First Post:

Sheila has been on the road from Chastain Road in Kennesaw for two hours. She has almost reached Hwy US 41… IN KENNESAW!!! Lordy, I wish I could get my transporter to working so I could take over the driving for her. Scotty! SCOTTY!!!

Comments:

Sam Burnham

Ugh. Took Leigha two hours for her normal 20 minute commute. This is awful!

Ruth Baird Shaw
I feel for Sheila.This may be a family story to tell in the future...this old lady wirthin a few weeks of age 91...driving in the famous 2012 snow. (This one may make news before it is over) I went to Rah Rah's at the church at 11 this morning. As I go out of my car I saw a few (very, very few snow flurries) . When I left to come home the ground was covered sand snow coming down have. I drove home a 5 miles and less per hour and if I had had another mile to go...would nto have made it...the snow was coming down faster than my windshied wipers could handle...

Terrell Shaw
I complained that my 20-25 minute commute from Floyd Springs took an hour, but by comparison I WAS virtually teleported!

Terrell Shaw
Oh, Mama! I hate to even think of you out in this! Do you need to keep some drips going tonight? It'll be down to 11 or so again the next two nights.

Lillian Shaw
Poor Mom 

Ruth Baird Shaw
A dear lady friend at Rah Rah's asked me about Lily this morning. I tried to tell her about our wonderful 12 year old Lily! I so appreciate Trinity UMC's prayers and continued interest in Lily.

Terrell Shaw
Sheila is STILL in the car in KENNESAW... If she xan find a hotel room she'll just stay there.

Betty Smith Franklin
Good plan.

Laurie Craw
No employer but hospitals, public utilities, law enforcement, highway and fire departments should require employees to report for work on days like this.

Tracy S Lawler
Has Sheila found a warm place to stay?

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Oh my.

Comments:

Joan Ledbetter
Sad and scary!

Julie Ingram Gatanis
Oh wow! I have kin folk up there. Hope they made it home! Here in the south we can't handle snow and driving!

Laurie Craw
No comment.

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Brannon and her hometown in the snow

Tony Pope

Should have stuck a microphone in her hand...looks like she's getting ready for some breaking news!

Steamboat on the river.. oh, that's the library..,

Chandler Gray
We do have the COOLEST library, though I loved the Carnegie Library and thought it was great that Carnegie did that.

New boardwalk south of the Fifth Avenue Bridge

Brannon on the Oostanaula with earmuffs.

Mandy Wallace

Cute!

New boardwalk north of the Fifth Avenue Bridge

Yucca on the levee

Our picturesque courthouse with the new boardwalk

Not much traffic on the Fifth Avenue Bridge this afternoon

Two clock towers

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I love our old house, but its lonesome for Sheila tonight.

Later: Our house, on Avenue A, was built in 1869 by Daniel Mitchell, one of Rome's founders. It was one his last construction projects.

Wendy Ramsey Beautiful house!

Craig Brewer Wow, he was old...:0)

Terrell Shaw As our buddy from Texas has said, "Ooops…" I'll fix the date.

Craig Brewer Lol

Joan Ledbetter Love the design!

Ruth Baird Shaw It looks beautiful with the snow!

Thom Holt Who did he build it for ??

Wanda Mulkey Dagraedt Lots of character there. Lovely.

Mike Dias Beautiful!

Craig Brewer I really love the old houses....especially Mom and Dad's in Cave Spring....so much character.

Terrell Shaw Craig, my ancestor Joel Brewer was the first Ordinary (now called Probate Judge) of Polk County. He lived, and is buried, at Fish Creek between Rockmart and Cedartown. Any chance we are cousins?

Barbara Garvey Beautiful home, Terrell!

Craig Brewer Could be...

Laurie Craw One of your and Sheila's many contributions to the community is restoring this architectural beauty.

Jane Jameson Absolutely beautiful! I grew up in a home built in 1867 by my grandfather, C C McKenzie. Does your home have the fake baseboards under closets for hiding valuables? My grandfather also built the original Fifth Ave Baptist Church, Forth Ward School, and a brick home with huge white columns near the old Post Office.

John Countryman Great house. And you have taken loving care of it!

Sandy Doughty It's gorgeous!!!

Michael J. Burton Looking good. It's worth all the headaches.

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Sheila is still stuck on the road --- seven hours and counting. She has been at a standstill for an hour now waiting for an accident on Old US 41 in Acworth to be cleared. We have made a reservation at the Best Western at Acworth for her, but she can't seem to get there!

Jenifer Beaver

Dislike

Beckie Gurley

Praying...

Joan Ledbetter

Awful 

Mandy Wallace

Hope she makes it soon.

Ruth Pinson

Will is stuck on 75N himself. Praying for both!!

Julie Ingram Gatanis

Praying for her!

Barbara Jean Smith

Bless her heart! She is in my prayers!

Laurie Craw

A nightmare for her. So sorry.

Julie Hatfield Burton

Hope she makes it to Best Western now! Praying for her.

Joyce Mink

Georgia and snow just don't mix!

Nancy Waters Carr

so sorry

Dawn Lambert

Prayers 4 her

Terrell Shaw

She made it, Dawn. Yay!

Bitsy Burton

Again, bless her heart! Where was she coming from? I know she is exhausted and probably hungry! I pray she gets to her destination soon!

Terrell Shaw

She commutes to Kennesaw to work daily. She left work early at 12:40 and decided to take old 41 instead of the interstate. Ugh. Got to the hotel in Acworth at 8:27.

Joyce Mink

Glad she's safe

Mary Nisbet Asbury

Oh no!!!! Hope she arrives safely

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Sheila is at the hotel!!! Yay!

Terrell Shaw

Only took seven hours and forty-seven minutes to get from Kennesaw to Acworth!

Barbara Jean Smith
Great news!

Joan Ledbetter
Happiness!!

Terrell Shaw
That is a big load off my mind… and I KNOW hers!

Kiela Burton Beam
Yea!

Bitsy Burton
Oh I am so glad to hear that! Hope she can find food now that she has shelter!

Annette Winningham
Sure am glad she's safe, it's been a nightmare I'm sure.

Tersi Bendiburg
Thankful with you. Jordan is still on the road.

Terrell Shaw
Tersi, I hope and pray he is warmly ensconced in a comfortable spot soon!! Sheila has walked across to a McDonald's for some food, and is feeling much relieved.

Adaïr AIis
Glad she is safe

Anita Finley Osborn
thank the Lord!

Mary Nisbet Asbury
Yay!!!!!

Ruth Pinson
Will is finally in Rome. We are both blessed!

Betty Smith Franklin
So happy!

Terrell Shaw
Great to hear that, Ruth. Just talked with Sheila again and she's comfy in the best Western. I think I'll call it a night myself soon. What a day!

Sandy Doughty
What a nightmare of a day and night for so many stranded travelers! It's great to hear a success story... someone's who's reached their destination!!

Laurie Craw
Great! I was afraid the hotels might be full by the time she got there.

Gleaning Facebook: That Doesn't Mean He's Gone

Pete Seeger has been a favorite of mine since the 1960's. His "We Shall Overcome" album was in that first group of 12 albums I acquired for a pittance as a brand-spanking new member of the Columbia Record club an the early sixties. As a teen I was very upset to learn that Pete had been a accused of being a Communist. Me being me, I wrote him a letter to ask about it. Lo and behold I got a response from him. Sheila and I have especially loved the albums on which he and Arlo performed jointly. And we made suer we were right in front of the stage on the National Mall well before their concert started

Pete, who was born in 1919 just a few days before my Daddy, died yesterday.

Today Arlo posted an "obituary" for Pete on his Facebook:

Pete Seeger:

I usually do a little meditation and prayer every night before I go to sleep - Just part of the routine. Last night, I decided to go visit Pete Seeger for a while, just to spend a little time together, it was around 9 PM. So I was sitting in my home in Florida, having a lovely chat with Pete, who was in a hospital in New York City. That's the great thing about thoughts and prayers- You can go or be anywhere.

I simply wanted him to know that I loved him dearly, like a father in some ways, a mentor in others and just as a dear friend a lot of the time. I'd grown up that way - loving the Seegers - Pete & Toshi and all their family.

I let him know I was having trouble writing his obituary (as I'd been asked) but it seemed just so silly and I couldn't think of anything that didn't sound trite or plain stupid. "They'll say something appropriate in the news," we agreed. We laughed, we talked, and I took my leave about 9:30 last night.

"Arlo" he said, sounding just like the man I've known all of my life, "I guess I'll see ya later." I've always loved the rising and falling inflections in his voice. "Pete," I said. "I guess we will."

I turned off the light and closed my eyes and fell asleep until very early this morning, about 3 AM when the texts and phone calls started coming in from friends telling me Pete had passed away.

"Well, of course he passed away!" I'm telling everyone this morning. "But that doesn't mean he's gone."

-Arlo Guthrie

Gleaning Facebook: Peach State Storytelling Festival

 A great night of southern storytellers: Jan Cribbs, LaDoris Bias-Davis, and Cynthia Rintye.

Jan, in her measured, calm delivery, is the quintessential introvert-storyteller. Who'd a'thought such a beast extant? And this was the story of her quest for vim and vigor from a ginseng and herb shop and the not yet American-certified Dr. Lee, who prescribed Green Onions.

LaDoris is not an introvert. I thought she was about to tell one of my old standbys (and Danny Kaye's) when she announced a short tale: "The Tailor". But this marvelous tailor, capable of fantastic feats such as the mending of broken hearts, was called on to stitch up a hole in the sky. Her second "tale" was a hodgepodge of entertaining anecdotes about the "Things People Say" in her home state of "Mis'sippi"

The final tale was Cynthia's long, funny, and touching tale of her on-again, off-again courtship and eventual marriage with Perry. They met, and both worked for several years, at a Renaissance Fair. Perry's job was to play the Village Idiot dragging a pet log around the fair. "Other women claim to be married to an idiot," says Cynthia, "I have proof."

There'll be more stories all day tomorrow from 10 a.m. till about 10 p.m. Check the photos of the festival program (below) for more info.

Here is the program from the festival (Click each picture to see the enlarged type):

Gleaning Facebook: Do something!

 A big battle in the war that Martin Luther King led in the fifties and sixties is the one at the voting machines in November 2014. If large numbers of folks who support equality of rights, peace, and economic justice stay home as they did in 2010, then the angry minority on the right will capture the US Senate, as they have already the House and state legislatures, and the Tea-Party types will stymie our nation more completely. We will continue to win in Presidential years, I believe, but if we let the Congress remain in the hands of the minority then progress will be painfully slow and some gains actually lost.

I marched with several hundred folks in honor of Dr. King's principles down Broad Street in Rome this morning. We sang those songs of peaceful defiance. But if we stay home from the polls in November, we will show ourselves hypocrites to King's cause. Go vote and agitate at least ten of the complacent midterm stay-at-homes of 2010 to GO VOTE in 2014!

We have ten months (and only four months till the primary) to DO SOMETHING or see another Millionaires' Midterm. (The Koch brothers and company are already busy trying to buy every competitive senate race.)

End of sermon. 

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Laurie Craw 

Ahem, Brother Shaw. 

Terrell Shaw 

Why are you clearing your throat at me, Laurie Craw?  

Laurie Craw 

Because I just got back from Atlanta and can't type straight...Make that "aMEN, Brother Terrell." This is why we need proofreaders.... 

Terrell Shaw

I figured it out. Is sam all settled in? 

Laurie Craw

Well, almost. Steve framed the soundproofing installation but the glue needed to dry before hanging. Got other things done but still a few to do. Ain't that always the way with homes

Gleaning Facebook: Selected CRBI Photos from Yesterday's Float

 

Gleaning Facebook: Polar Paddle

I am aggravated with myself for not staging a pic with my two former students who were along on the paddle. Tim Groves was my student back in the very early eighties or maybe even as early as 79 or so. It was so good to see him today. It's been many years. 
And Samuel Watkins who was my student just twelve years ago at Armuchee is a senior at Berry and a regular CRBI volunteer. What a great young man he has become.

Samuel Watkins

It was great to see you, Terrell Shaw, and your family as well! Why didn't we think to get a picture?!?!

Just starting out. Major victory… I managed to keep dry feet getting into my canoe. Brannon used my kayak. Sheila and I used a CRBI canoe.

I won a small ocean kayak in the CRBI Canoe-a-Thon last year (Thanks to all who donated to CRBI through me!!!) James Lossick at the Cedar Creek RV & Outdoor Center allowed me to pay a little extra and upgrade to this sweet river-ride.

I got lots of pics of the back of Sheila's head, but the one time she turns for a pic she closes her eyes. 

Amos, our new Upper Coosa Riverkeeper, and Joe Cook, the outgoing riverkeeper, agreed to take a January Polar Bear Plunge if we could raise $1000 for the river in one week. We did it.

At the right, Amos Tuck begins his swing out over the river as we paddlers's gape at the astounding stupidity of this otherwise sensible young man.

AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!

Joe Cook shed his clothing except for a bathing suit and life vest and started up the tree.

Off he goes...

Let go!

He tries to run on the rivers surface...

Whadya know. Joe Cook cannot walk on water.

Tersi Bendiburg
Oh my, that water has to be so cold!

Terrell Shaw
It was a wonderfully warm January day, but the water was frigid, Tersi. Thank goodness I managed to keep even my tootsies warm and dry.

 

After thunderstorms all night, by noon the sky began to clear, and for much of the float I had ol' Sol warming my shoulders.

This little family seemed to have a great time. The little girl paddled with her beaver stick and both children had a ball shouting to their echoes under each bridge.

I wanted at least one pic of moi, so I took a selfie as we floated under the Norfolk Southern Railroad bridge just north of the Turner McCall bridge.

Gleaning Facebook: A Month of Friday Dinners

Oh the joys of having my eldest home for a whole month and a few extra days. For Chrismas she is giving us a month of Friday dinners she prepares. They have been great so far. But I am home with her during the day, and she is one who can look through the pantry and fridge and come up with something. A few days ago for lunch we had this pesto pasta topped with kale chips (coated with EVOO and crisped in the oven), garbanzo beans, and shredded parmesan. Yum.

Mandy Wallace
What is EVOO?

Terrell Shaw
Extra Virgin Olive Oil -- just call me Rachel Ray

Mandy Wallace
Lol! I was looking for some secret ingredient or something!! 

Adaïr AIis
That looks amazing

David Marlin Rains
Isn't this Georgia? EVOO, pesto, garbonzos, parmesan?! Where's bacon drippins, chick peas and the Velveeta?

Julia Hilburn Dent
Chef Shaw!!!!

Terrell Shaw
David, my wonderful daughter has learned highfalutin' vegetarianism during years of exile in New York City (Get a rope!) And it's catching. She even has me eating hummus!

David Marlin Rains
I love hummus too but don't let this get out around Rome, GA - could have political implications, like arugula.

Gleaning Facebook: Literal Riverwalk

 Anyone think we might get to take a literal river walk this week?

Thanks Donald Murdock for jogging my memory of this 1940 picture. The bridge in the background is the Fifth Avenue Bridge before the steel towers were donated to the war effort a couple of years later.

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Comments

Sam Burnham I'd love to do that!
Terrell Shaw Looks like some thin ice behind 'em.
Sam Burnham I'm guessing it would be spotty. You'd have to watch your step.

Donald Murdock Hell, no worries! I've been on thin ice for years! Used to skate (mostly fell down) on a frozen cranberry bog next to my farm in Plympton, Ma.

Wendy Davis Family lore has it that my uncle drove a car across at about that same spot probably during that same era.
Terrell Shaw And lived to serve in Congress? Or a different uncle? A Congressman who recites poetry might try such a trick.

Wendy Davis Correct, it was one and the same!
Donald Murdock I remember hearing that story. That Davis? When I was a kid, we went to Washington & visited your uncle. Gave us a tour of the Capitol.

Wendy Davis Yes, Congressman John W Davis was my dad's older brother. Hope you enjoyed the tour;-) He sure loved being your Congressman!! This weather reminds me of one of the coolest things Johnny got to do - he traveled to Antarctica as a part of a congressional delegation trip.
Christie Hufstedler Boyd As long as the river is unfrozen for the Polar Bear Paddle on Saturday!
Terrell Shaw Did we see him on our Cherry Blossum trip, Don? He served till about 74, I think. Not sure when he was first elected.
Wendy Davis First elected in 1960 and lost in the 1974 Democratic Primary

Donald Murdock I remember the band trip, but I was maybe 10 or 11 when my fam went up. I remember riding through the tunnel from his offices to the Capitol. Had lunch in the Cong. Cafeteria. He had a long tenure!
Terrell Shaw I still have one of his lithographed buttons. I campaigned for him in the nasty 74 race against the Koch Brothers' daddy's Bircher friends.. the more things change the more they stay the same, huh?
Wendy Davis Frighteningly similar, Terrell!
Donald Murdock Guess I was 13 at the time.
Donald Murdock You said it, brother! Viet Nam/Iraq...same, same.
Terrell Shaw G'nite folks… lordy how did it get to be midnite. Up to tell stories to kindergartners tomorrow if we have school.

Donald Murdock Have fun, stay safe. Ciao.

Hill Sawyer That's an incredible photo. I would have never believed it! It's warmed up up here for the weekend, we had rain instead of snow today. A weird contrast to the ice storm of last week. Heading down to Georgia by road tomorrow so let's hope it's clear sailing!

Laurie Craw Incredible on another level...that a father would take his child out on the ice over a deep river. I mean, Georgia rivers may freeze over but it ain't as thick as up north.
Howard Smith Wow
Jaki Day Wow....should we invest in some ice skates ?

Ralph Noble My Dad always told a story of driving a car on the ice on the river in the 30's

Ann Gore Thank you, Terrell for posting great pic!