THOUGHTS FOR TODAY
2023 RESOLUTIONS REVIEW
> Average 1 road trip per month. B. We traveled to FL in FEB & visited Biscayne NP. In May we spent a couple of nights in the Lied Lodge in Nebraska City & revisited Indian Cave SP. Also in May we visited our son & his family in Eagan, MN. And last month was our epic trip to Europe, following in the footsteps of St. PauL. So, I'm a little behind schedule, but we'll get caught up this month.
> Lose 5 lbs. A+. I actually lost a few lbs on our recent trip to Europe. Yes, I'm mystified. I've lost 18 lbs so far this year.
> Add to our NP list. A+. We visited Biscayne NP in FL last FEB--probably the last NP we'll visit this year.
> Avoid desserts. D-. Nobody's perfect.
> Do my PT exercises and/or walk at least 4X/week. B+. After a shaky start this year, due to my accident, I revved it up with PT in FEB & MAR, then put in a lot of walking to prep for our trip to Europe, then accumulated lots of steps will walking to various sites in Greece & Turkey.
> Publish my "Buzzwords" devotion book. C. After failing to make much progress earlier this year, I've stepped it up lately. I'm working on my re-edits.
> Write my "Chapter & Verse" devotion book. B. I've been working on this fairly steadily when I'm at Orphan Grain Train. I donate any royalties from my devotion books to OGT.
> G.P.A.: B
BIG BANG BOOM
As I've posted many times before, Norfolk boasts the biggest & greatest fireworks display west of the Mississippi, north of the Platte River, east of the Rockies, & south of Canada. It was scheduled for SAT 7/1 but postponed until SUN, due to rainy weather. The Worley's came up from Lincoln to view the spectacle, so they were disappointed. Oh, well. They returned home on SUN but left Hadley with us, so we walked the 1/2 mile to Skyview Lake & watched the fireworks with Hadley & Brianna; Derek, Rachel, & Bentley. As usual, it was awesome, especially the grand finale. And I enjoyed shave ice--not as good as the shave ice at Matsumoto's on the North Shore of Oahu, but still acceptable--& a few scraps of the girls' funnel cakes.
WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
We've been watching previously seasons of S.W.A.T. on Paramount+. We've been mystified that we haven't been able to watch any season finales of our Paramount+ shows, but I think it's because of the screenwriters' strike. We've watched "Raiders of the Lost Ark" & "Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom" with Hadley, since she'd never seen them. I think we'll watch "Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade" with her before we leave for CA tomorrow. Speaking of road trips . . .
ROAD TRIPS
We're headed to CA tomorrow, so Lois can join her sister Wanda in volunteering at another Joni & Friends Retreat in Mission Springs. [If you're not familiar with Joni & Friends, Google it.] I'll hang out with my brother-in-law John at their place in Kingsburg--a relatively normal city for CA--& I think we'll get to enjoy one of his band concerts. Watch for my travelogues!
WHAT I'M READING
I've been reading "Apache Wars" on my library app. Pretty bloody, but I like it.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
According to "Better Health," Summer 2023, here are foods that can lower your blood pressure.
* Fruits high in potassium, like bananas & oranges.
* Oily fish.
* Leafy green vegetables.
* Natural yogurt. I had Greek yogurt several times on our recent trip to Greece & Turkey.
According to the "Epoch Times," 5/10/23, here are surprising benefits of spinach.
* Protects vision health & prevents cataracts & macular degeneration.
* Preserves brain health & delays cognitive decline.
* Lowers blood pressure & prevents cardiovascular disease.
* Prevents cancer.
* Prevents obesity.
* Prevents osteoporosis.
* Prevents skin aging.
TODAY'S TRIVIA *
* Source: Uncle John's Awesome 35th Anniversary Bathroom Reader
> Kea parrots have been known to "high-five" each other in midair.
> It costs about $1 to produce the wine in a $10 bottle of wine.
> The avg person has 13 secrets that they won't share with anyone.
AMERICA ENDURES
"Unlike the Soviet Union, America is not founded upon a lie. But there are many forces at work today advancing a narrow, propagandistic reading of American history that contributes to the conclusion that the United States is wholly illegitimate.
"The trappings of this revolutionary movement are by now familiar. Its enforcers retail narratives about how the Republic was founded solely to protect the institution of slavery. They traffic in tales of how America’s private and public institutions were built upon rotten foundations, and virtually every system of American governance erected upon them is thus suspect. These stories have become fashionable to the point that even the current president of the United States lent them credence. “We all have an obligation to do nothing less than change the culture in this country,” Joe Biden told a rapt audience in 2019. “This is English jurisprudential culture, a white man’s culture. It’s got to change.”
"The same contempt for the nation’s foundations shines through every one of today’s faddish progressive denunciations of America. “This country was founded on white supremacy,” says Beto O’Rourke. “To me, capitalism is irredeemable,” says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written,” says the much-fêted 1619 Project.
"If destruction be our lot, not only will we be its authors, but these words will be its preamble. We are far better positioned than the Soviet Union to avoid that fate, because the truth is on the side of those who recognize the providential legitimacy of the American experiment in self-government. But the truth may still not be enough. Those who mistake cynicism for sophistication bombard Americans with revisionist histories designed to delegitimize the Founding. Defending against this unceasing onslaught is exhausting. If exhaustion prevails, national euthanasia may well follow.
"But while it is terrifyingly plausible, I don’t think this course of events is likely anytime soon. The story told by America’s defenders is just more compelling than the one its detractors are retailing, and it has the inestimable benefit of being historically accurate. This is a dynamic country, but its legal foundations are constant. That is what the critics, from the president on down, resent the most. The Founders in their wisdom baked into it an implacable resistance to the adoption of fashions in law. Its representatives are not wholly unresponsive to faddish diffidence; they’re only human. But the obstacles to substituting sentimental ephemera and sophistry for eternal moral precepts and legal principles are durable.
"This is, of course, not the first generation of ersatz revolutionaries so besotted with their own pretensions that they appear set on breaking down those obstacles. One day, they might even get their way. Until then, though, the Republic as it is presently constituted will endure, and we who love it will persist in its defense." Noah Rothman, National Review Online
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