From Dale McConkey's Facebook:
Comments:
Dale McConkey
*Stolen, but I can’t find the original post to credit
Dorothy Lowry
"Whither thou don’t goest there also shall I decline to go." Quarantine 20:19-20
Sunday, April 26, 2020
Saturday, April 25, 2020
A Song for Saturday: Broken Vow
Broken Vow
Friday, April 24, 2020
Gleaning Facebook: Technology & Grandma Ruth
Ruth Baird Shaw gets such a kick out of seeing pictures and watching videos of her grands and great-grands!
Last night we set up Sheila’s computer with an external speaker so she could watch & hear Lillian’s performance of “Hold On” from The Secret Garden. While we were still there Brannon posted a very short video of John tossing a gleeful Clementine onto a pile of pillows and we were able to show that to my mom. Caitlin had posted a video of Monica dancing. Another happy moment to share. While we all probably stay too closely attached to technology, it is also a great blessing during this pandemic.
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At 97 Mother gets to watch Clemmie & Ruth & Monica & Charles etc often and really enjoys that. I enjoy watching my mother watch my kids & grandkids & nieces & nephews almost as much as I enjoy watching the kids themselves!
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With almost everyone toting a video camera around 24/7 these days, we all can share a quick cheering few moments with our beloveds stuck at home often.
Comments:
Sandy Doughty
Awesome
Ben Farnham
This is the sweetest
Lillian Shaw I love you and miss you, Grandmother!
John Carlin
Terrell Shaw
My grandbabies!
Sandra Pride
They are growing like the flowers in the meadow.
Frank Norris
Hey, Ruth!
Renata Carlin
Those two are adorable! Happy Baptism Day, John.
Wendell W Barnes Jr Love my “Dr. Ruth”!
Charmaine Yoest
Terry how is the best way to send her a video??
Deborah Shaw Lewis
Charmaine Yoest Send it to me or Terry, or Joan.
Terrell Shaw
Or you could upload them to a private FB page like "Charles and Ruth Shaw Family" page??
Duanne Walton
Just awesome. Can't have too many photos or videos!!!!
Janet Behnke I don’t know that I could bear this strange new world without the plethora of technological ways to make connections and stay in touch.
Thursday, April 16, 2020
A How Come Story: Turtle on the Warpath
I have a had a great time telling this story for the last seven years as Storyteller-Naturalist at Arrowhead Environmental Education Center. I have also had several other opportunities to share this Abenaki story at Etowah Mounds State Park and other venues. I first heard the story from Joe Bruchac, a wonderful Abenaki storyteller, at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee and afterward asked his permission to re-tell it. He graciously agreed. Check out Joe's stories and, during this time of quarantine while Joe and other storytellers are stuck at home, it would be a great time to order one or two of his books or CDs to read or hear this story and others from native American people. Find out more about Joe at this link: https://www.josephbruchac.com.
This is my version of course. I have set the story not in the Northeast woodlands of the continent, but right here in what was once Mississippian/Creek/Cherokee country.
One note: I always try in my lessons to remind kids that native Americans are still an important people in our country, not just historical figures. Many, like Joe Bruchac, are working to preserve their languages and cultures. In reviewing my video I was sorry to realize that I had not made that plain in this video. The Abenaki number about 10,000 nowadays and many still call Vermont and bordering states and provinces home.
This is my version of course. I have set the story not in the Northeast woodlands of the continent, but right here in what was once Mississippian/Creek/Cherokee country.
One note: I always try in my lessons to remind kids that native Americans are still an important people in our country, not just historical figures. Many, like Joe Bruchac, are working to preserve their languages and cultures. In reviewing my video I was sorry to realize that I had not made that plain in this video. The Abenaki number about 10,000 nowadays and many still call Vermont and bordering states and provinces home.
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Gleaning Facebook: Grandgirls' Easter
Happy Easter everyone!
- from Sheila & Me... and Easter Bunny Ruth and Egg Hunter Clem
Gleaning Facebook: Pandemic Bake
John Paul Schulz
She should instead be working on my ginger snaps.
She should instead be working on my ginger snaps.
Terrell Shaw
Don't put ideas in her head, John. A helping, to me, when left to my own devices, is generally "all that are left"?
David Matheny
Developing a Muffin Top?
Sam Smith
Lol
Bonny Askew
I understand her pain. Just put a lemon pound cake in the oven.
Marsha Yancey Atkins
Just made a carrot cake, can't stop baking...and eating!
Terrell Shaw
Well be in the red Toyota out front in ten minutes, Sheila will be in the red mask; mine is white. You have curb service now, right?
Marsha Yancey Atkins
Sure we do! Just honk and smile,we'll be right out.
Trude Sansbury
Ginger snaps, sounds good with a cup of tea absolutely lovely.
George Dean
Don't feel bad...At my house my wife has been watching videos on how to make bagels...anybody got cream cheese???...lol
Ann Gore
Sounds like the Gore household! That is what we have done since this thing started, cook and eat! Someone has to eat all of this food!
Debbie Reece Grigsby
I get it. We’ve been enjoying Ken Burns’ Jazz and Great British Baking...Mary Berry is so kind and her recipes work. Yes, we’re baking a lot; however, we pretty much limit ourselves to a bowl of cereal and a shared banana for supper.
Saturday, April 11, 2020
The Lion's Paw: Entire Book
Order your own brand-new copy of The Lion's Paw by Robb White
from AWInk, Inc. at www.thelionspaw.org
Chapter One
Here's the first chapter of my favorite children's novel, The Lion's Paw by Robb White. I am reading it online for those folks stuck at home during the Covid-19 pandemic. Y'all stay home, wash hands, sanitize often, be careful!
Thanks to the folks at AWInk, Inc. for allowing me to do this. Thanks especially to Leslie Saunders, Robb White's step daughter for her cooperation. You can read a 17 minute rambling monologue about my association with this book since 1970 here: The Lion's Paw: Preface
Or just start with Chapter One here...
Thanks to the folks at AWInk, Inc. for allowing me to do this. Thanks especially to Leslie Saunders, Robb White's step daughter for her cooperation. You can read a 17 minute rambling monologue about my association with this book since 1970 here: The Lion's Paw: Preface
Or just start with Chapter One here...
Read more at these links:
The Lion's Paw: Preface
The Lion's Paw: Chapter Two
The Lion's Paw: Chapter Three
The Lion's Paw: Preface
Fifty years ago this year my girlfriend told me about a favorite book she had read in sixth grade. She said she thought it would be a great book for me to read to my students at Liberty Elementary School in Putnam County, West Virginia where I was teaching. She loaned me her old Scholastic Books 35¢ edition of The Lion's Paw by Robb White. I loved it and my students loved it. It is now my favorite children's book and I have read it to every homeroom I've taught since then.
With everyone home waiting out this awful virus, I thought I might read it on video for you all, so I wrote to Leslie Saunders who holds the copyright for the book her stepfather wrote. AND just yesterday I got a reply from her saying that would be just great.
If you like the book --- and I bet you will --- you can order your very own copy to share with the kids in your life from:
www.thelionspaw.org
www.thelionspaw.org
There are 17 videos. I'll make a separate post for each. Feel free to skip this first one. It is just my rambling history of my association with this wonderful children's novel and how I came to have permission to read it for those kids stuck at home during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Clementine is Two!
Happy Birthday, Clementine!
Here's what I wrote on Facebook this morning.
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Only a pandemic could keep me away from California today. I'll have to celebrate with you from a distance. But, wow! I have so much to celebrate. You have enriched my life immeasurably in just two years. I love you.
Here's my favorite birthday song for you. Granny and I were at the concert when this recording was made, but I don't think you can hear our voices.:
Cut the Cake by John McCutcheon
Now, look at your first meeting with your Granny and me...
You had a very rude introduction to the world. For days you had tubes and patches attached to you. In order to be with you we had to go through a decontamination station to wash our hands and sanitize anything we took into the NICU with us.
(Two years later my hands are chafed by too much washing and sanitizing again. But the whole world is behaving now as we had to in the NICU in 2018. Wow.)
Sometimes the nurse would let us sit in a chair by your crib and put you --- with all those attachments --- into our laps for a few minutes. What a joy to hold you, and to know that the doctors were now saying they thought you were going to be OK.
OK? Ha! Two years later you are a whirlwind of determination and joy and curiosity and love. I always told my students "There's a star in you! Make it shine." Well, Clemmie, I sure see a star in you. And I believe you will have the character and perseverance and love to make it shine.
I love you.
- Granshaw
Here's what I wrote on Facebook this morning.
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“Give me an occupation, Miss Dashwood, or I shall run mad.” - Col. Brandon in Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
I thought of that quote on this day in 2018.
First we received a texted photo from our daughter. It showed a just born baby with her parents. Obviously we had a grandchild. We rejoiced and awaited further news.
Nothing.
What’s going on?!
We soon became concerned and desperate to hear Brannon’s voice. When that call finally came we learned that she was still being cared for in the birthing center, but John and the baby were in an ambulance racing toward Rady’s Children’s Hospital in San Diego, 40 miles away. She was aching to be with her baby; we were aching to be with ours AND hers.
We dashed around to change our fight plan with Delta and to get ready to go to California for — how long?
Two days later, as we soared across the continent I wrote the first draft of the attached letter on my MacBook Pro, its screen blurred by moisture in my eyes.
If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the blog post you will find a picture of what Clementine looked like when we met her the first time.
Today is her second birthday, and this is what she looked like just a few days ago.
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Your Mom commented with this picture of you and your birthday "cake".
Only a pandemic could keep me away from California today. I'll have to celebrate with you from a distance. But, wow! I have so much to celebrate. You have enriched my life immeasurably in just two years. I love you.
Here's my favorite birthday song for you. Granny and I were at the concert when this recording was made, but I don't think you can hear our voices.:
Cut the Cake by John McCutcheon
Now, look at your first meeting with your Granny and me...
You had a very rude introduction to the world. For days you had tubes and patches attached to you. In order to be with you we had to go through a decontamination station to wash our hands and sanitize anything we took into the NICU with us.
(Two years later my hands are chafed by too much washing and sanitizing again. But the whole world is behaving now as we had to in the NICU in 2018. Wow.)
Sometimes the nurse would let us sit in a chair by your crib and put you --- with all those attachments --- into our laps for a few minutes. What a joy to hold you, and to know that the doctors were now saying they thought you were going to be OK.
OK? Ha! Two years later you are a whirlwind of determination and joy and curiosity and love. I always told my students "There's a star in you! Make it shine." Well, Clemmie, I sure see a star in you. And I believe you will have the character and perseverance and love to make it shine.
I love you.
- Granshaw
Monday, April 06, 2020
Gleaning Facebook: Storybook Farm in Spring
Sheila and I love spending a few days each year at this beautiful site, Storybook Farm Bed & Breakfast in Jonesborough Tennessee. Diane and John Vogt are wonderful hosts. These gorgeous pictures are from John Vogt's Facebook today --
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| The view going out on the front porch for breakfast this morning. |
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| A small amount of morning haze |
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| The view looking to the right towards the barn |
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| A bumble bee enjoying the sweet nectar is nearly hidden in this close up |
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| The fragrance of the wisteria in the morning is refreshing. Even the top of the barn has some wisteria on it |
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| The front porch of our home |
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| The sun coming through the wisteria flowers |
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| looking up towards the house from our country lane |
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| A wisteria tree on the side garden at the B&b |
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| A view of the secret garden on the south side of our home with the wisteria from the front porch |
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| A view from the back of the house looking towards the secret garden area |
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| Wisteria covering the barn |
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| Wisteria blooms on front porch are mainly 16 inches long. Some are up to twenty inches (25 cm) |
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| A view toward the log home from the foot path |
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| he wisteria tree next to the B&B |
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| The north corner of the front porch |
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| And oh the perfume smell that covers the area |
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| The view out the North end of the porch looking towards our B&B. (Terrell: The three upstairs windows on this end: "our" room! |
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| another view off the porch around 10 am before we took a morning stroll |
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| The bedroom porch at the B&B next door |
Sunday, April 05, 2020
Gleaning Facebook: Lifestyle Change
I embarked on a new lifestyle a year ago with the help of Weight Watchers, combined with regular exercise I had already started spurred by my Fitbit obsession. I've eaten plenty but the ratio of fruits and veggies to fats and carbs is greatly changed. I have never been hungry and I have enjoyed occasional feasts and then returned to the new lifestyle the next day. This chart shows my progress toward a healthier weight. It has been VERY slow. But I didn't gain the weight quickly so I'm not losing it quickly. I cropped out the numbers because that ain't none of your business!
But the doc tells me that IF my cholesterol and BP numbers look as good next visit as they did last time he'll cut my meds in half! Ain't it a pretty slope?I'll report again next April. At some point between now and then I should transition to a maintenance program.
Saturday, April 04, 2020
A Proposal for the River District
Recently a fellow named L.G. Smith purchased the deteriorating Star House property and is deciding whether he will resell it or develop it into a ground level retail space and a couple of upstairs apartments.
As Sheila and I walked toward Heritage Park yesterday we noticed his workers tearing out what was left of the fence that blocked the small parking area on Fifth from the grassy approach on the levee to the Riverwalk. I told Sheila I'd get some pictures on our way back. And I did.
We came up the concrete steps from the downstream side of the street and I took a picture of what I think could be the path of an inexpensive and easily constructed walkway to connect Fifth Avenue to the west Riverwalk. Such a connection would allow easy bike and wheelchair access to the River District from the Riverwalk.
It was the owner, Mr. Smith. He said he had wanted to get that fence out of the way and he was glad to have us crossing to the trail. We talked a while and he talked about his dreams for the property.
I have no special knowledge of any of this. I am certainly no lawyer or real estate expert, but here’s what I’d like someone who does know some of that stuff to look into.
• Mr. Smith needs good access to the back of his property.
- The City of Rome has a right-of-way that connects Bale Street to the Riverwalk at the back of the Smith property.
- a nice walkway would take very little space along the wall at the Fifth Ave. bridge to the Riverwalk north of the bridge. And half of it is already paved...
... and the other half would be easily graded and paved.
Question:
Could the City swap the Bale Street right-of-way for right-of-way connecting the Riverwalk to Fifth Avenue?
Could the city with very little expense grade the path for that access and build a sidewalk along it?
Could Mr. Smith or some other developer remodel the Star House building with a big dining room or dining deck built over the parking area with a beautiful view of the river and downtown for a By-the-River signature restaurant with perhaps other retail space and maybe an apartment or two?
The Riverwalk bike/pedestrian/access would be a great asset to the River District I believe. A signature restaurant here could be a big draw.
So how about it City Commissioners?
How about it civic planners?
How about it private developers?
So how about it City Commissioners?
How about it civic planners?
How about it private developers?
Gleaning Facebook: My little angel... ain't she sweet?
We had recently bought our Money Pit on Avenue A and decided we'd dress in red Christmasy duds and have pictures made of the four of us in front of our beloved dream (definitely only a dream at that time) home. Our new friend and across the street neighbor and pro-photographer Frank Logue did the photo shoot. We were hoping to get a good Christmas Card shot. Lillian did fine for a while, but there came a point when she had had enough. Frank captured that moment.
We took the roll of film --- do y'all remember "rolls of film"? --- to Photo-Vision to be developed. When we came back to pick up the prints, the shop had blown this photo up to a giant size and posted it as their Photo of the Week.
Comments
Lillian Shaw
Classic.
Angela Greear Alrighty then
Sandra Popham
This must have been in response to the fact you and Sheila weren’t coming!
Terrell Shaw Sandra Popham it was in response to the fact that she had posed for more pictures than she wanted to.
Terrell Shaw
meanwhile her older sister seems to be enjoying the show and applying very appropriate demonic horns to her head!
Anita Stewart Hilarious!
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