OLd Age Fun

It's Frozen Custard in Southern California !

A small, unassuming shop in a mini mall in Irvine...
..carrying on a long tradition started by the Strickland family in Ohio in 1936.
...using these wonderfully fshioned cylinders to make....

FROZEN CUSTARD....!!But here in Southern California at this Strickland's, they just call it homemade ice cream. (Because if you're not from the midwest, you wouldn't understand. )

It is cool velvet on the tongue! I had this vanilla cone first, then went back and got chocolate.

My husband had banana, one of the flavors of the day.

On the monthly schedule of flavors, I see that on July 30th, they offer avocado !

Youth

Here is a young lady, age 20, pure and perfect!

To Make Someday

 

A nice cloth basket with handles....soft and pleasant.

Author James T. Summerhays

I thought this was interesting...

http://ldsmag.com/ideas/100514twisted.html
During the twentieth century, many in the emerging fields of brain science operated under the assumption of absolute biological materialism—the idea that all reality in life can be reduced to our natural, physical dimension. For example, some neuroscientists sought to explain the deep mysteries of human consciousness not as any cosmic interconnection of spirit and matter but merely as a series of chemical reactions in the brain. Such assumptions in reductive materialism and pure determinism may sometimes be necessary within the realm of controlled scientific inquiry; but when adopted as a way of life, determinism has profound repercussions not only in the political realm of social strife but also in the quieter realm of personal and spiritual struggle.
For example, academic circles and mass media outlets alike reported the neuroscientific discovery that human qualities are determined in the first few years of life. True, the developing brain is a specimen of great wonder as neurons and synapses nimbly multiply and trim themselves according to external stimuli, but once the brain’s hardware is fully wired, it is no longer plastic or pliable and therefore is much like that old dog, the one with no new tricks.
Parents had about three years to make the right impression on their child—or else. From the late 1940s onward, determinism became big business as disciples of Dr. Benjamin Spock and disciples of behaviorism rushed out to buy the latest parenting manual. In fact, proper child development became a great controversy between behaviorists and Spockites in the 1940s and 1950s precisely because both sides assumed that the window of opportunity to mold the little tykes was so fleeting and so crucial.
Science may not have intended it, but there was a side effect to this zeitgeist, namely that adults were banished to the doghouse where the proverbial old dog dwelt. The philosophical ramifications of pure determinism became the devastating, albeit conventional, wisdom. If the wellspring of all adult thoughts and cognitions cannot change, then adults themselves cannot change; thus, happy notions of regeneration or repentance are but deluded tricks grown-ups play on themselves. Any appearance of authentic change in the human spirit can be dismissed as an anomaly in the human biological system. As a result, countless adults, helped along by Freudianism, bemoaned the abominable events of their childhood as the cause of their troubles, and countless more used their childhood as an excuse to make trouble and act rather abominably.
As it turns out, more recent research into neuroplasticity has firmly established that the adult brain is capable of profound changes even in the later stages of life. Beginning in earnest during the early 1990s and picking up steam in the 2000s, influential researchers began publishing their findings in adult neuroplasticity. A seismic shift began taking place in the field of psychology at the same time, for if adult neuroplasticity is possible, then it would follow that many aspects of psychology would need to be revisited—which, it appears, is precisely what happened. Four psychologists—Seligmann, Haidt, Schwartz, and Burns—exemplify this seismic shift.
In 1990, Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman wrote for a general audience Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life, which later helped spawn the positive psychology movement as well as instill the hope that people are not helpless and that profound and fundamental changes are possible in adulthood. Seligman and others note that the DSM-IV, the manual used by all psychiatrists and psychologists to diagnose their patients, is a thousand-page codex of every mental flaw ever discovered but has almost nothing to say about human strengths and how to build upon them. Such a negative skew does have important and even vital uses, but all shadows and no light is rather dreary, particularly to those trying to chase away the indigo shades of anxiety and depression. Positive psychology has become a welcome desert shekinah to those groping for more illumination.
Just as quantum mechanics infused a mystical essence into the sciences, researchers in positive psychology also began to see patterns and correlations emerge between the new understanding of neuroplasticity and age-old religious practices. Dr. Jonathan Haidt set out on the ambitious task of sifting through and redacting those universal moral ideas found in all the major ancient religions and civilizations and then reinterpreting them according to modern research in positive psychology and neuroscience—thus was born The Happiness Hypothesis. Such a link between religion and this new psychology is compelling, so compelling that even an atheist like Haidt can see it. And for believers, there is something soul-satisfying in seeing Jesus’ and Paul’s admonitions vindicated in verifiable research.
For instance, Haidt points out that the Christian (as well as Buddhist and Hindu) notion that humans are divided beings battling between two forces is also true for the brain. Scientists can measure brain waves in the left and right frontal cortexes, areas found just behind the forehead. But “it has long been known from studies of brainwaves that most people show an asymmetry” (33). Those who are naturally happy, upbeat, and given to other positive emotions show stronger brain activity in the left frontal cortex. Those who suffer depression, anxiety disorders, and a host of other negative emotions display a more active right frontal cortex. In fact, a person’s level of happiness “is one of the most highly heritable aspects of personality” (33). But inheritance need not kill hope. Haidt argues that “you can change your affective style” (35) to a happier disposition, and he points to research showing that focused prayer and religious meditation can cajole the brain’s activity to lean to the happy left.
Haidt and Seligman are willing to engage religious ideas, but Latter-day Saints are still likely to disagree with a few of their views concerning the restrictions materialistic biology places on human nature. Seligman suggests elsewhere that abnormal sexual identity is totally unchangeable, and Haidt devotes a portion of his book to exploring research that suggests spiritual experiences are merely a series of neurochemical reactions in the brain’s temporal lobes that can be manipulated with drugs (201–206).
Such passages may strike Latter-day Saints as somewhat faithless and skeptical, especially coming from a couple of positive psychologists. Latter-day Saints do acknowledge biology as a powerful force, but one that under normal circumstances influences human action rather than one that determines it. Latter-day Saints do acknowledge that in some cases biology has a stranglehold on freedom of choice (such as those with severe mental handicaps, major neuropsychiatric disorders, or advanced chemical addictions), but even then they hold on to the hope that someday, somehow, there will be miraculous relief.
Also, for Haidt to observe that a reported spiritual experience has an effect on the physical brain creates no problems in Mormon theology, which teaches that the essence we call spirit is actually a refined material. Hence there is nothing very spooky in the idea that the temporal lobe, though physical, might help interpret spiritual data. But for Haidt to suggest that the source of the experience begins and ends in the brain seems, to a believer, particularly closed-minded.
True, Latter-day Saints and scientists alike acknowledge that certain deterministic boundaries exist because of biology. We all experience them and easily observe them every day. But Latter-day Saints come from a tradition where they believe, for instance, that the people in the city of Enoch, over a lengthy process of time, were so transformed that they no longer belonged on this earth and were taken to heaven. It should not be surprising, then, that Latter-day Saints are likely to hold a more optimistic view on the possibilities of human change and redemption than what much of the research currently suggests.
More in line with this Latter-day Saint optimism, two other psychologists’ works exhibit much more unabashed exuberance towards the powers of human agency in swimming against the pull of mighty biocurrents: Dr. Jeffrey R. Schwartz’s The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force and Dr. David D. Burns’s bestseller, Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. Schwartz and Burns strike me as more willing to push against the boundaries of determinism and forge ahead under a new, brain-as-dynamo paradigm—but not in a foolhardy way. They point to mountains of research—much of it more cutting edge—and decades of clinical experience to back them up.
Schwartz introduces readers to a world where patients with total paralysis move cursors on computer screens with the power of their own brain waves; subjects who overcome paralysis through prolonged mental effort despite the sensory nerves to their arms being completely severed; patients who suffer profoundly from obsessive-compulsive disorder receiving considerable or complete relief through “redirected attention,” a method that observably changes their brains’ structure; and examples of mind-over-matter that do indeed exist beginning at the quantum level.
Delightfully, Schwartz also considers the spiritual realm of the mind in connection with the material realm. His smashing together of the ancient spiritual particle and the new science particle creates a brilliant flash of energy that should be quite refreshing to educated religionists. And more than refreshing, his book is also a sobering reminder of the moral hazards that arise when spiritual notions of mind and consciousness are altogether removed from neuroscience:
Wrestling with the mystery of mind and matter is no mere academic parlor game. The rise of modern science in the seventeenth century—with the attendant attempt to analyze all observable phenomena in terms of mechanical chains of causation—was a knife in the heart of moral philosophy, for it reduced human beings to automatons. If all of the body and brain can be completely described without invoking anything so empyreal as a mind, let alone a consciousness, then the notion that a person is morally responsible for his actions appears quaint, if not scientifically naïve.
A machine cannot be held responsible for its actions. If our minds are impotent to affect our behavior, then surely we are no more responsible for our actions than a robot is. It is an understatement to note that the triumph of materialism, as applied to questions of mind and brain, therefore makes many people squirm. For if the mysteries of the mind are reducible to physics and chemistry, then “mind is but the babbling of a robot, chained ineluctably to crude causality,” as the neurobiologist Robert Doty put it in 1998. (52)
Related to Schwartz’s ideas on redirected attention, Burns’s book Feeling Good has pioneered the field of cognitive restructuring, which is a systematic redirecting of a person’s distorted thoughts toward more truthful thoughts. Humans have an automatic internal dialogue of thoughts running nearly all the time, and, as it turns out, this internal dialogue often lies. Catastrophizing, overgeneralizing, labeling, filtering, and other distorted thoughts create distorted emotions. Reprogram the distorted internal dialogue, and watch depression, anxiety, anger, and other troubling states of mind dissipate over time:
Even if there is some type of genetic or biological disorder in at least some depressions, psychotherapy can often help to correct these problems, even without medications. Many research studies, as well as my own clinical experience, have confirmed that severely depressed patients who appear very “biologically” depressed with lots of physical symptoms often respond rapidly to cognitive therapy alone without any drugs. (460)
Also, several independent studies reveal that depressed patients “appear to stay undepressed longer than patients who receive only antidepressant medication therapy and no psychotherapy” (462). The mind’s ability to overcome biological forces is powerful indeed, but it is no reason to become giddy or reckless. Those with severe disorders like bipolar I or schizophrenia must almost always stabilize their condition with medication first before volitional cognitive restructuring can have any effect (462). “My clinical practice,” says Burns, “has always been predicated on an integrated approach” to biology and the mind (463).
Latter-day Saints can benefit from a more integrated approach as well; whatever spiritual advantages they might enjoy do not always translate into mental health advantages. They suffer from mental disorders almost as frequently as the larger population. But many Latter-day Saints are suspicious of psychology, partly because of its secular nature (and its Freudian beginnings) and partly because of the idea that true religion is supposed to fix everything.
For some Latter-day Saints, using psychotherapy is to admit spiritual defeat. Ironically, the scriptures are saturated with Schwartz and Burns—or at least the principles they espouse. Latter-day Saints eager to learn more about the workings of their minds should consider reading The Mind and the Brain to gain much-needed hope and then Feeling Good to gain much-needed skills.
Among brain researchers, the adage once was, “For every twisted thought, a twisted molecule.” Now it might read, “For every twisted thought, there is a way to untwist it.” Granted, all those ways have not yet been discovered. Many mental disorders baffle both subjects and scientists to this day. The city of Enoch example must be tempered by the example of the “lunatics” in the New Testament who were quite helpless to control their actions until Christ performed a miracle. But for those who are suffering milder disorders and for those “normal” people who just want to keep improving and progressing well into old age, neuroplasticity offers the evidence that such change is possible. And Schwartz and Burns uncover two main roots of that change: human belief and human will. A crucial moment on the path to brain transformation is when people first believe they can transform it and then decide to transform it.
This is not to say it will not take time, effort, and wisdom, nor is it to say that many will not need the help of medication or the guidance of a good doctor. Schwartz’s research using brain imaging technologies firmly establishes that consistent amounts of doctor-assisted mental effort over months and even years, amounting to thousands of good choices, is often necessary to affect the desired biological changes within the brain. And, of course, adult neuroplasticity has certain boundaries, just as human agency has certain boundaries.
But we now have strong evidence that those boundaries are less confining than previously supposed. Schwartz’s research firmly establishes that another essence is working on the brain that transcends a deterministic biology; something else is looping back onto the brain and changing it. I call it humanity—external human experience and internal human will. Many more psychologists today agree that this humanity has great transformative power, and they are throwing off the old Freudian-era sturm und drang and embracing a more optimistic and pragmatic approach to psychology. And many others, like Schwartz, go a step further and see neuroplasticity as one more reason that the scientific realities of material determinism should be interweaved with the religious and spiritual perspectives of agency, will, and volition.
Biological determinism is everywhere, and to some of it we must surrender. All are susceptible to infirmity and disease. All must grow old and die. But these facts are no reason for scientists, philosophers, or regular folk to surrender to a one-sided determinism that does not allow for transformation, redemption, liberty, and transcendence. Gladly, if the new research is any indication, such a surrender will not be necessary.

James T. Summerhays (james.summerhays@byu.edu) is Administrative Editor at BYU Studies and is a member of the BYU Studies Review Board. His recent publications include “The Cosmic Mind: The Blueprint of Our Potential,” accessible at www.meridianmagazine.com
``````````````
Before his position as an editor at BYU Studies, James T. Summerhays was New Media Editor at Deseret Book and most recently an administrator in the Continuing Education department at BYU. Having been involved in the publishing world in some capacity since the time he was sixteen, he has always been fascinated with different mediums of communicating ideas.
“Communication, whether it be in art, music, or the written word has always been my passion,” he says. “The challenge of expressing a lofty idea with clarity and persuasion has always intrigued me. I never tire of it. If there is a way to perfectly capture the true essence of the Restoration through a symphony, or if there is a way that the clever turn of a phrase could forcefully convey the reality of some exalted principle, then I am interested in that way.” Such a challenge can be frustrating, however, “I probably fail most of the time, but the process of trying to discover a perfect and powerful form can be fun.”
James has published numerous articles and has recently produced the documentary Witness the Restoration: The Smith Family Artifacts and Their Story. James and his wife Mary have five children, and he enjoys golf, music composition, art, and basketball — “at least back when I could jump.

my face

Another favorite flower

I love PEONIES ! ! ! !

Funeral Mass for Poland's President

Coffins with the remains of the Polish presidential couple are taken to the Basilica of Our Lady in Krakow. Tens of thousands of grieving Poles packed into Krakow for the burial of President Lech Kaczynski, though Europe's air travel crisis kept many world leaders away.






Polish soldiers bring remains of late Polish Preisdent Lech Kaczynski and his wife to the Basilica of Our Lady in Krakow.

A funeral mass for Polish president Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria, who died in a plane crash a week ago, began late Saturday at St. John's Cathedral in Warsaw. Over 100,000 Poles packed the streets of Warsaw as the coffins of of President Lech Kaczynski and his wife left the presidential palace on their way to Krakow.

Poland holds funeral for president Kaczynski

By admin

Created 18/04/2010 - 17:04

http://www.france24.com/en/print/5037326?print=now
Tens of thousands of grieving Poles packed into Krakow on Sunday for the burial of President Lech Kaczynski and his wife alongside ancient kings and heroes, though Europe's air travel crisis kept many world leaders away.
US President Barack Obama and dozens of other dignitaries abandoned plans to attend because of the volcanic ash cloud, but Russian President Dmitry Medvedev showed solidarity after the April 10 plane crash in Russia that killed the couple and 94 others.
Mourners applauded the Kaczynskis, tossed flowers and waved red and white flags as the cortège weaved through the narrow streets of Poland's former royal capital, after their bodies were flown by military aircraft from Warsaw.
Sirens wailed and church bells rang to mark the start of the funeral mass at the Gothic Basilica of Our Lady in Krakow's central square, where huge crowds had gathered to see the service relayed live on giant screens.
The archbishop of Krakow, Stanislaw Dziwisz, thanked the foreign leaders who came to the service and said he hoped the crash would help end decades of tensions between Russia and Poland.
"The empathy and help that we experienced during these days from our Russian brothers raises hope for rapprochement and reconciliation," he said. "These words I direct to Mr. president of Russia."
Kaczynski's Tupolev Tu-154 jet slammed into a forest near Smolensk in western Russia while heading for a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet forces in the Katyn forest.
Acting president Bronislaw Komorowski -- who met Medvedev before the funeral along with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk -- said at the service he hoped Russia would one day reveal the full truth about the atrocity.
Despite his reputation as an often divisive nationalist, Kaczynski and his wife Maria were to be laid to rest in the cathedral crypt of Krakow's Wawel castle, alongside Poland's monarchs, national heroes, saints and poets.
They will be lowered into a sarcophagus inscribed with their names and a cross. It will lie next to that of Poland's revered independence leader, Jozef Pilsudski.
The funeral marks the climax of a national outpouring of grief since the crash, which also killed scores of senior military and civilian officials.
"It's an exceptional moment. Poles have to be here," said Maria Kurowska, the mayor of the town of Jaslo, who was in the crowd.
Police said there were nearly 100,000 mourners in Krakow, half of them outside the church and the rest on a huge square which once accommodated some two million people during a mass by Polish pope John Paul II.
A day earlier a similar number massed in Warsaw for a public memorial service for all the victims of the crash.
But the Icelandic volcano eruption that has disrupted European air travel also cast its shadow over Sunday's funeral.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Britain's Prince Charles and South Korean Prime Minister Chung Un-Chan were among dozens of dignitaries who cancelled.
The leaders of many countries close to Poland, including the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, arrived in Krakow by road and rail instead.
Eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus slammed EU officials for failing to come, saying that "grand phrases about European unity are really nothing but cliches."
Poles lining the streets of Krakow said the foreign no-shows did not detract from the solemnity of the day.
"It looks like a higher power is at work but nothing is keeping us away," said Anna Zajac, 28, who came with her husband and two children from a suburb of Krakow.

Wawel Cathedral in Poland

Polish Leader Buried In Ceremony Of Patriotism

President Obama, French President Sarkozy Cancel

VANESSA GERA, Associated Press Writer
POSTED: Sunday, April 18, 2010
UPDATED: 5:44 pm EDT April 18, 2010

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/23185984/detail.html

KRAKOW, Poland -- Tens of thousands of Poles bade farewell to President Lech Kaczynski on Sunday at a state funeral filled with pomp, pride and an outpouring of patriotism that his divisive and unpopular leadership had never generated.
Mourners applauded and chanted "We thank you!" as the caskets bearing Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, were carried slowly past pale-toned Renaissance buildings for burial among kings and poets in the ancient Wawel Cathedral.

"Poles finally appreciate him," said Ryszard Stolarski, 56, one of many weeping mourners. "I never imagined that Poland would honor Kaczynski in this way."
Many world leaders, including President Barack Obama, could not be there because their travel plans were wrecked by the enormous plume of volcanic ash that blanketed Europe.

The funeral came eight days after the Polish air force Tupolev 154 crashed on approach to Smolensk, Russia. The worst tragedy to strike Poland since World War II killed the first couple and 94 other people, including top civilian and military leaders.

In some ways the tragedy, and Russia's response to it, appear to have begun the long process of finally healing wounds that have soured the two nations' relations for decades.

Kaczynski, a lifelong skeptic of Russia and fervent anti-communist dissident, had focused on building closer ties to the United States, advocating for a U.S. missile defense base in his country. But even as president he sometimes pushed diplomacy aside to sharply criticize Russia.

Yet since the plane crash Kaczynski has become an unwitting catalyst for new words and gestures of trust between the long-divided Slavic nations.

Kaczynski's fatal flight, which investigators have said was likely caused by pilot error, was meant to take him to a memorial for 22,000 Polish officers murdered by Stalin's secret police in 1940, killings known as the Katyn massacres and intended to wipe out Poland's brightest and best.

The patriotic Kaczynski wanted to honor them and push Moscow to do more to acknowledge the Soviet crimes, which Moscow had blamed on Nazi Germany during the communist era, a cover-up often known as the "Katyn lie," and given little attention since.

After the plane crash, Kaczynski's body was recovered by Russians. The normally stoic Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin set the tone with an outpouring of emotion. And during Sunday's Roman Catholic funeral Mass, a Russian Orthodox priest also prayed over the caskets.

And though many world leaders, including Nicolas Sarkozy of France, were kept away by the travel chaos caused by Iceland's volcano, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived on a jet to pay his respects at the state funeral in the 13th-century St. Mary's Basilica.

Poland's acting president, Bronislaw Komorowski, told the congregation during the lavish state funeral for the first couple that Kaczynski's death has created hope that "we will all know the truth about the Katyn massacre."

Krakow Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz acknowledged those new ties, saying the tragedy had given rise "to many layers of good between the people and nations."

"The sympathy and help we have received from Russian brothers has breathed new life into a hope for closer relations and reconciliation between our two Slavic nations," Dziwisz said. "I direct these words to the president of Russia."

It was Medvedev's first visit to Poland, and before returning home he declared that the two nations are taking a "step into the future."

"Tragedies can bring out difficult emotions, but very often they bring people closer and I believe that that is what the residents of my country and Poles need," Medvedev said.

The rhetoric wasn't always so conciliatory.

In particular, during the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia, Kaczynski had made it clear that his loyalties were with Georgia and its president, Mikhail Saakashvili.
During the conflict he traveled to Georgia and at a mass rally accused Russia of wanting to return to the "old times" of dominating the region. "Our neighbor thinks it can fight us. We are telling it no," Kaczynski told the rally alongside the leaders of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine, all former Soviet republics.

He later declared Russia's policy "imperialist and revisionist" in a joint statement with the Baltic countries.

Those words appeared forgotten Sunday, as did Kaczynski's more combative positions. He was a conservative nationalist, winning the hearts of many older Poles and war veterans. But the younger generations often found him excessively fixated on the past and accused him of harming relations with both Germany and Russia with his focus on Poland's old wounds.

But the way in which he died -- his Tupelov 154 crashing in heavy fog with a swath of country's elite aboard -- provoked profound grief and a sudden surge of admiration.

"Kaczynski had good and bad qualities, but now you shouldn't say anything bad about the dead," said Karolina Rajchel, 19, a student who traveled five hours from Wroclaw to join the 150,000 others packing Krakow's streets.

"I am here to honor the president as well as all those who died," she said.
Those who long supported Kaczynski saw the outpouring of grief and respect toward his memory as a sign that the broader society was finally coming to appreciate him.
Before he died, his most recent opinion polls showed him with around 25 percent support, meaning he faced an uphill battle to get re-elected this autumn.

New elections must be held in June, and politicians on Monday are expected to start looking toward that balloting, now that eight days of official mourning will have passed.
One big unknown centers on who will represent Kaczynski's Law and Justice party in the election, with some observers speculating that his twin brother Jaroslaw, a former prime minister, may run in his stead.

Izabella Bruchal, a wheelchair-bound engineer who watched the Mass on one of two huge video screens in a large grassy field just beyond Krakow's Old Town, said she was happy to get a degree of closure with Sunday's funeral though said the pain would not go away quickly.

"It's been horribly difficult with the coffins coming back over several days this week -- it was a nightmare. It was necessary to bury the dead president and now I feel some relief," Bruchal, 59, said as her son wheeled her off the field when the funeral ended. "But the mourning is not over. We will grieve a long time."

After the Mass, the bodies of the first couple were carried atop a pair of artillery caissons pulled by army Humvees in a funeral procession led by the archbishop, clergy in purple robes and soldiers across the picturesque old town and up the Wawel hill, where a fortress wall encircles a castle and a 1,000-year-old cathedral overlooks the Vistula River.

As they made their way down the nearly mile-long (1.6-kilometer-long) route, the crowds waved Polish flags, clapped and chanted: "Lech Kaczynski! We thank you!"
Twenty monks rang the massive Zygmunt Bell inside the Wawel Cathedral, its pealing echoing across Krakow.

The first couple were interred together in a honey-hued sarcophagus made from Turkish alabaster in a crypt under the cathedral's Silver Bells Tower. Afterward, a battery of cannon fired 21 volleys, smoke pouring from their barrels as mourners watched.

The decision to bury Kaczynski at Wawel sparked protests in recent days, with some people saying that despite the national tragedy he still does not belong in the company of some of the nation's most august figures. The hue and cry over the decision even spilled over to Facebook where thousands said the decision was not right.

Wawel's crypt is the final resting place for numerous Polish kings and statesmen. Among those there are Gen. Wladyslaw Sikorski, the exiled World War II leader who died in a mysterious plane crash off Gibraltar in 1943; Jozef Pilsudski, who led Poland from 1926 until his death in 1935; Romantic-era poet Adam Mickiewicz; and Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a hero of the American Revolution and of Poland's 1794 uprising against Russia's occupation.
___
Associated Press Writers Monika Scislowska in Warsaw and Marta Kucharska in Krakow contributed to this report.
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved

My Favorite Flower

C O S M O S ! I love the fern-y stems and leaves and the single blossom perched on top of that light and airy greenery

Attempting to Reach America

I was fascinated by this story last month in the LA Times. A 2 week trip in a rcikety boat: these folks are brave...and desperate.

William Pierre Louis, 23, left, works on the boat. Those who can't afford to pay cash for the Florida trip provide labor.


latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-haiti-boats7-2010feb07,0,3603449.story
latimes.com
Haitians prepare for boat journey to Florida
An orphaned teen is one of two dozen Haitians on a vessel awaiting their time to leave. Some are further enticed by news that Haitians in the U.S. have 'temporary protected status' after the quake.

By Scott Kraft
February 7, 2010
Reporting from Cap-Haitien, Haiti

The unfinished wooden boat rocks gently in the backwater of Cap-Haitien Bay, lulling 17-year-old Douna Marcellus and two dozen others to sleep as tight balls of mosquitoes hover overhead. Cicadas serenade them from the reeds on one bank and, on the other, black pigs root through smoldering trash.

Like the others in the boat, Douna is a refugee from Port-au-Prince and the unspeakable horrors of the earthquake and its aftermath. Her parents and sister were crushed in their home, just seconds after Douna walked out the front door to run an errand for her mother. The government offered free bus tickets out of town and Douna took one.

But this city on Haiti's northern coast is just a way station. When builders finish the boat in a few days, it will set sail with the teenager and at least 40 others for the United States. If they survive the 600-mile crossing, and aren't intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard, they'll soon be walking the streets of opportunity.

"America is a place where everybody can become someone," Douna says before bedding down for the night, an expression of certainty on her pretty young face. "It's where everyone lives like human beings."

And besides, she says, "I have nowhere else to go."

The Jan. 12 earthquake, and reports of a U.S. administration newly sympathetic to undocumented Haitians, has meant opportunity for the shady world of Cap-Haitien boat builders who promise to make the dream of life in the United States come true. The desperate are pouring into town and many of them, like Douna, plan to escape.

'90s exodus

In the early 1990s, when a junta drove President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power, thousands of Haitians left by boat for Florida to claim political asylum. But the U.S. reinstalled Aristide to power in 1994 and in recent years the flow of boat people from Haiti has slowed to a trickle.

After the earthquake, the Obama administration quickly announced that it was granting "temporary protected status" to the more than 100,000 undocumented Haitians estimated to be living in the United States, and suspending deportation proceedings. That status can be extended up to 18 months.

The move was generally welcomed by politicians on both sides of the aisle as a fitting humanitarian gesture in the wake of the tragedy. But some expressed concern that it might trigger renewed efforts by Haitians to attempt to enter the United States by sea.

Haiti's ambassador to the United States recorded radio messages discouraging his countrymen from trying to make the risky journey, and the Coast Guard increased its patrols.

"It's clearly something people here have thought of," said Charles Luoma-Overstreet, a spokesman with the State Department's Western Hemisphere bureau. "But we've not seen any increased outflow from Haiti."

To qualify for temporary protected status, Haitians have to prove that they were in the United States on or before the quake. But for people in the country illegally, that could be difficult to verify, and the would-be immigrants in Cap-Haitien are counting on that.

'A lot of demand'

Dorcilien Louis, a taciturn man of 40, is the captain of Douna's 42-foot boat. Late last week, he was overseeing the final stages of construction: Workmen with long saws were building the cabin, and he had a crew out looking for material for a sail and a second motor. ("Our first engine has a little problem.")

It took three months to build the boat, at a cost of about $8,000, he said. When he began the project, he wasn't thinking of Miami but of Providenciales, in the Turks and Caicos Islands, about 130 miles away, where the authorities are less vigilant than the U.S. Coast Guard.

During his 15 years as a captain, Louis has made a dozen journeys to the islands with passengers hoping to start new lives and, perhaps, eventually find a way to the United States. About half of those journeys were successful, he said.

(When the authorities on those islands intercept boats from Haiti, they sink them, jail the passengers and put them on the next flight home. The U.S. Coast Guard sinks boats it intercepts as well, but usually transports the passengers back to Haiti on Coast Guard ships.)

Louis changed his itinerary, though, and stepped up the ship construction after the quake, when thousands of people began arriving from Port-au-Prince. Some of them had money, and were looking for a way to get to the United States.

"We've got a lot of demand, and these people from Port-au-Prince are the big customers," Louis said. "It's time to take the risk."

He said 40 passengers had signed up for the journey and he was expecting 20 new arrivals from the capital. The boat is built for 40 people, "but it can hold 60," he said. And if a few more paying customers show up at the last minute, he added, "we'll squeeze them on too."

The boat is being built on a narrow, secluded waterway that feeds into the bay, out of sight of Haitian coast guard patrols and U.S. ships that Louis said he's spotted on the shimmering blue sea just outside the bay.

"The U.S. Coast Guard is giving us a lot of worries," said Walker Michel Bernard, one of the passengers, who was wearing an Ohio State University cap in the sweltering sun. "They've heard we are going. But we're watching them, and as soon as we get a chance, we think we can make it."

The fare for the journey is flexible. For those who can pay, Louis charges $2,000.

"But people who don't have money can bring wood for the ship," he said. "And people who don't have wood, we put them to work as builders." (As a teenager who lost her family in the quake, Douna is being allowed to go for free, he said.)

Louis has never made the journey to the U.S., and navigation has been a problem for the boats, which often spend two weeks at sea on a trip that, even in the rickety boats, should take less than a week. But this time he is bringing along two navigators who've made the trip, though both were on boats that were stopped by the Coast Guard.

If he makes it to Miami, Louis said, it'll be his last trip as a captain. He'll push the boat back out to sea and won't give it another thought.

"I'm not coming back to Haiti. Screw the boat."

The time was right

Among Louis' passengers is Fanise Jean, 24, who lives on the ground floor of a pastel-pink French Creole house a short walk from the water. Jean has twice attempted the journey, once a year ago and again in July. Those journeys depleted her resources, which she collected as a beautician, and her stamina.

"It's a lot of suffering," she said. "People throwing up on you, you can't take a shower, there's little food, and the boat is always shaking back and forth." One of her journeys lasted 14 days because the captain got lost, and three people became ill and died.

Until last month, Jean had been resigned to waiting longer before trying again. But she began reconsidering two weeks ago, when she got word that her boyfriend, who lived in Port-au-Prince, had been crushed to death in the earthquake. "We had just talked that morning on the phone," she said.

Then, she heard from a friend in Boston who had joined her on one of the earlier attempts to reach the United States. The friend, alone among those on the boat, had been allowed to stay because she was eight months pregnant. The baby was born and the friend was being held for deportation.

"She called to tell me that she got her papers," Jean said. "Just like that. All the Haitians in the United States are getting their papers."

So, Jean decided the time was right. On both of her previous trips, Jean got within sight of Miami before the Coast Guard arrived, and those memories have stayed with her.

"We saw a lot of beautiful lights and a lot of cars," she said. "But we never touched the ground."

If she can just reach Florida, she said, "I won't have a problem. I know people everywhere there." Leaving her family makes her sad, "but I'm not all that sad, because I'm going to look for a better life."

Douna, though, feels that she's leaving nothing behind.

"I saw the house go down on my mother," she said. "No one is left for me."

Audio slide show: Haitian boat holds hope of a better life

scott.kraft@latimes.com

What Some People Do For Fun

Sean Zyduck of Kronenwetter reads out a trivia question Thursday night at Applebee’s in Wausau. Zyduck works for Team Trivia of Wisconsin, which holds local and statewide trivia contests. (Xai Kha/Wausau Daily Herald)
If you go
What: Trivia contest
When: 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. every Thursday
Where: Applebee’s, 2221 Stewart Ave., Wausau
Cost: Free
Call 715-848-1110 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 715-848-1110 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Trivial pursuits

Kronenwetter resident brings game show
atmosphere to Applebee's

By DJ Slater • Wausau Daily Herald •
March 8, 2010

By day, it appears Sean Zyduck has a fairly normal
life.

He works as the manager of Bouche's Kronenwetter
Park, a mobile home community in Kronenwetter.

By night, well, that's a different story. Zyduck, of
Kronenwetter, trades in his managerial authority for
a microphone and a handful of questions.

From 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. every Thursday at
Applebee's in Wausau, Zyduck is a trivia game host,
providing patrons with 20 questions and the chance
to win prizes and bragging rights for the night. It's
part of an entertainment gig that he hopes will catch
on at other establishments throughout the Wausau
area.

"I think trivia is a big draw for people," he said.
"People love it."

Late last year, Zyduck saw an advertisement in an
area newspaper for a trivia host through a company
called Team Trivia of Wisconsin, which sets up trivia
contests at locations throughout the state. Zyduck
couldn't resist responding to the ad, because he
already had 10 years experience working as a disc
jockey.

The owner of Team Trivia of Wisconsin came up to
the area at the end of November and trained Zyduck. On
Dec. 6, Zyduck had his first gig at Applebee's
"It's something new and different that people can do
without spending a lot of money," said Mike Kull,
the director of operations for the Wausau
Applebee's. "It's a fun environment."

Each two-hour contest provides players with 20
questions, Zyduck said. He reads off one question at
a time and allows players to wager a set amount of
points for each question. Contestants cannot lose
points if they get a question wrong.

The final question is the only exception. A team can
wager from 15 points to zero points, depending on
how well they are doing in the standings. If
contestants answer this question wrong, however,
they will lose whatever they wagered, Zyduck said.

The top three contestants or teams from each trivia
contest win a prize. First place gets a $30
Applebee's gift certificate, while second and third
place get gift certificates of $20 and $10
respectively, he said.


"The fun of trivia is that it challenges your brain and
you see what you know and don't know," Wausau
resident Carole Dixon said. "It's just so much fun."

Dixon was at Applebee's in early January when
Zyduck approached her and her friend and told
them about the trivia contest. Since that time, Dixon,
who is part of a four-person team called The
BrainFartz, has made an appearance every Thursday,
walking away placing no lower than third place each
time, she said.

The trivia contest has wide appeal because anyone
can play as much or as little as they want, Zyduck
said. People can join a league and qualify for other
Team Trivia of Wisconsin contests across the state,

or simply observe the contest as it unfolds.

The trivia night hasn't caught fire yet like it has in
larger cities such as Milwaukee and Madison,
Zyduck said, but it's slowly gaining popularity.
When he first started, Zyduck didn't have a single
league team. Today, he has four.

"I think trivia night is a lot of fun," he said.
"Sometimes, I read the wrong answer just to see if
everyone is paying attention."

Like Zyduck, Kull thinks the trivia contests will start
to see bigger audiences as more people find out
about it. Trivia, he said, has a wide appeal because
anyone can participate in it.

Ideally, Zyduck would like to be able to offer trivia
contests three nights a week at three different
locations. That dream soon could be realized;
Zyduck said he's talking with two establishments in
Rothschild about bringing trivia to them.
http://www.stevenspointjournal.com/fdcp/?1269203769096

Dreaming of Frozen Custard

Where oh where can I get frozen custard in southern California?

Plain or with mix-ins....mmmmm...

Raspberry frozen custard...mmm...

Chocolate "velvet on the tongue"...just wishful thinking...but I am sorely tempted to take a SW flight to Milwaukee just to visit Kopp's Custard!!!

I'm a Bookaholic

I found this cute poster on http://www.rhapsodyinbooks.com/

I guess the first step in any addiction is to admit it....OK, I admit it! I am a bookaholic

The question is....do I want to change? Should I change whether I want to or not? I will be thinking about that now for a time.

Marie Osmond

I am a Marie Osmond fan big time so when this tragedy happened, I was interested. After reading about Michael (see article below) I felt more of the family's pain at his loss.His funeral was in the Provo/Orem Utah area, which I consider to be my second "home town".
Here is Marie being comforted by President Monson


. At the end of the article, it states that Marie and Donny have continued their stint in Vegas. They are doing it for Michael. I would love to go see them perform.
The casket...the reality.


Marie Osmond's son: 'Too tender-hearted for this world'
By Ben Fulton
And Ellen Fagg Weist
The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 03/15/2010 09:42:56 AM MDT

http://www.sltrib.com/features/ci_14670693

If stuck in the back seat of a car, Michael Bryan would joke for hours with siblings and friends rather than complain. Give him a hot, dirty job on a construction site, and he would seek you out one year later to thank you, once more, for the opportunity.

A deep thinker who was often quiet and unobtrusive, all the young man needed was a spot in a conversation to offer a joke that would have everyone laughing.
Bryan, the 18-year-old adopted son of Marie Osmond and her second husband Brian Blosil, was all that and more, according to those who knew him.

That was before Feb. 26, when he jumped eight floors to his death from his Los Angeles apartment, while newly enrolled at the Fashion Institute of

Design and Merchandising.
Thanks to the iconic status of his famous mother, the youth's death has sparked ugly headlines and speculation by entertainment reporters, bloggers and Web commentors. That seems a haphazard, tragic memorial for Bryan, whom longtime friends and acquaintances characterized as a classic example of the cliché "still waters run deep."

Those closest to him haven't broken the silence requested by his mother, who was photographed weeping during the Monday funeral service at a Provo stake center near the Mormon temple, attended by Thomas S. Monson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Alan Nierob, Osmond's Los Angeles publicist, said his client seeks silence as she and her family grieve. Osmond returned to the stage of Flamingo Las Vegas with her brother Donny the day after Bryan's funeral.

"The way Osmonds survive is we keep singing, and that's what we want to do tonight. I know my son would want that," she said from the stage, according to an Associated Press report. Members of the Osmond family contacted by The Salt Lake Tribune -- including his uncle Jimmy, his cousins Don Jr., Nathan and Aaron -- declined comment or didn't

Marie Osmond watches as the casket of her son Michael Bryan is taken from a chapel after his funeral in Provo on March 8, 2010. Bryan, 18, died Feb. 26. (AP Photo/George Frey)return e-mail or phone queries. In a phone conversation, Stephen James Craig, the sole child of Marie's first marriage to Stephen Craig and the oldest of her eight children, declined comment out of respect for his mother's wishes. Bryan's father, record producer Brian Blosil, didn't return Tribune calls.

Adopted as a newborn in 1991, Bryan and his seven siblings lived through Osmond's and Blosil's March 2007 divorce. Some seven months later, Bryan entered rehab.
"He shared with me that he had some substance-abuse issues, but I can't remember if he talked about those before or after he entered rehab," said Dave Wilbur, a Saratoga Springs music instructor who taught Bryan bass guitar. "I'm a recovering alcoholic myself, so I was very sympathetic about listening."

The outlines of Bryan's personality, and the possible motivation for his suicide, are discernible only from anecdotes and respectful suppositions by those close to the families of both his mother and father.

What emerges is the portrait of shy young man who had little trouble enjoying life, even if he as an adolescent he struggled with depression. Next to his suicide, the most shocking announcement to many was news of his October 2009 legal name change from Michael Brian Blosil to Michael Bryan. Granted by a Utah 4th District Court judge, the petition deleted his adopted father's surname and apparently altered the spelling of his given middle name to become his surname.

In an attempt to grieve away from the media spotlight generated by the high-wattage presence of the Osmonds, the Blosil family held its own memorial Sunday, the day before the funeral.

"For anyone to insinuate anything negative about the two separate services is flat-out wrong," said Alan Hawks, a friend of the Blosil family, who attended the Sunday memorial. All comments about the Osmond family at the service were completely positive, he said.

Bryan spent his formative school years in Utah County, attending Cascade Elementary and Canyon View Jr. High School up to 10th grade at Orem High before moving with his family to Henderson, Nev.

He played football in the Orem City League team with his father, also a football coach, said Lisa Hatch, who worked 23 years alongside Marie, most recently as vice president of the singer's popular doll company.

Hatch, whose two children grew up with Bryan and his siblings, remembers his youthful excitement visiting Disneyland. By tradition, the park provides security so celebrities and their children can bypass crowd lines for amusement rides. Staying out late without their parents, Bryan and Hatch's children decided to stand in line like everyone else.
"I'd never seen anyone so excited about being in line for a ride at Disneyland," Hatch said.

Noting Osmond's Dec. 9 broadcast appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" last year, Hatch said she found the media "agenda" regarding Bryan's suicide extremely distasteful. DeGeneres thanked Osmond for "her support of equal rights" during the broadcast, after which the singer, acknowledged that her adopted daughter Jessica Marie was gay.
"I couldn't love her more," Osmond told the studio audience. "She's just the greatest person. All my kids are great. How do you not love your child? I don't understand that."

Bryan had a penchant for exotic foods, and took both drum and bass guitar lessons at Orem's Modern School of Music in the years before he enrolled at the Los Angeles design school.
"He was really talented," said Wilbur, his former music instructor. "He could take almost any challenge you threw at him. He was a great kid, but seemed conflicted back then. He had some issues with his parents that he talked about during lessons. But what kid doesn't have issues with his parents?"
Hawks, who owns a construction company, remembers Bryan's notable work ethic.

Many Utah County friends approached him about possible construction jobs for their children, but Osmond's and Blosil's son proved to be a good hire. In fact, he turned out to be one of the hardest-working young adults Hawks has ever met. "You can't find 15-year-old boys who put in 12-hours days like he did without wincing or complaining a single time," Hawks said.

Thinking about what Bryan might have gone on to achieve is what makes his suicide such a tragic paradox for his friends. "He simply made an error in thinking," Hawks believes. "Knowing Michael as I did, I'm sure he said to himself afterward, 'Now why did you do something like that?'"

Though his parents' divorce caused "some strife" in the family, as most divorces do, Hawks speculates Bryan was simply trying to figure out who he was when he changed his name late last year.
"There was some bumping of heads when he was younger, but people need to understand that was coming to an end completely," Hawks said. "I can't emphasize enough that he loved both his mom and dad. Teenagers go through struggles. Sharing his feelings and emotions was probably his weak spot. He was probably too tender-hearted for this world."
bfulton@sltrib.com; ellenf@sltrib.com

Here is another article, with more details about the funeral...

Marie Osmond's Son Remembered At Utah Funeral
PROVO, Utah (AP) ―
http://cbs2.com/entertainment/Marie.Osmond.son.2.1546649.html
Marie Osmond's 18-year-old son was remembered at a funeral service Monday with fond words, laughter and music from his famous singing family.

Michael Bryan's uncle, Donny Osmond, also appealed to God in an opening prayer.

"Bless my sister," he said, breaking into tears. "Bless my sister and her family."

Bryan was then memorialized by six of his seven siblings as a lighthearted person and a deep thinker who had a brilliant sense of humor and a kind, generous heart.

"He was a man of his word. He wasn't a talker, he was a doer. He was reliable," Bryan's sister Rachel Blosil, 20, said, struggling to express herself through tears. "He knew my hopes, he knew my dreams, my secrets, things that nobody knows. He was my best friend."

Police in Los Angeles have said Bryan died Feb. 26 from an apparent suicide after jumping from the eighth floor of the Metropolitan apartment building. An official cause of death is pending the results of an autopsy and toxicology tests.

Police said Bryan left a note but have provided no details about its contents.

One of five children adopted by Marie Osmond, Bryan previously used his adoptive father's last name, Blosil. Records from Utah's 4th District Court, however, show a judge had granted him an October 2009 petition for a legal name change.

Marie Osmond and Brian Blosil divorced in 2007 after two decades of marriage. She also has three other children from marriages to Blosil and first husband, Stephen Craig, whom she divorced in 1985.

In 2007, Marie Osmond said her son had entered a rehabilitation facility but did not disclose what he was being treated for.

About 450 mourners attended Monday's services at a chapel near the Provo temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including church President Thomas S. Monson, who offered words of comfort to the family.

Bryan was a first-year student of apparel manufacturing at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising and had planned on a career in retail marketing and design, according to a biography of his life read by the family's Henderson, Nev.-based church bishop, Gary C. Milne.

The life sketch, a traditional part of Mormon funeral services, described Bryan as a hardworking, self-motivated person who loved sports, the arts, traveling and a good meal — from sushi to Peking duck and Italian pastas. An accomplished musician, Bryan played five instruments and wrote his own songs. He was also dedicated to service and since high school had been working with special needs children, Milne said.

In sharing their memories, Bryan's siblings painted a portrait of a close-knit family, where laughter and music — along with whipped cream fights in the family kitchen and other games — were often present, with Bryan at the center of the fun, despite his sometimes quiet manner.

"He was an intricate part of our family," said Stephen Craig, 26, the eldest of Marie Osmond's children." Each member of our family and every person here is better for having met him."

In somewhat of a jest, each of Bryan's siblings proclaimed themselves to be their brother's favorite.

"My brother Michael loved me the most," said 7-year-old Abigail Blosil, who drew laughter from the congregation as she launched the friendly, family competition. "My brother wrote a song about me that said I made him very happy. See, he did love me the most."

In brief remarks, Marie Osmond expressed her gratitude for the outpouring of support and prayers she said she's felt since Bryan's death. Marie Osmond expressed pride in all of her children and acknowledged the presence of Bryan's birth mother, "who gave me the greatest gift."

"Thank you for those beautiful 18 years," said Marie Osmond, who had not planned to speak at the service.

The service ended with a traditional Mormon hymn, sung sweetly by Marie Osmond and her famous brothers — Alan, Merrill, Jay, Wayne, Donny and Jimmy. The eldest Osmond brothers, Tom and Virl, who are deaf, accompanied the family by signing the words.

Bryan's silver coffin was interred at the East Lawn Memorial Hills Cemetery in Provo. At the graveside, the family scrawled handwritten messages onto orange balloons before releasing them into the air.

(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Recycled Glass!

I really love glass..and so does my husband John. He loves to peruse pictures of beautiful glass art by Lalique. I like to collect certain kinds of glass jars! Anyway,

there is this place in Oregon, run by the St. Vincent de Paul people, and they take glass and recycle it and sell it. One of the things they make is this Celtic Suncatcher. Isn't that cool?

Here is a little "blurb" about it and the website....

Recycled Glass Suncatcher- Celtic Knot

When a visionary man from St. Vincent de Paul saw a smallmountain of glass growing off the freeway, he decided to recycle it instead of see it go to a landfill. And so, the Aurora Glass Foundry was born, owned and operated by the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County, Oregon. Since then, Aurora Glass has become a powerful resource for the community, recycling old windows and other waste glass that previously landed in the dump. All the profits are returned to the community in the form of assistance for homeless and low-income people through emergency services, housing, jobs, training, and other charitable endeavors.

This tasteful recycled glass Celtic Knot Suncatcher will add beauty to your home all year round. It hangs from a looped hemp cord finished with Czech glass beads.
http://www.isabellacatalog.com/prod.cfm/pgc/21500/sbc/21503/inv/12912?mybuyscid=8124756653

5 Foods To Eat Every Day

#1. Leafy Greens.


#2. Onions and garlic.
#3. NUTS





#4. Whole Grains.




#5. Yogurt




http://shine.yahoo.com/event/makeover/the-5-foods-you-should-eat-every-day-710199/

is my source for this information and has a video about it. I do OK with 4 of the items...it is the LEAFY GREENS that I need to improve on...what about you?

Rare Book !

I, Joan, have great taste in books...and intuitive feelings about certain books. I saw this book on Larissa's shelf...Buddy's Little Self Help Book...by Buddy Hobbs (Will Ferrel's character in Elf.)

It is a cute, funny, charming little book and I said to myself...I would love to own this book. I think I may have given it to Larissa for Christmas, but not sure. She wasn't sure who gave it to her...was it me, her mom,..or Amy, her sister, ...or...? This price was $3.99 US. $5.99 CAN

Anyway, I went to amazon.com to order it. guess what? They no longer carry it. It is no longer in print, but you can by it new from one seller for 213.22!!!!! Or used from 69 dollars and up. Larissa found it on half.com for 100 dollars and up.

So..that goes to show....you may never know when a book you own has become a rarity!
It is so rare, it is hard to even find a nice uploadable online picture of it. I had to take a picture
of it myself to post it here...

Here is a cute saying from the section on Self Esteem...

If you try your best,
you'll never be a cotton-head ninny muggins.

These words of advice reminded me of Amy...
Eat frosting straight out of the container.

Some more...

Tights rule!

Never lose your Christmas Spirit

Being an elf is difficult work.
Humans can rarely do it
as they end to get testy when overworked.

Singing is just like talking, only louder and longer
and you move it up and down.

If you feel confused and sweaty,
its a sign that you need some alone time.

Maple syrup is a wonderful energy drink.

Don't eat cotton balls-
they're not cotton candy nuggets.

See? Cute, huh?

Brain News

Kelsy alerted me to this article today..since I am studying the Polish language and need all the help I can get with my memory....

To Boost Your Memory, Take a Break
Resting after learning helps to cement new information, researchers say

By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter


(HealthDay News) -- Great news for working stiffs: You can take a break and feel good about it, new research suggests.

If you want to strengthen your memory, take a break after learning new information, say New York University researchers who found such "active rest" strengthens memory.

While sleep has been studied and found valuable as a way to preserve memories, less is known about how "active rest" during the day may affect them, said Lila Davachi, an assistant professor of psychology at NYU. So, she tested the memory of 16 study participants and evaluated the effect of rest on memory.

The study is published in the Jan. 28 issue of Neuron. The lead author of the study is Arielle Tambini, a doctoral candidate at NYU.

First, the researchers showed participants a series of images, each one pairing a face and an object. For instance, they looked at a "surfer dude" and a beach ball and were asked how likely the person was to be holding that object.

"After that, we asked them to rest," Davachi said. As they rested, the researchers observed brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

The investigators wanted to examine activity between the brain's hippocampus and the neocortex. Long-term storage of memories is thought to result from the "off-line" transfer of information from the hippocampus to the neocortex, Davachi explained.

"The brain regions remained active during rest, suggesting a replay of the experience," Davachi said. This suggested, but didn't prove, that memories were being cemented, she noted.

So the researchers gave the participants the memory test after they had rested. "The subjects who had greater correlations between the two brain areas [during rest] had better associative memory," Davachi said. "They remembered the face that went with the object [better]."

Another expert found the study results interesting. "I think it is important in that [the study] is showing that active rest is a time when you get this transfer of memory," said Dr. Paul Sanberg, director of the University of South Florida Center for Aging and Brain Repair in Tampa.

The finding may help both in a practical way, for individuals trying to improve their memory, and in research, to help experts further understand memory and what goes wrong, he said.

For people, the finding suggests having a rest period after learning new information may be valuable, Sanberg added. He doesn't know, however, if a coffee break would be the best way. It's probably better to sit, do nothing and let the new information soak in, he suggested.

"By keeping on doing many different tasks [after learning new information], you may interrupt the memory you want to strengthen," Sanberg said.

More information

Learn some tips on boosting your memory from the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
SOURCES: Lila Davachi, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology, New York University, New York City; Paul Sanberg, Ph.D., M.D., professor of neurosurgery and director of the University of South Florida Center for Aging and Brain Repair, Tampa, Fla.; Jan. 28, 2010, Neuron

http://us.mc307.mail.yahoo.com/mc/showFolder?&.rand=167992221&&abnumadded=1&abnames=+Jackie++Fielder+&abids=489#_pg=showMessage&sMid=1&fid=Inbox&sort=date&order=down&startMid=0&filterBy=&.rand=941599820&midIndex=1&mid=1_20393662_AI3IjkQAARryS4h4EQaf4FE8I4I&m=1_20394442_AIbIjkQAAAS9S4h6Zg3ULmFaGTg,1_20393662_AI3IjkQAARryS4h4EQaf4FE8I4I,1_20393045_AIjIjkQAAXC0S4hufAk9MXq742M,1_20392373_AIrIjkQAABLVS4hqOgj%2Fk2EpIOY,1_20391634_AIjIjkQAAUr3S4hpJQYlZg6eveQ,1_20390391_AIzIjkQAAWhwS4hjywM%2FmXzs5FM,1_20391046_AIbIjkQAANokS4hknQjgwVIdlFg,&.jsrand=6144033

Pig Knuckles?

I have several hobbies, one of which is Polish Culture and Language.
Besides trying to learn Polish, I latch on to whatever interesting thing about Poland I can find. Here is a mind opening thought: These folks' favorite food is pig knuckles!

I ask : What are we missing? Something very delicious?

I searched for a picture of roasted pig knuckles and found one!

Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-JeziornaFood expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27Family recipe: Pig's knuckles with carrots, celery and parsnips
From the Book, "Hungry Planet"
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519_1373724,00.html



Pig Knuckels with a side of sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. I like the little dollop of yellow mustard on the side. Dare me to buy pig knuckles and cook and eat them?

I Do Love the Color Green

This is our newly painted bathroom with a leaf motif shower curtain and whimsical frog soap dispenser. The walls are colored Chives (A Wal Mart brand paint-1 gallon for less than 14 dollars)

Before..this bathroom had light pink walls and a dark burgandy shower curtain. It is amazing how color affects one's moods and how exhiliarating change can be!!!

Ponczka Time!

Caleb Wojtalewicz spreads out freshly made ponczka on a table to cool as Scott Vuorinn fills them with prunes Friday as members of the St. Mary’s Torun Catholic Church in the town of Dewey carry on the pre-Lent Polish tradition of making ponczka. (DOUG WOJCIK/STEVENS POINT JOURNAL

I, Joan, regret that I never made ponczkas (pronounced POONCH kas)while our kids were growing up. It is a Polish Catholic tradition. Before Lent starts on Ash Wednesday, the homemakers would make ponczkas. My mom made them every year. What a sight to see a big bowl of these big round brownish fried balls of dough dusted with sugar and filled with either dates, prunes or jam. They were best the first day.
So here is an article from my hometown newspaper about the current ponczka situation.
My folks have been getting them from the grocery store, instead of driving way out to the country churches.

January 23, 2010
http://www.stevenspointjournal.com/print/article/20100123/SPJ0101/1230537/Ponczka-baking-a-sweet-endeavor-for-church

Ponczka baking a sweet endeavor for church

By Cara Spoto
Journal staff
Bready and mildly sweet, ponczka -- Polish doughnuts filled with prunes or jelly -- are well known to people in Portage County, scores of them the ancestors of Polish immigrants who moved here more than a century ago.

For many of their families, the language and other cultural elements of Poland have faded with each generation, but somehow, ponczka have managed to stick around.
On Friday, dozens of St. Mary's Torun parishioners gathered in the church's basement in the town of Dewey with one clear goal: to make a lot of ponczka.
Gathered in the steaming hot kitchen, women stood around a small table rolling yellow balls of dough. Just feet away, kids poured flour and beaten eggs into churning bread mixers. Behind them, men boiled the doughnuts in large vats of oil, rotating each one carefully before draining and handing them off to a runner to be filled and bagged.

Several parishes in the region hold annual ponczka events, typically before Lent. St. Mary's has hosted its event for close to 35 years, church secretary Kristi Vuorinen said. The church typically fills 500 ponczka orders from residents each year. This year, they reached the 500 order mark by Tuesday -- a new record, Vourinen said.

Work on this year's batch of doughnuts began at 4 a.m., as women came into makethe first batches of dough. The church has used the same recipe for years -- one that only the bakers themselves and a few parishioners know.

At 10 a.m., things were in full swing, with school children running back and forth to collect doughnuts. Huge vats of jelly and prune butter sat on tables.
Marty Tepp, 67, of Hull has volunteered to make the ponczka for as long as she can remember. She said she remembers coming home from school to find her mother with plate of hot ponczka waiting for her.

"She would put the whole prune inside," Tepp said.

Marion Schultz, 71, of Dewey, has taken part in the event for as long as it has been held. Surrounded by two flour-covered grandchildren, 9- and 13-year-olds Paige and MacKenzie, Schultz said what she likes most about the event is spending time with everyone. She said what makes a perfect ponczka has everything to do the rising of the dough.

For 13-year-old Caleb Wojtalewicz, of Dewey, who spent much of the morning filing bags with doughnuts, the best kind of ponczka is jelly filled.
"I haven't had prune yet, and I need something in all this doughnut," he said.