Monday, August 12, 2019

Phillip's Table



 Two of the dearest friends of our lives have been Philip and Mildred Greear. I sometimes describe them as Brannon and Lillian’s surrogate grandparents. B&L were lucky to have four wonderful grandparents in my folks and Sheila’s but their blood-grandparents did not live in Rome. B&L spent some quality time as kids in Mildred’s kitchen, garden, and henhouse, in Philip’s workshop and yard, and spalshing in that wonderful mountaintop swimming pool.


Back when the Reagan administration was intent on selling off major portions of our public lands, Mildred & Philip and many others organized the awkwardly named but very effective “Individuals for National Forest Outcry” (INFO). During that effort Phillip built a beautiful “Bishop’s Bench” table from wood milled from a huge longleaf pine that fell across Horseleg Creek Road from Marshall Forest. He donated the table to INFO to be raffled. WE WON the raffle. We still own and use that five foot table.

Today after buying a pair of shoes at Becky’s in Gala Shopping Center we walked down to the Salvation Army Thrift Store.

As I was wandering around the shop I noticed the table in these pictures. My mouth dropped as I examined it. I lifted the top to make it a bench. Raised the lid of the storage compartment below. Looked at the wooden pins used to secure the top and the long piano hinge. I noticed the style of the feet on the bench and table. Then I walked to where Sheila was browsing and said to her: “See that table way over there against the window? I’m nearly positive it was built by Phillip.” We walked back over. She noted that though the wood looked very similar to ours, the planks were not as thick. Also, she noted the “feet” were not quite as big. And the whole thing was much larger than ours. Still I was just sure.

Since the table had just been brought in the employees needed to wait for the manager to return from lunch to get us a price. So we waited a few minute. The very nice man agreed it was an item donated locally. I told him that I thought I knew who had built it. He said, “Well, there’s a name on it somewhere.” And there it was. Right on the rim of the table top: “P. GREEAR 85”

We would like to know for sure but we suspect this is the big table that was on the back porch of the Greear home on Mt. Alto Road.

It needs some TLC. The top needs gluing and clamping and then sanding and refinishing. The bench and the base are near perfect… well a little chipping on the base. But what a find for this sentimental old fool.

This eight-foot table will reside on our big side porch and I hope to eat some good food and enjoy some good conversation around it during whatever time I have left here. Y’all come.

Sunday, August 04, 2019

There is no excuse.

Jennifer Rubin and I disagree on many national issues. She is generally conservative and I am generally liberal on social and economic issues. But on this we are in total agreement: There is no excuse for supporting this president.
I beg my friends and relatives who have so far been silent about, or even defended this president, to do some soul-searching. Words have consequences. Elections have consequences. We have seen bloody, horrifying, brutal consequences this weekend.
Is this the society we wish to leave to our children and grandchildren?
Ignorance, childishness, bullying, hatefulness, pettiness, and more and more blatant racism?
It is time for legal, ethical, peaceful but righteous anger and civic uprising.
It is time for patriots to take real, persistant, loud, demanding, non-violent action.
Our US Representative, arch-conservative Tom Graves, will be in Rome Tuesday. He needs to hear from patriotic Northwest Georgians of all stripes that we have had enough of white nationalism, racism, hatred, ignorance, and xenophobia. We have had enough of Russian attacks on our nation and of Donald Trump's cozying up with Putin, Kim, and other murderers. We may not all agree on abortion, or social security, or medicare, or what should be done about Iran or Iraq or Afghanistan, but surely we can agree that we have had enough of a racist in the White House and of foreign invasion of our most basic republican system -- our elections..
We do not hate Donald Trump the man, but we certainly hate racism and what Russians and this president together have done to the country we love.
It is time for people of faith, people of conscience, to speak out.
Our republic is in real danger. Republican government and liberty are the exception in human history not the rule. Ours is a republic, as Franklin warned us, only if we can keep it.
The Russians are already attacking our electoral system for the 2020 cycle. Americans are already sharing Russian created facebook posts daily.
People are dying.
Twenty-nine this weekend. TWENTY-NINE.
Who can deny that there is blood on this president's hands?
After more than two years,
- after the the clear crimes detailed in the Mueller report,
- after the Senate bipartisan intelligence committee report of continuing Russian scheming,
- after the white nationalism, racism, terror, and blood of Charlottesville through El Paso...
... silence is complicity.