Fun with Ruthie - Puppy Love and Margaritas

Dolly, Tyler, Franklin and Ruthie

Here are a couple of fun pictures we took during Ruthie's three day visit. Of course, our kids all loved having her back (she visited a couple of times over the years). 

One of the things we like to do is take everyone to our favorite Mexican restaurant - that has the most powerful jumbo frozen margaritas. - Tom loves them (I (Rob) don't drink so I'm  the designated driver) .
 

Ruth

  We took Ruthie there and she and Tom both got jumbo margaritas, and by the end of the dinner there was a lot of laughing, and I could tell that it was affecting both of them! 

Rob and his iced water

 So next time you visit us, be prepared for Mexican food and a jumbo margarita... and don't worry, I'll drive. 




 

Touring the Hampton National Historic Site

Rob, Ruthie and Tom outside

The Hampton National Historic Site is a U.S. National Park Service run property that consists of a mansion, agricultural buildings, slave quarters, fields and more over 62 acres at 535 Hampton Ln, Towson, Maryland. Today we'll take you on a brief tour of the mansion and grounds as we ventured there last weekend with our friend Ruthie who was visiting us.


We had a fantastic Park Ranger, Elizabeth White, who explained that each of the rooms were furnished from a different period, and that the Ridgely's saved all their furniture (so most is original). In fact, they saved receipts for everything, so historic reconstructionists were able to replace wallpaper and colors. 

Tom and Ruthie In the Kitchen

HISTORY - It was built and owned by the Ridgely family and housed seven generations of them from 1745 to 1948. It is said to be one of the country's finest examples of a Georgian Manor house.

WHO WERE THE RIDGELY'S? - The property was originally part of the Northampton land grant given to Col. Henry Darnall (c. 1645–1711), a relative of Lord Baltimore, in 1695. His heirs sold the land on April 2, 1745, to Col. Charles Ridgely (1702–72), a tobacco farmer and trader. The bill of sale records that the property included "... houses, tobacco houses (tobacco barns), stables, gardens, and orchards. By the 1800s, the mansion overlooked a grand estate of orchards, ironworks, coal mining, marble quarries, mills, and mercantile interests.

The mansion

Rob, Tom and Ruthie

The dining room with a mural of Paris

WHEN DID IT BECOME PART OF THE PARK SERVICE? - On June 22, 1948, Hampton National Historic Site was established as the first National Historic Site by the National Park Service.

WHAT IS IN IT NOW? 

WHAT IS IN IT NOW? 
It has  exquisite decorative arts and furnishings, as well as historic photos and documents that capture over 200 years of life in the Mid-Atlantic region. It showcases Mid-Atlantic life from before the American Revolution to after World War II. The site commemorates major phases of American social, cultural, and economic history across three centuries.  

To see more museum collections at Hampton NHS visit http://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/hampton/

Good Movie - John Carter (Warlord of Mars) 2012

2012 Movie poster

Last weekend we told you about Edgar Rice Burroughs "Tarzan." Today we're telling you about one of his other famous characters, "John Carter, Warlord of Mars."

RENT IT!  - The movie "John Carter" came out in 2012 and we never got a chance to see it. We thought it was a GOOD movie and worth seeing. Admittedly, it was a little slow once John Carter arrived on Mars and got situated, but it was enjoyable.

COMICS - Like Tarzan, we enjoy watching handsome, half naked heroes. :)  In fact, in the 1970s, I collected and read the Marvel Comic "John Carter, Warlord of Mars." 
 

Marvel Comics' John Carter

WHAT IS IT ABOUT? Transported to Barsoom (another name for Mars in the story), a Civil War vet (John Carter) discovers a barren planet seemingly inhabited by 12-foot tall alien barbarians. Finding himself prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter Woola and a princess in desperate need of a savior.

John Carter is a sweeping action-adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars).  The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.

TRAILER: https://youtu.be/6Rf55GTEZ_E

How Best-Seller lists are "influenced" by Publishers

We read a lot of books and check the "best-seller" lists regularly. What I've learned is that publishers do things to make some books go into the top 100 and even top 10 and it doesn't mean people are buying and reading them.

I actually noticed this years ago when crazy Sarah Palin's book came out and it stayed at number one on the best seller lists for months!  Months!!!  Now, first of all, she's a nut job and I don't know anyone that thought her worth reading about (although I know there are). Secondly, many of the people who did follow her were poorly educated (look it up) and were not readers. So, how in the world did a book about her become a best-seller so long? The Publisher.

-  By the way, if you go in any "fire sale/discount store" like Ollies here in the Baltimore/Washington area, or a Big Lots, you'll find TONS of  books by these crazy right-wingers like Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and Bill O'Reilly books for $1.00 

  WHY? Because Publishers purposely order tens of thousands of copies and ship them to book stores to jack up the "sales orders" and get the book to a high place on the Best-Seller list.

  Why do I bring this up today? I just looked at the list and Out of the top 7 "Best Sellers" - they're all by right-wing extremists (that support Trump). 1) "Progressives are liars"2) a Hillary Clinton bashing book 3)  A Blll and Hillary Clinton bashing book 4) "How trump can beat Hillary" 7) another fictional "history" biook by Bill O'Rielly (who incidentally was exposed on several of his "history books" of making things up). SO, basically this top selling hardcover list is useless. Publishers have pre-ordered so many of these to catapult this hateful garbage into the top 10.  ***If you KNOW anyone that read any of these, I'd love to know about it.**


Here's a Blog from an Industry professional:
Confessions of a book publicist: Source: http://februarymedia.net/5-tips-hitting-bestsellers-lists/
As a book publicist, one of the very first questions I’m usually asked is, “Can you help make my book into a bestseller?” While there is no tried and true way, what I can tell you about are some of the secret tips that the big publishers use to give their books the best chance to hit those sought after lists.
     Authors and publishers are always trying to game the lists.  
Some authors pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to companies that guarantee bestsellers by buying thousands of copies of your book from a variety of outlets, both in stores and online. Some authors hire call centers and have them place orders for them. There are many ways to game the system but, thankfully, that type of trickery is rare.

Today is Gay Uncle's Day!

So many people have a gay uncle, so remember them today. I never had a gay uncle, though- but Tom and I are uncles.

Triumph Trolls Trumpbots With Fake Ads [VIDEO]

A just-posted Hulu clip in which the Triumph The Comic Dog team shows a focus group of ACTUAL Trump supporters a series of increasingly insane fake campaign ads. 
   As you might expect, the Trumpbots not only do not object to the ads, they offer sincere suggestions on how to make them even crazier. 
   To the normal person with any sense and trace of intelligence, these fake ads are ridiculous. To this focus group of supporters, they applaud them. What's even more outrageous is that these people are happy to cage or brand illegal immigrants and ship them out (does anyone remember what happened to the Jews in WWII?).
  Sadly, the video is funny because the people are so incredibly stupid and racist, but it shows the kind of morons that can vote.
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/6MubunsD-7g

We saw the Jason Bourne Movie

This past weekend our friend Ruthie was visiting us and wanted to go to the movies, so we saw the "Jason Bourne" movie, the fourth and latest in the series. Tom has seen ALL of the Bourne films. Ruthie and I (Rob) have only seen the first one. Tom thought it was great, Ruthie and I didn't care for it. Why? Because you really needed to see the other movies in the series to get the story line here and the importance of it.
  BTW- if you don't like a lot of car wrecks and car chases, this movie is not for you. It was excessive... At least it ended well.
 
SUMMARY: It's been 10 years since Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) walked away from the agency that trained him to become a deadly weapon. Hoping to draw him out of the shadows, CIA director Robert Dewey assigns hacker and counterinsurgency expert Heather Lee to find him. Lee suspects that former operative Nicky Parsons is also looking for him. As she begins tracking the duo, Bourne finds himself back in action battling a sinister network that utilizes terror and technology to maintain unchecked power.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4gJsKZvqE4
 

Amazing Night with Ruth Larkin, the Beantown Medium

Last Friday, our friend Ruthie Larkin, the Beantown Medium made a special appearance in Maryland at the
Inspired Ghost Tracking (IGT) meeting to do a show of mediumship and messages from spirit. The meeting generated a lot of interest from the public and more than 150 people registered for it.   
   Margaret Ehrlich, founder of IGT opened the meeting and I (Rob) gave an overview of how mediumship works. Ruthie gave messages to many people in the audience for over 2 hours. It was a pretty amazing night and the readings were spot on. We hope that Ruthie will come back for another show.
  If you would like to book a phone reading with her or an in-person reading in Massachusetts, visit her website: www.beantownmedium.com.

  Here are some photos and comments from the event.

Jeffrey  - I was listening to each reading Ruthie had done and she was hitting home runs, the energy I was feeling in that place was very strong tonight. I kept thinking cell phone was going off but I had turned it off, just that energy. When she hit on the energy I was feeling and my mother right off the bat Ms. Ruthie Larkin is the best I've seen.

Angie       Really enjoyed the evening

               

Renee      - Really enjoyed this event...and winning my book !! I hope Ruthie comes back some time soon

Margaret - This was a good meeting and hope to have more like this. There were lots of people there too which is always great.

Patricia  - Enjoyed the evening and meeting Ruthie. Hope she comes back again!

*******************************************
Ruthie is featured in 2 of my books: "Pets and the Afterlife" and "Lessons Learned from Talking to the Dead" by Rob Gutro. Both are available on Amazon.com

Italy Blog #39: Italy's U.S. World War 2 Cemetery

One of several sections of tombstones

In today's 39th blog about our trip to Italy, we'll take you to the Florence American Cemetery and Memorial. 
 

We had a driver from Florence who was taking us to a couple of well-known medieval tourist towns, but his first stop was at this beautiful memorial that we had never heard of before! The memorial is about 7.5 miles south of Florence, Italy. If you find yourself in Florence and have a car, make the trip here. It's located at Via Cassia, 50023 Tavarnuzze, Impruneta FIorence, Italy.

The main monument and chapel

HISTORY OF THE MEMORIAL / CEMETERY - Recognizing the need for a federal agency to be responsible for honoring American armed forces where they have served, and for controlling the construction of military monuments and markers on foreign soil by others, Congress enacted legislation in 1923 establishing ABMC.

the pillar monument with tribute to U.S. soldiers

WHAT THE PILLAR MONUMENT SAYS - "1941 - 1945 In proud memory of the achievements of her sons in the humble tribute to their sacrifices, this memorial had been erected by the United States of America."

Entrance to the chapel

  

Rob at the monument

DID YOU KNOW?  In performing its functions, ABMC administers, operates and maintains on foreign soil 25 permanent American burial grounds, and 27 separate memorials, monuments and markers, including three memorials in the United States. Presently there are 124,905 American war dead interred in these cemeteries, of which 30,922 are from World War I, 93,233 are from World War II and 750 are from the Mexican-American War. 

Looking to the memorial from the road

soldier's memorial

One of several sections of tombstones

NAMES ON THE MEMORIAL - Commemorated individually by name on stone tablets are more than 94,000 American servicemen and women who were missing in action, or lost or buried at sea in their regions during World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. 

   

    TO LEARN MORE: https://www.abmc.gov   

Italy Blog #38: Florence: Palazzo Vecchio

Front entrance with David and Hercules Statues

In today's blog, #38 of our Italy trip, we'll take you to the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. It's the town hall of  Florence since medieval times.

HOW OLD IS IT? Construction began in 1299 and it was completed in the 1300s.

Palazzo Vecchio

WHAT IS UNDERNEATH IT? The entire construction also rests on top of the ancient theater of the Roman colony of Florentia (dating back to the first century A.D.), whose ruins can be admired in the underground level.

WHERE IS IT?: It's in the "Piazza (Plaza) della Signore"  just north of the Arno River. It's next to the Museum Gucci and Uffizi Gallery. Earlier we showed you some of the statues that were outside of Palazzo Vecchio, which included our favorites.

The Hall of 500

WHAT WAS IT BUILT FOR? It was build for the Grand Duke of Florence, Cosmo de Medici.The main section of Palazzo Vecchio was destined to host the city council which was composed of chief members the Guilds of Florence (the Priori) who governed the Republic of Florence. Around 1540, Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici and his wife Eleonora of Toledo decided to turn the palace into their residence.

WHAT IS IN IT NOW? There are a number of masterpieces in this building including some by Michelangelo and Vasari. , There are also frescoed walls and ceilings throughout. There are about 1,450 tapestries. One Room on the 3rd floor ceiling has the story of Hercules.

Hall of Maps

WHAT IS THE "HALL OF 500"? - The Salone dei Cinquecento (Hall of the Five Hundred) was built from 1494 during the Republic of Fra’ (friar) Girolamo Savonarola. The Hall is the largest and most important room in terms of artistic and historical value inside the palace. This impressive hall has a length of 54 meters, a width of 23 and a height of 18 meters. Paneled ceilings and large wall frescoes, golden decorations and imposing sculptures

The Studiolo that belonged to Francesco I

HALL OF MAPS - this is a large room where the most relevant documents were kept together with the Mappa Mundi, a six-foot-tall sphere which had been the largest rotating globe of its era, and dozens of geographic maps painted on leather, showing the world as it was known in 1563.

Tom and Rob at the top of the building

WORKS OF FAMOUS ARTISTS - I  All the rooms (the so-called Quartieri Monumentali) are magnificently decorated by artists such as Michelangelo, Giorgio Vasari and Donatello.

NEXT: Italy's U.S. World War 2 Memorial and Cemetery

Italy Blog #37: The Chemists at Santa Maria Novella

Santa Maria Novella church

In Italy blog #37, we're still working our way through tourist attractions in Florence, and this stop is at Santa Maria Novella where we'll introduce you to their "chemists." 

WHAT IS THE CHURCH? Santa Maria Novella is located across from the main railway station. It's the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church.

  We didn't get to go inside because there was a wedding happening. 

THERE ARE SEVERAL PARTS - The church, the adjoining cloister, and chapterhouse contain a store of art treasures and funerary monuments. Especially famous are frescoes by masters of Gothic and early Renaissance. They were financed through the generosity of the most important Florentine families, who ensured themselves of funerary chapels on consecrated ground.

The founding hospital

THE FOUNDING HOSPITAL -  The loggia facing the piazza was designed by Brunelleschi.  It's very famous.  Constructed very early in the Renaissance (c. 1421), it was the first building to have arches supported on slender columns which later because a trademark of Renaissance period architecture. 

CHEMISTS, SCENTS, MEDICINES, PERFUMES! - Around the corner from the church is a big building where many perfumes and herbal medicines are made and sold. The 14th century friars there were herbalists and made medicines and perfumes. You can still buy them today in the original formulas.

A view into the grassy square behind the cloister

They include: 

• Ancient Preparations
• Cosmetics
• Fragrances
• Home fragrances
• Wax products
• Dogs and Cats (shampoo, perfume)



Artwork of a pope on a column

• Accessories 

To go to the store website: http://buy.smnovella.com/.  

NEXT: THE PALAZZI VECCHIO (The town hall)... 

Video: 9/11 survivor Lauren Manning: Clinton stood with me through the darkest days

Here's another short video that will give you a different perspective - it shows someone that REALLY cares.  

9/11 survivor Lauren Manning: Clinton stood with me through the darkest days

 

Lauren was a former executive and partner at Cantor Fitzgerald. She is one of the most catastrophically wounded survivors of 9/11. Lauren battled single digit odds of survival, spending more than six months in the hospital and fought recovering through the next decade from an 82.5% total body burn. Lauren asked then Senator Hillary Clinton to support the injured and she has remained unflagging in her commitment and dedication.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/dAyfUlKJuOw