Category: The Astonished Tamale!
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Happy Valentine’s Day
Dear friends and readers, Happy Valentine’s Day to you all. You are one and all loved by at least one very Astonished Tamale! Here’s hoping every one of you also is loved deeply and intensely by someone you love just as much. Speaking of astonishment: We’re pleased to note that for the second year in…
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New Websites
Several long-term projects coming to fruition: Please take a look at the all-new Stonehaven Press website at stonehavenpress.com. This site, the storefront for the publishing company Cheri and I own, has been in the works for a long time. Way overdue, but we haven’t had the time needed to bring it into being. Also its…
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The Proposed AIG Lawsuit
As I write this, AIG — American International Group — is meeting to consider filing a lawsuit against America for… That’s right. For bailing it out. By loaning $182 billion to AIG, back at the start of the Obama administration. Just so you know, here is what The Astonished Tamale! thinks of that: As the…
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The Windows 8 Great Debate
To my stark amazement, I love Windows 8. Let me count the ways. But first — why am I weighing in? Because various tech experts, including two I know, are recommending we skip this latest version of Microsoft’s operating system. At least (the advice goes) we should hold off till we’re forced into it by…
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Where We Left Off
“What’s going on with the Tamale?” Thus inquired my friend Patricia, just last night. As a subscriber to The Astonished Tamale!, she no doubt was puzzled at not having gotten any updates for the past four-and-and-half months. Okay, fasten your seat belts: It was May 8-9 when Zabine Van Ness and I returned to Seattle…
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Seoul Pancake
May 9, 2012 (Tuesday) – Apologies to Rainn Wilson for the pun on his wacky, wonderful website. But facing a 13-hour layover in Seoul, Korea, I was ready to disclaim any further responsibility for anything. Then Zabine and I got a clue: We remembered our Vietnamese home-stay host telling us of a terrific five-hour tour of Seoul we could…
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Vietnam Exit
May 9, 2012 (Tuesday) – Most of the past week – another blur. Our official reason for being in Vietnam ended with last weekend’s celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Hanoi Baha’i community. Normally we would have headed for home immediately. Did I explain that the earliest return flight turned out to be more…
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Ridvan – and a Hanoi Tamale(?)
May 2, 2012 (Wednesday) – Still Wednesday: After our visit to the Ho Chi Minh Memorial, Zabine and I were taken to the home of a Vietnamese National Spiritual Assembly member (Duyen). Other Baha’is were gathering, and only after some time did we realize that the purpose was to pray in celebration of a Baha’i…
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Vietnam Wednesday
May 1-2, 2012 (Tuesday and Wednesday) – Tuesday, for me, was a blur. Part of the day I felt weak from what may have been heat exhaustion, or some bug, or adrenaline overdose. Who knows? I stayed home and slept it off while Zabine ran around Vietnam having adventures. Felt great to unwind. But Wednesday…
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Vietnam Villages, Hanoi Hospitality
April 30, 2012 (Monday) — Today we traveled to two neighboring villages in the Vietnamese countryside, conducting home visits with the believers who live there. Lunch, served at the home of a Baha’i friend, consisted of delicacies I didn’t even try to identify. All I know is that it was lavish and delicious. As we…
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Hanoi: Baha’i 20th Anniversary Images
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Hanoi: Baha’i 20th Anniversary
April 29, 2012 (Sunday) – For Zabine Maryam (Linkins) Van Ness, this has been a journey of 20 years. For me, it only felt like one. We arrived Sunday morning at the hotel in Hanoi where the Baha’i community was gathering to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its founding. Stunning floral arrangements were everywhere. Many of…