Gleaning Facebook: Ruthie at One

 

Gleaning Facebook: Mother's Christmas Tree

 Lillian & Sheila & I put up and decorated Mother’s Christmas tree tonight. I took this picture from outside the house as we left... definitely need another strand of lights on the street side of the tree!

Inside the clock...

 While serving as a vote monitor and a vote review panelist this week, I took a break to stretch my legs. I walked from the "Old Yellow Courthouse" where the fourth Floyd County vote count of the November 3, 2020 election is being conducted, down to Broad Street, up to Fifth Avenue then up Clocktower Hill. I walked through John Paul Schulz's garden there and just enjoyed the ginkgos and pansies and our beautiful City Clock and its vista of our town. As I started down the path toward the parking lot to make my way back to the count, there came Selena Tilly. 

Selena works for the city at the Rome-Floyd County History Center, where she can pursue her lifelong interest in local history, professionally. She is now on the staff. The City Clock is a special interest with her as it is with me, and she leads regular tours of the little museum inside the tower and sometimes special ones. It turned out that she was about to lead one of those special guided tours with a visiting group of folks. As she waited for the group to arrive we talked a little and I mentioned that I had never been up into the clock structure itself. I've been to the public observation deck below the clock at the top of the brickwork. I've even been the "up top" tour guide a couple of time now. But I'd never actually been into the wooden section that once housed the original clockworks and still houses the four clock faces now run by small electronic devices. 

"Would you like to see it now?" she asked. 

Would I?! Of course I would! So she gave me the keys and as she awaited the tour group below, I climbed the 107 steps that spiral around the huge tank inside the brick facade. At the top I found the padlocked door into the wooden clock superstructure 

and entered a realm seen by mighty few folks over the century and nearly a half that the clock has stood there. 

It used to be that the clock-keeper made occasional trips up there to see that all was in good working order and the clock winder came up once a week to be sure the mechanism was well-wound so the eight-day clock would keep safely ticking for another seven days till the next winding. Other than that a few maintenance folks might do some painting up there, or woodworking repairs, or decorating for Christmas.

I was first surprised at the size of it. 

Now that the original clockworks have been taken downstairs to the little museum the space is no doubt roomier.  There's a stack of wreaths, rather unceremoniously and casually stacked, and a plastic tub filled with bunting. 

I suspect those will adorn the structure again in a day or few. There are some chains and weights left over from the old days, no longer in use. 

And a hand-cranked apparatus in one corner I'd been alerted to take note of. And the stairs leading to the clock-face level and then on to the bell level.

That hand-cranked device is part of an old fire alarm system. 

The cranking winds the spring that operates the bell-ring alarm. It was once connected to 20 or more alarm boxes around Rome's downtown. If an alarm was pulled at a box on the Cotton Block or near the opera house, a electrical impulse flowed thorugh the wires to the clock tower and triggered a special series of bell strikes. First three gongs would sound as an alert, followed after a pause by a number of peals corresponding to the number of the alarm box that had been activated. Thus the fire station was signaled where to send the fire crews.

I climbed the stairs to the clock-face level.

 I could see the moving gears of the small controls behind each face. 

I noticed a tiny hook-latched door in each clock-face. I open the eastern one an snapped a few pictures,

 then walked around to the northern one. There I could peer past the minute hand northward to the lazy Oostanaula as it lowed past our back yard on Avenue A. So a snapped a few more pictures. 

I climbed on up to the hatch that goes to the bell level, but fearing I might be pressing the limits of my permissions, I saved that for another day.

After padlocking the door again, I descended the steps trying to get some pictures through the safety mesh of the museum interior far below with uncertain results. 

The tour group was just pulling into the parking lot as I returned the keys to Selena. She said she might could use me as an occasional substitute guide there if I could take the time for a little training. I jumped at the opportunity and will do my best to observe her next private tour!

Five minutes later I was back in the halls of the courthouse where election officials under the close observation of Democratic and Republican monitors and news reporters were still recounting votes. 

As I observed our small-r republican values being so meticulously followed, I thought of the six purposes we, the people, covenant together to perform through the government we control with our votes. I'm thankful that in the very early 1870s our city forebears decided that it was a part of the common good to build a watertank atop a hill smack in the middle of town, and that it was in the public interest to make it beautiful, so they built a brick tower around it. Then what an ornament and symbol for the town it would be if that prominent twoer were crowned with a beautiful clock. I suppose the Rome City Clock has been worth millions of dollars of advertisement for our little corner of paradise over the fifteen decades. 

I urge my friends to reclaim ownership of Rome, Floyd County, Georgia, and America. Never elect anyone who says government is bad; government is us. If it is imperfect, as all human unions are,  then it is up to us to perfect our union so that we have maximum justice, peace at home and abroad, common good, and liberty for all, now and for every future tick of the clock.

Gleaning Facebook: Decorating

We put seven small City Clock items in a shadow box. The medal at the top right is a 1973 General Electric 20th year souvenir. The two painted ceramic pins at the top left are by well-known Rome china painter Joyce Nolan.

Lillian helped us rearrange the den and in the process decided to group some of our City Clock stuff on one wall.

The front door

I've only done the downstairs lights so far.

The lighted wreath seen through special Christmas glasses.

It is so good to have this wonderful daughter here to help decorate for the Christmas season.

 

A Small Thanksgiving

Our 2020 Thanksgiving gathering was tiny by our usual standards but there were lots of thanks to give.

Just Sheila, Mother, Lillian & me... but what a feast we had.

We counted no Weight Watchers points today!

Sheila prepared everything. The turkey was as good as any I’ve ever had.
Sheila soaked the turkey breast in buttermilk overnight.

For dessert skillet apple pie with ice cream. Yum!

 

Getting serious about securing the franchise

Sheila and I have served, as volunteers, in several capacities during the 2020 election on behalf of the people of Floyd County and the Floyd County and Georgia Democratic Party. It has been an interesting, and mostly reassuring experience.

Before the voting ended...

We began as ballot monitors a week and a day before the polls closed. There were no ballots counted yet, of course, but the staff was allowed to begin processing absentee ballots to prepare them for, after polls would close on November 3,  scanning and then tabulating the votes. These were the hand-marked absentee ballots filled out at home by the voters then mailed in or delivered to official drop boxes.
Ballot monitors of each party (and sometimes non-partisan groups) simply observe the processing of ballots by the elections staff. Ballot monitors do not touch ballots or interfere in the process. They simply observe. 
During the week preceding Election day, I, like everyone else involved, raised my right hand and swore to perform my duties honestly, confidentially, and in accord with the law.
We sat in a small room with a big table and five temporary elections employees and the Chief Clerk. We observed as a box of ballots was brought into the room by the Clerk and he broke the seal on the box. One employee took a number of the mailed or delivered absentee ballot envelopes from the box and placed them on the table. The employees turned them all upright, tapping the envelopes against the table to assure the inner envelopes would not be damaged when the envelopes were run through a machine to slit them open. Once a group of envelopes were placed on the table those were a “batch” that would stay together for this part of the process. The inner envelopes and outer envelopes were separated and counted and double-checked. The process could not continue until the counts of outer envelopes and inner envelopes matched. Then the counted outer envelopes were removed from the table and carefully placed in a storage box. At this point the remaining inner envelopes are no longer associated with information tying them to an individual voter. Privacy of the secret ballot is thus assured. 
Now those inner envelopes containing the secret ballots, of the voters whose personal information is no longer attached, were slitted and the ballots removed, smoothed and carefully stacked, and counted. Once again the numbers had to match. There is much counting and recounting and organizing the ballots into neat batches for scanning. Then the empty inner envelopes were boxed separately. The ballot “batches” were joined by giant rubber bands and each "batch" given a sequential number. At each stage of this process each "batch" of ballots were carefully controlled.  
Of course along the way special cases arose. Torn ballots, crumpled ballots etc. were separated for repair or even carefully duplicated onto a new substitute ballot by election staff (I did not observe this process). Duplicated ballots are attached to the original ballot to maintain an ability to confirm the correct duplication.   We monitors also observed the computer scanning and/or processing of a few of the the batches of mailed and dropbox ballots. I was impressed with the seriousness and care that the young temporary workers took with their duties.

On Election Night and during the initial count...

I was not only a ballot monitor but also a Vote Review Panel (VRP) member. A VRP is a panel of three including an Elections Committee person, a Republican Party representative, and a Democratic Party representative. The VRP is on duty during the counting to review any vote that is in question as to the voter’s intent. The VRP must assure that each voter’s intent is recorded in each race if at all possible. If there is a disagreement on the panel the three members must make a ruling that satisfies at least two of them. 

So…
On the evening of Election Day dogtired, after many hours of waiting for the process to get started, I raised my right hand again and swore to perform the duties involved in adjudication honestly and in accord with the law and the intent of the voter. 

Let me emphasize: the law is clear that regardless of all else the intent of the voter is paramount. 

As it turned out I was relieved by another Democratic representative before the counting began, very late, that night. Thank goodness; I needed my bed.

The next morning, considerably rested,  I returned to the courthouse and took my turn on the VRP for several hours, judging, with a Republican and an Elections Committee member, ballots with votes that could not be read by the voting software. These decisions were mostly very cut and dried and obvious. Many were overvotes in the special senate race where there were so many candidates; many voters mistakenly marked more than one vote and their votes had to be ignored in that race. Many were write-ins for unqualified persons --- cartoon characters, deities, historical characters, out-of-state politicians, unknown persons, defeated primary candidates, etc. The first time a ridiculous name was read as a write-in we may have chuckled a bit, but soon they became less-than-humorous and downright tiresome. A few were legitimate write-ins and were duly recorded. Another few needing review were the result of stray marks, very light marks, checks or x-marks partly or even completely outside the oval, or of efforts of the voter to change a mark by erasing or scratching out. 

It was interesting and reassuring to me that I and my Republican fellow VRP member came to an agreement in each and every instance. We both took our oaths seriously and voted to approve the intent of the voter even when we might be personally disappointed in the vote.

During the audit (recount)...

The Secretary of State ordered a post-election audit of the presidential vote throughout the state. I observed that special auditing of the vote with other monitors of both parties and non-partisan groups including the Carter Center. We were distressed to learn during this audit that the staff had forgotten to retrieve about 2600 ballots that been temporarily stored as the result of a machine failure. (This is my understanding but I have no direct knowledge of this failure.) That horrible goof-up caused our count in Floyd County to become the topic of national rumors and accusations. The halls of the elections center became a headquarters for broadcast and print news reporters from national and Atlanta-area media folk-- AP, Fox News, WGN, 11Alive, Fox5, WSB etc.
Once again I took the oath to perform the duties involved in adjudication honestly and in accord with the law and the intent of the voter. 
I, with a different Republican this time, and an Elections Committee member, adjudicated ballots that the teams of auditors felt needed review. Since this audit dealt only with the presidential race there were very few ballots that needed adjudication. There was 100% agreement on the VRP on each of the ballots we judged.
After the votes in the presidential race had been recounted, I participated in the careful counting of affidavits to check that total against the number of ballots counted. This was done in two person volunteer teams, one Republican and one Democrat. We counted and recounted thousands of affidavits and I am told that in the end the difference in affidavits and ballots was exactly one. Danged close!

The next morning I was back to observe the preparation for, and the rescanning of,  the ballots -- as AP and other news folks propped themselves in corners to edit their stories and camera operators peered through stair bannisters and doorways to snap pictures of the process.
Once again I had raised my right hand and taken the oath and, then, with the same Republican with whom I had counted affidavits, and an Elections Committee member, I adjudicated ballots that had been kicked out by the software during the final rescan. We noted many of the same deities, cartoon characters, TV Stars, etc. as unapproved write-ins. 

And the audit was over and we could go home.

What I learned so far...

AS you can see, I spent many hours the last three weeks volunteering at the Floyd County Administration building with the Elections Committee, the county elections staff, with non-partisan observers, and with my Republican counterparts. 

After these hours of experience I have the highest regard for the volunteers involved in the Vote Review Panels, Republican and Democratic, Elections Committee, audit staff and volunteers. My three stints on the vote review panel were tedious sometimes, but always cordial. I sometimes had to approve votes for Republican candidates and each of the three Republicans I worked with at different times had to approve votes for Democratic candidates. 

In all that time on the vote review panel, I'll repeat, the Republican and I were always able to agree on whether the voter had made his or her intent plain. I believe each voter in Floyd County had his vote counted as intended unless they messed up and clearly marked more than one candidate, or failed to mark a candidate at all, or wrote in a candidate who (cartoon, fictional, historical, celebrity, relative, neighbor, failed primary candidate, or deity) were not official write-in candidates. 

I agree with the lead editorial in the Rome News-Tribune on November 20, 2020. 

The Floyd County Elections Board, staff, and volunteers are to be commended for their dedication, patriotism, and seriousness. The mistake that was made that resulted in 2600 ballots being temporarily mislaid was a bone-headed error and procedures must be tightened to be SURE that particular mistake cannot recur. Still the people involved did not hide the mistake but immediately reported it and carefully went about correcting the error. 

I hate that someone had to lose his job over it, but had I been on the Elections Committee, I also would have voted to replace the Chief Clerk; that mistake was NOT purposeful, but it WAS incompetent, and on top of a previous reprimand, and some other innocent but troubling missteps that I observed, in my opinion, precluded his continuance in such an office of trust, in my opinion.

The most important thing that I can reassure anyone who wants to pay attention to this 73-year-old moderately liberal Democrat who loves his country and considers the franchise our most precious right, is that the process worked, the Elections Committee and elections staff, and Republican and Democratic volunteers that I worked with took their oaths seriously and did their jobs honestly and to the best of their abilities.

The President's campaign, as is their right since the President-elect won by less that a percentage point in Georgia, has asked for still another recount of the ballots. So once again the elections staff and Democratic and Republican volunteers will gather at 159 courthouses around the state of Georgia to again scan, process, adjudicate, and count the ballots. Since it is a human enterprise there will be a mistake made here and there. The totals will differ from the original count by about a thousand votes (thanks to our county's goof-up and a couple of others around the state) and from the audit by many fewer votes. 

When the process is over, I am convinced, the President-Elect will still be the President-Elect. It was close, but the President-elect won Georgia.

I am very thankful for our honest and patriotic elections staff and volunteers. Because of their dedication we know the will of the voters. 

Gleaning Facebook: Fellowship of the Republic

Though I sorrow at its needfulness, I am thankful for the Fellowship that I have been a part of these last four years. Perhaps we could have done more with the time given, but not much.

I am tempted to name some names of those who have given so much in time and effort and courage and heart in our little corner of the earth to restore our republic --- and there is another dark and rocky peak to gain early in January before we can rest --- but I know I'd leave out some. They are by and large the finest people I know.

 

A Whole Year of Ruthie Joy!

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” ― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

It has been a horrible year. It has been a year of financial crisis, rampant disease, bald racism and hatred, and terrible death. It has been a year of stark division and anger in the nation at large, even in our church, and, yes, even in our wider family. 

But it has also, thank God, been a year of you, dear Ruth.

Your newborn picture!

You, our little Ruthie, were born on this date, November 15, one year ago. 

Then...

Two days later, according to a report from the Chinese government, a 55-year-old person in the Hubei province became the first known human case of Covid-19. 

It will be a while before you can appreciate these facts that were on grown up minds during the day of your birth. Your first day with us was the very day Roger Stone was convicted on all seven counts against him. It was the day his friend in our White House lashed out at Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch for testifying truthfully at the impeachment inquiry. The news was full of reports of Lev Parnas's secret mission to discredit Joe Biden. Our American president granted clemency that day to Army officers credibly accused of war crimes. And he argued to keep his tax returns secret before the Supreme Court. It was also the day the Italian council was flooded right after they had rejected taking measures to slow climate change. And the morning newspaper reported another deadly school shooting in Santa Clarita, California, just two hours up the Five from where your mom and dad were cradling you for the first time in their arms.

You entered this world at a fraught moment, for sure.

But you don't know that yet.

You are too busy bringing joy and delight into the fallen world. 

You know how to have fun.

You are the quintessential bundle of joy. Ruth Irmgard Carlin, our little Ruthie, you have such a ready smile. What great love, joy, and comfort you have brought to our lives in the midst of a year of financial crisis, rampant disease, bald racism and hatred, and terrible death. 

Sheila and I were thrilled to get our hands on you just a couple of days later and we got to stay in California with you and Clemmie and your parents and Carlin relatives a couple of weeks. It was so hard to leave you in early December. 

We said goodbye with a stop at an In & Out near the airport before we
headed back to Georgia last December.

Back in Georgia we were proud to show off your picture in January before our church family, where your Mom is so loved, at the Louise Langham Baby Recognition service. Your second cousin Charles was also celebrated, as a gift was given to missions in honor of each baby born to the Trinity United Methodist Church family during 2019. Your namesake and great-grandmother Ruth Baird Shaw, my Mama, was there for that service.

At Trinity United Methodist Church in Rome, GA.
L-R: Your Uncle Gregg Lewis, Aunt Debi Shaw Lewis,
Grandma Ruth, Granny, Grandshaw, Julie Langham Humphries,
Anita "Bo" Stewart, Nancy Elder.

The picture we displayed at the Baby Recognition Sunday, your cross, and the list of babies.

Granshaw, Grandma Ruth, & Granny with your picture.

Your cross and Clementine's on our Christmas tree.

We planned to return for Clementine's second birthday in April. I am not sure when the term Covid-19 first entered our consciousness but even when it did we did not appreciate the ways it would change our lives and end the lives of so many Americans including some beloved by me and/or my friends and relatives. 

We made our plane reservations for April.

Alas, those reservations had to be cancelled and you and Clementine celebrated her second birthday socially distanced from the Shaw side of your family by a couple of thousand miles. 

Still we rejoiced with every shared photo or video of your beaming face. You just relished your first year in the almost constant company of your mom and sister and dad. Your Gamma and Papa used their lush and fruitful backyard as a place for the greater Carlin clan to visit socially distanced. Gamma would visit you and Clem from outside the front gate at your house. 

And Granny and I had to depend on Facetime to get live glimpses of you and Clem.

Daddy loves to play with his girls.

And Sheila and I continued to visit you only by way of Facetime. 

In the midst of --

• disappointment at cancelled storytelling gigs, 
• separation from our church and choir communities, 
• virtual, telephone, and postcard campaigning for the very existence of our republic, 
• mourning lost relationships caused by that existential dispute over basic republican values,
• worry for the health of our vulnerable mother, siblings, and other friends and relatives, 
• fighting and marching against the racism exacerbated by our president, 
• agonizing over the Covid-related death of a beloved former student,

--- there you were. Smiling. Learning. Loving life. Leaving the rest of it to us.

Finally we could stand it no longer. The second wave of Covid seemed to be subsiding. Delta was keeping middle seats empty and using careful decontamination procedures and masking. We got tested, quarantined ourselves as much as possible, and flew west. Liliian joined us and creating a "bubble" with Brannon, John, Clem, and Ruth we spent the first week on Mount Palomar in an Air BNB then another week in that "bubble" at Brannon's house. Seeing no illness we enlarged our "bubble" to include John's parents and siblings. 

And so for FIVE glorious weeks we were with our "bundle of joy" and your sister and parents day in and day out. Each day we found another park to visit -- staying masked and distanced and usually WELL distanced on trails and play areas and beaches. If anything the cursed virus kept us closer. For FIVE weeks!

Ruthie with Aunt Lil.

Ruthie with Grandshaw

Ruthie with Granny.

Ruthie with Aunt Lil again

Ruthie with lots of folks who love her at Bobby and Sue's house. 

Many times you slept on my shoulder. Sometimes we both slept. I pushed you in the swing. We examined your daddy's flowers and vegetables growing in the yard. We splashed in the Pacific and built castles on the beach. I am so sorry I did not see you crawling up behind me and allowed you to faceplant into that foot-deep hole in the sand! You were NOT happy about that!  You helped you sister cook me many imaginary meals in your play house and on the back porch. We watched Winnie the Pooh together over and over and over. And Mickey Mouse. You walked miles in the house and yard and on the beach clenching my fingers --- is there a dearer feeling than that? 

And as our day of departure neared you let go of the grown-ups' fingers and tried this bipedal ambulation on your own. Wow. Your mastery of this new locomotion grew every day! What fun for Granny and me to watch you gleefully toddle from your mom to your dad across the grass at the park. Your mischievous father scooted backwards as you came challenging you to maintain your balance a little farther each time.

You are perfectly capable of your moments of rage like any child when you are fed-up with the carseat, or a wet diaper, or uncomprehending adults, but that smile of yours is never far out of your reach.

Ruth, your 73-year-old Grandshaw is so happy and thankful that I reached this ripe old age so that I could know you. I hope to know you for many more birthdays. But I want you to know that even in your very first year, a year of so much stress and pain for the grown-ups, you brought almost incredible happiness to me and your Granny. We both love you to the moon and back!

Gleaning Facebook: Happy Birthday Debi!

 So Facebook automatically suggested a birthday greeting with multiple pictures of a storytelling friend that I was happy to share, but trying to do the same thing for Debi I didn't figure it out. Anyway this cute little girl in the back yard of 333 South Ninth Street in Griffin about 1957 or 58 has a birthday today. Debi Lewis is a hardworking, creative, talented, loving mother, grandmother, sister, daughter, church leader, pre-school educator and administrator, and just a nice person. I am very pleased to call her my little sister: the fourth of five sisters in all. Happy Birthday, Debi!

Celebrating Restoration of the Republic

Celebrating the coming restoration of the republic with our neighbors Scott & Renee Fuller (and couple dozen other rejoicing Biden/Harris voters.) We stayed masked and tried to distance to a degree except for eating and drinking and very briefly for pictures like this. — still, in retrospect, I think this celebration was the most dangerous thing I’ve done since March. With the virus spiking again, folks, please refocus on masking and distancing and washing hands!)

Daniel Eason in the plaid mask is one of the heroes of the 2020 election hereabouts in my book, both as a partisan volunteer and as a non-partisan volunteer. Thanks, Daniel for all your hard work.

Daniel Eason: Thank you, Terrell! I'm so glad to be among such a great bunch of people in Rome. We have an excellent local party that is recognized as the leader in the region, thanks to a lot of people who paved the way. And we have some excellent nonpartisan groups, especially the Floyd County League of Women Voters and OCU and the NAACP, who offer many opportunities to get involved in nonpartisan ways. I am blessed to be among such fine people and organizations who all want to make life better for their neighbors.

Jeremy Smith is a wonderful artist. His drawing of President-elect Biden was in-progress but I stole a shot of his unfinished masterpiece anyway! 

Jeremy Smith is a wonderful artist. His drawing of President-elect Biden was in-progress but I stole a shot of his unfinished masterpiece anyway!
Jeremy Smith
Had to scrap that one, T. Sorry
Joan Ledbetter
Jeremy Smith I would have bought it as is. It was great!

Jeremy Smith
Joan Ledbetter it actually was (and still is-I still have it!) a great depiction of what A Coops and Mike Pence’s love child would look like lol. I really do hate everything I do:)

Joan Ledbetter
Jeremy Smith That is funny (Anderson and MP), but you are NOT right. 

Jeremy Smith
Joan Ledbetter there’s only one way to prove to you what I’m saying is true

Joan Ledbetter
Jeremy Smith So, you could give me a discount on the price
Jeremy Smith
Joan Ledbetter oh it’s yours my dear, no charge. But I wanna see if I can get Anderson to sign it first
Terrell Shaw
What? No!
Jeremy Smith
Terrell Shaw yep. Just couldn’t see it right or something. I think the reference photo I was using had too many conflicting light sources or something. Sometimes these things just don’t work out

• Jeremy Smith
  Terrell Shaw that is, however, a righteous drawing of Anderson Cooper in this photo:)
  Tracy S Lawler
  I could tell right away that it was Biden. I look forward to seeing your "redo".
  Jeremy Smith
  Tracy S Lawler sometimes you just have to give up after you realize you can’t reach your goal. There’s nothing wrong with not being able to do something.
  
  Jeremy Smith
  Tracy S Lawler for real though that one really did get away from me and I abandoned that piece last night. Faces are hard, yo!
  Joan Ledbetter
  Jeremy Smith Except, it was great.
• Joan Ledbetter
  I want a copy!
• Peggy Fowler-Casillas
  Jeremy Smith I don't know you and I'm not sure what you're seeing in that portrait, but that's definitely Biden. 
• Jeremy Smith
  Awww I am just loving all you lovely awesome people trying to assuage me of whatever existential crisis you think I might be having over that portrait. It warms my heart!
  
  For the record, I don’t have any art training and this drawing stuff is pretty new (this is the eighth portrait I’ve worked on so far, believe it or not). There is no manual, I have no plan, and ultimately I have no idea how this stuff happens.
  So sometimes it’s ok to mess up and start over.
  In very little time I’ll relay to yall my favorite Bernini story . . .
• Joan Ledbetter
  Jeremy Smith Do that, but keep everything and have an art sell soon, too 
• Jean Filson Linos
  Wow, that is such an amazing likeness!!!
  Jeremy Smith
  Tadaaa!
  

At the Biden/Harris celebration I took a bunch of my Biden button duplicates just in case. I was thrilled to swap with Joan Ledbetterr for these three Pete/Joe buttons. I've been collecting political buttons since 1964 so y'all keep me in mind if you have any to spare-- sell, swap, or donate!
Jaki Day: PB&J is my fav
Melanie Collette Babb: I am so impressed with Mayor Pete.

Terrell Shaw: I was kinda hoping he'd be chief of staff... but Biden probably needs a long time associate like Ron Klain, so I understand. I'll bet he gets an important position in the administration, though.

We stayed masked most of the time but we unmasked very briefly and promised to hold our breaths for a photo-op!

Scott Fuller: A great night with great neighbors! Thanks for sharing these pics!