last question

So why exactly is it that we don't pursue MEDICARE for EVERYONE?!?

Every industrialized/western/progressive country has medical care for everybody as part of the social contract. We in the United States (the wealthiest, supposedly most modern, progressive, industrialized, whatever, country) have Social Security providing a minimal income for elderly people so nobody lives in squalor when they are old... They also have quite adequate medical care available. Seriously disadvantaged younger people have access to assistance to care for young children, providing medical care, housing, etc.

So why exactly is it that your average "Joe" in the U.S. has to choose his job or his profession or change his job to make sure that he has medical coverage? This when a 10 year old's broken arm can bankrupt a family if they don't have medical coverage, especially if th 10 year old's mother has recently been diagnosed with leukemia and they've lost their insurance?

HELLO!

I'll shut up

Love, Lillie

more questions

My grandmothers were always terrified of becoming ill and not being able to afford medical care. One grandmother had lost an eye to glaucoma; she didn't tend to it until it was too late to save her eye. She had a glass eye, from the age of 65 or so. She died at 94, and had had a glass eye, with concommitant vision problems, for about 30 years.

My father in law had glaucoma as well; he had medical care under Medicare, and received attention to his difficulties with his glaucoma. Because of this, he never lost either his vision or his eye, and died with both intact at 91.

The difference here was Medicare, which was created when he was middle aged (with a great deal of grief, including politicians like Ronald Reagan screaming that this was "Socialized Medicine").

My grandfather Otto Frank died in October 1951 from a cerebral hemhorrage, certainly because of uncontrolled hypertension, at age 71. His oldest son, also with hypertension, lived to 91, and died in 2004 from other causes; he had the advantage of Medicare. His father did not.

I could go on.

Medicare has made a HUGE difference in not only health care among the elderly, but among concerns of the elderly. They are now able to live their lives knowing that they have the support they need to deal with medical problems, and can remain productive much longer.

questions

So I come from a long line of very conservative folks, Barry Goldwater conservative types. How exactly did I turn into a single issue voter type? Not sure, but I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with the experience I've had with two (or more) things. The first is the fact that, while I've always had pretty good health care coverage, there have always been problems. While it's always been "affordable" for me, or me and my immediate family (while my kids were young), it's been so variable that we couldn't predict from one year to the next what was going to happen with it.

And as a caveat, at the moment, both I and my spouse have good, affordable coverage. Mine is through KCTCS, and his is through UK.

The second issue I'd like to raise is my observations of the experience, years ago, of my parents, my grandmothers, and their siblings. My parents had no health coverage and no access to it after my father retired from the Air Force in 1959, other than that provided by the military, which only covered them for awhile, and covered us (myself and my sister) only until we reached majority, and ONLY if we were able to go to a military facility then.

I became ill in 1968 with viral infectious hepatitis while I was a student at University. The only health care available was with the Air Force/military hospital, which was a blessing, but the nearest was in San Antonio. Had we not had this available, my illness would have been disastrous for my family.

Suppose we hadn't had this available?

yet more observations

One is that I still have NO CLUE how I managed to lose the rant about the Holly Hill Inn wine guy's ghastly French pronunciation, not to mention my complaints about how the new scheme at Holly Hill Inn (e.g., a la carte instead of prix fixe) has ruined the dining experience. Notwithstanding all this, I/we will be going there again tomorrow evening for a wine tasting of southern French wines and dinner. The Tremoulet's are going, too, and Martin has deigned to join us, despite the fact that he's not exactly thrilled with the menu (which is alarmingly similar to the one a month ago, when he joined me, Charles and Gretchen Tremoulet for same, while Phil was in Albuquerque eating sushi...)

On the other hand, maybe Ted Kennedy's death will be the impetus needed to pass an actual serious health care reform/health insurance reform (hey, I don't care what they call it, so long as it enables/requires EVERYONE to be covered by some sort of coverage) bill.

What I would really like to see is a bill that provides Medicare or at least the equivalent to EVERYBODY. Including (ESPECIALLY) Congress. So there

more observations

I am still trying to figure out how to track "hits" to a blog...

Today was our anniversary (37, how can that be?) and neither of us was in much of a mood to celebrate. So we watched all this stuff about Ted Kennedy, and I actually agree with most of the eulogies about his being the "lion" in the Senate, and about his being the one of the four Kennedy brothers who will have the longest and most lasting legacy. And I still have a problem with it all. Who was it that said that "some people grow up and go into politics, but Ted Kennedy went into politics and then grew up"? and he or she (probably a he) was right, and hearing the string of comments from Kennedy about health care is WONDERFUL, but I still have a bit of problem with all of it. Mind you, I hope and pray that his death will be the impetus to get a serious health care piece of legislation passed (forgive me, all you Republican friends and relatives of mine out there: trust me, I agree with you on SOME issues, but on health care, I turn into a single issue voter...I want MEDICARE for EVERYONE! including CONGRESSMEN/CONGRESSPERSONS/ESPECIALLY people in congress...so THERE)

But I still have some problems with Ted Kennedy...however, all things considered, he is the "Lion in Winter", the "last Lion", etc. and I mourn his passing...so there...

observations

Had a dinner party last night (Tuesday) for Kay and Madhu (Kay is actually something like Khosalia, and I can actually pronounce it, although I can't spell it, but evidently nobody else can so they call her Kay), Kay's parents visiting from India (Mithra and Mohan, and Kay looks like her mother Mithra), as asll as Nicholas and Roxanne McKetchie and Nick's mother from Trinidad but visiting from DC. It was the first dinner party I've ever done with a totally vegetarian menu, at least the first one for ten people. And I confess it wasn't totally vegetarian; one of the appetizers was anchoiade, which has anchovies, of course. Other than that, there was not even any chicken broth. And as usual, I didn't manage to decide what to actually cook until about 4:00 in the afternoon, which always makes it interesting, and I never manage to clean the house, set the table,... I really do need to change my M.O.

Menu: beet bruschetta (Mario Batali...from an actual recipe and it's GOOD) made with red and yellow beets; anchoiade; garlic soup (Perigordine); fettucini with veggies, various mushrooms including morels, three types of bell peppers, garlic, onions, shallots, herbs, mushroom soaking water, white wine, etc., with parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes; and stuffed tomatoes, stuffed with tomatoes, breadcrumbs, cucumbers, shallots, a bit of garlic, oil and vinegar and parmesan cheese. Also bread, wine. They said it was great, but I'm not convinced.

So Ted Kennedy has died. That's a blow, but I suppose not surprising. I haven't been watching much news lately, but when he didn't attend Eunice Shriver's funeral I figured he was in really, really bad shape.

The visit to the PT guy was enlightening and depressing. I need to look at the MRI again, because when I did it before I didn't know what I was looking at. Trouble is, I can't find it since we "cleaned up" the house yesterday... I'm supposed to stop doing things that hurt my shoulder because according to the PT, every time it hurts, it's rather like picking a scap off a skinned knee; I'm re-injuring it, and it has to start healing all over again. This is one of the reasons it's still such a mess. Ignoring pain, etc. is easy to do for awhile, but I'm learning that it's a thoroughly bad idea.

On other fronts, you'd think it was August or something...it's 89 degrees, maybe 90, and the humidity is close to that. But the Rose of Sharon we planted before the wedding is blooming like crazy; I think we need more. There were gobs of this blue and lavender Rose of Sharon in France. I love the stuff; once it starts blooming, it seems to do it forever.

Old post and new book

I don't remember what I said to Phil. That was a week ago.

I DO remember what the orthopod said to me about my right shoulder. My bones are good (amazing!); I have a tear in my rotator cuff; the rest of the tendon is still attached, but there is some "junk" in there and the tendon is thinner than it should be. It may be "age-related". I really, really hate that term. He basically doesn't know whether he can fix my problem so is sending me first to a PT person ("Pain and Torture" rather than "Physical Therapy", IMHO).

A biologist who visited us a week or so ago, with her father in tow, came to dinner. Very interesting, from North Carolina, but not the part where my mother's Scottish family is from. They did, however, tell me about a book I have since ordered and stayed up until 2:00 a.m. reading (Lord, I love doing that...used to all the time, but haven't for years...). It's about a woman from the Scottish Highlands who came to central Texas in 1823 after they were kicked out of Scotland. Got a Stephen F. Austin land grant on the Brazos river near what was eventually Columbus, I think. So far, it's GREAT. By somebody I've never heard of before, a Texan named Kim Wiese. Does anybody know anything about her?

problems

trouble is, I need to be able to post things, create a web site, stuff like that, and have it be accessible without a lot of hassle. ALSO, it'd be nice if I could track hits, and crap like that.

And if you're nice, I'll tell you what I said to Phil this afternoon.

Lillie

Kentucky

Trouble is, I LIKE Kentucky. It's lovely, there are four seasons, it's got flowers, hot weather, albeit too humid, cold weather, lots of crops, fruit that grows, no hurricanes (tornadoes instead), but I always get irritated this time of year because it's too hot and humid. Makes no sense. It's not all that hot, and for that matter, it's not all that humid, but I always get irritated. There are four seasons, and this hot one is always short. Without it, I don't think the house would smell the way it does (old), and I like that, and there wouldn't be so much corn and so many tomatoes, and things like that, but the heat this time of year always irritates me. Maybe it's the Texan in me, who, no matter what the weather, needs a lot of sky. This time of year, when everything is gorgeous, ALL the trees are full, and they are big and tall, not short and squat like the trees you have in Texas (even the Live Oaks aren't very tall: they are just very WIDE). Maybe it's because there's not enough sky. This changes in the winter. Fall/winter/spring there's a lot more sky.

Lillie

Drink

I really, really miss the cheap, really good wine in France. I read today that, over here, French wine leaves a smaller carbon footprint than wine from, say, Napa. That is, if you're in the eastern half of the US. This includes us. It's got to do with the way we get it, rather than any other issue, but hey, since it's generally better anyway,... Wine that comes from France, you see, comes on a boat. This is a very eco-friendly way to ship things and generally cheaper than other methods, unless, of course, you have to go around Africa and you get kidnapped/hijacked or whatever. Which you won't coming from France. Wine that is shipped from California comes by plane and truck, and uses a LOT more fuel than wine that comes by boat. A convincing argument for drinking ONLY French wine.

So there.

Lillie

kentucky agaThin

Not only is Kentucky NOT Southern France, there are a few issues that must be faced in Kentucky that are not issues in France.

Bills.

Income taxes.

Cars that need attention, e.g., 15 year old Volvos, 6 year old Buicks with bad brakes, etc.

Sick cats

Ice makers on the blink.

Old age. My most recent problem is the MRI on my right shoulder, which sort of keeps me from sleeping. My shoulder, not the MRI. Turns out my rotator cuff is torn, sort of off. And the part of the tendon that's still attached is "thinned", and there is "unidentified" stuff there, too. The thinning is "idiopathic", one term I hate, possibly "age-related", a term I REALLY hate, and possibly caused by or related to my Rheumatoid Arthritis. Not QUITE as bad as "age related", but not much fun.

Can I go back to France? I finally figured out how to deal with the spider bites... Even when it's really hot during the day, it cools off a lot at night.

Kentucky ain't southern France

So I really, really like living in Kentucky. It has four seasons, unlike Texas which has approximately 1.05 seasons. There's usually a real winter, sometimes with snow. Spring and fall are (usually) glorious. Summer is nice and hot, which makes all the veggies and fruit grow. The problem is that when it's hot, it is frequently also humid, e.g., H^3 (H cubed for some of you out there), Hazy, Hot and Humid. Right now it's H^3. Good weather for either staying inside (IMHO) in the AC or sitting out in the shade with an overhead fan blowing directly on you drinking both iced tea and something alcoholic AND cold.

So I went out to the orchard, as well as gathered the eggs and checked for mushrooms (shittake). Even though it rained last week, a lot, there was only one lousy mushroom ready to pick. Lots of eggs; the birds love this weather. Many of the apples look ripe but evidently aren't. There are a few peaches, on the not so good tree, as the really good tree got ripped up in a storm last year, and there isn't much left of it. No fruit. Sob.

I'd rather be back in France, where it's at least not humid. Some friends of ours are at the cottage right now, and they are speaking of it in glowing terms, at least to me, and only complaining about the spiders. They had been warned. Underneath all that stucco, drywall and plaster, there are stone walls that have been there for 600 years, and I suspect that the spiders have probably been in residence almost that long. What I need right now is a big waterbottle full of Bergerac rose from a spigot on a barrel down the road, chilled, out on the terrace, under a tree.

I have a couple of ducks. Maybe we'll have duck breasts cooked with peaches for dinner, along with corn on the cob (hardly a French combination, but you can get the stuff over there, after a fashion). That's cold weather food, though, and cold it's not.

Lillie