Merry Christmas!

Hi, everybody! Just dropping by to wish you all the best of the season. It's been a wild and taxing year for many of us, to be sure, but I have high hopes for better days in the year ahead.

Be healthy, be happy! And let's get together soon!!

Love,

Margaret

Bit o' news from Carol "Kingmaker" Hunter

Yes, I have jointed Facebook and it is fast becoming a guilty pleasure. Plus, not a bad way to stay in touch. Just got this via FC from Carol:

It's been a hectic week at the paper. Even the editorial pages get caught up in the mega-coverage when half the state is floating away. The Hunter-Perry manse, atop a ridge, is lucky. Not even any water in the basement. But so many people statewide just got creamed.

Am making a quick trip to see Marilyn and Brian this weekend. Had a free trip to Washington, so am swinging up to the Shore house just for a day and a half. But it will be great to see them.

Hope all is well with you and yours. Take care!

Interesting you should bring that up ...

I've been thinking a lot -- a *lot* -- about retirement. Frankly, I'm hoping that, if they have to lop off heads around here to make the numbers, early retirement will be part of the show. If so, I'm in. There are so many other things I would rather be doing. Not even counting lounging on a beach.

So, about that last post

Yeah, it was a mini-vent. See, they have me covering transportation now, so I'm writing about roads and bridges and #$%@^#ing gas prices, so I'm a little frazzled by the whole thing.

On the other hand, I am very entertained by the historic presidential campaign now underway, and I miss having the chance to hang out with you all and chew over these matters of massive import, yeah?

One interesting real-life thing going on is my oldest neice, the daughter of my later sister Eileen, is getting married!! In the fall, in Wisconsin at a state park with kilts and paganism and Catholic things and other odd combinations of traditional and not-at-all. It's very exciting, she is the first of the cousins bunch to take the big plunge, so its going to be a big honking family fun thing when it happens. I hope. I am trying to talk her off the ledge when she gets frantic about wedding stuff; that's one thing she's being very traditional about.

So that's kinda the update from Cincinnati-land. Who's next?

Gas prices!

Higher, higher, higher! How will we ever afford another Cool Chix Weekend????

That is all.

Chantix update

Three weeks and counting! Dreams seem to be calming down a little bit, which is a good thing since you do wonder where some of the stuff comes from in your brain (like Amy Bremmerman, for example. I mean REALLY!).

Religion in Politics

In the debate over the role of religion in politics, it is useful to remember that the founding fathers (and presumably mothers too) of this country were deists. They believed in God, but not necessarily religion. Religion as a force to be reckoned with in politics is particularly acute this election season, mostly due to a life-and-death struggle we productive and live-and-let-live people find ourselves in with the religion of Islam.

Make no mistake: we cannot stick our heads in the sand this time and wait for the problem to go away. We can’t make nice with the zealots who want to destroy our way of life and not expect them to stab us in the back.

That said, I agree with Laura that our leaders should not be the kind of people who genuflect in front of an altar (whichever one it may be) before making decisions. They – and especially the person, regardless of gender or race – must ALREADY HAVE a strong moral compass that helps them to BE decisive. I agree with Laura that this moral compass does not have to be tied to an organized religion.

Personally, I am suspicious of ALL organized religions, because they prey on people’s insecurities and seek to control them. Religion, as politics, is really all about POWER AND CONTROL. I do believe in God, but I don’t believe I find Him in a church or on a carpet with hundreds of other people chanting anything. When I want to find God, I go to nature – forests, oceans, deserts – and places where there is no sound, or only the sounds of nature. There I feel the insignificance of my own life, and believe it or not, take comfort in that. It puts things in perspective for me.

Here is my beef with the current journalistic approach toward politics. 1) It is clearly biased, one way or ‘tother. 2) We dwell WAY too much on people’s foibles, and not enough on their principals. 3) And the most important thing of all to my way of thinking: WE NEED TO KNOW WHO THE PEOPLE ARE THAT THE CANDIDATES TURN TO FOR ADVICE AND COUNSEL. Presidents do not make decisions in a vacuum. They get to choose their advisors and those people have an enormous impact on decision-making. I have not heard the mainstream media discussing this at all, though it will be a very important factor in my choice for President, otherwise known as Leader of the Free World, the most powerful position on the planet. This is a momentous decision, and I don’t wish to make it in a vacuum.

Can the media please help us out and quit worrying about whether Hillary was in a firefight in Bosnia, Obama’s religion is really Islam, and John McCain ever had an affair with a lobbyist? Did any of them inhale? Who gives a shit! Didn’t we all, at this age, in the times we grew up? And didn’t we get over it and become adults capable of leadership in some cases, or at least good citizens?

Tell the American People who the advisors are, and then we’ll get somewhere.

Okay, you're right. Time for some updates

Hi. Y'all. And thanks, Laura, for the kick in the patoot. Been way too long since I've checked in. This is a bad sign of how scattered, distracted, over-demanded, under-considered and maniacally stressed out our lives become in the big bad modern world. My goal this year: Take back my life. And that includes staying up to date with the people who count.

Here's a quickie: Jeanette and I just returned from a great dinner at Terri and Jeff's house. Jeff cooked, fabulously as usual, and the guests of honor were Terri's former brother-in-law Tommy Renton, his wonderful girlfriend Marcia, his amazingly talented son Jeff and Jeff's clever friend Greg. Plus, Terri's shockingly tall 12-year-old stepson Jared. A lovely evening full of laughing and good food and good music, and we wish you all were there.

Among the topics of discussion: Jeanette's pool-hall lessons. She has been taking classes every week led by a highly skilled young man from University of Cincinnati (he's a grad student but also a good enough pool player to compete nationally). Now she wants to take the class again, and wants me and Terri and Carol Hahn (if possible) to take it with her. The purpose is twofold: (a) get good enough so as not to be laughed out onto the the street at normal pool emporia; and -- for me more than Net and Terri etc. -- (b) beat Laura. Like I told 'em, I could play golf every day for the rest of my life without getting good enough to go up against LaLaura on the links, but with a little effort I could hold my own against her on the felt.

Okay, it's late and my eyes are crossing, so I'll sign off now. Everybody take care, stay healthy and stay in touch.

M.

Chantix update

Today is two weeks of being smoke free! See below for more about Chantix that I'm taking to help me really do it this time.

Politics and Faith

Carol Hunter long ago recognized that I was outside the mainstream: I hated the summer Olympics and preferred the Winter Games. I was bored to tears by America's sport (baseball) and March Madness mean't nothing more than a chance to catch up on old movies. So, it's not surprising that I am probably out of touch now.

Nonetheless, I really am perplexed by the fact that the two leading candidates for the Democratic Presidential nomination are actually having a "compassion forum". I can understand why evangelical groups press their values and look at the candidates through a particular set of glasses - just as unions, teachers and every other special interest group does. But for a CNN sponsored debate to focus on the faith and moral values of the candidates and to imply that someone who is not actively religious does not have a moral center is pure unadulterated crap.

Most people - whether they go to church on sunday or not - have some sort of moral compass that we consult (probably without realizing it) in our decision making. Yet, do we really want to so blur the lines of church and state that we need a president who must fall on his/her knees and consult the Bible before making a critical decision? Should public money fund relgious projects and organizations? And what if the "good book" that I heard one evangelical today say that the president must consult before making a decision is the Koran? Remember when Rep. Keith Ellison, newly elected to Congress in November 2006 caused a monumental flap when he declared his intention to use the Koran to take his oath of office?

I think it's time we put things in their place and recognized that the attributes we need in a president may not always mesh with the dictates from the pulpit. We should not expect pastors to be able to run countries (or even businesses, for that matter), nor should we expect politicians to be pastoral.

Many people will say that this is a biased opinion because I am not actively relgious, so I don't understand what 99% of the population will. So I found it interesting that agnostics, atheists and non-religious people make up 16% of the world population. The third largest group behind Christians (33%) and Islamics (21%). In the US, according to a study conducted in 2001 by City University of New York Graduate School and based on 113,000 interviews, 76% of the US population self-identifies as Christian. The second largest? 13.2% who self identify as agnostic/atheist/non-religious. Falling far behind that group are 1.3% Jewish and .5% Islamic.

And of the 76% of the country who call themselves Christian, there are a lot of criminals, liars, cheats, adulterers, theives, bullies, bigots and brats who I would not want to be president of the chamber of commerce, much less the United States, simply because they put on a suit and march the family to church each Sunday to appropriately genuflect - both to God and the electorate!

So I'm curious what ya'll think. Is it just me or is something wrong here?

Chantix dreamin'

Since I've only been smoking for 44 years, I thought it might really be time to quit. The most successful I've ever been at this was about six months before my first husband and I separated. That little bump in the road tripped me up and I was lighting up like a firecracker!

But with Steve's cancer behind us (I hope!), it's important that he quit and there's no way one can quit while the other keeps smoking.

A year ago in January, we got a prescription from the doctor for Chantix -- the new wonder drug for smoking cessation. Of course, we couldn't commit to stopping right away and before you know it Steve was diagnosed with rectal cancer. Even the oncologists - who you'd think would be all over you to quit smoking - say they don't encourage cancer patients who smoke to quit smoking during treatment. It's too hard given all the other challenges and issues you're dealing with.

Anyway, to make a long story long, we finally picked our quit date (March 30). So we started taking the Chantix a week before hand and then on the seventh day we quit. So as of today, I've been smoke free for seven days.

I frankly am amazed by the fact that from day one i really haven't thought that much about smoking. In the past when I've quit, I've always spent a lot of time sitting around thinking about how much i wanted a cigarette. This time, I really haven't had any of those thoughts.

Chantix works on the receptors in your brain, so maybe that's part of how it works. One thing they warn you about is changes in dreaming and they are right about that! Most of the time - at least for the past few years - I don't dream at all. Or if I do, I don't remember anything about the dreams. But this week, I have had some weird ones.

So here's a little taste of Chantix dreamin':
Weridest one: Amy Bremmerman (an actress you probably don't remember from the TV show "Judging Amy") invites me to an off-Broadway opening of her new show. Turns out this is in some school or church type setting (no stage, just a riser kind of thing). About halfway through the performance, someone knocks on the window and I go to answer. It's the caterer bringing the buffet dinner, which he carts through the window and right across the front of the stage to set up in an adjoining room. After the performance, we all go to eat (me and amy together because we are apparently good friends). But the food looks lousy. So i settle for what appears to be a steak. But when I sit down with it and start to cut it, Inotice it has kind of a mucus-type layer around it. The guy sitting next to me says "Oh, they forgot to skin it." As I scrape the mucus off, it turns into the complete skin (and head) of a lion including the bullet holes from where it was shot!

Last night, Steve and I were flying (Steve was the pilot) somewhere and were right behind the space shuttle. With me sitting there saying "Watch out for that SRB" as they were being ejected and flying past us...

Definitely making for a more interesting night's sleep. But it's a small price to pay if I really quit smoking this time.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Marilyn and Brian celebrate St. Patricks Day (our favorite holiday - well, Marilyn likes Xmas just a tad better) with friends at Long Beach Island (that's the Jersey Shore - for you novices). I don't know Mar's neighbors, but I already especially like the woman right behind her who's wearing the New York Jets jersety!

Recipes from Marilyn

I told Brian that reading his daily emails on Marilyn’s recovery was like watching The Godfather. You are STARVING by the time you get done. Apparently, they’re cooking up a storm in Fanwood so I asked Mar for some of the recipes. This one for Chicken with Olives and Shallots sounded really good

Here it is. Hope you like it!

Lemon chicken with olives

• 2 tbls. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest, plus 1 tbls fresh lemon juice
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 1 and a half pounds chicken cutlets, thawed
• 2 tbls olive oil
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 1 cup pitted green olives (I cut them in half or thirds)
• One-half cup flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• One-half cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc – we use Trader Joe’s chardonnay)

Mix the flour, cumin, zest, a half teaspoon salt and a half teaspoon pepper on a flat plate. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and dredge in flour mixture. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook chicken in 2 batches until golden brown, 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate. Wipe out the skillet and return to medium heat. Heat the remaining oil. Add the shallots and cook until soft. 5-7 minutes. Stir in the olives, parsley, lemon juice and wine and bring to a boil. Return the chicken to the pan, nesting it in the olives and shallots. Reduce heat to low and cook covered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Divide among individual plates, spooning the olives, shallots and any sauce over the top.Next, eat it and enjoy/ md

And the coolest thing of all....!

When this gift arrived I nearly fainted! Laura & Steve really know how to make a person feel special! It also came with Godiva truffles. They were all gone in a week!

The only thing that would have been better would have been for us all to be together.

While I'm at it, I would like to say how happy and relieved Lee and I are that Marilyn is home again and that she and Brian have survived the last year's ordeals.

And of course Laura & Steve know how we feel about their survival, too. 2007 seems to have been the year for fighters.

Rock on, cool chicks & your guys!

50 years young!

Hi CCs!!! I'm sort of on the periphery of this group, but glad to be included. Just had my 50th birthday and I feel better than ever -- except when I get out of bed or up from sitting for too long!! My thoughts at this time are that I am wiser than ever, more vital than ever, more capable than ever, and hoping that time doesn't run out before I can get all the things done I want to!

Here's a reminder for all those who live in areas where the the tapwater is unsafe to drink:

As Ben Franklin said: In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.

In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 liter of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. Coli) - bacteria found in feces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop.
However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer (or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.
Remember: Water = Poop, Wine = Health
Therefore, it's better to drink wine and talk stupid, than to drink water and be full of shit.
There is no need to thank me for this valuable information: I'm doing it as a public service.

On that note, farethewell, and go get thyselves a glass of wine!!

For hoot value...

I don't know how many guys who use this NYC restroom find it amusing, but I thought it was pretty funny. Apparently, according to my brother in law, the architect, who sent it to us, an all-women design firm won the bid for this NYC office building and was given full design license.