DREAMSICLE DELIGHT PIE

This is easy to make and delicious. I wonder how many weight watcher points per slice.

Dreamsicle Delight Pie

8 ounces fat free cream cheese
Dash of vanilla extract
1 large container frozen light topping (at least 12 ounces)
1 small box sugar free orange gelatin
1 small can pineapple tidbits drained
1 small can mandarin orange slices drained
1 low fat graham cracker crust

Cream together two thirds of the container of frozen topping with fat free cream cheese
Blend until smooth
Add vanilla extract and mix
Sprinkle envelope of sugar free orange gelatin over mixture and blend

When completely smooth and creamy fold in pineapple and mandarin orange slices
Put mixture into pie shell and refrigerate for several hours
Top with remaining of thawed frozen topping and serve
Serves 8

SESAME BEAN SALAD WITH ASIAN FLAVOUR

This salad came from The Vancouver Sun this week. When I made it on Friday night, several different people commented on how good it was.

Of course it takes a lot more than ten minutes to trim the beans, toast the sesame seeds, and assemble the dressing. But is is fairly quick and would make an excellent 'bring to a barbeque' dish. For large gatherings you would only need to increase the quantity of beans as there is ample dressing. The bright green beans sprinkled with sesame seeds look great in a clear glass bowl.

Shaw Communications

Does Shaw care that they have incredibly bad customer service? I switched to Telus in July and promptly returned my cable modem to a business which was on a list I was given. A month later they warned me that I would be charged for it. I found my receipt and tried to call them. After several minutes, I gave up waiting on the phone thinking that they were as unstaffed in customer service as they were with dealing with returns. I figured an employee would get around to registering my returned modem within a few days or weeks.

However I was wrong. Yesterday I got another notice, this time with lots of warnings about destroying my credit rating. This morning I waited 19 minutes on hold listening to Shaw Cable advertising and other repetitive nonsense. When a girl finally answered I gave her my name and address and she asked me to hold. Immediately a voice mail message came on. The message was one that was used for after hours calls. The CSR did not come back on the line.

I finally hung up and am once again waiting - now for over fifteen minutes.

Again, I would like to do something more than just vote with my feet!

By the way, Telus has been good so far. No problems at all - and much better program selection - more reliable and much cheaper. I will keep my fingers crossed, it will continue to be good.

....now over 20 minutes......THIS IS A THURSDAY MORNING BETWEEN 9:30 AND 10:30!!

Finally after about 24 minutes I spoke with Jennifer who confirmed that my modem had been returned and recorded on July 20th.

Gerontology

gerontology n. The scientific study of the biological, psychological, and sociological phenomena associated with old age and aging.

Once upon a time I took some courses in gerontology. These courses were concerned with the quality of life in the last quarter, about health and activity and abilities. There were studies on absorption of nutrients, and physical changes in hearing and eyesight and dexterity. At that time, several papers discussed the difference between natural aging and ill health. Many of the factors attributed to old age were actually the result of poor health. There were studies on how to make homes safe to avoid falls and keep people out of institutions. There were oodles of studies on dementia in its many forms. There were studies on other mental illnesses that increase with aging, particularly the increasing incidence of low key depression. A few people even researched sexuality in people over sixty. Many papers were written on the transition from an active life of work to a more sedentary life with advice on how to make the change successful.

I don’t remember anything that spoke implicitly or explictly to the amount of time an older person spends with their own thoughts. With the elimination of a nine-to-five job (which while sometimes boring, did keep your mind occupied) and a diminishing number of people with whom one can interact on an intellectual level, you increasingly find yourself alone with your thoughts.

I don’t look for people to talk about philosophy or anything like that, just for people who still read the papers, a few magazines and an odd book who can speak about events and ideas rather than just the weather, the high cost of living, and other people - maybe this why I have taken up blogging.

Other Blog Spots

I think I was a little hard on Lisa Genova, the author of Still Alice. She has a nice blog about her book: http://stillalice.blogspot.com/


Julie/Julia has a blog http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/ This is the blog that was the basis of the movie.

Reading blogs may becoming my current addiction.

Longfellow

Age is opportunity no less
Than youth itself, though in another dress,
And as the evening twilight fades away
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.
----Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1881)

Does anyone know the poem from which this quote is taken? Is there a searchable data base anywhere on the web for American poetry?

Longfellow was very prolific - it would take far too long to read through his stuff, even on the web.

Lili Marlene

I was named after a song released by Perry Como in 1944. It was probably just becoming popular in Northern Ontario as I was born. The top ten songs made our Hit Parade about nine to ten months later than the radio stations in the south. I suspect that this was probably No. 1 in July 1945 when I was born.

Here are some details I found on the internet.

"A recording was made by Perry Como on June 27, 1944 and issued by RCA Victor Records as a 78rpm record (catalog number 20-1592-A) with the flip side "First Class Private Mary Brown". This recording was later reissued as catalog number 20-2824-A with flip side "I Love You Truly." The song reached chart position #13 on the United States charts. The song was recorded during the musicians' strike and consequently has a backing chorus instead of an orchestral backup.

"Lili Marlene" has been adopted as the regimental slow march by the Special Air Service, Special Air Service Regiment and Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

English lyrics

Tommie Connor, 1944

Underneath the lantern,

By the barrack gate

Darling I remember

The way you used to wait

T'was there that you whispered tenderly,

That you loved me,

You'd always be,

My Lilli of the Lamplight,

My own Lilli Marlene

Time would come for roll call,

Time for us to part,

Darling I'd caress you

And press you to my heart,

And there 'neath that far-off lantern light,

I'd hold you tight,

We'd kiss good night,

My Lilli of the Lamplight,

My own Lilli Marlene

Orders came for sailing,

Somewhere over there

All confined to barracks

Was more than I could bear

I knew you were waiting in the street

I heard your feet,

But could not meet,

My Lilly of the Lamplight,

My own Lilly Marlene

Resting in our billets,

Just behind the lines

Even tho' we're parted,

Your lips are close to mine

You wait where that lantern softly gleams,

Your sweet face seems

To haunt my dreams

My Lilly of the Lamplight,

My own Lilly Marlene

When I was growing up, I knew that this has originally been a German hit and I thought the song was written about Marlene Dietrich.

Not long ago, McLean's magazine did a piece on clues to Alzheimer's. Some researchers, apparently, are examining Agatha Christie whodunits to discover if there were early warning signs of dementia in her work. Agatha Christie wrote from her late twenties to early eighties. While it is not conclusive that Agatha had Alzheimer's or any other dementia, apparently her later books, like Iris Murdoch's (who did have Alzheimer's) were meandering and fuzzy. One of the telltale signs of approaching dementia is the inability to extract from memory specific names. People who are eventually diagnosed with dementia increasingly use indefinite nouns like 'it' and 'thing'. With failing memory, the vocabulary declines.



With this in mind, I have been trying for the last three days to remember the name of a coastal resort area in Italy. It is a place I particularly liked and have often thought of returning. Yet, the name of the area escapes me. Usually when this happens, the name pops into my head a day or so later. But, so far, nothing. I will need to use Internet resources to find it.



Of course, it doesn't help that I watched "Stone Angel" on TV this past week. //http://www.alliancefilms.com/en/89/details/display/11360/
Hagar was suffering from a form of undiagnosed dementia and, just as in real life, it was downplayed and untreated. Her long-suffering devoted son and daughter-in-law focused on her physical ailments only.

Judging from the people I see around me, I suspect that this goes on more often than not. There is still such social stigma attached to so-called mental disease that people fall into this abyss called dementia and no one steps up to the plate to help them. Only when this disease is very advanced are any steps taken; often, it is too late.



Even when individuals themselves may suspect that there is a problem with cognition, they often don't take appropriate steps, not so much that they are incapable to do so, but because of the stigma attached to dementia. That, combined with the very murky ideas about aging and a failing mind leave many of us questioning when to react to iffy situations. What exactly is a seniors moment? And when does the odd memory lapse, which everyone has from time to time, constitute something more serious?

Over the summer, I read a so-called novel called Still Alice. Alice was a fictional high-achiever who developed Alzheimer's Disease. With her perfectly supportive husband and family, her disease progresses quickly and steadily to its bitter end.

Unlike real life where things get better and then get worse and then get a little better again, and where support services are difficult, if not impossible to find, this novel progresses like an appropriate soap opera to a natural conclusion. It was meant to leave readers with hope and enlightenment which it probably did but it was also sooooo unrealistic.

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Still-Alice/Lisa-Genova/9781439116883

Gorden Pincent played the husband of an Alzheimer's victim in the movie "Away From Her" not too long ago. To me, this felt like a more realistic rendering of the disease.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0491747/

In our politically correct society, we have down-played standards. Surely there is criteria out there that can give us an idea of how a fifty or sixty or seventy year old brain should perform. Why can't we take a test and find out if we measure up?

How I Spent My Summer (Vacation?)

Does anyone remember those painful essays we had to write during the first week of school in September? I still think of my potential subject matter after all these years. There is something about preparing for September! Even though my children have long left school behind them, I still get the feeling of new beginnings this time of year. The first of September, like the first of January, is a time to make plans. The brochures are out with all the new offerings, - interesting activities - intriguing night school courses - the possibility of meeting new people - and maybe even changing direction. But first of all, I need to reflect (write about) my summer which is passing by so quickly.











My garden around the first of July:





We have had a long and, for Vancouver, an extremely hot summer with little or no rain. Consequently I have spent most of my time out of doors - walking, biking, gardening, swimming, shopping and for the most part being lazy (except for a two week course compliments of the federal government in an air conditioned Douglas College). My garden has done exceptionally well both for vegetables and weeds. I have a bumper crop of tomatoes just beginning to ripen now. The first five or six while quite small in size have been delicious. I have also read a few books, nothing exceptional, and watched a few movies, two of which impressed me.

Food Inc. is a documentary and it has haunted me since I watched it a few weeks ago. I just wish there was something more that we could do to improve the lives of 'factory' animals. Just boycotting the products from these 'industrial farms' just doesn't seem to be enough.

http://www.foodincmovie.com/

On a happier note, I watched Julie & Julia last night and it was absolutely delightful. In spite of a less than stellar performance by Meryl Streep, (I knew the whole time that this was Meryl playing Julia), this movie entranced me. I highly recommend it. Today I taped the Julia Child Special on PBS for comparison. And it has brought me back to blogging again!

This is Julie's website. http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/