Seniors

In case some of you haven't already discovered Jonathan's blog (and bookmarked it in your feed readers!), he's just written and illustrated a new post about a great teacher from his past. Since I know many of you are also great teachers, or are eternally grateful to those you had, you might enjoy it.

(you can click all Tweets to enlarge) As many of my regular readers know, I have nearly been run off the road several times for my (old, obsolete) Obama bumper stickers... and I did not even vote for Obama in 2012 (voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein instead). Nonetheless, those scary bumper stickers remain, because I refuse to be intimidated, and my car is old besides (but paid for!). Thus, when I saw the Twitter hashtag #WhenIseeaObamabumpersticker (excuse bad grammar, but what did you expect?), I admit that I reacted very strongly to the right-wing, racist bullies who came out of the woodwork to trumpet their bullying... the kind of bullying I have been dealing with for 5 years now. Not surprisingly, they are damned proud of themselves. When called on it, haha, it's suddenly all a 'joke'--although at least some of them admit they are dead serious. I know that the people who have repeatedly tried to run me off the road, tailgate me dangerously on interstates while shooting the bird, etc, are/were VERY serious, not at all joking. And as they angrily pass me, they often show me their Dubya/Romney/anti-abortion/pro-NRA/anti-gay marriage (et. al.) bumper stickers as well--just in case there is any question WHY they feel moved to behave like maniacs. Needless to say, I have never tried to run any of THEM off the road, nor flip them off, nor in any way act like a goon simply because they disagree with ME. Nor would I. But then, I am not a bully, and I have never understood the psychology of bullies. They really would have been quite at home in the old Soviet Union, which jailed all dissenters. They value ideological lockstep. Further, I noticed that when I checked out several of these people's self-descriptions... virtually all of them claim to be BIBLE-BELIEVING CHRISTIANS! Do you believe?!? (well, of course you do) They trash the poor while claiming to believe in the Messiah who said Blessed are the poor and the poor we always have with us. The Messiah who said, as ye do to the least of these, so have you done to me. The One who said, The Last shall be first. When I dared comment on this gross theological discrepancy, they found it amusing and re-tweeted me. HAHA!--this bitch expects me to actually LIVE WHAT I CLAIM TO BELIEVE, IS THAT FUNNY OR WHAT?! Yes, I suppose it is.

Questionable financial tactics are one reason for the enormous backlog of applications for a caregiving benefit, officials claim.

I photographed artist and illustrator, Elaine Norman, wearing one of her hand painted hats. CLICK HERE to see more of her work.

Computer gaming may slow declining cognitive functioning in seniors. One promising study cited a game, “Double Decision,” which uses cognitive-training technology.

We survived yesterdays horrific storms but many of our friends were not so lucky. A young friend of ours whose wife teaches with my daughters was in the Plaza school when it took a direct hit. We were unable to get any word of his condition until late last night. Cell phones were down and of course no one could even get to that area but finally someone called his wife to tell her they had seen him and he was helping pull children from the rubble. Later we learned that none of the children he removed were still alive. He is in shock (understandably) and it will take a long time for him to process what has happened. School was to be out for good this Friday.This is the school where Justin was a teacher. Several of the children drowned in the basement.Ron left Okla. City at 5:00 yesterday and didn't get home until midnight. We are just about 10 miles south of the path of the tornado so getting home was an obstacle course. But at least everyone is ok. I was texting my best friend when the storm hit and she lives right in the path of the storm. She has MS and was home alone. She text me that she was in her hall but was scared. The next text I received said "I can hear it" and then I got nothing further. I suspected her cell phone was dead but it took awhile to find out just where the tornado hit and I realized it was about a block from her house. I finally got a call from her this morning and though they have minor damage and a lot of debris in their yard, no electricity or water, they are safe and unharmed. My next question to her was "are you ready move?" This is the 3rd major tornado that barely missed their house. This is what came within two blocks of her home!We are setting up here at our hospital to take in displaced children with special needs. We are also doing a wheelchair and adaptive clinic for people who lost wheelchairs or they were damaged. That's going out as a public announcement this morning. We may use our camp cabins to house some displaced special needs adults whose group home was destroyed last night. This is whats great about Oklahomans. We've unfortunately had a lot of practice as responders to horrific events in our state. People are more than generous. Nothing like an F5 tornado to make you gain perspective. The death toll keeps rising and so many of those are children. A little thing like schizophrenia and dementia just don't seem that big of a deal in the light of day!Check this out! Watch to the end.

Have you downloaded the right six apps—ones that could not only make your life easier but possibly even save it one day? If not, here are a few you'll want to download to your mobile device now.

Nights have been cool here, and dragonflies were a little late in appearing, but they are here at last, and in legions. At some time during the last few days, the dragonflies of the Lanark highlands began to emerge, and the first of the season were out and about during our pottering last weekend.In darkness, the naiads (nymphs) climbed out of streams and ponds and affixed themselves to nearby saplings and twigs. Clinging to their airy perches, they breathed in and out in the evening air, and their transformation into adults began. Existing exoskeletons opened under the sustained pressure of heightened blood pressure and a deep resonant breathing rather like meditating. Newly fledged dragonflies climbed out of the outgrown skins and up into the night like fragile wraiths.The emerged adults (or tenerals) clung to chosen twigs as their soft new exoskeletons and legs firmed up and took on characteristic species markings and colors. Their untried wings were folded meditatively together, becoming glossy and iridescent and strong enough for flying - toward the end of the metamorphosis, the wings opened and moved outward into the classic extended dragonfly posture that distinguishes dragonflies from their exquisite damselfly kin. As the sun climbed above the horizon, the newborn dragonflies arose in glistening clouds and launched themselves skyward on their maiden flight.It's an event to be treasured, this hopeful uprising of newborn dragonflies at sunrise - it's a moment of elemental grace in a world that often seems to have lost its way and gone mad in its wanderings. It's a reminder, and I need such reminders often.This dear little wonder is (I think) is a male Common Baskettail (Epitheca cynosura). There was a brisk wind on the western hill, so the photos are not nearly as clear as I would like them to be, but here is one of the first dragons of the season for all that.

Speaker and author Judith Pepper uses a women-centered approach and transformational workshops to help women give themselves permission to explore what’s next in their lives.

Icon of the Pentecost, Russian, 16th century.   “The king stablished all his knights, and gave them that were of lands not rich, he gave them lands, and charged them never to do outrageousity nor murder, and always to flee treason; also, by no mean to be cruel, but to give mercy unto him that asketh mercy, upon pain of forfeiture of their worship and lordship of King Arthur for evermore; and always to do ladies, damosels, and gentlewomen succor upon pain of death. Also, that no man take no battles in a wrongful quarrel for no law, ne for no world’s goods. Unto this were all the knights sworn of the Table Round, both old and young. And every year were they sworn at the high feast of Pentecost.” (Le Morte d'Arthur, pp 115-116) Yesterday was Pentecost, a major feast day in the Anglican Church. It falls on the seventh Sunday after Easter, and commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples after Jesus' death. In Greek, Pentecost means "the fiftieth [day]" and originally refered to an ancient, historical Jewish festival commemorating the giving of the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai. In modern Judaism this festival is called Shavuot.  As had happened with the Jewish festival, in early Christian England, the theological observance of Pentecost was conflated with already-existing pagan ritual of Beltane. In the Arthurian legends, not only did the King have his knights swear their most solemn oaths on the day of Pentecost, he also refused to go into the dining hall until he had seen some miracle or wonder; it's one of the ways that Arthur's other-worldliness and spiritual leadership is shown in the legends, in contrast to Lancelot and Guinevere's adultery, as well as some of the other knight's acts. In later England, though, Pentecost was more often called Whitsun, or Whitsunday. The Wikipedia has a good entry on the possible etymology of the name "Whitsun", or "White Sunday", in the late Middle Ages, and on the possible conflation of "whit" (white) and "wit" (understanding) : "The name is a contraction of "White Sunday", attested in "The Holy-Ghost, which thou did send on Whit-Sunday" in the old English homilies, and parallel to the mention of hwitmonedei in the early 13th-century Ancrene Riwle. Walter William Skeat noted that the Anglo-Saxon word also appears in Icelandic hvitasunnu-dagr, but that in English the feast was always called Pentecoste until after the Norman Conquest,  when white (hwitte) began to be confused with wit or understanding. According to one interpretation, the name derives from the white garments worn by catechumens, those expecting to be baptised on that Sunday. Moreover, in England, rather than the more usual red, were traditional for the day and its octave. A different tradition is that of the young women of the parish all coming to church or chapel in new white dresses on that day. However, Augustinian canon, John Mirk (c1382 - 1414), of Lilleshall Abbey, Shropshire, had another interpretation: Good men and wimmen, this day (Dies Penthecostes) is called Wytsonday by cause the holy ghost bought wytte and wisdom into Crists dyscyples, and so by prechying after in all Cristendom and fylled him full of holy Wytte Thus, he thought the root of the word was "wit" (formerly spelt "wyt" or "wytte") and Pentecost was so-called to signify the outpouring of the wisdom of the Holy Ghost on Christ's disciples." However, today the liturgical color for Pentecost in our tradition is red: red for the "tongues of flame" that supposedly showed the presence of the Holy Spirit. Lots of parishioners, too, wear red on that day. Yesterday we had a liturgical dance by the kids, carrying trailing "flames" of yellow, orange and gold transparent cloth, three baptisms, and we sang a lot of special music - more about that later. I've never been too keen on the idea that the "Spirit" only appeared in the world at that time, and only to these early Christians, so I was happy that