Friday, December 22, 2017

Christmas 2017

Merry Christmas 2017

The bottom of our little Christmas tree - 2017

To say the least this year has been very interesting and challenging. Only God knows what lies ahead.

Melva enrolled in two classes at the Bowie, Maryland Senior Center.  She continued to enjoy attending quilting class on Friday.  In addition she attended a Wednesday Chair Yoga class.  All of the students of the quilting teacher took part in making items that were sold at the annual Christmas Bazaar. Proceeds go to a local charity. Melva made many items and helped at the sale table. Cyndi and Dick attended the sale to provide moral support, visit with others and take photos.

Melva attended the quilting class party at the Episcopal Church in Bowie on December 22nd.

Santas and candles on the dining room table - 2017

During the year Melva and Cyndi were able to use the Internet to hold several conversations with relatives in Panama, some with video and some just audio.

Cyndi has a two-day a week temporary job at AARP headquarters in Washington, DC. This job will end in April. She continues to actively seek full-time employment. Frankly, while there are job postings, many of the potential positions don't have much to offer.  It's a trying time.

Christmas Village - 2017

Dick continued membership in the Bowie Seniors Computer Club that meets twice a month at the Bowie, Maryland, Senior Center. He volunteers doing webmaster duties on the club website. There were two interesting challenges with the website during the year. First, management forgot to renew the website hosting subscription. That shut the website down for several days. Later, a new version of the FireFox browser was released.  The FireFox company dropped support for FireFTP which we used to upload the updates to the website.  It took Dick several days to find a way that allowed the continued use of FireFTP.  He installed another browser, WaterFox, which supports the FireFTP application.  On December 7th Dick and Melva attended the annual computer club Holiday Luncheon at the Osaka Grill & Buffet in Crofton, Maryland.

We decided to simplify Dick's Christmas Village display this year. We used one table and left the rest of the houses in the attic.  We couldn't find the Christmas light cord that we used last year.  Rather than spend time searching, Dick devised a way to use individual cords and two power strips to light the ten houses

Dick's interest in the genealogy hobby remains strong.  He enjoys following several county and family pages on Facebook.  He maintains his own private Henthorn Genealogy group page on Facebook. There he shares some of his genealogy projects with a select group of folks he knows personally.

Christmas Village - 2017

In early October, our across the street neighbor and friend of nearly forty years, James Michael, passed away at his other home in Gulfport, MS. Dick wrote a tribute message that he posted on Jim's Facebook timeline. Jim was retired from the Navy so he and Dick enjoyed telling each other the same war stories as the years passed.


Covered Bridge with barn in background - 2017

As we participate in the activities of the Senior Center and observe our own aging we are well aware of how much impact the aging process has on all of our lives. We are thankful for each day of good health we experience.

Thanks to everyone who took the time and trouble to stay in touch during the year.  We enjoyed the phone calls, cards, letters, Email and Facebook contact.

We Wish You A 
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 
With 
Good Health and Prosperity 
In 
Abundance.

Dick and Melva Henthorn

Monday, December 18, 2017

A President Must

A President Must

A president "... must be willing to listen to his advisers and department heads; must encourage consideration of conflicting views; and must acknowledge errors and learn from them ... must be disciplined, control emotions, and act only after reflection and careful deliberation ... must maintain cordial relationships with leaders of countries of different backgrounds and must have their respect and trust," and must be able and willing "to separate truth from falsehood" ..
(Diane Jhueck, L.M.H.C.,D.M.H.P., chapter “A Clinical Case For The Dangerousness of Donald J. Trump,” in the book, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump by Brandy Lee, p. 191)

Dick Henthorn
18 Dec 2017

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Trump & Violence

Trump & Violence


… one final clarification is in order. Trump is now the most powerful Head of State in the world, and one of the most impulsive, arrogant, ignorant, disorganized, chaotic, nihilistic, self-contradictory, self-important, and self-serving. He has his finger on the triggers of a thousand or more of the most powerful thermonuclear weapons in the world. That means he could kill more people in a few seconds than any dictator in past history has been able to kill during his entire years in power. Indeed by virtue of his office, Trump has the power to reduce the unprecedentedly destructive world wars and genocides of the twentieth century to minor footnotes in the history of human violence. To say merely that he is “dangerous” is debatable only in the sense that it may be too much of an understatement. If he even took a step in this direction, we will not be able to say that he did not warn us - loudly, clearly, and repeatedly. In that case, the fault will not be his alone it will also be ours.
(James Gilligan, M.D., chapter “The Issue is Dangerousness, Not Mental Illness,” in the book, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump by Brandy Lee, p. 178)

Dick Henthorn
17 Dec 2017

Friday, December 15, 2017

The Tyrant

The Tyrant

The tyrant shows up in a society that is already weakened by disorder, blind to it, and unable and/or unwilling to take corrective measures that would prevent a tyrannical takeover. Once he and his sycophantic cabal assume power, they deepen and widen the disorder, dismantling and changing the society's norms, institutions, and laws to fully reflect their own pathology. 
(From the chapter, Who Goes Trump? - Tyranny as a Triumph of Narcissism by Elizabeth Mika, M.A., L.C.P.C, in the book The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump by Brandy Lee, p. 313)

Dick Henthorn
15 Dec 2017