Eyeglasses are becoming more and more expensive. Is it the insurance companies surreptitiously driving up the prices? Not sure. But mine cost $250 and then the kids had to get some and that was another $650 dollars! Our insurance paid for a large chunk of it (about 80% of the cost) but then I realized that if we’d purchased discount eyeglasses from Zenni Optical, I’d have paid a lot less. I went with the insurance deal because I figured it would be less money, but I think not.

If you haven’t heard, Zenni Optical is an online discount prescription glasses manufacturer and retailer. CNN, FoxNews, Clark Howard and a number of other folks have mentioned and reviewed Zenni. Zenni has eliminated the expensive middle man to offer customers extremely low prices on glasses. Of course, you have to find an optician to give you an exam and give you your prescription details. You need that information to purchase online glasses. But the prices are SO low that Zenni is making a lot of news. Glasses for under $10?! How much does that expensive middle man at the retail eyeglasses store get paid, anyway?!

Check out the store, you may find something you like. And good luck with the New York State DMV eye exam.

I need to do more clothes shopping for the kids. All they have right now is t-shirts. Which is OK, but not suitable for winter! The kids absolutely love wearing their “travel garb” when we travel, so we do have a large quantity of them. To the kids, travel garb is: t-shirts! Ah, but not any t-shirts, mind you. Not the dull, monochrome Fruit of the Loom t-shirts. They must be t-shirts with witty sayings or meaningful messages, or custom t-shirts that we have purchased online and from the multitudes of gift shops we have perused all over the state. We have Haudenosaunee (Oneida Indian Nation) t-shirts, Fort Herkimer t-shirts, New York t-shirts, Voice of the Martyr t-shirts, Fender t-shirts, witty sayings t-shirts, and we even got a very cool Chuck Norris t-shirt from The Ember Family! They saw our love for t-shirts and sent us one.

The Embers are in the process of starting up an Adirondack cabin retreat and eatery. It’s not completed and therefore not ready for guests yet, but I CANNOT WAIT until it is. We will definitely be making a visit there, when it’s ready. Right now the family is searching for a grant to start the construction; the quest has been thus far unsuccessful, unfortunately. Starting up a business is so difficult in New York State, I know. I hope they can find something, and get going on their project. Cheer them on with me, will you? And if you happen to know of a grant or an investor who has an interest in assisting a family passionate about the Adirondacks and hospitality, give the Embers a buzz.

I’ve been on a search for historical movies lately. Not been very successful. What I am looking for specifically is stuff like the PBS “Liberty” series, or even Henry Fonda’s old “Drums Along the Mohawk.” We’ve seen the same old movies so frequently that the kids practically have them fully memorized. I care not if the movies are major motion pictures replete with glamorous movie stars and glossy movie posters, or historical documentaries like the “Liberty” series or the “John Adams” movie; all are fine. But they must be well done and at LEAST a little accurate. Nobody really seems to be making much historical stuff these days. What little is produced is sometimes embarrassingly inaccurate and outright false, not worthy to be called historical except in name only. I’m not looking for raves by Rotten Tomatoes for splendid cinematography and costumes… which brings up a pet peeve of mine. Why do movie makers spend countless dollars and hours researching and creating costumes and settings to be SO SO SO accurate to the time period, then destroy every shred of historical accuracy by having their actors say “Yeah” and “Nope” and act with such licentious, modern mannerisms?

Well, that’s all we’re doing right now. HOPING we can travel again, and assuaging our disappointments with the quest for historical entertainment.

I have faith that next spring, we will be doing much more traveling. My home renovation projects will slow to a dull lull, and we can hit the road once again. Onward.

I write like
L. Frank Baum

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Funny! I discovered this website “I Write Like” thanks to blogging friend Karen. You paste a section of your writing into the applet, which then analyzes your writing style and compares it with other authors.

I got L. Frank Baum. That’s funny, because I have never read one of his books. But at least he was a New Yorker! He was from Chittenango, NY, a town along Route 5 that was actually founded by my ancestors.

The section of writing I had analyzed was from an older essay I wrote, “Eating Crow.” I wrote it early one morning, before the clamor and clutter of the day had struck. I like the piece. I’ll include it here for you.

Eating Crow

Where did that expression come from? It has negative connotations mostly, I suppose, because of the crow. It is early morning and the world is still quiet. The rustle of cars on the road hasn’t begun outside my walls yet. I am sipping coffee, pondering whether I should start the laundry early. A group of crows is in the neighborhood. I can hear their cackles all the way down the street and in my yard. It is strange how sounds echo so clearly very late at night and in the early morning. Why is that? Is the air thinner at those times so that sounds echo more easily?

The American crow is a despised bird. Well, at least, I despise them. And a group of crows is not called a group, it’s called a murder. How appropriate.

Crows are pesky birds. They drive out all the other songbirds in the summer. Now that it is autumn, and most of the songbirds have migrated or are in hiding, the crow finds advantage and comes boldly out of the woodwork. The crow is such a brassy, crass bird. There is a superiority in their eye when they stare down at you from their perches in the highest trees. Any seeds (or dog food) that I leave out for other critters are promptly stolen by these murders of crows. They descend arrogantly– right in front of me– in a black cloud of greasy feathers to gobble up the treats. I chase them away and they flap half-heartedly– just enough to move out of stone-throwing distance. But even before I’ve turned my back, they are back again, eating another’s seeds. My cats are terrified of the birds and refuse to chase them. Some help they are. They probably pay off the crows with cat food, begging the birds to allow them to stay here. There’s probably a whole mafia ring of crows controlling my property underneath my nose.

For the past few years, Upstate cities have been plagued by murders of crows. You can’t shoot them out of the city trees and off apartment balconies, so people have resorted to banging pots, blowing sirens, and aiming laser lights at them. This is in the hopes of disturbing their nesting places. It works, temporarily. The murders of crows flee the cities like a CEO on vacation, and head for the hills– my hills. So now I must cope with them– until next summer when the crows descend to feast upon the city again.

Some folks say crows are smart. Aesop’s fable, The Crow and the Pitcher, is about a wise bird. In the story, a thirsty crow comes upon a pitcher with some water at the bottom. His beak cannot reach the water. The crow drops pebbles in the pitcher, one by one, to raise the water up to a level where he can drink. I think it’s an odd story, because wouldn’t the water trickle down around the pebbles back to the bottom? The stupid crow should have used a big rock, that will raise the water for ya.

Noah sent out a raven from the ark. I have wondered if this was a crow. Crows are sometimes called ravens. Noah’s dove had returned, but the raven never did. Noah took that to mean that the raven remained alive, and there was dry land where the bird could live and eat. I know this is true because crows never die and they always go to the best feeding places first and never share.

When I was a kid, my mother constructed a scarecrow for her garden. Who ever came up with that idea first? I wonder if it ever worked. The crows completely ignored our scarecrow. They used him like a Charmin toilet roll, that murder of crows.

I suppose crows do serve a purpose. Somewhere, in the great universal scheme of delicate ecological balance, I know they must serve a purpose. Don’t ask me what it is, though. I just might cast my vote to bring to extinction those murders of crows.

They are quieter now. I can barely hear them far up the hill in the back. The cars outside are starting to rustle and overpower the ubiquitous cackling. I guess I should get the laundry going now.

Concierge.com has an interesting series on the world’s creepiest places. The places that make the top ten are… very creepy, indeed. There’s a nifty Google Map for it, too, here.

Surprisingly, no New York State tourist attractions made the list. Oh well, the Legislature will soon be gone for the season, anyhow.

One place they did include is Chernobyl in the Ukraine. When I was a schoolgirl in the 80′s, the news was filled with the shady and unaccounted-for reports of what was happening after a fire at a nuclear power plant (this was before glasnost). Over the past twenty years, the horrors of the nuclear fallout have come to light. Those poor, pitiable people. Years ago, I read a blog about a young woman who drove her motorcycle through the area. She snapped photos, and her narrative made you ache along with these plighted, peopleless homes. Her journal is riveting. Be prepared to spend hours going over it.

De Beers is the largest supplier of rough diamonds in the world. Beginning in 2001, Plaintiffs in several states filed lawsuits against De Beers in state and federal courts alleging that De Beers unlawfully monopolized the supply of diamonds, conspired to fix, raise, and control diamond prices, and issued false and misleading advertising. De Beers denies it violated the law or did anything wrong.

The Settlement Agreement provides that $22.5 Million be distributed to the Direct Purchaser Class, and that $272.5 Million will be distributed to the Indirect Purchaser Class. De Beers also agrees to refrain from engaging in certain conduct that violates federal and state antitrust laws and submit to the jurisdiction of the Court to enforce the Settlement.

De Beers was founded by Cecil Rhodes in 1888. I actually found Wikipedia’s article about De Beers interesting:

De Beers, founded by Cecil Rhodes, comprises companies involved in rough diamond exploration, diamond mining and diamond trading. The various companies within the De Beers “family of companies” are responsible for around 40% of world diamond production by value.[1]

De Beers is active in every category of diamond mining: open-pit, underground, large-scale alluvial, coastal and deep sea. De Beers is not involved in informal small-scale diamond mining, which is rarely economical for large mining companies.

De Beers (through its sales and marketing arm, the DTC) has been very successful in increasing desire for diamonds. The famous advertising line “A Diamond is Forever” (attempting to discourage diamond owners from putting their older diamonds onto the secondary market, thus limiting competition) was coined in 1947 and the company has created many successful campaigns since then. One of the most effective of these has been the marketing of diamonds as a symbol of love and commitment and thus the ideal jewel for an engagement or wedding ring.

Some of the campaigns started by De Beers include the “eternity ring” (as a symbol of continuing affection and appreciation), the “trilogy” ring (representing the past, present and future of a relationship) and the “right hand ring” (bought and worn by women as a symbol of independence).

De Beers is also known for its television advertisements featuring silhouettes of people wearing diamonds, to the music of Palladio by Karl Jenkins.The company spends $150 million per year on advertising.

Gosh, I remember those commercials when I lived in Syracuse! My mother used to sigh over things like that– expensive jewelry. I was never into diamond necklaces or earrings very much; I prefer the more functional expensive jewelry, like gorgeous womens gold watches. Hee.