“Just Chillin’ A little History...& More


Santa Rosa, CA. ~ Old Father Time again gets the boot by a frisky toddler wearing only a banner— imprinted: 2016! “Out with the old,


in with the new.” --Sometimes an early clean sweep is most desir- able.


Here, Ren and his trusty plumber Doug, of RTB Property Manage- ment, came to our rescue on Black Friday at the unheard of hour of 6:30 pm to rescue us from a kitch- en sink and a washing machine that jointly promised to drown us in a surprise move…a la Niagara Falls! The clean sweep involved the RTB intrepid, cheerful team using a roto-rooter which, in record time, saved us from floating away like Edward Lear’s “Jumblies” who “went to sea in a sieve!” Not only did the extremely cre-


ative poet and painter Lear invent limericks for our perpetual de- light, but he survived being one of 21 siblings. All children who have had their imaginations fired up by the words Lear invented sigh with relief when they hear the little Jumblies not only survive their adventures “to the Lakes, and the Torrible Zone, and the hills of Chankly Bore” but the grown-up Jumblies of green heads and blue hands are rewarded with a feast “of dumplings made of beautiful yeast” and are toasted as heroes! ---Bring on 2o16, we’re grateful our plumbing in this old house is now tamed. Also new, we face 2016 with the


eyes of sharpshooters, thanks to “Site for Sore Eyes” 320 Midway Drive in Santa Rosa. Excellent Dr. Harrison, extremely personable Manager Felix, and sharply witty Debbie are incomparable. Cheery repartee, genuine with long expe- rience, resulted in clear views for 2016. Many thanks to all in their attractive shop.


Albert Einstein once wrote “Cre-


ativity is Intelligence Having Fun.” How delightful! Always searching to better understand the concept of “creativity,” I watched a program


BARRY O’MEARA NMLS# 267912


barryo@stearns.com


presented by ambitious Dr. San- jay Gupta of the “Vital Signs” tv show. A neurosurgeon connected with Grady Memorial Hospital Atlanta, Ga. and on the faculty of Emory U School of Medicine, to satisfy his yen for jour- nalism, he is also “chief medical cor- respondent” for CNN. More than eyebrows


have been raised by some of Gupta’s


claims. But,


his strong, informative show on the vast need of medical marijuana for very sick children was exception- ally well-done. Another interest- ing program was “Can we be more creative and get smarter?” Gupta pointed out data shows Singapore (known as “the Red Dot” because of its small geographic size and 5.5 million pop) has the greatest concentration of extremely intel- ligent people. It has emerged as a leading global city-state and island country in Southeast Asia. Their history on Google is fine, but Gupta emphasized Singapore has an exceptional educational system in which every child is giv- en enviable, individual attention. Gupta introduced Mason Cur- rey, the author of “Daily Rituals.” Currey has studied the habits of


creative, talented people. Very sur- prising. Most of his subjects were very early risers who also hap- pened to enjoy long, solitary walks in beautiful, natural settings. But, who would have imag- ined that poor old alcoholic, growing deaf Beethoven counted out 60 coffee beans daily to make his own brew of caf- feine


to get


him through each day. Or, that Maya An- gelou could not work


at


home but rented hotel rooms to do her writing, carrying with her always, a bible, a dictionary and a bottle of sherry.


minds,


Probing into creative people’s Gupta


introduced Prof.


James Kaufman of the Psych Dept. at U of Connecticut who teaches a class on “Divergent Thinking.” Students are challenged to think up as many uses that come to mind when handed an everyday object. That “test” can prove if an individual is open to new ideas, to intellectual debate. Plainly, is the individual one who can take what they have learned and apply that learning to solve all kinds of prob- lems in innovative ways? --That is creativity.


A disarmingly light view of their individual intelligence was


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held by both Einstein and Asimov. Each had an unusual sense of hu- mor. How could anyone not love Einstein for writing, “When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativ- ity.”


Spring, summer, and fall fill us with hope; winter alone reminds us of the human


Or, “Learn from yesterday, ... continued on page 22


condition. Mignon McLaughlin


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