Ailantha - Blog

A Couple Points Of Light, Part 2: #Songs Of Comfort By Sara Swain

6/4/2020

On March 13 master cellist and internationally-renowned nice guy Yo-Yo Ma,

...performed a beautiful rendition of "Going Home" from Dvorak's "New World Symphony" and then posted it on Youtube.
Here's the Youtube link for Yo-Yo Ma's performance of "Going Home." :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrBOkHfvNSY

         This heart-touching song was the starting point of a project Ma conceived and named #Songs of Comfort.
         #Songs of Comfort was a call by Yo-Yo Ma to musicians everywhere, encouraging them to post online videos of themselves playing their music in an effort to bring some comfort and cheer to people during this time of sickness, anxiety and isolation brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
        Musicians from all over the world have answered Yo-Yo Ma's call and have been making and sharing music videos online.

Among them is Chicago cellist Sara Swain.

Sara is a member of the Evanston Symphony and also manages Foundation and Government Relations for the Chicago area music festival Ravinia.
In addition, Sara is a master baker of special-request birthday cakes,

...even if the request is for an Elsa shark cake.

She's a connoisseur of chocolate chip cookie dough by the bowl - not the ice cream, the actual dough -

...though she'll eat the ice cream, too.

Sara is an aficionado of all things sparkly and fun,

...and, of course, of the cello;

...and Sara is a former housemate and close friend of my daughter Claire.

Of such a sunny good nature is Sara that her fellow sunny good-natured cellist Yo-Yo Ma would doubtless be proud that her job once entailed the opportunity to hold his Stradivarius before one of his Chicago performances.

   (She probably gave Yo-Yo Ma's Strad some extra-good karma).
      Like cellists everywhere, Sara is a devout disciple of Master Ma. And so when he asked musicians to share songs of comfort Sara's response was, "When Yo-Yo Ma says, 'Jump!' I say, 'How high?'"
      On March 20 Sara joined the #Songs of Comfort project and since then she has jumped high, indeed. Instead of posting a cello piece, she has posted a cello piece every day on her Facebook page and intends to continue posting a song a day as long as there is a need, in her words, for "some calm during these turbulent times."
And so Sara is the second point of light in my "A Couple Points of Light." series. (For the first see the post from 5/28/2020: "A Couple Points Of Light, Part 1: The Gift Of Laughter From Mark R. Harris").
        So far Sara has performed and posted a song every day, 77 songs as of today.

Her #Songs of Comfort repertory is full of the cello classics:
        Bach,
       www.facebook.com/sara.swain.77/videos/10163588265840150/

      Mozart,
      https://www.facebook.com/sara.swain.77/videos/10163554642900150/

Fauré,
www.facebook.com/sara.swain.77/videos/10163147222995150/

...and Webster, among others.
www.facebook.com/sara.swain.77/videos/10163554605420150/?t=8

      But she also takes requests, among which have been for:

       "Yesterday"
www.facebook.com/sara.swain.77/videos/10163162480715150/?t=15 www.facebook.com/sara.swain.77/videos/10163168351785150/?t=6

       "I Can't Help Falling in Love with You"
www.facebook.com/sara.swain.77/videos/10163535596785150/?t=2

      "A Whole New World"
www.facebook.com/sara.swain.77/videos/10163572160065150/?t=6

       "Hallelujah"
www.facebook.com/sara.swain.77/videos/10163181587640150/

      "Ashokan Farewell"
www.facebook.com/sara.swain.77/videos/10163162480715150/?t=15

...and "She thinks My Tractor's Sexy" by Kenny Chesney.
https://www.facebook.com/sara.swain.77/videos/10163514011495150/?t=84

      Several days ago Sara played the hauntingly beautiful Vivaldi Sonata in E Minor, calling it a sad song for her sad city, yet offering the hope that "we can come back from this- and stronger!"
        www.facebook.com/sara.swain.77/videos/10163593480525150/?t=80

        You can find Sara Swain's #Songs of Comfort on her Facebook page.
        The songs are lovely.
        As is Sara.

YOU NEED SOMETHING GOOD TO READ.
"HAIL MARY," SEQUEL TO "EQUAL AND OPPOSITE REACTIONS," IS NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.

"A hilarious, bizarre, sometimes ribald tale." -R. Bruce Logan, author of "As The Lotus Blooms"

"Liszkay continues to dazzle with fresh and funny characters from beginning to end." -Daniel B. Oliver, author of "The Long Road"

Buy it on Amazon:
https://www.amzn.com/1684334888

0 Comments

The Voices In The Shattered Glass

5/31/2020

0 Comments

As of yesterday Columbus, Ohio has been in a state of emergency. The city is under a 10 pm curfew and our governor has called out the National Guard to restore order to the turbulent downtown streets.

The protests have been going on here for the past four days and nights.

...in solidarity with protesters across the United States over the brutal murder of George Floyd,

...by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin,

The protesters have been hit by the police with tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets,

...scattering them, but only temporarily.

By yesterday morning, Saturday, hundreds of downtown window fronts had been shattered,

...including twenty-eight windows at the Ohio Statehouse.

Certainly the destruction wreaked on the businesses presents a moral dilemma.

But, as articulated by the shouts and signs of the protesters,

...injustice does not beget peace when the grief, anger and frustration wrought by a system of law enforcement rotten with injustice finally boils over.

For decades upon decades voices have been crying out out against police brutality and the systemic injustice perpetrated against black and brown people.
And yet we still live in a country where a black teenager innocently walking down the street can be shot with impunity by a white man;

Trayvon Martin

...where a black woman, an EMT, can be shot to death by white police officers in an erroneous drug raid while sleeping in her own home;

Breonna Taylor

...where a young black man can be murdered while jogging by three white men who weren't even charged until a video released three months later forced the hand of the local police;

Ahmaud Arbery

...and where a white woman strolling through Central Park knows she has the power to threaten the life of a bird-watching black man by calling the police with a false accusation that he was threatening her life after he had audacity to tell her leash her out-of -control dog.

Amy Cooper

Christian Cooper, no relation to the above,

     The unjust deaths and abuse of people of color at the hands of police officers and privileged white citizens are legion. But the sadistic public torture and murder of George Floyd was a death too far.
       His voice crying out for his mother before he died was ignored by his killers.
       Maybe now his voice and the voices of all people of color who've cried out for their lives and wept for the lives of those they cherish will finally be heard in the shattered glass.

0 Comments

A Couple Points Of Light, Part 1: The Gift Of Laughter From Mark R. Harris

5/28/2020

2 Comments

      It's definitely not the best of times. But it's probably not the worst of times, either, considering how bad times can actually get, and have gotten throughout the course of human history, usually for reasons of our own making.
       Still, for most of us this is a time when we could all use a bright spot in our day, a little something to give us a brief smile, a pleasant moment, a little point of light.
       To this end, I'm going to post a series on a few people who, during this time of worldwide sickness, sadness, and uncertainty, are using their Facebook pages to share a bit of daily laughter, comfort, or diversion to brighten our days.
       As I have only a couple of subjects to write about at this point - subsequently it'll probably be a short series - I'm going to call the series A Couple Points of Light, the idea being to share these Facebook pages with anyone who might like to become followers and enjoy a little point of light in their day.

My first point of light is Mark R. Harris.

Mark R. Harris, PhD, teaches American literature, Shakespeare, postmodern literature, and writing at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. He's written two novels,

...as well as literary articles on Borges, Hawthorne, and the fiction of Mark Twain. His verse has been published in several poetry reviews. And Dr. Harris is a connoisseur of jokes, which he shares daily on his Facebook page.
Now, lots of people share jokes on their Facebook page. But Mark Harris shares consistently great jokes. Awesome jokes. Funny jokes.
His joke shares began popping up on my Facebook feed shortly after we friended, our acquaintance having been made from sharing the same publisher, Black Rose Writing.

     One joke was funnier than the other. I loved them all. On days when I didn't see a Mark R. Harris joke on my time line I'd hop over to his Facebook page in case I'd missed one. In fact I still do. A few days ago Facebook notified me that I was a Mark R. Harris Top Fan. (I'm not sure how Facebook knew that, but I can't deny that it's true. In fact I'd venture to call myself a Mark R. Harris Superfan).
      I contacted Mark and asked him where he found such an abundance of great jokes. He replied:
     "Where do I get the jokes...from searching around Facebook, pretty much. I scroll through my feed each day and save any jokes that I think are really funny. Sometimes they are from Facebook pages like Facebook Puns, or Dad Jokes, and sometimes they are something one of my FB friends has posted. I keep a file of them and pick one each night to post.
      The jokes he posts are often of the double-entendre variety.

However some require a bit of cultural savvy to appreciate,

...while others might take a moment to figure out.

Some are groaners,

...and some are just uncategorizably funny.

      Those are just a few. The jokes on Dr. Harris's Facebook page are great in number.
      Mark shared as his reason for posting his found jokes, "(I'm) Just trying to brighten someone's day,"
       And he does indeed. You can follow his jokes on his Facebook page, Mark R. Harris.

2 Comments

Why Hydroxychloroquine Did No Harm To Donald Trump

5/23/2020

0 Comments

      Who believes for a minute that Donald Trump really took hydroxychloroquine to ward off COVID-19?
       Who believes for one minute, for one second, that Donald Trump would risk his life and health by taking a drug that medical experts have pronounced dangerous and potentially deadly?
        On the other hand, who believes Donald Trump would lie about taking it?

Right.
And why wouldn't he lie about taking the drug? Lying is what Donald Trump does. Lying comes as naturally to him as breathing. Donald Trump lies because he can. And because he can get away with it. Donald Trump revels in lying, and he's a master at delegating others to prop up his lies or do his lying for him.
And so how much credence can be given to the statement by his press-secretary-du-jour Kayleigh McEnany that it was in fact the White House doctor who prescribed the hydroxychloroquine for Trump?

About as much credence as can be given to any of the Trump-flavored nonsense she spouts on a regular basis.

As for the White House doctor, Sean Conley,

...who is said to have prescribed - and, one assumes, dispensed - the hydroxychloroquine to Trump - that is to say, one can't imagine Donald sending Melania to the CVS to fill his prescription - Dr. Conley did not publicly admit to prescribing the drug for Donald Trump. Nor did he deny prescribing it. Which is enough to float the assumption that he did prescribe it. Even if he didn't.
       Donald Trump would lie about taking hydroxychloroquine because he once touted it as a miracle cure for COVID-19 and Donald Trump cannot tolerate being proven wrong. So he'll lie to prove to the world that he was right all along: Hydroxychloroquine did no harm to me, see? It's perfectly safe. I don't have the coronavirus, see? It works. And any statement, true or false, that Trump throws out about anything is caught by his base, held close to their hearts, and results in them believing in him, defending him and cleaving to him all the more.
     And Trump's claim of taking hydroxychloroquine has likewise required his allies and party members to once again give him a public show of their support and loyalty.
      James P. Bradley, a Republican U.S. House candidate in California, tweeted: "Donald Trump taking hydroxychloroquine to ward off coronavirus is a kick-ass move that proves why he is the bravest and strongest of all American presidents.”
      Roger Marshall, a doctor - a doctor - who is is running in the Republican U.S. Senate primary in Kansas announced that he and his family were taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent catching COVID-19.
      The members of Trump's cabinet have publicly backed his use of hydroxychloroquine, and even the Food and Drug Administration softened its warning on the danger of the drug when Donald Trump announced that he was taking it. Because that is the power of the voice of a President who uses his power against anyone who dares to speak up against anything he does.
      And then there's the detail that the Trump organization has a financial interest in Sanofi, a French company that manufactures hydroxychloroquine.
       And in the meantime Trump continues to create buzz around himself as Americans discuss whether and why Donald Trump is taking the drug, whether and why Donald Trump is showing prescience or idiocy, whether and why doctors should follow Donald Trump's lead or condemn it, all this talk about Donald Trump and hydroxychloroquine, just another distraction from the fact that 100,000 Americans have died of coronavirus with more dying every day and Trump has never had a real plan for rescuing our country from the ravages of this pandemic.
       And in the end, if it should be leaked that Donald Trump did in fact lie about having taken hydroxychloroquine, why, he can always just lie about having lied in the first place.
        So why should Donald Trump have taken the risk of ingesting a deadly, dangerous, ineffective drug when he could reap the benefits by simply lying about it?
     Which brings me back to my first question: Who believes that Donald Trump really took hydroxychloroquine?

Happy Memorial Day, Everyone. Next year in a healthier country. With a better President.

References
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/24/coronavirus-trump-says-he-finished-taking-hydroxychloroquine/5253492002

https://www.thedailybeast.com/republicans-use-potentially-lethal-drug-hydroxychloroquine-as-trump-bait

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/498803-white-house-doctor-prescribed-hydroxychloroquine-for-trump-mcenany

ttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-us-doctors-taking-trumps-lead-on-hydroxychloroquine-–-despite-mixed-results/ar-BB14wrPj?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=SK216DHP

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/19/politics/trump-cabinet-meeting/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/22/health/hydroxychloroquine-sales-covid-19-trump-invs/index.html

0 Comments

Gentle Annie Glenn

5/21/2020

0 Comments

Annie and John Glenn on their wedding day.

       In the mid-1990's my husband Tom, at that time a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, was president of the Ohio chapter of the Reserve Officers' Association.
       The ROA held its yearly national convention in Washington, D.C., and during the convention it was protocol for the officers to stop in for a visit with their U.S. Senators and Representatives. At that time one of our Ohio Senators was John Glenn.
       Below is a photo of Tom with other members of the Ohio ROA visiting John Glenn in his Senate office in 1996. (That's Tom, third from the right, behind John Glenn's left shoulder).

         One year Senator Glenn returned the courtesy to the members of the Ohio Reserve Officers' Association by visiting during the organization's state convention, held that year at the Holiday Inn East in Columbus.
       Senator Glenn came by one evening for an informal reception during which the attending ROA members could meet and mingle and chat with him. As spouses were invited to the reception, Tom brought me along.
        I remember seeing John Glenn surrounded by a crowd of officers and their spouses trying to meet and perhaps have a word with the man who, besides being our Senator, was a national icon, the first American to orbit the earth.
         Tom and I were standing away from the crowd when Tom said, "Look, there's Annie Glenn."
         "Where?" said I, following his line of vision.
         "There, standing by herself."
        I saw an older woman with beautiful brown eyes standing alone in a corner of the room. "That's Annie Glenn?" I asked.
          "Yeah," said Tom. "Let's go over and say hi to her."
          "Wait, do you really think we should?" I asked. "I mean, maybe she doesn't want anybody bothering her?"
          "Yeah, we should," said Tom. "Nobody likes to be standing by themselves. Come on. I want to talk to her about stuttering."
           I will admit now that I was already cringing while I followed behind the Lieutenant Colonel as he strode over to John Glenn's wife. Annie Glenn, it was generally known, had had a severe and debilitating stuttering problem for most of her life, and it was only in her 50's that she finally received therapy that enabled her to overcome her stuttering and to communicate clearly. Tom also had several speech impediments during his childhood including a severe stuttering problem which required a decade of speech therapy with a number of practitioners to overcome.
           As it turned out, I need not have worried about us offending Mrs. Glenn. Her face lit up in a friendly smile when we said hello and introduced ourselves. Tom, always one to get to the point, immediately asked Annie Glenn about her stuttering problem and shared that he'd had one, too.
            The two then got into a discussion, swapping stories of their experiences and treatments. I stood by in wonder that this woman, who traveled in circles of the eminent and powerful, who was good friends with President and Lady Bird Johnson and best friends with Robert Kennedy's wife Ethel, had not a bit of star dust about her. One could tell that she was genuinely warm. And nice. And gentle. She was as involved in her conversation with Tom as if we were all friends. And during that moment it felt as if we were.
            Annie Glenn as I picture her looking when we met her.

      Annie Glenn, philanthropist, advocate and inspiration for people with speech and communication disorders, adjunct professor of speech pathology at the Ohio State University, and beloved by many, died two days ago at age 100 from the coronavirus.
   And through my mind keeps drifting, like a fitting elegy, the words of an old Stephen Foster song:
                                    Thou wilt come no more, gentle Annie,
          Like a flower thy spirit did depart,
       Though art gone, alas, like the many,
                                   That have bloomed in the summer of our heart.
        Rest in Peace, Gentle Annie Glenn.

0 Comments

My 2020 Commencement Speech

5/18/2020

0 Comments

Sex. Self-image. Social expectations. Go figure.

Available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Hail-Mary-Patti-Liszkay/dp/1684334888/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1589469057&sr=8-1

And Barnes & Nobel:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hail-mary-patti-liszkay/1136492966?ean=9781684334889

Every year around this time I shuffle through my folder of life lessons, observations, and experience to find a few words of worldly advice to offer to the current class of high school and college graduates. In my yearly speech - shared here on my blog - I generally aim to cover a few of the practical bases that might not be covered in more lofty commencement speeches,

...such as how to make the perfect baked potato,

...or the importance of never playing with another person's heart.

   But I think I'll save that sort of advice for my 2021 commencement speech.
       Because if ever there were a class of graduates in need of some words of wisdom, hope and encouragement to help soften for them the rough edges of this time they're living through, it's the class of 2020.
      And though many words have already been offered to this year's graduates in virtual commencement speeches by people of such great intellect, accomplishment, and good will as

Barack Obama,

Malala Yousafzai,

LeBron James,

...and Megan Rapinoe,

...I'll add my few words, too.
     And so, to you, the class of 2020, all you young people to whom my heart goes out, here is my commencement speech:

       You, the members of class of 2020, are living in a moment of history. And though no one chooses to live in times such as these, humanity manages to survive them just the same.
     Survival is the key, and your goal at the moment is to survive this pandemic so that you can come out on the other side of it and pick up your future from where your life left off when all this began. And remember, you are not alone in this - as we are all the time reminded, we are all in this together. We're all in the same boat.
    But the rough seas we're all sailing will calm eventually, if not right away. And though at this moment it seems as though the world has been under quarantine for an immeasurable amount of time, remember that our country has been under lock down for just two months, and that societies have been known to endure and survive turbulent times, times of hardship, wars, plagues and pandemics past, for years. But again, they survive and live to see better, happier times. And so will you.

The important thing is, again, to see this as your moment in history, for better or worse, but at the same time to see beyond this moment, because this moment will pass.
     You are a member of a special generation, a generation that will have lived through a global pandemic, the time of the COVID-19 or Coronavirus Pandemic, as it will go down in history. You will have been part of it, it will be your story. And you will tell your story to the generations that come after you. You'll tell of how things were during the time of the pandemic, how all school was cancelled, how you missed the end of your senior year and your graduation, how you couldn't see your friends because everyone was under lock down and had to stay home. And those who hear your story will be amazed and will look at you with the respect shown to those who've been through times of trial and hardship and are subsequently seen as possessing the special strength and resilience of their generation
       But the most important thing now is to stay safe, to stay home, to social distance, to wear your mask out of caring for the well-being of those around you who wear their masks out of caring for your well-being. And to remember, once again, that, though we're all isolated from each other and not a little lonely, in our separation from each other we're all in this together.
      Keep your head up. Get through this time, whatever it takes.

And, by the way, to make the best, most delicious baked potatoes with crispy skins and the fluffiest insides, bake the potatoes at 400 degrees for two hours. Believe me.

0 Comments

The Bitter Truth About Dandelions

5/14/2020

0 Comments

        "Hail Mary," the sequel to "Equal and opposite Reactions,"
        is now available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Hail-Mary-Patti-Liszkay/dp/1684334888/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1589469057&sr=8-1

         And Barnes & Nobel:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hail-mary-patti-liszkay/1136492966?ean=9781684334889

"Hail Mary": A woman discovers the naked truth about herself.

"A hilarious, bizarre, sometimes ribald tale of extended, blended families, swapped spouses and plenty of extramarital boinking." -R. Bruce Logan, author of As The Lotus Blooms

"Liszkay continues to dazzle with fresh and funny characters from beginning to end." -Daniel B. Oliver, author of The Long Road

The Bitter Truth About Dandelions

      My previous post about the dandelion take-over of the lawns in my suburban neighborhood (see previous post, "Day of the Dandelion") generated a number of comments on Facebook regarding the  edibility of this putative weed.
       A couple of respondents had memories of a grandparent or neighbor fermenting dandelions into wine. One writer recounted how in college she would pick dandelions, her boyfriend and his housemates would make them into wine, then she would help drink the wine - which she said was really very good - and wash the glasses.
        One friend said she'd eaten dandelion leaves in salads and reiterated the nutritional value of the greens, which are apparently sky-high in calcium and iron.
         Another friend posted a dandelion pesto recipe.

        Now I was intrigued. It suddenly occurred to me that I had in my yard a free fortune in fresh nutritious greens. I was delighted at the prospect of eating these greens and of henceforth pocketing the money I'd up until now spent on spinach and romaine.
        Yesterday I decided to harvest my first crop of dandelion leaves, which I planned to season and lightly sauté in a bit of butter and olive oil.
        And so I grabbed a pot, a couple of pairs of kitchen shears and my daughter, and we headed out to the backyard to gather a potful of greens.

The dandelions in my backyard, though plentiful, were of the small variety, which meant that the leaves were small as well, and it soon became clear to us that in order to fill the pot we were going to have to snip us a heck of a lot of dandelion leaves. Maybe every dandelion leaf in the yard.

And so after we'd picked a few leaves I decided to give them a taste test before we went on.

      The leaf I tasted was bitter. Not just bitter, but BITTER. I tried a couple more leaves. They were BITTER. If I hadn't heard otherwise, I would have taken dandelion leaves for being poisonous.
      "Ew," I said, these taste awful."
      "What," said my daughter, "you've never eaten dandelion greens before?"
       "No," I said. "Have you?"
       "Oh, yeah. In salads."
       "Well, they taste so awful, why would anybody even want to eat dandelion greens?" said I.
       "Why would anybody want to eat arugula?" said my daughter. "Haven't you ever eaten arugula?"
       "Well, yeah," I said. "In salads."
     "Dandelion greens are the same as arugula," said my daughter. "They're bitter. You're not supposed to eat them alone, you're supposed to eat them in a salad. With other things."
         But with the taste of the naked dandelion green still assaulting my tongue, I never wanted to eat another bitter green again, either solo or camouflaged by other vegetables. I tossed the the greens in the pot onto the grass.
         I was disappointed, but then I remembered that I'd read that the greens weren't the only edible part of the dandelion; the whole plant was safe to eat. I'd also read that the yellow flower was sweeter than the leaves, and could also be eaten raw in a salad or sauteed. So I decided to give the dandelion one more chance to be eaten.
        I cut off a dandelion in bloom,

....and as I prepared to put it into my mouth my mate, who was out working in the garden caught sight of me and called, "I wouldn't eat that!"

        "What?" said I, stopping the dandelion short of my mouth. "Why not? It's edible."
        "I've only ever heard of the greens being edible. I've never heard of anybody eating the top."
         "Well, the top is edible, too," I said.
         "Says who?" he asked.
         "Says...the internet," I replied, feeling suddenly sheepish.
         "The internet," he said.
         "I mean, I read it a couple of places."
          "The internet," he said.
          I dropped the dandelion flower, untasted, back to the earth from whence it sprang.

0 Comments

Day of the Dandelion

5/11/2020

0 Comments

Has anyone else been noticing in their area an unusually wide-spread plenitude of dandelions of late?
On my daily outings around my neighborhood I've been seeing a great proliferation of them where I haven't seen them in springs past.

On the otherwise well-appointed suburban lawns they bloom as if part of the intended landscaping.

True, they're not on every lawn; there are still yards uniformly carpeted with pristine TruGreen grass, not a blade out of place, as has traditionally been considered de riguer for lawns in a suburban neighborhood such as mine.
Still, for the first time I can recall, I'm seeing an awful lot of dandelions around,

... and I'm wondering what it means.
         Have this spring's the cool temperatures and overabundance of rain resulted in the propagation of a line of super dandelions gifted with an immunity to chemical weed-killers?
         Or is something else going on?
       A few days ago during my daily afternoon one-around-the-neighborhood with my mate,

...and while passing through what is rather the high-end area of the 'hood, we came across a sweeping front yard piled with dozens of bags of mulch and strewn with dandelions. The owner of the house was working in the yard, tending to her flowerbeds.
      We stopped to compliment her (from a social distance, of course) on her garden and during the course of the conversation I asked her about the dandelions, not just in her yard, but in yards all around. She shared that she'd stopped using chemical lawn treatments a couple of years ago out of concern for the environment and had subsequently been pulling up the dandelions herself.
       "But this year," she said, "I've changed my thinking on dandelions, too. I'm guessing maybe other people are starting to change their thinking about lawn chemicals and dandelions. Aren't dandelions supposed to be edible and pretty nutritious?"
       I, too, had heard tell that dandelion greens were edible, however whether it was true or hearsay I did not know. So I looked up the subject online and here's what I learned from a website called Money Crashers:
   "This innocuous “weed” is actually one of the most nutrient-dense plants you can eat. It blows superfoods like spinach and kale out of the water. Everything, from the flower all the way down to the roots, is edible. And, dandelions also happen to be delicious. The taste of dandelion resembles a slightly bitter green like arugula. You can eat them fresh in salads, or cook them on the stove."

    And fas far as nutrition goes:
"one half cup of dandelions contain more calcium than a glass of milk, and more iron than spinach. One cup of dandelion greens contains 19 mg of Vitamin C, and the leaves contain more Vitamin A than carrots. And if you need some Vitamin K in your life, there’s no better source than dandelion leaves; 55 mg of leaves contain a whopping 535% of your daily value.
     Dandelions are also chock full of other essential minerals such as potassium, folic acid, and magnesium."     However, we humans might not want to start chowing down too heartily on dandelions, as, according to the website phys.org:
     "They (dandelions) are becoming very important as a food source for domestic and wild species of bees, particularly in early spring because they grow so soon. Butterflies and moths also feed on them as a source of sugar, and some species of birds feed on dandelion seeds"

Of course, the way dandelions multiply and disseminate, there should always be more than enough of them for the birds, bees, and any humans who might want to partake.
Which I'm thinking I just might; as we've never been aficionados of chemical lawn treatments the dandelions have always had the run of our yard.

At least now we're in good company.

References
https://www.moneycrashers.com/eating-dandelions-health-benefits-leaves-greens-roots-flowers/

https://phys.org/news/2019-06-dandelions.html

0 Comments

Do They Have Eyes But Fail To See, Ears But Fail To Hear?

5/7/2020

0 Comments

           '"I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
         “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
        “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
         “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” - Luke 16: 27-31

   And while the future's there for anyone to change still you know it seems
            It would be easier sometimes to change the past - Jackson Browne

     Unbelievable.
     Our country is in the early stage of a deadly pandemic. Early stage, so say national health experts across the U.S. As of yesterday in the United States there were 1.2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 - which, it is believed, is probably a fraction of the unconfirmed cases - and 74,000 deaths, also probably a fraction of the actual coronavirus deaths. And the numbers are still on the rise.
       The pandemic has been going on for less than two months - not two years, or five, or ten, or the numbers of years societies have been known to endure and survive hardships - and it's too early to lift stay at home orders. It's too early to re-open the country for business as usual. Or even for business not as usual.
       The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention project that if states begin re-opening now then by June 1, three weeks from now, there will be 3,000 deaths a day in the United States. The White House predicts that if states re-open now - as Donald Trump encourages them to do - its original projected COVID-19 death toll in the United states will double by August. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation predicts that that number will more than double. And these projections are only for the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A second, much worse wave of sickness and death is projected for the fall and winter if states re-open now.
     States are re-opening anyway.
     Every pandemic model, every scientist, every health agency from the CDC to local public health agencies are warning that this end of sheltering in place means that we are headed into a terrible spike in coronavirus deaths. And yet states are lifting stay at home orders anyway and are re-opening for business to varying degrees, but re-opening all the same. Offices, stores, restaurants, movie theaters, hair salons, beaches, factories, warehouses, all the places in which this insidious virus will thrive and spread.
      Here's what's so unbelievable: Our leaders know that re-opening the country now will cause coronavirus deaths to spike. And they're allowing the country to re-open anyway. Businesses owners from corporate to small know that re-opening will cause the virus to spread. People know that being out in public places puts their lives at risk. But businesses are re-opening anyway. And people are going out anyway, some going flagrantly into crowded, blatantly unsafe places.
      And in August when 2 million people are sick with the coronavirus and 200,000 Americans have died from it and continue to die we won't be able to ask how this tragedy happened, and mourn if only we'd known.
       Because we do know. We know, but too many Americans don't believe. They believe that the hundreds of thousands who die will be others, not them. Never them.
     No matter what the prophets tell them.

They wouldn't be convinced even if someone came back from the dead.

References:
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/live-blog/2020-05-07-coronavirus-news-n1201801

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/04/us/coronavirus-live-updates.html

https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/495679-coronavirus-cases-deaths-are-spiking-in-some-of

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/06/health/cdc-coronavirus-truths-trnd/index.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-19-models-early-lockdown-lifts-deaths-georgia-2020-4

The Gospel of Mark Chapter 8, Verse 18

0 Comments

With Apologies To Robert Frost...And Maybe Joyce Kilmer, Too?

5/2/2020

0 Comments

LAST CHANCE TO ORDER "HAIL MARY" AT A 15% DISCOUNT
"Hail Mary," the sequel to "Equal and opposite Reactions," is available for a few more days for pre-order at a 15% discount from Black Rose Writing at:
https://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/hailmary
...and by using the promo code PREORDER2020.
"Hail Mary": A woman discovers the naked truth about herself.