Knitting, Singing, the Universe and all....

Guess what?! Ted Kenndy's Healthcare Plan had been called "Medicare for All". And that's just what he was trying to get passed for several years: read about the KENNEDY AND DINGELL Bill here Universal coverage in 5 years with a 3 stage phase-in. Kennedy's HELP (Health Education Labor & Pensions) Committee PASSED his bill this July and it is ...where?! ... in front of Congress. It's titled " The Affordable Health Choices Act " - click the link to read both the announcement and the text of the Bill. Amazing. We need it now! Call, Write, Email, PESTER your representatives into sincere consideratin of this bill!!

Yesterday morning, we said hello and goodbye to nephew, Austin as he stopped on his way through Montana going back to college in Vermont....then we put daughter Stella on the plane back to Portland. then we prepared for an evening with Mr. Wan and his family and friends as they were passing through here on the way back to Vancouver and Hong Kong. Here are me, Rosita, Mr. Wan & Jon, with Cassie and Norman standing. Of course, we had tea - pu'er tea was the favorite this evening. and fruit, and we baked some triple chocolate cookies, and had great time catching up :-) We got out the Penguin soda maker (you can see it on the counter in the picture) and added a splash of our recently decanted Raspberry Liquor (bottled in 2007, and made with our bumper crop of raspberries that summer). It is so clear and pretty - you can see the damask pattern through the bottle! And, added to the sparkling water = a heavenly refreshing drink. Mr. Wan brought us the Ganoderma Sporo-pollen that is so...

Sweet Potato Salad - one of the delights of a summer garden! Start by baking (or microwaving- in the hot kitchen this is far less steamy!) 2-3 sweet potatoes, until they are nice and soft (using the "a poked fork slides in so easily you think its already buttered" method of checking). Cool them down on the counter until you can slip the skins off, toss them in a bowl and mash them up all nice and smooth. Look in the fridge for anything that looks yummy - this day, I found marinated artichokes, some sweet peppers, an onion and a few stalks of celery that needed a purpose. Dice everything up nice and fine - I added about a cup of each to the sweet potatoes. Then, spoon in some mayonnaise. It must be mayonnaise, and it can be homemade (yum!) but if not, use a decent brand that contains real ingredients - like eggs and oil, and vinegar and salt! Sometimes, I toss in a chopped hard boiled egg as well. When it's all mixed together, salt & pepper & spice (tarragon or di...

Thom Hartmann blogged, quite clearly!, about Medicare-for-All recently, here . A highlight: Just pass a simple bill – it could probably be just a few lines, like when Medicare was expanded to include disabled people – that says that any American citizen can buy into the program at a rate to be set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which reflects the actual cost for us to buy into it. So it’s revenue neutral! It could be made revenue-neutral , simply by making it available to any citizen who wants to purchase it! Now, that's very similar to what I was saying earlier this week... to be able to purchase Government sponsored, single-payer, basic health coverage would lighten our financial burden significantly... so much so, that we might even consider purchasing additional coverage from some Insurance Company, since we would not have to spend so much for basic coverage!!! Want to let your representatives know w...

Roger Ebert has been blogging about Health Care issues lately - he has been through quite a gamut of treatment for jaw-cancer, reconstructive surgeries, and all sorts of physical complications in the past few years - but has been able to survive because his medical expenses are covered by GOVERNMENT FUNDED HEALTH INSURANCE (Medicare!). Here is a link to his blog RogerEbert.com responding to comments he received when discussing "Death Panels" and his own thoughts on end-of-life-care (because he actually was given the imperative opportunity to think about these things in the course of this disease process!) Here are a few, succinct excerpts: If you lack insurance coverage, are you opposed to the public option? If your premiums have increased so much that you can't afford them, do you oppose it? If you have a "preexisting condition" that disqualifies you from insurance, do you oppose it? If it would provide you with equivalent insurance at a lower cost, do you op...

Last weekend, we took the Boler, and the doglets, and met up in Glacier National Park with Stella and Marcus, who were there for a week and had invited all their friends and family to see Montana's crown jewel with them. Stella needed a little help from Marcus with the therma-rest....and the tarp over the tent (since it was pouring rain for the first 2 days!) Marcus's mom, Becky, and Dad, Paul, took 2 days to get here, and set up camp just in time to sit under the tarp for dinner! Campfires helped dry us out - Stella is sitting with Marcus's sister, Kelsey and her friend Soleil. None of Marcus's family had ever been to Glacier, so it was fun to drive about the next day on the Going-to-the-Sun Road (which is only open for 2-3 months a year, and always has huge washed-out areas that are under construction every year) to 6640 feet at the top of Logan Pass. At the top of the world (or at least at the top of the Continental Divide which is at the way top of Going to the Sun)...

" Under the greatest adversity there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others ." ~Dalai Lama And one of Montana's Methodist Ministers, Joan Uda, wrote an editorial for the Great Falls Tribune this week, asking essentially, What would God think of this? Here's a small excerpt: I'm startled by the frenzied opposition to health care reform. Are these good people Christians? Do they recall that Jesus will judge us not by how well we've kept our earnings for ourselves but by how we have cared for "the least of these"? Matthew 25:31-46. This is a matter of salvation. I don't believe God supports any particular solution for health care. But I do believe God wants everyone, even the least, included. And I believe Jesus Christ calls us to display our best Christian virtues in the debate on these issues. Here's George Lakoff's perspective on how language influences the discussion on Health Care policies this seas...

We were going camping, with all Stella and Marcus's friends & family, to Glacier Park, to celebrate Marcus's graduation with great honor from Portland State University... Of course, I had to make marshmallows for the S'Mores :-) First, oil and heavily powder-sugar coat a 13x8x2 pan! Start the (2 tbs) agar-agar OR (3 pkgs) gelatin softening in a 1/2 cup of cold water, and put 2 c. sugar, 1/2 c. corn syrup, and 1/2 c. water in a pan on the stove to heat. Stir it until the sugar is dissolved, then stop stirring, turn to low, and wait for it to reach 240 degrees (soft ball). Pour the hot sugar mixture over the agar-agar (or gelatin) and, with the whip, begin mixing on low then increase to high and let it go on and on and on and on. (about 5-6 minutes, or until it increases about 3 x in volume). We use organic, free trade sugar (from Costco!!) which is not truely white - you can see the tan color in the picture - but which turns very close to pure white by the time you'v...

Rainbow of woolen skeins and The Lantern Moon Umbrella of Socks: Sock Tree and Huge wool winder spinning overhead at the Market place. the Quilt of many sock yarn leftovers The VooDoo DoNuts were a hit!! Famous for innovative combinations, the orange one on the right was Jon's favorite: Mango Tango! a mango puree in the center, topped with marshmallow cream and dipped in Tang-drink powder. The center one with the cereal loop on top was an Apple Jack and the Pentagram decorated donut was just the token pagan-themed nut in the box. We Love the Purl District :-) somewhere in Portland's Pearl District! and here she is - My Pagan-Knitting Heroine: Barbara Walker!!!!! She deserves the star-spangled donut for having written 4 Knitting Treasuries and The Women's Book of Myths and Secrets . One of her best quotes was, "Just as the bird’s wing evolved to fly, the human hand evolved to manipulate. An idle hand is not a happy hand." the Wall-O-...