Living in the moment…

by

…this weekend encompassed every human emotion possible…

I’ll start with the good stuff…

Fortunately for me, my son is a Bob Dylan fan….so he treated his Mom to the concert here at Parkview Field Friday night.  It was wonderful!!!

It was one of those perfect summer nights that wasn’t muggy, wasn’t too cool nor too hot–perfect.

Dylan took the stage at 8:00 and played until 10:00 p.m. , dressed in white pants and blue jacket.  My son and I were sitting in the stands–I told him he should go down to the area in front of the stage and he said I should go down.  Okay, I’m not usually an outgoing person–I am the wallflower of all wallflowers (I know that sounds really funny reading this blog)….but I couldn’t resist and went down to the ballfield area–I am soooo glad that I did–the positive, warm energy there was amazing. (minus the drunk couple that started to get into it, but thankfully stopped before it got too out of hand.)

I was about twenty feet from the stage–close enough to see Bob smile.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a photograph of him smiling–he seemed to be really enjoying playing as much as we did listening–magical. 🙂

The band was super–really together.  Bob played a baby grand piano, which was a thrill–I don’t care how much technology tries to imitate the authentic instrument–I can still tell when it’s not the real thing because there’s no soul to it.  And I loved that he also incorporated a cello in the ensemble–really added to the sound. (Bob didn’t play it–a band member (Tony?) played it.)

My son and I were debating whether Bob would play “Blowin in the Wind”.–he jokingly said he was going to request it if Bob took requests…

On that fateful day of the Big Storm here, I was at the main library, waiting on those hidden books in the storage unit to come up, and happened to see a book written about Bob Dylan.  I was flipping through it, and came upon a paragraph where Bob had an audience with the Pope and the Pope requested “Blowin in the Wind”….and Bob refused to play it for him.  Bwahahahaha.  Cracks me up still…

….so, I wasn’t getting my hopes up that it was going to be on the setlist…

…I had gone back to where my son was seated after they stopped playing the set.  I was hoping for an encore, but I was concerned about losing my son when the crowds started to leave, so I headed back to the seats.

…so you can imagine what happened…

Bob came back on stage and started playing a Rag Time tune…my son recognized it before I did–he was playing “Blowin in the Wind”, but in Rag Time.

Thank You, Bob Dylan, for coming here–please come again.  This concert made my whole summer year.

(I never knew there were so many cool people in Fort Wayne….where have they been hiding?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On to the rest of the weekend–

With my Dad unable to return to his place, it needs to be cleaned out, so I went over to help out.  A tough job. Emotions are running high and feelings have been hurt.  I guess that’s part of the process.

Then yesterday–

A resident came to my door with another lady I didn’t know, who was concerned about one of the residents.  She was a friend of hers and hadn’t been able to get in touch with her for a couple of days.  This resident was always up and about, so I was concerned.  I have access to the radio to contact the maintenance folks, so I called them to see if they could pop over for a wellness check.  Normally, the housing folks charge for non-emergency calls on the weeknights and weekends, so the maintenance guy said he’ d have to clear it with his supervisor.  (Yes, money is that tight, folks).  However, while we waited to hear back, the lady’s friend said that her car was in the parking lot and they normally talked every day, and she hasn’t answered her phone for two days.  I went back to the radio to tell the maintenance guy the new information, hoping that he would come over.

After awhile, the EMS showed up, but we were unaware that it was for this lady.  I followed them, wanting to ask them to check on this lady, but there was no need–they were headed for her apartment.  The maintenance guy showed up shortly afterward, to let them in.  When they didn’t come right back out, I knew that she was, indeed, in the apartment, but had not responded to us banging on the door.  Not a good sign.

Then the EMS came out and asked if she normally responded and spoke in complete sentences.  Also not a good sign.  When they brought her out, she was in the fetal position with her knees drawn up to her chest, and her head falling to her chest, as if she couldn’t lift it up at all.  And she was as pale as a ghost.

I haven’t heard any more on her status.  Adding to it is another resident that she was close to died just over a month ago, and I’ve heard that the police and EMS were interrogating her like she had caused her friend’s death…upsetting her even more.  They seemed to have lost the focus of their profession….

Eating their own…

by

organic consumers has this up on the companies that mount million dollar efforts to destroy the right-to-know GMO in food products.

Why would these companies do this?  Because, as the article says, they can label GMO food as “natural”.  This translates to Big $$$ for them.  I know that they have done this in a national organic grocery store chain that has switched organic produce with conventionally grown produce and called it “organic”.  The unsuspecting public trusts them and there are no government inspectors keeping watch over them…at least, there aren’t to my knowledge…

That’s another reason to buy local from farmers or organic stores that you trust.  Know where your food comes from!

 

“Baffling new disease…”

by

AP has this up on a yet another disease that implicates a destroyed immune system.

Let’s break this down, shall we?

She was from Vietnam, and came here after the war, in 1975.  Although the article doesn’t state that, she most likely was exposed to Agent Orange–exposure to Agent Orange can cause immune system deficiency.

I also wonder about Celiac.  When doing my research on it, I had read that Asians don’t get it–it’s just unheard of in that population…but knowing how the medical profession likes to make pronouncements of entire classes of people with a small sampling, I’m suspicious that she might have it and not be diagnosed nor tested.  I didn’t have any overt symptoms–it was only because of my Irish-German heritage that I put the puzzle together.  And it’s interesting that I have become more sensitive as I have adopted the GAPS diet–allowing my gut to heal.

There isn’t any mention of her diet, nor of the doctor asking her about diet….so one is left to wonder if she’s adopted the Western diet and is suffering because of it.  I think the age thing is a big clue–our bodies are miracles that can take a lot of abuse before the cells break down and start to wreak havoc.  This is something I’ve noticed on the mercury poisoning support group–some folks will have good health up ’til the time they reach 40, and then things start happening.

There’s also no discussion on toxin exposure.  She lives in Tennessee, ranked 11th in toxic exposure.  (What? Indiana is *only* ranked 4th? …we must be slipping in polluting our environment./snark)   Note the assertion of the article that the EPA is right on top of things… the reporter apparently didn’t get the memo of the corporate polluters who worked to get those regulations repealed.

From the article:

The NRDC also framed its report in a political context, indicating that Sen. Lamar Alexander voted against an attempt by Sen. James Inhofe, R.-Okla., to repeal the Mercury and Air Toxics standard. Sen. Bob Corker supported it.“For too long, Americans have had no choice but to breathe toxic air pollution. Thanks to the EPA, the air is getting cleaner,” said Franz Matzner, NRDC associate director of Government Affairs. “But we need lawmakers who will help clean up the air we all breathe — not lawmakers who do the bidding of big polluters trying to repeal safeguards that protect children’s health. This and future Congresses should let the EPA do its job so all Americans can breathe easier.”

Here’s another article on the toxic junk in Tennessee by Kelly Hearn ( The Nation).  Pay attention to the date–I think it could be significant to this woman because she began getting ill in 2009.  Holy Crap.  Mysterious disease…my arse.

Here’s another discussion on it (same blog).  A good discussion on Celiac reaching across several populations that the medical profession has refused to acknowledge. Good Grief.  The misery and diseases they have caused by their ignorance.

 

 

Italy’s Chernobyl and other toxic disasters

by

this up at commondreams. 

If there isn’t a big explosion, or bomb, or someone bleeding…well, it’s just *got to be* something else besides toxic chemicals.  Seriously.  There are people who, faced with evidence, will still not believe that chemicals can do so much harm.

Also up from common dreams is this.  I clicked on the link someone posted in the comments section for American Progress–the paper is too long for me to read on the limited time here, so I’ve scrolled down to the companies responsible for getting this law pulled–for the Midwest: Link here.   (In case this doesn’t work, the page number is 11.)

For the general list  (page 9) of those fighting the EPA:  link here.

Another article in the comments section on the same subject here.

Again, the articles address the affects to humans, such as asthma, but fail to entertain the scope of all of nature being affected by the poisonous air.  Not to mention the affects on crops.

Urging kids to fight

by

This is just too unbelievable.  I cannot imagine the mindset of someone in charge of taking care of kids urging them to fight.

…big bullies creating little bullies…

…and they can’t figure out why bullying is epidemic?

Look to the adults who are acting badly.

And this is a cultural thing, not specific to any group, from where I sit.