Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

Yesterday Dave and I had a date to see "Anything Goes" at the new state-of-the-art, pride of the city, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts - located right in the middle of downtown Orlando.

We went in the afternoon so we could enjoy the architecture in its surroundings. (And, of course, you know I like to be in my jams by about 7:00 PM.)

I had read the Center was "built without walls."  That's not exactly true but it certainly looks that way.

Phillips at night.  Dave took the other photos.

It was easy to find and easy to park.  Mainly because we used the valet.  We had a choice of paying either $35 or $25.  We chose the latter.

Despite the Orlando Sentinel's review that totally trashed "Anything Goes," we thought it was great.  Cole Porter is one of my favorite Broadway composers.  The troop tap-danced their hearts out.

One of the most heartwarming parts of touring the theater, for both of us, was seeing the lists of patrons who ponied up the funds to get this project completed.  Many of these folks we know personally and our hearts were warmed to remember, once more, how generous people are when they have passion for a cause.

There was one minor problem (almost).  Since Dave had paid for the tickets AND the parking I tried to hand him a $20 bill.  He laughed and said "no way."  But I didn't let up so he finally said he would play me a game of cribbage for it.  If I won I got to pay him.

I we played the game last night in our p.j.s.  I won!





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Adam Hamilton and the Three Baskets

Adam Hamilton is a super star in Methodism.  He's the founding minister of the (18,000 member)  Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City and a prolific writer.  In a couple of weeks he's going to speak at our Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

This is a yearly meeting where a big bunch of Methodists get together to do the business of the church and have some cool worship services.  I attended the Florida Annual Conference for about 35 years straight and was a delegate most of those times - but then I met Dave and everything changed.

But in thinking about all of the above I decided to re-read one of my favorite Hamilton books - Making Sense of the Bible - only this time I've done it as a devotion...reading one chapter every morning and meditating on it.

Following are a couple of "food for thought" sections:

How do you perceive God?  Hamilton discusses "God as micro-manager" as opposed to "God the absentee landlord."  The first makes everything that happens - happen.  The second created everything and then said, "I'm outta here.  You're on your own."  Discovering "The nature of God" has been a decades long pursuit for me.

In another section Hamilton talks about putting scripture into Three Baskets:

1.  The Timeless will of God for human beings - Hamilton suggests that this is the vast majority of scripture.

2.  God's will in a particular time but not for all time.

3.  Scripture that reflects the culture and historical circumstances in which they were written but never reflected God's timeless will. 

To me, the most important thing about all of Hamilton's books, is that they make me think.  After all, spirituality is a personal choice.  We learn this from Joshua 24:15.

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, ...as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

I love the first part of this scripture - but I have a lot of problems with the last part.  I think it represents Old Testament culture.  The man can't really speak for his household, only himself.

I guess I'd have to put that scripture into two baskets.


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Welcome to Me

BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER

The main feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a pervasive pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image and emotions.  People with borderline personality disorder are also usually impulsive, oftentimes demonstrating self-injurious behaviors (risky sexual behaviors, cutting, suicide attempts.)

Imagine someone who fits the description above.  Or maybe, like me, you know and love people who fit the description above.

Now imagine that person winning the lottery to the sum of 86 million dollars.  What do you think he or she would do?

This is what the movie, "Welcome to Me," staring Kristen Wiig, is about.  Kristen plays Alice Klieg, a woman in her 30s whose original diagnosis was bipolar disorder but later changed to borderline personality disorder.

Alice knows what she wants.  She wants her own television show that totally and completely focuses on her and depicts (from her point of view) all of the pain that others have inflicted on her.

Is it difficult to watch?  Yes.  Does it seem real?  Yes.  We saw it yesterday.  Dave did not care for it.  I was kind of spellbound.  It mostly validated what I already know about this disorder.  Wiig does an amazing job of showing us this sweet, vulnerable, funny, smart, crazy, selfish, narcissistic, self destructive woman.

How much of the 86 million dollars is left when the movie ends?  I'm sure you know the answer.

Why didn't Dave like the movie?  My take on it is that he's way too well adjusted to relate.

My favorite character in the movie, besides Alice?  Her psychiatrist, played by Tim Robbins.  He obviously cares for and respects her but, in the end, he has to turn her away in order to save himself.

I get it.


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Bartlesville, Oklahoma

Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain, Oklahoma!


Prior to a couple of weeks ago all I knew about Oklahoma was what I learned from the song.  On the first night of our trip we visited with old friends of Dave's  in Bartlesville, OK.

Little oil wells on every farm we saw.

I was expecting to have an nice time with them, which we did.  I was not expecting to particularly enjoy Bartlesville.

But the first thing that got me excited was the drive from Tulsa.  Along with the beautiful countryside, there were oil wells - everywhere!  I'd never seen a real one.  It was at that point that I realized we were not in Florida anymore.

Frank Lloyd Wright's
Price Tower.

Community Center designed by Wesley
Peters,  protege of Frank Lloyd Wright.

When we reached downtown Bartlesville, I was blown away.

This was once a rich, sophisticated oil town.   Dave wanted to show me the 19 story Price Tower building, designed by none other than Frank Lloyd Wright.  Wright called it "The tree that escaped the crowded forest."

We toured the place, inside and out.  We saw Wright's crazy (my assessment) array of angles and overhangs.  Not to mention crazy uncomfortable furniture.  He was something.

Price house designed by Bruce Goff
son-in-law of Frank Lloyd Wright.

When big oil came to Bartlesville, architectural  creativity followed.  The entire downtown is a mixture of styles - but Wright had an influence on most everything.

It was a fun, educational afternoon.


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High School Reunion

At what point do you stop being anxious about going to your high school reunion and just enjoy?  Last week David and I went to his 65th reunion in Independence, Kansas, population  9, 230.  We had fun.  We just enjoyed.

David had a idyllic growing up (once he left Malaysia and moved to Kansas when he was 6.)

Independence, for him, was a little like Mayberry.

But....

Instead of Aunt Bee he lived with Aunt Lora.  And, instead of winning prizes for the best pickles at the fair, Aunt Lora was the best teacher at Independence High School.

Instead of living on the second floor and shooting a momma bird with his be-be gun like Opie, David lived in the attic room and sweated in the intense Kansas heat (but he had it all to himself.)

Instead of, like Andy having a best friend like Barney who had only one bullet in his gun but still managed to shoot himself from time to time, David's best friend was Everett who played endless golf and basketball with David and went on to become a Colonel  in the Air Force.

Aunt Lora's house where, 70 years ago, David and Everett played
Monopoly on the front porch during the Kansas summer rains. 

The guy who, in high school, knew everybody  stayed there and became the bank president and mayor of the town.  Long since retired when I met him last week, he was still super friendly, greeting and shaking hands with every person in the room.

The boy who was heavy set, socially awkward, super smart and hated gym was back for the first time in 62 years.  Yes, of course, he'd ended up having a brilliant career as a rocket scientist, appeared at the reunion with a beautiful woman - and was slim.

But the truth is, every person at the 65th Independence High School Reunion was beautiful.


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I'm Sorry

(I'm sorry) I'm sorry
(So sorry) So sorry
Please accept my apology...
   -  Recorded by Brenda Lee, 1960

I know this sounds crazy but over the many decades I've lived in Florida (and especially Central Florida) I have found myself apologizing to tourist families for our occasional bad weather.  Like I had something to do with it!

The other crazy part is that some vacationers have acknowledged my apology like it was something I certainly should have done - although it didn't help.  It was still raining and they were still mad.
I was reminded of this last week when I was in Dallas for a few hours and read an article in The Dallas Morning News about the "Draw the Prophet" event in Garland, Texas where two terrorists were killed trying to get into the event center.

The upshot was that mainstream Muslims were all over the country were expected to apologize.  The Friday after the event a man walked into a 7-Eleven in Troy, Michigan, shouted anti-Muslim racial slurs at the clerk and punched the manager in the face.

I'm a Floridian.  Do I have to apologize for every stupid thing a fellow Floridian does?  If so, I would have time for nothing else.  It takes me long enough to record many of the more entertaining stupid things on this blog.

I'm a Christian.  Do I have to apologize every time a religious nut job does something mean and dangerous in the name of Jesus?  That, also, would take some time.

Seriously, every time some person who identifies with a teeny fraction of brainwashed, medieval, barbaric criminals in the Middle East does something atrocious - do you really need the entire Muslim community - all 1.6 billion of them - to say they're sorry?

I don't think even that would satisfy - because like Jon Stewart said (jokingly) of his Muslim correspondent - he just wasn't "denounce-y" enough.



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My Never Changing Diet

2nd Timothy 4:5  But as for you, you must exercise habitual self-control, and not live a self-indulgent life.  


Since we were just on a week long trip to the Plains States and ate every meal but two in restaurants - and the two we ate in a friends' home were splendid - I was wondering if I'd gained weight.  I have not, despite having eaten some if everything.

Almost everybody I know, especially my age, goes on a diet from time to time.  I don't.  I try to follow the Apostle Paul's diet plan: "moderation in all things."

Following is part of an article, written by Roberto Ferdman from the Washington Post, refuting some of our current thinking:

Aspartame causes cancer, or, at the very least, is definitely bad for us.  This has never been proven.  In fact, some studies show just the opposite.  I don't use much Aspartame.  I've switched to Stevia in the Raw.  But Aspartame is a backup.  I never drink sugary drinks.  And I don't believe that artificial sweeteners make us fat.  I quit drinking anything with sugar in it (except for wine, of course) decades ago.  I save my sugar intake for other things.

We eat too much salt.  OK, how much is too much?  I try to avoid too many processed foods, including soups because the sodium content is out the door, but I love my sea salt on salads and veggies.  I've known several old folks who've been denied salt and suffer because of it.  Salt is, and has been throughout history, one of life's great pleasures.

MSG is "a silent killer."  I don't use MSG because it keeps me from sleeping.  But for those who aren't sensitive to it, no harm has been proven.  So why are we so afraid of MSG?

Gluten is bad.  Ferdman says a third of Americans are working to eliminate gluten from their diet.  If you're not allergic and you don't have celiac disease, why would you embrace a gluten free diet?  I like bread.  Once or twice a week I have an egg sandwich - with sea salt.  So good.  On Saturdays I have a blueberry muffin.  OMGoodness, it's tasty.

High fructose corn syrup is worse than sugar.   From what I've read - which is probably not what you've read - sugar is sugar - no matter where it comes from.  It makes everything taste great but it's addictive and too much of it will make you fat.  So I watch my surgery treats.

Why should you care what I eat?  Well, I'm healthy, I've weighed about the same for 40 years (which is well within my normal range,) I love to eat good food - and I do.

My secret is that I'm with the Apostle Paul on the issue of "Moderation in all things."  There are a couple of other issues that he and I used to differ on but, over the years, one of us has come around.


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Unnecessary Care

My new favorite writer, surgeon Atul Gawande, who wrote the current best seller, "Being Mortal." wrote an article in last week's "New Yorker" on the same subject, titled "Overkill."

In the article he tells about a time his mother (who is also a doctor) fainted in the Kroger's grocery store.  EMTs transported her to a hospital eighty miles away where doctors did an ultrasound, and a  cardiac catheterization, neither of which revealed anything.

Only then did someone ask her history and discover she was dehydrated.

This is a good example of how a huge number of us oldies receive treatment that is simply a waste.  Researchers call it "low-value care."

Dr. Gawande says in his article that "In 2010, the Institute of Medicine issued a report stating that waste accounted for 30% of health care spending."

Dr. Gawande's in the forefront of a movement to help us oldies have a much healthier and happier life, followed by a peaceful death.  I'm all for this.

One of the things he talks about in the article is over testing.  He describes cancers as sometimes turtles (slow growing) and sometimes rabbits (fast growing.)

If I'm 90 years old and have a "turtle" cancer I think I'd rather spend my money on a cruise with my friends and let nature take its course.


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Downtown Tulsa

Beautiful Downtown Tulsa

Dave and I just returned from a trip to the Midwest.  Unfortunately, we chose to do this midst a bunch of bad weather, including tornadoes.  All this to say our flight home was cancelled for two days and we were forced to hole up in a hotel close to the airport in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Of all the things to do in Tulsa (a city I'd never seen) we chose to dial up Uber and spend the day downtown, ogling the beautiful art deco buildings.

The centerpiece is the BOK Tower (not to be confused with the BOK Tower in Florida - an altogether different thing.)

This is where our Uber driver dropped us
off.  BOK Tower in the center.

Tulsa's BOK Tower is a 52 story building - tallest in the plain states until recently.  Like the World Trade Center, it was designed by Minoru Yamasaki.  The buildings look somewhat similar.

First United Methodist Church
Tulsa, "Cathedral of the South."

We had our Uber driver drop us off about eight blocks away, straight down Boston Avenue, so it looked like the Tower was built in the middle of the street.  Downtown Tulsa isn't very big so you can see lots of sights in a short time.

Boston Avenue United Methodist
Church, An Art Deco Icon

If you're ever there, check out the two big, breathtakingly beautiful United Methodist churches across the street from each other.  There has to be a story about how that happened but I can't find it.  My friend told me they split during the Civil War.


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Light and Heavy Introspection

This morning Dave went to Forum without me.  The discussion was led by, Art,  one of my favorite people, so I was sorry to miss it.  The title was "Emotionally Healthy Spirituality."  They talked about the impossibility of being spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.

Some of the points Art had them discuss were:

• Ignoring the emotions of anger, sadness and fear
• Denying the pasts' impact on the present
• Covering over brokenness, weakness and failure

You can see how this discussion could save you an expensive trip to the psychiatrist.

Meanwhile I was leading a class of older ladies (like me) in a similar discussion.  But since I don't have Art's credentials, it was on the lighter side.

• Do we have a spiritual obligation to age well?
• Who are you now that you're not what you used to do?

Since three of the things we American human beings like to delve into the most are:  personal growth, wealth management and sex...I began by sharing with my older ladies this cartoon by my favorite  New Yorker Magazine cartoonist, Roz Chast.  It got the discussion going. 

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Another Florida Crisis

What with the tragic and fast breaking issues in Baltimore and the myriad problems we have here in the Sunshine State, I hate to burden you with another crisis.  But here goes.

On the front page of today's Orlando Sentinel we were reminded of the on-going (3 year) battle between a home owner and the beautiful community of Summerport, a subdivision of upscale Windemere, west of Orlando.

The problem:  Grass!

Summerport requires St Augustine grass, which has come under fire for needing vast amounts of water and heavy fertilization, which pollutes the water.  Like most Hollywood wives and my late husband Ken, St. Augustine grass is super high maintenance - and proud of it.

Instead of St. Augustine, the home owner planted lower maintenance, but just as beautiful, Florida friendly Argentine Bahia grass.

Now what makes this owner think that he or she can just willy nilly plant a different kind of grass?

What about the lack of aesthetics in having a slightly different (but hardly noticeable to the naked eye) lawn even though it saves water?  This could lead to total anarchy.

So that's why Summerport sued the home owner in 2012 and it's still an on-going battle to this first day of May, 2015, earning a place on the front page of the Sentinel!


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