Thursday, December 31, 2020

The Seventh Day of Christmas: The Friendly Beasts

Updating slightly a post from 2009:

A quarter of a century or more ago the four of us, Brannon, Lillian, Sheila, and I performed "The Friendly Beasts" for our church Christmas Party program. It may have been the only public performance of the Shaw Family Singers. 

I couldn't find video I liked of this song so just listen to Garth Brooks and friends. The donkey part is sung by Pat Alger. Pat wrote (or cowrote) several of Brooks most famous hits like "Unanswered Prayers" and "The Thunder Rolls". I like to brag that back in the sixties I cowrote a song with this famous songwriter. Pat was in the cabin with me, Cleve Burton, Greg Cordle, and other friends at good old Camp Glisson. Our counselor was "Big John", a Methodist preacher of great girth. At the Friday night talent show our group of audacious boys sang "Who Could Ask for More?" -- a song written mostly by Pat but with input from the whole cabin. I remember one verse alluded to the fact that even if "Big John"'s belly arrived on time, the rest of him might still be late. Here is what Brooks writes about the performance:

"From the beginning I wanted the beasts of the stable to be separate, individual characters, so I asked some of my songwriting buddies to help out. The donkey is played by PAT ALGER who wrote "The Thunder Rolls", "Unanswered Prayers" and "What She's Doing Now". STEPHANIE DAVIS sings for the cow. She wrote "WOLVES" and "THE GIFT". The sheep is presented by LARRY BASTIAN who wrote "I've Got A Good Thing Going", "Cowboy Bill", "Nobody Gets Off In This Town", "Unanswered Prayers", "Rodeo" and "The Old Man's Back In Town" VICTORIA SHAW, who wrote "The River" sings for the dove. And finally, TONY ARATA sings the camel's verse. Tony wrote "The Dance" and "Same Old Story". 

The Friendly Beasts sung by Garth Brooks and Friends 


The Friendly Beasts

Jesus our brother, strong and good
Was humbly born in a stable rude
And the friendly beasts around Him stood
Jesus our brother, strong and good
"I, " said the donkey, shaggy and brown
"I carried His mother up hill and down
I carried His mother to Bethlehem town"
"I, " said the donkey, shaggy and brown
"I, " said the cow, all white and red
"I gave Him my manger for His bed
I gave Him my hay to pillow His head"
"I, " said the cow, all white and red
"I, " said the sheep with curly horn
"I gave Him my wool for His blanket warm
He wore my coat on Christmas morn"
"I, " said the sheep with curly horn
"I, " said the dove from the rafters high
"I cooed Him to sleep so that He would not cry
We cooed Him to sleep, my mate and I"
"I, " said the dove from the rafters high
Thus every beast by some good spell
In the stable dark was glad to tell
Of the gift he gave Emmanuel
The gift he gave Emmanuel

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

The Sixth Day of Christmas: Jamie Barton sings "Jessye's Carol"

This Christmas Carol was written for world renowned opera star and Georgian Jessye Norman. Here our own Armuchee girl, Jamie Barton, another world renowned opera star sings it with the Atlanta Master Chorale.





Here are the lyrics: 

This Christmastide (Jessye's Carol)

Green and silver, red and gold, and a story born of old
Truth and love and hope abide this Christmastide, this Christmastide
Holly, ivy, mistletoe, and the gently falling snow
Truth and love and hope abide this Christmastide, this Christmastide
From a simple ox's stall came the greatest gift of all
Truth and love and hope abide this Christmastide, this Christmastide
Children sing of peace and joy at the birth of one small boy
Truth and love and hope abide this Christmastide, this Christmastide
Let the bells ring loud and clear, ring out now for all to hear
Truth (truth and) and love (love and) and hope (hope) abide (bide) this Christmastide, this Christmastide
Trumpets sound and voices raises in an endless stream of praise
Truth and love and hope abide this Christmastide, this Christmastide
Green and silver, red and gold, and a story born of old
Peace and love and hope abide this Christmastide, this Christmastide

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

"Curing" Ballots for "We the People"

 

Lillian and I pose with ballot "curing" packets.

The most basic right of any citizen of a republic is the right to vote; without the right to vote the government is only "We Some of the People." Thousands of Georgians have done everything they were supposed to do to vote this year, but because some elections worker finds their 2020 signature somehow different from the signature on their submitted ID their ballot is put aside until that voter can resubmit a better approximation of their signature with, again, their ID. Perhaps the voter has had a stroke, like the elderly gentleman whose ballot I helped "cure" in Carterville. Or maybe like the 18 year-old brand new voter who signed his ballot application quickly and sloppily but was more careful with his driver's license signature. 

In other words, to avoid the highly unlikely chance that some criminal will chance a jail term so they can cast one illegal vote, thousands of voters are having their franchise threatened. 

As a volunteer representative of the Democratic Party of Georgia, it has been my privilege yesterday and today to drive all over Bartow and Polk counties to find voters whose legitimacy is being questioned and helping them to "cure" their ballots. Today that brought me to the home of a delightful 85 year lady who lives on a country road in rural Polk County. We had a really nice, properly masked and distanced, visit. She was thrilled to find that I am a Democrat. She is so pleased that we have Joe Biden as our incoming president and she had been pleased to cast a vote for Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in order to give our new president a Senate that gives his nominees and legislative proposals a fair hearing. She wants the nastiness to end. We talked about Covid and how much we each missed seeing our grandkids this Christmas. We talked about her husband's service in the Seabees during the Vietnam era. 

She had no idea there was a problem with the absentee ballot she had mailed. 

Since she did not have an e-mail address or a cellphone with a camera she agreed to have me use mine. She signed the affidavit I provided and allowed me to photograph it and her ID and watched while I e-mailed those pictures to her county elections office. I have helped a bunch of folks the last two days but she is the only one to use my cellphone to "cure" a ballot. I know it's silly, but I just got kinda emotional when I received this e-mail after I got home (I have removed her name to protect her privacy.):

-------

The Absentee Ballot Affidavit for [the lady's name] has been received by our office. The ballot has now been accepted by our office, and no further action is required at this time.
Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact our office.

Thank you and have a great day,

[Etc.]

-------

Please, get out and vote! Our nation is at a crossroads. We need to return to normalcy. We need to return to bipartisanship and compromise. Our nation would not be without huge compromises -- some very distasteful to many, but under the circumstances of the day --- necessary to majority approval. With Mitch McConnell in absolute control of what can come before the Senate our Congress is crippled.

The driving, the time commitment, the fact that it should be unnecessary, the many times folks aren't home to answer a knock, the stress of needing to get the procedures exactly right, the stress of keeping Covid-safe, all is tedious and can be aggravating. BUT it has been such a rewarding time to see the appreciation of those who have been assured their sacred vote is being counted.

The Fifth Day of Christmas: Silent Night

 This is the quintessential Christmas carol, I suppose. It is the one most associated with the famous Christmas Truce of 1914, when German and English-speaking troops sang the song together. I remember my father using, in his sermons, the legend of the song's first performance by Frans Gruber when Gruber's church organ was disabled. Hundreds of performers have recorded the song. 


Here the famous Three Tenors, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, and Luciano Pavarotti, sing "Silent Night".


And here is the story of Silent Night as I tell it.

Monday, December 28, 2020

The Fourth Day of Christmas: Parades

This is an update of a post from 2005. The photos were taken by Liilain at the Rome Christmas parade that year. 

My wife keeps me from aging quite so quickly by dragging me to, among other things, the Christmas Parade. We had to go the the parade when our kids were little because it is a part of common law that little kids have to go to the Christmas Parade. We braved the elements to watch in their school years because they were in the parade (band, scouts, school floats, etc.) and there is a well-established law that requires parents to attend when kids are on display. 

This year [2005] we had no child in the parade. Sheila drug me there anyway. [And several times since] And I'm glad she did. 

We have float competitions, so there are always floats with someone holding an award plaque. And each participant has a number. We have about 120 or so. Several bands, businesses, radio stations, churches, scout troops, civic groups, Red Hat ladies, Shriners, Sons of Confederate Vets, retirement homes, and, of course, Miss This, Miss That, and Little Miss the Other. 

Up and down the crowds roam venders hawking glow sticks, balloons, etc. All very picturesque -- and youthifying, I'm sure.

--------------------
202O Postscript

The parade was a reverse parade this year: the floats were stationary along the drive at State Mutual Stadium and viewers were encouraged to drive their cars through the stationary parade, thus remaining safe from the Covid-virus that has ended over American 300,000 lives this year and upended everyone's lives. We had intended to go, but somehow missed it. Maybe next year on Broad?

I remember going home from the parade when Brannon and Lillian were little with an aching neck from allowing one girl or the other to ride my shoulders all night for a better view of the passing floats or to see Santa as he lit the city tree. I miss that ache.

In recent years, when it's been just me and Sheila,  I've attended not so much to watch the parade as to watch Sheila watching the parade. She really enjoys it and I really enjoy her. 

Sunday, December 27, 2020

The Georgia Elections and the Accusations of Fraud

Today, I made the mistake of checking in on some Facebook pages that I usually avoid. I wanted to see Christmas pictures, but found stuff that nauseated me. These are pages where I know my views are not respected and any response from me would be unwelcome. It is just better for my mental health not to read things that make me feel dirty for leaving them unchallenged. Let me just say, Donald Trump's vile lies are still believed in some quarters. These people post, as if it were established fact, absolute nonsense from sources like the Epoch Times, which in turn documents its stories with links to... the Epoch Times website. My blog was established in 2005 for this very sort of occasion. I must state my case as honestly and forthrightly as possible; I can do no other. But I prefer to nail it to my own door.

The 2020 elections in Georgia were the most secure and verifiable elections in this state since the days of paper ballots. I witnessed almost all parts of the process: the opening of absentee mailed-in ballots; the handling and care of the batches of paper ballots from absentee in-person voting; the accumulation of electronically scanned "day-of" ballots from computer cards; the scanning of absentee ballots, the adjudication of ballots that could not be read by the scan-reading software; the duplication of one accidentally mangled mail-in ballot; the interaction of technicians, elections personnel, partisan and non-partisan observers, the manual recount of votes, the electronic recount of votes, and more.

If you haven't already, please read...

 My previous post describing my volunteer work in the elections office.

After writing that post I monitored or adjudicated for several more days through the electronic recount that was requested by the president. It went well and reaffirmed the previous vote. During that time I once again was paired with a Republican --- actually three different Republicans at different times --- and once again we were able to amiably decide if voter intent could be determined for ballots thrown out by the machine and if so award the vote to the intended candidate.

In one case my Republican co-hort was the infamous Marjorie "QAnon" Greene, our incoming US Representative. She and I agreed 100% on the one ballot we had to make a judgment about together, perhaps the one and only time before or since that we have agreed on anything. 

During the whole time of my experience with the elections board and the elections staff, the ballots and the sacred voice of the people they represent were treated with care, with respect, and honestly. When errors were made, as will ALWAYS happen in every election, they were acknowledged and corrected. We the People can be assured of that because every single ballot is physically preserved and, in the case of this year's presidential election, verified by hand AND electronic recount. 

The company that developed our system has created many safeguards to assure an honest vote. Their technicians who were present to assist with the process were diligent in answering questions only from elections personnel and staying scrupulously non-partisan; their role had NOTHING to do with adjudication but ONLY with operating the equipment. The two technicians with whom I had contact were consistently professional and determinedly non-responsive to questions from partisan monitors regarding the process. We spent many hours each day together, and during breaks they were polite and personable with monitors of both parties but talked of weather, hobbies, home-life, and such, never politics -- not once. 

The same was true of the monitors. I enjoyed talking with several of the Republican monitors and found them mostly just patriotic Americans like me who were willing to volunteer a lot of time to protect our franchise. They reminded me of my much-loved relatives whose company I enjoy, even if I cringe at the fact-free venom on their Facebook pages.

Every count was verified by elections personnel and could be monitored by BOTH parties as well as non-partisan observers like the League of Women Voters, the Carter Center, the NAACP, and the news media.  

There is NO opportunity for computer manipulation of the ballots but IF THERE WERE it would be revealed by a hand recount of the physical ballots.

Anyone who disputes the basic facts above is either ignorant of the process, blinded by partisanship, or lying. 

I thought my job was over for the Christmas season, but then a Texas group instigated computer-generated challenges to the votes of thousands of Georgians whose names showed up on some change-of-address lists. Of course there are many voters whose addresses change between elections. That does not affect their right to vote. So Sheila and I left our last minute Christmas Cards lying where they were and hurried to the emergency called Elections Board meeting a couple of days before Christmas to hear the ridiculous challenge and monitor the public debate and await the inevitable ruling. Ugh.

In each county the group found someone willing to officially challenge the votes of these people, with NO evidence beyond their name on such a list, and generally with no knowledge of the individual voters whose basic American right to vote they sought to deny. In our county, as in almost every other, these challenges were thrown out for lack of standing as the law clearly prescribes according my understanding of the explanation of the law from our county lawyer. 

I thank God that we have ditched the previous system which gave us NO physical ballot as a back-up. If a candidate had lost Georgia so narrowly under the old system and decided to make up fraud charges, there would have been no way to prove his charges were untrue, as Trump's charges have been proven untrue over and over in Georgia and across the nation in courts and recounts this year.

President-elect Joseph R. Biden will become president at noon on January 20, 2021 because he won 306 electoral votes by garnering millions of votes more than his opponent in the greatest turn-out of a presidential election in my life time. The people spoke; And how they spoke! 

Hallelujah!


The Third Day of Christmas: Dunder & Blixen

 

Old Leaves: A Visit from St. Nicholas

While your host is flitting about other parts of the forest, enjoy this mossy old post from the Limb, borrowed from my classroom website circa Christmas 2006:

A Happy Christmas to All!!

We divided this poem up among my 26 students and practiced using our strongest voices and our most eloquent expression. Of course, we forgot strong and expressive voices completely when we recited the poem for parents.

Everybody knows this one. It is a delightful Christmas tradition. It names the eight reindeer. It gives a wonderful description of Saint Nicholas. You can sing it. It is a vocabulary builder.

Here is an old recording of yours truly reciting this poem.




A Visit from St. Nicholas

’T was the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;  
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;  

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,  

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
  
And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
  
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
  

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.  
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
  
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.


The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow  
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
  
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,  

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,


With a little old driver, so lively and quick,  
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
  
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
  
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;


“Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!  
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
  
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
  
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”


As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,  
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
  
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
  
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too.


And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof  
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.  

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
  
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.


He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,  
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,  
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.


His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!  
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
  
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow
  
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;  

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,  
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
  
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
  
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.


He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,  
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;  
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
  
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;


He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,  
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,  

And laying his finger aside of his nose,
  
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;


He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,  
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle,
  
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,  

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.”
-- Clement Moore

NOTES

Clement Moore -- There is a lot of disagreement about whether or not this famous poem was written by Clement Moore.

sugar-plums -- small balls of sugar candy.

droll -- an adjective to describe something comical or odd.

Donder and Blitzen -- Donder is often called “Donner”. And at one time Blitzen was called “Blixem”!  Here is a website that tells that story. Can you name all of Santa’s Reindeer?

Other Poems from Terrell's Anthology (or just click on
the "poetry" link at the bottom of the post):
A Visit from St. Nicholas • Mice • All In a Word • The Spider • The Eagle
Some People • Custard the Dragon • Statistics 101 • The Spider and the Fly
Back to School • The Inchcape Rock • Ogden Nash • Trash
Hearts, Like Doors • Casey at the Bat •  Always a Rose • Home at Last
Bag of Tools • Carpe Diem •  Poems About Poetry • Man's Best Friend
Spelling is Tough Stough! • Blue Marble • Tacks, Splinters, Apples and Stars
Oh, Captain, My Captain! • Metaphor • Introducion to Poetry
Loveliest of Trees • Flax-Golden Tales • The Dinosaurs Are Not All Dead
Owl Pellets • Mummy Slept Late • Just My Size
The Kindest Things I Know • Miles to Go • Love that Brother
Oh, Frabjous Day!

Other Posts about Children's Literature:

The Lion's Paw top kid's OOP book!
Harry
Aslan is Dead!
Multiplying People, Rice, and Readers
A Teacher's Life

You can read some of my own efforts at poetry here.
And then there's Alien Invasion.

A weblog dedicated to Poetry for Children.
Watch Sonja Cole's reviews of children's books at Bookwink.com.
The PBS series Favorite Poem Project

Saturday, December 26, 2020

Gleaning Facebook: Christmas 2020

We had an unusual Christmas but a nice one. It was just five of us.. these four and the photographer, my sister Beth, who refused to have her likeness made! Except for the quick picture we kept as physically distanced as possible.
Sheila picked the menu. She had prepared a turkey and dressing feast for Thanksgiving, but for Christmas she wanted pizza and ice cream. So we had two large Gondola pizzas— ‘Farmers Market’ and ‘Mediterranean’. Our ice cream flavors were peppermint, triple chocolate, and black walnut. All of that fat and sugar was moderated with a nice green salad and fresh pineapple.
Isn't my Covid hair nice? Ten months without a professional haircut (one make-do cut.)


Jaki Day Merry Christmas 

Melissa Howard Merry Christmas


Pam Allen Albert Blessings
Juanita Mull Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! 

Terrell Shaw Juanita Mull Thanks -- our best to you and yours!

Jane Nelson Risdon Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
Terrell Shaw Jane Nelson Risdon
We did --- ache to see the grandkids, but have had great "Facetime" visits. I hope y'all are having a great one too!

Jane Nelson Risdon Terrell Shaw I just heard today that my son-in-law has been diagnosed with covid.

Terrell Shaw Oh no! He and all of you will be in my prayers. When all this is over we sure would like to see y'all again sometime. We have a spare bedroom just a few miles off I-75 and MUCH cheaper rates than any hotel room--- just some good conversation is the only charge!


Jane Nelson Risdon Terrell Shaw I'd really like that! We'll keep that in mind!!!
Steven Savage
Hey Terry. Glad y'all had a good Christmas. These are indeed strange times.
Tell aunt Ruth I say hey.
Terrell Shaw Steven Savage Will do!

Widad Akrayee pastedGraphic.png

Rita Lawler I think you are surrounded by goodness, Terrell.

Terrell Shaw Rita Lawler The world at large definitely needs a goodness buffer around me!

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Anita Stewart Sweet people.


Eric McDowell Missing Lillian especially!


Mike Bock Very nice.


We Interrupt This Holy Season to Rant

It has been a very tiring four, really five, years. We often just try to ignore the Great Narcissist. Especially now that he is the clear loser, a second time, of the vote of the people of our republic, and this time also in the antiquated and failed Electoral College. But my conscience will not allow me to ignore his loathsome, even criminal, in my opinion, behavior of the past week.

Despite the fact that his own administration negotiated much of the agreement that would have continued funding of our military and the rest of our government, including limited Covid relief for American citizens, Donald Trump has thrown a monkey wrench into that process, then gone AWOL to play golf (at our expense) for the holidays.

In addition he has given undeserved pardons to unrepentant gross felons who assisted him in his crimes or others of the last five years -- including admitted criminals like Duncan Hunter, Paul Manafort, and others.

He has continued to spare no effort in his conspiratorial campaign to overthrow our government to negate the 2020 election and make himself president for another term despite his overwhelming loss at the polls.

But most despicably, this human filth has pardoned convicted murderers and war criminals who slaughtered innocent civilians including children.

It is exhausting to try to maintain outrage day after day for five years, but we CANNOT allow this become normalized behavior. It is evil. It is counter to all the principles of American good governance.

It is heart-breaking that some otherwise good folks choose to continue to support this demonic and unAmerican autocrat-wannabe.

The Second Day of Christmas: Christmas Dinner




Noel Paul Stookey is one of my favorite musicians. He is one third of Peter, Paul, and Mary. He is also an exceptional solo performer. Here he is with an unusual Christmas song for the Second Day of Christmas - "Christmas Dinner. 

I first posted this back in 2008.

Christmas Dinner

And it came to pass on a Christmas evening
When all the doors were shuttered tight
Outside standing, a lonely boy-child
Cold and shivering in the night
On the street every window
Save but one was gleaming bright
And to this window walked the boy-child
Peeking in saw candlelight
Through other windows he had looked at turkeys
Ducks, and geese, and cherry pies
But through this window saw a gray-haired lady
Table bare, tears in her eyes
Into his coat reached the boy-child
Knowing well there was little there
He took from his pocket his own Christmas dinner
A bit of cheese and some bread to share
His outstretched hands held the food and they trembled
As the door it opened wide
Said he "Would you share with me Christmas dinner?"
Gently said she, "Come inside"
The gray-haired lady brought forth to the table
Glasses two, the last drops of wine
Said she "Here's a toast to everyone's Christmas
And especially yours and mine!"
And it came to pass on that Christmas evening
While all the doors were shuttered tight
That in that town the happiest Christmas
Was shared by candlelight


Friday, December 25, 2020

Economic thoughts on Christmas morning 2020

We are watching "It's a Wonderful Life" on Christmas morning while we enjoy our usual and delicious breakfast -- egg frittatas with salsa and yoghurt and toast and a big cup of coffee.

What a great movie for this Christmas. Mr. Gower's son has died in the influenza pandemic. Good ol' American free enterprise capitalism tempered by the common good is represented by Bailey Savings and Loan in opposition to the heartless, selfish, tyrannical, unbridled capitalism of Mr. Potter.

After Peter Bailey died his photo was displayed on the wall of the Savings and Loan office with this quotation posted below it: "All you can take with you is that which you've given away" - Peter Bailey


This movie always makes me think of what I love about American free enterprise as reformed and reimagined during the times of the two Roosevelts and later. I am so thankful for the labor movement and those who helped end the "Gilded Age". I'm thankful for the GI Bill which so changed my life. Without it what would my family's experience have been? Social Security? My granddaddy made less than a thousand dollars a year as a barber in the late fifties. He died at 67 so he likely never got a lot from Social Security, but it certainly helped my grandmother, his widow, who lived to 91. I am thankful for the public education I received at litte Mackville KY, in Griffin GA, Ellijay GA, and Rome GA. I am thankful for the interstate highway system that saves me hours of time and bouts of carsickness travelling through Tennesee and Kentucky the last fifty years or so. The combination of free enterprise and strong regulation and protections for labor and attention to the common good have made my life more comfortable, more healthy, richer in experience, and safer.

Sheila and I have tried our hand at entrepreneurship twice. We loved being able to follow our dream for two years (with our partners) publishing a weekly newspaper (Broadside) here in Rome. 



Then later we spent eleven years trying to make a living publishing a community magazine (Out & About Georgia's Rome) and doing some "desktop publishing". 



Though neither of our efforts were commercial successes we are proud of some things we accomplished along the way, and treasure some of the friendships that resulted. 

I believe in the power and the necessity for a healthy free enterprise system. BUT free enterprise MUST be tempered with strong regulation for the common good. Without strong protections for labor, for the public health, for environmental safety capitalism can be every bit as tyrannical as unbridled socialism.

There are some areas where the profit motive can be toxic, and health care is one of those areas. If free enterprise is going to be part of our health care system it must be strongly regulated and we must guard against healthcare and insurance and pharmaceutical business interests gaining undue influence in government. Likewise the famous military-industrial complex that Ike warned us about. (If you haven't listened to Ike's speech take the time to hear how a real president approaches passing the torch to another president of a different party.)

Ike ended that farewell speech with these words:
"We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love."

Bright Blue Christmas 2020

Blue Christmas takes on a new, cheerful, connotation this year. Our Republic will be returned to the hands of patriots on January 20.  

We reserved a special Christmas card this time for a very few friends. For some of those who are working with us in the battle to reclaim the soul of America --- we used this picture, even though it is horizontal, to feature three signs we are proud to display. I hope all our friends will join us in voting to bring moderation, bipartisanship, civil negotiation, principled diplomacy back to our Senate and put the public back into the Public Service Commission. I am called by my love for America and the principles of brotherhood and love and liberty to do all I can to bring this victory for our republic on January 5.


Christmas 2020

We got out a few Christmas cards this year! Wow. 

We have not managed that in a while.

This is our primary image. What better image to represent the highlight of our year. We had just, despite the pandemic, lived for five weeks with these two beloved girls. They had gotten very comfortable with us and we with them. We were about to get in the car and head to the airport. We do not know when we will see them again in person, but what joy this picture rekindles in my fancy's eye.

We had a few cards that will hold two pictures. On some of those we added this picture of our home decorated and lit for Christmas...



First Day of Christmas: Real Ornaments

 

Our 2020 Christmas card celebrates our real ornaments of 2020 --- our two granddaughters.


Clementine visits Santa who, in this Covid-Christmas, is protected by a bubble of plastic.



For 2019 and 2020 our daughter has sent out Christmas cards that double as ornaments. Above you will see the one we received this week with Clementine and Ruth in matching dresses. Below that is the circular card from a year earlier. Clem is hanging from her unseen father's arms over the bed of her brand-new sister Ruth.

Thursday, December 24, 2020

Advent Ornament 24: Musical Santa & Mrs. Claus

Two of the dearest friends of our lives have been Midlred and Philip Greear and these little figures were gifts from them. We unwrap and display this little Santa with his concertina and his Missus with her uke every Christmas and think of the Greears again. 

We have no shortage of reminders of these friends. 

Mildred's beautiful book of poetry, Moving Gone Dancing, is never far from my hands. Here is a post that includes one of the poems from that book.

We have two of Phillip's bishop's tables we use all the time. One made of a giant Marshall Forest pine whose wood he rescued when it fell across Horseleg Creek road many decades ago. Another we discovered at the Salvation Army thrift staore just a year or so ago.

We have the rattle Phillip made for Brannon when she was a baby and one of his beautiful wooden drums.

We were privileged just a few weeks ago to attend a physically distanced 100th birthday celebration for Mildred. 




Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Gleaning Facebook: Christmas Poems

 I alsways loved reading some favorite poems to my students at Christmastime. Here I share three for the patrons at Sara Hightower Library:

• "The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver" by Edna St. Vincent Millay
• "The Boy Who Laughed At Santa Claus" by Ogden Nash
...and of course,
• "A Visit From St. Nicholas" by Clement Moore

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Gleaning Facebook: A Christmas Gift

The folks at our wonderful library, Sara Hightower Regional, asked me to tell some Christmas stories --- online of course. This is the most personal of them...

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Sarah Mink Scarber

Thank you for sharing your gift! 

Gwendolyn Napier
Great Touching Story Terrell..


Michael J. Burton
Great work my man.


Gola Burton
This is so awesome!

Photo Archive: Quilts



 These two pictures were take=n on this day in the great room at Ruth Shaw's house. 

Interrupting Christmas Cheer: If ever the F-word was appropriate

I don't cuss. I despise the degradation of our rhetoric that throws in George Carlin's seven words ad nauseum. I don't want to be a prude but I prefer those words be reserved for occasions that call for real outrage.  I listen to Charlie Sykes' Bulwark podcast almost daily and put up with his language because, in my opinion,  the behavior of national Republicans over the last few years is richly deserving of Charlie's vocabulary choices.. 


Charlie Sykes' Morning Shot Today

Advent Ornament 23: Carolers

My grandmother, Lillian Wilkerson Shaw, loved Christmas. She lit up her little Main Street cotton-mill-town house every December with Christmas decorations. During her last few years Sheila and I had the opportunity a couple of times to help her haul in the lights and ornaments and other decorations from the rafters of the garage and deploy them, under her strict oversight, to the inside and outside of the house.
These three-foot tall plastic carolers always stood on one side of her front porch. A plastic Holy Family occupied the other side. When "Mama Shaw" died at 91 in 1993, I inherited the carolers and a few other decorations. I suppose they are a little tacky, but they are dear to my childhood and we are proud to plug in near our front door.




I'm not sure of the origins of the mouse carolers, but they have been around for many years.



These small china carolers also came from Mama Shaw.


Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Advent Ornament 22: Beth's Santa

 My sister Beth got into china painting for a while and in 1991 she gave Sheila this 12 inch Santa she painted. We have enjoyed displaying it during the Christmas season every year since.


Gleaning Facebook: Warnock-Ossoff Button


 Look what came to me out of the blue (pun intended) from Gordon County today. Thanks to my friend Ruth Demeter and a new friend in Calhoun, Jeff Adair. They’ll be pinned to my shirt or jacket often between now and January 5... then join my Georgia political items collection.

Ruth Demeter

Jeff Adair I knew Terrell would love these đźŤŽ. Thanks for your help!

Monday, December 21, 2020

Gleaning Facebook: Irish Parliament and the Santa Question

 I am thrilled to see that Ireland has taken this measure to assist Saint Nicholas in this difficult year. I'm sure American leaders will follow suit. I don't think the minister mentioned it, but I have been in touch with Santa via text message and he has affirmed and emphasized that he will apply the n-95 mask (with red satin outer covering and gold braided trim) that I sent BEFORE descending each chimney and until he's rooftop after each delivery. He also keeps a large dispenser of hand sanitizer beside him in the sleigh and will use it frequently, especially when he is forced to use doorknobs (where chimneys are absent or obstructed.)