A self-indulgent but self-therapeutic post

41st Anniversary Odyssey Continued . . . Yesterday's Highlights + Today's Agenda + Reasons to Be Optimistic

Yesterday's Highlights

• Enjoying the comfortable ambience of The Historic Lodge of Forest City Lodge, including the delicious homemade coffee cake, the highlight of the breakfast buffet.
• Strolling the scenic hiker-biker trail next to the scenic Winnebago River, adjacent to the Historic Lodge grounds, * accompanied by my wonderful spouse of 41 years, 1 day of wedding bliss.
• A road trip, which included a visit to Mackinac State Park, located next to scenic Clear Lake, which . . . sadly, I must say **, did not live up to my expectations . . . so far . . . that Clear Lake can be labeled "Lake Okoboji Lite."
• The visit to this state park included a visit w/my brother & sister-in-law, accompanied by their 3 grand-children, the progeny [another favorite word I've been waiting to use for much too long] of my niece's family. My brother & sister-in-law are in Ventura, visiting this aforementioned family.
• A return visit to Ventura later in the day, where we enjoyed the fellowship & excellent culinary skills of my niece's husband. [DISCLAIMER:  I feel conscience-bound to note that my niece at the very least contributed her consulting skills to the worthy repast we all enjoyed.] The supper menu included grilled pork ribs, vegetable, & potatoes. Weighty conversations included topics as far-ranging as Civil War history . . . politics . . . church politics & theology. [I think that before we left, "we" agreed that we should stick to less controversial topics today, such as global climate change.] 

Today's Agenda

• I've been sitting in the breakfast area of [not just any lodge . . . ] The Historic Lodge of Forest City since about 6:30a this morning. I've enjoyed some affable *** conversations w/an older couple on their way home to Ocala, FL . . . a German(?) couple, waiting to pick up a Winnebago camper which [I think?] they will be delivering to a buyer . . . & the owner of this [historic] lodging establishment.
• Our conversation topics were wide-ranging, including the World II Museum in New Orleans [been there, done that, awesome place] . . . Norfolk, NE, boyhood home of Johnny Carson [live there], WW II German P.O.W. camps in both NE [Visit Ft. Robinson State Park in N.E. NE . . . been there, done that, awesome place! & the Forest City area . . . & a summer band camp hosted by Waldorf College **** in Forest City.
• We plan to treat my brother & his extended family to lunch today, while hoping to avoid any fast-food and/or franchise establishment. [SEE yesterday's blog for reference.] +
• MY plans--hopefully to be agreed upon by the rest of our entourage--encompass some meandering of the Clear Lake area--for these reasons:

1. I want to check out sites of historical interest, such as the Clear Lake Ballroom, where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, & "The Big Bopper" played their last concert before they died in a plane crash in a nearby farm field on their flight to their next concert in Moorhead, MN. I'm pretty sure their a monument at the site of this tragedy, too. [Source: AAA Tour Book North Central.] A site of morbid curiosity you say? I say . . . who cares?
2. A circumnavigation of Clear Lake . . . still hoping to confirm whether or not the Clear Lake environment can rightfully be called "Lake Okoboji Lite."
3. Supper at the A & W in Forest City . . . I was excited to find coupons in the Forest City newspaper, which I bought & read yesterday. [The newspaper itself, sad to say, was somewhat of a letdown. To a self-described newspaper junkie, this was quite a disappointment.]
4. 41st Anniversary Aside:  I gave Lois her engagement ring outside a Dog & Suds in Higginsville, MO, the summer before we got married. Some of you will recognize that reference. The rest of you? Too bad, so sad . . . This blog has gotten out of control & I'm getting bored with it.
5. Another stroll along the hiker-biker trail adjacent to The Historic Lodge, accompanied by the little woman.
6. Some slight disillusionment about this morning's breakfast buffet . . . {1} No homemade coffee cake. {2}There are only 3 offerings--toast, including 3 varieties of bread; cereal, 2 varieties that I can see; & fresh fruit; so this BARELY qualifies as a "buffet"; {3} To its credit, the coffee grades out at "more than adequate," though, once again I feel duty-bound to note ++, it's not up to my standards.

* I must note [Yes, my OCD renders it necessary] that, once again, we did NOT observe any fragments of the famous Forest City Meteorite {SEE 6/1 blog.] but lots of evidence of rogue geese.

** Yes, I MUST note again, {due to my OCD].
*** Rhymes w/"laughable."
**** I also feel conscience-bound to note that this is an institution of higher education affiliated w/the ELCA, not the LCMS, of which I am a card-carrying member. *****
***** Have I ever mentioned that before? Whatever . . .  It's my blog . . . And have I ever mentioned that before? . . . Whatever . . . IMB.

+ I am willing to compromise my principles if we eat @ McD's, home of the sausage burrito w/mild picante' sauce, which I have also blogged about previously.
++ OCD . . . Seattle's Best Dark Roast #5 . . . available at Hy-Vee West in Norfolk, NE . . . for which I receive no remuneration.

Reasons to Feel Optimistic

I think [Did I just hear some snickers? Knock it off!] I alluded to a depressive state that I think I've been in for some weeks now when I wrote my Mental Health MON blog a few days ago. I think [Whatever.] I mentioned that while a clinical depressive disorder is not something we choose, there are remedies we can choose. For example, we can choose to look for optimistic new, as opposed to negative news. Here are some examples. [Unfortunately, these are all links, so if you are reading today's blogs via the Norfolk Daily News web site, you undoubtedly can't follow any of these links.]

I found this item about the recent, highly controversial gorilla tragedy via Yahoo News, dateline 6/1, while I was surfing the Drudge Report this morning. Link re: Gorilla Tragedy. It does my heart good to learn about the thousands--maybe millions--of outraged comments this incident has sparked--similar to the thousands--maybe millions of outraged comments sparked by the outrageous holocaust * of aborting unborn babies.
* If you are an abortion-rights advocate, I pray for you. Please, as a professional courtesy, spare me your hate. I try not to hate you. I pray that God would bless me to love my neighbor--not just as myself--but as God loves me . . . and, yes, this comment strikes me as being somewhat to very self-righteous.

I stopped using OTC cold medications years ago because of some of the side effects that I found unnerving. * Here's another Link re:  mental health that I found while perusing the Drudge Report this morning. The source is actually CBS New York, dateline 5/31.
* Although it's really none of your business, they would make me feel very jittery.
** WARNING! DIGRESSION FOLLOWS!! When I was doing a lot of flying & experiencing a lot of discomfort because of pressure in my ears, I tried a remedy--& we got lots of advice from our friends @ Our Savior Lutheran Church in Aiea, HI ***--involving OTC decongestants, i.e., "Try taking some prior to your flights." I did try them. They didn't work. My ears still plugged . . . Sometimes they wouldn't pop for hours after my flights landed.
*** Nickname:  "The only town in America whose name includes all vowels!