WOW — It is October 25 And My Dahlias Are Still Blooming — Maybe Until November !

I started growing dahlias in about the year 1985 — mostly for my mom and dad at my parents’ home. I fell in love with them then, and, as I grow them now, I feel connected to my mom and dad who enjoyed them so.

I acquired this website in 2007 and it has become a good reminder to me of my thoughts and interests over the last 17 years. I found four other times that I posted about my dahlia efforts and looking at the pictures of these old posts reminds me of the glory that used to be.  Now, I have fewer plants and some spectacular varieties I used to have, over time, have disappeared.  The most beautiful seem to be the less hardy. There is probably a poem that develops that theme. Next year, I’ll hope to make my garden great again.

I provided this vase of dahlias for a neighbor. I enjoy sharing these beautiful flowers, but this year I had fewer to share.

Here are excerpts and links to the posts from previous years — lots of good pictures — even a youtube video.

• October 30, 2020. — It’s October 30 And My Dahlias Are Still Blooming — In Dayton Ohio — But Some Claim That Frost Is Coming.  So, yes, some claim that frost is coming. It’s Frost, Frost, Frost. I’d like to think all of this Frost attention is just part of the Fake News. I’d like to think that if people stopped predicting Frost so much, we’d have a lot less Frost. Anyway. These plants have been faithful to produce a lot of great blooms this year and I’m thinking that if they can withstand just one more cold snap — they might make it to Thanksgiving ! Please people, let’s stop predicting Frost.
• October 16, 2013 — Great Year To Grow Dahlias In Kettering, Ohio  A dahlia is an inspiring flower — a lot of work, but offering a big pay-off in its stunning, enchanting, mesmerizing and astonishing beauty. And this was a great year to grow them — lots of rain and not too hot. In my little backyard I had more plants than ever — about 100 plants — most growing about six feet tall and full of blooms.
• September 11, 2009 — My Dahlias Are Blooming !    I got interested in dahlias maybe twenty years ago when I noticed a dahlia garden as I was traveling with my mom on Route 48. The garden was just north of Lebanon, and a sign by the road advertised cut flowers. I had never noticed flowers so beautiful. I bought a vase of the blooms to take to my parents’ home. The next spring, I returned to this small farm and bought a few roots and every since I’ve been growing dahlias. The Lebanon garden was part of a mail order business of long standing called The Golden Rule Dahlia Farm. It is now long gone. I feel a little sad every time I pass by the place it used to be.
  October 10, 2008 — Today Is The First Frost Date And My Dahlias Are Just Now Starting To Bloom   My photography is not adequate to really capture the magnificence of these flowers. Sort of like trying to capture on film the Rocky Mountains or the Pacific Ocean.

Great article in The New York Times this morning — The Dangers of Donald Trump, From Those Who Know Him — shows the quotes of 91 prominent Republicans who tell that Trump is unfit to be President of the United States.

The article, written by the NYT Editorial Board, states: “The strongest case against Trump may come from his own people. For those Americans who are still tempted to return him to the presidency or to not vote in November, it is worth considering the assessment of Mr. Trump by those who have seen him up close.”

Here is a few of the 91 Republicans featured in the NYT article:

• Bill Barr, Attorney General  —  “He will always put his own interests and gratifying his own ego ahead of everything else, including the country’s interest. There’s no question about it.”
• John Kelly, Chief of Staff — “Trump is a person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution and the rule of law.”
• James Mattis, Secretary of Defense — “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us.”
• Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State — “There were multiple occasions where, in my view, the actions the president wanted to take were not consistent with our national security objectives. … His understanding of global events, his understanding of global history, his understanding of U.S. history was really limited.”
• Ted Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas  — “This man is a pathological liar. He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth, and in a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook, his response is to accuse everybody else of lying.”
• Dick Cheney, Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 — “In our nation’s 246-year-history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power, after the voters had rejected him. He is a coward. A real man wouldn’t lie to his supporters. He lost his election, and he lost big.”
• Lindsey Graham, Republican senator from South Carolina —  “He’s a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. He doesn’t represent my party. He doesn’t represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for.”
• Paul Ryan, Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019 — “Character is too important to me. And it’s a job that requires the kind of character that he just doesn’t have.”
• Liz Cheney,  chair of the House Republican conference from 2019 to 2021. — “The president could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”

Last night I was anticipating what I had been told would be a debate between Rose Lounsbury and Andrea White — the candidates for Ohio House District 36. The event was scheduled to be held in the parlor of Christ Methodist Church. As it turned out, the event was not a debate, but a Forum conducted by a League Of Women Voters where candidates answer questions given by a moderator. I was surprised and disappointed by what, evidently, are new LWV rules.

Rose Lounsbury’s mom drove from Toledo to attend the Kettering LWV event

I had hoped to record the event, but, Christine Corba, the LWV Executive Director, started the meeting by politely announcing that no video recording would be permitted. This was surprising. Then, another surprise — Christine said there would be no opportunity for questions from the audience!

These two prohibitions — no recording, no questions — seem contrary to the League’s mission that Christine had quoted in her opening remarks — “to encourage informed and active participation in government and to increase understanding of major public policy …”

After the meeting, I talked with Christine — a very nice person who has been in her position since Susan Hesselgesser retired five years ago. I expressed my disappointment and surprise at the rules. She explained that the two prohibitions apply to all LVW Candidate Forums statewide and were established by the state LWV governing body.

The “no video rule” comes from the fact that the League is concerned that videos taken at a League forum will be altered and the League will be blamed. The “no audience question” rule seems based on the fear that rude audience members will be uncontrollable by a moderator and will cause chaos in a meeting.

Christine Corba, the LWV Executive Director for this region

I diplomatically asked Christine, how in the world these rules — no video, no questions — possibly could help the League fulfill its mission? I asked if she would once again quote the mission statement and, kindly, she did.

To create a citizenry that is informed enough and motivated enough to actively participate in government is a wonderful goal and the LWV advances this mission each election in its highly regarded Voter Guides. But, it seems to me, sadly, these LWV Forums, as structured, have little value. I urged Christine to become an advocate in the LWV organization to restructure these forums so they will be interesting events that the public will want to attend and so that the exchanges between candidates can be shared on social media.

The Kettering Centerville Kiwanis Club sponsored the event — including providing some great molasses cookies — and as I was leaving, I spoke with its President, Bill Pees. I thanked him and the club and told him my disappointment that in the meeting many important topics were not addressed and no audience member had an opportunity to ask questions. I suggested to him that since Kiwanis already is making the effort to sponsor LWV Forums, that his club might consider taking the next step and allow a Kiwanis committee to be in charge of public meetings and to implement a a better format. Pees explained that the central concern of Kiwanis is the welfare of children, so engaging in politics in that way may not be what the members would want.

Not allowing the candidates to question each other, not allowing questions from any audience member, and, not asking the candidates any provocative questions is a good recipe for a dull event.

After the event, I got to meet Rose Lounsbury’s mother — a lovely person with a gracious spirit. She had driven from Toledo. I praised Rose but I told her mom that Rose needs to be stronger in making the case for change. Her mom seemed to agree.

Citizens attending this event heard not a word about these key facts:

• The Republican Party in Ohio has had a super majority in the State Assembly for twenty years — total control — and has repeatedly enacted ever more radical right-wing laws that have caused Ohio’s decline.
• Andrea White voted for the “Constitutional Carry” law — one of the worst and most dangerous laws ever conceived.
• Andrea White voted for tax payers money to pay for the building of religious school buildings.
• Andrea White voted to completely eliminate the income tax bracket for Ohio’s highest incomes.

See:

• The Great Ohio Tax Shift, 2024
• In an Unprecedented Move, Ohio Is Funding the Construction of Private Religious Schools