Is your parents’ sofa sitting in your living room?  Are you sleeping on the same bed where you and your now-divorced husband slept when you were married?  Is your dining room buffet the same one where your mother stored her linens, fine china or silverware?  Are you keeping your deceased husband’s book collection? 

Answering “yes” to any of these questions begs a moment of reflection. Some will say they like that sofa or that four-poster bed, but do they really? Perhaps they are more attached to the previous owner–their mother or their grandfather–than to the item itself. Some believe they can’t afford the furniture they truly want, so they accept the hand-me-down as a substitute. Still others feel obligated to hold on to certain items because they feel indebted to the person who gave it to them.

These emotional, invisible ties bind us in unconscious ways. All those hand-me-down pieces of furniture hold a memory of what happened in their presence. So, if our parents or grandparents’ stuff resides in our home, their essence permeates our space. As wonderful as these people were or are, they all had or have issues. Their conversations, arguments and, yes, laughter, too, reside in the furniture’s cell memory. Think about it this way. The bed where you and your now-divorced husband slept holds the memory of a marriage gone amok. Do you really want those unhappy memories in your space?

All of this stuff, be it a bed, a buffet or a bureau, is a remnant of the past. Chained to the past you cannot be fully open to the present–the only place where you truly live. If you are looking back, you can’t look forward. If you are holding (in some cases, clutching) onto something, you cannot reach out to receive the gifts of the present.

Take a moment to assess the energy of your home. Is it dead, alive or barely breathing? Too much of your parents’, great aunt’s, or, for that matter, yard sale furniture carries an energy that is not yours. Be wary of living in a mausoleum–a building that entombs the dead above ground. Put your own spin on your living space. Make it truly yours! Make it a space where you can welcome the gifts of the present.

A participant in a recent class I was teaching shared that her home is the repository of 1,000 books that belonged to her husband, who died 3 years ago.  On his deathbed he requested that she keep the books to give to their son.  At an intensely emotional time, she promised to honor his request. 

Three years later she still has the books.  They’ve acquired mold and she is allergic to it.  Her unemployed son lives in too small a house to keep the books, yet he implored her to keep them, even though his son is asthmatic and probably couldn’t tolerate being near them.  She has no money to put them in storage.  Held hostage to a deathbed promise and extortionate son, this woman is chained to her husband’s books and to the past.  The moldy books reflect moldy relationships with her husband and son.

This woman’s situation is extreme, but it illustrates how we can get so attached to an object that it prevents us from creating a home that comforts and nurtures us.  Years ago when I didn’t have much money, my great aunt’s daybed served as my living room couch.  I used it for a few years until I was able to buy my own furniture.  It served its purpose, but a breath of fresh air swooshed into my home once I felt courageous enough to take charge of my own decorating.  This was the first time I had ever determined my own color scheme and bought my own furniture.  I felt empowered.

I encourage you to take a moment to assess the energy of your home.  Is it dead, alive, or barely breathing?  Too much of your parents’, great aunt’s, or, for that matter, yard sale furniture carries an energy that is not yours.  Be wary of living in a mausoleum—a building that entombs the dead above ground.  Put your own spin on your living space.  Make it truly yours!  Make it a space where you can welcome the gifts of the present.

New image in the cemeteries photography contest

…
Forgotten Mausoleum photography picture

Things are continuing to stay busy here in Rome.  Classes are speeding along and I have been spending a lot of time studying and trying to keep up with the readings.  However, the 2-mile walk each day, to and from class, gives me an hour to just relax and walk with friends.  It is always difficult to be just starting at a new institution because the tunnel seems so long, but I have been assured by many of the newly ordained deacons that their time here in Rome has flown by.  It is pretty amazing that I left the United States three and a half months ago.  On one hand it doesn’t feel like it has been very long, but it also seems like it has been a long time since I have seen my family.  This is ironic because I talk to them a lot and can even video chat with them via Skype.

While things have been normal at the seminary and at the University, this last week was special.  Jean, the Secretary of the Vocations Office for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, and her husband, Tom, visited Rome for their first time.  It was nice to be able to spend some time with someone I know from Oklahoma City.  We saw a lot of the sights of Rome, enjoyed some great meals, and we even prayed at the bones of St. Peter (thanks to my diocesan brother, Cory).  This was a travel weekend at the North American College, but I have been telling the other seminarians that I “went to Rome for the weekend!”  The city is so large and I have been so busy that I have neglected to see a lot of the historical sights of the Eternal City.  It was a great weekend and I discovered a lot about the city.  It was also great to show Jean and Tom around St. Peter’s Basilica and the North American College.

Sunday, November 1, 2009, was All Saints Day in the Roman Catholic Church.  It is the day that we celebrate the lives of the Saints that have lived in this world and have led their lives to glorify God.  For Sunday Mass, we went to The Pontifical Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.  The Basilica was magnificent and very large.  We even went into the courtyard of the Benedictine Monastery and saw fragments of a lot of marble sarcophagi with early Christian markings on them.  There was also a beautiful little museum and Relic Room, complete with St. Paul’s staff.  There was also a very large tapestry with a depiction of St. Paul’s shipwreck near Malta.  It was pretty cool to think to myself that I had just been there just a few weeks ago.

Monday, November 2, 2009, was All Souls Day in the Roman Catholic Church.  It was also my birthday.  It is a tradition in the Church to bring to minds our loved ones whom have gone before us into the Kingdom of Heaven.  There was an option to have Mass within the North American College’s Mausoleum located in Campo Verano.  I had never been to an Italian cemetery prior to this trip and I was surprised with what I found.  In the United States, we are used to green fields with small gravestones.  However, there are so many people here, and they have been hundreds and hundreds of years of deaths, that they have had to adopt a system to deal with death.  The cemetery was composed of small, casket-sized plots with a stone lid and then a headstone covered with names and pictures of the deceased members of that family.  Some of the family plots were simple, but others were massive and quite expansive.  From what I was told, when a family member dies, they place the body beneath the stone lid and wait for the body to decompose.  They then place the bones in a small ossuary-type box and then place it in a different chamber.  There is also not a one-time fee for the plot.  If a plot is not continually paid for, the remains are disposed of, probably by cremation, the monument is destroyed, and then a new family may purchase the plot.  They also do not embalm the bodies, so there was a slight stench from the decomposing bodies.

Deep within the tight walkways, we came upon a beautiful red-bricked building overlooking the rest of the cemetery.  This tall, four-level mausoleum is where the earthly remains of around ten seminarians and faculty from the Pontifical North American College are entombed.  Instead of a small box for their bones, each body was placed behind a 5 or 6-foot wide, marble monument with their name, diocese, and age of death written in Latin.  When seminarians could only travel here by ocean, it would take a long time to get from Italy back to the United States, so if a seminarian or faculty member died, they were buried in this mausoleum.  One of the seminarians, Frank Parater, is being considered by the Vatican to become a Saint.  He is currently considered a “Servant of God”, which is only two steps away from becoming a Saint.  He died in 1920, after living a life in which inspired many people.  His young life evolved around prayer and he eventually discerned that God was calling him to become a Catholic Priest.  He eventually was sent by the Diocese of Richmond to study at the Pontifical North American College.  At the age of 23, he passed away and was buried at the mausoleum.  While he sounded like an amazing guy, his Last Will and Testament is really what caught everyone’s attention.

• “I have nothing to leave or to give but my life and this I have consecrated to the Sacred Heart to be used as He wills…This is what I live for and in case of death what I die for. …Since my childhood, I have wanted to die for God and my neighbor. Shall I have this grace? I do not know, but if I go on living, I shall live for this same purpose; every action of my life here is offered to God for the spread and success of the Catholic Church in Virginia. …I shall be of more service to my diocese in Heaven than I can ever be on earth.”

During the Mass of All Souls Day at the mausoleum of the North American College, I stood right next to his tomb.  What a wonderful blessing it was to realize that God tries endlessly to stir our spirit to follow Jesus Christ.  Even in Frank Parater’s final days of his illness, he kept God’s will as his focus and was completely reliant on Him.  The more I learn about him, the more I wish I could have met him in person.  That is the whole point of even venerating the Saints within the Catholic Church.  They provide examples for us of people that have followed God with complete trust and have showed us a glimpse of the Father’s love.

The rest of my birthday was pretty normal.  It was raining all day, so I was not able to go out for dinner with some of my friends, but I received a lot of birthday wishes from the seminarians within the North American College and from my friends in the United States.  I even received a special call from Mrs. Wynn’s 5^th Grade Class at All Saints Catholic School in Norman, Oklahoma.  During our short video chat, they sang “Happy Birthday” to me.  They are special kids and I really appreciate their prayers and support.  They are the future of our Church and I have been very impressed with their love for God and his Church.

Happy All Souls Day and Happy belated Halloween.

Halloween is my very favorite holiday of the year and this year my friends and I visited the legendary and  historic   Sleepy Hollow Cemetery  in Sleepy Hollow, NY. This is where Washington Irving penned the thrilling story of  The Headless Horseman and is also his resting place as well as the Headless Horsman’s. Yesterday was a very “dark and stormy day” but the rain did hold back until the evening making it a soggy night for Trick-or-Treaters.

I must confess that when I got home and uploaded the images I was very upset to see that most of them were not exactly “tack” sharp; to be honest they were quite blurred.  Why? Because I was trying to shoot in very low light without a tripod and in my excitement to be in this wonderful historic place I was not paying attention to my shutter speed vs. my focal length ratio and after emailing a good friend and professional photographer he confirmed that this was indeed the problem.

Ok, I messed up big time on this one but it is a lesson learned. Luckily I did not completely flip out like I usually do and delete the whole “shootin” batch. I closed down the computer and set the camera battery to recharge, made myself some popcorn and watched Night of the Living Dead to calm myself down. Nothing like a good ole B grade black and white scary movie to do that.

This morning refreshed and feeling a little more friendly towards my photos. I began reviewing the images again and wondering how to salvage them. One thing I quickly realized was that although the color and composition were great one tomb stone looks just like another and that I was getting bored. So, reflecting on the movie I watched last night I decided to convert the cemetery shots to black and white and then add filters like diffused glow, radial blurs, spot lights, and canvas textures and some I converted to infrared to give them a more somber, haunted, walking-in-a-dream look and to add some diversity and excitement to the overall composition. It also hides the “mistakes” too!  It worked and they look great. Thank God for Photoshop! They will make great prints. I posted a few shots below or click here for the full gallery.

We also visited the Philipsburg Manor  and low and behold the sun came out for about an hour and I was able to take some great fall foliage shots and yes these were tack sharp. I added them to an existing gallery entitled Autumnal Fun.

I don’t mean to be that guy, MSNBC, but regarding Yankee Stadium and the halls of the dead, maybe you want a comparative preposition in there.

That isn’t to say there aren’t holes in my own grammar, but that’s a pretty brutal possibility you’re presenting.

Perhaps you’ve been to a post-apocalyptic future where Yankee Stadium is used as a massive tomb for a well-loved warrior king; either get your tenses right or throw a “like” in there.

Mausoleum of Ghitath al-Din Tuqhlaq the founder of Tuqhlaq dynasty is a beautiful structure build in Persian style of architecture located in Delhi. This is one of the very famous tourist attractions in the capital state. The Mausoleum is connected by a walkway to the southern outpost of the fortification and the elevated walkway leads to the artificial Lake. The actual Mausoleum is build up of single-domed squire tomb. The wall of the mausoleum is made up of granite stones and the sides of the mausoleum are made of red sandstone. The inland with inscribed panels and the huge pillars are made of marble. There are three graves in the mausoleum Ghiyathmal-Din Tuqhluq’s his queen and his son and successor Muhammad bin Tuqhluq. There are many monuments and forts in Tuqhluqabad which is worth watching.

Delhi international airport is well connected from all parts of the world, and this is the nearest airport to the destination. The Delhi railway station also have good rail network. The city has plenty of world class hotels and resorts for tourists to stay.

“The future is no longer what it once was”

photo copyright: Misera e stupenda città. 2009.

The Tomb of Humayun is an early example of the Mughal style that would culminate in masterpieces such as the Taj Mahal.

Herein lies the second of the Great Mughals.

****Out of Blogging Order****

Should have blogged THIS post before I blogged this other one.
Oh well.

Friday (October 9th) was a pretty fun day, hangin with my Mom.  We went headstone hunting.  She’s a genealogist and also takes pictures of headstones for others that have requested them; most of which are genealogists or family members in other states.   (Find-A-Grave)  Mom had the day off, so that was exactly what we did…

In addition to headstones, I took (all but one of) these pictures, they are just beautiful and peaceful.  They are pictures from a couple different cemeteries.  

The one above is the edge of a cemetery above this pasture of cows.  It is said to be a haunted cemetery.  Sadly I didn’t take a picture of the cemetery itself, but found this one on the web, too bad it’s being taken from a car.  The actual cemetery is, however, ONLY really as big as you can see in the picture below.

We also hit a much much larger cemetery.  I love this one, it’s just so peaceful and serene.   It’s one of those places you just want to take a book, relax under a tree and possibly read out loud, because you know that everyone will be listening intently.   They have all been alone for so long…

Alright back to the actual thrill of visiting cemeteries; there is a freaky picture I took, but I don’t want to post it, or share the story with you all just yet.  I actually am doing something (totally out of character for me) with it.  I’ll keep you posted as the details change.

But here’s one headstone that caught my eye.  Touches my heart I think; a little extra than they normally do.

Right smack dab in the middle of a fairly new area of the cemetery was this old round wooden headstone, with just a little plaque on it.  No writing that you could see any longer, just a lonely looking marker.

We also asked the Sexton a few questions about the Mausoleum that is on the grounds.   Questions like; Why would someone choose a Mausoleum instead of a regular ground burial?   She told us that it was something only the very wealthy could afford to purchase back then.   It was a sign of prestige; being buried in marble above ground, rather than in “turf”, underground.  Interesting information.  Then, she handed us the key.   Have you ever been inside of a Mausoleum before?  We had not.   It’s just beautiful.   

Amazing isn’t it?   It is chilly inside, but not a scary chilly.  It was so peaceful.  And even though I could see only myself and my mom…neither of us felt alone.   We talked about how it might be possible that all those people came out at night, and just danced…it’s such a beautiful place why not enjoy it?  I hope they actually ARE dancing!

The plots were sold out in 1931, 11 years after they built it.  Even though there are no plots left for purchase there are still a few that are still empty.  

Green Lawn Abbey
Columbus, Ohio

Artie Shaw – Nightmare

The Who – Boris the Spider

Jonathan Coulton – Creepy Doll

Green Lawn Abbey
Columbus, Ohio

Sheb Wooley – Purple People Eater

Judy Garland – Purple People Eater (really fun)

I Monster – The Blue Wrath (Shaun of the Dead theme)

The Five Blobs – Beware of the Blob

Dayton, Ohio

One Step Beyond Theme

The Outer Limits Theme

The Challengers – Out Of Limits (surf rock version)

Twilight Zone Theme

Neil Norman And His Cosmic Orchestra – Twilight Zone

Another magnificent crypt from West Lawn Cemetery in Canton, Ohio

The Blenders – Graveyard

Alice Cooper – Cold Ethyl

Vincent Price – To Raise The Dead

Lexington, KY

Oingo Boingo – Dead Man’s Party

The Ghastly Ones – Haulin’ Hearse

The Revels – Midnight Stroll

Above a crypt in Green Lawn Abbey, my favorite big, crumbling mausoleum (click on the tag above for Green Lawn Abbey for more pictures of last year’s tour through it.)
Columbus, Ohio

The crypt the angel rests on is that of former Columbus mayor (two time) and sheriff George Karb, who evidently was a colorful and beloved figure for many years. Click here to read a couple of pages about him.

Bing Crosby – The Headless Horseman

The Mellowmen – Trick Or Treat

David Seville – Witch Doctor

In the United States today – the Water and Food supply delivers chronic fatigue, digestive disorders, allergies, irrational behavior, obesity and years of unnecessary, miserable suffering – before we depart this life at a much younger age than the Citizen’s of other industrialized Nations – ten years earlier than the Japanese. Americans spend 90% of their Food Budget on Processed Foods with little or no nutritional value.

Is America committing involuntary surreptitious mass suicide or is the agenda to have everyone sick so they have to resort to prescription drugs for the rest of life?

Let’s look at the status quo facts of US nutrition: there is no safe drinking water coming out of any faucet fed by a municipal water source in the US, in fact, there is Fluoride added to water with the sole purpose of involuntary medication of the population. Of course there are many other toxic chemicals in tap water as contaminants, including pharmaceuticals, agro chemicals, and perchlorate from rocket fuel – just to name a few. But – of course that doesn’t matter, right? There is always a soda, beer, coffee, wine and whiskey – and if it really has to be water, there is always a Bisphenol A leeching plastic bottle nearby – never mind the ice cubes made from chlorinated tap water. And besides, we can always consume distilled or RO water, who needs minerals anyway?

But let’s talk about solids, Food as we used to call it, when it still deserved that name as there was a semblance of life in it. As an aerobic exercise walk through the vast expanse of your Supermarket isles will clearly unveil – once you have reached the state of near exhaustion and strained eye sight – finding an edible and digestible Food is far more challenging than winning the jackpot in the Lottery.
All the packaged foods are processed for indefinite shelf life, which, of course the producers don’t tell you because they want you to replace it sooner rather than later. But there is nothing to spoil, because only food that has some form of life in it can rot; we can’t say: “go bad” because it is already dead on arrival. If the producer has made the stupid mistake of printing the Ingredients onto the package in a legible format and language – you won’t buy the product anyway because your choice of gourmet yummy chemicals is more distinguished. So, more mature companies have earned their seniority by deluding you into buying their products because you trust them; after all, a multibillion dollar company deserves your unwavering faith so much more than the local Farmer who doesn’t even disclose a nutrition label on his freshly harvested Greens. Indeed, there is something wrong here; there is not even an oval self-adhesive PLU Label stuck onto the edible plant tissue.

So your trusted Food giants that bestow you Breakfast Cereals fortified with sprayed on synthetic vitamins and bogus heart health claims are sanctified by the FDA, and the toxic gunk vendors of fake, so called “Organic Milk” from feed lot confined cows are blessed by the USDA, while the Farmer is castigated and threatened with armed raids for pointing out the salubrious effects of anything Nature provided. Rightly so, how dare the Farmer that points to the natural cholesterol balancing effects of Garlic, the Tumor inhibiting effect of Cherries and the anti-viral properties of Basil – he is making Drug claims and such are illegal. Oh, and by the way, he didn’t lavishly entertain the lawmakers on Capitol Hill either. The next hint on this omission will surely come from these elected officials, when the Farmers are cited for improper registrations and labeling of their Produce; just look at these eminently important and life supporting Information you obtain from the Nutrition Facts disclosure on your PET water bottle: sure you didn’t know that there is No Fat and No Carbs in that Water – right?

Well, and the FDA does not read Science, that is why this agency has no knowledge that GMO is any different than conventionally grown Produce; funny though that the rats know the difference very well as they don’t touch GMO-Tomatoes. Don’t waste your time pondering why, then Corporations spend Billions on making “no difference”; instead cherish the fact that there is an FDA consecrated “don’t ask – don’t tell” policy on Frankenstein, eh Frankenfoods. And you better don’t ask, you might get sued for obstruction of unlimited and unregulated growth of the Biotech Oligarchs on their government paved Freeway to monopolizing the World’s Food supply. Oh yes, and they completely forgot to tell you that they already lost the entire South African GMO Maize harvest in 2009 because they screwed up the GMO-seeds production. Then, surely it was an oversight, the US media missed to report this blunder of apocalyptic proportions; they probably didn’t find any open space between the Drugs and Fast Food commercials.

Sorry the digression, let’s get back to the Mausoleum a.k.a. Supermarket isles where – actually not all the Food comes in oversized Cartons, there are products you never knew you missed, like the fresh Apples with added artificial Grape Flavor in a blister pack, whoa, how could our Creator have missed to endow that necessity on mankind? Thanks to the Biotech Industry for correcting God’s omission. Just imagine if these Apple with a Grape flavor would have been offered to Eve by the serpent in the Garden of Eden – she would have been shocked and died of a heart attack before the sin – so we would now all live there in peace and harmony with a sinless nature.

Then, in search of a five dollar bottle of Designer Brand purified tap water – we find that this is probably one of the only products where the “nutrients” have not been removed – because the Fluoride is still in there and so is the Prozac. Never mind since that is the only “Natural” product at the end of an 80-foot shelve of sodas, whose most natural constituent may be the aluminum can enclosing the liquids, which, of course, have absolutely nothing to do with obesity, the American Beverage Association has said so. And, if ever anyone has told you that HFCS is bad for you, don’t worry, just revert to white Sugar – it is now GMO too.

So how about something healthy, like the “High in Fibers” canned Kidney Beans. Sure, a great natural Food in its own right, so what is the HFCS doing in all these cans, who requested that Kidney Beans are to taste sweet? But all the other cans are hiding worse, so let’s go to something more transparent, like Rice in a plastic bag, if only there were anything more than empty Carbs after all the Nutrients were processed out of the polished, snow white grains. Oh, but there, almost hidden is the Brown Rice, that must be good? But it doesn’t say Organic and there is no Origin, and it doesn’t sprout, so it’s probably Frankenfood.

So let’s talk about live Food, let’s visit the meat section, and remember that you have never heard of feed lots, animal factories, confined animal feeding operations “CAFO’s”, and exploitation and abuse of workers, OK?  The processed Meats in Blister Packs looks all but live and it shuts down my salivary glands completely, after suffering from dry mouth syndrome contracted in the previous isles. The long list of tongue twisting names of chemicals and colors that never made it to the Pantone color standard chart, appear a bit misplaced, I would rather look for these terms in the pharmacy section. But wait – there is the Fresh Meat, all neatly packaged and labeled. Oh, where are my reading glasses – OK, but it’s too dark to read such tiny letters, with this skimpy Font Tolstoy’s entire 800 plus pages epic “War and Peace” book could be conveniently printed on the back of a single T-Bone Steak package. But who cares, it’s the cheapest source of Transfats anyway; never mind in what miserable condition the animals were held before they were slaughtered under torture and distress, after a “life” accelerated by artificial Growth Hormones, Antibiotics and Steroids the animals were injected with and the toxic remnants of landfills, GMO corn and animal cadavers they were fed with. Besides, those facts are not listed on the minuscule scripted ingredients list anyway, so let’s just find comfort in the long list of chemicals used to make the meat look good for at least past the checkout counter.

No luck here either, so how about the Bakery section, there is nothing to mess up there, we think. This section is bulging as hundreds of bakery products are now presented in supersized Blister Packs. Blueberry Bran Muffin sounds and looks entirely palatable, at least we get the Bran’s Fibers and the Antioxidants form the Blueberries, really? The number one position of the Ingredients label proudly announces Sugar, no disclosure as usual whether it is GMO sugar or not; then, number two is HFCS – just to make sure you are staying on track to obesity and metabolic syndrome. The seemingly endless list of Ingredients seems a bit strange –what has my cooking book been missing? Oh yeah, the MSG, the artificial Flavors, the artificial Colors, the GMO Canola Oil, the GMO Soybean Oil and all those toxic chemicals for which one probably needs a weapon’s license to buy.

But why just focus on this one product when there are hundreds more? Right, there are hundreds of bakery products but not one single One that even vaguely resembles what the Baker learned to please the palate. So it’s all about appearance, as long as it looks like the real thing, People will buy it – at least those folks that don’t read labels and that must be the majority, otherwise who are they producing these Disease baits for?

Finally, in a last ditch effort near to starvation we reach the Bread stand: ‘100% Whole Wheat” says the bread wrapper – at least we know that Bread has been around for thousands of Years, at least since Genesis 14; how could the Human species have been fertile and populated the World if there was anything bad to it? Makes you wonder, when Lot was baking Bread without Yeast for the two angels in Genesis 19 – was he using high fructose corn syrup, GMO-soybean oil, mono and diglycerides, exthoxylated mono and diglycerides, dough conditioners (sodium stearoyl lactylate, calcium iodate, calcium dioxide), calcium sulfate, dicalcium phosphate, diammonium phosphate, calcium propionate and sodium benzoate?

Now, the World was prospering on natural ingredients for thousands of years, while people were enjoying Foods in their season with great pleasure – corporate America covertly replaced all wholesome constituents with unregulated Chemicals even as the US Consumers enjoyed the lowest cost on food and the world’s highest spending on Health-care: a whopping 16% of the GDP. With the decline of fertile Food consumption comes the rise of Infertility, but the Consumer does not connect the dots even the loss of pregnancies exceeds fifty percent of live births.

Instead, while Individuals spend record amounts on Health-care – they seeks the money to pay for it from gambling with stocks of the very companies that are making them sick by yielding to Wall Street pressure. But such irrational behavior is reasonable in light of the fact that most brains are damaged by the potent neurotoxins of flavor enhancer MSG and artificial sweeteners aspartame and sucralose.

So what’s the solution? Visit http://www.vitalityconcepts.com and learn about wholesome Nutrition – or just put on the blinders in the Supermarket, after wiping the cart handle with Anti-Bacterial spray – make sure you take a deep breath too so you are immunized in the unlikely case you pass by a Produce with a fragrance – buy everything and just ignore the labels (they are fraudulent anyway), buy Food with no taste and use your favorite condiment to hallucinate yourself into old memories (guaranteed to be free of any natural ingredient), avoid the Farmer and fresh Produce like the Plague (there could be bacteria on it !), drink at least a 6-pack of Sodas every day (yes, you heard that you need to drink half your body weight in ounces!) – keep buying these Pharma- and Biotech Stocks – and laugh all the way to the Pharmacy!

Canton, Ohio’s West Lawn Cemetery

John Zacherley – Halloween Hootenanny

Radio Spot – Blood Mania

Michael Jackson – Thriller

Speak Low – Thriller (instrumental jazz/funk version)

It’s finally October again! For the fourth year in a row, I am posting something Halloween-related every day until the big day, and taking part in the Countdown to Halloween. I’ll list the links to all the participants tomorrow; after that, if you want the list of links, just click the Halloween Countdown banner in my sidebar and it will take you there.

The Halloween version of my banner (as well as the normal version) was created by the amazing Karswell, who runs the pre-code horror comic blog The Horrors of It All.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

Back in July, I wrote a post regarding my Aunt Marie. It was her ninety fourth birthday. We celebrated at her home in Franciscan Village in Lemont, Illinois. She was somewhat pensive that day, but she did the best she could to enjoy the moment. Last week she took a turn for the worse. In all the many times she was hospitalized, she bounced back readily. This time she was different. The problem that put her there was serious, and required some major body interventions. As her DPOA (Durable Power of Attorney), I made a the decision for her. I stopped all further treatments, and signed her up for hospice. It was time to let nature takes its normal course. 

It isn’t easy watching someone die. In fact it can be downright ugly. Yet, it can be beautiful at the same time. Witnessing a person’s pain, and discomfort is ugly. Knowing that the pain and discomfort is short lived, and that spiritual reward is near, is beautiful.  

She had many visitors last Friday, luckily, I was one of them. I sat next to her bed talking with Mary and John, a couple of friends who grew up with her. We watched her breathing while she slept. Then, I suddenly realized that she was not moving any more. She had passed quietly, painlessly, peacefully right in front of the three of us.

My Barbara never let me have that experience. She knew I was on the way to her side, and she let go before I got there. I missed her last breath by ten minutes. We had said goodbye to each other the day before while she was still conscious. Six years later it is still painful to remember.

After everyone left Marie’s room, and I was alone with her, I cried. I told her I would miss her, and I thanked her for letting me take care of her.  She was was my last connection to Barbara. Days before Barb died, she gave me an order to take care of Marie. I did my best, and now the job is nearly completed.

Yesterday, we gave Marie a great send off with a Mass of Christian Burial, and then entombed her next to husband Henry at the mausoleum In Resurrection Cemetery. By her direction, the luncheon afterward was at the Landmark. She insisted on an open bar with a family style Polish meal, and special order dumplings. 

Aunty Marie Golema

Born:         July 16, 1915

Died:         September 25, 2009

She is at heavenly peace.

Guarding Uncle Ho, originally uploaded by ourmanwhere.

From today’s Independent:

Forty years after his death, Ho Chi Minh could be forgiven if he was not exactly looking his best. For the past two months, his mausoleum has been somewhat mysteriously shut “for renovation”, triggering concerns about the state of the former Vietnamese leader’s remains.

But officials in Hanoi are determined that his body should be returned to public display. And to ensure he is looking as good as possible, a joint team of Vietnamese and Russian embalmers are to inspect the one-time revolutionary leader’s corpse. “The embalmers will evaluate the situation and status of the body of President Ho Chi Minh and how to maintain the corpse in the years to come,” said prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung, in a statement.

Michael Jackson’s Burial  is set for Thursday September 3rd, 2009  at 7pm local time at the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetery. This will all take place in Glendale, California.

Press Positions are filled up according to news reports. The media from all over the World have reserved their spots to cover Michael Jackson’s last performance at the Great Mausoleum. The setting could be called forever land. the place is a who’s who of Hollywood celebrities.

The burial location will not be opened to the public before or after the event. The event will be attended only by the Michael Jackson Family and close friends.

It will be the last time the Gold plated Michael Jackson Casket will be seen before it goesin the MJ Grave.

From: www.thefreelibrary.com

“Jackson’s gold-plated casket is to be placed in a private section of the mausoleum that is also home to the final resting places of famous names from Hollywood’s golden age such as Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and Carole Lombard.

Forest Lawn, which opened in 1906, is also home to exact replicas of some of Michelangelo’s greatest works, including David, La Pieta and Moses.

The cemetery also boasts a stunning recreation of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper in stained glass.

Other entertainment icons buried at Forest Lawn include Humphrey Bogart, Lon Chaney, Nat King Cole, Walt Disney, Errol Flynn and Jimmy Stewart.”

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

Michael Jackson Memorial Pic from Flickr under the creative commons license from

guidosportaal’s photostream