Gleaning Facebook: One Table

 Another pic from the One Table event.

Gleaning Facebook: Pete & John

Look what was in the afternoon mail! It’s John McCutcheon’s latest album and a t-shirt. John and I are about the same age and each of us, in our teens, discovered a wonderful, kind, talented, controversial, sometimes wildly mistaken but always honest, American patriot and national treasure — Pete Seeger. The album is chocked full of John’s interpretation of some of the soundtrack of my youth. The t-shirt shows the skin of Pete’s banjo: “This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender”

As a high-schooler I became a card-carrying member of the Columbia Record Club. As such I was able to order, for one cent as I recall, twelve LPs. Of course I was then committed to paying bout six dollars a month for the rest of the century or so. How I loved those albums… the Kingston Trio, the Chad Mitchell Trio, Peter Paul & Mary, the Limeliters, and more. Pete Seeger’s We Shall Overcome album was one of them. The title song, and "Guantanamera" (Oh! I have loved that song for more than fifty years.) "Little Boxes", "Oh, Freedom", ...

I sit in my easy chair, tapping at this keyboard, eyes blurred by moisture as “Sailing Down My Golden River” fills the room.

If you ever get a chance to hear John in concert, don’t miss it. In less than a month now Sheila and I will hear some of these songs again. John will be one of the featured storytellers at the National Storytelling Festival the first weekend in October. Wouldn’t miss it.

I had forgotten Sheila had bought this for me as a birthday present (in March!) before its release. It has finally been released! 

Gleaning Facebook: The Doorbell

This is the doorbell that has been attached above our front door since we bought this house in 1993. I have been curious about it and remember showing it to Harold Parker one time. He talked about coming back to take a closer look to see if we could get it working again. But we never got around to it, and Harold is now gone. The connections between the bell and the mechanical ringer were gone but by pushing and pulling the metal tab on the bottom (from a ladder) it rang loudly. Even under a few layers of paint the ghost circle of the ringer is visible on the door frame outside, and an actual hole that must have once held a pulley to guide a pull chain of some sort is on the inside doorframe.

Yesterday I took it down, took it apart and cleaned it. I tried to find a match to it on the net. The closest I could find for this type of mechanical bell was from 1865. Our house was built in 1869, so perhaps the bell is original to the days of Daniel Mitchell.

Gleaning Facebook: Talmadge Bridge

 There is talk of renaming the Talmadge Memorial Bridge in Savannah. Even for his day, its namesake, Gene Talmadge, was a pretty blatant racist. Here are three pencils he used as campaign items during World War Two that I purchased at an antique shop in Kennesaw in the seventies.More Talmadge items from my collection. 

These three pencils have no erasers. Instead, on the eraser ends of these wartime political items these words are printed:

"RUBBER

once used for

erasers, now

used to

'Rub Out'

JAPS!"

"LET'S KEEP

TALMADGE FOR GOVERNOR

Vote For 'GENE'

September 9th

Fulton County Headquarters • 508 Ansley Hotel

UNION MADE"

Gleaning Facebook: Broadside's writers

 It was stressful.

Money was awfully tight for those years.

We only lasted a little over two years, which was about a year and a half longer than wiser folks might have.

But we accomplished some good during those two years.

When there was empty ad space in Broadside we promoted ourselves there. The pictured writers are three of my heroes.

From right to left:

Tim Poor the young reporter at Broadside who went on to a long career at the St. Louis Dispatch as a reporter, Washington corespondent, and foreign editor and then to Washington University as publications editor.

Steve Craw whose dogged, principled, thorough reporting brought Broadside some of its biggest scoops and important investigative reports.

Sheila Shaw, a wonderful writer, editor, and human being. She went on to work in public relations at Floyd College (now Georgia Highlands) and in publications and marketing for Universal Tax Systems (later CCH). Oh yeah, she is also a fabulous mother to my two beloved daughters, grandmother to my cherished granddaughter, and the love of my life.

Gleaning Facebook: Clementine By FaceTime

There is absolutely no way I can allow this morning’s pic to go unposted! Our Clementine has undeniable spunk.

We had a ball FaceTiming with Clementine (and her Mama) this morning. 

We would be really embarrassed if there were audio with these pics to capture our squealing and coochicooing and waving.

 BUT she WAVED BACK! She was interacting with us via social media. How natural that will seem to her.

Around the Yard Today

The volunteer cherry tomatoes, warm from the sun, are delicious.

The gigantic Maxmillian Sunflowers are in glorious bloom.

The beautyberry is fruiting.

 

Gleaning Facebook: Pieces of My Heart

Two pieces of my heart too far away.

Sandy Doughty

Boy, do I know and share that feeling!!

Duanne Walton

Two beauties!!! Another treasure photo!

Kathy Wilson

Love this photo of two beautiful girls!

Nancy Johal Singh

Gorgeous girls!!! They are too far away.

Ruth Baird Shaw

Beautiful (outside and inside) Brannon and Clementine, my granddaughter and my great-granddaughter!

Bryant Steele

I know the feeling.

Sara Mitchell Lynch

I know how you must miss them so much!

Laurie Craw

OK. Here's my last $5 for your plane ticket.

Anita Stewart

Two beautidul ladies.

Rose McDonald Darby

Beautiful both

Dan Ledford

the baby looks like its saying what do you want well?? lol

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Bonus pictures from September 1, 2018:

 

Gleaning Facebook: Mr. Barton's Basket

Doing some organizing at Mother’s house and uncovered some treasures. Heres one — a Wint Barton basket! Ruth Baird Shaw wrote her name on the bottom so it’d find its way home after covered dish dinners.

Comments from Facebook:

George Barton: He made a lot of these. They sold well and were quickly made with less weaving than the bow bottoms

Melanie Collette Babb: Mother had a couple of his baskets.

Anita Stewart: We have a few of Mr. Barton's baskets, but the most valuable thing we have regarding him is the rocking chair that my mother was rocked in 100 years ago....Mr. Barton taught Jason how to cane the old chair when Jason was a Confirmand. The chair is a family treasure and added to this is the memory that Jason will always have of Mr. Barton helping restore it,