text:
Inpatient or Observation: Knowing the Difference Could Save You Thousands
When Nancy's husband fell and broke his hip, he spent four days in the hospital before starting a long road to recovery with several weeks at a skilled nursing rehabilitation center. Nancy was shocked when she got her husband's medical bill in the mail – he was charged for his entire stay at the skilled nursing care center, something Medicare normally covers. Nancy learned that, because her husband was initially admitted to the hospital under an "observation stay" status, Medicare would not cover any portion of his stay at the skilled nursing care center. Nancy's story, although fictitious, is representative of what many Medicare patients experience when they are suddenly admitted to the hospital.
When a Hospital Stay Isn't a Stay
The difference between inpatient and observation status is important because Medicare pays different rates according to each status. Patients admitted under observation status are considered outpatients, even though they may stay in the hospital for several days and receive treatment in a hospital bed.
Hospital admission status affects Medicare coverage of skilled nursing services, and it can cost patients thousands of dollars. Medicare requires a three-day hospital inpatient stay minimum before it will cover the cost of rehabilitative care in a skilled nursing care center. However, observation stays, regardless of length, do not count toward Medicare's requirement.
Patient advocate groups call this requirement a Medicare loophole that does a disservice to aging adults who need the quality and specialized care that comes from a skilled nursing care center. Many Medicare patients find themselves in a situation like Nancy's, facing sticker shock. Others must decide whether they will pay out-of-pocket for medically necessary rehab and skilled nursing care, or cut their care short.
Fighting Observation Stays
The inpatient vs. outpatient criteria creates uncertainty for patients and their families. Legislation has been introduced in Congress that, if passed, would deem an individual receiving outpatient observation services in a hospital to be an inpatient with respect to the Medicare three-day stay requirement.
In the meantime, there are a few things you can do to protect your loved one financially. A new law will require hospitals to give Medicare patients verbal and written notice of an observation status within 36 hours. When your loved one arrives at the hospital, you can also ask questions like:
- Is the patient's status inpatient or observation?
- How long will the hospital stay be?
- Will there be a need for specialized skilled or rehab care after the patient is discharged?
Asking these questions throughout your loved one's stay is important because hospitals can change the status from one day to the next. You can ask to have your loved one's status changed, but it is important to do so while your loved one is still in the hospital. If necessary, you can request the hospital's patient advocate for assistance. The Center for Medicare Advocacy has published a Self Help Packet for Medicare Observation Status with resources to help you in filing an appeal, if necessary.


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Bordeaux or Burgundy? For a long time I was emphatically on the side of the former in that vital question of red-wine devotion – perhaps because it was with Bordeaux (mostly modest stuff from the 1970s and '80s), along with the few excellent local versions, that I developed my wine aesthetic. In the last decade or so, however, my allegiance shifted firmly (and expensively) to Burgundy – though perhaps I'll prove either my fickleness or my loyalty by returning: my apostasy is shattered every time I have some older Bordeaux (or, rarely, a younger one) and am reminded how ultimately supreme it can be. Only old-style Bordeaux has what I treasure – the element that Cardinal Richelieu (at least in a Dumas novel) brilliantly characterised as "an indescribably sinister, sombre bite".
Incidentally, amongst the beautifully made, very ripe, oaky local blends of today, I rarely find one that approaches the unpretentious elegance that I recall of the best of the 1980s: Welgemeend, Kanonkop Paul Sauer, Delheim, Le Bonheur. They were, I think, the best wines of that generally dismal decade.
Even recently though, despite my Burgundian orientation and spending habits, I've been perplexed and irritated by some of the local fiery radicals who adore Burgundy and habitually sneer at Bordeaux (and even extend their dislike to cabernet sauvignon – poor grape!). It's an article of faith that seems to be internationally widespread amongst the wine avant-garde. Sometimes it seems to be because they think Bordeaux has sold out to Americans whose model is Napa cabernet, more specifically because of too much new oak, too much manipulation in the cellar, too much bigness, too much marketing – that sort of thing.
Yet Burgundy is, frankly, not much different in many ways, and at the top end is at least as expensive and as Bordeaux first growths, and even more unobtainable, because made in much tinier quantities. And, further down the price ladder, there is surely no question that modest Bordeaux offers much better quality and value than modest red Burgundy.
The other classic region and grape that the youthful rebels (me too!) continue to worship is, of course, Germany and riesling. Which gives one clue, I think as to why Burgundy as a region is let off the hook that hangs Bordeaux: the finest wines of both Germany and Burgundy are unquestionably devoted to expressing terroir through their minutely discriminated vineyards. And that is, almost as a definition, what the radicals claim to be most interested in. Bordeaux plays at least lip-service to terroir, but the château is defined as a brand not a place (the physical boundaries of which can and do occasionally shift alarmingly). And the grand Bordeaux châteaux are mostly owned by insurance companies or supermarket-rich vulgarians or gentlemen in English tweeds, while – so it seems, and so it just a bit is, Burgundy's vineyards and little cellars are owned by … peasants rooted in soil and tradition. Maybe.
Jean-Robert Pitte in his fine book on the "rivalry" between the two great French regions goes much deeper at more length than this, as he speaks of "two opposite civilisations, two distinct ways of feeling".
You can see (if you choose to) the same sort of split in the Cape, and many people do, I think: on the one hand, the white-walled, grand estates of Stellenbosch and Constantia (the former, at least, oriented like Bordeaux to cabernet sauvignon and also over-oaking and over-ripening it!), owned by more or less smartly dressed and conservative rich people; on the other, the rough and ragged guys of the Swartlanders, rich only in their passion and their love of old vines and soil and the expression of terroir. Again, maybe. So the story goes.
I'm raising all this, simply because a sentence in the latest issue of the great journal World of Fine Wine summoned it up for me, and underlined that a lot of the split is about something other than wine in itself (is wine ever something in itself, devoid of other factors?). Hugh Johnson, the incomparable English wine writer now much less active than before, talks about Bordeaux in his column, and the "medium-powered" claret that the English (as opposed to Americans, implicitly) have traditionally enjoyed – "more juicy than meaty, with fresh acidity and a tannic nip". Then the sentence that got to me: "Some 80 percent of the wine drunk in my London club is claret like this."
"My London club…."Suddenly, the image of that upper-class, male-dominated institution, the gentleman's club, with (generally) its rules and traditions and fusty prejudices and right-wing associations, became fused in my mind with Bordeaux – and I could hear the class drawl with which "claret" is pronounced by the 80% from the depths of their leather armchairs.
A fundamental reason that the youthful wine radicals have such a distaste for Bordeaux (the place, the institution, the concept, if not the wines) is surely that it is seen as representing the Establishment, the conservative enemies of youth and exuberance and change. Again, you could (if you insist) try to apply the model to the Cape….

subset: commoncrawl


text:
About Almunecar
Because of its SIZE: It's a small town with 25,000 inhabitants.
It combines history, culture and tradition, the charm of a "white village",
with attractive, unbeatable tourism; though that tourism is largely Spanish.
Because of its LOCATION: It is situated on the Mediterranean coast of Granada,
surrounded by mountains, within an hour of both Malaga and Granada and
with 3 airports within an hour by car.
Because of its CLIMATE: This excellent location gives it an exceptional subtropical
microclimate, unique within Europe, hence the name TROPICAL COAST.
Meteorologically speaking, Almuñecar has no winter, as the average temperature is
18º and it doesn't drop below 6ºC.
The summer is long, 4 months, but gentle with maximum temperatures not usually
over 30º.
The temperature of the sea doesn't drop below 14ºC.
We enjoy many days of sun per year, with an annual average of 321 days.
Because of its GASTRONOMY: Although it is a fishing village, Almuñecar's economy
is also based on the tropical plantations where custard apples, kiwi fruit, avocados,
medlars, etc. are grown. All of these produce and more can be bought at the local
market, 10 minutes from the school.
Going out to eat and drink form an important part of the Spanish way of life. Here in
Almuñecar there are many family-run restaurants where you can eat fresh, local produce
at a reasonable price. For breakfast, have a coffee with freshly-squeezed orange juice and
some toast with tomato and olive oil. For lunch, order the "menu del dia", which usually
includes 2 courses and a dessert (salad, "gazpacho", soups, lentil or chick-pea stew, fried fish,
squid or paella amongst other things). At night, you can enjoy your drinks accompanied by
free tapas, which is an excellent way of sampling the dishes available at the bar.
Because of its BEACHES AND SURROUNDINGS: The coast of Almuñecar has 19km
of beautiful beaches and hidden coves with crystalline waters particularly
recommended for aquatic sports like windsurfing, snorkelling, etc. To discover the
ecosystem of this part of the Mediterranean, a visit to Almuñecar's Aquarium is a
must, with over 3000 specimens of around 200 different species of fish and
invertebrate sea creatures like octopus, jellyfish, lobster, etc.
As the mountains are so close to the sea, it is also an ideal place for outdoor
activity sports such as paragliding, walking, etc.
Because of its CULTURAL AND LEISURE FACILITIES: There is also room for cultural
tourism, as Almuñecar's history is marked out by the numerous cultures which
settled here; Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs and finally Christians have left their traces
in numerous archaeological remains all over the town and its coast, some of which
canbe visited on our guided tours.
The Arabic Castle of San Miguel stands out over the town and its kilometres of beach.
The Archaeological Museum (Roman Cave of the Seven Palaces) and the "Claves de
Almuñecar" Museum are well worth a visit if you are interested in seeing how the
town has changed through the years.
The Botanical Park "El Majuelo", situated near to the beach below the castle,
provides the visitor with a shady place to relax and enjoy over 180 types of palm and
species of tropical plants. You will be surprised to find the remains of a Roman
salting factory within it. The park is also used as an open air auditorium for concerts
and festivals: every summer the International Jazz Festival of Almuñecar, one of the
oldest in Europe attracting numerous internationally renowned artists;
Flamenco Festival; etc.
Next to "El Majuelo" Park is the Ornithological Park "Loro Sexi" (Sexi was the
Phoenician name for Almuñecar) housing almost 200
different species from pigeons, doves, parrots and peacocks to ostriches.
The aquatic park "Aquatropic" attracts young people and families to its 18,000m² of
salt water swimming pools and slides and green
Because of its LOCAL FESTIVALS: Almuñecar's Easter Week has been declared Festival of
National Tourist Interest for Andalucía; the parades through the narrow, hilly streets and alleys
of the historic centre will amaze you.
Almuñecar's own local festival, to Our Lady of the Assumption, in the week of August 15th, ends with a spectacular firework display.
The night of San Juan is on June 24th; Mediterranean festival par excellence with bonfires burning all night along the sea shore, waiting
for dawn on the shortest night of the year.
The Festival of the mariners celebrates the day of their patron saint, Our Lady of the Carmen, on July 16th.
The Carnival is fun wherever you go in Almuñecar, aimed particularly at the youngest age-group.


text:
— Omah and Bri discuss the day's events in his hotel room and decide that they are confused by the evidence. Omah finds it hard to resist kissing her and Bri leaves, convinced he has fallen for her at last. —
"What do we do now?" Bri asked.
"Cry? What the hell are we getting into here?" Omah replied.
"I dunno. It's big. What does that mean? Is it useful? Or gibberish?"
"I don't know! There are an awful lot of pieces to this puzzle! Normally I struggle to fine one! This isn't like looking for a needle in a haystack. More like looking for haystack in a small pile of needles!"
"Well, I'm gonna need sleep. Tomorrow, we need to track down the other staff and find out what we can about how Bentwell got there. I'll have to interview him but I doubt we'll get much out of him. In any case, it's gonna be a big day."
"Okay. I better get some sleep too then."
As Bri stood up, her hand accidentally brushed against Omah's. The touch impelled him to accompany her to the door and when he opened, it she turned so that her face came to within inches of his own. Omah could feel the warmth of her breath and saw her lips, red with lipstick, open, revealing her white teeth. He wanted to kiss her.
"Good night Omah," she said, breathing hard.
"Seven! Set your alarm!" he called after her.
Rip-Find the Magic Key: 2nd longest Western novel at 1 M+ words. Subscribe bit.ly/LazloFerran | Buy Vol 1 bit.ly/ripvol1 | Understand more bit.ly/inforip


text: Home Businesses Advanced Materials Group About Request Quote REQUEST A QUOTE FROM ADVANCED MATERIALS GROUP Materion Advanced Materials Group is a leading supplier of thin film deposition services, high reliability electronic packaging products and specialty materials. We welcome the opportunity to provide you with a quote. Please complete the form below or you can get our list of our locations and phone numbers. 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text:
The Texas Education Agency designed the
Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS)
to assess the progress that limited English proficient (LEP)
students make in learning the English language.
The English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS),
outline English language proficiency level descriptors
and student expectations for English language learners (ELLs).
In Texas, school districts are required to implement ELPS
as an integral part of each subject in the required curriculum.
TEA has created some great ELPS training materials that can be found HERE.
I took the question stems in one of the ELPS training guides
and created question cards for the teachers in our district
to print and use with their students.
There are six different sets of color coded question cards-
each containing 18 different cards.
Sets include:
Cause and Effect
Compare and Contrast
Inferencing and Predicting
Organize and Classify
Summarize and Paraphrase
as well as a set of Probing Question cards.
Although these were created for use with LEP students,
they are great for ALL students!
You can download a copy of the question cards HERE.
I even included directions for how to print the question cards.
Since they are PDF's- you can print a bunch per page
or print them whole page to hang in your room!


text:
When a fuse detects too much power running through a wire, a tiny piece of metal inside the fuse will break, thereby stopping the power from continuing to run through the wire.
When the top of the fuse is made of glass, many people think that they can look at the metal piece inside and see if it is broken. THIS IS NOT ALWAYS TRUE.
The best way to handle a suspected blown fuse is to simply replace it. If the power comes back on, great! If it doesn't, then you should call an electrician who is good at troubleshooting.
What Sets Us Apart?
- Best in the Region
- 24/7 Emergency Service
- Certified Copalum Installer
- Financing Options Available
- Google Guaranteed Electrician
- Professionally Trained and Licensed


text:
Click below to filter your search results
Statement of Policy (Revised and approved November 2014), November 2014
The following statement is the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' (ACOG) general policy related to abortion. The College's clinical guidelines related to abortion and additional information are contained in the relevant Practice Bulletins, Committee Opinions, and other College documents.
Committee Opinion Number 683, January 2017
(Replaces Committee Opinion Number 508, October 2011) (Reaffirmed 2019)
ABSTRACT: A key element of an organizational safety culture is maintaining an environment of professionalism that encourages communication and promotes high-quality care. Behavior that undermines a culture of safety, including disruptive or intimidating behavior, has a negative effect on the quality and safety of patient care. Intimidating behavior and disruptive behavior are unprofessional and should not be tolerated. Confronting disruptive individuals is difficult. Co-workers often are reluctant to report disruptive behavior because of fear of retaliation and the stigma associated with "bl...
Committee Opinion Number 792, September 2019
(Replaces Committee Opinion 629, April 2015)
ABSTRACT: Protocols and checklists have been shown to reduce patient harm through improved standardization and communication. Implementation of protocols and guidelines often is delayed because of lack of health care provider awareness or difficult clinical algorithms in medical institutions. However, the use of checklists and protocols clearly has been demonstrated to improve outcomes and their use is strongly encouraged. Checklists and protocols should be incorporated into systems as a way to help practitioners provide the best evidence-based care to their patients.
Committee Opinion Number 681, December 2016
(Replaces Committee Opinion No. 520, March 2012) (Reaffirmed 2019)
ABSTRACT: Adverse outcomes, preventable or otherwise, are a reality of medical care. Most importantly, adverse events affect patients, but they also affect health care practitioners. Disclosing information about adverse events has benefits for the patient and the physician and, ideally, strengthens the patient–physician relationship and promotes trust. Studies show that after an adverse outcome, patients expect and want timely and full disclosure of the event, an acknowledgment of responsibility, an understanding of what happened, expressions of sympathy, and a discussion of what is being don...
Committee Opinion Number 587, February 2014
(Replaces Committee Opinion Number 492, May 2011) (Reaffirmed 2018)
ABSTRACT: Physicians' ability to effectively and compassionately communicate information is key to a successful patient–physician relationship. The current health care environment demands increasing clinical productivity and affords less time with each patient, which can impede effective patient–physician communication. The use of patient-centered interviewing, caring communication skills, and shared decision making improves patient–physician communication. Involving advanced practice nurses or physician assistants may improve the patient's experience and understanding of her visit. Electroni...
Committee Opinion Number 480, March 2011
Reaffirmed 2017
ABSTRACT: Empathy is the process through which one attempts to project oneself into another's life and imagine a situation from his or her point of view. Most individuals do have an innate capacity to show empathy toward others. Empathy is as important to being a good physician as technical competence. However, at times the health care environment and educational process overly emphasize technological competence, curing disease rather than healing the patient, or the economic aspects of medicine. This may interfere with an empathic approach in the clinical setting. In this Committee Opinion, ...
Committee Opinion Number 730, February 2018
(Replaces Committee Opinion No. 519, March 2012)
Abstract: Fatigue and sleep deprivation may affect a health care provider's skills and communication style, and also may affect clinical outcomes. The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7–9 hours of sleep per night for an adult. However, there are no current guidelines limiting the volume of deliveries and procedures performed by a single individual or on the length of time he or she may be on call. Medical literature has shown that even a single night of missed sleep measurably affects cognitive performance. When adults do not sleep at least
5 hours per night, language and numeric skills...
Committee Opinion Number 731, March 2018
ABSTRACT: Individual prenatal care is intended to prevent poor perinatal outcomes and provide education to women throughout pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period through a series of one-on-one encounters between a woman and her obstetrician or other obstetric care provider. Concerns regarding increasing health care costs, health care provider availability, dissatisfaction with wait times, and the minimal opportunity for education and support associated with the individual care model have given rise to interest in alternative models of prenatal care. One alternative model, group pre...
Committee Opinion Number 674, September 2016
ABSTRACT: New or emerging surgical procedures and technologies continue to be developed at a rapid rate and must be implemented safely into clinical practice. Additional privileging may be required if substantively new technical or cognitive skills are required to implement an innovative procedure or technology. Guiding principles for privileging should include cognitive and technical assessment to ensure appropriate patient selection and performance of the new procedure. Implementation also should include pertinent institutional and staff support as needed. A dynamic process for assessment a...
Committee Opinion Number 676, October 2016
(Replaces Committee Opinion Number 585, February 2014) (Reaffirmed 2019)
ABSTRACT: Health literacy is defined as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand the basic health information and services they need to make appropriate health decisions. Multiple factors affect a patient's understanding of health information, including cultural factors, a physician's health knowledge and communication skills, the demands of the situation, the environment in which the health information is being conveyed, and time constraints. The responsibility for recognizing and addressing the problem of limited health literacy lies with all enti...
Committee Opinion Number 726, December 2017
(Replaces Committee Opinion Number 555, March 2013)
ABSTRACT: Large-scale catastrophic events and infectious disease outbreaks highlight the need for disaster planning at all community levels. Features unique to the obstetric population (including antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum and neonatal care) warrant special consideration in the event of a disaster. Pregnancy increases the risks of untoward outcomes from various infectious diseases. Trauma during pregnancy presents anatomic and physiologic considerations that often can require increased use of resources such as higher rates of cesarean delivery. Recent evidence suggests that floods an...
Committee Opinion Number 439, August 2009
(Reaffirmed 2015)
ABSTRACT: Obtaining informed consent for medical treatment, for participation in medical research, and for participation in teaching exercises involving students and residents is an ethical requirement that is partially reflected in legal doctrines and requirements. As an ethical doctrine, informed consent is a process of communication whereby a patient is enabled to make an informed and voluntary decision about accepting or declining medical care. In this Committee Opinion, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Committee on Ethics describes the history, ethical basis, and ...
(Reaffirmed July 2014)
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (the College) and the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) affirm our shared goal of safe women's health care in the United States through the promotion of evidence-based models provided by obstetrician–gynecologists (ob-gyns), certified nurse-midwives (CNMs), and certified midwives (CMs). The College and ACNM believe health care is most effective when it occurs in a system that facilitates communication across care settings and among providers. Ob-gyns and CNMs/CMs are experts in their respective fields of practice and are educated...
Number 9, August 2019
Replaces Obstetric Care Consensus Number 2, February 2015
ABSTRACT: Maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, particularly among women of color, have increased in the United States. The leading medical causes of maternal mortality include cardiovascular disease, infection, and common obstetric complications such as hemorrhage, and vary by timing relative to the end of pregnancy. Although specific modifications in the clinical management of some of these conditions have been instituted, more can be done to improve the system of care for high-risk women at facility and population levels. The goal of levels of maternal care is to reduce materna...
Committee Opinion Number 490, May 2011
(Replaces No. 320, November 2005) (Reaffirmed 2019)
Abstract: Actively involving patients in the planning of health services is recommended as a means of improving the quality of care. This can increase patient engagement and reduce risk resulting in improved outcomes, satisfaction, and treatment adherence.
Committee Opinion Number 621, January 2015
(Replaces Committee Opinion Number 472, November 2010)
ABSTRACT: The advantages of health information technology (IT) include facilitating communication between health care providers; improving medication safety, tracking, and reporting; and promoting quality of care through optimized access to and adherence to guidelines. Health IT systems permit the collection of data for use for quality management, outcome reporting, and public health disease surveillance and reporting. However, improvement is needed with all health IT, especially regarding design, implementation, and integration between platforms within the work environment. Robust interopera...
Committee Opinion Number 447, December 2009
(Replaces No. 286, October 2003) (Reaffirmed 2019)
ABSTRACT: Since publication of the Institute of Medicine's landmark report To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, emphasis on patient safety has steadily increased. Obstetrician–gynecologists should continuously incorporate elements of patient safety into their practices and also encourage others to use these practices.
Committee Opinion Number 464, September 2010
(Replaces No. 328, February 2006, Reaffirmed 2014)
ABSTRACT: Ensuring patient safety in the operating room begins before the patient enters the operative suite and includes attention to all applicable types of preventable medical errors (including, for example, medication errors), but surgical errors are unique to this environment. Steps to prevent wrong-site, wrong-person, wrong-procedure errors, or retained foreign objects have been recommended, starting with structured communication between the patient, the surgeon(s), and other members of the health care team. Prevention of surgical errors requires the attention of all personnel involved ...
Committee Opinion Number 590, March 2014
(Replaces Committee Opinion Number 487, April 2011) (Reaffirmed 2018)
ABSTRACT: Patient care emergencies may occur at any time in any setting, particularly the inpatient setting. It is important that obstetrician–gynecologists prepare themselves by assessing potential emergencies, establishing early warning systems, designating specialized first responders, conducting emergency drills, and debriefing staff after actual events to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement. Having such systems in place may reduce or prevent the severity of medical emergencies.
Committee Opinion Number 622, February 2015
(Reaffirmed 2019)
ABSTRACT: Digital and social media quickly are becoming universal in modern medical practice. Data sharing, online reviews and ratings, and digital privacy concerns likely will become a part of most every physician's practice, regardless of his or her use of social media. The widespread use of social media in the United States brings unprecedented connectivity that opens new horizons for physicians, ranging from interactions with patients, to communication with peers and the public, to novel approaches to research.
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
409 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20024-2188
Mailing Address: PO Box 96920, Washington, DC 20024-9998


text:
June 30, 2004
Smoke-Free Grounds Policy Phased
in Starting Monday
Admitted Patients who smoke will be offered
Nicotine Replacement Therapy during Hospitalization.
The grounds of Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre, St. Boniface General
Hospital and Deer Lodge Centre will be smoke-free starting Monday, July 5th.
Smoking will be prohibited on all facility grounds including: entranceways,
sidewalks, driveways, green spaces, parking lots and parkades. Signs are
being posted to let patients, visitors and staff know about the policy.
This first step towards phasing-in smoke-free grounds is part of the Winnipeg
Regional Health Authority's Smoke-Free Policy. The policy applies to hospitals,
long-term care facilities and community sites such as ACCESS River East.
Implementation dates will vary by facility but it is expected that all health
care sites will have smoke-free grounds within a year.
"This is the next logical step in enhancing healthy environments for
patients, staff and the public," Dr. Sande Harlos, WRHA Medical Officer
of Health, said. "It means patients, staff and visitors will no longer
have to walk through a wall of smoke to enter these facilities."
Admitted patients who are smokers can now also ask their doctor for Nicotine
Replacement Therapy (gum or the patch) during the course of their hospitalization.
Harlos said research shows that patients who remain smoke-free during the
course of their hospital stay recover more quickly with fewer complications.
For example, patients who refrain from smoking suffer fewer wound infections
after surgery than patients who continue to smoke.
Harlos said the WRHA anticipates most people will respect the health of
others by cooperating with the new policy, just as they did with the City
of Winnipeg's Smoking By-law.
Version française de cette page


text:
Not the most flattering picture right? But it's the real picture of a struggle so I'm going to leave this here! If this offends you and you're wondering what my motive for this post is — you should probably pass through and read my first ever post Broken Hearted. I honestly believe that Christ' power is … Continue reading Only Water Can Wash Away This Smoke
Category: Life Lessons
Lessons learned in Christian journey and walk
What's The Plan?
There are many times in my life when I have made plans or set goals without really taking into consideration God's plan. Not that I didn't consider God at all, but more that I made plans and then committed them to God rather than enquire of the Lord before actually completing my plan. If I'm … Continue reading What's The Plan?
What On Earth Are You Looking For?
So the New Year has begun and for many of us, it's often an opportunity for us to set goals or perhaps pick up some goals we haven't quite completed in the previous year, and approach them with a new found energy. We set goals in all manners of areas – fitness, career, education, travel … Continue reading What On Earth Are You Looking For?
From Prostitute To Lover – From Adulterer To Wife
It's been awhile, but now I have your attention I will start by saying good afternoon, & I sincerely hope this post finds you well. I have chosen a very strong title for today's post, but believe me; this is a lot less about shock value and more about truth. So today I want to … Continue reading From Prostitute To Lover – From Adulterer To Wife


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Fractures in dogs and cats are most often caused by trauma, such as being hit by a car or jumping or falling from a height. Fractures can also be caused by aggressive cancer that destroys the bone or by certain metabolic conditions that leach calcium from bone.
Bones provide a rigid structure to the body and act as the levers that turn muscle movement into motion [link to dog and cat skeletons]. The term "bone" makes most people think of the bones in the limbs, such as the femur (thigh), tibia (shin), radius (forearm), and humerus (upper arm). However, the ribs, spinal vertebrae, hips, shoulder, and skull are also made of bone. In dogs and cats, the spinal vertebrae extend all the way down into the tip of the tail. Male dogs also have a bone in the penis.
Bones consist of an outer, hard portion known as the cortex and an inner, spongy portion known as the marrow. The outside surface of the cortex is surrounded by a fibrous capsule called the periosteum, which contains blood vessels and nerves [link to cross-sectional diagram of bone]. The periosteum also contains immature cells that grow into the osteoblasts, which are the cells involved in growth of bone and fracture repair.
In young animals, plates or layers of osteoblasts are found near the ends of bones, from which new bone grows as the animal matures. Damage to these developing plates can stunt bone growth and lead to deformed limbs.
Bones contain large amounts of calcium, which makes them hard and resilient, but unfortunately also breakable. The complexity and severity of a fracture depends on the force of the impact, the location of the injury, and the general age and health of the individual dog or cat [link to sketches of the different types of fractures].
Hairline fractures: The simplest types of fractures produce fine cracks near the middle of long bones, such as those in the legs. These hairline fractures cause little or no displacement of the bone, much like cracks in a windshield.
Multiple-piece fractures and fractures that involve a joint: Stronger impacts can cause the edges of the fractured pieces of the bone to separate, or the bone may shatter into multiple pieces, making repair more difficult. Fractures that involve a joint are even more serious. These types of fractures can interfere with movement and lead to arthritis long after the bone has healed.
Open or compound fractures: Fractures in which the bone is exposed are called "open" or "compound" factures. In these serious fractures, jagged edges of the bone can pierce surrounding tissues and damage muscles, blood vessels, and nerves. In addition, because the bone is exposed to the outside environment, these types of fractures are often contaminated and serious infections that are difficult to resolve can develop.
Transporting your pet to Gandy Animal Hospital, Inc.
If you suspect your pet has a fracture, try to minimize movement of the affected leg while you transport your pet to your veterinarian. If any of the bone is exposed, cover it with a damp, clean towel to protect the area. Damage to the periosteum caused by the fracture is very painful, so take care while moving your pet—any animal may bite when in pain or frightened.
Your vet will begin evaluating the fracture and perform a complete physical examination to check for any additional injuries. X-rays will be needed to assess the fracture more thoroughly and to consider how best to stabilize and repair it.
Depending on the specific nature of the fracture, your vet may recommend external stabilization or internal fixation. The objective of all procedures is to bring the pieces of bone into the correct alignment and to hold them firmly in place (ie, no movement) so that healing can occur.
External stabilization consists of traditional splints, casts, and padded bandages that can be used to immobilize minor or simple fractures (eg, hairline fractures). Internal fixation involves surgical procedures to piece the fracture together while your pet is under anesthesia. The simplest type of internal fixation consists of inserting a metal pin lengthwise into the center of the bone, so that the pin can act as an internal splint. This type of internal fixation can work well for a small pet that has a simple fracture in the middle of a long bone, such as the femur, or thigh bone. In fractures that have multiple bone pieces or involve a joint, internal fixation is more complicated; the pieces need to be replaced manually and held in place with metal plates, pins, screws, and/or wire. Because this type of surgery requires specialized skills, your vet may refer you to an orthopedic specialist.
Healing and recovery
Fractures heal from the outside in. Blood vessels in the periosteum produce a fibrous capsule called a callus. The callus surrounds the outside of the fracture to hold the damaged bone in place while it heals. Specialized cells called osteoblasts then enter the fracture site to produce new bone that toughens the mend.
Healing occurs at varying rates depending on the age of the pet, the type of fracture and severity of the damage, and the type of fixation.
For example, young puppies generally heal within a few weeks, while healing can take several months in older dogs. It is important to limit your pet's activity during the healing process, so that the bones stay aligned and heal together properly. Too much activity can refracture the bone, delay healing, or lead to a deformed limb from stress on the weakened bone. While your pet is convalescing, your vet may recommend x-rays at various time intervals to gauge how healing is progressing and when your pet can return to full function.


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We Help You Save Money- Tax Strategy
Have you built, purchased or renovated a building in the past 10 to 20 years?
If your answer is "yes", it is likely you are paying too much federal income tax. Commercial Capital works with commercial property owners and their CPA's from across the nation to increase cash flow from constructed buildings, purchased properties and renovations by accelerating depreciation expense deductions.
Through what is called "cost segregation", the components of a building are reclassified into proper class lives according to MACRS (Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System), case law and IRS revenue rulings. MACRS property is tangible, depreciable property that has been placed in service since December 31, 1986 as prescribed by the Tax Reform Act of 1986. For example, a building's floor, roof and walls might be classified as 39-year section 1250 real property; site improvements such as sidewalks and landscaping would be classified as 15-year section 1250 real property; communications equipment and general office furnishings as 7-year section 1245 tangible personal property and carpeting, decorative lighting and computer associated items as 5-year section 1245 personal property.
Commercial property owners seeking federal income tax relief should consider cost segregation
Cost segregation is the IRS approved method of re-classifying components and improvements of your commercial building from real property to personal property. This process allows the assets to be depreciated on a 5, 7 or 15-year schedule instead of the traditional 39-year life of real property. Thus your current taxable income will be greatly reduced and your cash flow will increase $60,000 to $60,000 to $100,000 for every $1,000,000 of building cost. This is your money to use now.
If you own or lease a facility, the depreciation deduction is one of the most significant, but often overlooked opportunities to reduce the income tax liability. Whether you are buying, building or improving a building, we can help maximize your income tax deductions through our in-depth cost segregation service
Cost segregation studies are one of the most valuable tax strategies available to owners of commercial real estate today. This increasingly popular phenomenon, offers facility owners the opportunity to defer taxes, reduce their overall current tax burden, and free up capital by improving their current cash flow. Virtually every taxpayer who owns, constructs, renovates, or acquires a commercial real estate structure stands to benefit from a cost segregation study.
Depreciation is a non-cash tax deduction which reduces federal income taxes. Commercial real estate owners often overlook a tax reduction opportunity by using simplistic methods to develop their depreciation schedules. Federal income tax preparation has become complex often involving CPAs, accountants and tax lawyers. However, even these experts do not have the depth of knowledge in all areas to affect all possible tax cuts. Commercial property owners seeking federal income tax relief should consult a cost segregation specialist. Cost segregation increases tax deductions by accurately depreciating real estate.
Cost segregation is not a tax shelter or tax evasion scheme. It is an IRS defined and guided tax reduction tool. Commercial property owners are often uncertain how to seek tax tips or tax advice. Tax preparation should include a team. Taxpayers with real estate investments will generate more tax deductions by including a cost segregation expert on their team.
Give me a call today at 512-650-8630 or get started by filling out this form
The practice of Cost Segregation has been around for decades. However, recent changes to the law and court decisions have made it more beneficial. Ninety-percent of all commercial property investors are overpaying their federal income taxes, leaving a rather large untapped market for anyone able to offer these services. Though it has been around in its current form, since 1987; Cost Segregation was for some time, almost solely offered by Big 4 accounting firms and a handful of large real estate consulting companies, both of which tend to work with Fortune 1000 companies. With very few qualified practitioners for small to medium size taxpayers, the service was not cost effective. Within the last few years, however, Cost Segregation has become available, at a very reasonable cost, to smaller companies and individual property owners.
"Cost Segregation is a lucrative tax strategy that should be used in almost every major purchase of Commercial Real Estate."
-Wall Street Journal


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PIRSA:07030039 ( MP4 Medium Res , MP3 , PDF ) Which Format?
The power of forgetting
Speaker(s): Patrick Hayden
Abstract: Thermodynamics places surprisingly few fundamental constraints on information processing. In fact, most people would argue that it imposes only one, known as Landauer's Principle: a process erasing one bit of information must release an amount kT ln 2 of heat. It is this simple observation that finally led to the exorcism of Maxwell's Demon from statistical mechanics, more than a century after he first appeared. Ignoring the lesson implicit in this early advance, however, quantum information theorists have been surprisingly slow to embrace erasure as a fundamental primitive. Over the past couple of years, however, it has become clear that a detailed understanding of how difficult it is to erase correlations leads to a nearly complete synthesis and simplification of the known results of asymptotic quantum information theory. As it turns out, surprisingly many of the tasks of interest, from distilling high-quality entanglement to sending quantum data through a noisy medium to many receivers, can be understood as variants of erasure. I'll sketch the main ideas behind these discoveries and end with some speculations on what lessons the new picture might have for understanding information loss in real physical systems.
Date: 26/03/2007 - 11:00 am
Series: Quantum Information
URL: http://pirsa.org/07030039/ Share:


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"Children born to women undergoing cancer drug treatment show normal results in physical and mental development tests," The Guardian has reported.
The news is based on research that examined the health of 70 children who were exposed to chemotherapy in the womb during the final two-thirds of pregnancy. Between the ages of 18 months and 18 years, the children were given examinations of their general health, brain and heart function, and hearing. Their brain function, hearing, heart function, growth and development were all comparable with the general population. However, being born prematurely was associated with lower scores in IQ tests, leading the researchers to recommend against doctors inducing early delivery in women who need chemotherapy. The researchers also say their results do not support delaying chemotherapy in pregnant women.
During pregnancy, decisions about treatment have to be made that are in the best interest of the mother's health, while trying to avoid the risk of harm to the foetus. However, this relatively small study cannot conclusively prove that chemotherapy poses no risk at all to the unborn child. The researchers say that their study is currently gathering longer-term data on wider numbers of children to help explore the issue further.
Where did the story come from?
The study was carried out by researchers from Leuven Cancer Institute and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, and other institutions in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Canada. The study was funded by a number of European medical research and technology funds and the Belgian Ministry of Health. The study was published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet.
In general, the media provided balanced coverage of this study. The Daily Mail's headline declared that pregnant women with breast cancer can have chemotherapy and surgery and "still give birth safely". However, the study did not focus on women with breast cancer, and looked at children's long-term development rather than the safety of their delivery. The researchers' main finding was that being born prematurely was associated with lower IQ scores, which means that planned premature delivery may not be the best option.
What kind of research was this?
This cohort study looked at how foetal exposure to maternal cancer and treatment, including chemotherapy, affected the physical and cognitive development of children at various points through their childhood.
While it is known that exposure to chemotherapy during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy can increase the risk of congenital defects in the baby, there is uncertainty over whether exposure during later stages of pregnancy can also affect heart and brain development. The researchers say that up until now, limited data have been available on the longer-term outcomes of children exposed to chemotherapy in the uterus. With this in mind, they intended to record the general health, cardiac function and brain development in children who were exposed to chemotherapy in the uterus.
A cohort study is likely to be the most appropriate way of exploring the harms of chemotherapy in pregnancy. Chemotherapy in pregnancy is generally believed to be potentially harmful to the baby, but is sometimes unavoidable in clinical practice. Setting up a trial that randomly assigned pregnant women with cancer to receive cancer treatment or no treatment to assess developmental effects on children would be unethical, both for the mother (who may be denied the treatment she needs) and the baby (who may be put at unnecessary risk of harm).
What did the research involve?
From 2005, researchers began gathering study subjects from cancer referral centres in Belgium, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. This included both pregnant women receiving chemotherapy at the time, and children and mothers who had been exposed to chemotherapy several years before the study. Depending on the age of the child the researchers carried out assessments at the ages of 18 months, 5–6 years, 8–9 years, 11–12 years, 14–15 years, or 18 years. The study is ongoing and, in time, these children will be given further examinations.
The researchers carried out neurological examinations, tests of cognitive function (using recognised child development tests or IQ tests), heart examinations (electrocardiography and echocardiography), and administered a questionnaire on general health and development. Children who were over five years of age also received hearing tests in addition to the Child Behavior Checklist, a questionnaire that screens for behavioural and emotional problems.
The researchers compared their findings with available norms such as national data for height, weight and head circumference, as well as national and international reference data for neurodevelopmental and heart examination tests.
What were the basic results?
The current analysis of this ongoing study looked at the participating children's development until March 2011. The researchers assessed 70 children (27 born between 1991 and 2004, and 43 born after 2004) from 68 pregnancies (two of the women had given birth to twins). All women had received chemotherapy, and some were also given radiotherapy, surgery or both. Across the group, 19 different chemotherapy regimens had been given, in which 236 cycles of chemotherapy were administered.
On average, the babies were born at 35.7 weeks of pregnancy (most were premature). Only 23 babies (33% of the cohort) were born at full term (37 weeks or over). Each child was followed up for an average of 22.3 months.
The children's behaviour, general health, hearing, growth and heart function were comparable to the general population. Most children were recorded as having normal cognitive development. Most children with scores below the normal range were born prematurely. After the researchers adjusted their results for age, sex and country, they found an 11.6 point increase in IQ score for each additional month of pregnancy that the baby was carried for. The researchers found that both members of one of the twin pregnancies had severe neurodevelopmental delay, and could not be assessed with the complete set of cognitive tests.
How did the researchers interpret the results?
The researchers concluded that children exposed to chemotherapy in the uterus are not more likely to have neurological, cardiac, hearing or general health and growth impairments compared with the general population.
However, premature birth was common and was associated with impaired cognitive development. Therefore, planned premature delivery should be avoided where possible.
During pregnancy difficult treatment decisions have to be made in the best interests of both the mother and her unborn child. This valuable cohort study provides follow-up data on children (from young childhood through to adolescence and beyond) who were exposed to chemotherapy while in the uterus.
The study's findings are reassuring and suggest that a child's exposure to chemotherapy during later-stage pregnancy (beyond the first 12 weeks) is not associated with brain, heart or other developmental complications in the child. As the researchers note, their findings do not support the practice of delaying chemotherapy or performing planned premature delivery so that chemotherapy can be given to the mother after birth (the study suggests that premature birth may carry greater risk of adverse cognitive outcomes than exposure to chemotherapy itself).
However, though it does provide some reassurance, this relatively small study cannot conclusively prove that chemotherapy poses no risk to the unborn child:
- As the researchers acknowledge, two children born to a twin pregnancy had significant neurodevelopmental delay. The researchers could not exclude the possibility that this may have been caused by exposure to chemotherapy during a critical time of brain development. However, they considered that the broad nature of the problems in one of the twins suggested that chemotherapy was less likely to be the cause.
- Also, though the general neurodevelopmental assessments for the cohort were within the normal range expected for the general population, the researchers noted that a sample of children had some discrepancy between verbal performance and IQ values on intelligence tests, while a sample of others had higher problem scores on a child behaviour checklist. The researchers say that these findings show that chemotherapy may have more subtle effects on neurodevelopment.
- Additionally, other longer-term effects, which this study did not look at, need to be assessed, including risks of cancer in the children or effects on fertility.
- It is important to note that all chemotherapy in this study was given after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Chemotherapy in the first trimester is associated with increased risk of congenital malformations, and this study did not assess or refute this.
- The study lacked a direct comparison group of children who were not exposed to chemotherapy in the uterus. Though the researchers did use national averages for comparison, it would have been better to perform the same range of tests in children who were born at the same pregnancy stage but who had not been exposed to chemotherapy.
The researchers say that their Cancer in Pregnancy initiative will need to continue to gather longer-term follow-up data on much wider numbers of children exposed to chemotherapy in pregnancy.
Analysis by Bazian
Edited by NHS Website
Links to the headlines
Chemo in pregnancy does not necessarily harm baby, says study
The Guardian, 10 February 2012
Pregnant women with breast cancer can have chemotherapy and surgery and still give birth safely
Daily Mail, 10 February 2012
Chemotherapy is 'safe during pregnancy'
The Independent, 10 February 2012
Pregnant women can be treated for cancer 'without harming baby'
Daily Telegraph, 10 February 2012
I wanted to live but I also wanted to keep my baby: mother Caroline Swain
The Daily Telegraph, 10 February 2012
Links to the science
Amant F, Van Calsteren F, Halaska MJ et al.
Long-term cognitive and cardiac outcomes after prenatal exposure to chemotherapy in children aged 18 months or older: an observational study
The Lancet Oncology, February 10 2012 (published online)


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Haberdash and The Chicago History Museum are bringing the fashion of Fall and the spirit of Halloween together for a night of ghost stories, dancing, and general debauchery. Boo: A Halloween Ball promises a night of tried-and-true haunting tales from Chicago folklore along with the traditional drinking and dancing of any true Halloween party. Ghost stories by Jessica Thebus, an Associate Artist with the Steppenwolf Theater Company will be all the more frightening after a couple of handcrafted drinks from some of Chicago's most notable mixologists. Haberdash, a Chicago leader in men's fashion, will be dressing servers in fall's latest gear and DJ Nix will be providing dancing tunes. Costumes aren't necessary, but dressing your best is a must.
Tickets currently on sale for $50 ($40 for Chicago History Museum members) here and include two drinks and hor d'oeurves.
-Kaitlynn Kelly


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My daughter had a bike rally in her school last week. The school's theme was "Super Hero" and her choice was Batman... well actually, it was Batgirl, because, and I quote:
"Mom, it's Batgirl! I am a woman, remember?!?" - Nunu'ism of the day. I tried so hard not to laugh because her facial expression was in absolute serious mode. I just nodded and said: "Of course".
Unfortunately for this exciting event, being the busy bee that I am, and the forgetful little girl that she is, we realized it was happening the day after she had informed me that she wanted a Batman..sorry, Bat bike for school. And by day before, I mean 16 hours from then. Yeah. I know! Luckily at the time she told me so, we were already at the mall, and figured I needed to get craft items quickly and cheapest possible. So we ran to the Dollar Store, put our head and a half together, and decided to look for things that we could use. At the same time, think of the other crafts we have at home. My goal was to make this as less expensive as possible while her goal was to make it as awesome as possible. Of course, in this case, her priority outweighed mine.
Another luck point, prom/grad season. Which meant, classic black and white part supplies were in stock. We immediately ran into the party supplies isle looking for anything BLACK.
Our first thought, how to make a FUCHSIA PINK bike, look epically awesome in BLACK.
Supercycle "Cream Soda" bike she got for her 8th birthday.
The epically awesome Bat Bike
I grabbed what I thought *could* work:
- Serving plates (4 of them, 2 for each tire, as they will go on either sides of each tire).
- Table cover. (I figured it would be used as a bandage that will cover the bike's frame).
- Felt fabric. (for the bike seat, as it is WHITE with pink accents, and for flames [<- explained further below]).
- Printed Batman symbol. (we went with old school Batman, because really, what is more awesome than old school Batman?)
- Cardboard (thank you neighbors!)
- 2 plastic 2L bottles (thank you neighbors!)
- Aluminum cookie sheet
- Zip straps/ cable ties (a lot of them)
- Paint
First thing's first: Nunu made a draft of what she had in mind for her Bat Bike:
With the table cover, I cut them into 5"-6" strips, and used them as bandages to cover every inch of the pink bike. I made the mistake (don't do it too!) of using hot glue to stick on the bike frame. I should have used electrical BLACK tape... (Thank you Lindsay Wilson for that). Now I know for a 'next time'. Or you can also use. Elasti-wrap cohesive bandage, which would have been a lot easier...Okay, I'll stop grumbling. But in my defense we had little time to do this all.
Felt fabric was used to cover her seat.
The serving plates. I drilled a hole in the middle of the platter: Hole drilled in the center tray, width of hole was roughly same size as the tire screws (1 1/2" in diameter). Placed the plate onto the screw, along with other holes made around it, that would align with the bike's frame, cable ties were used to tighten and secure the plates in place.
For the "turbo fueling rockets", as my 8 year old would put it, we used two 2L bottles. I got the inspiration from Natalie, another mama over at Doodle Craft. She made jet packs out of the bottles and that gave us the idea to attach them with cable ties to the wheels.
The cookie sheet was painted after it was molded into this triangular 3D shape that was used to be tied, like a basket, on the handle bar of the bicycle. And added a cutout print of the Batman symbol.
Then, the helmet! Don't worry, it wasn't altered aside from painting it black and adding felted ears to it. So don't get your panties in a bunch....plus her bike was only ridden in the school yard. So relax!


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Homage to a Doomed Tennis Landmark
Strictly by coincidence, the Times has a feature on the Op-Ed Page Saturday about the vanishing storefronts of New York, victims of rising rents.
I was already planning my ode to the vanishing landmark of Queens, the house of upsets, the cramped, smoky pit known as the Grandstand.
Once upon a time it was the second court at the United States Open, an afterthought grafted onto the main arena, Louis Armstrong Stadium, itself a tennis improv. But now in the name of modernity, the Grandstand has been phased out. It is serving as Practice Court 6 for this year's Open but then will be bulldozed, gone, like ancient temples destroyed by vandals.
The Open is one of the two best sporting events in my home-town, along with the one-day phenomenon of the Marathon in the fall. I can look past the money and the privilege and see the Open, with its roots at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, as still very much a Queens event, right off the No. 7 elevated train.
This year the Open has a new retractable roof over Ashe Stadium to keep the show moving when the monsoon hits. The Armstrong will be replaced by a new second stadium. The Open also has a new generic bowl, called the Grandstand with 8,200 seats. I am sure it has more amenities than the old Grandstand but it does not exactly have the feel of an Elizabethan bear-baiting den.
For many years, the players had to inhale the meaty fumes from a restaurant suspended above the west stands. Something was always out to get the favorite at the Grandstand:
In 1985, Kevin Curren, the fifth-seeded player from South Africa, was bumped off in the first round by upcoming young Guy Forget of France. Curren promptly emitted a Hope Solo solo, blaming the site for his troubles.
"I hate the city, the environment and Flushing Meadow," Curren said. "There is noise, the people in the grandstand are never seated and it takes an hour and a half in traffic to get here. It's sickening that with all the money they get from TV, the USTA doesn't build a better facility. The USTA should be shot. And they should drop an A-bomb on the place."
Curren was not the only player to get bushwhacked in the Grandstand. On Friday I ran into a former player who had benefited from the blood lust of the fans.
In 1981, Andrea Leand, all of 17, met second-seeded Andrea Jaeger in the second round – in the Grandstand.
"Andrea was up a set and 5-2," Leand recalled. "I could hear a broadcaster saying, 'That's it, she's done.'"
Then again, you could hear everything in the Grandstand. "I heard a man asking his son, 'Do you want a hot dog?'"
The mob began howling for a new victim to be sacrificed to the Grandstand deities. "The sound went right through you," Leand recalled with a beatific smile. She beat Jaeger, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3. It could happen to anybody, and often did.
The litany of Grandstand upsets is long – best left to an expert like Randy Walker, who last year wrote a farewell to the Grandstand, well worth reading:
The great thing about the ramshackle center of the 80's was that reporters could watch Grandstand matches from the back of the press box in the main stadium. One match turned into a heavyweight fight -- Roscoe Tanner, one of the hardest hitters on the tour, and Chip Hooper, a big fellow, trying to drill each other, up close and apparently quite personal.
This being the yappy borough of Queens -- Trump! McEnroe! Archie Bunker! -- the fans egged them on.
Competition was also nasty in the lines as fans tried to get into a match that had suddenly turned epic. I visited the old den the other day – a few fans watching John Isner and a hitting partner whacking the ball around, but no yelps from fans seeking a new victim.
The Grandstand could have served forever as an anarchic, irregular heirloom – a tribute to history. But Open executives can still revive the gritty aura of the old place: pipe fumes from the grille directly onto the court. Kevin Curren would feel right at home.
Two Leonine Coaches Rev Up the Olympics
American boorishness is not confined to domestic usage. We export a good bit of it, too.
I am thinking here of the disgraceful behavior of Ryan Lochte and Hope Solo in the past two weeks.
Lochte apparently has spent so much of his life in chlorine that it has pickled his brain. He did not realize Brazil just might have security cameras that would detect an Olympic celebrity with dyed light blue hair after he and three pals claimed to have been robbed at gunpoint. (It appears they broke into a restroom. Geniuses.)
Solo indulged in unsportsmanlike whining after the American soccer team was defeated by Sweden, calling her opponents "cowardly" for their conservative tactics.
Solo was detracting from Sweden's coach, Pia Sundhage, who used to coach the Americans. The Swedes lulled the quicker, more potent Americans into forays, and then struck on the counter-attack.
But let's pass over the two loutish athletes and concentrate on the women's final Friday as Germany outlasted Sweden, 2-1, to win the Olympic gold medal.
Women's soccer has only been in the Olympics since 1996, and this was the first time two female coaches had reached the finals – Silvia Neid of Germany and Sundhage of Sweden, both of whose athletic sideline prowling and grayish manes allow me to use the word "leonine."
Sundhage is one of the really cool coaches I have ever met. Sometimes to loosen up her players she will emit a folk song. When the U.S. beat Brazil, 1-0, in the finals of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the press prodded her to sing Bob Dylan. She obliged with a quickie from "The Times They Are A-Changin'."
I have a personal short list of coaches I would like to have played for, if I were an athlete, that is -- Gil Hodges in baseball, Al Arbour in hockey, Dean Smith in basketball and Herman Edwards in football. (Edwards is a guru who earnestly tried to teach doltish reporters to trust our own faculties. He had a mantra: "The eye/Don't lie.")
A decade ago, I expanded my list to include Sundhage, the wandering Swede, who was coaching the Americans, quite successfully.
It annoyed me when Solo made a spectacle of herself by asking for replacement keeper gloves when Sweden had a chance to clinch with the next penalty kick.
The Swedish kicker converted, anyway, and soon Solo ripped Pia's hunkering tactics, which have merely won championships. I saw Italy's men win the 1982 World Cup by using an updated version of the catenaccio (the bolt, or chain, in Italian) defense – tight back line, and counter-attack when an opening presents itself.
"Let's inspire, let's be badass, let's be fierce, let's be competitive," Megan Rapinoe, the artful American winger, told NBC the other day. "But we're gracious and we're humble, and we play the game a certain way, whether we win or lose."
Rapinoe added, "And we've been on the winning side quite a bit, and when we find ourselves on the other side, we need to handle that graciously, and unfortunately that wasn't the case."
Sweden lost as Germany, looking fresher and faster, scored once, pressured an own goal, and then hung on defensively (would Solo say "cowardly?)
Now the question is, what does the footloose Sundhage do next?
Recently, Henrik Rydström, a member of the Swedish national men's squad, suggested that Sundhage would make a fine coach for his team.
A reporter asked Sundhage whether a woman could really coach a national men's team. Her response, in Swedish, as translated by Business Insider:
"Well, then, let me ask you a question. Does it work with a female chancellor in Germany?"
Pia then spelled it out for reporters:
"Angela Merkel" (is running) an entire "f------ country. Clearly it works."
Clearly, female coaches work for female players. And let me throw this out: there is another country that seems 88 percent likely to elect a female President in November.
One of these years, Juergen Klinsmann will move on. Pia Sundhage should be on the short list.
Plus, she already knows our folk songs.
Two Books: From Sublime to Ridiculous
You already know who the ridiculous is. So let's start with the sublime.
I was in the library the other day at the "New/Non-Fiction/14 Days Only" section.
On a lower shelf, I spotted a book of essays by Annie Dillard, "The Abundance: Narrative Essays Old and New." Somehow, I had gotten to be this old without ever reading anything by Dillard, so I picked up the book, and opened it in the middle, to a chapter entitled "The Weasel"
"The weasel is wild. Who knows what he thinks? He sleeps in his underground den, his tail draped over his nose. Sometimes he lives in his den for two days without leaving."
Needless to say, I checked it out.
The weasel essay, six pages long, includes a 60-second encounter in the woods when Dillard and a weasel locked eyes. The essay also includes the tale of an eagle that tried to carry off a weasel, and got more than it expected.
The essay become an exhortation to grab life – whatever life is – with your jaws, and not let go.
That is pretty much what Dillard does in her writing, and in her life, by her own testimony. In one section, "An American Childhood," previously published, she races through her family and her church and her boyfriends and her life.
Required reading for teen-agers.
I was knocked out by the two final essays.
One was about sand, and geology, and the Jesuit priest-paleontologist, Teilhard de Chardin, and love.
The final chapter by Dillard, a convert to Catholicism, was alternating segments about what she called the modern "hootenany" Mass and doomed polar explorers who went off unprepared. It ends with a fantasy of the two themes overlapping.
I am now a fan of Annie Dillard, maybe even a groupie.
* * *
The second book continues the furry, feral theme, considering the muskrat Donald Trump carries around on his head and in his head.
The book is "The Making of Donald Trump," by Pulitzer-Prize-winning David Cay Johnston, seen often on the Web and the tube, warning us, "The Trumpites are coming! The Trumpites are coming!" The book hit No. 15 on the Times best-seller list last week.
Johnston is an investigative reporter, one of the best, and has been on the scent of Trump and the muskrat for decades.
He has put together verifiable details of the way Trump does business – the Polish immigrants who tore down a landmark building at nights, without safety precautions or attention to artwork; the vendors who got stiffed by Trump, the garish casinos in Trump's name without his having any knowledge of how gambling works, the threats, the suits, the welching, and the lies about women he never dated.
Johnston's book should be read – but won't be -- by the fact-averse minority that considers Trump the great white hope.
Weasels sí, muskrat head no.
(The Silva family lives in the Copacabana section of Rio. He is a writer....and a Yankee fan....and my friend. I asked Altenir to write something he was sensing about these Olympic Games, taking place all around them.)
"Yes, We Have Problems"
By Altenir Silva
Rio de Janeiro is a divided city in its complexities. There are two sides in Rio de Janeiro and we can put these terms in a musical context: the sadness of Bossa Nova and the happiness of the Samba.
The Rio of "Bossa Nova" is a movement musical that shows the soul of existence of the middle class on the ways of sadness. There's a poem by Vinicius de Moraes with a melody by Tom Jobim, "Tristeza Não Tem Fim; Felicidade Sim" (Sadness Doesn't End, Happiness Does) that shows the broken heart of Bossa Nova, formed by composers who lived in the South Zone of Rio, a rich region.
And there's a Rio of Samba, our African musical heritage, where the music is sung with joy about the heartaches and the cultural characteristics of the place.
Samba has its origin in the North Zone and the favelas, which are poor regions, but with a great vocation to be happy. There's a samba that is very meaningful by songwriter Zé Keti, "A Voz do Morro" (A Voice of the Hill) that says on its verses "I'm samba; I'm native from here, from Rio de Janeiro; I'm the one who brings joy to millions of Brazilian hearts". Even in different contexts, the Bossa Nova is a softer way of singing and playing Samba.
The Olympic Games in Rio are happening on this musical equator: for one side is the image of a city that is all right, but is sad because we know that this city is temporary - it finishes after the Olympics Games. This city is Bossa Nova.
There's a Rio of Samba, where the people know that this feast isn't made to them, but they are being happy because they believe that the glee is the matter of the soul. The life is difficult and the smile makes it bearable. The paradox is our essence: the Brazilian smiles to not cry.
All the world knows that there's a breakdown of the State of Rio de Janeiro and the City Hall as well. This real city is out of our media, but has been shown relatively in the international media.
Anyway, we have to take advantage of this unique moment in our city and sing the song of Braguinha & Alberto Ribeiro that was sung by Almirante: "Yes, We Have Bananas." Now the song is: "Yes, We Have Olympics Games," also.
Roger Cohen, who has lived and worked in Brazil, finds the positive side of Rio's hosting the Games:
Works by Altenir Silva:
Links to the music Silva references:
A Felicidade - Tom & Vinícius:
Yes, Nós Temos Bananas - Braguinha & Alberto Ribeiro:
A Voz do Morro - Ze Keti:
Michael Powell's excellent column on the favelas:
Korean Gesture Reminds Me of Seoul, 1988
The two Korean athletes' selfie in the Olympic Village – now flashed around the world -- reminds me of another Korean gesture for common humanity.
It happened at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul -- the first nearly complete set of Games after the American boycott of the 1980 Games in Moscow because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the inevitable Soviet payback at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.
After the futile boycotts – making athletes pay for the failures of nations -- the two behemoths were back in the Olympic business in 1988. Just before the games began, I was at a reception at the media center. Koreans are more than generous in plying visitors with food, drink, gifts – and fellowship.
("They remind me of my relatives in Brooklyn," a news-reporter friend of mine said. "They get up close to you, and they laugh and cry." He loved them for it.)
At this reception, a South Korean host mingled among the visiting journalists and spotted an American (me) and a Russian, both alone, both within arm's length.
He hooked one arm around me and his other arm around the Russian.
"We should all be friends," he urged us. "Come on, shake hands."
The Russian was as bemused as I was. I had no issue with Russians – had been in Moscow in 1986 for the Goodwill Games, midsummer, warm hearts, leaving me with a permanent affection for the people.
But, geez, two journalists at a reception? Two strangers? A handshake? Really?
The guy looked at me, and I looked at him, and he gave a very Russian shrug, and I did my best to imitate, as if to say, "что вы говорите" – whatever you say.
We shook hands, I think the Korean took a photo, and we retreated to separate corners of the hospitality tent. Enough freaking brotherhood for one evening.
Now I wish I had the photo, but that was before the age of digital.
Nowadays, a North Korean and South Korean athlete meet in the village and take a selfie. Somebody else takes a photo of them. It goes around the world. We all take heart in this.
Now we learn the North Korean athlete's story is a bit more complicated. The latest article includes the phrase "coal mine."
But bless the people who care. Two of the most touching columns I have read about these Games were written by Roger Cohen and Frank Bruni in the Times.
Cohen described the spiritual journey of an Egyptian volleyball player who wore a hijab in competition. (I don't know anybody who writes better about Islam in the modern world than Cohen.)
Bruni wrote about the high points of competition that made him cry. (I'm going to sound like a jerk, but my memories of Michael Phelps and swimming events at previous Olympics bring back a strong whiff of chlorine, not much else.)
I do remember grand moments, many outside the arena -- like a warm-hearted Korean urging me to put down my little dish of kimchi and shake hands with a Russian.
My Family Has A-Rod Stories to Tell
Our son was moonlighting as an assistant clubhouse man one summer in Peoria, Ill., where he went to college and worked for the Journal-Star. (He's got lots of good stories about shagging flies when Jim Thome was visiting his home town, and chatting with Jimmy Piersall, the roving scout.)
One day the Appleton team bus arrived after a long haul from Wisconsin, and Dave was impressed that the young bonus baby sprang for pizza for the entire team. It was not hard to be impressed with Alex Rodriguez.
The Appleton hitting coach collected opposing ball caps, so Dave said he would trade one for an A-Rod ball. They walked into the visitors' clubhouse and the coach had A-Rod sign.
Dave still has it, on an official Midwest League ball – clearly from A-Rod's first pro season. I emailed Dave the other day and said, the ball's value has gone up.
* * *
Our older daughter, Laura Vecsey, became a sports columnist in Seattle as A-Rod arrived later in 1994, a slender kid with power. Nobody predicted 696 homers – but maybe 500? He couldn't miss.
They got along, in a quirky kind of way, with A-Rod treating her like an older sister. He had mood swings, sometimes chatty, sometimes silent. When his contract was up, he insisted that his next move would not be predicated on money, but rather on comfort level, on loyalty, both ways.
When he signed with the Texas Rangers, Laura reflected the attitude of that lovely city that had fallen so hard for A-Rod. She gave him a new nickname - Pay-Rod. He did not much like that.
* * *
He could have led Seattle to the World Series but Texas was the wrong place for him. He jumped to the Yankees after three years, sticking a conversational shiv between the shoulders of his erstwhile pal, Derek Jeter. By this time, Laura and he were talking again.
"Dad," she said, "he's always asking what it was like to have a father in the same business. He doesn't have a father. You ought to talk to him."
She was talking about possible access to A-Rod – all journalists think like this – but she was also talking about a human being who, she felt, was trying to learn, to grow.
That spring in Yankee camp, I introduced myself to A-Rod, and we chatted for a while. Nobody is fooled about this dance, but I was always looking to write about the human side of players. When adults like Bob Watson and Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira came to the Yankees, I enjoyed learning about them.
In the early days of the first season, I was walking in the narrow corridors of the old Yankee Stadium, long before a game. A-Rod was walking toward me, nobody else around. I smiled, said hello. He never made eye contact. Just kept walking. Oh-kay. It was a small thing, but it told me he was in his world, I was in mine, and adult politeness was not part of the equation.
I never did see him open up in New York. Sometimes he pretended to open up, but he had too many secrets. His teammates seemed happy for him when he finally helped win a World Series in 2009, but I could not help noticing the disdain Derek Jeter let slip in spring training of 2009, when reporters came around to ask about A-Rod's latest apology for drug usage.
"One thing that irritates me is that this was the steroid era," Jeter said. "I don't know how many people tested positive, but everybody wasn't doing it."
Jeter casually said he had been counseled by his parents as he was growing up.
"You're educated," he said, adding, "If you do some things, eventually the truth will come out."
Jeter is not the type to let his feelings show. This time they did.
My feelings about Alex Rodriguez as he retires from the Yankees? I hope he will be all right.
Bobby Valentine will honor Shannon Forde, the senior director of media relations for the Mets, who died at 44 from breast cancer last March.
On Monday evening from 7 to 9 PM, the former Mets manager will be at Foley's Pub at 18 W. 33 St. to sign autographs, schmooze in English and, who knows, maybe even Japanese, given his time spent managing over there.
The proceeds will go to the Forde Children's Fund. She left behind her husband, John, and Nicholas, 8, and Kendall, 5, and hundreds of close friends including Shaun Clancy, the baseball-centric proprietor of Foley's.
In a mad world, Shannon was a capable and friendly presence with the Mets. Stars like Keith Hernandez and John Franco and Mets staffers with a heart have helped raise money, and now Bobby V is helping.
He is home in Connecticut these days, working as a TV analyst and athletic director of Sacred Heart University.
Visitors are encouraged to bring their own memorabilia – each autograph is $40, and signed balls are $20 and photos are $10.
Valentine will participate in a Q&A, with Pete Caldera, singer and sportswriter, serving as master of ceremonies at Foley's the Irish pub devoted to baseball – with thousands of signed balls and photographs and memorabilia covering every square inch.
For information:
Tel: 212-290-0080.
George Butterworth did not see himself as a composer. Rather, he was a well-rounded musician, who, like so many other privileged English men, enlisted in the military early in what they called The Great War.
(I wrote the first draft of this a week before the Donald Trump Heel Spur controversy; of course, I did not serve in the military, either, having had two children young. George Butterworth did volunteer for the Great War, at the age of 29.)
I never knew much about George Butterworth except as the first of three composers on a lovely Nimbus CD, "Butterworth, Parry & Bridge" -- three British composers, brought together in a 1986 recording by William Boughton and the English Symphony Orchestra.
In my iPod, that arrangement blends into one long summer afternoon in the British countryside, idyllic, gentle, peaceful. It takes me back to afternoons when we used to visit a friend in mid-Wales.
I paid more attention to the name Butterworth when it popped up in my wife's ongoing genealogy study. One of her ancestors married a man named Butterworth in the 19th Century somewhere in Lancashire.
It does not appear to be the same family, inasmuch as George Sainton Kaye Butterworth was born in London. His father was an executive on a railroad, who sent his son to the best schools—Eton and Trinity College, Oxford.
After university, Butterworth traveled around England, sometimes as a professional morris dancer (there was such a thing in those days) and collector of folk songs. Sometimes he went around with Ralph Vaughn Williams, whom he prodded to expand a short piece into what would become his "London Symphony."
Butterworth expanded on the folk song, "The Banks of Green Willow," and wrote music to accompany the poems of A.E. Housman in "A Shropshire Lad." But "composer" was a label he resisted.
In August of 1914, Butterworth joined up and was sent to the front, where armies were hunkering down in the fields of Belgium and France.
He was made a lieutenant, put in charge of coal miners from Durham, with whom he had great rapport. He was shot once in the Battle of the Somme but recovered and went back to the trenches.
On Aug. 5, 1916, George Butterworth was shot by a sniper. His body was not recovered but friends back home made sure his music was written down and survived the war.
Ursula Vaughn Williams, the widow of the composer, kept Butterworth's music in circulation. (I wish I had known that while watching that force of nature, Frances de la Tour, portray her in the recent movie,"The Lady in the Van." )
"The Banks of Green Willow" has come to represent the people who died in the Great War.
There is a Butterworth B&B in the French countryside, not far from where George Butterworth fell, a century ago, Aug. 5, 1916.
The Rio Olympics start Rio Friday night, with considerable gloom and doom.
Then again, there is always gloom and doom before the Olympics.
I covered seven of them and never once left home without being influenced by the Common Wisdom of the Media Herd that the end was near.
This time, however, the Olympics really may have hit triple witching hour, what with the Zika virus and the polluted Olympic waters and security concerns and feuding between the IOC and WADA and Brazil struggling to finish the project and rampant state-operated drug cheating.
This really might be time. In the decades I covered international sport, I came to realize that the stated idealism of spreading the Olympics and the World Cup of soccer around the globe imposed an unfair burden on emerging nations and cities that could ill afford the "honor."
Unsupportable expense to build white elephants was the reason I was one of the first journalists to strongly oppose New York's bid for 2012; I was thrilled my home town did not get it.
Drugs are always there. For me, it was a bore to have to wonder whether every sprinter or weight-lifter was clean. But now we have the Russian government running crooked labs. Does anybody really believe Putin? Beside Trump, of course.
To be sure, I wrote apocalyptic words before the seven Olympics I covered.
In 1984, we all fretted about gridlock but it never happened. I have never been able to zip around LA better than in summer of '84. ("Everybody went to Hawaii," a Beverly Hills friend explained.)
In 1988, we trembled after protests and change of government in South Korea the year before, but the Games were a delight – many old people still wearing the colorful robes of the past, young people plunging forward toward the 21st Century.
In 1992, there was caution in Barcelona because of separatism in Spain. I never minded when security rolled a mirror underneath the Timesmobile every time I drove to the media center. Mostly, Barcelona was a shimmering Gaudi dream – magic nights on the Ramblas plus Socialist plans for housing and waterfront, leaving maybe the best Olympic legacy ever.
In 1996, I was obsessed with the crassness of the Atlanta operation – until we were stunned by a home-grown terrorist planting a bomb among innocents at the central park. I came to like Atlanta; the city is better for having upgraded downtown.
In 2000 in Sydney, the fear and trembling was mostly about the Sydney funnel web spider (they hide in your boot! 20 minutes at most to get medical attention!) plus sharks in the surf and sunburn damage from on high and poisonous puffballs in the earth and fruit bats hanging from trees in center city. No worries, Mate.
In 2004, the first Games after 9/11, there was talk about bad guys steaming into the harbor at Piraeus. But the real damage from the Olympics was the rust, the empty stadiums and the debt in Greece today.
In 2008, we all fretted about air pollution in Beijing but the government simply shut down factories and traffic. When you went outside you could almost breathe.
Didn't make London. Not going to Rio. But I am sure if I were still working, I'd go to Rio. I worry about the younger people who are going. My friend Dr. Gary Wadler, former advisor to WADA, is one of 150 experts who called for the Games to be moved or suspended. He says the Games are not worth the medical risk. And the IOC has not seemed up to inspecting the vile waters of Guanabara Bay or judging the Zika threat.
My image of Brazil will remain the music and the people and movies like "Central Station" and "Black Orpheus" and the beautiful team of 1982 with Sócrates and Falcão that did not win the World Cup – plus my friends Altenir and Celia and Neo in Copacabana. Be safe, my friends.
Loyal Reader
Hansen Alexander
has filed an interview with, of all people, me.
It's on his blog. (Just past photo of rat!) My thanks for his interest. GV
David Vecsey's sweet tale of distant love before the Web, now NYT Podcast, narrated by Griffin Dunne. Please see:


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The majority is concentrated in the poor countries of the global south, and there are more than 350 million in India alone. India is also among several countries where the shape of the population is changing profoundly: Fertility rates are dropping, which means a growing share of working-age men and women and a diminishing share of children to care for. That shift, the report asserts, is "opening a window for a demographic dividend," but not without significant investments in preparing its young people to join the work force.
"The emergence of a large youth population of unprecedented size can have a profound effect on any country," the report concludes. "Whether that effect is positive or negative depends largely on how well governments respond to young people's needs and enable them to engage fully and meaningfully in civic and economic affairs."The emphasis on the demographic dividend possibilities (the "opportunities") is not surprising since the research adviser for the report was David Bloom at Harvard, who helped to popularize the concept. And, of course, the point is well taken that the key to the future is what a society can do with its youth--if it can educate them at the same time that it facilitates a quick drop in the birth rate, you have China (and India has moved in that direction, but not as effectively on either score as China). If you ignore the youth bulge, you have ISIS in the Middle East. It seems like an easy choice, but it turns out that governments tend to lean toward ignoring the problem--challenging the rest of us in the process.


text: Care & Support At Home Hospice @ Home Giving choice when it matters We know that most people in their final days of life would prefer to be at home if at all possible - and be with those who are important to them. However, worries about what might happen and the burden on families often results in people going into hospital to die. Strathcarron Hospice at Home service aims to provide personal, practical and emotional support at this crucial time in people's lives to enable them to stay at home right to the end. The [email protected] Team work with the District Nursing, social services and others to provide care and support for people at home. Referrals to the service can be made by any Health Care professional if the individual and their family are agreeable to having this support in their home. The service is available 7 days a week if needed. The Lead Nurse and coordinator for [email protected] is Jenny Stevenson. She and her team of Health Care Assistants are expert in providing care for people in the last weeks of life. The team aims to: provide personal care to those who are dying at home listen to what's important to people who are dying and their families/carers support patients and their families/carers with decisions about their care at the end of life. Support family carers in their caring role Who is it for? People who are in the last two weeks of life and want to remain at home. Service Quality The quality of our Hospice @ Home service is regulated by the Care Inspectorate, who formally inspect the service every year. They have graded the service as excellent (their highest grade) for the last 3 years. A copy of the most recent inspection report is available by clicking the link below. Hospice_at_Home_Inspection_Report_2018_-_3193938.pdf How to Refer We take referrals by telephone from any health professional working with people in the last weeks of life. They will phone the Hospice @ Home Service between the hours of 9am and 5pm, seven days a week, to discuss your requirements with the Lead Nurse. They will need to be able to provide basic patient information as well as all relevant clinical and care information when they contact Hospice @ Home. What you can expect? If the referral is appropriate, you will be informed as soon as possible (usually the same day) about the amount and frequency of support that is able to be provided and when this will begin. Like all services offered by Strathcarron Hospice, [email protected] is completely free of charge. For more information download the leaflet. Link For general enquiries email [email protected] or telephone switchboard on 01324 826222 and they will direct your call to the most appropriate member of staff available.


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It's Friday!! And that means we have a brand spankin' new challenge for you! Once again, we are helping you use up your supplies! This week we would like to see you use Doilies on your cards, layouts and off the page projects! And of course, they can be store bought doilies, die cut doilies, crocheted doilies or any other doily you can come up with! Our Design Team found some very creative ways to use up the doilies in their craft space... check it out!
Barb used Graphic 45 Communique Line of papers for her cards.
Sketch #224 from Creative Scrappers
Graphic 45 is an award-winning scrapbook and paper crafting company. We offer vintage inspired crafting products that capture the flamboyant style of the 1920's and 30's - with vibrant color, irresistible texture and imaginative design to create products with decades-old appeal that's both fresh and familiar. Let our products inspire your next scrapbook layout, card, album or home decor project.
Graphic 45 has generously offered this prize....
Graphic 45 has generously offered this prize....
How is that for a prize ??
Be sure to link up our project for a chance to win this week's prize!
*We love to see all the projects each of you submit each week and our Design Team tries very hard to leave comments on each and every one. However, please keep in mind we may not be able to leave comments on the blogs who require code verifications.*