Martha's Vineyard 40th Annual Possible Dreams Auction

It’s a rare opportunity to be able to buy a painting lesson with Allen Whiting, a private barbecuing class in your backyard with chef Steven Raichlen or a wine tasting in the Bordeaux region of France.

But at the 40th annual Possible Dreams auction on Sunday, all three were for sale to the highest bidder, with all the proceeds going to Martha’s Vineyard Community Services.

“This auction truly does make dreams possible,” said event organizer Liza May.

Although the final tally is not complete, Community Services development coordinator Jessica Rogers estimated the event brought in approximately $430,000, with the possibility of more donations still on the way.

At the Winnetu Resort in Katama, the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School a capella group Soundwave serenaded guests as they picked up their bidding paddles. Most then quickly proceeded to the oyster station, where expert shuckers Chris Murphy and Ted (Cap) Karalekas served up Spearpoint catches, courtesy of Island oyster farmer Jeremy Scheffer. Live jazz from Jeremy Berlin and Eric Johnson rounded out the warm summer evening in Edgartown.

The festivities opened up with a silent auction that included lobster bakes in Menemsha, biplane tours of Chappaquiddick and hayrides at the Farm Institute, along with vacations, staycations and spa-cations from Stowe Mountain Resort to the Charlotte Inn. When bidding ended promptly at five o’clock, Iris Freeman couldn’t contain her excitement.

“I won the family photo shoot!” she gleefully told a friend. “Now I just have to get them to do it.” Her clan arrives August 10.

After the silent portion of the evening, bidders made their way to the big tent and readied their paddles for the live auction with 24 enticing dreams.

“It’s because of you that Martha’s Vineyard Community Services has been able to expand to the growing needs of the Island community,” Liza May told the crowd before the bidding began. “Thank you for coming here tonight and celebrating the people who make this Island unique,” she added.

Nancy Monestime Williams was high bidder for a backstage tour and VIP guest pass to the Late Night with Seth Meyers.

“We’ve had our eye on it in years past,” she said, “so we’re very excited to get to go this year.”

Jack Davies, Chilmark resident and owner of the Washington Capitals, donated one of the most coveted dreams of the evening, inviting four people to enjoy a Caps game from the owner’s box and a post-game visit to the locker room. click here to continue reading.

Movie Review—The Equalizer 2

The Equalizer 2

by Peter J. O'Connell 

The Equalizer 2, Released July 2018. Runtime: 121 mins. MPAA Rating: R.

What do you get when you cross a Sidney Poitier character with a Charles Bronson character? You get a warm and caring gentleman who is a cold and relentless vigilante. You get Robert McCall, as played by Denzel Washington in The Equalizer 2, sequel to The Equalizer (2014), both directed by Antoine Fuqua.

McCall is a former Marine and government black ops agent who now lives a quiert life in Boston. He is a widower and in a special kind of retirement—almost everyone thinks that he is dead. The only ones who know otherwise are a couple, Brian (Bill Pullman) and Susan Plummer (Melissa Leo), who used to work with him in the Agency. 

McCall, who has a mild case of OCD, reads classic novels in his modest apartment and works as a drtiver for Lyft. (In The Equalizer he worked for Home Depot.) He shows his warm side by aiding  a Muslim woman (Sakina Jaffrey) trying to grow a garden, conveying a Holocaust survivor (Orson Bean) to various places, and mentoring Miles (Ashton Sanders), an African-American youth. 

McCall shows his vigilante side by rescuing a kidnapped child out of Turkey and wreaking retribution on some rich guys who have abused a woman. McCall's OCD manifests itself in his desire to deal with baddies with great alacrity, usually in about 30 seconds. To achieve this goal, he uses anything at hand as a weapon—even a credit card—and intense brutality. 

It is a tribute to Washington as an actor that he can make his character's coldness seem cool through his delivery of such lines as: “I'm going to kill each and every one of you, and the only disappointment is I only get to do it once.” Or his demand to another “whupped” bunch of baddies that they give him a high rating on Lyft!

McCall's skills are tested to the max after Susan Plummer is murdered in Brussels while working on a case with Dave York (Pedro Pascal), another former Agency colleague of McCall's. Twists and turns—not hard to guess--and, of course, much violence follow, including some directed at Miles, leading up to a truly spectacular climax in a deserted seaside town during a hurricane. 

Denzel Washington, now 63, an actor of great assurance who is capable of showing great sensitivity, commands the screen by his charisma just as his character commands his scenes by his skills. Ashton Sanders as young Miles is excellent, as he was in Moonlight (2016). Director Fuqua, like Robert McCall, handles matters with flamboyant aplomb, using different speeds, off-kilter angles, and seriously close close-ups. The Equalizer 2 may not add up to a movie masterpiece, but it does provide an exciting and entertaining two hours in the dark. 

The Living Years

Below are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs: The Living Years.
There is a great story in the lyrics that many of us can relate to.

At the end is a link to the song on YouTube--TG

The Living Years a ballad written by Mile Rutherford and B.A. Robertson and recorded by Rutherford's British rock band, Mike + The Mechanics. 

The song addresses a son's regret over unresolved conflict with his now-deceased father. It won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically & Lyrically in 1989, and was nominated for four Grammy awards in 1990, including Record and Song of the Year.  In 1996, famed composer Burt Bacharach opined, "'The Living Years' is one of the finest lyrics of the last 10 years.

Living Years

Every generation
Blames the one before
And all of their frustrations
Come beating on your door

I know that I'm a prisoner
To all my Father held so dear
I know that I'm a hostage
To all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Oh, crumpled bits of paper
Filled with imperfect thought
Stilted conversations
I'm afraid that's all we've got

You say you just don't see it
He says it's perfect sense
You just can't get agreement
In this present tense
We all talk a different language
Talking in defence

Say it loud (say it loud), say it clear (oh say it clear)
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late (it's too late) when we die (oh when we die)
To admit we don't see eye to eye

So we open up a quarrel
Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future
It's the bitterness that lasts

So don't yield to the fortunes
You sometimes see as fate
It may have a new perspective
On a different day
And if you don't give up, and don't give in
You may just be okay

So say it loud, say it clear (oh say it clear)
You can listen as well as you hear
Because it's too late, it's too late (it's too late) when we die (oh when we die)
To admit we don't see eye to eye

I wasn't there that morning
When my Father passed away
I didn't get to tell him
All the things I had to say

I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I'm sure I heard his echo
In my baby's new born tears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Say it loud, say it clear (oh say it clear)
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late (it's too late) when we die (it's too late when we die)
To admit we don't see eye to eye

So say it, say it, say it loud (say it loud)
Say it clear (come on say it clear)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hr64MxYpgk

Every generation
Blames the one before
And all of their frustrations
Come beating on your door

I know that I'm a prisoner to all my father held so dear
I know that I'm a hostage, to all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Crumpled bits of paper
Filled with imperfect thought
Stilted conversations
I'm afraid that's all we've got

You say you just don't see it
He says it's perfect sense
You just can't get agreement
In this present tense
We all talk a different language
Talking in defence

[Chorus]
Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late when we die
To admit we don't see eye to eye

So we open up a quarrel
Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future
It's the bitterness that lasts

So don't yield to the fortunes
You sometimes see as fate
It may have a new perspective
On a different day
And if you don't give up, and don't give in
You may just be OK

[Chorus]

I wasn't there that morning
When my father passed away
I didn't get to tell him
All the things I had to say

I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I'm sure I heard his echo
In my baby's new born tears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Movie Review—Beirut

Beirut

by Peter J. O'Connell

Beirut. Released: April 2018. Runtime: 109 mins. MPAA Rating: R for violence, some language, and a brief nude image.

At the party that begins Beirut, directed by Brad Anderson, the film's protagonist, Foreign Service officer Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm), describes the city that provides the title as a “boarding house without a landlord.” That opening scene takes place in 1972, when Beirut, the “Crossroads of the Middle East” and home to a variety of religious, political, and ethnic groups, was a relatively peaceful place, often a vacation destination. 

That would all change in coming years, and we get a taste of what is to come when Skiles' friend, Cal Riley (Mark Pellegrino), a CIA officer, tells Skiles that Karim, a 13-year-old Lebanese boy supposedly without a family, whom Skiles and his wife (Leila Bekhti) have been caring for, has a brother, Rami (Ben Affan), who is a terrorist responsible for the Munich Olympics attacks. The affable Skiles is shocked at this news but then horrified when Rami appears, shoots up the party, and takes off with Karim. Skiles' wife is killed in the attack. 

Ten years later and back in the U.S., Skiles has become an alcoholic and a corporate negotiator in labor disputes. An old client (Douglas Hodge) approaches him with a request from the U.S. government that he return to Lebanon to deliver a lecture. When he arrives back in Beirut, now devastated by years of civil war and terrorism, Skiles meets three State Department officials—Gaines (Dean Norris), Ruzak (Shea Whigham), Shalen (Larry Pine)--and CIA officer Sandy Crowder (Rosamund Pike). The officials inform Skiles that Cal Riley has been abducted in Lebanon, and his kidnappers have requested Skiles to negotiate Riley's release. That was the real reason that Skiles was asked to return. 

Attempting to pull himself together and do what he can to rescue his friend, Skiles finds himself in the midst of dangerously overlapping intrigues that bring him back into contact with Karim and Rami, involve Israel and the PLO, and are complicated by self-serving maneuvers by Gaines, Ruzak, and Shalen. Furthermore, Skiles has to deal with the bitterness felt toward him by Riley's wife (Kate Fleetwood) and the beginnings of a warm relationship with Crowder.

The film handles all of this in an unpretentious, competent way, without unrealistic extremes of either heroism or villainy. The acting, particularly by Hamm and Crowder, is convincing, and the themes are thought-provoking. Beirut is worth a visit.

MINIATURE GOLF TOURNAMENT to benefit the Stamford Senior Center

Join us for a fun evening of friendly competition of miniature golf with friends and colleagues on the SSC putting green patio.

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Enjoy nine holes of mini golf with pizza and beverages

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Space is limited to just 9 teams per tee time so reserve your foursome today!

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Choose your tee time of :

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 3:00 , 5:00 or 6:00 pm.

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Team of four $100 ($25 per individual)

If you don't have a team, no problem.  Register as an individual and 

we will put you on a team.

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Special  Discount for SSC members at 3:00 pm  tee time only

$60 per team or $15 per individual

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Join us on the 10th hole at Tiernan's Pub

Everyone who registers for the 5 or 6 pm tee time will get

their first drink on the house (compliments of Tiernan's )

Enjoy Appetizer specials, a signature drink and raffle

Thursday, September 6, 2018

Salty Taste in Mouth: Why Does Everything Taste Salty?

It’s common for taste buds to change as you age, but sometimes ongoing changes in taste can be signs of health conditions. One of these occurrences is a persistent salty taste. If your mouth tastes salty when you haven’t eaten salty foods or food with other flavor profiles just tastes salty to you, it’s worth considering whether there’s an underlying cause. Below are some of the conditions that cause this salty taste and how you can combat it.

Causes of Persistent Salty Taste in Mouth

There are a lot of causes of the sensation of a salty taste. Putting aside the actual presence of salt, causes can include:

Dehydration

Nutritional deficiencies

Oral bleeding

Acid reflux

Oral infection

Post-nasal drip

Sjogren’s syndrome

Hormonal changes

Side effects of medication

Chemotherapy side effects

You can see that the causes range from minor and very easily treatable (i.e. drinking water to fight dehydration) to complicated and in need of medical guidance. If you’re worried about a persistent salty taste, it’s always advisable to talk to your doctor and start looking for underlying causes. Click here to continue reading.

No More Chemotherapy for Many Breast Cancer Patients

Terrific news! More and more women with early-stage breast cancer no longer need aggressive chemotherapy and can be spared the difficult side effects. Stamford Health’s Carl & Dorothy Bennett Cancer Center participated in the clinical trial TAILORx which was reported in the recent national meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. This study showed that if a woman over age 50 with an estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer (breast cancer with proteins in or on cells that attach to the hormone estrogen) displays an intermediate cancer recurrence score of 11-25 based on the genomic test OncotypeDx, then she will not benefit from chemotherapy. The only systemic therapy she needs is the much more easily tolerated endocrine, anti-estrogen therapy.

It is estimated that this study will spare 60,000 women per year from receiving chemotherapy. Although this study applied only to patients who do not have axillary (armpit) lymph node involvement (the presence of cancer cells in the surrounding lymph nodes), there are data that the OncotypeDx is applicable to women with lymph node positive disease in determining those who need chemotherapy and those who do not. Click here to continue reading.

Movie Review—Sicario: Day of the Soldado

Sicario: Day of the Soldado

by Peter J. O'Connell                                       

Sicario: Day of the Soldado. Released: June 2018. Runtime: 122 mins. In English and subtitled Spanish. MPAA Rating: R for strong violence, bloody images, and language. 

In 2015 Sicario attracted audiences and critical favor with its searing look at the war on drugs on the sunbaked U.S.-Mexico border. The film's violence and machismo were leavened by the appealing performance of Emily Blunt as a humanistic, young FBI agent. Now Sicario: Day of the Soldado, directed by Stefano Sollima and written by Taylor Sheridan, has shown up on screens, with the same setting and some of the same characters, but less leaven—bye-bye- Blunt! 

“Sicario” can be loosely translated as “hitman,” and “soldado” is “soldier.” One would think that these two categories should be separate and distinct inasmuch as one refers to a murderous and mercenary functionary for criminals and the other as a fighter sanctioned by the state and functioning under the laws of war. But not so on the border.

The line between these two categories is as permeable as the line between the countries. The two flow into each other--as English and Spanish do in the movie's title—in the same way that drug smugglers and human traffickers go back and forth over the Rio Grande and over (or under) various fences and barriers that may exist. And those pursuing them do the same. It is a world of war against law and order, and lawmen themselves are sometimes warriors outside the law. 

The film begins with Washington's realization that Mexican drug cartels are increasingly including Muslims, possibly terrorists, among those they are bringing into the U.S. The government decides that starting a war between major cartels might be a way to disrupt this dangerous situation. Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) of the CIA is chosen to conduct this operation. Graver recruits  “black ops” specialist Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro), who worked for Colombian drug cartels, to join him in the project.

Muscular and weathered, Braver and Gillick seem macho to the max. Brolin looks like he borrowed his strong arms from Popeye the Sailor Man. And del Toro's face is as weathered as several miles of bad road in Mexico. The two start the war between cartels by a spectacular murder of a high-profile lawyer for the Matamoros cartel in the heart of Mexico City. They follow this up with the kidnapping of Isabela Reyes (Isabela Moner), the arrogant, privileged, teenage daughter of the kingpin of a rival cartel.

Graver, Gillick, and their team take Isabela to Texas and stage a “rescue” of her, supposedly from the rival cartel. They then plan to take her back into Mexico and leave her in the territory of that cartel. However, things go dramatically wrong, and the Americans end up creating an incident that leads to a crisis between the United States and Mexico. To resolve this crisis, Gillick and Isabela must both become at risk—from Graver. 

A number of twists and turns follow, with some ironic aspects. For example, Gillick was depicted in the 2015 film as the father of a daughter murdered by a cartel. And in the current film, Isabela, a teenage Mexican girl, is central to one cartel while Miguel (Elijah Rodriguez), a teenage Mexican-American boy, has an on-again/off-again relationship with another cartel and ends up becoming a sicario for an unexpected entity. 

Sicario: Day of the Soldado is a gripping film, bleak and brutal for the most part, with only a few humanistic moments toward the end. The arid land where it is set is a powerful objective correlative for the film's vision of the world. Brolin and del Toro carry off their roles with the expected professionalism, and Isabela Moner's performance is superb—a star is born! Hilda Gudnadottir's score adds much to the film.   

  

Easton police warn of ‘distraction burglaries’

Easton Police are warning residents about what they call “distraction burglaries” by people trying to get into your house and steal valuables.

“Distraction burglary occurs when a bogus visitor tells lies to con their way into a home, or creates a diversion so an accomplice can sneak in a back door or window,” it posted on its Facebook page.

“Never open your door to strangers and don’t hestitate to check with the police if you see someone you don’t recognize.”

The department also shared tips to make sure that you stay safe this summer while protecting your home and valuables.

They include:

Report suspicious people and vehicles to police and your neighbors.

Keep doors and windows secured with good-quality locks.

Add window casement locks or a locking pin to keep windows “cracked” a bit.

Secure window air conditioners to the sash and sill.

Set your burglar alarm - even when you’re at home

Use motion sensor lights for driveways and backyards.

Trim trees and shrubbery.

Demand and verify identification of utility company associates, poll takers and sales people.

Make your home look occupied: Time lights, radios and televisions.

Avoid hiding keys outside. Give a spare to a trusted friend.

Arrange for mail pickup if away for more than a few days.

Maintain a clearly visible house number so emergency personnel can find you.

Keep valuables in a hidden, secure spot or bank safety deposit box.

Get to know your neighbors.

Keep all firearms out of sight and locked up.

Don’t leave ladders outside your home.

Set appropriate privacy settings on social media sites and check them often. If you must post vacation pictures, do so after you’ve returned.