_________________
              /|     /       / |
   o___________|_\__/_______/__|
  ]|___    |   |=  ||  =|___  |"
 //   \\   |   |___||_///   \\|"
 |  X  |\-------------/|  X  |\"~ 
  \___/                 \___/

Senior Group Newsletter is the monthly publication of an
informal group of seniors, community-net senior section
moderators, educators, senior service providers and others
interested in how the net serves seniors and vice-versa.

editor is Jim Olson  

olsonj@sawdust.cvfn.org
sierrajimO@aol.com
olsonjam@uwec.edu

The newsletter is mailed to subscribers via e-mail and posted 
at several net sites including AOL Seniornet On Line.

There is no charge. Just contact the editor.

Contents

   Editorial Bits and Bytes

   Features 

      Just Kidding Around
      Northern Lights
      Seniors Needed as Online Mentors
      Memories of 1945 
      Veteran's Day  (a poem)

   Introducing 
        
   Gleanings from Senior  Postings  
      Skirting the Issue
      The Trauma Continues
      A View of China
      New Mexico Culinary Delights

   Senior Smiles              
 
   Notices and Reviews 

    
           EDITORIAL BITS AND BYTES          

The features in this issue all deal with that delightful
generational interchange that takes place between the young and
the old. Some of the more bittersweet exchanges that occur
between adult children and their parents will be covered in
articles in other issues, but we have no plans to devote a set
of newsletter features to them.

Our December issue will return to a mixture of features. One
currently ready to go  deals with the popular topic of genealogy
research and a related one on the drawing board will deal with
senior writing of various kinds.

Readers are invited to send feature story ideas to the editor.

A new feature this issue is the inauguration of our Senior Group
Library- (see Notices and Reviews). We haven't had a ribbon
cutting ceremony. I'll just take care of that launch with some
champagne shared with Maggie- I better watch it though or the
bottle may be smashed on the Mac- Maggie is not a computer
enthusiast. Maybe the champagne will help.

As I look out the window today at the Federal Building parking
lot across the street I see that it is almost empty. I hope that
situation gets resolved soon. Maybe they should turn it all over
to a panel of Elders - assuming none of them are running for any
elected office.

            FEATURES 

Just Kidding Around

Lotte Evans 


My grandchildren have just been for a visit.  All seven of them,
not of one family, but split up in two groups of three and one
singleton.  They often come to see me and what happens most of
the time is that the older ones (varying between 12-15 years)
greet me fondly, check out whats to eat and than make a straight
bee line for my computer. The next age group down ( 4-5 years
old) would also love to have a go, but they mostly are gently,
but firmly outmanouvered by their older siblings. So all they
can do is hang out vociverously in the background.

That's until grandma makes a lightning appearance and sorts them
out. Mind you they all have a computer at home but none of them
are on the internet and that's what makes all the difference. 
Being on the net enables me to get games, demos, hints and
walkthru's. And now that I have netscape access there are also
any number of cool sites on the web, just waiting for a visit.
During the 'sorting out' I just looked at them.  The older ones
were snappily dressed in clothes three size to large.  One was
plugged into a walkman and another one clutched a book with the
catchy series title 'Goosebumps'.

With my tongue firmly held between my teeth so as not to make
any sarcastic remarks re dress sense, reading matter etc. and
thus widen the generation gap I sat down, like a virtuoso,
removed the mouse out of my oldest grandson's grasp and got onto
the web with the url

http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/~watts/kiddin.html

This site welcomes you with the message "Welcome to the KIDDING
AROUND homepage.  This is YOUR chance to explore strange and
wonderful new places.  Come and wander in, hang out, and just
kick back and have fun on the information superhighway. Consider
this your own private drivers license with no exams, no age
restrictions, a road built especially for middle school kids and
teenagers.

So imagine yourself behind the wheel, windows rolled down, cool
song on the radio, and the freedom to go wherever you like"
There are places to visit such as Antarctica, you can experience
for yourself the voyage of Columbus, take a look at the
mysterious Dead Sea Scrolls or visit the Franklin Institute
Science Museum which has even fun interactive exhibits.


There is a roadmap with links to:

Fantasy Lands

Spooky Spots ( and yes this site has even a R.L.Styne page-
 mustn't forget Goosebumps and other books)

Back to the Future

Road Trips with Friends

Go on safari

Visit famous People (Shakespeare amongst them)

Toontown ( this one doesn't have Shakespeare, but it does have
the X-Men)

Teen Territory

Amusement Parks

Library Reading Rooms

Sport Stadiums

Museums

Hearth and Home

Movie Theatres and TV Rooms

Weird wonders

Puzzling Places

Cyberspace

How to write and publish your own work on the Net

One can visit all of those places. We had a good look at the
'Spooky Spots' which invites you to shiver with Goosebumps or to
become a Super Sleuth with Nancy Drew. We embarked briefly on an
electronic quest to Avalon in Fantastic Lands and finished off
our afternoon's entertainment with a look at the web page of the
Hillside Elementary School who created a Choose Your Own
Adventure Story. Each time you read the story, you have the
option of changing the ending yourself.

Well all zipping around on that web site finally had to stop (I
can only take so much of a good thing).  But I will say it was a
success all around. After a final check around if there was
anything edible left and a fond farewell they left and I settled
down with a good book.

There are many more web sites out there suitable for youngsters.
I have a looong list of them which I received several weeks ago
and by now quite probable some may have folded but many new
sites are available. If anyone is interested just drop me an
email 

Lotte Evans rylcae@minyos.xx.rmit.edu.au

_____________

  Northern Lights an Intergenerational Perspective 
           - Taken from  The Journey North
             a Minnesota K-12 net project

ed note- reprise from May 95 newsletter

We invited an elder, Isaac, to speak to us concerning life
when he was young.  We are going to share some of his
information with you.

Isaac said that when he was young he lived in a sod house.
The inside of the sod house was reinforced with driftwood
and they used caribou skin or grass for insulation. He said
it was warm inside. Long ago Isaac and his family traveled
by dog team.  Isaac said a dog team was better than trucks
of today because a dog team doesn't break down.  But you do
have to feed the dogs every day.

He feels like the weather is changing; that it is warmer and
drier than it used to be and some of the plants that he knew
as a young person are no longer around.  When he was young
there were no electric lights.  If the night was clear they
used the moon and the Northern Lights for traveling.

** "The Northern Lights" by Eunice Mae Kunnan Qayaak
Chandler (5th grade)

I will tell about the things I've heard and read about the
Northern Lights. I heard some from Isaac, an elder in
Kaktovik, Alaska.  He said we need to keep our hoods on
while we are out doors.  He said, "If you whistle you can
see the Northern Lights get brighter colors and dance around
lots."

People in the village do whistle when they see Northern
Lights so they will move faster.  I love to see the Northern
Lights.  We also read in science that the sun sends off
electrons and they get stuck in the earth's atmosphere.
They go to the northern and southern most places and create
the Northern Lights.  It was fun reading that kind of stuff.

I have heard about the Northern Lights from the elders and
other kids since I was a little girl.  My friends used to
say, " they can chop your heads off and play catch, football
or basketball with your head."   If I was outside or any
other kid was outside they would run to their house and stay
home or ask somebody if they could take them home. We were
scared because the adults said that stuff back in  those
days and it made me scared when I was little.

At school when we studied about the Northern Lights I
learned that they can't chop your heads off and play
basketball or catch.   They only can bounce around and go
very low, but they can't chop our heads off.  They can also
change different colors and are so beautiful.  Some little
kids in this village are still scared of the Northern Lights.
I'm proud I learned more about the Northern Lights.

To tell you the truth, I really think the Northern Lights
are very, very, very pretty. I love to whistle at them and
see them change colors. They can dance too!   People love to
gaze at the Northern Lights and say, "WOW the colors are
lovely  on those Northern Lights!"   I love to see them get
huge and start getting low!   I really like  the Northern
Lights. I'm glad I live near Northern Lights!!
Eunice Mae Kunnan Qayaak Chandler
____________

Seniors Needed as Online Mentors

Clancy J. Wolf

editors note:

In this post Dr. Wolf explains a Washington state project that
uses volunteers to work with K-12 students in the Puget Sound
area as mentors in online educational projects. He directs the
Interactive Curriculum Institute, a project of the Puget Sound
Educational Service District. It illustrates one of the many
ways that seniors can work with children and share their
knowledge. 

We post it here not only to help Dr. Clancy in his work, but as
an example of the kinds of projects that can develop
inter-generational exchanges of a very positive nature.

_______

We  want to help our students to understand that learning and
education are not things that just happen in school, but rather
extend throughout one's life.  What better way to demonstrate
this than to have them working with people who have done this.

There are many opportunities for volunteers.  In particular, we
are always looking for people who have an expertise in one of
our subject areas who would like to serve either as a moderator
for one of the exercises, or a mentor to students in one of the
exercises.

Moderators - One for Each Exercise

Moderators are the main on-line presence for ICI in each project
(see below.) We usually have moderators in mind when we create
an exercise, but maybe someone who reads this has the expertise,
desire and time available to work with us.

As a moderator, you would be the leader of the exercise.  All of
the teachers would look to you for direction and coordination.
Most of our moderators have been either University Faculty, or
Teachers.  The moderator is a large time commitment.  Moderators
in the past have spent at least an hour a day on-line answering
questions. 

Mentors - Several for Each Exercise

Mentors are much as the name implies - someone to act as a guide
and sounding board for the students in our projects.  
Mentors, have a certain amount of expertise in the
subject area, and the ability to answer questions
students may pose. Graduate and undergraduate
students, retired professors, engineers and poets all act as
mentors in the past.


The Projects

This Winter/Spring we will be running three projects, with two
additional ones in development.

It Ought To Be A Law (Grade levels: 9-12)

Making History Real(Grade levels: 4-12)

Best Of ... Writing project (Grade levels: K-12)

For more information contact

Clancy J. Wolf, Ed.D. Interactive Curriculum Institute Puget
Sound Educational Service District 400 S.W. 152nd St. Seattle,
WA 98166-2209 206.439.3636 ext. 4023     FAX: 206.439.3961
http://www.ici.wednet.edu

____________


 MEMORIES WELCOME
 
 MEMORIES OF 1945 - aftermath of the War

 The MEMORIES project was set up to allow people - of ALL
 countries - to describe what happened to them in their
 everyday lives during the year 1945.  We encourage children
 to ask their grandparents about those times and to submit
 their short stories to the MEMORIES list
 (memories@sjuvm.stjohns.edu) and also to ask questions about
 other peoples stories that they read there.  We particularly
 welcome stories from the Eastern European Republics and the
 occupied countries of Europe.


For information about this project contact

Tom Holloway 
Internet: t.holloway@warwick.ac.uk
URL:http://www.tcns.co.uk/chatback/


_________

                   Veteran's Day
                      
            "Thank you, Jim,
            For fighting in the war."
            Grandson Jake has done his homework,
            Thank a veteran on this day.
            
            This winter we will brave the cold lake;
            Blue gills and truth will flop upon the ice.
            We will not talk more of war, 
            But of how the things men get by fighting 
            Count less than those we give
            By loving.
          

     
           INTRODUCING 

Wayne Barney

Tomorrow, Nov 3, will be my 71st birthday. Have been married 45
years and have three daughters and four granddaughters. My
vocation was a career as a Civil Engineer with the State of
Illinois as a highway engineer. My avocation since retirement
have been computers and volunteering.

Computer interests lie in helping my wife with her volunteer
jobs as treasurer of two organizations, "cruising" the local
BBSs for humor and "surfing the net" from time to time. One day
a week is spent at the offices of Heartland Regional Network
helping with the registration and other office work. Other
volunteer work consists of helping at a local social agency and
the local public library.

wbarney@heartland.bradley.edu  

___________________


Jim Hursey

jwhursey@cd.columbus.oh.us

I am 65, soon to retire (January '96) after 35 years as a
computer "techie" with a large daily newspaper.

I enjoy reading, the four seasons with daily fitness/nature
walks in all weather, big band jazz, Bach, the theatre,
grandchildren, science, wine, cooking, writing prose and poetry,
football parties, and reading.

I also do some free-lance writing and hope to do more after
retirement. I co-edit The CyberSenior Review, a quarterly
electronic magazine written and edited by online elders.

___________________

Carol B. Tyndale

carolbt@oldcolo.com

Three years ago, I came home to Colorado Springs, Colorado after
living for four years in Japan, and 27 years on Cape Cod. Being
here, where I see every day great sandstone slabs that were once
sediment on the bottom of an ancient sea and are now vertical
playgrounds for rock climbers, helps me keep life in perspective
-- thinking in geologic time is a great antidote to stress and
impatience!

I earn my living writing grant proposals, newsletters, and such
for a large nonprofit agency that provides supportive services
for adults who have developmental disabilities (and who also
help me keep my small troubles in perspective!)  I earn my place
as a citizen of my city by serving on the budget committee for
the public school district from which I graduated 40 years ago.
In my free time I garden, read, and spend hours on the Internet,
corresponding with the Elders and other friends, and with my
delightful children.  I have an almost- 21 year old daughter who
is a junior in college, a 34-year-old son who is a software
engineer, and a wonderful daughter-in-law who is a librarian/
archivist, and who I would have tried to adopt had my son not
married her).  They are all on the east coast, so the Internet
is a real life-line for us.

I'm divorced, and am always delighted to read of the lovely
relationships the other Elders have (or had) with the spouses
they chose so much more wisely than I chose mine.  They sustain
my faith that marriage is a wonderful institution! That'll have
to do -- if I wait until I can make it perfect, you'll never get
it!

______________


Langston Kerr

c_snet@TITAN.SFASU.EDU

Introduce myself...now that is about the hardest thing I have
been asked to do since the minister asked me all those questions
before the alter during my marriage ceremony over forty years
ago now, and Marie, my wife, is still with me making sure I do
all the things I don't even remembering promising.

I am A. Langston Kerr.  I will be 62 years old December 2'ed.  I
was an only child, have three daughters, and three grandsons.
The oldest grandson who was 10 this past May, spent the first
nine years of his life with Marie and I.  A very rewarding
experience.  This gave me the opportunity to teach him about his
first fishing and hunting he got to do, along with trapping
coons, and learning about some of the things about life in the
country...where I have spent most of my life except for very
short periods of time.

I was invited to join Nacogdoches SeniorNet in 1990, an
invitation Marie and I will always be proud of accepting.  This
give us a very new community to participate in.  After having
all the classes in MSWorks, I was asked by the president of our
local SeniorNet Chapter to see if I could get a 'node' or
communications here in our area. This got to be an every day
task and I was always told 'you are in a remote area' and 'we'
can not come in.  I made contact with our local Stephen F.
Austin University, who saw a way to give our local SeniorNet
Chapter a connection to their node.  So our user name was
established as C_SNET, and our Chapter shared the account. I
teach a communications class at SeniorNet, which is a lot of
fun!

I have met many 'friends' on the internet  and I have found they
are always willing to help you with everything from a shared
tear to answering or helping with a high tech problem. I have
more than used my 'two paragraphs' and haven't told you I do
live in the country, right in the middle of 42 acres, with all
kinds of wild life, hay meadow, vegetable garden, catfish lake,
locomotive for a BBQ pit seven ever flowing springs in my yard
and...about five acres to mow.  As I have always told everyone,
the gate to our place is always open, if you are in our area
drop by.

     GLEANINGS FROM SENIOR  POSTINGS 


                       Skirting the Issue

The following is from Courtney Bond of Ottawa who includes a
letter from his wife Beth to the family back home as part of his
book, Letters from Dar, telling of experiences in Dar es Salamm
in the 1970s as he and his wife worked as volunteers in a
Canadian educational project. Beth, the ballet dancer, has some
problems with the African dress code. One can imagine that African
women would never really be the same after coming in contact with
this lively Canadian woman.


Dar es Salaam
April 9, 1974

On Friday "I should have stood in bed." The bus to town was
crowded, but I got on anyway. I had to stand on the middle step,
but there was a man below me on he bottom one, with both arms
across the space. Buses here have no doors. The driver went
around the kipi lefti (traffic circle) at a high speed that
would have thrown me out except for the man below and one above
grabbing me. When I got down town I heard that the Jeshi la
Mgambo (People's Militia) were out in force, picking up those
with short skirts. Mine was 4 inches above my knees, which the
president said on radio some time ago was okay. {President
Nyerere, out of the country at a conference, was temporarily
"overridden" by Kawawa, 2nd vice pres, who imposed rigid dress
laws]

First I met a nice little guy who said it was too short and
added "Change, OK?" I looked for the mail and then went into a
store, thinking I'd better get to the pool and wait for Court
before I get in trouble. An older Asian man stopped me and said
I'd better not proceed, because they were ahead of me. I put my
rain cape on, which comes almost to my knees and took a
different street. There I met a bunch of them, who told me to
get in a minibus full of African women. I protested, but they
speak no English and my little Kiswahili evaporated. They managed
to squeeze me in and we were taken to TANU [the party]
headquarters in Ilala, which would be equivalent in Ottawa to
Parkwood Hills from downtown. We sat for an hour and a half. A
man came to take our names.

I was prepared to say Lucrezia Borgia, but first insisted they
tell me how long a skirt had to be. Of course he couldn't speak
English, so finally gave up. Later another man called the names
one by one and they had to walk the length of the room so he
could look at the hemlines.   A few with shorter skirts were
separated. Then there was a long tirade in Kiswahili and we were
allowed to go with a warning. Once again a long ride in a
crowded bus.

____________________________


        The Trauma Continues

The following post is from Manny Karbelnig
aj667@lafn.org 

I best tell you where I am coming from, and my background. I was
a combat veteran in WWII, and after my tank hit a mine, I was
reassigned as a combat Medic to an Infantry platoon. We fought
in the battle of the Bulge, and my combat experiences taught me
that the ultimate savagery in mankind, the merciless shelling
and killing, certainly qualifies mankind as the permanent
Savage, devoid of any kindness, pity or even goodness. After you
have lost some good buddies on the battlefield, killing the
enemy seems just as natural and justified as stepping on a
cockroach. As general Patton told us, "it's not your job to die
for your country, it's your job to make the Germans die for
their country." Suddenly, we are given an open season on killing
other human beings, the ultimate savagery. To see the ongoing
and permanent horror of war, visit any of our Veteran's
hospitals scattered all over our nation.


After the fighting stopped, after May 8, I stayed on and helped
run a Displaced persons (or DP) camp, helping displaced
 citizens, many of whom have lost all they love and all they
owned, to get adjusted, and find a new homeland. They are the
completely innocent victims, persecuted because of their
religion, their race, or their infirmities- the real sorrow of
humankind-victims of a nation that has a history of such
atrocities, and who many, including myself, feel are always
likely to start it again. If you doubt this, find out where
Saddam Hussein got the lethal poison gas, and who developed the
deadly bacterial strains, that were to be used as a gas, or
lobbed over in  artillery shells.

When I was discharged, I used the GI Bill to complete my
education, and 14 years later, I was a fully trained Trauma
Surgeon. I was trained at a major trauma center, Cook County
Hospital in Chicago, and then moved to the West Coast were I
joined a Medical Group, and also taught at one of the local
Medical Schools, associated with another County Hospital,
treating trauma cases. I am now convinced that, if you wish to
see what WWIII will be like, visit our emergency admitting room
on any Friday or Saturday night. After all, I stab wound is just
like a bayonet wound, and a gunshot wound is the same, where the
bullet was made is secondary. A bullet is made to kill people.

I am now in my 70's, a recycled teen-ager, and reading the daily
newspaper makes me convinced that God is laughing while we
destroy each other.

________________


                   Running Low on Sunshine

We sometimes hear from   Walter Raniowski
bo500@FreeNet.Carleton.CA

on  NCF reporting on conditions in Resolute in Canadian Northwest
Territory up near the Arctic Circle . Here is his fall report:

Hi. I'm Walter from Resolute.

News from the Magnetic North Pole:

1. Modem Communication In Jeopardy

Modem communication, and sometimes telephone communication is
not working well these days, especially during the day, which is
not really the day, but almost night, with a long twilight. As
the sun dips closer to the horizon, showing only a small portion
of the golden orb, the satellite is directly in line with the
sun, causing noisy signals. Which in turn disrupt modem
communication.

2. "You Are My Sunshine..."

The people here have stopped humming the tune named above. All
are now preparing for the long night. The sun rose at about 10.45
this morning and will rise only about 5 degrees above the
horizon. It will be setting by 2.00. By next week, we will have
only a glow in the southern sky. Then, only a memory until early
February.

3. Hunting

Many of the hunters have been going out to try to bring in a
little extra for the next few months. Hunters can go out and
find game on bright moonlit days especially where game is
plentiful, but, here in Resolute, game is not plentiful. Hunters
must go more than 50 miles to find musk-ox or caribou, but seals
are plentiful close by. Sometimes animals come closer, as 6
caribou were taken a few miles from here. They were probably
migrating. In places like Pond Inlet where there are many
caribou, it is much easier to hunt and find them.

Oh oh! The sun is acting up again, I'm losing the signal! I'm
going, going..

______________

A View of China

Edward S. Bell

ab785@FreeNet.Carleton.CA  takes us along on a trip to China

For three years  my wife Mary  and I hosted Chinese nurses and
engineers in our home in Ottawa, Canada, while they took
advanced courses sponsored by the Canadian Government.

In March 1994 along with our  granddaughter, Mary Bell Lem (half
Chinese)  we visited China for three weeks. Another family, the
Wongs, father Ping, mother Christina and daughter Cassandra,
originally from Hong Kong, but now resident in Toronto, made up
the small tour group.

We have visited the former Soviet Union twice and have travelled
from Leningrad in the West to Khabarovsk in the East and to
Georgia and to Uzbekistan in the South and have had long
discussions with our Russian and Chinese friends on the markedly
different changes in their two countries. Russians have gained
political freedom and a measure of democracy, but their economy
has collapsed, while the Chinese are still under firm political
control, but have gained much economic freedom. So far, the
Chinese people, as a whole, seem to have made the better deal.
(In the West we place the highest priority on political
freedoms, while lesser developed countries place their highest
priority on economic freedoms.)

There are economic problems in China. Rural areas are still
backward and the big cities have large numbers of illegal
migrants from the rural areas looking for work. The Chinese are
apprehensive about government policies after Deng Zhouping dies.

In Beijing we met three of our former guests. They were Hong
Yin, a woman engineer with the environmental monitoring agency
in Tianjin, Li Guolan, a nurse at the Teaching Medical Hospital
in Tianjin and Li Zhungming, an engineer at the Beijing Solar
Energy Research Institute. Zhungming gave Edward a cap with a
little solar powered fan mounted in the peak as a souvenir!.

We saw the usual sights in Beijing and the surrounding area, the
Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, Tianenmin Square, the Bei Hai
Park, the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall, which are magnificent
tourist attractions. However, our most enduring impressions are
of the traffic and the extensive fish ponds and market gardens
surrounding Beijing. Chinese cities have industrial areas
scattered throughout the residential areas and most people
travel to work by bicycle. Extensive delivery systems are
operated by bicycles and tricycles.

On four lane roads, the two centre lanes are for cars and
trucks, while the two outside lanes are for bicycles. Buses have
to dodge into the curb lanes whenever they want to drop or pick
up passengers. At intersections it seems chaotic as the double
stream of cars and bikes cuts through oncoming traffic to make
left turns (vehicles drive on the right in China, on the left in
Japan and Hongkong), but, miraculously, collisions and injuries
are avoided. Pedestrian crossings are marked, but these only
give pedestrians the  right to try to cross, but no right of way
against cars and cycles.

On the outskirts of the cities there are large fish ponds and
all spare land is planted with vegetables. Cold frames, with
straw mats to roll over them to keep plants warm overnight in
the north, are widespread. Inter-city roads are poor and the
Chinese internal transport system is weak so that the cities
draw most of their food supply from the immediate surrounding
area. The peasants working these market gardens are said to be
much richer than the city workers, which causes some resentment
about the new market economy.

The Huaqing hot springs were a favourite spot for the Xian
emperors and Chiang Kaishek was kidnapped and brought there in
1936 to sign and agreement with the Communists to cooperate
against the Japanese invaders.

After flying from Xian to Chungqing, we took the three day
cruise down the three gorges of the Yangzi River (now called
Changjiang) to Wuhan. In a  few years much of the area will be
submerged by the new high dam and millions of people displaced
to develop hydro power. China's main energy base is coal, but
they are pushing to develop their hydro and petroleum resources.
Most cities are highly polluted because of the use of coal, but
some cities in the south, such as Shanghai, have switched to
natural gas and are much cleaner.

In the villages and towns which will be flooded, no development
has been allowed so that they remain very poor areas. The new
dam will improve the navigation in the main river and in the
tributaries, but will destroy much of the spectacular scenery of
rapids and gorges.

Waiting at the airport in Wuhan for our flight to Shanghai, we
saw five American women who had adopted Chinese baby girls and
were flying back with their new babies to the United States. The
Chinese "one child per family" policy and the preference for
male children have led to unwanted female children, so it was
pleasant to see, in a small way, a happy solution. In our brief
visit to Shanghai we saw one of the Children's Palaces, where
the children come to learn dancing, music, singing, painting and
handicrafts. There is at least one palace in each district of
the city. Most of the art work was copying but the music was of
a high standard and the children obviously enjoyed the program.
Many of the children were accompanied by a parent.

China is obviously trying to make the best use of limited
resources in its  education system. We took a Sunday morning
walk along the Bund (the riverfront and former European occupied
area) and it was interesting to see thousands of Chinese
families out for a Sunday walk. We even saw a group of Tibetan
tourists!. One young girl engaged Mary in conversation, speaking
very good English, and in a few seconds they were surrounded by
a crowd of curious Chinese. Foreigners are still a curiosity
even in a large city like Shanghai.

Later in the afternoon we took a very comfortable train to
Hangzhou, which has been famous for over a thousand years for
its West Lake with landscaped gardens, tree shaded walks and
nearby temples, pagodas and monasteries. There are many tea
plantations nearby and tourists are given a tour to see tea
being grown and roasted, with ample opportunities to buy the
fresh green tea.


Our next stop was Guilin, which is one of the most beautiful
areas of China because of its karst topography, with the
fantastic limestone mountains arising almost vertically out of
the alluvial plain. We took the cruise down the Li River and
cooked our own Chinese fondue meal at our table, including
snails and prawns and visited the famous Reed Flute Cave to see
the stalactites and stalagmites.

>From Guilin we flew to Hongkong, where we met Cai Shu Qing, one
of our former guests, who is now designing computer chips at a
joint Chinese-Hongkong venture. Since she is from Wuhan she
speaks Mandarin and has to communicate with her Hongkong
colleagues in English, but is now learning Cantonese. We found
that many of our former guests had been promoted on their return
to China after their advanced training in Canada.

______________

                 New Mexico Culinary Delights

Tom Bruce 
Offers these hints on dining in New Mexico

Santa Fe has good NM food  try the "train station" if your
travel is limited ... else go to El Rito NM and try
Farolitos...across from the general store...for the best.

Don't drink with the Hispanic food ... it only tricks the mouth
into thinking that everything will be alright soon!

Try this ... order salsa with chips before the meal ... and dip
a little at a time increasing the amount of salsa as you go. 
Explain ... to your mouth (much later) that your wife made you
go to the Mexican Restaurant. Or...the Picuris Indians own a
hotel in Santa Fe, near the LaFonda.  Indian food Hispanic
style... is always much milder and very tasty.

You have your choice of red or green chile.  Most people ask
which is hotter and the answer is "green."  But this is not
true.  It depends on the chile itself and what the cook thinks
is hotter.  My suggestion is always try "green" it has a much
better taste than "red"

Now for a treat ... My recipe for salsa potatoes:

-- Chop up a potato in chunks about the size of a quarter say
  1/2 potato per person

-- in the skillet make a pool of Olive Oil about 3-4 inch in
   diameter

-- Add salsa, two teaspoons full (Hatch or Old El Paso or
   Territorial House (Yes I know the last two are from Texas)

-- add black pepper

-- add a small pinch of curry powder (my invention)

-- get the salsa mixture very hot ... then turn the heat down

-- add the potatoes and mix together

-- cook until you have a light singe around the edge of the
   potatoes

-- let cool just a bit.

(This will serve one person and it will not be too hot)

            SENIOR SMILES

Warning Labels from  net wordplayers

On an infant's bathtub:  "Do not throw baby out with bath
water."

On a package of Fisherman's Friend throat lozenges:  "Not meant
as substitute for human companionship."

On a roll of Life Savers:  "Not for use as a flotation device."

On a cup of McDonald's coffee:  "Allow to cool before applying
to groin area."

On a Pentium chip:  "If this product exhibits errors, the
manufacturer will replace it for a $2 shipping and a $3 handling
charge, for a total of $4.97."

On a pack of cigarettes:  "WARNING - The Tobacco Institute has
determined that smoking just one cigarette greatly increases
your risk of heart attack by making you so incredibly sexy that
gorgeous members of the opposite sex will surround you night and
day, begging for sexual intercourse and wearing you into
exhaustion, unless, of course, you have another couple of
cigarettes to steady your nerves."

On a disposable razor:  "Do not use this product during an
earthquake."

On a piano:  "Harmful or fatal if swallowed."

On a can of Fix-a-Flat:  "Not to be used for breast
augmentation."

On a blender:  "Not for use as an aquarium."

On a microscope:  "Objects are smaller and less alarming than
they appear."

On children's alphabet blocks:  "Letters may be used to
construct words, phrases and sentences that may be deemed
offensive."

__________

Barney's Perfect World

...your  SS payments would always be far more than you expected.

...neither chocolate nor booze would contain calories.

...procrastination would be viewed as a virtue.

...teen-agers would much rather work on the lawn than talk on
   the telephone.

...what the cat dragged in would be $100 bills.

...children on trips would say, "Isn't riding in the car fun!"
   and then they'd fall asleep.
__________________

Barabara  suggests this diet for the perfect world:

Breakfast:

1/2 grapefruit
1 slice whole wheat toast, dry
3 oz. skim milk

Lunch:

4 oz. lean broiled chicken breast
1 cup steamed spinach
1 cup herb tea
1 Oreo cookie

Midafternoon Snack:

Rest of Oreos in the package
2 pints Rocky Road ice cream
1 jar hot fudge sauce
Nuts, cherries, whipped cream

Dinner:

2 loaves garlic bread with cheese
Large sausage, mushroom, and cheese pizza
4 cans or 1 large pitcher of beer
3 Milky Way or Snickers candy bars

Rules for this Diet

1.  If you eat something and no one sees you eat it, it has no
    calories.

2.  If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar, the calories in
    the candy bar are canceled out by the diet soda.

3.  Food used for medicinal purposes never counts, such as hot
    chocolate, brandy, toast, or Sara Lee Cheesecake.

4.  If you fatten up everyone else around you, then you look
    thinner.

5.  Movie-related foods do not have additional calories because
    they are part of the entire entertainment package, and not part
    of one's personal fuel, such as Milk Duds, buttered popcorn,
    Junior Mints, Red Hots and Tootsie Rolls.

6.  Cookie pieces contain no calories.  The process of breaking
    causes calorie leakage.

7.  Things licked off knives and spoons have no calories if you
    are in the process of preparing something.  Examples, peanut
    butter on a knife making a sandwich and ice cream on a spoon
    making a sundae.

8.  Foods that have the same color have the same number of
    calories. Examples are spinach and pistachio ice cream,
   mushrooms and white chocolate.

NOTE:  Chocolate is a universal color and may be substituted for
any other food color.

        NOTICES AND  REVIEWS     

Administration on Aging: Programs, Services [USA]




Information about AoA and its programs, information about
resources for practitioners, statistical information on the
aging, and information for consumers (older persons and their
families) including how to obtain services and electronic
booklets on aging related issues.  It also includes a link to
AoA's National Aging Information Center and extensive links to
other aging related Web resources.

ed note:

This home page was just recently completed and represents an
excellent source of information for seniors.

______________


Feel like a little bit of spying?  Want to find out if anyone
you know posts to usenet, or do you wish to find what is written
on usenet on any specific topic?  If you do just lynx or use the
web and key in

http://dejanews.com

and follow the instruction.
____________

The 4th edition of "Internet and E-Mail Resources on Aging" is
now available as a printed document (for a fee of $5.00)  

At the moment this guide is not yet available as an electronic
document (free). But this is being worked on.
 
Joyce Post, Librarian
Philadelphia Geriatric Center
5301 Old York Road
Philadelphia, PA 19141
post@hslc.org

 note-When this list becomes available we will include it in our
senior Group Library (see below)

_____
  

Senior Group Library

The Common denominator for all subscribers to Senior Group
Newsletter is e-mail in one form or another. Because readers are
not all connected to or familiar with such other information
transfer methods on the net  as ftp, World Wide Web, Gopher,
uuencode/decode, file attachments, etc.,  the Senior Group is
setting up a simple text based e-mail library where readers can
request and get selected SG library items by e-mail request to

olsonjam@uwec.edu

In the message subject simply type   and in the
body of the e-mail the name of the document you are requesting.

Since this is a new feature, please be patient with us as we
work out technical details for mailing responses and expect some
delays.

A more comprehensive catalog will be published in our December
issue but the following are currently available:

**
Back issues of Senior Group Newsletter from Oct 1994 on. Just
state the month and year.  Our May 1995 and Sept 1995 issues
have been particularly popular with those who download the
newsletter from various bulletin boards.
**
Back issues of CyberSenior Review- just state the quarter,
spring, summer, fall or winter and year- from 1993 on.

**
Care Givers Manual:

An excellent manual for those who care for another person who is
home-bound whatever the age relationship . Written in plain
English and very practical. Supplied courtesy of Mike Moldeven.

**
Computer Online

Article by Craig Dean about  some commercial online services for
seniors and how to connect to them. It is written for a senior
audience.

- note 
All documents are written in Monaco 9  font with 65 characters per
inch. This will fit most mail box screens. AOL readers will
find ascii art distorted and some documents may arrive in several
e-mails. We will not send them in special fonts and partioned for
AOL as we do with regular newsletter.

From:  Arielpbf@aol.com        
Originally published in Connecticut Writer


           Old Soil

If I stand here long enough tending
this vacant plot, the old house
might grow up again,
white clapboards spring into place,
the plaque reconsider its spot by the door.
If I'm patient, the floors
might slant uphill again, the center pantry
provide shelter from lightning.
Then Aunt Nell in her lavender
bib-apron will serve Holland Rusk Pudding
sweet enough to fill any dark hollow
and Old Joe will come by again
with his Morgans to mow Smith's field,
let me burrow into that hay wagon mountain
as summer reopens my senses.
If I till this earth long enough,
I might grow braids and skinned knees
and run again through grasses
high as my chest.


Pat Fargnoli