Overweight Vegans

I often mention the value of the monthly (free, email) newsletter -- The McDougall Newsletter -- published by Dr. John McDougall, one of the first modern M.D.'s to crusade for a plant-based lifestyle as a foundation for good health and disease prevention. Anyone who is interested in health and a vegan lifestyle who doesn't subscribe to this newsletter is missing the opportunity for a consistently informative and challenging read -- not to mention Mary McDougall's monthly recipes (which I print out and save).

This month, Dr. McDougall's lead article is on "fat vegans" -- vegans who load up their diet with processed soy "foods" and oil products (like Earth Balance) instead of with the complex carbohydrates that the plant-world offers. He describes his own introduction to the vegan lifestyle in 1977 -- always interesting to read the stories of the "founding fathers" in any discipline.

This month's newsletter (main article and recipes) is here, and you can subscribe to the newsletter in the left column of the home page, here.

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Ho! Ho! Uh-Oh! Peace on Earth, But Not at the North Pole

I listened to a long story on NPR yesterday afternoon about A.O.R.B.S.—the "Amalgamated Order of Real-Bearded Santas." This is/was an organization of men who play the role of Santa Claus every year at Christmas (at malls, parties, etc.). AORBS had one strict prerequisite: Every member-Santa had to have a real, flowing white beard. No fake fuzz for this group.

I looked online for the story transcript to clarify details, but couldn't find it, so I will summarize what I remember from this long piece. (The AORBS web site is here with a front page disclaimer hinting at the details I'm about to relate.) AORBS began innocently in 1994 in California with a few real-bearded Santas who began meeting together for meals, sharing tips, and enjoying their unique place in the culture. Word of their meetings spread, others joined, an official organization was created, chapters were started in other cities, and soon newsletters, a web site, local meetings and a national convention followed. But it was a short-lived lovefest for the rotund ones.

It wasn't long before charges of power grabbing, financial impropriety, and mismanagement surfaced. Charges and counter-charges were made public, physical confrontations were witnessed at meetings, organization officers were booted, the organization split into competing groups -- and, well, you get the picture. The Santas had succeeded in tarnishing the last vestige of the secularization of Christmas -- a kind, bearded, generous, and jolly being called Santa.

The NPR story concluded by suggesting that the conflict within AORBS is ongoing -- but by the time the story ended I had lost interest. The story line was all too typical and wholly unsurprising. And it pretty much represents why I began losing interest in "Christmas in America" years ago.

Christmas should be about the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, God's gift to humankind. I certainly respect every person's right to celebrate whatever holidays he or she choses, including the Americanized Christmas. But when the Santas can't even live together with "peace on earth and good will toward each other" . . . .

I look forward someday to experiencing something that I'm not sure I ever have (or at least in many, many years) -- a Christmas season creatively focused solely on the birth of Jesus. I wish the fueding Santas well, but am not holding my breath.

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The Wizards Behind the Curtain

I am only one of millions who see no remedy to America's financial/economic crisis -- no remedy, that is, unless basic changes are made to the system. David sent me a link to the video below that is an amazing history of "the moneychangers," the small number of people who have had a disproportionate influence on the economies of nations through large, central banks and the fractional reserve system. Beginning with the moneychangers in the Temple in Jerusalem up to America's Federal Reserve Bank (which is neither "federal" or possessing of "reserves"), this video puts in historical perspective names and events which I have only been marginally familiar with.

It's 3.5 hours long -- but well worth the investment. And it sets forth a revision to America's monetary crisis that hearkens back to policies in America's past prior to 1913 when the Federal Reserve Act was passed -- policies that would eliminate the national debt, do away with the Fed, and eliminate the inflationary practice of fractional reserve banking.

This video was produced in 1996 and predicted a worldwide depression unless changes were made. Changes haven't been made, of course, and one wonders if we are now in the initial stages of the depression that was predicted. I have a particular interest in the implications of what is presented since it (the present, uncorrected system), according to the video, leads to a future one-world economic system (a "New World Order" controlled by a one-world ruler) that many see foretold in Scripture. (The video doesn't mention this Scriptural connection; that is my own observation.)

The video is filled with historical facts and figures which I cannot verify. Nor am I wise enough to know if its proposals would work as claimed. But at the very least, it helps explain how we got in the mess we're in and how we might, humanly speaking, get out. These issues are so big and complex that the temptation is to throw up one's hands. But there is value in taking a few hours to educate ourselves about things that may come to effect our lives in very negative ways in the future.

You can either watch the video below or watch it on Google's new wider-screen format here. The web site for the video is here, though there is little information about the person/organization responsible for its production.

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Christmas Lights

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Verify Your Pills

If you have to take a prescribed drug, be sure the pills you were given at the pharmacy are what the doctor prescribed. This website allows you to visually verify drugs in pill form.

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Jesus and Mother Painting -- Beautiful

Thanks to Priscilla for sharing this link to a "speed painting" video. Artist Jane DesRosier made a video of a painting she did of Mary and Jesus, then speeded it up so you can see her do the entire painting in just a couple of minutes -- set to a beautiful song. A delightful look at the skills of an artist, and so appropriate for the season.

Here is the link to watch the video. BUT -- when you get to the linked blog page, before starting the video scroll down to where the blog's music player is on the right-side column of the page and pause the music that plays on the blog page so you won't have two songs playing at once.
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Found in the Driveway

Looked out the dining room window and saw this visitor making his way across the driveway. He made his way into the shrubs in the front of the house where I lost sight of him. Haven't had time to look up his identity, but he seemed friendly. (Famous last words.)

UPDATE: Daniel (see Comments) correctly identified this as an Eastern Kingsnake.

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Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

Information about and by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, advocates of ethical (animal free) medical science and research and vegan, plant-based lifestyles:

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Restating the Obvious

Someone on Dr. Joel Fuhrman's member-website described an instance of parents giving a 22-month-old child wine to drink at Thanksgiving in a sippy cup -- and asked for Dr. Fuhrman to comment. Dr. Fuhrman held nothing back on this one. If you have any doubts about the suitability of alcohol in ANY amount for a young child -- and what you should do if it ever happens in your presence -- read Dr. Fuhrman's obviously angry response to this situation -- here.

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The Right Girl for the Job

Daughter Liz was recently moved by her company from Atlanta to Chicago to take over an under-performing store (Lindt chocolates) in a large mall there -- a store about three times the size of the one she had been managing in Atlanta. She's been doing 12-hour days, six days a week, to bring the store up to par in the midst of the busiest season of the year. She sent this update to our family early Saturday morning to give us an idea of what it's been like -- and to remind us to be patient with retail folks this time of year. They picked the right girl for the job, I tell 'ya:

Just to give you guys an idea of what the holidays are like for a store manager in retail...

I have been awake since 4am planning out my weekend because yesterday we did about $11,400 in sales. Two of those customers spent a combined $8300.

However, I now have to tie 280 fabric bags around 280 large bags of chocolate to be delivered to Wisconsin by Tuesday. The kicker? The fabric bags won't be in my store until Monday. On top of that I have to build 105 chocolate gift baskets ($50 a piece) by Tuesday afternoon (35 a day). On average in my store we house about 25 assembled baskets which I now have to take apart to use the pieces and parts to build my own new ones. This morning I will be driving to our outlet store in Aurora, IL to pick up additional baskets and shrink wrap before heading to my own store to work today. (I sold more than what we actually had in stock.)

So, in addition to all of that I still have to meet my daily sales goals ($5000-$10,000/day) and receive 5 pallets (about 380 cases) of shipment on Tuesday into a stock room that holds half that amount plus $8300 worth of sold merchandise.

But I have to say this is still my favorite time of year to work and somehow the thrill of "how did I just do that?" makes it all worth it. But the next time you are out shopping, keep in mind what it takes to get through just the weekend. And have patience with the sales person trying to help you because you have no idea what it takes get through the "behind the scenes" part of our day. Much less, trying to smile through it all with a little holiday cheer sprinkled on top!

Love you guys!!
Liz

Sent from Liz's iPhone

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Blu-Ray Primer

Since all DVD's are now being replaced by the new Blu-Ray Disc (BD) format, we might as well understand what that means. USA Today put together 10 questions with plain English answers about the new video format and what it will mean for home video viewers. Read it here.

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I Like This

I like this video about Christmas -- see what you think:

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Delightful Video

One of Daniel's and Jennifer's friends from college is a guy named Chris Sinclair, a talented photojournalist who has traveled all around the world taking beautiful pictures and videos. A number of months ago, Chris posted to his blog what I thought was one of the neatest videos I've ever seen. It's a short segment he created to play at his sister's wedding reception, that captures how his sister and her fiancé met during their college years.

I only know of Chris through Daniel and Jennifer (he gave me some helpful camera advice a couple years ago), and I don't know Chris' sister or her (now) husband. But I have admired Chris' photography a number of times on his web site. When I first came across this video I was so impressed with it that I watched it a number of times. It seemed to disappear off his site for a while, but I noticed that it is back up. So I'm going to share the link hoping you'll enjoy it as much as I did. (And hoping Chris won't mind!)

What I liked about it: how natural Chris made it seem; how obviously talented he is as a videographer and composer; love the music; love the way he synced their words from the interviews with their actions in the video. Just a pleasure to watch.

The video is wide-screen on Chris' site, so watch it there at this link. (Chris also provides a few paragraphs of explanation about how he did the video for those who are interested.)

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Altering Reality

I tweaked one of the pictures of Ellen and Arianna taken over Thanksgiving. I am now guilty of altering reality via technology:

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Momentum Is Gathering

I just learned today of a new documentary DVD that is due to be released December 19 on the state of health in America and the role of diet and nutrition. All the speakers are advocates of a plant-based diet, and you've seen many of their names in this blog: John Robbins, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Dr. John McDougall, and others. (On two separate occasions I have sent Dr. Esselstyn emails and had the phone ring within 10 minutes with Dr. Esselstyn on the line, responding to my inquiry. Really nice guy!)

The documentary is called Processed People. The website is here and the trailer is here:

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Drove to Daniel's and Jennifer's for a two-day Thanksgiving retreat. I'll let the pix tell the story:

Lots of reading Wednesday night -- The Goat Lady and Make Way for Ducklings:




Then Daniel continued the nightly installment of the George MacDonald stories. These are intensely deep, complicated, and fantastical, steered by MacDonald's biblical/moral compass. The fact that the girls can follow and comprehend these stories puts them in the rarefied air of those who even know who MacDonald is, much less appreciate what he wrote. If you're not familiar with him, read just the first few paragraphs of the Wikipedia article on him to see his influence on people like J.R.R. Tolkein, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, et al. While the girls look distracted, when Daniel would ask them questions later about what he had read, it was obvious they were listening:




The next day, Ellen read the entire Make Way for Ducklings book to me without missing a beat, and Arianna read me a chapter from one of her books. They are amazing readers:




I took my waffle maker for Belgian blueberry waffles on T'giving morning, ably assisted by Ellen and Arianna:



The tedium of waiting on the waffles was relieved by multiple helpings of the seasonal Kruidenier opiate, Silk Nog:




Chef Daniel helped prepare my contribution to the meal, a rice-eggplant-whatever dish that turned out surprisingly well:



Jen prepared an amazing vegan Thanksgiving feast: two Tofurkeys w/ dressing and gravy, her own (much better) stuffing, sage mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes topped with vegan marshallow, broccoli slaw salad, from-scratch cranberry sauce, croissant rolls, plus my rice-eggplant thing . . .









And her from-scratch apple pie for dessert (and brownies as well):



After recuperating from a wonderful meal, we took the obligatory post-feast walk in the neighborhood before tackling dessert:



Bookin' it:




Then it was time for pictures in the front yard:






















Look at this beautiful hair:




Then it was time to decorate -- while Daniel and I strung white lights on the outside of the house, Jen and the girls set up the manger scene and the Christmas village:










And a few miscellaneous shots to wrap up:

Arianna getting comfortable with Grandaddy's camera:




Daniel and girls in serious reading mode. Ellen and Arianna gave up their room for Grandaddy and camped on the playroom floor. I was happy to see their L. L. Bean sleeping bags that I gave them for Christmas a couple years ago holding up and serving well.




Here's Ellie getting in a few final pages before lights out. (Credit to Jen for this great shot.)




Thanks to DJEA for great hospitality and a good time and happy Thanksgiving. By the way, if anybody wants a copy of any of these pix (plus more that I didn't post in the blog for lack of space), just click on any picture and you'll be taken to my Flickr account where you can download various sizes of all the pix. (Click on "William Kruidenier's Photostream" to navigate away from a single picture back to a layout of all the pix, and go to succeeding pages via the arrows at the bottom of the page. Click on the picture you want, then click on the "All Sizes" icon above the picture and you'll see a download button for each size you click on.) And thanks to Jen for taking many of the pix on this page!

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Not Looking Good

Not to be an alarmist, but some analysts outside the U.S. don't think America will recover. (And who can blame them?) You can read the views of a Russian political analyst here -- he sees the U.S. being broken up into six smaller units. Granted, the Ruskies have always had an elevated opinion of their own competencies compared to others. But his views are just an example of how dire the situation looks to those who are standing at a distance and shaking their heads -- and anticipating the worst.

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Books Off the Floor

The bookcases are up and 98% (give or take) of the books are on the shelves. What a project -- can't believe I lived with the "mess" (below) for so long. Built the first six bookcases 2-3 years ago, then finally got the remainder up over the last couple of weeks. Thanks to my friends Dave and Paul for lending time and expertise to the process on two different days -- many hands and backs make for light work.

The need for more shelves:





Dave helped me move the workstation out of the corner and into the middle of the room, and move the new bookcases from the garage to the office:





Paul helped me space out the books in the existing shelves and begin loading new books into the new shelves:





Finally, most of the books are in the new bookcases, with expansion room left over:



And a little tour of the whole operation (with accompaniment from the FolkAlley.com streaming radio station -- great background music 24x7 -- folk, traditional, Celtic, acoustic -- great blend -- I started filming when some guy started wailin' that "love can be a messy thang" -- profound, though I can't argue). Still a lot of odds-'n-ends to put away, but you'll get the general idea: (Click the arrow to play.)



Lots of these books will (hopefully) be gone in the months ahead as I winnow out what I no longer need or have interest in. I dug into several boxes of books I had brought from my parents' home in Alabama -- lots of my childhood books, gift-books from my grandmothers when I was small (9-10 years old): not children's books, but biographies, histories, "documentary" books. I was really amazed to see them, and realize how much my own love of books and learning was fueled by grandmothers and parents who were constant readers themselves, and who made sure we had challenging books to read and well-worn library cards.

My focus the last 8-9 years has been on food, health, gardening, agriculture, sustainable living, and the like, and books on those subjects comprise much of what needed organizing and shelving, which I did in four categories:

Food Production (gardening, farming)
Food Preparation (kitchen, etc.)
Food Processing (processing by the body -- health, etc.)
Food Promotion (books on worldview and philosophy related to the above subjects, including a dearth of books from a biblical/Christian perspective, more of which are needed -- not needed to be bought, but written)

Now -- back to work.

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