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Isi Metzstein has died, aged 83, after a long illness
Metzstein worked with Andy MacMillan at Gillespie Kidd & Coia, taught at the Glasgow School of Art and was responsible for St Peter's Seminary near Glasgow and the Robinson College in Cambridge.
Born in Berlin in 1928, Metzstein's family moved to Scotland when he was 11. At 18 he was hired by Gillespie, Kidd & Coia and with MacMillan designed many Modernist churches, schools and colleges.
Isi was the conscience of the architectural profession in Scotland
Charlie Hussey, a director of Sutherland Hussey, described Metzstein's death as a 'huge loss'. Hussey added: '[He was] a man of immense intellect and creativity, a razor-sharp wit and above all a man of great warmth. Over the past twenty five years he has been my teacher, my colleague and my friend and I shall miss him very much.'
RIBA president Angela Brady said Metzstein would be remembered 'fondly both as a great architect and educator who was known to be outspoken and had great courage and colour.'
She added: 'Isi was part of the duo fondly known as 'Andy and Isi' who were awarded the RIBA Annie Spink award in 2008 for excellence in architectural education. On a personal level he was a huge influence on many students in Dublin during the "Flying Circus" years of 1976 -84.
'He was part of the group that changed the studio culture to create a free and easy exchange between student and tutors, moving away from a more controlled education. He will be sorely missed on both sides of the Irish Sea but his impact and stories will live on.'
Neil Gillespie of Reiach and Hall Architects described Metzstein as 'the conscience of the architectural profession in Scotland to all those who engaged with him over a long and distinguished career of practice and teaching. '
He said: 'We are now left without much critical foundation.
'Like many architects of my generation probably my first and abiding taste of architecture and an awakening to a sense of material and light was on entering St Brides Church, East Kilbride and St Peters Seminary, Cardross.'
He added: 'More recently I recall a building of ours, of which I was feeling a bit puffed up about, being reviewed by Isi (AJ 17.07.08). He surgically exposed the folly of our self indulgence. Isi and I then spent an evening together, me drowning my sorrows and Isi opening up a conversation that I have yet to fully rise to. It was a privilege to have known him.'
Colin Harris, a director at Sutherland Hussey Architects, said: 'Isi taught most of our practice at some point and in recent years we have been worthy of the odd visit to our Edinburgh office. He was a wonderful motivator who we looked up to but like being back as students we would nervously await his unyielding responses as we showed him our projects.
His work was rigorous and he demanded that of everyone he taught; there was simply nowhere to hide when you stood in front of him with your work on the wall.'
His contribution to our profession is massive and the influence he had on us will last for many years
He added: 'Last year we presented our project for Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop to a judging panel, which included Isi, for the £3 million Edinburgh Arts prize. By the end of our 15 minute presentation Isi had redesigned our scheme for us but gave us a bit of time to get it right. Just this morning I was sitting in a meeting still trying to sort out one of the details he wasn't happy about. His contribution to our profession is massive and the influence he had on us will last for many years.'
Sandy and Clare Wright of Wright and Wright said: 'Isi Metzstein was an outstanding architect and teacher, who was very deeply loved for his warmth and engagement expressed through a veil of black dog cynicism. His exceptional intellectual and ethical rigour was never self serving, in fact quite often the reverse. He was adored by those he taught because he engaged and motivated people, of all ages and abilities.
'We were lucky that, in his words, he was a Glaswegian adoptee. He enriched our lives and work and has left a lasting legacy of heavyweight thick skinned devotees, building all over the world. Thank you Isi.'
Alan Dunlop of Alan Dunlop Architects, said: 'Isi was the greatest architect, thinker and educator in the UK. He could be difficult, but his knowledge of architecture was without match.
'His projects were an inspiration to all of us and the profession is much less as a consequence of his passing.'
Glasgow School of Art director,professor Seona Reid, said: 'Gillespie Kidd and Coia's work under the visionary leadership of Isi Metzstein and Andy MacMillan, former Head of the Mackintosh School of Architecture, represents one of the most significant and influential contributions to post war British architecture.
'It is not, however, just through the remarkable physical legacy that Isi's reputation will live on, but through the generations of architectural students whom he inspired. Isi Metzstein was a great architect, a remarkable teacher, and above all a very special person who will be greatly missed.'
In 2008 MacMillan and Metzstein accepted the Annie Spink award for outstanding contribution to architectural education (see AJ 05.12.08).
Penny Lewis of Scott Sutherland School, Aberdeen
'Isi Metzstein didn't write very often but when he did the text was very precise. I think he was disappointed that his provocative AJ review (July 2008) of Reiach and Hall's Beatson building did not inspire a wider debate about what he described as the "disturbing superficiality of current architecture." The text was also a polemic against architectural publications (one of which I edited) which he said favoured 'operational and social reviews' of buildings as opposed to 'architectectonic' ones. A fitting tribute might be for practices, publications and architecture schools to take the time to consider his critique.
He wrote:"Essentially, all buildings are parcels of single or closely-packed, multi-cell volumes of varied plan and sectional ordering. The wrapping, with the possibility of local variations in stiffness, thickness transparency colour and texture has an intense capability of artistic and functional orchestration, and thus an opportunity for combining artistic self expression and public pleasure.
'Recent and current practice is heavily into two types of packaging – a loose bubble or a tight stretch-wrap. While each is very different in form, their generality, and the priority given to technical performance, paradoxically manage to disassociate the façade from internal and external obligations. The highly seductive stretch-wrapping technique deprives architecture of much cultural and historic richness."
Isi Metzstein was adored by so many because of his talent, his insight, his wit, his commitment to public life but most of all his refusal to be pragmatic, which in our current culture is a very rare quality.
Readers' comments (9)
Some personal memories of Isi.
I first met Isi Metzstein as most do; in a crit. His crits were legendry. He took no prisoners but all the students adored him for it all the more. His analytical powers were razor fast; he could spot the essential weaknesses of a scheme in a few seconds. Later when he hired me as a junior lecturer at Edinburgh University I quickly became his lieutenant. It was a second education for me, the cold douche of the Metzstein discourse that introduced me to the idea that architecture, as he used to argue himself, was an intellectual activity. Buildings have, or should have, their own logic which is why so much current gesture architecture left him cold or bewildered. Later we taught together at Syracuse University and during leisurely breakfasts in the campus diner he began to open up to me the private side of his life and in particular his memories of life in Germany and his evacuation, a subject he rarely wished to discuss. But he always wanted to put the record straight, to counter any myth-making.
After setting up my own practice we invited him in on a regular basis with some trepidation for crits on our own work. Timing was everything. If the project wasn't started he might just design it for you; if it was too far advanced he would point out the faults all the same but which you knew were too late to correct. There were moments, such as when he said in a really loud voice "Muff (his nickname for me), this is the worst building you've ever designed" so that everyone in the office could hear! (It never got built). But his influence on me has been massive. Indeed subliminally I find myself standing back, looking at a plan or a section and thinking "what would Isi think?"
Every Christmas he and Dany played Santa at our Christmas dinner and he came on a number of trips with us to Verona, Eichstatt, Dublin, etc. Despite increasing immobility he was always the last to bed, and over a Macallan or two discussion became passionate over what we had seen that day. It was just so much fun to have him with us and deepen our insights.
While many of his buildings have been treated shamefully, a retrospective exhibition at the Lighthouse and the book by Jonny Roger won his approval. Indeed the exhibition in Glasgow coincided with another on Spence held simultaneously in Edinburgh. In the same period Spence who of course had moved to London had built ten times the number of buildings and yet visiting the two exhibitions by these two giant of Scottish architecture I was left in no doubt as to who was the more original, the more daring and the more profound.
His witticisms are many and legendary. After he broke his leg a couple of years ago I went across to Glasgow a few times during a slow recovery. On one occasion he had graduated to a zimmer frame. Dany showed me into the living room. Then the door opened. Slowly in came zimmer followed by Isi and with a look of thunder on his face and in a low slow voice said , "Yes…..half man….half shopping trolley!"
Such wonderful memories and such an impossible void to fill. I and many others will miss him terribly.
Richard Murphy
A great teacher I have very fond memories of his crits in particular my own Thesis design for a world university in istanbul. he was alwasy open to suspending disbelieve, as he put it, allowing free thinking yet worldly wise in his criticism. Both he and Andy macmillan were a powerful duo.
It is my hope that something good comes of cardross in his memory it is a seminal project. we shall miss his insight and intellect.
Chris Dyson Architect of Chris Dyson Architects London
Isi was a great architectural mind. I had the privilege of his tutorship together with Andy Macmillan during their time at the Macintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow. Isi's insightful criticism and logical thought has stood with me and fellow students for years as practicing Architects. He will be deeply missed in the world of design.
I met Isi on my Junior Year Abroad program at the "Mac" in 1983-4. He was quite a presence. He would rip up your design during crits and really tell you he wanted to help you. We all believed he did want to help us. Our poor designs just needed to be improved in order for this to happen. Having a thin skin would not do any good in this situation. One had to be humble and open to his tutorials. After class we would all go to the pub and somehow a role of trace would appear on the table. Isi would rehash our schemes at the table with more ideas. The sketches we had when we left the pub, were prized with their drawings and beer stains. We would hang them on the walls in the studio as our inspiration to move forward with our projects. On a personal note, he invited me to his home for brunch and to meet his family. He made sure I always had a "Glasgow family."
A few more rambling memories:
Isi also taught a generation of architects at Edinburgh University from 1984-1991. I chose to study at Edinburgh in 1985 purely for Isi, and I had the last tutorial he gave there in the summer of 1991 at the end of his 6-year professorship.
One of the few times I rendered him speechless was when he realised he had given me glandular fever in my penultimate diploma term. He admitted to carrying it in from his daughter Ruth. The upside to this was his insistence that he should conduct home tutorials from beside my sick bed to ensure I didn't fall behind. I was able to extend my diploma through the summer to catch up and he would come to the studio every day. We designed my diploma together in what was for me a remarkable, iterative, discursive sharing of ideas that I have never experienced since. Not only would he regularly suspend his disbelief but, in his words, he would leave it "dangling perilously by a tiny thread", until such point I would make a more reasonable suggestion.
With his daughter as chaperone, Isi took me with a dozen students on a field trip to Berlin in the spring of 1990. We followed him tirelessly from one architectural site to another, appreciating new and old alike and learning to discern between the merely fashionable and the authentic. He avoided nostalgia and would not visit the streets in East Berlin where he grew up. I believe he did so on subsequent trips. The group of Berlin students he introduced me to became my good friends when I moved there a year later on his good advice. He regularly visited me in Berlin to make sure I was still pursuing healthy architectural ideas, and he always relished the opportunity to give a crit in the office.
Even now as I try to compose myself, I hear his guttural advice suggesting that you should never mix "The Macallan" with pitiful tears. I'll have another though and keep hold of lots more wonderful memories.
Thank you Isi. I'll miss you.
Richard Owers
If their is a God, he'd better have his wits about him now.
The crit
…was his stage
Isi, slumped hurumphing in his chair at the front – eyes darting distractedly across the wall of inadequate material in front of him – 'when are we going to get this show on the chrode'.
Tired red-eyed students lining up to have their work stripped of its whimsy.
Eager ranks of staff and other students – anticipating a spectacular road crash
And thankful it's not their turn - this time.
Like a great medical practitioner from another age
Your drawings were passed through his MRI's
And your cringing justifications dismissed 'reedichol'ss'
He'd spot the cancer in the plan or section
- then play with it – unpicking, dissecting, reducing.
The project now in pieces, strewn across the floor – panic would set in…
At this point – Isi would split in two
Isi 1 gripping a problem with the scheme by the throat – while asking it a question
Isi 2 dancing, teasing, re-mixing the parts
Conjuring deftly
If you could keep up, you left with a nugget
No fools gold here.
With great memories of a magical teacher
Roddy Langmuir
Appreciation of Isi Metzstein
While Isi was Professor of Architecture at Edinburgh I was his visiting professor; part of a double act with him, admirer of his profound perception, phenomenal honesty and frightening forthrightness. I can truthfully say that I loved him, as his close family so clearly did, and others too.
I discovered great things from being with him, so I miss him accordingly. I am truly grateful to him for being him, he's in me forever.
Ted Cullinan
"Born in Berlin in 1928, Metzstein's family moved to Scotland when he was 11"
Today, in Israel, is Holocaust Remeberence Day. I was ready this wonderful article yesterday about the great, inspirational architect Isi Metzstein. I can't help wondering though if anyone really knew this man. He was born in berlin in 1928, and moved to Scotland in 1939 - he was 11 years old, he and his family had most likely endured persecution at the hands of the Nazi's from 1933, when he was 5 yrs old, until they escaped (they didn't just move) at the outbreak of war. How did they manage to get to Scotland, was he lucky enough to escape with his family, did they send him alone on one of the kindertransports, and who else in his family survived? I would be very interested to know what shaped this man, who managed to achieve so much. I can't help thinking, today of all days, of that poor 11 year old boy - did he just 'move house' like you or I, or did he survive, and carry the scars of the murderous nazi regime in which he grew up, with him for life? can anyone shed light on his early years and family?
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The internet went crazy when a crazy letter from a Sorority President to the rest of her chapter went viral – then to make it better, Michael Shannon did a dramatic reading of the letter for Funny or Die.
Comedians Megan Koester and Andy Kindler teamed up to write this How Not to be a Stand-Up Comedian article for Vice.
Ben Stiller unveiled 12 minutes of his new movie The Secret Live of Walter Mitty and the early word is in: it might be pretty good.
Watch James Adomian star as Marc Maron in IFC's web series Maron in Space.
Laughspin recapped Portland's Bridgetown Comedy Festival (Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four).
Netflix released nine character posters to promote the new season of Arrested Development. You can see them all on Splitsider.
Watch SNL's Kate McKinnon as Ellen DeGeneres with Ellen DeGeneres on Ellen.
Comedian J-L Cauvin released this video in which he does an impression of Louis CK telling "the classics" and satirizes the praise Louis gets from seemingly everyone.

subset: commoncrawl


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New Light on "Paul Revere's Ride"
Last Wednesday, I had the pleasure of attending Charles Bahne's lecture on "'Paul Revere's Ride' Revisited" at the Old South Meeting-House. He gave a detailed account of how Henry W. Longfellow wrote that famous poem, including his artistic choice to deviate from his main source, Revere's own account, in order to create a better story.
In Longfellow's papers, Charlie found what appears to be the first complete draft of "Paul Revere's Ride." It includes an entire lost stanza about a "tall, gray rider," inspired by the legend of Hezekiah Wyman. (Someday I'll discuss the basis of that story.) I suspect Longfellow dropped those lines because focusing attention on that man—another rider, in fact—would have dimmed his poetic spotlight on Revere as a lone hero.
Charlie's talk also made me rethink the political significance of "Paul Revere's Ride" in its own time. The poem is usually interpreted as Longfellow's call to arms to loyal Americans as the Civil War approached. It was published in the issue of The Atlantic Monthly that went on sale on 20 Dec 1860, the same day that the slaveholders who held power in South Carolina voted to secede. War was on its way.
However, Longfellow started writing his poem in early April 1860, before the Democratic Party split over slavery and before the Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln for president. Longfellow finished that first draft on 13 October, when the election was still more than three weeks away. Because he was pacifist, I doubt he would have looked ahead to a war while he could still imagine the country avoiding it. So although I believe Longfellow wrote "Paul Revere's Ride" to inspire his contemporaries, I'm not sure the crisis he was thinking about was a future war.
Instead, I look at the political atmosphere that surrounded Longfellow as he wrote, under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and the Dred Scott decision of 1857. Longfellow was an Abolitionist, giving that movement both his Poems on Slavery and financial contributions for both organizations and escapees. (Read about the notations in his account books in this downloadable issue of the Longfellow House Bulletin.)
Read against the background of mid-1860, there's a different historical resonance to Longfellow's lines:
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,The call in the night sounds like a call to help refugees, defying the authorities who might be marching after them. Of course, by the time "Paul Revere's Ride" was actually in print, the U.S. of A. faced a crisis of a different form.
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
In a matter of weeks, Charlie Bahne's presentation will be available at the WGBH Forum Network for everyone to enjoy. [ADDENDUM: Here it is.] This was the first time those lost lines of "Paul Revere's Ride" were ever read publicly.
This month's series of Longfellow lectures ends on Wednesday, 26 September, at 7:30 P.M. at the First Parish in Cambridge, right off Harvard Square. National Endowment for the Arts chairman Dana Gioia and Poetry Foundation president John Barr will talk about Longfellow's legacy as a public poet. See the Cambridge Forum website for more details.


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Heroic: All Is Well That Ends Well is the reward quest for [Heroic Celestial Planetarium Key] bearers offered after defeating Algalon the Observer.
Take the Reply-Code Alpha to Rhonin in Dalaran.
- [Reply-Code Alpha] (Provided)
We'd best hurry now, <name>. We're going to have to transmit the reply-code from Dalaran.
Take it to Rhonin, I will meet you there.
|[Starshine Circle]
|[Brann's Signet Ring]
|[Sunglimmer Cloak]
|[Drape of the Skyborn]
You're ready, <name>?
You're here. Let's hope this works. For all our sakes.
When the quest is turned, a scripted event occurs.
- Rhonin says: We received Brann's message and we begun prepartions.
- Rhonin yells: Citiziens of Dalaran, raise your eyes to the skies and observe.
- Rhonin yells: Today our world's destruction has been averted in defiance of our very makers.
- Rhonin yells: Algalon the Observer has been defeated by our brave comrades in the depths of the titans city of Ulduar.
- Rhonin yells: Algalon was sent here to judge the faith of our world.
- Rhonin yells: He found a planet whose races had deviated from the titans' blueprints. A planet where not everything has gone according to plan.
- Rhonin yells: Cold logic deemed our world not worth saving. Cold logic however does not account for the power of free will!
- Rhonin yells: It's up to each of us to prove this is a world worth saving! That our lives... our lives are worth living!
Sound Files
See Sound Files of Ulduar: Reply-Code Alpha Event
Quest progression
- [80R] Heroic: Archivum Data Disc
- [80R] Heroic: The Celestial Planetarium
- Complete all of the following:
- [80R] Heroic: Freya's Sigil
- [80R] Heroic: Hodir's Sigil
- [80R] Heroic: Thorim's Sigil
- [80R] Heroic: Mimiron's Sigil
- [80R] Heroic: Algalon
- [80R] Heroic: All Is Well That Ends Well
External links
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.


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Original header:
Amar Darraj; xref: Omar?! Secretary of the Freedom and Justice [thnk/]… xref: the 100% independence ideal of God and the self-repair balance of the equal assumption of innocence and authority for all who (or which) are less independent than God – to organize and move closer to the 100% independence;
Added paragraph break:
xref: "Whoever is closest," re: "Who should we follow after your death, Mohammed? May be peace be upon you," question asked by the muslims in Medina 77 generations ago
Distilled header:
Who is closer to 100% independence? [thn/]
Revised distilled header:
Who makes us all closer to the 100% independence (the one God)?
Secular note:
you can get the meaning without having to include the words in parentheses, or you can include them when you want.
Side note: [[thnk/]] xref: the golden handcuffs, the keyboard shackles, "You can see all Jerusalem from up here," and what else? "North, south, east, west, down {At this point the wordpress software should have found the prior post with these words in it and be displaying int where the Categories box is sitting unused. Categories should form automatically based upon frequency of word use, an internet thesaurus, and a matching to frequency of words therein used by whom, and whom else?}… [thn (ext.)]
Filed under: 100%, Abubkr, Ali, Allah, blue bra, Brahma, complete, explosives, federal complaint, freedom, god grants, golden handcuffs, google, google search, hard drive, internet thesaurus, Iran, Jehovah, Mohammed, mubarak, national, olympic village, one god, palestine israel, repair balance, Saudi Arabia, self repair, shackles, The Great Spirit, The Great Tao, thnk, Uncategorized, wedding photo, Yahweh


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Geneva/New York / 20 Sept 2013 - The World Health Organization welcomes the forthcoming agreement at a High-Level Meeting at the United Nations General Assembly which will further improve access to health care and related services for people with disabilities and ensure that they are able to contribute to the sustainable development of their communities.
On 23 September, Heads of State — in their first-ever global meeting on this topic — are scheduled to recommend:
- Including people with disabilities in the setting and implementation of development agendas post-2015;
- Addressing the many barriers people with disabilities face in daily life — such as difficulties in accessing health-care services, including rehabilitation and assistive devices;
- Taking urgent action by all stakeholders, including the health sector, to ensure that all development policies benefit people with disabilities;
- Improving collection and analysis of data on disability and devising ways to use it more effectively to guide development policies and programmes.
Improving access to health care
The more than 1 billion people living worldwide with disabilities all have the
same general health needs as non-disabled people — such as immunization, cancer
screening and reproductive health services. They may also have specific
disability-related health conditions, such as ulcers, urinary tract infections,
paralysis and depression associated with spinal cord injury. Many people with
disabilities require rehabilitation, such as support to regain strength
following hospitalization for diabetic coma or provision of a prosthesis after
a limb amputation.
"Too often, people with disabilities face barriers in accessing health and rehabilitation services," says Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO.
"These include stigma and discrimination, lack of accessibility, and the inability to pay. The new UN agreement can help bring down such barriers."
Today, people with disabilities are twice as likely to report that health care providers' skills and facilities do not meet their needs. They are three times more likely to be denied health care and four times more likely to be treated badly in the health care system than people without disabilities.
Half the people living with disabilities worldwide are unable to afford the health care they need. They are 50% more likely than persons without disability to suffer catastrophic health expenditure, which pushes them into poverty.
Many people with disabilities are unable to access the assistive devices and related rehabilitation services they need. For example, 360 million people have moderate to profound hearing loss, but production of hearing aids meets only 10% of global need and 3% of developing country need; 200 million people need spectacles or low vision devices, but have no access to them. Some 70 million people need a wheelchair, yet only 5-15% have access to one.
The High-Level Meeting outcome document highlights the importance of:
- Making quality health services available and affordable to people with disabilities, whoever they are and wherever they live;
- Developing national disability policies and programmes that address the health and rehabilitation needs of people with disabilities, and allocating appropriate resources;
- Improving data to better understand these health and rehabilitation needs and monitor and evaluate the impact of policies and programmes.
is already scaling up efforts in line with the outcome document by
preparing a seven-year global action plan: Better
health for persons with disabilities. The action plan is based on
approaches that have proved effective in improving the health and well-being of
people with disability.
The draft plan also builds on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the recommendations of the World report on disability (2011). It is currently being reviewed through a series of regional and targeted consultations and on an online consultation process which ends on 11 October 2013. It will be presented to the WHO Executive Board meeting in January 2014 in preparation for consideration at the 67th World Health Assembly in May 2014.
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The Baroness Rampant November 19, 2011Posted by The Typist in History, New Orleans, Odd Words, Theater, Toulouse Street.
Tags: Baroness Pontabla, Diana E.H. Shortes, Fringe Fest
How do you collapse the fantastic and tragic story of the Baroness Micaela Almonester de Pontalba into a one woman show of less than 30 minutes? Why, with a corset, of course.
For the first several minutes of The Baroness Undressed, after Diana E.H. Shortes' entrance onto the Allways Lounge's small stage we witness a silent and powerful physical performance of operatic violence, a marionette possessed, as she laces her corset and buttons her bodice with the tenacity of a lioness, twisting and bending and contorting her body with and her face with pain and frustration with every yank of the laces and every recalcitrant button wrestled into place she has assumed both the costume and the persona of her tortured aristocratic character. What is laid naked in this show is the interior of the Baroness's character.
In this very short one-woman show Shortes gives us the essentials of the Baronesss'story. one
"no woman living today could understand": a privileged Creole child named for St. Micheal the Archangeal "who cast Satan himself into hell"; a wealthy young "heiress from both ends" subjected to an arranged marriage to her cousin Xavier Celestin Delfau de Pontalba; how the Pontabalas took her away from New Orleans to a prison-like castle outside Parish; bitterly spits out that she "conceived six times" but does not otherwise mention her children; the attempts by her father-in-law to steal her fortune that ends with his attempt to murder her; how he failed and ultimately took his own life; how she ultimately returned to New Orleans and recovered her fortune, finally escapes from the clutches of the Pontablas.
Until the last minutes of the play, when she begins to unbind herself from her constrictive feminine costume and relates her ultimate triumph and monument–the buildings that still bear her name–she struggles through her corset to find the breath to tell her story. She collapses not only to the feinting couch that is the stage's only dressing, but frequently onto the floor. Her attempts to speak with a masculine ferocity frustrated by the tightly laced female costume of that period which leaves her frequently a gasping heap, a perfect symbol for the societal strictures she struggles against. From the couch she rises wielding her fan, once again–if only for a moment–the charming Creole aristocrat. From the floor she struggles to her knees and to her feet like someone just shot, determined to catalog at any cost the injustice and injury she suffers.
In one of the shows most dramatic moments, as she describes the attempt on her life, she slowly pulls a long red scarf out of her bodice as if she were in fact bleeding out on the stage. Later, as she recounts the parallel troubles her native city suffered she brilliantly ruffles the same scarf over the floor as she describes the fires that twice destroyed the eighteenth century Vieux Carre. As toward the end she reverses the process of dressing and pulls off her dress gloves she prominently displays the left hand as if hooding a particularly striking ring up to the light, the fingers of the hand shattered by her in-laws bullet clad in a solitary black under glove.
Shortes uses her thin body, Veronica Russell's costumes (the constraining corset, the perfect sense once dressed of an eighteenth century lady in a Franco-Spanish city, the darkly sexy garments underneath it all) and the consequences of those costumes to stunning physical effect, but it is ultimately her face flashing with lizard quickness from coquettish smile to contortions of pain and of rage that allow us into the soul of the Baroness.
As Shortes recounts her struggles not only with her powerful voice but with every thread of her costume and every muscle and sinew in her slim frame, she plays not for sympathy but for respect, decrying the patriarchal feudalism the Baroness struggles against. Shortes captures the emblematic Pontabla perfectly, becomes New Orleans' anti-Joan of Arc who takes up her fan like her name saint's sword and ultimately triumphs over every man and tragedy life places in her way, her monument the graceful apartments upon which her emblematic P is still emblazoned on every gallery in iron as hard as Shortes' Baroness herself.
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This post has been a bit overdue, but I think it's important to mention it.
I will no longer be writing or updating this blog. I unfortunately do not have the time and desire to continue to run all things here and write. You can still find my writings over at Fake Teams and now also at MLB Daily Dish, but I will no longer be writing here. You can also find me on Twitter at @jasonsbaseball. Thanks to everyone who checked out the writing, and helped me to hone my writing style.
Some interesting stats:
- Over 47,000 page views
- Busiest Day was December 6, 2010 – 1,015 views
- 371 posts


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Associated Press
VINALHAVEN ISLAND, Maine (AP) � Take a ferry to picturesque Vinalhaven Island in Penobscot Bay off the Maine coast for great biking, good food, beautiful coastal scenery and a few surprises: the eye-catching home of a famous artist, a connection to the beloved children's book "Goodnight Moon" and old granite quarries now used as quiet swimming spots.
The scenic ferry ride from Rockland on the mainland takes 75 minutes and drops you off on Vinalhaven, about a 10-minute walk from the downtown area. Walking along Main Street, you can't help but notice a large Victorian home with gabled, arched windows and four massive American flags with undulating stripes painted on the exterior. This is the home of renowned pop artist Robert Indiana.
But he's not Vinalhaven's only claim to fame. Margaret Wise Brown, author of "Goodnight Moon," ''The Runaway Bunny" and other children's classics, had a summer home on Vinalhaven that she called "The Only House" because at night, she couldn't see any other lights. There was no plumbing, no electricity and no road in; she brought guests to the house in a rowboat and kept white wine chilling in a well.
Brown died in 1952 and "The Only House" property is not open to the public, but the Vinalhaven Historical Society maintains a small exhibit about her. And if you ask at the desk, the staff generously offers additional articles about Brown's life and times here. The Historical Society, at 41 High St., is walking distance from the ferry and houses many other artifacts and displays about island history. The society opens June 16 for the season, Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., free admission, donations welcome, http://www.vinalhavenhistoricalsociety.org .
Vinalhaven was named for an attorney, John Vinal, who represented land claims for island settlers in the late 1700s. A large granite industry developed on the island in the early 19th century and for 100 years provided high-quality stone for monuments, bridges, buildings and city streets around the country, including for Civil War forts, the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Washington Monument and New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
The industry died out as granite was replaced by steel and concrete, but don't miss the fantastic granite urns and other carved, polished stones adorning gravesites at John Carver Cemetery overlooking Carver's Pond, a short distance from the historical society.
Touring the island by bike or motorcycle is a nice way to experience the magic that captivated Margaret Wise Brown. You'll find quiet coves framed by evergreens and rocky shores for beachcombing. The ocean water is chilly, but plan a dip in one of the old granite quarries, which now serve as irresistible freshwater swimming spots.
Vinalhaven was in the news a few years ago when three tall windmills were installed to provide low-cost electricity; some locals complained about the whoosh-whoosh sound disturbing the island's peace and quiet. You can glimpse the turbines from the ferry but you won't see or hear them from Main Street; they're about 5 miles (8 kilometers) away.
Ferries for the 15-mile (24-kilometer) trip between Rockland and Vinalhaven depart six times daily from either side between 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. ($17.50 round-trip), http://www.maine.gov/mdot/msfs/vinalhaven.htm . Each ferry carries 16 cars but getting a spot for a vehicle is complicated � details at http://www.vinalhaven.org/getting-here . If you're not bringing your car onboard, you must park it in Rockland; don't panic if the main lot appears full as there are other reasonably priced options nearby.
Day trips to the island are doable if you take an early ferry over and the last one back, but overnights are better � especially if you want to try some of the island's good food. For a spectacular dinner, try The Haven on Main Street, where menu standouts have included sweet potato soup with mango, a smoked fish plate, salmon with beet dressing and blackberry crisp. For a hearty breakfast with a great view of the harbor, try Surfside.
If you don't have a bike to bring on the boat, you can rent one at Sidecountry Sports in Rockland. Or rent one on Vinalhaven at the Tidewater Motel, which offers bikes free to guests. The Tidewater also rents kayaks, canoes and cars.
Rooms at the Tidewater are $175-$199 through Labor Day; http://tidewatermotel.com/. You'll get excellent advice at the motel about everything on Vinalhaven, from where to bike to where to eat. And though the bikes lying around the motel's yard are a bit beat up, they'll get you to the quarry for a swim.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Summary Date:6/4/2014 2:22 PM Slug:BC-US--Travel-Trip-Maine-Vinalhaven Headline:Maine's scenic Vinalhaven Island by ferry and bike
Byline: BETH J. HARPAZ,Associated Press Byline Title:Associated Press Copyright Holder:AP Priority:r (4) With Photo: Dateline:VINALHAVEN ISLAND, Maine
Editors' Note:Eds: With AP Photos. Word Count:817 File Name (Transref):e0034
NYET304-0604141054 NYET307-0604141054 NYET303-0604141054 NYET306-0604141054 NYET301-0604141054 NYET305-0604141054 NYET308-0604141054 NYET302-0604141054 Editorial Type: AP Category:t Format:bx
See scene Vinalhaven Island by ferry and bike
Associated Press


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This is a particularly tender time ~ visiting here in Bradenton, Florida with my friend Elsie who now lives in an assisted living facility. This afternoon Barb, Mr. Myrt and I met with Elsie and it is obvious I've got to switch gears when it comes to doing our book about Elsie's Red Cross and civilian US Army employment during WWII.
At 92, Elsie has some memory loss, as do many folks her age. Though our visit was obviously tiring for her, Elsie was as ever, supportive and positive.
To say today's visit was emotional for me would be an understatement.
Thinking about this during the drive back to our friend Jody's condo, it occurs to me that many of my DearREADERS are facing just such challenges. Attempting to follow the advice to interview your eldest living relatives can get complicated can't it? Elsie is like family to me. Good friends are like that.
Where once we could work quickly together on a project, things have slowed down and there is no rushing the process with wonderful, elderly folks like Elsie. Advice from Kimberly Powell of About.com is found in 50 Questions for Family History Interviews. Indeed, Ol' Myrt here has written many times on the topic. But this interview process is real and personal, and I find myself at a bit of a loss as to where to begin without pushing Elsie to the limits of her memory.
And the emotion of recognizing how short our time together for the project, really brings me to tears.
I'm resolved to create a timeline of Elsie's life when we visit tomorrow. Much can be gleaned from the spines of her notebooks, which are clearly labeled England 1944-1945, France, Japan & Korea. If that is all I can accomplish tomorrow, so be it.
Tenderness will be my watchword.
As experienced as Ol' Myrt here may think she is when it comes to talking with anyone about anything, this visit with my dear friend Elsie is a tender challenge.
How did my DearREADERs manage such tender interviews?
Am I just getting to be an old sap?
Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
Your friend in genealogy.


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OAK PARK (AP) -- The office manager for an Oak Park-based home health care agency has been convicted in a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud Medicare.
The U.S. attorney's office says a federal jury in Detroit on Wednesday found 27-year-old Nabila Mahbub guilty of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
Mahbub worked for All American Home Care Inc., just north of Detroit. She's the 20th person convicted in the scheme.
Authorities say false or fraudulent claims of skilled nursing and physical therapy were made to Medicare. Patients were recruited and paid to take part in the scheme and fake medical records were created.
Medicare paid out more than $5.8 million between September 2008 and November 2009.
Mahbub faces up to 10 years in prison. Her sentencing is scheduled on July 25.
Published: Fri, Apr 19, 2013


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So I came across a post over at BNET the other day that suggests that our high school selves sometimes come back to kick us in the pocketbook when it comes to our careers. According to business writer Jeff Haden, our professional lives are "like high school with money." But what might have led to acceptance by the mean girls back in the day can actually be disastrous out in the business world.
He points out that the survival skills we learned when we were fifteen sometimes stick with us when we're thirty – or beyond — and they rarely end well. You can guess the ones: Looking to the wrong folks for advice; doing what everyone else is doing because, well, everyone else is doing it; making decisions based on the "shoulds"; and caring far too much about what other people think. All these patterns, he writes, can be roadblocks when it comes to building a professional life.
His point, in a nutshell: For good or for ill, most of us got it wrong in high school. And yet, old habits die hard. All of which got us to pondering: Do our high school selves mess with more than the corporate ladder? Are our grown-up perceptions still colored by the girls we once were?
For many of us, life took an abrupt left turn once adolescence reared its awkward head. Maybe we were one of the cool kids. Maybe we were irretrievably dorky. In either case, we were filled with self doubt. Self-definition came in the form of how someone treated us at lunch or whether the phone rang that night. So silly. And yet.
You have to wonder how much of that insecure self stays with us into adulthood, whispering in our ear, making us second guess our decisions, and nudging us to replay those invisible patterns etched long ago. Are we still looking for approval from erstwhile best friends? Is there a part of us that still wants to please the arbiters of ninth grade taste — or show them up? Hello there, mean girls! Take a look at me now!
Didn't matter whether we were beauty or brains – or none of the above; the prom queen or the wallflower; whether we were picked first or last for volleyball or had our ass routinely kicked by Algebra II. Deep inside, or maybe not even so deep therein, we were all just a little bit miserable because of, or in spite of, how we perceived ourselves back in the day. And what we wonder is this: Did we every outgrow that awkward adolescent? Has she left an indelible mark on our iconic self?
Is she part and parcel of the master narrative we sometimes use to frame our lives?
Don't get us wrong. Painful or not, high school was a pivotal time. After all, a lot of serious developmental stuff goes down during those formative years, and chief among that work is individuation – figuring out our identity, defining ourselves apart from our parents. It's a search that leads us logically toward our peers, with this one nasty byproduct: we tend to see ourselves as others see us.
Or, worse yet, the way we think that others see us.
Sure, men are subject to this process, too, but here's where it's different for women. We're hard-wired – or maybe socialized — to please. (Nature or nurture, who cares?) Which is why we listened to those imaginary whispers when we were in high school – and sometimes do it still. We see ourselves through others' eyes. We judge ourselves by others' judging. And we ask ourselves: Do we measure up? Do we fit in?
You have to wonder if this is one more reason why decisions are so loaded for women, especially when we're trying to figure out what to do with our lives. Could this be why we're always lusting after that greener grass? Why we have such a hard time figuring out what we want?
All of which leads us back to where we started. We can't help thinking this lingering desire to fit in impacts women more than men, especially as we navigate the somewhat unfamiliar turf of today's workplace. Because we are unsure of the rules, do we take reactions more seriously? Are we more tentative? Continually looking over our shoulder to make sure those whispers in the corner aren't about us? Worse yet, do we avoid even putting ourselves out there, sticking with Mr. Safe Path, so we can avoid the risk of rejection?
Good questions, right? But meanwhile, even as I type this, I hear a tragic little ninth grader – the one with the bad hair and the big glasses — whispering in my ear: What will (choose one) think? To which the only grown-up answer is: Who cares. Because while we may assume we're being judged, more often than not, the only one who's doing the judging is our high school self.


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NEW YORK (MainStreet)Backyards are the most common backdrop for family life in the U.S., according to The National Association of Realtors TruGreen Home Features Report, but when it comes to lawn care less than half of homeowners know the types of grass or tree in their yard. That can have unsightly financial consequences.
The value of a yard goes without saying: The report found that 58% of homeowners cited eating and entertaining outside with family or friends as one of the most common ways they currently use their outdoor space.
[Read: Use Your IRA to Buy Retirement Real Estate Now]
"Summer fun can create significant wear and tear on lawns," said Ben Hamza, director of technical operations with TruGreen, a professional lawn care service provider. "Maintaining optimum curb appeal during this recreational season requires some schooling and a tailored lawn plan."
TruGreen's survey also uncovered America's lack of knowledge about the common causes of brown spots, which include lack of water or drought, heat stress, pet urine, lawn-feeding insects and disease.
"Caring for a lawn requires a tailored approach based on grass type, climate, soil condition and lawn usage," said Hamza. "Not all plant-damaging insects like the same types of grasses and trees."
And here's the kicker: When selling a home, a healthy, green lawn can be a value-boosting asset. About 56% of homeowners surveyed said when buying a home a good lawn would warrant a higher price and about 53% said the quality of the homeowner's lawn can tell you a lot about the quality of the home overall.
"Curb appeal is that initial feeling that homeowners get when looking at the exterior of a home," Hamza said. "It's important when selecting a house to buy, because a healthy, green lawn is the centerpiece of winning curb appeal."
[Read: You Can Move to America's Most Sinful Cities]
Lawncare 101 includes the following basics from Hamza :
- 1. A single low cut or scalping can set the lawn quality back for weeks. When mowing, start at the highest recommended height for your yard's grass type. Also, a dull mower blade can tarnish curb appeal. The sharper the mower blade, the cleaner the cut, and the better looking the lawn to help get top dollar when selling your home.
- 2. Mow the lawn in the early evening so it can recover overnight. Keep the mower engine tuned and the mower blade sharpened at least twice each summer. Never mow in the heat of the day.
- 3. Infrequent or irregular watering of lawns is a common mistake. Watering too little or too much can weaken the lawn's root system and also cause brown spots. It's best to give your lawn a slow and steady watering, about one inch once a week.
- 4. Water the lawn in the early morning because watering later in the day can leave sitting water and cause problems with root rot or fungal diseases. Determine how much is enough by place a one-inch deep empty food can in the middle of the yard to measure depth of water collected each watering cycle.
- 5. Overfeeding lawns is another common mistake. Lawns, trees and shrubs require proper nutrition for healthy growth and the ability to recover from summer's heat and even drought. The grass type, soil condition and lawn usage are determining factors to develop a tailored nutrition plan for your lawn.
- 6. Pay close attention to signs of discoloration, patchy areas, and chewed grass blades and roots. Take action based on the root cause. In most cases, some type of renovation or lawn repair would be needed if the brown spots have caused a permanent damage to grass plants. Brown spots caused by drought or lack of water usually green up quickly as soon as watered properly.
- 7. A healthy lawn is green in color with density and texture and is free of weeds or any insect activity but grass appearance and texture varies depending on where you live, grass type and time of year. For example, Kentucky bluegrass, which is a cool season grass, should be cut at three inches high.
--Written by Juliette Fairley for MainStreet
[Read: Eight Great Books for Understanding Finance]


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This week, Cal Evans is reporting live from this year's php/db|works conference in Toronto. Since today is "Tutorial Day", the schedule is a little lighter, and he makes to time to catch Rob Richards' talk on PHP and Advanced XML and Web Services.
Rob Richards is the author of Pro PHP XML and Web Services. He literally wrote the book on using PHP and XML together. At php|works, he is leading a tutorial on using XML in web services using the DOM extension.
If you ever get a chance to hear Rob do a presentation, let me warn you, it is not for the faint of heart. As I learned last night when I sat down with Rob to record an interview, Rob likes to speak on leading edge and advanced topics. This tutorial is an excellent example of that philosophy.
Cal talks more about the content of the talk - its simplicity despite the complex topic, how much info is jammed in, and the fact that it's not just one giant pitch for Rob's book.


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Saturday, February 13, 2010
A Get Well Wishes Hop for Michelle!!
My dear friend, and owner of Stamper's Dream, Michelle, had surgery yesterday. So the Dream Team has decided to do a blog hop just for her.
This is for you Michelle!! Hope you're feeling better real soon!! LOVE ya!!
This is the first stop.
Here's the order for the rest of the hop:
For my card, I watercolored the tulips from one of the new JustRite sets called Breath of Spring with my Tombows. I don't know what's gotten into me lately, but I'm totally drawn to the crispness of white backgrounds. I can't help myself. Maybe it's because of the nice weather we're having here...bright sunshine, crisp clean temperate temperatures. Okay, I don't want any nasty comments or emails from you Easterners....*grin*....my heart does go out to you. I'm sure you're actually sick of seeing white. LOL
Okay, back to the card...the gingham at the bottom was made with Gingham Cover-a-Card Background stamp by Impression Obsession. I think the gingham is just super charming. The background was scored with my Scor-Pal, and the ribbon is May Arts. I colored some white pearls with my copics to get the soft pink, and I added a touch of glitter to the flowers and bow.
Don't forget to continue on the hop. These gals have some fabulous projects to show you.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
I hope you're having a fabulous long weekend!!
Stamps: Breath of Spring, Gingham Cover-a-Card Background
Paper: Neenah, Frosted Pink (Prism)
Ink: Versamark, Pixie Dust (VersaMagic)
Accessories: Tombows, Oval and Oval Scallops Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Ribbon and Silver cord (May Arts), Button (PTI), Pearls (Kaisercraft), Border Punch (Martha Stewart), Glitter, Scor-Pal, Detail Black ep (JudiKins), Dimensional Tape (Scotch)
42 comments:
- Carol L said...
How lovely!!! The soft pink with the white just screams feminine, and the flowers are perfectly colored! What a perfect way to wish Michelle well!
- February 13, 2010 at 5:16 AM
- Gabriela said...
Tosh, your Get Well card is just lovely. I love the brightness of it. Your gentle touch of pink adds pure sweetness and I'm certain your card and blog hop will bring Michelle a smile. I do hope she's on the mend soon.
- February 13, 2010 at 5:38 AM
- Silke Ledlow said...
Pure gorgeousness...Tosh!!! Love this card - so soft and feminine!!! Fab use of the JR image!! I feel a strong case coming on :)!!!
Have a great weekend!!! Hugs ~S~
- February 13, 2010 at 5:56 AM
This is so sweet and dainty. I love the way you raised the flowers for the 3-D effect!
- February 13, 2010 at 6:22 AM
- Cindy Lawrence said...
Sooo pretty, Tosh! Love the way you've popped up the tulips, and that embossed white background is perfect! Bright and cheery, just like YOU! :)
- February 13, 2010 at 6:23 AM
- Elaine said...
Very pretty! I like the soft color scheme!
Yes, I'm ready for all that white stuff to melt, lol!
- February 13, 2010 at 6:23 AM
- Cindy Lawrence said...
Sooo pretty, Tosh! Love the way you've popped up the tulips, and that embossed white background is perfect! Bright and cheery, just like YOU! :)
- February 13, 2010 at 6:23 AM
- Diane Jaquay said...
Such a soft, lovely card Tosh!
- February 13, 2010 at 6:25 AM
- Angella D. Crockett said...
Get well wishes for Michelle!! Tosh, this is absolutely beautiful! What a sweet thing you gals are doing!! God Bless!!
- February 13, 2010 at 6:36 AM
- Dawn Easton said...
Tosh, this is beautiful! Love the softness and your popped up flowers! Great corners and embossing too! So pretty!
- February 13, 2010 at 6:38 AM
- Carolyn King said...
so beautiful...michelle is gonna love this pink perfection!
- February 13, 2010 at 7:03 AM
- CFLanger said...
This is so pretty! It makes me long for spring!
- February 13, 2010 at 7:36 AM
- Nina I. said...
Stunning!!!!! I love it;-))
Hugs Nina
- February 13, 2010 at 7:56 AM
- Cherie said...
Wow! Your card is gorgeous and I just know that Michelle will love it! TFS!
- February 13, 2010 at 8:09 AM
- jjcreations said...
Gorgeous card. Glad I happened onto this bloghop.
- February 13, 2010 at 8:27 AM
- Becca Feeken said...
Oh Tosh, this is precious, soft and feminine - I know Michelle will just love it! It details are so sweet and I love how you clipped off the corners of your paper.
--Hugs Becca
- February 13, 2010 at 9:06 AM
- StampOwl said...
so pretty my friend :)
- February 13, 2010 at 2:31 PM
I love how you used the scor-pal to score your card. Hope Michelle is doing well after surgery. I happen to like white backgrounds, too, but it can stop snowing anytime!!
- February 13, 2010 at 3:43 PM
- Kathy Jones said...
Absolutely stunning! Love the soft, delicate feel of this card and you have done a wonderful job with the tulips!!! Gorgeous, gorgeous card! I hope Michelle recovers very quickly!!
- February 13, 2010 at 3:46 PM
- Denise Marzec said...
LOL, I'll say GMTA with the pink and tulips! Hehe! I LOOOOOVE your coloring on those tulips and I SOOOOOO want that gingham background. Man, is that adorable! The whole thing is just so delicate and girly...LOOOOVE it!
- February 13, 2010 at 4:22 PM
- Joanne (jojot) said...
so dainty...so sweet...so feminine....perfection for sure
now...I have a question....On your main image panel is the ink lace border a stamp or a Just Rite???
- February 13, 2010 at 4:48 PM
- JPScraps said...
Your card is so very pretty.
- February 13, 2010 at 6:18 PM
- Amy Sheffer said...
Oh Tosh, this is just so sweet and charming! Love the freshness of the light pink with the crisp white! Michelle will love this!!
- February 13, 2010 at 9:42 PM
The card you made is simply beautiful. I hope that your card, the blog hop and everyones thoughts, help in Michelle's recovery. I hope she gets well soon.
- February 14, 2010 at 12:56 AM
- Melissa Sauls said...
OMG, just gorgeous!!!! Love the way you colored your tulips and then popped some up, and I'm totally loving the scored panel. Absolutely beautiful!!
- February 14, 2010 at 2:10 AM
- marcelle schauer said...
I agree with you on the sharpness and crispness of white on white. Beautiful card.
- February 14, 2010 at 4:08 AM
- Chris Olsen, Glowbug said...
This is gorgeous Tosh!! Love your coloring, the scoring, the colors, the design....so elegant. How fun to do this for Michelle!! Hope she feels better soon!
Happy V day!
- February 14, 2010 at 6:44 AM
- Yvonne Hagane said...
This is just so pretty!! I absolutely love the feminine feel to this gorgeous card!!
Happy Valentines Day:)
- February 14, 2010 at 10:32 AM
- Jana said...
Michelle you have some very dear friends. I hope your better soon. I love this card. I haven't ssen this stamp before, beautiful.
- February 14, 2010 at 1:27 PM
- Michelle Woerner said...
Hey Tosh! This is really beautiful. Michelle will love it. Hugs,
- February 14, 2010 at 2:28 PM
- Gloria Westerman said...
This is so pretty and soft....it would make anybody feel better....I love it....
- February 14, 2010 at 7:03 PM
- LorettaL said...
Tosh, I love the softness of this card! The pink gingham paper is sweet. This is just beautiful!!
- February 14, 2010 at 7:03 PM
- scrappingnana said...
Your card is beautiful. Love the delicate look.
- February 14, 2010 at 8:18 PM
- Nikki Schmaltz said...
Tosh this is just so pretty. I personally love seeing the snow. It's the Mich girl in me. We are getting a bunch right now and the only thing that worries me is I won't be able to get rid of the 2 extra, loud girls I have acquired this weekend:D
Love your coloring on this. Also I am so excited to try and find some MS fringe. WOW. So cool. I also love that other punch.
- February 15, 2010 at 5:34 AM
- Conniecrafter said...
so love the freshness of this, like the corners and the scoring, such lovely flowers!
- February 15, 2010 at 7:43 AM
- Rose Ann said...
Your tulips look gorgeous, Tosh!! I love the dimension you've given them, and your embossed background looks wonderful! So beautiful!!
- February 15, 2010 at 8:53 AM
- Brenda Brown said...
It's beautiful Tosh, the pinks are divine and with the white..... very classy. Bxx
- February 15, 2010 at 9:01 AM
- Deborah Anton said...
A beauty!! I love the softness of it with pink and white!
- February 15, 2010 at 9:38 AM
- LeAnne said...
- February 15, 2010 at 12:48 PM
- Betty Wright said...
Be still my heart, girl! This is stunning! Beautifully done!
- February 15, 2010 at 6:33 PM
- Joan Ervin said...
WOW, Tosh....this is breathtaking!!!! I just love the soft, pretty colors and the flower image is gorgeous!!!!
- February 15, 2010 at 6:44 PM
- Mary Marsh said...
this is so beautiful-love the tulip image and your coloring is so fab!!
- February 16, 2010 at 6:12 PM


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The week saw a sudden calm in several markets as China showed signs of renewed economic strength and Greek banks reopened, but falling commodity prices have hurt export-driven economies' currency values and future inflation expectations.
In Greece, banks reopened earlier this week after three weeks of closure. Controls on withdrawals remain in place, with Greeks limited to taking out 420 euros per week from their accounts, but the banks are open for business and relatively calm queues have appeared at most banks throughout the week.
The Athens Stock Exchange remained closed, with spokespeople from the exchange citing the need for regulatory reforms to ensure orderly markets. Many analysts believe the exchange has remained closed to limit selling pressure. However, foreign expectations of a bear market appear mute. In the past five days, the Greece Exchange Traded Fund that is sold through the New York Stock Exchange lost 10% of its value, with most losses coming on Monday. Since then the ETF has remained relatively stable, indicating some traders expect selling pressure on Greek stocks to be muted when the exchange reopens.
China Growth
In Asia, China posted a better-than-expected rate of economic growth in the second quarter, with GDP rising at an annualized 7% rate after many economists' downgraded expectations for the rest of 2015.
While Chinese officials say, they are still on track to reach their 7% GDP growth for the full year, a drag on growth from the first quarter means the country will need to avoid any fall in growth by the end of the year to reach that target.
A boost to the economy from several stimulus programs has helped boost a rise in domestic incomes, but aggressive cuts in interest rates have also caused an increase in debt loads for both individual consumers and corporations. China has cut interest rates 4 times in the last 9 months to encourage more lending.
The lower cost of borrowing appears to come from an improvement in China's real estate markets, which were seeing falling prices for over two years in most major cities. That trend continues but at a less extreme rate, with only 33 cities seeing price declines in June, and the largest cities—Beijing and Shanghai—saw prices rise alongside Shenzhen, which saw housing prices rising 15.7%.
Commodity Rout
With risks in Europe and China subsiding, gold tumbled sharply on Monday, falling over 3% in one day on a widespread sell-off that began in Asia and continued in Europe and the U.S. Gold extended its losses throughout the week, with some analysts predicting an ounce to sell for less than $1,000 in the short term.
Part of the fall in gold prices may be attributable to a surprise announcement by the People's Bank of China that its gold reserves were a third of estimates, with only 1,658 metric tons. Some traders interpreted this as a sign of central banks' declining interest in the metal.
Oil also fell sharply this week, after the American Petroleum Institute announced oil reserves rose by 2.3 million barrels last week. This increase in supply surprised analysts, who expected supplies to weaken on lower production due to low costs. The API did note that demand was rising, but far below the 12.5% year-over-year increase in crude oil production.


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Washington: Barack Obama swept into the White House four years ago as an agent of change. The nation's first black president won re-election on Tuesday as a steady-as-she-goes defender of a new status quo.
With a second term, Obama also wins a second chance.
Obama may never become the unifying figure he promised to be in the 2008 race, but he will have four more years to try to enact sweeping changes that could affect the United States for decades.
It won't be easy. Obama has been blocked in Congress ever since the 2010 elections, when Republicans took control of the House of Representatives, and that's not likely to change. Breaking through the gridlock will be just as difficult.
Obama's modest second-term agenda so far illustrates his diminished clout in Washington. Republicans retained their hold on the House of Representatives and they have a large enough presence in the Senate to tie that chamber in knots. His narrow victory is likely to leave them unimpressed.
Right off the bat, he faces a potential crisis known as the "fiscal cliff" - tax increases and automatic spending cuts that threaten to throw the country into another recession.
While he brought U.S. combat in Iraq to a close and is drawing down in Afghanistan, he will have to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions, along with the chance of an Israeli counterstrike.
Inevitably, the president may bring to his second term the hard lessons of his first.
"He was a figure who promised to transform the way politics worked," said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University. "I don't think people think that anymore. It's not just less faith in him, it's less faith in what the political system can do."
If Obama did not change Washington the way many hoped, he can build on many notable successes.
He won a historic expansion of healthcare that had eluded Democratic presidents since the 1940s. Though voters like many of its components, they have been less enamored of "Obamacare" as a whole. He now will have the opportunity to prove its worth.
The same may be said for the Dodd-Frank financial reforms, which aim to rein in some of Wall Street's worst excesses.
Obama's legislative attempt to curb global-warming emissions died in the Senate, but he can continue the effort through regulation. He can also continue an effort to create millions of "green" jobs, which has so far fallen far short of its goals.
He came nowhere near his goal of cutting trillion-dollar budget deficits. He will rejoin that battle as soon as this week.
But for many voters, these issues were pushed aside by the economy, which plunged into a deep recession in the final months of 2008.
Here, too, Obama can point to success: his 2009 stimulus created millions of jobs and blunted the impact of the worst recession since the 1930s. The domestic auto industry, on the verge of collapse in 2009, has been restored to health.
The country avoided economic catastrophe but robust growth remains elusive. As Obama won re-election, 23 million Americans were either unemployed, underemployed, or too discouraged to look for work.
Obama's cautious approach to the housing crisis did little to stem an epidemic of foreclosures or help those left deep in debt by plunging real-estate values. A follow-up stimulus stalled in Congress as the administration focused on its healthcare and Wall Street reforms.
Not a backslapper
Though Obama was the first sitting member of Congress to win the presidency since President John F. Kennedy in 1960, his relations with Capitol Hill were problematic at best.
A private person by nature, Obama shied from the backslapping and arm-twisting that is often needed to advance an agenda in Washington. Democratic lawmakers grumbled privately that he cared little for their political concerns.
Republicans opposed his initiatives in an unprecedented manner, providing few, if any, votes for his major initiatives. In the Senate, action slowed to a crawl as Republicans threw up a record number of procedural hurdles.
The dysfunction came to a climax during the debt-ceiling battle of 2011, which brought the country to the brink of default. Consumer confidence plummeted and credit-rating agencies issued a historic downgrade of the country's debt.
It's unclear whether Obama could have done much to break the logjam on his own.
Congressional scholars Norm Ornstein and Thomas Mann, who have studied Washington for 40 years, argued in their book "It's Worse Than It Looks" that the Republican Party has become an ideologically extreme "insurgent outlier" with little interest in the compromises needed to run a vast and diverse country.
But Republicans would have been willing to work with Obama when he took office had he shown some independence from his own party, said former Bush aide Tony Fratto.
"That was a missed opportunity - I thought this particular president, at this particular time, had a real, unique opportunity to turn the tables on Congress," Fratto said.
Obama's relationship with the business community has been rocky as well. Corporate leaders complained that their White House meetings seemed more like photo opportunities than policy sessions.
Wall Street turned against the administration in the wake of the 2010 financial reforms and even prominent Democratic figures like J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon accused Obama of demonizing the financial industry.
The "grand bargain" that would set U.S. finances on a sustainable path will remain as elusive as ever, as investors continue to snap up U.S. debt at rock-bottom interest rates and lawmakers face little pressure from their constituents to make the sorts of painful concessions that will be needed to reach a deal.
Republicans might determine that it is in their best interest to cooperate on an immigration overhaul, but they will want to negotiate on their terms.
The economy could give Obama a much-needed tailwind in his second term as employment, consumer confidence and a range of other measures indicate that the recovery may finally be taking hold.
An improved economy could solve some of Obama's problems by narrowing budget deficits, putting more Americans back to work and vindicating many of the decisions he made in his first year in office.
For a president who has seen much of his first term hijacked by the sluggish economy, that would be an ironic turn of events.
"The 2008 presidential election had the effect of raising expectations to a level that would have been very difficult to satisfy even in the best of circumstances. And the circumstances have not been the best," said William Galston, a Brookings Institution scholar and former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton.
© Thomson Reuters 2012


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Summer recipes are popping up everywhere and I couldn't wait to try this watermelon and feta salad. With mouth-watering watermelon, bold feta and tangy lemon basil dressing it's the perfect side dish for a summer BBQ. I used to think fruit in salad was super weird but as my taste buds have matured I can't think of anything more refreshing or tasty. It's such a simple salad and you will really impress your friends when you say you made the dressing! So no more preservative packed, bottled dressings, with only three ingredients there are no excuses why you can't whip up your own majestic homemade dressing. Cheers to that!!!
Whisk 1 part fresh lemon juice with 3 parts olive oil, chopped basil (you can substitute mint for the basil but I much prefer basil) and salt and pepper. Toss with baby arugula, micro greens or any type of lettuce you prefer, watermelon cubes and feta cubes.


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PLYMOUTH, N.H. - The winter conditions that continue to plague New England spring athletic teams have forced more cancellations and postponements for Plymouth State College's squads.
All three Panther men's lacrosse games scheduled for this week have been affected. Monday's game at Salem State was postponed and rescheduled for this Wednesday (Apr. 4) at 3:30 p.m., pending the field conditions at Salem, Mass. Thursday's home game against Lasell has been rescheduled for Sunday, Apr. 29, at Panther Field (1 p.m.). Saturday's scheduled home game against Keene State has been moved to the turf field at Keene on Saturday at 7 p.m.
All of the PSC baseball games this week have also been changed. Tuesday's home encounter against Endicott has been switched and is slated for 3 p.m. at Endicott in Beverly, Mass. Wednesday's contest at Saint Michael's has been rescheduled for Friday, Apr. 27. The Little East Conference twinbill against UMass Dartmouth slated for this Saturday at Panther Field has been moved to UMD Saturday at 12 noon.
The PSC softball doubleheader scheduled for Wednesday at Bates will not take place. Officials from both schools are searching for a suitable make-up date. The Little East Conference home games against Eastern Connecticut slated for Saturday are wiped out, and the two schools are hoping to play the games Saturday at ECSU.
The Panther women's lacrosse contest against Lasell scheduled for Thursday will be changed. The schools are hoping to play the game Thursday at Lasell or a neutral site.
There have been no changes to the PSC men's tennis schedule. The Panthers can play all home matches indoors at the P.E. Center Fieldhouse.
For further information, interested people can get updates on the PSC athletic website at athletics.plymouth.edu.


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Michael Douglas' son Cameron was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to drug charges. In addition to prison, Cameron was ordered to pay $25,000 and serve 450 hours of community service. He will also spend an additional five years under supervision when he's released.
A Christian group has come to the aid of Stephen Baldwin. A website has been set up so fans can donate money which will be deposited directly into his bank account. Stephen filed for bankruptcy last year after he racked up more than $2.3 million worth of debt. A statement posted on the site reads, "Stephen Baldwin of the famous Baldwin Brothers is no stranger to the Hollywood life of glitz, glamour and the public eye. However, because of his religious convictions it has caused him the loss of many jobs and most recently, a highly publicized bankruptcy." There are a lot of Christians in Hollywood who seem to have no problem making money. It must be nice to have people you don't know putting money into your bank account. Where can I sign up?
Jennifer Carpenter has announced that husband and costar Michael C. Hall has fully recovered from cancer and is already back to work. This is great news. I love me some Michael C. Hall and Dexter.
Denise Richards and Kendra Wilkinson are attempting to set their single parents up on a date. According to a source, Denise heard that Kendra was planning an episode of her show where she helps her mother find a new man. Since Denise's dad lost his wife to cancer in 2007, Denise thought he might be a perfect candidate. This would be sweet if it were actually sincere.
Tori Spelling is reportedly developing a daytime talk show for ABC. It would be similar to "Regis and Kelly", but aimed at a younger audience. If marketed properly, this could actually work. Would you watch?
Lindsay Lohan has missed two depositions regarding the lawsuit she's facing from three men she took on a joyride in a hijacked SUV back in 2007. Lindsay went shopping during the first deposition. She had a hard time getting a ride the second time since her license is suspended. What about that mom of hers? Why couldn't she drive her to court? Lindsay has one last chance to appear on May 4. I hope she doesn't show up and gets sent to the clink for 30 days.
There was initially speculation over whether or not Kate Hudson purchased tiny implants. Now, there's speculation over whether or not she's pregnant. I don't think she cares what people think since she's making zero effort to cover up either.
Bret Michaels remains in critical condition after suffering a brain hemorrhage late Thursday evening. This comes one week after having an emergency appendectomy. Doctors believe both are complications from his type 1 diabetes. The doctors are currently trying to locate the source of the bleeding. Bret is awake and remains positive.
I hope Bret makes a full recovery. He's one of my faves.
The Talk of Tinseltown was brought to you today by...
Robert Pattinson


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On Friday Sept. 14, Texas Rep. Michael McCaul will chair a hearing that will revisit the 2009 Fort Hood shooting and examine what lessons the Intelligence Community should have learned from the reports on the shooting.
Following the killings, many elected officials demanded that a full investigation be launched into how this massacre could have been prevented. A report release by the FBI in July of this year revealed that there was significant communication between the agents in Washington, D.C. and task force agents in San Diego, Calif., about whether Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the shooter, was a viable terror threat, but failed to inform his superiors. While the report refrained from making any agents responsible for not heeding the warnings about Hasan's behavior, it did make 18 formal recommendation to improve the agency's handling of similar situations.
In his statement announcing the hearing, McCaul pointed out that information was not shared between the Department of Defense, the FBI and other agencies, which led to an incomplete investigation of Hasan, who was referred to as "a ticking time bomb."
"Our hearing will examine the human and systematic elements to get a better understanding of the facts of the Fort Hood case as we now know them – to better understand how these facts that seem so obviously alarming now were missed by seasoned professionals -and to understand how the Intelligence Community as a whole can benefit from the lessons learned from the tragedy at Fort Hood," wrote McCaul in a press release.
He went on to point out that similar failure to share intelligence occurred in relations to the 9/11 attacks:
"The 9/11 attacks required our government to review how we share intelligence information among relevant agencies and with state and local law enforcement. The 9/11 Commission report stressed the importance of full scope intelligence analysis that draws from all relevant sources of information, and concluded the biggest impediment to all source analysis is a systemic resistance to sharing information."


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SUMMIT, NJ - The Suburban Chamber of Commerce has announced the recipients of the 2014 Chamber of Commerce Awards, which will be presented March 26 at the Chamber's Annual Awards Dinner at the Grand Summit Hotel.
The following are award winners:
Silver Service Award – Betse Gump—Volunteer Extraordinaire
This award recognizes a private citizen or public servant who has served at least 25 years in multiple volunteer organizations and/or on community boards or committees, someone who has demonstrated a long-time dedication to the community.
Public Service Organization – The Lions Club of New Providence
Each year the Chamber honors an organization which has consistently performed services within our communities and has achieved or carried out one or more outstanding events or projects during the previous year.
Beautification Award – Anne Poyner - Head of Drama Department at Summit High School
This award traditionally recognizes a person, business, property owner or organization which has made significant improvements to the community including expanding and enhancing cultural experiences.
Public Service Award – HomeTowne TV News Team
This award honors an outstanding, well-rounded citizen who lives or works in our communities and has demonstrated exemplary services by way of volunteerism and community involvement.
Business of the Year Award – Summit Medical Group, Berkeley Heights
The Chamber seeks to recognize a business or business person who has operated a respected business in our communities. Considerations is given for outstanding practices, products and/or services and involvement in our communities by way of contributions to local programs, events and other services.
President's Award – The Weinerman and the Gelber Families, The Grand Summit Hotel
This special award is presented as a special honor by the CEO of the Suburban Chamber of commerce to a person, business or organization that has demonstrated outstanding leadership in providing services to its surrounding communities.
Tickets for the awards dinner are available through the Suburban Chamber of Commerce website – www.suburbanchambers.org, or by calling the Chamber at 908 / 522-1700.