October 2005 E-News web site: www.goldengirls03.org     October 18, 2005 -- Luncheon October 18 Luncheon - Brio Tuscan Grille Menu - Directions - View Map 700 Ashwood Parkway, Atlanta (Dunwoody area) Restaurant phone: 678-587-0017 Hosted by Jean Kammerer Please let Jean know by Sunday, October 16 if you will be able to attend. We have been to the Brio once before, and the food was excellent. Email Jean or call 770-522-9612 Many thanks to Agnes Nelson for hosting the September luncheon at Max & Erma's Restaurant in Gwinnett.  Our group was a little smaller than usual; however, the conversation was so interesting that we stayed for over two hours just catching up on news.  On November 15 we shall be going once again to our favorite Blue Willow Inn in Social Circle with Kay Fulmer as hostess.  Kay will be letting us know the deadline for making our reservation with her. Visit Blue Willow web site. Call Kay at 770-614-6209 or E-mail   On December 13 Frances Bowen will again be hosting our Christmas luncheon at Cafe Elan at Chateau Elan at 12 noon. This is the restaurant in the Winery. We have been there once before and decided that we liked the Cafe Elan better than the more expensive restaurant in the Inn.  Take Exit 126 from I-85. Click here to view their menu. Visit web site. . .                                         Frances telephone: 770-938-2399   News from the Girls. . .   4Frances Bowen September 8, 2005. Golden Girls Place Horticulture at the Yellow Daisy Flower Show "Daisy Salutes America" The following Golden Girls were volunteers who worked with Frances Bowen in the Flower Show at the Yellow Daisy Festival in September. Berna Spencer, Roberta Middlebrooks, Martha McCullough, Jackie Hanna, and Frances Bowen   4Jean Kammerer I don’t know if I will make it to GG in September.  I am leaving that afternoon for a trip.  We are going to Basil Switzerland to begin a river cruise on the Rhine and Mosel.  If you want the real skinny go to Grand Circle Travel and look for that trip.  They take good care of us in a very comfortable way.  Jean 4Kay Fulmer  - State Merit Insurance   We are going to receive 18 packets in the mail. Keep everything until all decisions a made.  Make a list of all drugs purchased.  Check the list against what each of the 18 cover.  Then decide which to go with.  We were told to apply for Medicare D (drug) card because it and State Merit will work together.  I'll have to go over my notes.  It doesn't apply to me but to a couple who has his and her/their  insurance coverage.  They are trying to stop the fraud-coverage of not their children, not married couple-making all members with family coverage prove marriage with license and child with a birth certificate.  People who smoke pay more every month, etc. Clark Howard on Prescription Drug and Other Assistance Programs (Including Medicare-Approved Drug Discount Cards)   Improvements in Medicare programs - sign up Have you heard about the prescription drug benefit for senior citizens that is launching next year? It’s going to be provided by private companies to Medicare-eligible seniors, and they’ll have up to 20 choices for programs depending on where they live. The plans will have a monthly premium and it’s important to get in on the early side or there are financial penalties for signing up later. Enrollment starts Nov. 15 and the program goes into effect Jan. 1, 2006. It can get quite confusing, so it’s important to go over the terms with your parents. Seniors will pay a monthly premium that will vary from company to company. For every prescription a senior buys, the first $250 comes out of pocket. After that, Medicare covers 75 percent of the next $2,000 in drug purchases. The program pretty much stops there. If you go beyond $3,000 in drug purchases, it comes out of the senior’s pocket. And, after $5,000, the government gets involved again. So, you and your parents need to read up on this. The one thing you don’t want to do is to make no decision at all. Now, there is one group of people that should not participate in a Medicare benefit plan. The small number of people who are offered a good plan as a retiree should not get involved. It’s a potential break from the exorbitant prescription drug costs out there, but you need to do your homework. Click here for more information on all states.     http://www.medicare.gov/AssistancePrograms/home.asp?dest=NAV|Home|EligibilityQuestions#TabTop  Go to this site to get updated information.   4Elsie Laurens   "Education" Quotes "In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards." - Mark Twain "Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten." - B.F. Skinner "The advantage of a classical education is that it enables you to despise the wealth which it prevents you from achieving." - Russell Green "Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths pure theatre." - Gail Godwin "Education is a companion which no misfortune can depress, no crime can destroy, no enemy can alienate, no despotism can enslave. At home, a friend, abroad, an introduction, in solitude a solace and in society an ornament. It chastens vice, it guides virtue, it gives at once grace and government to genius. Without it, what is man? A splendid slave, a reasoning savage." - Joseph Addison   4Bettye Chambers Unexpected responses to "The Lord's Prayer" web page which I put together several months ago and sent the URL in an e-mail to all of you Golden Girls and some others on my "regular" email list -- probably around 65. (not the entire 3,000)  For several weeks now I have been receiving emails from all over the world (including Ghana)concerning this piece  and the music embedded in it.  Every day now I am getting 10 - 20 emails about this page. About 99% are very positive. Quite a few even say that it was emailed to them by a friend at a time in their life when they really needed it.  One atheist was very critical -- but at least he read it ;- ) . One minister was critical of the use of "graven images" to depict the appearance of Jesus.  I have received several offers of jobs building religious pages. One Hispanic woman wanted my permission to translate it into Spanish in her e-mail when she sends the link to her relatives and friends who do not speak English.  Finally, I started sending all of these e-mail responses to a special folder to save. One day, I may write a book ;- ) It is very sobering to realize how far web pages and e-mails have traveled and how many people actually read them!  Those of us who reluctantly entered this computer world back in 1981 - 82 never imagined what a vital part of life these little monsters would become and how they would totally change the world of communications.  It is, indeed, a small world in this modern age of computer technology.  Studies do indicate that staying active on the computer is one way to keep the old brain working and perhaps fend off Big Al  ;- ) BTW. . . Our new national President of NFRW has asked me to continue on as the web master for her personal website after she takes office in D.C. in January. This one would be "for pay".  Boy, was that a shock when she asked me to do this.   4Nell Foster Nell is very sad to report that her computer has been down since switching over to Comcast and a cable modem.  She, like many of us, has come to look forward to her emails from family and friends every day. She also enjoys surfing the internet -- especially sports sites. Nell and I have resorted to using the dreaded telephone for the last few weeks to discuss the finer points of our favorite football and baseball games. BTW -- Nell's team, North Carolina State, defeated Georgia Tech on Thursday night, and the two of us have been celebrating ever since. (I am a Georgia  fan -- as well as FSU --since my daughter and son-in-law went to Georgia.)  -- Bettye on behalf of Nell     4Halloween Greeting Page to the Golden Girls There are witches in my mailbox. What am I to do? Click here to read. . .      Web site: Check out the new cartoons at the top of the Cartoon Page.    As we receive news from the Girls, it will be posted on the GG-News     page.   Be sure to send us news about your trips, anniversaries, grand children, jokes, photos, etc. to go in our next GG E-News. Hope to see you on the 18th at the Brio Tuscan Grille in Dunwoody.

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by Bettye