[See “Margaret Huffman bids farewell to Fleur de Lis” Vol. 5, Issue 25]
Ms. Margaret is truly one of a kind. Our daughter went to Fleur de Lis and still talks about it two years later. The teachers are wonderful and the school is full of classic teaching beliefs. We are so glad our daughter was able to be a part of it!
—Kim via sduptownnews.com
Hello Margaret — I am excited for your new adventures in retirement but also saddened you will be leaving FDL after all these years. What I recall about your school was its openness and kindness to parents and children alike. Derek started as a 2+ year old (‘76) and quickly advanced from two half days “we will just try it” to the MWF group and fumed when I would come to fetch him with “you came too early.” He still retains his friends that were classmates at FDL. So glad to hear that Bev and Kathy are still on board. I am now hoping that Derek’s son will be able to attend. We are all wishing you a happy, restful but stimulating retirement.
–Fondly, Meredith French and family (via sduptownnews.com)
[See “Who we are, how we live ad why we’re here” Vol. 5, Issue 25]
Hi Michael, I always enjoy your column. I don’t read many newspapers, really only this one and [North Park News]. Rest of my news comes on the TV while making dinner. I’m sure I agree with you that the traditional family has changed in many ways. However, I don’t think the traditional family is as scarce in our Uptown neighborhoods as you might think. Just attend any concert at Bird Park and you’ll see the traditional family is alive and well. My husband and I own a 1911 Craftsman in South Park and have two children age 9 and 13. We walk to school in South Park and are friends with many other traditional and non-traditional South Park families. My business, Baby Garten Studio, thrives thanks to all the new families with single and multiple children in our neighborhoods. I think you may come across fewer families with two or more kids in your line of work, because by the time they have a second child they’ve either already done the work, moved into a place that doesn’t need the work, or are in the thick of raising children and don’t have the disposable income or time for remodeling and restoration.
That’s my two-cents anyway.: )
—Monta Briant via sduptownnews.com
—
Editor;
I will first cover the mistake he made in his column wherein he paraphrases Rodney King’s: “Can’t we all be friends?” Rodney had said, “Can’t we all get along?” [See “Do cyclists always lose?” Vol. 5, Issue 25]
With that out of the way, I agree that drivers should be punished for killing, and money damaged for maiming, but let’s consider bikers who do not include their shoulders when remaining within bike lanes, and riding alongside each other. On streets, bikers should not ride alongside each other, even if in conversation.
As for his appreciation of University Avenue being given a bike lane is a good thing.
I think not, vehicles have enough trouble making it through along the whole street long. A novel: “The Winner” by me, not Baldacci, has in it a description of a revamped University Avenue that beats any idea I’ve come across, which is not the plot of the novel.
Saul Harmon Gritz
Hillcrest Resident
Editorials
Tuesdays with Adams
Rather than submit myself to the usual torture and deprivation associated
with resolutions, last New Year’s Eve I resolved to reward myself. Every Tuesday in 2013 would find me having dinner on Adams Avenue. Object: to eat at every venue, even those previously found wanting. I looked forward to the perfect excuse to visit old favorites and to discover edible gems among those never tried, both old standards and the brand new.
I cook. It is a kind of hobby. I’m happiest messing with something new and
different. But do I need it every single day? Nobody does. This is a resolution
I could sink my teeth into. My mate was willing to go along with the plan. He
really didn’t have a choice: it was my resolution!
January 1 was a Tuesday.
“Where are you taking me tonight?” I would hear the question again, 51
times. My kind of siren song.
“Bleu Boheme–because it’s open on New Year’s Day.”
Reason enough to begin in Kensington, though in its two commercial miles,
Adams is a main street to University Heights, North Park, and Normal Heights. This is not a restaurant review, though I will give cheers to places that
made Tuesdays with Adams a yummy adventure.
We exhausted what Adams had to offer by the end of August. Not all of the 34 eateries were restaurants. Three were mainly drinking establishments but serve fair-enough fare — especially BLAH, the Blind Lady Ale House that some locals credit with the revitalization and new cool that Adams has experienced in the past handful of years. One was a night at Smitty’s service station — because Tuesday is Food Truck Night on their generously offered property.
As people who are not big fans of most of what passes for pizza in San
Diego, four parlors was three too much, though Zia and it’s uber-friendly owner are always on my A list.
Mexican eateries, gringo-friendly belly-busters ubiquitous to our town
abound on Adams. Cantina Mayahuel does it for me. Oh, that mole. Ahh, that fish taco.
Personal bests? Always and forever Cafe 21, since the talented Azerbaijan
couple first opened in what is now Farmhouse Cafe. We’ve watched their son grow, welcomed a baby girl, and have never had a brunch, lunch, or dinner that was anything but pure deliciousness. And back to that 2121 address, Farmhouse Cafe’s innovative chef also never ceases to please us. And from the day Dao Fu (formerly Tao) opened, Erik and Maggie have made us happy to experience every French-influenced Vietnamese and Japanese dish we could sandwich between their on-the-house salad and free ice cream desert. After Erik’s tofu, made fresh every morning, no other will do.
We will return to that triumvirate of good taste again and again, as well as
to Sabuku (sushi on Adams at last!), Hannah’s Gourmet (we broke our routine for her culinary greatness; she’s not open on Tuesday), and Burger Lounge (one of the rare “chain” shops on this, the people’s street).
Tam of Tam’s Thai told us her life story as we wiped our plates clean. Her
motto: Food for Love. Jyoti-Bihanga soups are tummy warmers on January nights. Swine and Soda/Provisions suits those who would drink their dinner but survive with meatball medicine. Fish Public’s moxie restaurateur dumped the creaky — Kensington Grill — for the fresh. The chef makes an art of appetizers.
After exhausting the offerings on Adams, and hankering to keep
experimenting, we went around the corner on 30th Street to the homey glam of Jayne’s Gastropub, where I indulged in all things duck, in salad, in entree. We justified going Off-Adams by parking on Adams. Parking just off Park Boulevard on Adams allowed us the grand pleasure of dining at one of our town’s best new restaurants, American Voodoo, and to celebrate pomegranate soup at Soltan Banoo … which has me thinking about a resolution for 2014: to eat Park Boulevard — with frequent stops back on Adams Avenue.
Bonnie Bekken
Our heartfelt thanks and appreciation
To: Julie Ashton-Gray, Principal, McKinley Elementary; Arturo Cabello, Principal, Roosevelt Middle School; Mary Estill, Florence Elementary; Amanda Hammond-Williams, Principal, Birney Elementary; Francisco Morga, Principal, Jefferson Elementary
From: Parent leaders at Mckinley, Roosevelt, Florence, Birney and Jefferson
As the holidays come around, we often take stock of all we are grateful for: our families, our health, our friends. As parents of our local schools, we also want to do a huge shout out of thanks to our North Park principals. Accolades are constantly being sent out to our school’s teachers — as they should be — but we have some amazing unsung heroes in our local schools to whom we owe an amazing debt of gratitude, appreciation, love and awe.
A decade ago, families were moving out of our neighborhoods, terrified of sending their children to local schools. Today, folks are moving in because of the great reputation, high test scores, amazing parent involvement, and outstanding reputations that these schools have worked so hard to achieve. Not only have they turned their schools around, but they have done so during times of severe budget cuts, increased class sizes, and constantly changing leadership at the school district level.
Walk into any of our local principal’s offices and you will see them juggling the demands of following district directives, supervising teachers and staff, responding to parents, playing nurse and counselor, and at all times being our kids’ biggest cheerleaders. And what is even more amazing, they seem to always come back wanting to do more.
So from all of us in North Park, South Park, and University Heights thank you to our amazing principals! We owe you more than we can ever repay. We love you!
No One Suffers Alzheimer’s Alone
By Anette Asher, CEO, The Glenner Memory Care Centers
Over Labor Day 2013, former First Lady Maria Shriver mentioned in an online discussion how her daughter insists she do “brain games” on a daily basis for fear Shriver will fall victim to the same illness that claimed her father: Alzheimer’s disease.
The impact of watching their grandfather’s intelligence, wit, personality and health wither away while also witnessing the enormous amount of physical, financial and emotional resources devoted to his care obviously left an impact on the Schwarzenegger children.
They are not alone.
Presently there are more than 15.4 million family caregivers nationwide providing some 17 billion hours of unpaid dementia care that, if they charged for it, would amount to more than $216 billion, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
All over San Diego County there are tens of thousands of families caring in their home for someone with dementia. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates 80 percent of the 60,000 currently diagnosed with dementia live at home, not a residential facility.
That means that there are thousands of our neighbors, friends, co-workers, employees and customers who struggle daily to manage a difficult, eventually debilitating disease. They miss work. They miss having coffee with friends. And they miss opportunities to raise their own families as they originally planned.
We also miss them. Work disruptions due to employee caregiving responsibilities result in productivity losses to businesses of an estimated $2,110 per year per employee — a loss of up to $33.6 billion per year for full-time employees as a group, according to the National Caregiver Alliance. Another 2010 MetLife study showed elder caregivers cost employers 8 percent more in health care costs, which adds up to at least $13.4 billion per year.
At present, people with Alzheimer’s disease, depending on their age, live on average eight to 10 years after a diagnosis (and most people aren’t diagnosed until years after symptoms first surface). Some live much longer and others have their lives cut short by other diseases of aging.
That means, for many children or grandchildren of family caregivers, they spend a bulk of their childhood surrounded by Alzheimer’s in the home. Yes, they are able to have a closer relationship with that elder, but they can also be confused or hurt when their relative’s memory loss manifests as frustration, anger, even violence. Not to mention the chronic stress, potential substance abuse and, in all too many cases, depression that can strike a parent ill-prepared for this role.
Without outside help, whether it’s extended family, professional in-home assistance or adult day care, there aren’t enough resources for mom and dad to be both full time parent and full time eldercare provider. So they miss their children’s ball games and school plays, drop out of a carpool, or fail to make meals.
In the meantime, the sacrifices they make as the demands of the disease grow can undermine the very care they wish to provide. A UCSF study several years ago showed extreme stress in family caregivers can cost as much as 10 years off a family caregiver’s life. Some industry experts cite an alarming statistic that 60 percent of primary caregivers (particularly spouses) predecease the person with the disease. Even one death from the stress of care is too many.
That isn’t to say it’s always dark in these homes. We have family caregivers at our centers who tell us their relationship with their mother or father actually improved, some because their loved one’s memories that caused years of bitterness have been erased, others because the family caregiver has received some respite and coping skills. And in our caregiver support groups, there is almost as much laughter as there are tears.
As we recognize the need for more Alzheimer’s research to find a cure and more memory care units to house seniors with serious dementia, let’s not forget that we need to do this not just for our seniors but for our younger generations.
An investment in dementia care doesn’t just help someone with the disease. It raises the quality of life and well-being of everyone who lives in that person’s home, and in that person’s diminishing world.
—Anette Asher is the CEO for The Glenner Memory Care Centers, a non-profit organization with three adult day program and resource centers in Encinitas, Hillcrest, and the South Bay for individuals afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia. More information is available at glenner.org.
