California Holiday 2024-2025: Day 18

Today was a very special day for Ruth Irmgard Carlin, our grandgirl, who recently earned a trip to DisneyLand by virtue of turning FIVE years old. But she wasn't the only one who had fun today. While Ruth and her Mom were off playing with those famous mice -- Mickey and Minnie --- and their friends,..

.... her sisters, Dad, Granny, and GrandShaw had a day outdoors at Dixon Lake fishing and hiking and playing on the playground. Only one fish was caught and that nice-sized rainbow trout was snagged by Clementine Georgia Carlin.

Clementine did not want to hold the fish too close, so I teasingly said "Don't kiss the fish!" That got a laugh, but I explained that Clemmie's beloved Aunt Lil once kissed a catfish! So, of course, when we arrived back air Cklem's house, I was called upon to prove it. Here's the proof:

Un anciano aprende español -- un poco

¡Guau! I have been trying to learn Spanish with the app DuoLingo -- today I finished my 400th daily lesson. Usually the little lessons take about 15 minutes and I often finish them just before midnight. I have missed a few days, not many, but the program has "streak freezes" built in to cover the occasional slip up. I am enjoying learning and am pleased that my reading vocabulary is gradually growing, but I am appalled at my slowness at picking up the ability to "hear" the words. For my poor brain to separate the spoken language into distinguishable words -- even in very short sentences -- I often, maybe usually, have to listen over and over or even choose the "slow" option. 

What a way to start the year

I'm actually reconstructing the story of this day from December 2025. I thought the simplest way to construct a narrative of 2025 would be to go through the photos on my phone. I figured there would be at least a few pictures from January 1, 2025. Nope. The first picture of the year reminded me of the way the year started and why there are no pictures from its first day. was from the second day of the year when I took a picture of my own diseased eye so that I could get a better look at it. What a lousy way to start a new year -- with a double eye infection. And days of applying antibiotic salve to my inflamed and clouded windows on the world.

A Right Good Name

January was a right good name for the first month. He was a watchful old fellow and had two faces, and could look before him and behind him at the same time. It is a good idea for a man to look back over the year that has gone and review his conduct, and then look forward and promise to do better. 

-Bill Arp

William Henry Smith is a famous son of my hometown, Rome, Georgia. He owned Oak Hill before Martha Berry's family did. I have enjoyed some of his writing for years. I have thought of using some of his stories -written under the pseudonym "Bill Arp" in my storytelling. Alas, I hesitate to do that as I have learned more about him. He went beyond the casual endemic racism that afflicted the vast majority of white folks in our area before and after the Civil War to becoming an apologist for even lynchings. 

Oak Hill, Bil Arp's home and later the home of Martha Berry.

I love much of my heritage as an eighth-generation Georgian, but the stain of racism seeps in to every part of it. Racism is a cancer on whites as well as people of color, in my opinion. So I will continue to admire and share the bits of love and creativity and imagination and honor from the only heritage I have, while also decrying the stench of cruelty and racism that pervades it.

William Henry Smith aka "Bill Arp"