Crystal Lake Gala Fest

Crystal Lake has one of the biggest festivals in McHenry County. In fact, this was the festival which was voted as the best in the County by the NW Herald. What does the Gala Fest consist of? The famous Taste of Crystal Lake. Not quite like the Taste of Chicago, but there are certainly a large variety of vendors present and lots of different foods to try, ranging from Chinese to European. There is a giant carnival set up in front of the Dole Mansion, which also features free tours that day. There is music every night. And, to round it off, there is the famous 4th of July parade. Quite a big event altogether.
So, what seems to be the problem?
Well, last year, the parade had a couple of floats that several people complained about. One was the Libertarian Party float, which questioned the Patriot Act and the liberties that citizens are starting to lose in our country. The other was the McHenry County Peace Group, which carried signs announcing how many people were killed in the Iraq War so far. Because of the several complaints, fair organizer Louise Steinbach decided to prevent these groups from expressing their views. Their freedom of speech has basically been stifled right on Independence Day. In fact, the whole parade is supposedly meant to celebrate our rights and what people in 1776 fought for! So, this year, the only thing political groups are allowed to do is to hold up signs naming their group. They may not have floats or pass out literature. Now, mind you, other groups may do these things. But only politically oriented organizations are stifled in this manner. So, if one is part of a church and believes in a certain religion, no matter how esoteric, one may go and build a float and pass literature pushing that religion down our throats. If one is part of the current political party that is in vogue, one may do the same. If one owns a business and wants to advertise their products, even if its an offensive business to the rest of us, one may likewise advertise their views. Only the groups that Luise Steinbach personally has a problem with are stifled in this manner. And this is again, a parade celebrating our independence.
What did we do about it? Earlier this year, we put together this website to protest the treatment of these two groups and the trampling of the freedom of speech involved. The website appears in search engines right below the festival website. Therefore, whenever one types in the words "Gala Festival" one gets our "I Hate Gala Site" :
http://www.geocities.com/rebel1776rebel/
Of course, at the time we were again threatened with lawsuits and arrest for putting together this website!

Suburban Malaise

People move to a town like Marengo for a variety of reasons. Some want the feel of small town life and to get away from the big cities. Others want a safe place to raise their kids in. And then there's those who just like cheaper housing. But whatever the reason, it is interesting to examine what the differences between living in a small town and a suburban community might be.
The main problem facing suburban communities today seems to be a lack of connections. People live in houses that look the same, drive cars, rarely talk to their neighbors, and really have no connection with each other. Pick any large suburb and you realize that it consists mainly of middle class houses, restaurants, fast food stands, a library, and malls. Sure, there are community meetings in City Halls and events that attract people, but these are not places where those in a community gather in order to get together and vote on or celebrate events as a community. The town meetings consist only of people who are interested in politics, whereas in a small town like Marengo politics is everybody's business and many people of all backgrounds come to town meetings. The celebrations in suburban communities are not meant to bring people together, but to bring revenue for the suburb. Sure, people from the suburb might come and enjoy the event, but they rarely talk or see other people who they live with. They stay isolated, as before. In a small town, a celebration brings friends and neighbors together. No one is a stranger. The worst part of a suburban community, though, is the mall. People go to these ugly contraptions, all of which look the same and are of no interest architecturally, in order to shop and buy items, or simply to hang out when bored. In a small town, there is no mall. If people want to shop, they of course often leave town and shop in a suburb. But just as often they also shop at small stores, where they see people whom they live with, who are often familiar to them, talk and exchange gossip, and come back with a feeling of having accomplished something. For these reasons and these reasons alone, I would choose a small town over a large suburb or city any day.

Apocalypse!

I, like many other people, have read the physicist Stephen Hawking's announcement that human beings must look for stars to settle on in order to survive the demise of the earth. He also mentioned that the earth might be wiped out by disaster in the next 20 to 40 years, though for the life of me I cannot see what would lead him to such a conclusion. Hawking also believes that space travel can be achieved in this time frame. Now, I hate to say it, but let's take a close look at our planet. For one, many countries are currently at war, including our own. There are just as many countries where people are starving to death and dying young. There are diseases, genocide, and intolerance. There are troubles abroad and troubles at home. Just look at some of our problems in Marengo, such as the police issues! How easy are those to solve? Now let us suppose that we put all our energy into exploring outer space, all our money into building rockets, space stations, deep space probes, as well as training people for these procedures, Where is all this money, time, and energy going to come from? Why, it's going to be at the expense of taking care of the problems here on earth, of course!! How can we hope for a future somewhere in the stars when we have not even begun to take care of the issues right here on our planet?
It is also interesting to not that Stephen Hawking believes all the mysteries of the universe have a solution. That one day we will know everything there is to know about our universe. To say that seems unlikely is stretching it. For one, have we even answered a basic question: where did all life come from? How about this one: Is there a God, how could a universe begin all on its own, why would it begin, are there other universes? The list goes on and on. Not only might it not be possible to answer some of these questions, I am not sure that I would like to know ALL the mysteries of the whole, entire universe. Would it not be better if there were some things which we could still hope to learn about, some things which we just don't know everything about? How interesting would life be if all the basic mysteries were solved?

Gardening Corner

Pizza Garden


By: Museumlover

This is for the next gardening column because I have it ready and I never know for sure where I'll be or what I'll be doing! I'm leaving tuesday to go to St. Cloud MN for the Minnesota Quilt Show. I'm taking some lessons and really looking forward to is. So....here it is.
If you have kids in your family, they might really enjoy planting a pizza garden. This kind of garden is fun and useful. You will need to put your pizza garden in the sun.
The first step is to lay out a circle, of whatever diameter you can put in your space. It is pretty easy to mark off a circle by pegging down a string or rope in the center and marking off a circle.
The earth must be worked up with a tiller or some other implement, and peat moss, cow manure and topsoil mixed in with your soil will help grow healthy plants. You will want to then rake and level your soil and make sure it is ready for planting.
Next comes choosing what to put into the garden. Let's start with some tomatoes, and we will also need some basil, oregano, chives, thyme, and whatever herbs you might like on your pizza. You might also want to put in some little marigolds to look like cheese and to keep away the bugs and other critters.
Mark off your circle into "slices", marking the slices with stakes and string or small rocks. You will need as many slices as you have plants. You might even want two slices for the tomatoes. You can buy plants already started as it is too late to grow from seed.
Start by planting your tomato plants towards the back of your circle, where they won't shade your other plants from the sun. Plant them nice and deep so they will grow straight. You can even use tomoato cages, if you want to. Small plum or roma tomatoes are perfect for pizze. Plant your other herbs in the slices you have created. Plant your marigolds, if you want them, in amongst the other things. Afterwards, you can sprinkle a product called "Preen" around your plants and it will help prevent weeds.
If you want to get really into your pizza garden, place rocks around the perimeter to look like a crust. Place a few small terra cotta saucers upside down here and there to look like pepperoni.
I will admit that I have never grown one of these gardens, however I have seen them and they are pretty neat and great fun for kids. They also learn about preparing the soil, watering their plants, weeding and then harvesting and eating their crop. I have a friend who is a master gardener and she often does these little gardens for the neighbor kids.
When your tomatoes are ready, just pick everything you need for your pizza from your very own garden. Make a simple pizza crust, add the things you grew yourself, bake and eat. Guaranteed to be fun and taste wonderful. Fresh tomatoes and fresh herbs are so good! If you enjoyed that garden, the same plot can be used again next year. Oregano, chives, and thyme will come back, but you will have to replant the other ingredients. Enjoy.

Deplorable Conditions

I have always been interested in the wasteful way our town is allowed to be run. The Aldermen and Mayors have so far proven that they are more than willing to waste taxpayers' money by not taking care of certain situations, unnecessary lawsuits against certain private citizens, the mismanagement of the budget, as well as all sorts of feasibility and gap studies that were done with little having been accomplished in the process.
Well, here is a situation that should be of interest to those of us who care how others in our community live. Certain people in our community own various apartment complexes and buildings. This gives them a certain responsibility to take care of these places and make sure that the people who live in them have safe and sanitary conditions. Unfortunately, I have explored one of these buildings thoroughly and what I discovered was very shocking. I have driven to Pheasant Roost Apartments on Route 20 and have found the conditions there to be deplorable. There are broken pieces of plaster and holes in the ceiling and walls. The carpets are so stained and threadbare that I didn't even want to step on them. They should have been replaced years ago. All the wood trim around the doors and windows was cracked, with peeling paint. There were cracks and splinters around the doorknobs. The smell was truly horrible and dirt was apparent everywhere I looked. One hallway even had garbage scattered all around the floor. It seemed obvious to me that the owner of the building does not hire a cleaning crew or if he does, they seldom visit the building. The laundry room was one of the worst I have seen in an apartment complex anywhere. Two of the doors to the washing machines stood open. I was unable to shut them, leading me to believe the latches were broken. It didn't look like anyone had changed or tested the fire extinguisher in ages, there was even dirt on the bottom. The expiration sticker was nowhere to be found. Graffiti was written all over the walls and door. I noticed that while the police are immediately called when a little crown is spotted on a wall outside the library, and the evidence is instantly washed away, no one has cleaned up any of the graffiti in this particular building. The apartments themselves are in such bad shape, many of them should not even be occupied. Toilets leak, roaches run rampant all over the floor, the carpeting is torn and stained, the walls are cracked, some bathrooms even have whole walls black with mold. I could go on and on with this list, but I think the pictures provide a better explanation and others who read this could do what I have done, walk or drive over to Pheasant Roost and take a look for themselves.Why is this allowed to go on? Why has no one called a building inspector on this owner and reported him? How can he get away with having people live in such deplorable conditions?Well, the answer seems to reside in who the person who owns this complex is. His name is William Orado and he is friends with Dorothy Otis, who owns similar apartments and complexes in the Marengo area. I am betting that having an alderman as a friend is very helpful and Mr.Orado need not put any money into the buildings he owns, as he is obviously able to get away without doing so.The final question I can see people asking after reading this is: why should we care? After all, some might say only Hispanic people live in these buildings and that they are not concerned for their well being. My answer to that is that first of all, I saw at least two white families. Second, we are all people and are all human. If we see other human beings left to live in such conditions, it is a concern for us all. There is a phrase "but for the will of God, there go I" and I think it is very accurate here. We are lucky not to be in a situation where we have nowhere to live and are forced to live in subsidized housing. Now, I have seen a lot of subsidized housing and I have yet to see any in such a shape as this. This building is not fit for human beings to live in and it is something we should all care about and work toward changing. I suggest one of the ways to do so is to ask Dorothy Otis in the next Council meeting why this is allowed to go on.

Change Your Mind Day

Here is something that many people in our town might not be aware of. There is a Zen Community and a Buddhist temple in Woodstock. It is located in the Unitarian Church, on Dean St, next to Woodstock Square. Today, these organizations held an interesting event called "Change Your Mind Day" in the middle of the Square. Now, I have never attended an event like this before. The middle of the Square consisted of pillows surrounded by chairs placed on the ground. In front of them stood a large white statue of a Buddha. A man in robes sat in front of the statue, praying. Behind all this stood various tables with literature, a table with children's activities and coloring books, and a cardboard painting of an another Buddha. The price for the books was a small donation, whatever one wanted to give, which I found very different and interesting. There were also T-shirts and Buddha statues on sale($50 for the statues). The events of the morning consisted of a morning chant, followed by various talks and different types of yogas. What have I learned about these various organizations from attending this event?Well, zen doesn't seem to require that one be of a particular religion. It seems to be more of a practice rather than a religion. One can therefore be a Christian and still practice zen. Which makes me wonder why so many Christians seem to be against zen and consider it evil. Zen is supposed to teach you to clear your mind so that you can take appropriate actions and be fully involved in the moment. The name of the Zen Community is "Ten Directions" and it promises that it will try to help you "realize your true self" and "help all beings". In fact the front of the brochure for the group talks about it leading to "the clarification of the mind, so that we may live our lives for the benefit of all sentient beings". Now, who wouldn't want to do that?! The group meets on Sunday Evenings at 7 to 9 pm, at the Congregational Unitarian Church on 221 Dean St. in Woodstock. There is also an introductory class the first Sunday of each month at 7pm.Buddhism also proved to be an interesting concept. Basically, it tells us that "all life is sorrow" and that by following its precepts, you can make your sorrow come to an end. In other words, all us humans suffer and somehow following Buddhism can make things better. Yeah, I guess. I don't know about that. How does one do that? Well, here it gets more interesting. Buddhists follow an "Eightfold Path", which is supposed to help bring this sorrow and suffering to an end. Or at least bring it under control. I wondered how I myself could follow these precepts. Well, the first one is to have "the right understanding", in other words we must have "a really good understanding of Buddha's path. If we fail to have this understanding, we are like a man lost in the desert." This quote, by the way, is directly out of Buddhist Sunday School Lessons for Children. Now, again, I don't know. I don't see how understanding Buddha's path can help me out here. What Buddha did in his time and what I do today appear to be very different in nature. It gets more interesting, though. The second precept is having "the right aims". I like this particular quote the best "when we accept someone else's opinions we are going against Lord Buddha's advice to do our own thinking and have our own aims". I agree wholeheartedly. I certainly think even in Marengo we have accepted too many of the current opinions and mores and that many people have indeed stopped thinking for themselves. Doesn't seem like this precept will lead to less sorrow, though. Thinking for myself has led me to lose friends, respect, and make enemies and, if anything, has greatly added to, not subtracted, from my sorrow! Then there's "the right speech", speaking honestly and with compassion to people. Well, that certainly can't hurt, but again, honesty about our town and police situation has so far only increased my sorrow and the sorrow of others who were similarly honest. Meanwhile I don't see the liars and cheats experiencing a whole lot of sorrow. So, while it is a great precept and I try to follow it without ever having explored Buddhism before, I don't see how it can lead to anything but sorrow. Give life meaning? Sure, but not ease sorrow. At least not for the person speaking their mind and being honest. It gets even better. "The right actions", actions that will earn us respect from ourselves and from others. Again, I see the same problem when I look at our Marengo situation. I have great respect for myself and for others who have taken stands and tried to stand up for what is right, but it has certainly earned us little respect from anyone else. For anyone who reads the message board, we can clearly see the indignation mine and others' rightful actions have heaped upon their own heads. Again, I see little chance of following this precept leading to less sorrow. Then, to round out the precepts above, there's the "right livelihood" and the "right effort". Yeah, I guess having a job where you help people can lead to satisfaction and it pays to put in effort. I can see that. Have I followed both of these myself(without knowing, of course)? To a point. I guess I could use a refresher. The last precept is "right meditation" and here I'm lost. I don't have the time or the patience to meditate. I could not even summon a quarter of the concentration required for such a task. It seems beyond my wildest comprehension.What do I think altogether? Buddhism is a very interesting religion. It is very different from Christianity. There is no talk of an actual God or having to go to church or even sin. That is certainly tempting. But, on the other hand, I really can't get into concepts such as meditation, reincarnation, or karma. They seem too foreign to make a lot of sense to my Western mind. Altogether, though, I have to say one thing: even though I haven't changed my mind, I have learned a lot by going to this event and have done a lot of thinking as well. I also would be interested in going to further Buddhist and Zen type events and am looking forward to whatever else might be in store from the organizations I have discovered.Try this website if you wish to discover more: http://www.bluelotustemple.org

Our Best of McHenry County

I have greatly enjoyed the section titled "Best of the Fox" in the Northwest Herald. We, of course, as our readers are well aware of, have our own "Best and Worst" section that comes out on New Years Eve. Its usually for Marengo only, though, and I thought it might be interesting to do our own take on what is the best in McHenry County.

Antique Stores: Now, I don't usually search for antiques. I got enough junk lying around my house, and it seems unwise to bring yet more ancient nick-nacks in. However, one place that I have seen lots of different antique stores, all of them very interesting, is Hebron. The whole downtown area is filled with antique stores that have many, many different items on display. It seems to me if one wants to hit a whole bunch of antique stores all at once, that this is a good place to go and much more scenic than an antique mall where one just walks in and everything is set up in boring little booths.

Chinese Restaurants: I would say Green Garden in Woodstock. I have been in both the Breakers and King Wok, which were the places chosen as the best by the NW Herald, and the food was pretty terrible. They are also more expensive and do not provide either soup or egg rolls with their meals, whereas Green Garden is reasonably priced with good food.

Bagel: Yeah, Bentley's Bagel and Brew in Lake in the Hills is pretty good. Right about that one. They also have excellent bagel breakfast sandwiches.

Bakery: Now, you wouldn't catch me dead going to Around the Clock Bakery again. Yes, this was one of the places chosen as the best. One time I ordered a lemon meringue pie. It came to the table as hard as leather. When I asked what happened, the waitress asked "Oh, you mean you'd like a fresh piece?" Well, yeah, that sure would be nice! The last time I was there I ordered a caramel apple pie. The caramel was so hard I had to scrape it off with a fork and knife. Never again. I think the best bakery I've ever been to is Flatlanders here in town.

Book Store: Borders seem like the best. I don't know about Between the Lynes in Woodstock. Yes, they are interesting, but the prices are high and there's not much of a selection.

Breakfast: None of the choices in the NW Herald appealed to me. I didn't like Richard Walker's Pancake House, the food was expensive, very limited, and none too fresh. I would say Café Olympic in downtown Crystal Lake has a homey atmosphere and good breakfast as well.

Brewery: I agree there! Governors Public House in Lake in the Hills has the best, if not the only. They have any kind of beer you've ever dreamed of: lemon flavored beer, vanilla beer, wheat brewed beer, oatmeal brewed beer. You can never get tired of the place.

Coffee: I would say Starbucks. Wins hands down each time.

Deli Sandwich: I again, disagree with the NW Herald choices. Subway is certainly nothing special and Jimmy John's is alright, but again, I would always choose Flatlanders for sandwiches. They truly have some of the best.

Donut: Country Donuts in Crystal Lake does have good donuts, no argument there.

Family Restaurants: There sure are many to choose from. I think the Huntley Café on Main Street is a cozy, quiet restaurant that has good food. I'd vote for it as the best.

Festival: Yeah, lots to choose from here too. There's the Gala in Crystal Lake, all the Woodstock Festivals, and our Settlers Days in Marengo. I think we should forget them all and choose the Gay Games. After all the commotion that they will cause, they're bound to be something none of us ever forgets!

Hot Dog Stands: I would say Mr. A's in Crystal Lake certainly has the best Chili Cheese Fries. They are excellent. Never mind the hot dogs, I'd go for these any old day.

Ice Cream: Kalidoscopes in Crystal Lake seems like the best place to me. No argument there.

Pizza: Papa Salernos in Lake in the Hills has alright pizza. But as far as pizza in McHenry County, I truly have not found any that even closely matches Chicago pizzas. There's just no comparison.

Place to take Kids: I would say, take them hiking. McHenry County Conservation District has a list of many different hiking destinations. There are some truly interesting places to go and best of all, its free.

Seafood: Port Edwards Restaurant is right on. Though be vary of the prices. A main course meal can run almost $36 for one person.

Shopping: It seems in McHenry County everyone seems to either head out of the county or into Crystal Lake. One of the two.

Town Square: Woodstock Square!! I think it's the ONLY town square too!

Toys: Yep, stick to Walmart. Otherwise you'll spend a fortune on something your child might play for a week or two.

Moon Garden

By: Museumlover

Ever wish you could enjoy your beautiful garden and patio at night, by the light of the moon? You can if you plant a moon garden. There are a number of flowers which only bloom at night and there are also flowers that really "shine" in moonlight.

It can be so peaceful to sit outside on a nice evening. Why not enjoy the sweet smells and beauty of your garden after the sun sets? Some of plants are meant to attract the night pollinating moths and they open only at night and send out lovely fragences. The flowers that show the best in the moonlight are white or silvery.

These plants are also beautiful during the day hours. There is a plant called moon flower, Ipomoea alba, whose spiraled flower buds show during the day and start unfurling about dusk. These are large, 6 inch wide white flowers. They smell wonderful. A relative of the morning glory, t is a vigorous vine and kind of looks like plumped up morning glory. It does well in full sun to partial shade and is great for an arbor or large trellis. They can also be started from seed.

Angel's Trumpet, Datura spp, is a large, upward or outward facing, trumpet shaped flower. I've grown these many times and they are lovely, some are double flowered. They have prickly seed pods after blooming. They thrive in the heat. On a hot summer hight, their flowers are particularly fragrant.

Brugmansias have large trumpet flowers and a shrubby body. They can be shaped like small trees and are tropical in nature. They can be taken in and saved in the house in the winter. Other summer bloomers are the white bellflower, baby's breath, astilbe and falsespires. Bugbane, monkshood and boltonia (snowbank) will bloom from late summer to fall. Shasta daisy and chrysanthemum will bloom into frost.

Another with a sweet heavy scent is flowering tobacco (Nicotiana alata). Night blooming jasmine is another sweet smeller.

Use foliage that glows in the moonlight, too. Artemisia has silver gray leaves and look very pretty at night. I have learned the hard way the artemisia is invasive! Every year I have to pull some of it out so it doesn't take over, but it is pretty. The simple lambs ear is another that will look silvery under the moon. Some hostas, caladium and ornamental grasses can be very light, feathery and shiny in the moonlight.

To add more ambience to your moon garden, consider a fountain or some other water feature in your garden or patio. The soft tinkling of the water, sweet smell and lovely glow of the flowers in the moonlight can really soothe away the day's anxieties and tribulations. Fountains are very easy to build and there are plenty of books at the library about making things yourself for your garden.

Next time...for the younger members of the family....a pizza garden. Growing your own pizza is just great and so tasty!!!

Cookies

By Museumlover

Some of you message board users probably really like to have milk and cookies while you are reading all of these intelligent posts and responding in kind. You don't have time to bake, though, so what do you do? Here are a couple of suggestions that are very tasy. Both cookies are no-bake. Just mix and eat!

Chow Mein Cookies. (I really love these!)

Melt two cups of butterscotch chips until creamy. (I use the microwave, doing it in 30 second increments)
Stir in 2 cups of chow mein noodles and 1 cup of nuts (any kind). Drop by teaspoonsful on waxed paper. When firm, enjoy.

Chocolate coconut drop cookies

Boil together for two minutes 3/4 cup butter, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup of cocoa, and 2 cups sugar. Remove from heat and stir in 3 cups old fashioned oats and 1/2 c shredded coconut. Mix together and drop by teaspoon on waxed paper. Be sure to use old fashioned oats. The Quick ones will cook! You can also add vanilla if desired.

Both of these are pretty tasty and super easy to make. I am also a huge fan of slow cookers and crockpots, along with one dish oven meals. While the Marengo Gazette probably isn't destined to have a cooking column, if anyone wants me to throw in the occasional recipe, tell management. I'm a writer and I like to write!!!