A reminder for all of us

 So true.  Thanks, Anne!

This totally creeps me out, however...

this info could save a life

I’ve recently received variations on the following email from several friends. It is apparently written by a policeman. While I’m capable of conjuring up these horrible scenarios in my own mind, I think the following has some useful ideas.  Better to be aware and prepared.  I've modified it slightly to highlight critical points.

1. Remember this tip from Tae Kwon Do. The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do.   

2. Toss your wallet or purse away from you.  If a robber asks for either, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you.  Run like crazy in the opposite direction.
 
3. Kick out the tail lights.  If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won't see you, but everybody else will. 
 
4. As soon as you reach your car, get in, lock your doors and leave.  Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc. and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc).  This is a perfect opportunity for someone to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head and tell you where to go.  

If someone is in the car with a gun to your head, DO NOT DRIVE AWAY. Instead, step on the gas and speed into anything. Your air bag will save you. As soon as the car crashes, bail out and run. It is better than having someone find your body in a remote location.

5. Protect yourself in parking lots or garages.  Here's how:

• Always look around you, into your car, at the passenger side floor and in the back seat before getting into your car.
• If you are parked next to a van, enter your car from the passenger side.  Most attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while women are attempting to get into their cars.
• Look at the car parked on the driver's side of your vehicle and the passenger side of that car. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, walk back into the mall or your office and have a guard/policeman to walk you back out.  IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better to be a bit paranoid than dead.) 

 6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at night. 
 
7. Run. Preferably in a zig-zag pattern. If someone has a gun and you are not under his control, always run. As a running target, the chance of being shot is greatly reduced. If hit, it most likely will not be a vital organ. 
 
8. Don't be stupid. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well-educated man who always played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane or a limp and often asked 'for help' into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim. 
 
9. Don't fall for phoney cries. Call the police. Some have recorded a baby's cry and have used it to coax women out of their homes. 

10. Beware of the water scam. If you wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of running water or what you think is a burst pipe, do not go outside to investigate. Some turn on all your outside taps so that you will go out to investigate/they then attack.

Well, this is a truly terrific Valentine's Day post, isn't it?  GEEZ.  Better to be safe and smart.

Thank you, Jill and Susie. 

Check out what Sanjay has to say

One more reason to grow your own:

If you're eating non-organic celery today, you may be ingesting 67 pesticides with it, according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group.

The group, a nonprofit focused on public health, scoured nearly 100,000 produce pesticide reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to determine what fruits and vegetables we eat have the highest, and lowest, amounts of chemical residue.

Most alarming are the fruits and vegetables dubbed the "Dirty Dozen," which contain 47 to 67 pesticides per serving. These foods are believed to be most susceptible because they have soft skin that tends to absorb more pesticides.

"It's critical people know what they are consuming," the Environmental Working Group's Amy Rosenthal said. "The list is based on pesticide tests conducted after the produce was washed with USDA high-power pressure water system. The numbers reflect the closest thing to what consumers are buying at the store."

Special report: Toxic America

The group suggests limiting consumption of pesticides by purchasing organic for the 12 fruits and vegetables.

"You can reduce your exposure to pesticides by up to 80 percent by buying the organic version of the Dirty Dozen," Rosenthal said.

The Dirty Dozen

Celery

Peaches

Strawberries

Apples

Domestic blueberries

Nectarines

Sweet bell peppers

Spinach, kale and collard greens

Cherries

Potatoes

Imported grapes

Lettuce

Not all non-organic fruits and vegetables have a high pesticide level. Some produce has a strong outer layer that provides a defense against pesticide contamination. The group found a number of non-organic fruits and vegetables dubbed the "Clean 15" that contained little to no pesticides.

The Clean 15

Onions

Avocados

Sweet corn

Pineapples

Mango

Sweet peas

Asparagus

Kiwi fruit

Cabbage

Eggplant

Cantaloupe

Watermelon

Grapefruit

Sweet potatoes

Sweet onions

Who wants to be dead?

 Not me.  And I don't want any of my friends and/or family members to Meet Their Maker or Turn to Dust.  Or Whatever Happens Next.  Dave thinks that we have to make room for the next generation.  I'm thinking that I don't take up that much space.  I'm sticking around.

After she died, I took my mother's ashes back to Bedford in a box with her picture on it/my boys didn't like the fact that I had The Box, aka My Mom, sitting at the table with us for dinner one night before the trip.  A final farewell of sorts.  I was not about to risk sending Gwenn through the mail, so I stowed her in the overhead storage compartment on the airplane. And we were off for one last trip together.

That's my mom, Gwenn, on the far right.  Dad, on the far left.  I'm the one with the spiffy pink slippers.  The rest, neighbors/a really fun-loving lot.  Not. 

It was a bit of a surprise/to say the least/when, upon arriving at the cemetery, I opened the box and found that Gwenn was not in the state I was anticipating.  Excuse me, who tells you these things?  I was thinking ashes such as those regularly removed from fireplaces.  My mom was bits of bone.  Relatively large pieces when you're thinking "ashes to ashes/dust to dust."  She wanted us "to spread her ashes/not her bones/over my father's grave/if that really was my dad under there/that's definitely another day’s writing.  It was Not Pleasant having to scuff her into the ground.  Did she really imagine all the Stomping/Stamping/Trudging About that would be required to carry out her wish?  I think not.  Then again, she did have a good sense of humor.  She was the one who showed up at my school one day with a goat in the car as though he was a regular carpool member.

So here’s what I’ve recently learned.  I ABSOLUTELY KNOW that there's life after death.  Not necessarily the winged version that I saw illustrated in the books my parents read to me.  Something else. Something bigger.  Something better.  How do I know this to be true?  George.  He is definitely here.  And he died approximately eight years ago.  He was, among many other wonderful things, an electrician.  And he continues to turn on and off lights when his wife/my friend, Betty, is with me.  Most recently when we were in Hawaii together.

The lights were operating on their usual fixed evening electronic schedule the nights before Betty arrived and then once here, they continued to turn off in rooms where she or we were talking or working.  There was absolutely no consistency/no pattern. 

After she left for home, the lights went back to their normal, programmed settings.  It was remarkable.  And wonderful.  And so fitting for George who, incidentally, fixed Kathi’s dining room lighting.  More complicated than anticipated, George said that the job would require additional time.  He promised to return later.  And he did.  After he died.  The journey continues.  But not in the way any of us imagined it. 

I have days of stories to share about George and Betty.  Better, I think, that you hear directly from Betty: Traveling With George: An Out-of-This-World Experience.  It's a recounting of the days after George passed/a remarkable story about two kindred spirits.  One here.  One there. 

Oh, one last thing.  While Betty was in Hawaii a few weeks ago with several friends and me, we ate lunch at a local restaurant where guests set out little leftover jam containers for the geckos. 

Once home, we took a closer look at my photos.  There was a "G" on all my images.  Now even I had trouble with this, so Dave and I subsequently went back to the restaurant to check it out.  Nope, no etched/imprinted "G's" nor any logical reflective possibilities.  Gotta love that guy, George, who joked about wanting to be buried in a volcano.

Here’s to you, George.  Thanks for staying in touch and for reminding us that life does, in fact, go on.  And that we are far more than a box of bones.