Resolved....

It's the final day of 2014. We are thirty years past 1984. We are living in science fiction times.

I have a great part of the knowledge of the ages available to me in my pocket, and redundantly, on my lap at this moment. The majority of the great books, whole encyclopedias, almanacs, star-charts, and more are at my fingertips. I have a magic wand within reach with which to command 47 inch visions on my wall, if I like, of rescuers in the Indian Ocean, performances at Carnegie and Albert halls, up-to-the-minute stock prices on Wall Street, the songs of long-dead singers, the speeches of our president as he speaks them, endless gossip at any hour from mindless talking heads, or even half- (or fully!) nekkid folk cavorting lasciviously at any hour. And any and all of those magical choices I make will be recorded and reported to an esoteric intelligence that will then make, based on my choices, suggestions to me for the rest of the day and, I suppose, the rest of my life.

I wonder how many times today my image will be recorded as I drive or shop.

We are living in science fiction times.
___

Mike Bock has caught up with me again, as he does annually on the closing day of the year. Happy Birthday, Mike! I hope we see lots of you in 2015. Come south young man.

This day brings to mind Sheila's wonderful grandmother, Annie Belle Brannon Snell, the smart AND wise (not an automatic combination), kind, practical, industrious, and loving woman who was born on this date in 1884 and blessed our marriage with her wisdom and love for its first ten years. She died in 1981.

And forty --- FORTY! --- years ago on this date we got the call that my sister Carol had given us a new niece. We pulled into our little log cabin out in Chubbtown, from our Christmas trip to Tallahassee and turned right around and headed down to Atlanta to meet Larisa Carron Johnston, one of the great bonus tax deductions of all time. What a little bundle of joy she was and is! Happy Birthday, Larisa! We love you and your own additions to our family.

____

“Good habits make all the difference.” —Aristotle

And today is the traditional day to take stock and renew determination to more fully live, to grab this remarkable, magical, mysterious consciousness and make the most of it.

I am living into extra innings, in a way. My father and his father, my beloved Daddy and Daddy Shaw, never reached their 68th birthdays. I've passed them (chronologically) already and will, I am hopeful, reach that milestone in March. Having outlived both those good men I try to remind myself each morning of the great privilege the current day is. One wonderful aspect of that privilege is this opportunity to voice my beliefs and dreams for the future of my children and (from the internet to God's ears) grandchildren and fellow Americans and Earthlings.

So I'll resolve,

_________

TRAVEL ADVISORY:
Due to a flurry of New Year's resolutions, the Road to Hell is currently closed for repaving.
Please take an alternate route. 

_________

call & see my mother more often,
call/write/see/really-visit Brannon & Lillian more often (Things also work the other direction, I'm told?),
have friends over more often, (How about the Dictionary game or Categories?)
visit Mildred and record her songs,
organize a Hoot,
organize and downsize my stuff,
tell more stories, sing more songs, do some theater, write more often,
record some of my stories,
finish what I start (and what I have started)*,
(and what I have started)*
(and what I have started)*
(and what I have started)*
get the new and improved Big Fibbers™off to a great start,
get ready for the Fourth early,
travel more,
spend more time in the woods,
spend more time on the rivers,
take some good pictures,
more exercise and fewer calories,
engage in some practical politics,
engage in some practical charity,
be a better husband, father, son, brother, and friend.
stay cheerful,
dream big,
do now.

*I'm unwilling to make some of these things public, but Sheila knows them, and I'd love to surprise her a little this year!

Of course I could do pretty well with Woody Guthrie's 1941 resolutions:

NEW YEAR'S RULIN'S

1. WORK MORE AND BETTER
2. WORK BY A SCHEDULE
3. WASH TEETH IF ANY
4. SHAVE
5. TAKE BATH
6. EAT GOOD - FRUIT - VEGETABLES - MILK
7. DRINK VERY SCANT IF ANY
8. WRITE A SONG A DAY
9. WEAR CLEAN CLOTHES - LOOK GOOD
10. SHINE SHOES
11. CHANGE SOCKS
12. CHANGE BED CLOTHES OFTEN
13. READ LOTS GOOD BOOKS
14. LISTEN TO RADIO A LOT
15. LEARN PEOPLE BETTER
16. KEEP RANCHO CLEAN
17. DON’T GET LONESOME
18. STAY GLAD
19. KEEP HOPING MACHINE RUNNING
20. DREAM GOOD
21. BANK ALL EXTRA MONEY
22. SAVE DOUGH
23. HAVE COMPANY BUT DON’T WASTE TIME
24. SEND MARY AND KIDS MONEY
25. PLAY AND SING GOOD
26. DANCE BETTER
27. HELP WIN WAR - BEAT FASCISM
28. LOVE MAMA
29. LOVE PAPA
30. LOVE PETE
31. LOVE EVERYBODY
32. MAKE UP YOUR MIND
33. WAKE UP AND FIGHT

The Fifth Day of Christmas

Here is my other Fifth Day post where you will find a link to the Three Tenors singing Silent Night.

At this year's church family Christmas party, I retold the legend of Franz Gruber and Josef Mohr and the creation of their beautiful, simple, Christmas carol, Silent Night. Since most of what we've been told over the years is evidently legend, I felt free to create my own version. I enlisted Cannon Rogers, a teen guitarist in our church to help me. Here it is:

A New Song for Santa’s Church

Do you have a best friend? Someone you can count on to come through for you in a pinch? Well, Josef and Franz were best friends. They worked together and they visited together in each other’s homes and they sang together. I have some friends like that. We like to get together at each other’s houses and, of course, eat good stuff, but also to play our guitars and sing, sing, sing!

 

Church of St. Nicholas Oberndorf (razed in 1906)

And there are a couple of those guys that, I know, if I had any trouble, would come to help me out.

Like I said, Josef and Franz worked together. Josef was the pastor and Franz was the choirmaster at the same church. And it was Santa’s church! At least I figure it must have been Santa’s church, because there was a beautiful sign right in front of the sanctuary that said “Church of St. Nicholas”. So you can understand that they really wanted the Christmas Eve service to be wonderful. I guess Josef and Franz would get to send Santa off on his big Christmas Eve journey with a beautiful program of glorious Christmas music sung by the big St. Nicholas Church choir and accompanied by that great big pipe organ they had.

I told you Franz was the choirmaster. That means that he not only directed the choir, like Mr. Kam does here at Trinity, but he also played that great big organ, almost as well as Ms. Shelly does here. And he had a wonderful program planned for that Christmas Eve. Then the trouble started!

Franz stopped by the church to practice at the organ for a while on Christmas Adam. Well, you’d expect that wouldn’t you? He wanted to be ready for Christmas Eve the very next night! And just when he was pumping away at the pedals of that organ --- in those days the organs had pedals connected to big bellows like an accordion to blow air through the pipes to make them play --- anyway, just when he was pumping away at the pedals of that organ, playing beautiful, complicated Christmas melodies, that organ made the rudest sound you’ve ever heard! “Pluttttztzzzz!!”

“Oh. no!” Franz muttered. And he frantically pumped the pedals, “Pluttttztzzzz!! Pluttttztzzzz!! Pluttttztzzzz!!”

He got down from the bench and bent to examine the pedals. Oh my. It was no use. The bellows on either pedal would not hold air, they were full of holes. The poor church mice, starving from the lack of crumbs -- their church didn’t have a Wednesday night supper like Trinity does and, except for a few communion crumbs, pickings were mighty slim for rodents at The Church of St Nicholas... the poor starving church mice had been eating at the leather bellows of the organ. They were a mess. There was no hope of repair and replacement was out the question on Christmas Eve. The organ repairman would have to come all the way from Salzberg, and 200 years ago, there was no email or telephone to summon him with.

Franz would have to conduct the Christmas Eve service without an organ. What could he do? This was definitely trouble. He’d better talk to his friend. So he headed out toward the parsonage where his friend Josef lived.

Well, meanwhile Josef had been visiting one of his church members, up on the mountain. Old Wilhelm, was a sheep herder, and had been ill, and Josef had gone to talk with him and hear his stories, and pray with him. He found the old man feeling much better and together they bundled up and walked out onto his back porch where they could look out over the snow covered valley in the moonlight. They could see the steeple of the Church of St. Nicholas in the valley below, pointing upward toward the steeple-like mountains - the Alps - and the star-studded heavens.

Wilhelm broke the almost magical silence of the scene, “I wonder if that winter night in Bethlehem might have been this silent? And felt this holy? It is so calm and bright. Just imagine that young mother and her tender baby, in a stable maybe like my stable there. What a heavenly peaceful scene.”

Josef looked out at the stars streaming their light from heaven. He thought of those shepherds, probably shaking and quaking at the sight of an angel host singing that a Savior is born.

“Wilhelm, he said, may I have some paper and a pencil, I want to write about what I am feeling.”

They walked back into the house, and while Wilhelm poured some warm tea, Josef sat at the table near the window and wrote quickly, scratching through a word here and there to scribble a better one. By the time he finished off a second cup of tea and a couple of Christmas shortbread cookies the ladies of the church had sent out to old Wilhelm, Josef had finished his little poem about that quiet evening when Jesus was born, and had started his way down the mountain thinking he might read it during the Christmas Eve service the next night.

He was thrilled when he saw Franz’s horse tied at his gate. He could see, through a window, a fire blazing in the fireplace. How nice to find his best friend there. They could talk about using his poem in the service. But Franz burst out the door...

“Josef! Josef! We’ve got trouble!” Franz told him about the mice, and bellows, and the rude noises. “What in the world will we do for music. The choir can sing a couple of carols without the organ but that will not do for a whole Christmas Eve service. What will the members think?” I guess he was wondering what Santa would think too.

All of a sudden, Josef’s eyes brightened. “Oh, Franz. What’s a little trouble. We’ll make this a Christmas Eve to remember -- even without an organ. You can lead the choir in a couple of carols. We’ll read the wonderful Christmas story right out of the Bible. We just need a good quiet song to welcome the Christ child and close things out. Grab the guitar over there and come with me to the window.” Josef wanted Franz to feel what he had felt when he’d been on Wilhelm’s porch.

“Look out there, Franz. Think of that wondrous night. Think of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. Maybe it was cold and quiet like this. Maybe the stars were clear and bright like tonight. Now read my little poem and see if you can make a tune.”

Franz looked out at the village clothed in a blanket of snow, lit by a bright moon and streaming starlight, and read Josef’s simple little poem. And he began to pluck his guitar strings... [Cannon begins to play] and finally began to sing. [Cannon sings the first verse quietly in the background]

And that Christmas Eve, at the Church of St. Nicholas, with just their voices and a guitar, Josef and Franz led all the village folk, and, I wasn’t there, but I guess even Santa, in welcoming the Christ child. Will you help us sing it again?

[Everyone joins in]


Silent night, holy night!
All is calm, all is bright.
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child.
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight.
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia,
Christ the Savior is born!
Christ the Savior is born

Silent night, holy night!
Son of God love’s pure light.
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth

This version of the story: © 2014 Terrell Shaw

Terry Saves the Day

Bob Harris, Gary Greene, and I had a great time on Nelle Reagan's Talk of the Town radio show today. We visit Nelle once a month, usually on the last Tuesday of the month at noon or noon-thirty. She calls us "The storytellers" and we always tell two or three tales. Sometimes it's all three of us or one or two of us with another teller such as Delmas Franklin. I wish others would volunteer to join us. We probably need to keep it to two or three tellers each time, but it should not be the same three, in my opinion. I want the public to know that Ridge & Valley Tellers is an open group intended for anyone and everyone who loves storytelling.

Today Bob told a great tale -- with maybe some truth in it somewhere -- about a little Canadian girl's providential encounter with a Teddy Bear, and her long lost English grandfather.

I told my version of a folktale about the preacher's false teeth. There are MANY versions of this story to be found by googling "fried chicken" and "false teeth". I call mine "Terry Saves the Day". It might be an example for tall-tellers/fibbers who want to enter the 2015 Big Fibbers Contest. It is a simple five minute tall tale. It is definitely in the public domain. And I have created my own version of it.

Here 'Tis:

Terry Saves The Day

I am a double Methodist preachers kid. My Daddy was a Methodist preacher and my Mama still is. But it goes deeper than that. I’ve got sisters and cousins married to Methodist preachers. I've got at least three cousins who backslid and became Baptist preachers. My great-great granddaddy, Boggan Mask, was a licensed exhorter in the Methodist Church and actually baptized the baby boy who would end up marrying Boggan's granddaughter and thereby get to be my granddaddy, Wilson Baird. And Wilson Baird did some Methodist lay preaching himself.

So you can see how I grew up to be a storyteller. And I know something about Methodist preachers and I know something about dinners on the grounds. When I was a kid every country Methodist churchyard had, besides a cemetery, and an outhouse, a bunch of tables under a shelter of some sort. Every chance the church got in fine weather there was a dinner on the grounds! Un-unh!

Banana sandwiches or even better something called banana croquets, fried okra, creamed corn, greens, and casseroles, and macaroni and cheese, and desserts of all kinds, but always, always, always, fried chicken. My daddy wasn’t a big man, but his plate at those things was always mounded high. He said it was a duty. He had to try a little of everything to avoid hurt feelings.

Well, one Sunday, out at Bethel Church there next to the creek, Preacher Kelley was waxing eloquent, between bites, telling some fine tale. With his plate in one hand he swapped his sweet tea in the other back and forth with a fork full of casserole or a fistful of chicken. Now he did his talking in a strange way. I don’t know why, some medical problem he had, but he talked... [... breathing in.  Like this . Even preaching. I was always fascinated by that.]*  But I reckon he sneezed like everyone else, cause with his hands occupied like that, and in mid-sentence, the pollen got to him and a big sneeze came on him and he turned his head away from us and toward the creek and sneezed explosively. AND out popped his false teeth. They went flying right into the middle of that muddy little creek and plopped down and out of sight.

Well everybody got busy trying to fish ‘em out. There were a few cane poles leaned against a sycamore there and folks were poking those out in the water. Then somebody came running with some rakes they kept there at the church and tried raking ‘em out of the water. But it was all to no avail.

It was then that my Methodist preacher heritage and experience came in handy. I knew those fellows with the poles would never fish those teeth out with empty hooks. AND I knew the bait to use.

Preacher Bailey had a chicken leg left on his plate that still had some meat on it. I grabbed it and snagged it onto the hook on one of those poles. Why, I want you to know those teeth snapped onto that chicken leg as soon as it hit the water and I jerked ‘em to shore in no time.

It took some doing to pry the chicken leg out of those teeth, but after that Preacher Bailey rinsed ‘em a little in his sweet tea and plopped ‘em back in his mouth, and was ready for another plate full of fine eating.

If you want catfish, use worms. For perch, I recommend minnows. But if you need to catch a Methodist preacher, or his teeth, fried chicken’s the bait to use.

* I demonstrate the way Preacher Kelley talked with the bracketed words.

© 2014 Terrell Shaw

Living wages for employees should be a part of every business plan.

Raising the minimum wage will make life better for the folks on minimum wage. That is a good thing. And it affects a different group of folks than what is imagined by many. See the chart below.

But that ain't all.

Raising the minimum wage will also put more money into circulation in the economy. Folks making minimum wage WILL spend their increased wages. They have to.

I realize that this will make some difficulties for businesses. It will also make more business for those or other businesses. When we raised the minimum wage in '96 the right predicted job losses. Instead we had years of job growth.

And the gigantic corporations can raise prices a tiny bit if their uber-plutocrat owners are afraid of losing some minute fraction of their wealth as a result.

To me it is a principle:

"Living wages for employees should be a part of every business plan."

If a start-up, or any other business, cannot afford to pay its employees a living wage, it should rework its plan; reduce executive salaries, dividends or profits; or scale down the business to a size that is workable. Yes, some will lose jobs as a result. But many will also gain jobs as spending increases.

Gleaning FaceBook: Poverty is a Shortage of Money

Show me the alley, show me the train

Show me the hobo, who sleeps out in the rain

And I'll show you a young man

With so many reasons why

And there but for fortune, go you or I.

Ruth Baird Shaw Yes. It is a shortage of money and there are many other reasons for a shortage of money besides the lack of motivation...
Howard Smith One of the principle reasons today so many hard working Americans live in poverty is the failure of Congress to make the minimum wage a living wage.

Mary Nisbet Asbury Cost of living, high taxes and many other factors play a part in poverty

Jim Geist Amen.

Gleaning FaceTime: Christmas 2014

Most years beginning in 1962, on the evening of December 24, you would find me at Trinity United Methodist Church here in Rome. And there I was last night. This time sitting on the back row on the right side, far from my usual pew, so Lillian and I (Sheila's cough kept her home) could sit with Debi and Gregg, Lisette, Andrew, Matthew and Emily, and especially our recently added great-niece Annabelle. We sang the carols, heard Hannah and Susan sing O Holy Night, listened to David's meditation, took communion, lighted our candles and with a sanctuary crammed with Christmas Eve worshippers, lifted our candles to light the room as we repeated the first verse, voices only, of Silent Night.

Then off to the fellowship hall to get ready for the Live Nativity tradition. I made a quick trip home to collect Sheila for a brief visit to the church.

During this "lost Christmas" we have both been sick. Upper respiratory misery. Much tradition has slipped by without our participation. Parties, concerts, etc.: none.

But I had that prized thirty-minutes, standing with my box of gold (or maybe frankincense?) and in a ridiculous "Wise Man"s costume. I've only missed those quiet Christmas Eve minutes a few times during the last fifty years. The back ache distracted me, but still I enjoyed that enforced period of contemplation about Christmases past, the first and those of my own life, and the Love that we celebrate this day.

Happy Christmas!

Laurie Craw
As much as I always want to cut back on the traditions because there seem to be too many to cram into a few days, I realized this year that those traditions are so important. To keep families together, to focus on the truly important things in life, to think about others instead of ourselves, and to be truly grateful for all we have.

Emily Barksdale Moore Threlkeld
Annabelle is BEAUTIFUL! Merry Christmas- and I hope you both feel better asap!

Ann Gore
Sorry you all have been sick! Hope you are better! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the Shaws!

Michael J. Burton
My mama sure loved that tradition.

Julie Hatfield Burton
Hope you and Sheila will take easy recovery soon!

Terrell Shaw
We are both doing much better, Julie. Thanks!

Madelyn Collette
I did not get to participate in any of these activities because of a problem Drs. can't quite determine the cause. So thankful to be able to go 3 of the Sundays in Advent and cook a little for Christmas.

Alice Jeffries Keel
Terrell Shaw we were driving by Trinity last evening about between 5:30 and 6:00 on our way back to Douglasville. We commented that we guessed they weren't having it on Christmas Eve - guess we just missed it by a bit. It is always so sweet!

Terrell Shaw

Dec. 20-24, 7-9 pm, every year. 

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My Mother loves me! I used to always ask for this cake for my birthday. She surprised me today with a Date-Nut Cake for Christmas! I may skip turkey and go straight for the dessert!

Years ago my co-workers at Pepperell Elementary (Priscilla Wooley & others) had heard me wax eloquent about Mama's Date-Nut Cake and decided to treat me with one on my birthday for breakfast at the diner in the big old company store building in Lindale (now gone). We gathered there before school, and out came the waitress with a stack of pancakes adorned with tiny calendar pages and small nuts of the hardware variety (and candles of course.)

I like pancakes, but I'll enjoy this Date-Nut Cake even more than that prank-cake of the early eighties.

Terrell Shaw Mother just told me that "Mama worked out that recipe." She also said, "Don't tell everybody I made that cake just for you! I made it for everybody!" But I know it's for me. 

Ann Gore Looks good!

Terrell Shaw It is. She doubled the dates on this one. Lots of pecans. Very rich and delicious.

Claudia Kennedy Yum, yum. You are one blessed man.

Joyce Mink Recipe?
Terrell Shaw
OK, here goes:

Three Layer Cake

(from the One-Two-Three-Four layer-cake from scratch recipe)

1 c. butter

2 c. sugar

3 c. flour

4 eggs

1 c. milk

1.5 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Cream sugar salt & butter in large bowl. Beat yolks into mixture one-at-a-time till light & fluffy. Add vanilla.

Sift flour & baking powder together. Add flour & milk alternately to the creamed mixture. Blend well after each addition.

Beat egg whites stiff but not dry. Fold into batter. Turn into 3 greased and floured 9 in. cake pans. Bake 350 degrees about 35 min. or until a fork comes out clean. Turn layers onto cooling rack and get busy on the filling.

Ieula Baird's Date-Nut Filling

2 cups of pecans

1 pkg of dates (Mama used two this time! Yum.)

2 c. sugar

1 stick butter

1 large can evaporated milk

Cook over medium heat for five minutes stirring constantly. Cool and spread between layers and on top and sides of three cake layers.

Invite Terrell over.

Brew some coffee to wash it down.

Jenny Sills You actually got measurements out of your mom. I am impressed. I could never get measurements from my grandmothers fro anything. Same with my dad.

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"Merry Christmas, everybody! May God bless you all. And we wish you and your family a happy and healthy 2015." —President Obama and the First Lady

Gleaning FaceBook: A Boy's Life

The blustering and bomb-testing (late fifties and early sixties) was scary for thirteen-year-olds too, as I recall. When I renewed my Boy's Life subscription that year (Could they have had a five year subscription period?) I wondered, quite seriously, if I, or Boys Life for that matter, would be around for all those issues.

What a gloomy note for Christmas Eve! But, hey, we survived and Boy's Life inked editions are still surviving these digital days.

And I talked briefly with Santa a while ago. He's a little aggravated with me for the interruption* and would just turn off his iPhone except he's become dependent on it to coordinate complicated resupply system with the elf/reindeer relays from the North Pole. He's making deliveries through Asia right now and, thank goodness, on track to make it to North America right on time.

* it goes without saying that releasing all that personal info on Santa, including his cell number, means a lifetime supply of stocking coal for Anonymous!

[The article by Bill Moyers is no longer available at this site]

David Marlin Rains I remember reading a Boys Life article back in the '50s. Johnny runs for a touchdown but only Johnny, not the refs or anybody, realizes he stepped out of bounds. So Johnny confesses and his team loses. At that age, I didn't have the vocabulary but I was thinking HorseManoo.
Terrell Shaw Granted, but my idealistic young soul always looked forward to finding Boy's Life in the mail.
David Marlin Rains O me 2
John Paul Schulz Boy's Life and Saturday Evening Post. I loved that one.

George Barton made me think of the the spoof in the movie "Airplane" where a boy on the plane is reading Boy's Life and a habited nun sitting behind him is reading Nun's Life

Exchanging Gifts

What gifts will you bring your Papa?
Pure  gold, however they’re made—
Wrapped in sunshine smiles;
Tied up with love that won’t fade.

What gift will you bring your Lover?
Its rich, whatever you’ve spent,
You’ve paid thrice in sweat and tears
and my promises, broken or bent.

What gifts can I bring my daughters?
What present is worthy my wife?
Tawdry trinkets diamonds would seem
On these precious true-treasures of life.


- by Terrell Shaw




A tawdry trinket I wrote for Sheila and the girls twenty years ago.

For the last several years we have celebrated Christmas differently. We have de-emphasized shopping, preferring to make donations and give memories. We have more possessions than we need. Gifts have more often been theater tickets, voice or dance lessons, and such rather than sweaters and tool kits. Apologies to the Christmas-Season-dependent businesses.

Gleaning Facebook: Hard Drive Troubles

The bad news: the hard drive is history.

The good news: Applecare is still in effect; they were able to image all my data (pictures, poetry, stories, rants, recordings, calendars, journals, and i dont know what all) onto a backup; the new drive will be here tomorrow; I should be back online fighting for truth justice and the American way before Christmas.

Comments

George Barton
When you buy your costume, the "S" is already on the front of it.

Terrell Shaw
Ahhhhhh... My beautiful wife has allowed me to catch up on Facebook with her iPad.

Barbara Crawford
Sharing her iPad, now that's true love 

Perry Lamb
Awwwwwww, sweet!!!!!

David Marlin Rains
Yeaaa!

Sandy Doughty
She saved your sanity.....or hers?!??! LOL

Ken Gossett
Up, up, and away....

Claudia Kennedy
Yea You! Both of our cells died in one week! Not batteries. The phones just died....hum...Grinch Theory, anyone?

John Paul Schulz
Claudia, have you said your prayers?

Claudia Kennedy

John Paul, now that you mention it..... I have been begging for quiet solitude, They say be careful what you ask for, don't they? My bro. in Statesboro just got Requiem for A Redneck. He's so excited to have a new book. He asked, "What's this wheredponypress?" And I explained. Thanks for sending it. I have yet to give the other two... 

Gleaning Facebook: Christmas 1976

Christmas 1976
L-R Standing: Carol, Joan, Beth, Terrell
Seated: Ruth, Charles
Kneeling: Janice, Debi, David

Annie Scarbrough

Many happy memories with this wonderful family!!!

Ruth Baird Shaw
That was on Charles Drive(East Point, GA) before David had his hair cut. He got a Summer job that required he get his hair cut. He got home from the barber shop before Charles and I got home. We walked in and David had a paper bag over his head! When he lifted the bag off, he was such a Good looking boy, we hardly knew him!!!! <smile>

Ruth Baird Shaw
Thank you Annie Scarbrough.! I hope we can get together soon. I have many happy memories of Friday nights with you...

Gleaning Facebook: Dreamcheesy!

With Gregg & Debi Lewis having fun at Dreamcheesy! On Broad Street in Rome, Georgia.

Here's some info about this creative event by Speakcheesy from their Facebook page

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"We are in cheese heaven, shopping for the big night! Get your tickets NOW."

The Pilgrim uses leftover turkey (the fried cajun kind, in this case), along with brie, smoked gruyere, a little spicy brown mustard, and a healthy amount of cranberry sauce, all on hearty whole wheat seed bread.s your mouth watering yet? Good. So go ahead and get your tickets to #DreamCheesy, where you can dream up your own custom Speakcheesy sandwich!

Just one option you could dream up at our #DreamCheesy catered holiday party. Our homemade spicy mac and cheese with smoked Gruyere and Brie, topped with avocado, tomato, aged cheddar, cracked peppercorns and Ritz cracker crumbles. Grilled to buttery perfection. Get your tickets to DreamCheesy before they're gone!

Last night's Dreamcheesy event was a HUGE success. Thank you so much to all of our wonderful volunteers, amazing silent auction donators, and of course our lovely guests and Speakcheesy supporters

-Hillery

 

Gleaning Facebook: Our House Decked Out for Christmas

 Just a cellphone pic. I don't have a ladder long enough to light the highest gable. Maybe next year.

There were forty comments on this post. Thanks for all the nice compliments!

Robin Dean
Beautiful!

John Paul Schulz
very nice

Tersi Bendiburg
It's beautiful!

Patricia Buffington Jackson
Beautiful!!

George Barton
Pretty!

Jenny Sills
Beautiful.

Rose McDonald Darby
How beautiful!

Dawn Hoke Kidney
Beautiful!!!

Melissa McLaughlin
Picture perfect. Nice photo.

Ann Allee McRay
Beautiful,

Sandy Doughty
Your home is stunning at any time but this is the icing on the cake!!

Sharlette Denise Holcomb
Beautiful! Nikki loved your post!

Lyn Davis
Beautiful!

Rita Lawler
A vision.

Janice Shaw Crouse
Looks gorgeous, Terry! I love the lines of the porch trim!!!

Ruth Pinson
What a beautiful house...filled with love!!!

Debbie Barefield
Hopefully I'll be around in your neighbor next year. I'll put the lights up for you!

Mary Nisbet Asbury
You have the best house!

Sharon Packer Sullins
Beautiful!!!

Laurie Craw
Gingerbread house

Ruth Baird Shaw
Thank you Sandra. I keep telling Terrell to be careful. I am so sorry about Tony's accident!

Terrell Shaw
Yes. I have several friends who have had ladder accidents so I am very careful.

Howard Smith
and, throw a pre-election party for your announcement to run for the city commission....I will be there!

Lara Broadwell Walton
Nice! LA always likes to drive by your house when we are in town!

Terrell Shaw
I am afraid I would have had to be much more circumspect with my Facebook posts since 2009 to be a viable candidate, Howard. So I'll help someone else. 

Howard Smith
Terrell, we need folks like you to give those of us like me someone to vote for...the problem we face now is folk like you don't give folks like me someone to vote for....I ran, lost in a runoff, it was an awful experience...would never do it again, I tried...and, you would do better than me...not fun, but voters need choices.

Terrell Shaw
Voters do need a choice. And I took my turn in 1984. (Ran for an open seat in the Ga House. Paul Smith whipped me and one other candidate in the Dem. primary)
I actually found that quixotic quest a life-changing positive experience, even though I lost. But that is not the best way for me to serve at this time.
We can actually win this thing with an environmentalist with a more moderate to conservative view of national issues --- and an aggressive grass-roots campaign. Those national issues don't matter much in a non-partisan city race except as a distraction from the issues that do matter.
I don't want my gun-control/economic/personal freedom stances to keep us from having someone who will help Rome grow into the beautiful city it should be 100 years from now.
Thanks for the compliment, though!

Brian Sikes
Beautiful!

Selena Tilly
Wow That is so pretty!!!

Melanie Collette Babb
Very pretty

Lindsey Abrams Barcomb
Very pretty!

Julia Hilburn Dent
Beautiful!!! Be careful getting up there b yourself of a ladder. I would rather have you around and miss the lights!!

Bob Doster
Can you say bucket truck?

Betty Smith Franklin
now for my humble abode.....

Kathy Wilson
It's beautiful the way it is. Doesn't need any more lights. Merry Christmas.

Jane Nelson Risdon
Wow! Terry the house looks beautiful! All you need is some snow!

Janice Overstreet Cross
Wow!

Michael J. Burton
Cool

Gleaning Facebook: Jeanne Holt Lights the Advent Candles

Here's one of the things I missed this morning by staying home from church. I'm still pretty miserable. It's not flu (at least the test was negative) but feverish, nasty cough, congestion etc. Doc put me on a 10-day antibiotic in case its bacterial. Ugh. Anyway I was in no shape to sing in the cantata.

Here our nonagenarian friend Jeanne Holt helps her son, Thom, and daughter-in-law, Robin, light the advent candle… and celebrates a bit as Thom brings her down from the chancel area. (The video is from Thom's Facebook page.)

Comments

Jenny Sills
Of all the people to do wheelies in a wheel chair, Mrs Holt is the one. No one in the choir had a phone to get a good shot of her face as she went up. She looked a little concerned. We all just about died!

When I grow up I want to be Jeanne holt, Ruth Shaw and Betty White all rolled into one!

David Marlin Rains
As a professional, I say good, safe wheelchair technique. lol Make a joyful noise.

Madelyn Collette
Missed you in the choir and am sorry you are sick. Hope the medication helps.

Jenny Sills
Safe technique but the patient needs to be informed first. The look on her face when Thom Pulled he chair back was one of concern momentarily.

Sandy Doughty
Sorry you're miserably ill and that you missed the Contata!

And, don't discount having the flu, we were told by an ER DR. that they don't even use the Flu tests anymore as they give false negatives too often. Praying that you're feeling better soon and that you don't give it to Sheila!

Gleaning Facebook: John McCutcheon in Knoxville

John McCutcheon blends music and storytelling as well as anyone. We heard a great concert tonight. John lost his father just last week. So there may have been few dry eyes when he started the second set with a beautiful bittersweet song called "Iowa". I actually was thinking this song is called "Hey, Pop." The song is a tribute to his father and is written as a phone call to his "Pop" as John gets ready for a show. His father was having memory problems, so in the song John patiently repeats, "I'm in Iowa, Pop."

Comment

Annie Shields

John Mcutcheon is a dear old friend.