
in the back which we had hoped could be resolved
"easily" with radiation, but this has not been
adequate. I have excellent pain management teams at
NIH and Sibley and we are exploring more dramatic
options, including nerve blocks and an experiment with
high dose vitamin C infusion.

My goal now is a fun, coherent summer with loved ones;
so please join me starting with your prayers and good
wishes.

I need you to help sustain the web of love and caring
that you have provided for me and my family for so
many months. Jill will be coming home from college a
little early [NOTE: Kathrin drove home with Jill last night
and stayed overnight with her], and my mother and sisters will be
nearby. Hopefully I will be home from the hospital
early next week.

A few years ago, I had a dear friend who, despite her
serious illness, was able to return my calls until
almost the very end; I loved the peace that hearing
her voice gave me. As most of you know, I’m terrible
at returning calls and notes in the best of times, and
I’m sorry that I can’t and won’t be able offer this
wonderful sense of security or to be with each of you
as much as I would like.

I do want you to know that you won’t have to worry
about not hearing about serious events, including my
death, and I have made arrangements for a friend to
send messages about important matters.

I am saddened by the fact that my energy is low and my
prognosis is poor. Unfortunately I won't have the
stamina to be with you as much as I would like. I'll
provide guidance soon about ways and times to visit.

Thanks again for the love which has kept me so
energized through this long journey.
Love,
Sylvia

Update - Sally et al. helping Sylvia S.

A close family friend, Sylvia Stultz, has been re-hospitalized for terminal cancer. But she is doing somewhat better today and is likely to go home this weekend.

I took Kathrin to the airport yesterday afternoon so she could fly to Ithaca and help Sylvia's daughter Jill pack and drive home tomorrow (ending her year early).

Sally has been at the hospital with Sylvia and Sylvia's mother since about 8am yesterday morning and both sally and Sylvia's mother slept there last night.

I returned to the hospital at 3am this morning to help monitor Sylvia because the pain specialist made it clear that he was nervous about increasing her pain meds dosages if someone weren't with her pretty constantly to be sure she hadn't accidentally overdosed... and Sally wasn't sure she can stay alert past 3. Sally slept for a couple hours flat on her back on the floor from about 4-6am. Sylvia's mother dozed in a chair.

Sylvia's 2 sisters are going to arrive this evening and tomorrow morning.
Kathrin & Jill are due to arrive in DC about 7pm tonight.

Sally is doing a remarkable job of supporting Sylvia, especially when dealing with the various medical "activities" at the hospital.
Love to All
Steve

Which one is real? [From summer 2005 in Amsterdam]

STD - not exactly

[Don't know the original source of this]

CDC Warning The Center for Disease Control has issued a warning about a new virulent strain of Sexually Transmitted Disease. The disease is contracted through dangerous and high-risk behavior. The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectim and pronounced "gonna re-elect him." Many victims contracted it in 2004, after having been screwed for the past four years. Cognitive characteristics of individuals infected include: anti-social personality disorders, delusions of grandeur with messianic overtones, extreme cognitive dissonance, inability to incorporate new information, pronounced xenophobia and paranoia, inability to accept responsibility for own actions, cowardice masked by misplaced bravado, uncontrolled facial smirking, ignorance of geography and history, tendencies towards evangelical theocracy, categorical all-or-nothing behavior. Naturalists and epidemiologists are amazed at how this destructive disease originated only a few years ago from a bush found in Texas.

Feeling vaguely brilliant

This is for Steve. I already emailed you instructions on how to embed slideshows in your own stuff, so let me know if it doesn't make sense:



And for Aunt Kathy and family, if and when they are ready to move on from Scientology, this may be its cousin:

The family that bowls together.... ?

In Cambridge, Mass

This is from Steve - a new experiment, adding sound to our blog!

Please be sure your sound is turned on and that the volume is high enough, then click on this button!

And here is a little picture... to see if I figured out how to put a picture in with an audioblogger button and recording...

Leah's graduation

Here's the graduation plans for Leah.

Actual graduation is Tuesday June 20. The school ceremony will take place that same day.
Leah's graduation party here at our home will be Saturday June 24. We can help with finding lodging if you plan to join the celebration.

I think all of you know that she will be attending UC Santa Barbara. We are very proud of her.

Love, Kathy and Alfredo

Palm Sunday story

A child had to stay home from church because of and
illness. when the rest of the family came home carrying
palm branches, the little boy asked about them. His mother
explained"People held them over jesus, head as he walked by".
The boy exclaimed."The one sunday I don't go to church and
Jesus showed up".

I thought all of you would get a chuckle out of that Story
which I found on Cedar Lane Unitarian Churche's website,
put on by our minister Roger Fritts.

Warm, moving Movie "Joyeux Noel" 2005

We've been working very hard the last few weeks, with Sally taking on what amounts to another part-time "job" helping our friend Sylvia Stultz cope with a variety of cancers. Sally suggested we go out to a movie to be sure we really got away from our daily obligations (most of which we enjoy most of the time). She picked the movie and I was a little skeptical, thinking that it would be too dreary or treacly, but it was neither.

Wonderful music, acting, etc. based on an astonishing historical event - Christmas eve 1914 when many soldiers of German, French, Scots, British armies spontaneously observed a temporary truce.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424205/

Nice to know that at least sometimes when people, even at war, recognize underlying humanity, they can resist the forces that too often compel them to violence and killing.

Austin Texas last week

I was in Austin last week on business, and I couldn't resist this bus just sitting there on the side of the road. I wheeled the car around and went back to capture this.

I liked being in Austin. It's certainly not Maryland.

Zack to the hoop

Zack was just named Marshall Middle School's MVP for the 7th Grade team. We are proud of him of course.

Nate - 3rd report 3-26-2005

Mae Sot (or Tak? I can't figure out which is the town and which is the county? city?)

it is very hot and the boys complain ("It's hot!") though less frequently today than yesterday...

I am on break from the family right now - it is 3 in the afternoon and they all went to a waterfall - I am taking some alone time - chillin by the pool, maybe a nap...

doing pretty good all things considered...

love you

Nate

[NOTE: This photo is one I found on the Internet using Google Images and searching for "Mae Sot" - Steve]

2nd Report from Nate in Thailand 3/24

hi folks -

hope all is well -

now we are in Tak, in Mae Sot, at the Mae Sot Central hotel - it is hot and I got my first mosquito bite of the trip -

oops sounds like we are about to leave for the S.P. restaurant where I will have something with cheese.

much love

Nate

Waiting for a Mouse?

Sometimes Nightshade hopes that Sally will attach a mouse to her laptop computer...

Kathrin, Josh, Sally Jan 2006 In Front of Josh's Workplace

Nate is off to Thailand again

For a couple weeks

I Asked for Wonder

from rabbi Abraham Heschel, I Asked for Wonder [read aloud at end of telephone conference call of Exec. Committee of Friends Assoc for Higher Ed]

Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living. It is all we can offer in return for the mystery by which we live. Who is worthy to be present at the constant unfolding of time? Amidst the meditation of mountains, the humility of flowers - wiser than all alphabets - clouds that die constantly for the sake of God's glory, we are hating, hunting, hurting. Suddenly we feel ashamed of our clashes and complaints in the face of the tacit glory in nature. It is so embarrassing to live! How strange we are in the world, and how presumptuous our doings! Only one response can maintain us: gratefulness for witnessing the wonder, for the gift of our unearned right to serve, to adore, and to fulfill. It is gratefulness which makes the soul great.

Quote a day

I thought it would be fun to share
favorite Quotes if anyone wants to?

Here is one of mine:

" I'm fed up to the ears
with old men dreaming
up wars for young men
to die in." - George McGovern

ps. that was during Vietnam era
now its Young men and Young
women. Bets Stewart

HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY TO EVERYONE!
HOPE THE WIND IS AT EVERYONE'S BACK
AND THE BLESSINGS CONTINUE IN ALL
YOUR LIVES! BETS

Memorial for Tom Fox

Tom Fox's body was found 3/10/2006. He was one of four volunteers working in Iraq as part of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) who were abducted in Iraq on Nov. 26, 2005.


[Tom Fox appears 1st on the left in this set of photos of the 4 abductees. The other 3 are still captive.] He was a well-known and respected member of the Quaker community in the greater DC area. He and his family participated actively and often in the camping program.

Excerpt from the Release:
"We Mourn the Loss of Tom Fox"

"... an outpouring of action for justice and peace would be a fitting memorial for Tom. Let us all join our voices on behalf of those who continue to suffer under occupation, whose loved ones have been killed or are missing. In so doing, we may hasten the day when both those who are wrongly detained and those who bear arms will return safely to their homes. In such a peace we will find solace for our grief. "

Full text:http://www.cpt.org/iraq/response/06-10-03statement.htm

Tom Fox wrote in October (quoted in CPT Website Nov 30, 2005):

"It seems easier somehow to confront anger within my heart than it is to confront fear. But if Jesus and Gandhi are right then I am not to give in to either. I am to stand firm against the kidnapper as I am to stand firm against the soldier. Does that mean I walk into a raging battle to confront the soldiers? Does that mean I walk the streets of Baghdad with a sign saying "American for the Taking?" No to both counts. But if Jesus and Gandhi are right, then I am asked to risk my life, and if I lose it to be as forgiving as they were when murdered by the forces of Satan.

"Standing firm is a struggle, but I'm willing to keep working at it. "

For more of Tom Fox's own writings, see his blog at:
http://www.waitinginthelight.blogspot.com/

Lots of links to related Websites:
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2211.shtml

What a Day!

Here in Maryland we are having the most amazing Saturday!

Those of you in California have weather like this more often than we do, I think.

It's 75 ish, I am sitting on the back porch occasionally looking up from my laptop computer, wearing shorts and listening to Bach's B MInor mass on my iPod. From this vantage point all's right with the world.

While Steve was out walking earlier, I had the mass on as close to full blast as it would go. He said he heard it all the way down the block. I said, "Great!" Often the music we hear in our yard comes from the cars parked waiting to pick up MOntgomery College students. I feel like I'm working toward balance in the universe by playing this glorious music instead of very heavy bass hip hop. "Not that there's anything wrong with that...."

Kathrin left early this morning to go to a camp meeting in Philadelphia. They'll decide who to offer counselor jobs to this summer. She's very excited about the prospect of lots of new counselors. I was impressed that seemed exciting to her. I thought more about having to bring newbies along and what sort of effort that would mean. But in this, she's more generous of spirit than I would be.

Who knows what the weather will be tomorrow or next week. Snow is possible, I suppose. But today it's perfect and lately I'm trying hard to subscribe to the "be here now" philosophy of life.

Let's Keep Working on Our Meds!

"You'll enjoy the way these interact with over-the-counter medication."

Spiritual Quote

"We are all affecting the world every
moment,whether we mean to or not. Our
actions and states of mind matter, be-
cause we are so deeply interconnected
with one another. - Ram Dass

Maybe this can be the world's goal.Bets

Bush Backward Countdown Clock

Sorry, there doesn't seem to be a way to accelerate this clock.

Lightening Up a Little - My Favorite Libation (Except Fresh-Squeezed OJ)

Religion, Science, & Psychotherapy

Religion has historically been the language for people to talk about the things that mattered most to them, aided and abetted by the arts. Science has become the language that has helped people to know what they wanted to know, and get what they wanted to get. Psychotherapy has to occupy the difficult middle ground between them, but without taking sides. Since it is narrow-mindedness that we most often suffer from, we need our therapists to resist the allure of the fashionable certainties.
From:
Above is the last paragraph in "A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Measure" By ADAM PHILLIPS, New York Times p.13 February 26, 2006

A film by Eugene Jarecki "Why we fight"

I think this is a movie all of us who have not seen
Why we fight, should go see it. If we really love our
freedom. Bets

Long Beach photos from Lynn

Gilbert family LA love

My mom and I are currently in Los Angeles visiting Lynn and allowing her a few nights in a real bed with a real shower over this lovely Presidents' Day Weekend. Yesterday, we we went for tea at the Tea Rose Garden in Pasadena with Grandma Dorothy, Gary, Noelle, Grace and Lucy. It was an odd little shop- half casual tea cafe, half flower shop, all moderately elegant tchatchkes. The food was excellent and the conversation pleantiful as we loitered for a solid two hours, catching up on eachother's lives. I let Lucy loose with my cameraphone, so she captured some lovely images of the event, none of which managed to include Grandma or more than one person at a time, so I will post my favorites and the picture I took of Grace and Lucy together.

Back at Grandma's house I set up a shortcut link thing for her to more easily post on here, so hopefully we will hear from her soon (hint hint, Grandma, hint hint)!

Love to all.

Mrs. Henderson Presents (R)

Give yourself a treat - don't miss this movie!

2006 Oscar Contender
BEST Performance by a Leading Actress
BEST Achievement in Costume Design
Mrs. Laura Henderson (Oscar nominee Judi Dench) may be a widow but she is by no means going to spend the rest her days playing bridge. The Windmill Theater becomes her game and the infamous showman Vivian Van Dam (Bob Hoskins) becomes her partner and fiercest opponent. The Germans are bombing London but the roar of the Windmill is all that can be heard, as Laura convinces Lord Cromer (Christopher Guest) to allow her actresses to be the one thing no one could ever imagine: Nude. Brought to its knees by war, what "Mrs. Henderson Presents" brings a nation to its feet in applause. (UK, 2005, 103 min, MPAA Rating: R)
Official web site: http://www.mrshendersonthemovie.com/
Movie trailer: Click Here (requires Quicktime)

Happy Valentines Day 2006!

Love to all. Steve

SNOW SNOW SNOW, TIME FOR MOVIE NIGHT AND POPCORN

Here in Washington area we have snow and a great night for movies,games,
and Popcorn or a good book and fire in the fireplace, just to get in the mood.

In Greensboro,N.C. might have snow as well along the east coast up to maine.
stay warm and safe. Love,Bets

Learning to Scan Old Photos - Recognize this person?

cousinly birthdays

Happy belated birthday to Josh and happy birthday to Leah!

Grouchiness Happens. Walk It Off.

ARTICLE FROM WASH. POST 1-31-2006
Grouchiness Happens. Walk It Off.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006; HE03

Your loyal Moving Crew correspondent has reported on many studies showing that exercise helps relieve symptoms of depression. We also know that people who are not clinically depressed but have periodic lapses into grouchy, scowly, stress-addled, short-tempered gloom -- which is to say, you, me and most of our earthly cohabitants -- report feeling better after working out.

A new study demonstrates, for the first time, that a single ses sion of moderate-intensity exercise improves important mood markers of depression. This was after, essentially, one 30-minute walk.

The study was done on people with major depressive disorder, a serious clinical condition. But the researchers believe that the single-session mood-lift also applies to those of us who just feel lousy.

For more, click on:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/30/AR2006013001268.html?referrer=emailarticle


-- John Briley© 2006 The Washington Post Company

FDR Quote

True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security
and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are
the stuff of which dictatorships are made." - FDR

State of the Union tomorrow night and I wish it were FDR speaking.

"I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made"

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more
to the abundance of those who have much it is whether
we provide enough for those who have little."

Zack and Adam

Zack with Adam Morrison, considered one of the best collegiate hoopsters out of Gonzaga U, and with his buddy Zack

MLK Day

"The hope of a secure and livable
world lies with disciplined noncon-
formists who are decicated to justice,
peace and brotherhood." - Martin Luther King,Jr.

"We must learn to live together as
brothers or perish together as fools." M.L.K,Jr.

Read this piece from her book

You might want to read this. Kaethe Weingarten is remarkable, I think.
Sally

Outcomes of job in future

Hi family,

I was a part of a group org. Called Outcomes that helped me start
a path on my life's journey for a future job. Trying to find what
one wants to do and feel I can do good at. Sally(Adm.Director)Steve continues
to work hard at their work at Steve's business. Others like Dave with
his tree work service in Denver and John's Artistic Directorship. But
then I thought the old saying that is not used much anymore,"Comparisons
are odious". Just be truthful with oneself and it may come in time which
others are impatient with. But My family are the best supporters around
thank you! Love, Bets

Jan 4 2006 Chicago - Josh's Work

Josh demonstrating one of the machines he uses.


Josh's latest gift for Sally & STeve!

Chicago Jan 4-6, 2006 Part I Happy Breakfast at Bite

Nate & Jill - the two oldest

4 Rosenbergs

Vicky, Mark, and Lynn
Kathrin, Nate, Sally