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Your Daily Courage Encouragement
Yellow is the level of courage. In regards to a new student it takes courage to face many challenges of learning material, protocols, student names, disciplines and even push ups. Some quit in the face of these rigors while others muster courage to take on the difficulties, hard work and fear of the unknown and possible failure. What do they find within themselves to master their fears and keep going? Whatever it is, we call it courage. As the White Lotus Code Courage states: "I will stand in the light with all darkness around me."
So what's the bravest thing you have ever done? What put you at risk of failure, of losing friends or respect, or even your own life that you chose to do anyway because you believed it was the right thing? What brave thing did you do last week? What brave thing will you do today? Sometimes we think of courage as some super act of heroism. But courage is day to day for all of us.
For some it is courageous to get up today because their body is filled with pain from disease, but they keep going. Some are faced with crushing financial pressure or despair from lack of a job. They are brave to get up and go to work or look for another job when it seems hopeless. Some families are experiencing break ups and relational pain. Yet they get up and do the best thing they still know to love their family members and to try to bring healing. And how hard is it still be loving and nice to those who are hurting us, to still do the right thing when nobody else seems to be and we feel all alone? There are courageous people all around us but we may not see them. Some are in your school, some are members at your home, some are the strangers walking down the street who with courage battle on though we do not see what they struggle against. Each day we will need courage. So again, what brave thing will you do today?
– Sigung Steve Jungmann
Pai Xeung Lum


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John and I had the pleasure of sitting with Scott at a banquet last June at the Smart Marriages conference in Denver. Our conversation was lively enough to convince me to go to his table in the exhibition hall the next day and buy an autographed copy of his book. It has been a real window into how men approach marriage to read his thought provoking ideas. Scott hosts a website where he invited thousands of men to tell about their experience of marriage, and he has digested those responses and made them into a cohesive form for the reader. Scott is a witty man, and the way he frames marriage helps me both enjoy and understand why sometimes we completely misunderstand each other in the daily routine of being man and wife. One chapter is called "The First Way; Make Your Marriage Your Job" and outlines a man's competence when it comes to solving problems at work, suggesting that he employ similar strategies in marriage. The idea that men who are highly successful in their jobs could translate those skills to a thriving marriage intrigues me. This book is available from the Caring for Marriage library, or buy your own copy and his insights may help you to win your wife's heart forever.
Marriage Books
This summer I had the experience of watching a sign language interpreter translate the conversations, lectures, songs and worship services at a camp we were attending. It was fascinating. Her hands swept in the fluid motions of the ideas she was expressing to the people who could not hear what was being spoken. They were beautiful. After one especially lively hour of this, she told me that it was tiring. Her whole attention was absorbed in the process.
Speaking the language of another person takes effort. There is a lazy part of me that wants to demand that everyone speak my language... but I have a suspicion that God expects more of me than that.
Yet some of the rub comes when we think we already are speaking the same language... and realize there is still a divide. Gary Chapman's watershed book on the Five Love Languages has brought new understanding to thousands of relationships in many countries that were stuck using the same words and actions, with disparate meanings. Now he has expanded that idea to include the intricate landscape of apologies. How is it that one person can say what they think is an honest and adequate apology, yet the person hearing it finds those same words to be lacking? Do the words "I am sorry" mean the same thing to everyone?
Apparently not.
Chapman has identified five ways to heal the broken trust that happens when we hurt someone we love.
- 1. Express regret.
- 2. Accept responsibility.
- 3. Make restitution.
- 4. Genuinely repent.
- 5. Request forgiveness.
Some people feel that the apology is invalid if it is missing the elusive element that means the most to them. This can leave someone offering the apology feeling confused. It is a set up for increased hurt, until we step outside of ourselves long enough to examine how the other person hears and offers forgiveness.
Twice in my life I have been offered what I would call mega apologies. Once it was court ordered, the other time it came completely unexpected. The first apology was a disappointment. There was no evidence that the person accepted responsibility, but rather placed the blame back on those of us who had been wronged for misunderstanding him. There was no offer to make restitution, least of all a request for forgiveness. It did nothing to ease the pain.
The other apology was quite different. It was for a transgression that had impacted my life deeply, yet I had never expected to receive an apology. The writer expressed sincere regret, took responsibility for her actions without shifting the blame to anyone else, described her efforts to change her life and asked for my forgiveness.
I was stunned. It felt as if a backpack I had grown accustomed to slid off my back and thumped to the floor. A part of me that had frozen began to thaw.
This book can help to bring depth to the words we share with people in our lives. It takes effort, and our full attention. But the significance of that shared connection can be as beautiful as the dance of a sign interpreter, shaping the air with ideas and images.
A third interaction which only squeaks by under the heading of an apology came twenty years after the fact. A person who had been successful in sabotaging our family personally and professionally was left behind when we moved across the country. One day she called to let me know she now lived up the street. I later asked John, "Who is the last person on earth you would like to move nearby?" He answered this person's name.
Yet the woman freely told me her own painful life's story, as if there had been no intent for harm toward us, and casually ended with, "That's why we were so terrible to you."
Somehow, it was enough.
As soon as I heard this author speak at a conference, I knew I had to buy the book. I have seen before the danger signs for cancer and diabetes, and been grateful for the information that could prove to be a life saver. Blood in a scraped knee.... not serious. Blood in your urine.... pay attention.
Dave opened his keynote with a riveting story about his senior pastor who threw his whole family and marriage out the window by running off with a lady in the choir. Dave followed every tactic he had learned watching detective shows to find the U-Haul destination, fly across the country, camp out cross from the U-Haul with binoculars, realize they were taking longer to cross the continent than he did, convince the U-Haul guy to call him when they arrived, fly home, get the call, fly back and then confront the senior pastor who had hoped to never see Dave again. Dave did not succeed in repairing that marriage but he changed the course of his life to find out how to prevent other marriages from going up in smoke. This book is the result.
A few of the questions in the Friendship Quiz are:
- Do you save topics of conversation for your friend because you feel they understand you better?
- Have you shared spousal difficulties with this friend?
- Has your friend shared difficulties they are having with their marriage?
- Do you find yourself looking forward to seeing your friend more than you look forward to seeing your spouse?
- Do you find yourself comparing your spouse to the friend?
- Are you comfortable letting your spouse review all the telephone interactions, email, text messages and voice mails?
Dave describes the vulnerability of professional relationships, and the threat they pose to a marriage, especially when alcohol, travel and fine dining are involved.
The book is full of stories, of real people who did not set out to strangle their marriages and families. Yet they did not realize the risks of what began as simple friendships and were lulled into false security assuming they would never have an affair. It is hard to protect yourself from a disease if you are convinced you are immune.
When John came back from Ghana he had been taking his malaria pills, so we did not entertain the notion that his desperate need to down not only the baptism water in church but a gallon of water afterward, and his uncontrollable shivering under 5 quilts in the dead of August were hints that he might be teetering on death's door. Oops. Malaria pills don't come with a guarantee.
Neither does marriage.
Find out the danger signs.
Infidelity is here. It is as endemic as fast food. I tried to see if I
could go for a whole day without seeing an ad for junk food. It only
seems to work if I don't leave my house and keep any radios off. I
tried as well to see if I could go for an entire day without being
exposed to extramarital sex. But I had to go to the drug store and the
magazines that were at my kid's eye level were as blatant as the racy
movies I was not allowed to see back in junior high, only these did
not require parental guidance to read the covers. As a culture we send
the message to be thin and trim, yet we volley that ideal with an
obsession with fattening food. At one point there was a cultural
standard of monogamy, but we send conflicting standards at a much
higher volume.
Shirley suggests that being attracted to another person other than you
partner is part of the human condition. One husband told her that his
wife was a virgin when they married, and had high religious values. He
would have bet $2 million that she would never have an affair. When
John and I ran a college group on preparing for marriage I invited
just such a woman to speak to these students and she too emphasized
that no one is immune. She was a "good" girl, and was herself
horrified to find that she could destroy her marriage vows.
If the hells can successfully convince us that we have nothing to
worry about it is much easier to weasel into our thoughts and
feelings. I often get mailings from my health care providers,
reminding me to get a mammogram, or a colonoscopy. They seem to
operate on the assumption that because I am a certain age, and female,
I stand a good chance of contracting certain unpleasant conditions.
When I was twelve, I got up out of bed to tell my father that I had
been thinking about the 6th commandment and felt pretty sure I was not
going to break it and could I just check it off my to do list now and
forget about it? He smiled and said not to worry. I think if any of my
children ask me that question, I will say something different. I will
say that the Lord gave those particular commandments because He knows
the biggest dangers and wants to warn us about them. We should take
that as a heads up. If a large insurance company that has never
actually met me feels confident in urging me to make an appointment to
check my cholesterol, I can trust that the God of heaven and earth who
sees me from the inside out is a good judge of the pitfalls I am most
likely to catapult into.
Glass says that we need to keep up walls around our outside
relationships, and windows with our partner. The affair becomes
possible when we start to erect walls with our partner and windows
with someone else. Honesty is a wonderful way to keep those windows
clear. When we let secrecy fester, it erodes the trust that keeps
marriage vibrant. Talking to your partner about small attractions when
they are still small is a good way to keep your marriage breathing and
Having counseled and interviewed thousands of unfaithful couples Glass
has a lot of experience to draw on about the attraction, the lessening
of restraint, the transgression, the secrecy and the aftermath. She
offers short quizzes that you can take to see where your own
friendships lie, in terms of being a threat to your marriage.
She hears over and over that the initial trauma is magnified by the
inevitable lying. One man drove home after being with his lover, and
passed his wife struggling to buckle their small children and the
week's groceries into the station wagon. His guilt was intensified but
not enough to change his ways.
The book offers great hope. Many couples can and do recover from
infidelity, even becoming stronger for the crucible experience.The
book Conjugial Love describes four levels of adultery and this book
echoes those varying situations. When a betraying spouse takes
responsibility for their actions, it is a painful process but there is
a way to reconstruct the marriage.
The shift toward more women in the workplace has made affairs more
common than they were a few decades ago. The majority of affairs
happen at work, especially given the dynamics of long hours, travel,
and working together on a goal with a coworker instead of our partner.
When we ignore the susceptibility that that environment promotes we
make ourselves vulnerable to infidelity. As one man said to Glass,
"How can I want something so desperately that I believe is wrong?"
(page 121)
There are well worn paths to repairing a broken marriage. People have
walked that way before you and will show you the way. "Right now you
may not be able to conceive of a time when you and your spouse will
again enjoy a relationship based on love and trust, but your job is to
work closely with your partner in forging a new partnership for the
future." (page 117)
Glass reminds us that "Leaving a bad marriage without trying to repair
it first is like trying to sell your house right after a rainstorm
flooded your family room. Once you have finished cleaning and
redecorating you may decide not to put it up for sale. If you leave
your marriage when you are feeling devastated, depleted and
demoralized you'll always wonder whether you made the right
choice."(page 129)
This book is full of practical suggestions, both for preventing a
betrayal and healing from one. It speaks to all three members of the
triangle. Consider reading it with the same prudence that keeps you
stepping on the scale and taking your blood pressure. It can help to
fortify your resolve. As one man told Glass, "On a good day, when
things are going well, I am committed to my wife. On a day when things
are just okay, I am committed to my marriage. On a day when things
aren't so great, I satisfy myself by being committed to my
commitment." (page 255)
I love this book. I own four copies. When I have a minute it is fun to
open it up randomly and reread a story of how a couple overcame the
odds, or stayed true to each other through a storm. Our culture seems
obsessed with the portrayal of couples that are young and beautiful.
All of us can point to a score of movies based on that theme. But the
stories that we are lacking are the seasoned ones, the marriages that
embody a love that has matured and deepened. I remember when my father
wrote out the sonnet by Shakespeare that says " Love alters not with
his brief hours and weeks but bears it out even to the edge of doom".
That moment was engraved on my heart. The ideal that marriage is
stronger and more powerful than time nestled between my ribs and took
root. Years later my own husband showed me the passage from Conjugial
Love 302 that says " There is no love which labors for these openings
more intensely, or which opens the interiors of their minds more
powerfully and easily, than conjugial love, inasmuch as the soul of
each intends it."
The stories are grouped under headings like, Commitment, Overcoming
Obstacles, and Eternal Love. Each one is a gem all by itself, so
reading this book can fit snugly in the cracks of your frantic
schedule. I find it to be like daily vitamins, a boost of marital
supplement not instead of reading the Word but in addition to it, just
like taking vitamins should never replace a meal.
There is a story of a couple that lived their entire marriage in the
hospital, as they both suffered from cystic fibrosis. There is another
of a man who tenderly cared for his aged wife in a nursing home. In
between the articles are touching quotes and a few silly pictures,
because laughing is part of marriage too. Put it by your bedside and
read a few page together at night, and you might find the warmth of
your own relationship being refueled.
I was given this book for Christmas and found myself reading snatches of it between the hullabaloo of that first red stocking and the honking horns of New Year's Eve. It was a quick read, yet I did not want to go too quickly. The challenge, to eradicate words of complaint, gossip and criticism from my daily interactions for 21 days is innocent enough. I had already promised myself that I would rinse all comments to my husband for 365 days. But this book raises the stakes to interactions with all people..... could I do it? Bowen offers free purple bracelets to anyone willing to take on the challenge. Every time you slip, you change which wrist the bracelet is on, and start over. The book includes stories from people who have succeeded, and their experience with the enormity of the shift in patterns. There is a place for taking on a challenge when you have little or no idea what you have signed up for. Like the birth of a child. Can any of us honestly see how far into the distance that venture actually reaches? Ignorance comes in handy here, for the perpetuation of the human race for instance.
Perhaps I should ask for help. You know, the kind of help that black and white cars with cherries on top give when I am driving and need to remember to stay within the speed limit. Or the kind of help that statistics teachers supply when you are tempted to forget to do your homework. My own children are pretty cooperative too, when I let them in on some personal flaw I am working on, and they catch me red handed. "Mom, I thought you were trying not to yell."
So maybe I will make a button for myself that says "Stop me if I complain." Chances are pretty good I will always have a witness when I transgress, as complaining to inanimate objects is not as deeply satisfying.
The book identifies four stages in the progression: Unconscious Incompetence, Conscious Incompetence, Conscious Competence and Unconscious Competence. Will claims that the way to begin is to recognize that we are incompetent in regard to complaining. Our lack of awareness makes change less likely. So we begin to notice how frequently words of complaint slip past our lips. Bowen tells of the time he was first explaining the idea to his congregation and he made a complaint disguised as a joke. No one laughed. He noticed... and moved his purple bracelet.
Marriage is a wonderful place to eliminate these corrosive comments. We read that angels always put a positive interpretation on our actions. I have been blessed with a vivid imagination, as evidenced when I come up with reasons I should be irritated or upset. Sometimes I remember to use that same capacity for creative reasoning to give an explanation for someone else's behavior.
"Maybe she is newly pregnant, and feeling awful."
"Perhaps they just received a threatening letter about being sued."
"Maybe their water pipes froze and they are stressed out about living in a house that is under 50 degrees."
"It's possible she is a new driver, learning to drive a stick shift."
"I wonder if they just got a scary diagnosis for their child."
Actually , I don't need to be all that creative. I can look to my own experience, as each of those situations have happened to me. Sometimes when I am paying attention I see that criticizing my husband is like poking holes in the canoe that we are both riding in... and the water is cold. Once I called him to criticize him about something of no consequence that simply could not wait.... I closed my cell phone and turned the key in the ignition. Nothing. That ornery battery connection was acting up and I realized with embarrassment that I needed to call him back and ask for help. He came of course.
So you might want to take on this personal marathon. If you have tried criticism as a means for improving your relationships, I mean really tried it in all its permeations from biting sarcasm to passive aggressive, and found it to be a less than transforming experience, you might want to change gears and give this one a serious try. Just for kicks. As if your marital life depended on it.
This book was recommended to me by a woman who has been married three decades, and has a strong marriage. She said it made a huge difference in her understanding of what her husband needs. That was enough of a commercial for me. Shaunti has articulated many of the fundamental miscommunications that have harangued couples for as long as I can remember. One chapter is called,"Your Respect Means Even More than Your Affection". She conducted a number of surveys, asking men whether they would rather feel lonely and unloved, or would they choose to feel disrespected and inadequate? She was shocked to hear that the overwhelming majority would rather hang on to respect than to love. In yet another survey she asked what happens in a conflict between them and their spouse, a loss of affection or a loss of respect. Fully 80% answered that the cutting reality breaking down the marriage was the loss of respect.
This was groundbreaking news for her, and is to me as well. Thankfully the author doesn't just drop this information in our laps and run. She describes in detail how we succeed or fail to show respect. One way is to value your husband's judgment. Words like "I trust you," and asking for his input are like skywriting "I love you! " across the horizon. I have seen many young mothers who feel protective of their children. They hover over their husbands with wrinkled brows, criticizing how daddy dresses the toddler, or the way he carries the baby. This is an efficient way both to extinguish any willingness to try again, and to send potent messages of "you are inadequate". Respect bites the dust.
A second way to give your husband respect is to give credibility to his ability. (I thought if it rhymed you might remember it longer) John and I have had testy conversations around broken appliances where I thought I was being helpful to offer to call a repairman. What that feels like to him is, "I do not think you can fix this. You are a loser." We could go on a long diatribe about the vast discrepancy between what I said and what he heard. Or I could learn to say it differently.
Yet another powerful opportunity to lubricate a marriage with respect is to make all hubby-jabbing humor in public off limits. This includes criticizing him in front of other people. There are parts of my children's bodies that get banged up in the daily rough and tumble, that I don't give a second thought. A skinned knee, ok. A paper cut, no sweat. But when someone gets a knock on their temple or throat, I pay a lot of attention. Those areas are vulnerable and an injury can have serious consequences. I think of a man's self esteem as being just as vulnerable. He may look brazen and confident, but really, he needs to be offered the tenderness I give to a newborn's fontanel.
Recently we were talking with a couple in active angst. He said he felt like she is not rooting for him and does not respect him. She did nothing to reassure him otherwise. Later in the conversation she expressed her excitement in her job where she gets to support and encourage her team members. I was sad. Probably the people she supervises have their times of failure. Yet she sees this as a chance to cheer them on. I wish her husband could benefit from that cheerleading too.
One final tidbit from this book is her advice to show respect through your assumptions about what your husband is doing. I know that for many years I tried in every language I could muster to say " Call me if you will be late." Mostly, he didn't. My son bought him a pager so I could find him. He would forget to take it. I would scream... I would cry... I would beg... I would threaten...all highly creative efforts on my part to change his behavior. But what I was not willing to change about my behavior was the assumption that if he did not call it meant he does not love me. I clung to that interpretation with every fiber in my being. Finally I realized that when he forgot to call me, it meant... he forgot to call me.
In the interests of urging you to perhaps get your own hands on this book and give it a chance to topple some of the Jerichoian walls in your relationship, I will stop. But not before I offer to lend it to you from the Caring for Marriage library.
We have heard Michele present several times, and she has a lot to say. She is a fast talking, witty woman with decades of experience and she says she has seen every possible problem in her practice. I think I believe her.
In her book she outlines the obstacles and the ways to navigate them. Reading her descriptions fits the experience of many people we have talked to about their aching marriages. Michele has no interest in indulging you in sympathy.
"Yeah, yeah I know it's hard. Let's start changing it."
She begins by debunking a lot of myths, like good couples never argue, major disagreements get resolved over time, both partners will have the same idea of what love feels like, and people can "fall out of love". All of these potholes can catch us when we are not looking, and make us fall.
Michele has a startling answer for her clients who claim to have fallen out of love.
"When you first got married if someone said to you that in a number of years you would fall out of love, you would not believe that person. Your positive feelings for your partner at that time would have prevented you from even entertaining the possibility that love would die. Well the same is true in reverse. Your current negative feelings are blinding you to the possibility that you will ever feel different again." p 55
I know as a new mother I was devastated the first hundred times my child said "I hate you Mommy!" Once a nursling added, "I hate you Mama, can I nurse?" After awhile I realized that those feelings, however genuine they feel at the time, are no more real than the sunrise. It sure is a convincing production... the sun slides up the horizon, in a splash of golden and rosy rays after having deserted me. It was gone, unavailable... but oops it was really me that turned away.
A friend told me, "If you are feeling far away from God, guess who moved."
Sometimes when I am feeling far away from my partner it is me who has built a wall around myself of self righteous arguments, resentment, self pity and blame. The walls come crashing down in the face of compassion, laughter, forgiveness and touch.
Some of the seven steps are:
Start with a Beginner's Mind
Know What You Want
Stop Going Down the Cheeseless Tunnels
Experiment and Monitor Results.
I might have doubted that the average miserable wife could NOT know what she wants, until I watched a video where the relationship coach asked a wife what she wanted from her husband that no one else could give her. She fumbled. She stalled for time. She named some vague things like love and acceptance, that he dismissed as being qualities she already got from her family and children. This angry, sarcastic wife was suddenly silent in front of 2000 listeners, and most importantly, her husband. She did not know what she wanted from him, and realized how slim his chances were of hitting an invisible target.
The experimenting idea is intriguing. Some of the suggestions for shaking up a bad combination of reactive behaviors are: don't be home when your spouse arrives, don't ask any questions about his/her whereabouts, instead of being angry as usual, act pleased to see your spouse, and make your spouse wonder about you.
Michele invites the reader to make his/her own list of surprising possibilities to replace the "more of the same behaviors" we have perfected. She gives great examples of how humor can lighten an impasse.
She explores the different modes of communication. Sometimes we are too stuck to speak to each other. That would be a good time to try calling, or texting, or email, or lipstick on the shower wall, or a voicemail at work, or skywriting.
I like that Michele ends with a chapter called,"Expect the Impossible". Surely the One who brought us together will move heaven and earth to keep us together. We just need to look in His direction.

subset: commoncrawl


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I finally finished opening the eyes of my chloe ve head. Its not something I'm in any hurry to repeat, way too much work. I finished her faceup and while I wanted to make her look dark and a little dead its not exactly what happened. I did do quite a bit of blue grey blushing and a bit of yellow, I also blushed her chest piece, hands, and feet. However when I sat down to do her features she just turned out with a sweet and maybe a little sad expression. I'm really happy with her, now she just needs her clothes. I ordered a corset from Raouken on Den of Angels and it should be in next week and then I can finish her skirt. I don't know when her wig will be in yet. The picture is not the best, it was late in the day and I had to turn on all the lights and open the window to get enough light.
Posts Tagged 'minifee'
minifee chloe vampire
Posted in Dolls, faceup, tagged chloe ve, fairyland, minifee on July 30, 2011| 1 Comment »
A couple more faceups finished.
Posted in Dolls, faceup, tagged commission, faceup, minifee, soom on July 26, 2011| 2 Comments »
I've been busy this summer. It seems that as soon as I finish the work on one doll another one arrives.
Here is the Soom Beyla with fantasy parts I did. This was the first time I have been commissioned to do the fantasy parts. They take a lot of time and use up a lot of my MSC.
And I just finished this minifee chloe. I'm so happy with how she turned out.
More Dresses
Posted in clothes, Dolls, tagged BJD, littlefee, minifee, sewing on May 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »
I've gotten pretty comfortable making dresses for my minifee. This first one is for sale on DOA and the second is for me. I figured I'd been making several dresses for sale but nothing cute for my own doll.
I also made a proper dress for my littlefee Běla. I'm really happy with how it turned out but it was a pain in the neck, I won't be making another one for a while. I do like the look of light and white colored dresses on white skinned dolls.
Only two more weeks of school left, I can't wait till summer. My seniors left yesterday so at least it should be a quiet two weeks. I'm hoping to have more time over the summer to sew some more and make some shoes as well.
A new dress.
Posted in clothes, Dolls, tagged BJD, minifee, new outfit, sewing on April 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Here is Lenka's new dress and my latest attempt at sewing. This one went together quite well. It took a couple of hours but I'm getting better at this. I hope I held onto the pattern pieces because I think I'll use them again. As long as I'm not sewing on knit fabric I'll be fine. If this continues to go well I might consider doing a few different dresses and selling them but that would have to wait till school got out, I'm much to busy right now.
New Littlefee
Posted in clothes, Dolls, faceup, tagged BJD, littlefee, minifee, new doll on March 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »
My littlefee bisou that I order back in February finally arrived and I've had time to do her faceup and crochet a quick dress for her.
Also the wig I had ordered for my mnf rheia came in, so she is no longer sitting around bald.


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Another week has come and taken off, it's been really interesting living without air conditioning in this rental house. (quite awful really), I've been spending as much time in cooler places, as possible. We have no air conditioning due to the 'landlord' misrepresenting the home via advertising, but that's a completely other story, not to get into right now—
Here's the latest on Instagram (and staying out of the Nevada heat)
One of my favorite places: Pier 39, there is no other place to be, as near the ocean and 'the city' as possible for me.
2. Rancho San Rafael Regional Park
Sooo many beautiful flowers at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park, I went there to explore the golden hour, and to chase the light.
3. Reading = Better Writing
A little backstory(ha!), my daughter and I started writing a YA novel years ago, and I was inspired to pull it back out and get it finished, and… of course I was practicing with my Photek Sunlighter ii, and Canon speedlite, incase you were wondering…
That face just says it all
5. Father's Day
Father's Day + D's 4 year old birthday: Can you believe it, his parents gave him a 'real' motorcycle, ironically, he was more thrilled with his Lego sets.
6. Swings
Staying #unplugged this summer?
7. Kings Beach, California
#TBT to an early morning explore up at 'the Lake'
8. Book Review: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Yes, I'm still reading this amazing book, it's the type of book, that is a deep and focused read. 5/5 stars so far!
9. J's Wedding Toasting Jars
Planning my daughter's wedding long distance is a a challenge, but really fun…
Instagram account I lovin' this week
betternovelproject why I love it: I stumbled upon this account while searching writing techniques, (to get myself back into the creative writing swing again – believe me it's been a while), and found so many great blogs here, if you have a desire to write, check it out.
Here's to scribbles and dreams..
If you enjoyed this post, leave me a note or two… I would love to hear from you.


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Government in Perpetual Crisis
By Dawit Mesfin
Presented at Brussels 'Eritrea and the On-going Refugee Crisis' Conference
October 19th, 2017
Had I been given the opportunity to choose a topic of discussion for this conference instead of having one assigned to me by the organisers, I would have probably chosen a story that depicts the journey of my life which, partly, mirrors the story of Eritrea. Basically, I would have described the highs and lows of my life experiences. I would have shared with the audience how I was spared from joining the armed struggle; how I turned into a refugee in the mid '70s; how I started my own family in Mannheim, Germany and lastly, why I have not returned to Eritrea after independence.
Let me go back to the task at hand for now. This account may not be part of the current refugee crisis per se, but it is certainly part of the on-going crisis which is producing refugees year in and year out. The task I have been given is to explain how Eritrea ended up having a government that is in perpetual crisis – a huge undertaking for a ten-minute presentation. Let me tell you a story instead that is somehow related to the subject matter – one that depicts a picture of what Eritrea is like from a different perspective, so to speak. This is the story of the selfless Eritrean mothers of Rome and the Mannheimer Cadres.
Eritrean Mothers of Rome
To Eritreans nothing was more sacred than gaining independence during the armed struggle. Like a well-oiled system, the EPLF (the fighting force) mobilised the majority of Eritreans living abroad in networks of mass organisations that provided services, financial and material support to the combatants. The system built around the Eritreans Mothers of Rome was one of the sturdiest strongholds of the EPLF. Basically, the mothers, rather selflessly, gave up their own personal interests in order to advance the cause of the EPLF.
The majority of Eritreans who lived and worked in Italy prior to independence were women. Almost all worked as domestic workers. The majority had either little or no education; and many of them were childless. Moreover, in a cruel twist of fate, they ended up becoming the sacrificial lambs of the armed struggle. Seeing the way ahead, the mothers were ready to answer the call of the times, study living philosophy in the course of actual struggle. Although they lacked formal education, they mustered enough courage to walk along the 'Commissars' to turn Marxist philosophy into a sharper ideological weapon. All the mothers could marshal was a set of terminologies whose concepts they failed to fully comprehend - concepts such as mass and class struggles, bourgeoisie, petty bourgeoisie ... etc. However, they were so committed they became the most significant donors to the cause.
Fast-forwarding the story, after years of intense and costly struggle, Eritrea finally gained its independence. I clearly remember 24 May, 1991 – the images of that very day when our combatants rolled into towns as the enemy beat a retreat. I was in Mannheim then. The event was surreal. And the elated community members celebrated for days on end. We all thought that historic event would usher in a new era for all of us. Yes, we thought we would be heading home soon. However, it turned out that the conclusion of that tumultuous journey was not what Eritreans expected, to say the least; all those who sacrificed for the cause were left to their fate. What happened to the Eritrean mothers of Rome?
Eritrean mothers of Rome, like many others all over Italy, who embodied the national ideal of steadfastness and rootedness to the land, were among those who longed to go back after independence - those who put their personal interest on hold, those who campaigned with all their might, those who contributed a percentage of their income regularly. Unfortunately, the majority never made it back to Eritrea. They were impeded from returning by the impenetrable bureaucracy that the new leaders introduced in the country. Moreover, the signals the mothers had received were that the country was not ready to integrate them back into the Eritrean society. Sadly, they quietly became aware of the fact that independence was slowly turning into a hollow reality for them. Their dream was to build a home in Eritrea one day where they would serenely spend the last part of their long journey in their country. Now, 26 years after independence, and with no end in sight, many of them are still dreaming of going back home at some point. Many died in Italy and others are still lost at the strange confluences of duplicities.
Such experiences demonstrate that the self-absorbed government does neither have a plan nor a structure in place that accommodates self-reliant citizens with the potential to invest into the country's economy. It simply neglected the mothers. That very neglect offended the basic values of Eritrea's essence. Under normal circumstances, the government would assume the responsibility to provide safe settings for long-lost citizens and facilitate safe return for the self-sufficient mothers who were ready and willing to return home.
The Case of the Mannheimer Cadres
As already mentioned, the much anticipated mass return migration of diaspora Eritreans to the land of their birth did not materialise as expected. A similar occurrence was observed with returnees from Germany who were supported by German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ) to return to Eritrea to help in the reconstruction efforts of the country. The project was fully financed by the German government. Many labelled it as an enabling strategy for resettlement then. Regrettably, the project failed and the majority of the returnees who took part in in the project had to return back to Germany.
Manneim, the Square City, is Baden-Wurttemberg's second-largest city after Stuttgart which is located at the confluence of the Rhine and the Neckar. The emblem of the city of Mannheim is the cylindrical Wasserturm (water tower), which is located in Friedrichsplatz. The beautiful fountain and the park around it remain etched on my memory. However, my first memory of Mannheim was not the Wasserturm, but the existence of the multitudes of 'guest workers' from Greece, Italy, Turkey and Yugoslavia, and how the city managed the shaping of the coexistence of these different cultures. Like the 'guest workers' of Mannheim, I, like many fellow Eritreans, got off to a good start in life with the opportunity the city bestowed on me. My three children were born in Mannheim. I will always be indebted to the city for standing by me in my hour of need.
There is a dark side to this story of Mannheim though. The Eritrean community of Mannheim was ruled by a group of hard-nosed, brash, militant clique bent on making one's life miserable if he or she did not toe the EPLF line. They 'policed' the community punitively. I often catch myself thinking of this group of activists who acted along the lines of 'Eritrea or death'. Much to everyone's surprise, after independence none of the agents returned back to Eritrea. Now they live a life delineated with painful experiences. An empty life indeed! Yes, 26 years later, the country is still not 'ready' for them. There is just something obvious about emptiness, even when one tries to convince himself/herself otherwise.
If one can truly understand the dilemma of the Mothers of Rome and the Mannheimer Cadres, then it becomes evident why Eritreans are continually fleeing the country in droves.


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A long beach a blazing sun the skies covered with beautiful clouds and a blue ozean. All that you find on this free iPhone Wallpaper.
A great orange sunset with palms near the beach. A great iPhone wallpaper to get into the mood for the holidays.
An Ozean, water, beach and rocks, isn't that beautiful and calm? A perfect wallpaper for your iPhone.


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Security Guards Insurance in Abilene and San Angelo, TX
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Contact a representative at CBS Insurance, LLP today to go over these options and many more!


text: Annalee Doll Description: Set of Four - Dorothy, Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow and Tin Man, all hold orange trick or treat bags, black bases. Open eyes, mouth expressions may vary. Order the complete set and this way you will be sure to get them all. Just remove the Trick or Treat bags out of their hands and display them all year long! Very popular series! More pieces are being added to compliment the series for 2019!


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Life, Death, and SEO and Web Designing Tips
Occasionally, however, you don't find anything valuable for your website. Speak to us to see whether your site qualifies. Insert simple graphics that are suitable to your website to draw in more readers. Another internet design idea is to produce the site more readable. If your website is de-indexed it basically falls off the surface of the earth and any investment you had in it's lost. It's also hard to create your internet site visible on the world wide web and be on the exact top of search engine ratings.
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When it is not properly organized, visitors often depart from your site. If your site isn't up to par, no sum of SEO marketing techniques will be in a position to compensate for it. Developing a responsive website is simply the very first step in drawing customers to your practice.
You want your site to capture your audience. Your site should be understandable Make your website appear striking. Your website might be beautiful, but minus the appropriate words, search engines won't ever be in a position to find it and show it to searchers everywhere. Make sure you design such that the site is not hard to navigate and serves its objective. You might not be in a position to receive your website ranking against the bigger players, or you can't afford to choose the pitch. A prosperous website places a good deal of thought and attention in its SEO and content improvement. There are specific website designing tips to be followed to acquire high ranks on the various search engines and sell your merchandise and solutions.
Whatever They Told You About SEO and Web Designing Tips Is Dead Wrong…And Here's Why
Be sure to construct your page before you begin marketing. SEO marketing hinges largely on keywords, and there are numerous facets to picking the proper ones. If you think you want to learn more about internet marketing and SEO concepts take BrightEdge digital advertising quiz and SEO quiz. SEO marketing might appear to be an extremely straightforward strategy. Automotive SEO marketing can set your website apart from the remainder of the industry by assisting you to realize the ideal search rankings and reach your intended customer.
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Vital Pieces of SEO and Web Designing Tips
After the design is minimalistic, the communication given in the site is very clear and reaches right to the clients. The plan of website's navigation has a fantastic effect on the success or failure of the site. Thus, make sure your design considers all such elements. Web design has an important part in attracting leads. Mobile-friendly web design may keep pace with the increasingly mobile world. Responsive web design is another important search engine marketing tip for designers as it's a sure method to improve the search engine optimisation ranking of the site. It is crucial to receive a well designed web design which would rank well on main search engines.


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Edit Basic Search Fields
There are two types of fields displayed on your search pages – Basic and Advanced. Basic or "core fields" are search fields that appear at the top of your search pages and include options common to all MLS, like city, price, beds and bath, etcetera. With a Platinum account, you can customize the display of these basic fields on your IDX search pages.
To do so, click Designs in the main menu, and Pages in the submenu.
Here is a list of your IDX pages. Your Search Pages are at the top of this list. Click Edit under the Preferences column for the search page you would like to customize.
Now select the Search Setup tab.
Here you can select defaults for the basic fields. Hide options that aren't applicable to your visitors by hovering over a search field and clicking the Hide button.
Set a default and hide it to restrict visitors to this option. For example, if you want this page to search only condos, select the Property Type of condo and then hide this field.
Specific location lists are available to apply to this page. If you would like more information about setting location lists, please visit our knowledgebase or view the video on custom location lists.
Once you have the options set, remember to Save Changes.


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Get all the details plus a blog badge and word meter here.
Ooh I might have to pop over later and check that out. Thanks for the shove in the right direction :)
I'd love to have you join us Rach! Although with your fabulous good news you may be extra busy... =)
I've just pinched a copy of your badges for my blog. Thanks, Lacey.
Lacey, I've just left a comment, but don't know if it went through - sorry if I'm repeating myself, but just wanted to tell you I've made a start.
I've joined that too.
Didn't realise that you and Lacey the Minx were one and the same! I've been following both your blog and the Minxes for ages!
I can never have too many messages from you Suzanne =) Congrats on making a start! I'm off to check our your blog now!
Hi Gaelikaa!
I'm so thrilled that you've decided to join us even with your studies!
Thanks for following me in all my blogging forms lol!
Thanks for the heads up, Lacey. Going to the Minx direction now.
I hope you'll join us Nas =)
Yay!! Love the blog badge, too, Lacey. You are supremely talented :-)
Aw thanks Jo!
Copyright © Lacey Devlin | Powered by Blogger| Distributed By Gooyaabi Templates


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Red alert
Immediately, I'm nervous for Janel, the small, pale guide running Chicago Trolley's Hop On Hop Off tour ($29) from atop a double-decker bus. As TOC's Around Town editor, I've always wondered how much information spouted by Chicago's myriad tour guides is factually accurate.
Janel's off to a rocky start. As she points out architectural bits, history and trivia, she keeps referring to historic Chicago milestones—such as first CSO prez Theodore Thomas and Adler Planetarium's claim to being the first planetarium in the Western world—as being merely "one of the first." I can't tell if that's a blooper or a safeguard, but either way, she's fudging the status of some of the city's proudest achievements.
Fortunately, historian Rolf Achilles is along for the ride and, as a self-proclaimed tour fact-checker, he's helping me judge the tour's veracity. (Achilles teaches design history at the School of the Art Institute, is curator of the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows and serves on the boards of several area architecture committees.)
We crawl south on Michigan Avenue, passing the Streetwall, the flat face of historic buildings between Randolph and 11th Streets. Our guide claims the National Trust for Historic Preservation is "mad" at the city for letting the Streetwall facades decay. In fact, Achilles murmurs to me, the trust is irked because new skyscrapers rising behind the Streetwall will disrupt the classic skyline view. But the trust is in conflict with the city, so Janel's partly correct—just as when she later points out the Auditorium Theatre was built by Louis Sullivan (actually, it's attributed to Sullivan and Dankmar Adler).
Because of all the minor inaccuracies, the tour is a bit of a bust, but since Chicago Trolley employs some of the city's best guides (including opera singer J. Chris Baum), we decide to give another trolley a try (as the tour's name suggests, one can hop on and off any car in the company's fleet). We score with our new guide, Gene, who's hilarious. I imagine a rimshot as he tells us he was fired from Wrigley Co. because he fell into a pot of gum and got "chewed out" by his boss. Gene loses points for saying that Wrigley, once a soap and baking-powder purveyor, started selling gum after offering it during a factory tour. Actually, Achilles whispers, the gum was given as a freebie to customers who bought baking powder. Gene wraps up by telling us that his tours are part history, part myth and part baloney. On that point, we can finally agree.
Want to live like a tourist for a day? Click here for your chance to win a free pair of tickets to Chicago's hottest tourist attractions.


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There are many tourist destinations in Utah especially in its capital Salt Lake City. And if you want to visit most all of them, then your car must be in good running condition.
Having your car checked in one of the local auto repair services in Salt Lake City such as Certified Automotive makes traveling a lot easier and gives you comfort. But how do you know if your car needs tune-up or repair?
Here are some obvious signs that you need the assistance of a professional mechanic to check the car's engine.
Engine Smoke
Did you know that you could determine if there is an engine problem by looking at the smoke coming out of your car's tailpipe? Dark blue smoke means oil has mixed up with the burning fuel while white smoke means the antifreeze mixture has mixed with the fuel.
This is usually an easy fix for experienced mechanics, as they will just make sure that there are no damaged seals.
Defective Spark Plug
Black smoke points to dirty, faulty spark plugs that could worsen if taken for granted. It could also mean that there is a mixture of fuel and air with gasoline. Also, look out for backfiring as you can trigger this by too much fuel. Or perhaps lack of spark due to low power.
Unusual Noises
Being mechanical in nature, car engines produce a little noise. But if you hear loud, cranking sound under the hood, then there is a problem. Tapping noise is usually connected to the engine's cylinders and piston.
The sound of grinding usually takes place when starting the car or when shifting gears, while ticks and clicks are produced if there is a problem with the valve or fuel injectors.
The fastest and easiest way to determine the problem of your car is by looking at the dashboard light indicator. Among all these glowing lights, the closest thing to serious engine problem is when the Check Engine indicator remains lit. If this is the case, better have an expert mechanic dig the hood of your car.


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I really want to plan my sewing better this year now I have covered most of the basics (except jeans).
I am completely drawn to fabric by print and design but this has left me with a mismatch wardrobe.
I think I got away with it during the summer as I could just wear dresses and sandles and not worry about matching tops etc.
I almost have a totally home sewn wardrobe now and only bought a handful of items last year as RTW. Therefore I photographed by whole sewn wardrobe to identify gaps for me to focus on….. Get ready for a lot of photos!!
My patterned dresses….I love these but have no cardigans to go with them. I have a black RTW cardigan and a green /yellow one that gets a lot of wear but could do with a wrap cardigan like……..
The blue spotty floating bodice dress is now too big but I can't find the enthusiasm to take it in, especially as it's fully lined.
The denim shirt dress gets worn a lot in summer but haven't figured out how to style it in winter as it's sleeveless.
The other two feel quite dressy and are only worn when I am interviewing at work etc. Again the pink dress is now too big and the bust darts need altering but I'm too busy thinking of sewing new dresses to alter it.
These are my casual dresses. Excuse the creases on my dungaree dress!! These are my favourite three, comfy but can still wear them to work-well not the dungaree dress but I wear that at all other times. I will definitely make another one of each of these. I have plenty of tops to wear under the dungarees and the other two don't need any other items.
Again, excuse the creases again! The maxi dress was great in the summer but would benefit from a wrap cardigan so that needs to go on my list.
The birds dress used to be worn with a cropped cardigan but I no longer have that so will need to look for a pattern.
The stripy top gets worn with a RTW orange/peach trousers but again no cardigan so needs hot weather.
These are the only two tops I have made :(. The stag top can only be worn in winter or I get asked why I am wearing a reindeer top in spring!! The star sweater is new and is worn constantly but no good with dresses!
I have only made three pairs of trousers due to my fear of getting the fit right or making a fly zip. The black ultimate trousers are a great fit with little effort but would prefer a higher waist so might add a waistband next time. The other two are really trousers and not pyjamas and I do wear them to work!! The Amy Butler fabric are my favourite pair and great in the summer with a white vest top. The pink cheque ones need to be taken in so another on my list to sort.
I love both these jumpsuits. I will definitely be making a full length version of the spotty one and a floral summer version of the marigold.
I rarely wear these but that's due to lack of plain tops I think. My flamingo skirt still makes me smile when I wear it and i have a nettie bodysuit in black on the cutting table to go with it. The pink spotty one is a little too big and the tape measure one is quite basic so might reuse the fabric on something else.
More plain tops required!!
The black spotty top goes well with my white Kat top but I only have one!! The blue pencil skirt goes well with my Anderson blouse but only have the one blouse again and being navy causes me issues with black tights and shoes!!
I think a few nettie bodysuits will help with the tartan skirt as again it's blue. I wanted to make a navy sew over it silk cami top but struggling to find the right fabric.
And so on to tops where some of my coordination issues lie.
These are my only plain tops (and one is spotty)!! The spotty Agnes goes well with my dungaree dress and plain skirts. The white vest is worn constantly in the summer so need a few more.
Stripes, stripes and more stripes! I didn't realise how many stripy tops I had made. The navy Agnes gets worn with my blue pencil skirt but was cheap jersey and needs replacing. The weekend Kat top is good tucked in to plain skirts but the others are only worn with jeans.
These are my most frequently worn tops but can only go with my ultimate trousers and plain skirts. I have another silk cami top to make in a pink pattern so that won't help! I have limited cardigans to wear and although I have the named saunio cardigan on my stash I bought patterned jersey! Doh!
I am hoping that with the sew my Style challenge and the sew over it capsule wardrobe ebook will help me focus on plain fabric.
This is my stash to get through first…..
This lot is to make…..a black nettie bodysuit, a collette skirt, silk cami, saunio cardigan, Jackie o jacket, sew house seven Jenny dress, simple sew wrap dress, tilly and the buttons skirt and a toaster #2 jumper. That should keep me busy even if it doesn't help me match anything!!
Do any of you have any tips to help bring your wardrobe together?


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Western Union microwave relay sites survey: Part VIII
Entering the abandoned Jennerstown Western Union microwave relay station was like stepping back in time. Secured behind a sturdy cyclone fence and located hundreds of yards away from the nearest road on a ridge in the Allegheny highlands, the historic tower and equipment building had been bypassed being cannibalized by the telecommunications industry and had suffered little damage from looters and vandals. The Western Union relay site was a Cold War-era relic from a time when computers occupied entire rooms and when radios used vacuum tubes, not integrated circuits.
My first visit to the relay site was on a cold and windy Saturday morning in October 2004. I had met the property's owner, Bob Mallet, at his house elsewhere on the property and wehad driven into the relay site along a utility line right-of-way. I had been surveying the Western Union Telegraph Company's first-generation microwave relay network since early 2002 and this was my first chance to get beyond the fences and walls protecting the surviving facilities.
In early 1945 the Federal Communications Commission granted the Western Union Telegraph Company permits to develop experimental microwave relay systems in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The permits were issued shortly after a major allocation of spectrum to nongovernmental entities that received national media coverage and spurred an electronics mini-Industrial Revolution that included the widespread introduction of CB radios, car telephones, and even microwave ovens.
By January of the following year Western Union had acquired sites for nearly twenty relay stations where it had planned to build prefabricated fire lookout towers modified to accommodate the system's revolutionary new microwave communications system.
Western Union's first-generation microwave relay network required towers adapted from models used by foresters to spot fires and standardized concrete block equipment buildings. Antennas and radio equipment designed by RCA were mounted inside a metal cabin atop each of the towers. Radio equipment cabinets and each facility's physical plant (a gas engine, banks of DC batteries, fuel supplies, and a furnace) occupied the concrete block buildings. Each site was self-sufficient, remotely controlled by one of the terminal stations and visited regularly by Western Union maintainers.
During the October 2004 visit to Jennerstown I took lots of photos and notes to add to my growing files on the Western Union microwave network. The high integrity of this site, however, led me to approach the Historic American Engineering Record with a proposal to document the property. HAER architect Christopher Marston got a small budget and secured a HAER engineer-historian and HAER photographer for two days of intensive fieldwork in the summer of 2005.
Photographer Jet Lowe shot large format black and white images of the tower, equipment building, and the surrounding landscape while engineer-historian Larry Lee assisted Marston in measuring the site. Although the measured drawings never were completed, the report I wrote and the large format photos are on file at the Library of Congress and electronic copies may be downloaded from the library's Website. This article is adapted from my 2005 HAER report. Additional information on the Western Union microwave relay network was published in David S. Rotenstein, "Towers for Telegrams: The Western Union Telegraph Company and the Emergence of Microwave Telecommunications Infrastructure," IA, The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology 32, no. 2 (2006): 5-22.
The Western Union Telegraph Company microwave relay system represents the first generation of postwar communications infrastructure that ushered in the information age or the "third industrial revolution."[1] Licensed by the FCC and built by two communications industry pioneers – the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and Western Union – the system laid the foundation for advances in telecommunications that began with wireless telegraphy, facsimile transmission, television, and telephony and ended with satellite communications and the Internet. The Jennerstown relay site was a node in the communications network Western Union dubbed the New York-Washington-Pittsburgh Radio Relay Triangle. The relay triangle was one of two networks Western Union built immediately after the FCC in 1945 allocated radio spectrum for microwave communications and both were among the first commercial microwave systems in the United States.
Jennerstown Relay
Through its Pennsylvania real estate subsidiary, the Telegraph Realty Company, Western Union acquired options on properties for microwave relay sites throughout the state. For its relay site in the Laurel Highlands of the Allegheny Mountains linking Pittsburgh with Washington, the company selected a parcel of farmland south of U.S. 30 between Laughlintown and Jennerstown, Pennsylvania. At the time the property was owned by Pittsburgh physician and educator Adolph Leo Lewin (1871-1953) who used the house he had built there as a summer residence.[2]
The Telegraph Realty Company paid Lewin $400.00 on 18 October 1945 for a 40,000-square-foot parcel plus a right-of-way for an access road and utility lines.[3] The tower and equipment building were completed in 1946 and the system went online in 1948. In 1947 Western Union liquidated and dissolved the Telegraph Realty Company in December 1947 and the subsidiary's assets, including the Jennerstown relay site were transferred to the Western Union Telegraph Company.[4]
The Jennerstown relay site was also known as the "Laurel Hill Relay." It was the intermediate station between the Little Savage relay in Garrett County, Maryland, 35.2 miles to the southeast and the Fort Hill relay in Pittsburgh, 49.3 miles to the northwest. Jennerstown operated on Western Union's RB5 system and was rated for telegraphy, telephony, facsimile, and composite transmissions. Maintainer notations made on radio equipment inside the building indicate that the units were last checked in February 1963. These dates may correspond to the period that Western Union abandoned the site.
Western Union sold the property for $650.00 on 31 March 1976 to Mallet and Company.[5] Robert Mallet raises horses on the farm he uses as a weekend retreat. In July 1977 the Crown Construction Company mounted an antenna on the former Western Union tower to facilitate communications during the recovery from flooding that struck the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, region.[6]
The Jennerstown Relay is located on Pea Vine Hill, a knob on Laurel Hill in the Laurel Highlands portion of the Allegheny Mountains. Pea Vine Hill peaks at 2,900 feet above sea level and the relay station is located at this elevation. The relay site is accessed by a 0.8 mile long unsurfaced road connecting to Laurel Summit Road south of its terminus at U.S. 30. A commercial power line enters the site from the east. The relay site is situated in a clearing surrounded by mixed hardwood forest.
The relay station is enclosed within a metal chain-link fenced compound. The fence (Cyclone Fence Company) is topped by three strands of barbed wire. There are gates in the north and west sides and the compound has a gravel surface.
Equipment Building
This one-story rectangular building measures 15′ x 30′-8″ and is constructed on a concrete slab foundation. Built of concrete blocks, the building's fenestration is functional and minimal, designed to protect the relay station's radio equipment from the elements and from unauthorized access.
There is an entrance in the building's north façade and there is one window in its east façade. Vents with metal hoods pierce the building's west and south facades. The front entrance has a rectangular poured concrete slab porch. The building's main entrance has a solid-core, metal clad two-panel door that is secured by a deadbolt lock and two padlocks. The window in the east wall is a wood double-hung sash (1/1 lights) unit and it is concealed behind a pair of exterior hinged metal shutters secured on the interior by a pair of metal bars.
A two-panel wood door located in the south façade leads to the heater room and is secured by a single deadbolt lock. The ventilation hoods in the south and west walls are metal alloy and conceal louvered vents protected by wire mesh (0.5″) attached to the hood interior. A third louvered vent is located above the door in the south façade and this ventilates the heater room. An off center concrete block chimney with a hollow clay tile liner pierces the built-up shed roof from the heater room. There is a metal gutter that runs the length of the south wall at the roof line. At some point a gutter had been attached to the southwest corner of the building and it drained into a poured concrete spillway that empties into the tower compound interior.
A key element of the equipment building's physical plant is an underground fuel storage tank located adjacent to the building's south wall. Its location is marked by a concrete cone encasing the intake pipe and a metal sign mounted on the building's south façade that reads "GAS." The intake is sealed by a threaded metal cap
marked "Fuel Oil / 204-35-SA" and "R.I. Fittings Co. / Hillsgrove, R.I." Western Union
intended each of its relay sites to have a 120-gallon storage tank to provide for as much as six days of continuous operation. The capacity was limited to reduce the potential for "gum formation."[7] The fuel entered the equipment building through a buried pipe and was measured by a gauge mounted inside the engine room.
Radio Room
The radio room is the first space entered once inside the equipment building. It is a rectangular open space with a single metal cabinet housing the facility's radio equipment.
The radio cabinet is located in the eastern end and it is a vertical unit connected to the room's south wall by two metal braces; it also is connected to a power source and tower relay equipment via metal conduits attached to the cabinet's top. These conduits are suspended from the ceiling by metal straps. There is a metal heating duct that follows the southern ceiling/wall.
Electrical fixtures in the equipment room include a single electric bulb socket in the ceiling, electrical outlets attached to the north and south walls, and a light switch (to control lighting in the radio room, battery room, and heater room) on the north wall. There is a pair of thermostat controls for the heating system on the south wall, both manufactured by the Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company. The eastern (left) side thermostat controlled the radio room – it is labeled in pencil, "Room Temp Control" – and the west (right) unit is marked in pencil "Frigistat" on its cover (this unit also is marked "40°" and "Reads 2° Low").
The radio equipment is housed in a vertical rectangular metal double-cabinet approximately 7′-1″ high with two 1′- 7 3/16″-high racks. The cabinet originally was designed as a four-door unit (two in front, two in back), but only the pair of rear doors remains. Each rack was designed to mount transmission, reception, and power supply units associated with west-east or east-west traffic. The panel controls (meters, switches, etc.) and tubes are broken, heavily oxidized, or removed on some of the units; others, like the MI-31521 amplifier in the west-east rack (left) are intact with minor damage. The 7446-A amplifier unit is notable in the left rack because it has maintainer notations in black magic marker on its face. The notes read "Tubes checked 2/13/63," suggesting the unit's last inspection while in service was in the winter of 1963.
Battery Room
Located in the southern portion of the building, the battery room is entered from the radio room through a solid metal door. The rectangular room has three wood shelves (paired beams) mounted on the southern wall by metal bars anchored in the concrete block. The shelves held a bank of fifty-seven batteries connected to the station's vibrator unit (power supply, e.g., an inverter to transform direct current into alternating current, located in the engine room).[8] There are 45-amp fuses attached to each shelf; these in turn are connected by wire conduits to a stamped steel switch box mounted on the battery room's west wall. The 60a/250V single throw switch box was manufactured by the Square D Electrical Company (Catalog number 84252, Series no. 3).
Engine Room
This rectangular room is located in the western portion of the building and it is entered from the radio room through a solid metal door. A raised rectangular concrete foundation (5′-0″ x 2′-0″) for a four-cylinder gasoline engine occupies the center of the floor. The fuel pipe that enters from the foundation on the west side of the concrete platform is sheared off. Machinery in the room includes electricity regulating equipment and motors to operate louvers in vents that pierce the south and east walls. The vent in the west wall was intended to carry air heated by the engine's radiator out of the building. When in operation, the engine was connected to this vent by a canvas duct.[9] The vent in the south wall allowed fresh air to enter the room. Both vents had electric motors attached to linkages that opened the louvers while the engine was running. Engine exhaust exited through a pipe in the building's south wall.
On the west wall were mounted the fuel level gauge ("Midget Levelometer" manufactured by the Liquidomter Company of Long Island City, New York), fuse box, and master disconnect switch. The 10-circuit fuse box was manufactured by the Trumbull Electric Company of Plainville, Connecticut. The fuse box included circuits for the equipment building and tower lights.
The vibrator unit (inverter) cabinet still stands next to the room's north wall. Conduits connected it and the generator to an overhead cable duct leading to the radio room. Inside the cabinet was a single-phase "constant voltage transformer" manufactured by the Sola Electric Company of Chicago, Illinois. The unit also was connected to a General Electric "voltage stabilizer" mounted on the north wall.
Heater Room
The heater is located in a square room entered from the building's south side. The oil-burning heater was installed in the east side of the room. It was manufactured by the Viking Manufacturing Company of Dayton, Ohio. The unit included a power supply and circulator. Exhaust was vented through a flue leading to the building's chimney and warm air was sent into the building's interior by way of metal ducts suspended from the ceilings. The heater was controlled by a "combination fan and limit control" box mounted on the flue. The concrete block chimney is located in the room's southeast corner and there is a cleanout box near the room's floor.
Although Western Union relay stations were unmanned, the heating units were required to prevent condensation from forming in the building's equipment and to ensure that the inside temperature remained above forty degrees Fahrenheit to maintain battery capacity "at excessively low temperatures."[10] Maintainer notations in pencil on the room's west wall appear to date between 1950 and 1956 and indicate dates (e.g., 9/28/50), fuel amounts (e.g., "220 gals."), and heater states ("on" or "off").
Tower and Cab
The relay station's tower, which includes its structure, cab, catwalks, stairs, certain electronic components, and conduits, is the facility's most prominent feature. The self-supporting lattice tower is constructed of rolled, L-section members furnished by the Bethlehem Steel Company. The square-plan structure has eight panels and rises 100', not including the cab. Each of the tower's four legs rests on a concrete footing with beveled top edges, and each leg is secured to it by anchor bolts, washers, and dual hex nuts (the second ones are lock nuts). Each leg is electrically grounded with copper wires. Most of the horizontal and diagonal members were doubled to form the equivalents of T or cruciform sections, while a single, heavier L section sufficed for each leg.
Using a proven Aermotor design to enable easy construction at the site, the tower's legs, girts, and braces were bolted together using square-head bolts and hex nuts (with bolt heads generally facing out or down). Stamped metal "Palnuts," manufactured by the Tinnerman Company, serve as locknuts. Some assemblies include washers, and gussets stiffen all major connections. All structural members, fasteners, and gussets were galvanized for corrosion resistance. This tower shows no evidence of ever having been painted orange and white for enhanced visibility from aircraft. Approximately 34,000 pounds of steel were used in the Jennerstown Tower.
Access to the cab atop the tower is through a steel interior stairway anchored by a poured concrete step. The stairway – stringers formed from pairs of L-struts connected by Warren truss webbing, open mesh treads, and L-post rails – rises seven flights to a final flight located on the tower exterior that leads to the catwalk and equipment cab at the tower's crown. Each landing is located in alternating corners of the tower.
The tower carries conduits for radio cables (interior) and power supply (exterior). The conduit leaves the equipment building through its south wall (southeast corner) and it is carried to the tower in a steel enclosed cable trough (also called an "ice bridge") mounted to the tower by struts and guy wires. The conduit becomes vertical inside the tower and the power supply splits and is carried into the tower by a pipe conduit while the radio cables remain inside the square steel conduit. The steel conduit has junction boxes with access panels situated between landings.
Radio equipment is located in two places on the tower: in the cab and on the sixth landing. The equipment on the sixth landing consists of radio cabinets and antenna mounts located on the south and south sides of the tower. These accommodated units described in Western Union technical literature as "diversity receivers." These receivers were added to the original engineering design to stabilize reception. The remaining equipment on the west side is an RCA MI-31400 receiver mounted inside a temperature-controlled container that contains an internal heater and external vent mounted on the unit's exterior. The receiver's front panel is attached to its case by hinges and its dials and controls are missing. The manufacturer's name and model markings are visible. The heating element, a General Electric "strip heater," was attached to the housing and its compartment retained its insulation. The radio equipment on the west side of the landing had been removed and only the heater and housing remain in place.
The square-plan cab at the top of the tower has a wood floor and is surrounded on all sides by a metal catwalk and metal pipe rail. It is reached by an exterior stairway leading from the seventh landing to the catwalk. The cab is accessed by a door in its north façade. The upper platform is 20′-4″ x 18′-8.5″ and the cab is 12′-0″ x 12′-0″. Mounted to the cab's west façade is a parabolic antenna with a 3′-0″ diameter and a waveguide connecting it to the cab interior through a piercing in the west wall. The cab is clad with corrugated galvanized steel and it has a pyramidal galvanized steel roof. There is a single casement window, three-lights per frame, in the south wall and rectangular piercings in the west and south walls are covered by radio-frequency transparent fiberglass panels. The panels are perforated for ventilation; the panel in the south wall is marked with the station name. Power junction cabinets and cable conduits are attached to the interior of the north wall, east of the door.
There are four bolted steel L-beams placed diagonally inside the cab at approximately 10′ above the floor. These beams served as supports for the vertical antenna and radio equipment box (head-end units) mounting racks. The antennas, which would have been mounted side by side on the racks facing the RF-transparent panels, are missing, however the mounting brackets remain connected to the racks. The head-end units cases, paired in each rack – transmitters and receivers for each direction, i.e., towards Washington and towards Pittsburgh – are intact but all of the radio equipment has been removed. Each unit was hinged to open downward and the face of each was marked with the system identified, "RB 5", along with the appropriate label, "RECV" for receivers and "TRANS" for transmitters. The racks are consistent with RCA equipment manuals published for Western Union and are illustrated in Western Union technical and promotional literature.
[1] Louis Galambos, "Recasting the Organizational Synthesis: Structure and Process in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries," Business History Review 79 (Spring 2005): 3, note 5; Richard N. Langlois, "The Capabilities of Industrial Capitalism," Critical Review 52, no. 4 (1992): 526.
[2] Lewin was a Prussian immigrant whose family had emigrated to the United State by way of England. He was educated in Pittsburgh and in Europe and began practicing medicine in Pittsburgh. In 1911 Lewin became a charter member of the Pittsburgh Board of Education; the property's current owner points out that tile in some of the house's bathrooms came from Pittsburgh schools: Robert Mallet, Personal Communication, Interview at Jennerstown Relay Site (23 October 2004); "Adolph Leo Lewin," in The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Being the History of the United States, vol. XLII (Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms, 1967), 409-10; Board of Public Education, A Study of the Educational Development of the Pittsburgh Public Schools (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Board of Public Education, 06/03/17 1928), 23.
[3] Westmoreland County Deed Book 1225, p. 588; Somerset County Deed Book 347, p. 49. Lewin's property spanned the Westmoreland and Somerset county lines and the access road terminates in Somerset County. Instruments, therefore, were recorded in both counties.
[4] The Telegraph Realty Company transferred the Jennerstown assets on 29 December 1947. Somerset County Deed Book 375, p. 430.
[5] Westmoreland County Deed Book 2209, p. 911.
[6] Mallet, Personal Communication.
[7] H.M. Ward, "Power Supplies for Microwave Relay Systems," Western Union Technical Review 3, no. 4 (October 1949): 136-37.
[8] Ward, "Power Supplies for Microwave Relay Systems," 137.
[9] Ward, "Power Supplies for Microwave Relay Systems," 136.
[10] Ward, "Power Supplies for Microwave Relay Systems," 135.
© 2010 David S. Rotenstein
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Beekeeping Articles
Taking Care of a Bee Sting
No one likes to get stung by a bee, not even beekeepers! The truth is that honeybees don't want to sting us either! Honeybees have a lot of work to get done in a very short amount of time. It will take about two million trips to flowers to produce one pound of honey! Not to mention the worker bees only live for about six weeks. Even though honeybees don't want to sting, it still happens. So, lets take a look at what happens when a bee stings, and what to do if you get stung.
Only the queen bee and the worker bees can sting. The queen bee is the only bee in the hive that can sting multiple times. That is because her stinger is shaped like a needle and is completely smooth. That means when she stings, her stinger can't get stuck on anything. It is very unlikely to get stung by a queen bee because the rest of the bees in the hive are very protective of her and she rarely leaves the hive. Worker bees can only sting one time, and then they die. This is because they have a barb or hook on the end of their stinger that gets stuck in whatever the worker is stinging. Once her stinger is stuck, she will pull so hard that she will actually pull the insides of her abdomen out and die. She also leaves behind her venom sack, which continues to pump venom into whatever was stung. So what is the best thing to do if you get stung?
Flick the stinger out with a finger nail or a credit card, don't pinch at it with a tweezers or your fingers because that will force more venom into the sting. Next, ice the area where you were stung. If you are stung on the arm or leg, try to keep it elevated. Make sure to take off any jewelry from around the area as there might be some swelling that occurs. If the area starts to itch, use an antihistamine cream. Also, avoid scratching the area.
If you feel like you are having trouble breathing, your heart rate speeds up and/or your throat feels tight, find an adult and tell them right away! You could be allergic to bee stings. To be safe, tell an adult every time you get stung!


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Home(Health and Fitness)
Home(Quit Smoking)
Stop Smoking
Why Quit Smoking
Ill Health Effects Of Smoking
Health Benefits Of Quitting Smoking
What's In Cigarette Smoke
Why Is Cigarette Smoking Habit Forming
Smoking and Cancer
Smoking and Heart Disease
Stress And Smoking
How To Deal With Cravings
Dealing With Weight Gain
Products To Help You Quit Smoking
Stop Smoking Through Psychotherapy
Willpower, Key To Stopping Smoking
Improve your Love Life By Quitting Smoking
The Sad End Of A Smokers Life
Stop Smoking - The Aftermath
Physical Recovery
Stop Smoking - It's Never Too Late
"It's A Shame For You Not To Quit Smoking -- When Other People Do It So Easily!"
Stop Right Now And Get Your Health Back
One of the best things about quitting smoking is just how quickly your body recovers from the ill effects of smoking. While it takes many years to completely recover, your body starts healing itself in just over a quarter of an hour. These are some of the things you can look forward to (and be wary of) in the coming days after stopping smoking.
About twenty minutes after quitting smoking, your blood pressure and heart rate are back to a normal level.
12 hours after stopping, your blood oxygen saturation has become normal, and nicotine levels in the bloodstream are a twentieth of their levels as a smoker.
One day after quitting, you will start to feel the anxiety and withdrawal that comes with quitting smoking. You've made it this far, don't turn back!
Between two and three days from the last time you've smoked, your irritability will be at an all time high. You'll experience several cravings per day for cigarettes, but as time goes on their length and intensity decreases. It also becomes easier to breathe, as your lungs are healing.
After a week, you'll experience fewer symptoms of withdrawal. Past the three day mark, all withdrawal symptoms are mental, as your body as cleansed itself from the addictive properties of nicotine. Stick with it, because it only gets better from here!
After two weeks, you shouldn't feel withdrawal any more. Urges to smoke will have dissipated, and you can relax knowing that you have taken control of your life again. In the coming few weeks, irritability, sleeplessness, and depression associated with smoking will subside and you'll be able to take in just how incredible it is to not be a smoker.
One year after quitting, you are at a massively decreased risk of coronary heart disease, about half that of a smoker. Over the next few years, the rest of your disease risks will return to those of a non-smoker.
The first month is the hardest, but if you stick to it you'll be rewarded in the end. Make sure that your family and friends know that you're quitting smoking and to expect you to be more irritable and anxious. The first two weeks after I quit, I was absolutely unbearable to be around, but it went away with time and I never look back and miss smoking.
Remember though, your body won't start to heal until you've actually quit smoking. If you want to quit smoking today, pick up a copy of the EasyQuit System and stop the damaging effects of cigarettes on your body once and for all!
Physical Recovery After Quitting Smoking
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In Bergamot, we manufacture and distribute wide range of disposable products in medical and non-medical sectors which includes automotive, health and beauty, food processing, industrial and home care. We provide one stop disposable solution to all with our full range of products supplies which consist from head to toe protective wears (e.g. Examination Gloves, Hair Net, Face Mask, Apron, Shoe Cover and many more).
Different products suit the industries differently. Hence, through our collaborators' comprehensive researches and more than 25 years' experience of distribution, our expertsare able to assist, recommend and get what customers need – when, where and why they will need it.Whether you are searching for Medical or Non-Medical disposable products, or seeking help to fulfil a more niche and customized requirement, Bergamot is always ready to serve you.
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|Yelitza braided Sulmi's hair.
|Miss Mesh (The new deaf classroom teacher) put make-up on the girls.
|Elizanie and Sulmi are all dolled up and ready to dance in the parade.
|Jaheed will play the drum.
|The children from St. Peter's were dressed in their school uniforms and marched in front of the school float.
|The St Peter's Anglican School float .
|Our dancers walked behind the float. They had to dance and walk about a half mile. You can see Elizanie, Sulmi and Kristel in the middle of the pack. The other dancers are from our Special Ed. classes.


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Xakary the Magician
Xakary is the only Northwest magician to ever be voted through by the judges on "America's Got Talent" when he sawed supermodel Heidi Klum in half. He can include that illusion in a show for your group, and saw an untrained, unprepared audience member in half! His shows feature lots of audience participation, comedy, and of course, magic!
Xakary also specializes in shows for children. He has been voted multiple times as one of the top children's entertainers in the Seattle ParentMap magazine/website "Golden Teddy" awards. He has shows designed for birthday parties, school assemblies, and many other types of family events! He also has a magic school where he teaches kids magic, and can add a magic workshop to an event to make it even more memorable.
Xakary worked in the software industry for 20 years and has been entertaining people around the Northwest for the past 15 years. With that background, he understands what a corporate client is looking for in a magician for their group and he will make the event planner look great! Contact Xakary today to discuss your entertainment needs. You'll find him very easy to work with.


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Dr. V. Vijayakumar obtained B.A. (Political Science, 1972), M.A. (Political Science, 1975), B.L. (1978), M.Phil. (Political Science, 1984), M.L. (International Law and Constitutional Law, 1986) and Ph.D. (International Law and Constitutional Law, 1996) all from the University of Madras and M.A. (Public Administration, 1984) from Sri Venkateshwara University, Tirupati.
He was appointed as Assistant Professor of Law at the NLSIU in 1988, as Associate Professor in 1992 and Professor of Law in 1997. Prior to joining NLSIU he was Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Presidency College, Madras between September 1978 and May 1988. He was the Registrar of NLSIU between 2005 and 2008. He holds the UNHCR Chair on Refugee Law since April 1997.
He was awarded Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship at the Salzburg Seminar in 1993. He was a Visiting Scholar with York University, Toronto, Canada at its Centre for Refugee Studies during 2000-2003 and was Exchange Visitor at National University of Singapore during November 2004 to February 2005 under the Asian Law Institute programme. He visited U.S.A in 1988 under the International Visitor's Programme of the USIS on 'The Living Constitution'. Representing the Law School, he was a Member of the Board of Governors of the Asian Law Institute located in Singapore National University till 2009.
He has published more than 35 articles in national and international journals and has contributed to a couple of books as well. He was Chairman, Under-Graduate Council between 1997 and 1999 and of the Post-Graduate Council between 2003 and 2005 at NLSIU. His areas of specialization include Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Human Rights Law, Law of Elections, Refugee and Humanitarian Law.
He was the Vice-Chancellor of Dr. Ambedkar Law University, Chennai between 29th July 2010 and 28th July 2013. He was conferred the 'Amity Academic Excellence Award' during February 2011 by the Amity International Business School of the Amity University, Noida. For the 'Best Performance' in respect of the Youth Red Cross Movement, he received an award from the Indian Red Cross Society, Tamil Nadu branch on the World Red Cross Day in 2012. Again the same Indian Red Cross Society presented the 'Best Vice Chancellor Award 2011 – 2012' at the 63rd Anniversary of the Geneva Conventions Day on 23rd August 2012.


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However, the good news is that India is better equipped to battle swine flu this time as it has a stronger arsenal at its disposal. A descending winter, say experts, would be favorable to curb its spread. Besides, our country's Central and State Health Departments have been conducting multiple public awareness campaigns to educate the masses about swine flu.
In order to avoid contracting swine flu you need to stay aware of its symptoms, follow basic guidelines and be proactive. Read further to understand the disease and ways to tackle it.
Just as we are affected by flu, animals are also susceptible to it. A respiratory disease that originated from pigs and got transmitted to humans in their close proximity is called as swine flu. As the human immune system is not built to tackle the flu affecting pigs, we find it difficult to cope up with swine flu when exposed to it.
A contagious illness, swine flu spreads rapidly if we inhale or intake virus droplets. People suffering from swine flu may cough or sneeze without any cover, inadvertently letting out airborne droplets containing germs.
Infants, toddlers, young kids, adults above 60 years of age, people suffering from cardiovascular and respiratory conditions, pregnant women, and those that have a weak immune system are likely to get affected by this virus.
Symptoms of swine flu are similar to that of a normal flu. These include:
- Nasal secretions
- Fever and cough
- Headache and fatigue
- Sore throat
- Nausea
- Vomiting and diarrhea
If flu-like symptoms persist over a longer period than usual, it is suggested to undergo a check-up for swine flu. The disease is diagnosed by conducting a test called as a Polymerase Chain Reaction technique. It generally involves a procedure called as 'pronasopharyngeal swab'. This procedure is conducted to collect fluid samples from your nose, throat or mouth, which is then sent for testing.
Swine flu can be treated completely if it is diagnosed at an early stage. Two antiviral medicines, Tamiflu and Relenza are administered to stop the flu from spreading. You can opt for a vaccination or nasal spray depending upon your requirement, after consulting the doctor.
Swine Flu Outbreak 2015
Tamil Nadu
Madhya Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh
& Kashmir
West Bengal
Data Collated Till 21/2/2015
Source – Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
Washing Hands
Swine Flu can be avoided by following simple measures like washing hands with soap on a regular basis. Keeping a hand sanitizer handy might prove extremely productive. Also, make sure to keep your surroundings clean.
Wearing a Mask
Wearing a mask may seem unfashionable but they score brownie points when it comes to saving lives. As the swine flu virus is airborne (carried through the air), wearing a mask to cover your nose and mouth while travelling can protect you from inhaling infected air.
Avoiding Crowded Places
Try your best to avoid crowded places. Social functions involving large gatherings can be skipped. Be cautious while using public transportation and public utility services. While greeting people, sticking to a traditional Namaste and avoiding the formal handshake can be adopted.
Strengthening Your Immune System
People with a weak immune system are highly likely to contract swine flu. Thus, one must concentrate on strengthening one's immune system. You can start by adopting a healthy lifestyle. Basic tips to achieve that could include improving eating habits, consuming green leafy vegetables and fruits, getting enough sleep, living stress-free and avoiding alcohol and smoking.
1. Medicinal holy basil or tulsi leaves on a mortar with pestleTulsi leaves are renowned for their medicinal properties. Consuming these each morning helps to keep the throat and lungs clear.
2. Brew a concoction of giloi, tulsi, black pepper, black salt and crystallized sugar. A glass of this can work wonders for your immune system, if consumed on a daily basis.
3. Gulping a small tablet-sized camphor once a month, eating citrus rich fruits and drinking amla juice are other healthy habits that need to be inculcated in your dietary regime.
It is extremely important to create awareness about this influenza in order to help people battle it. If you or your near and dear ones are suffering from swine flu, there is absolutely no need to panic. Swine flu is curable and its treatment is available and affordable. Simply follow the precautionary measures according to the intensity of the disease in your vicinity. Ensure you eat right, sleep right and live right to stay away from the swine flu.
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