A Matthews Reunion in Northeast Georgia

In July our annual Matthews family reunion was scheduled at our house for three days. First Carol Dearborn, Sheila's first cousin had to bow out because of illness. Still several others made it to our house, but then on their first night there, during supper, came the urgent call; my Mother had suffered a stroke and was on the way the the hospital only a few block away. That ended the reunion.

So when Carol recovered she invited us all to visit her and Wolf at their beautiful mountain home right up in the northeast corner of the state on a beautiful ridge in Lakemont. What a wonderful couple of days. Sheila and I were the first arrivals and after a good nights sleep, took an early walk around the mountain amidst the glorious colors of fall...

Back at the house we enjoyed seeing some of the family photos and portraits and artifacts and Aunt Wilma's art...

Aunt Wilma Matthews McAfee with Carol.

This painting go Uncle Mac (Broads McAfee) ...

... and the companion painting of Wilma and Carol ...

... were painted by the young man above....

...as explained in this news story.

Aunt Wilma was a painter herself. Here are three of her clowns...

...a still life...

...a landscape...

...and a matador.

This gun is a family heirloom. Wolf built the mount for it.

Wolf has a great collection of arrowheads and spear points.

Dona makes herself comfortable

A great bottle tree on the back porch.

The porch was a great place to gather.

Several of us took a walk downhill from the house and along a power line cut through the forest...

The house from downslope

More visiting in Carol and Wolf's beautiful home....

The remaining first cousins, minus Jimmy who couldn't make it this time. L-R: Dona, Carol, Sheila.

Two generations: Carol, Jinsie, Dona, Lillian, Sheila (missing are Jimmy, Nora, Brannon, and Carrie.)

Sheila, Terrell, Carol, Wolf

Gleaning Facebook: Walking Northeast Georgia

Sheila and I took an early walk on mountain trails near her cousin Carol's house.

Sourwood

The leaves and the wimmin are gorgeous.

I enjoy friends with great dogs. Loki is still a rambunctious adolescent but very lovable…

 

Gleaning Facebook: Better Angels

Hallelujah!

It is time for our better angels to prevail. We must restore the soul of our republic.

 I am in tears. I am so thankful that this day has come. Hope and history rhyme today.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Madam Vice President Elect Kamala Harris!

Elected with the largest vote in history!

We the people have turned out 160 million strong to make our voices heard. And we have elected a wonderful American woman, an American of color, an American of immigrant roots!

I watch and think of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth and Eleanor Roosevelt and Rosa Parks and Lillian Wilkerson Shaw and Ieula Ann Dick Baird and Ruth Baird Shaw and Sheila Matthews Shaw, but especially Brannon Ruth Shaw Carlin and Liilian Matthews Shaw and Clementine Georgia Carlin and Ruth Irmgard Carlin. The glass ceiling is broken!

And she knows, understands, and comfortably and correctly uses the proper second person plural pronoun: "Y'all".

Comments:

Cece Baker: It happened!  I've never been prouder to be an American!

John Countryman: Thank you, Seamus Heaney.

Terrell:  

“History says don’t hope

On this side of the grave.

But then, once in a lifetime

The longed for tidal wave

Of justice can rise up

And hope and history rhyme."

- I've been lucky enough to hear rhymes before: 1976 & 2008 come to mind,  , but never has the alternative been such a dreadful one.

John: The quote is from his play "The Cure At Troy." I gave a talk about the play at a conference with Seamus the Famous himself in attendance. He praised my take on the script and because it was his first real foray in dramatic writing was grateful for the attention,. This was shortly after it had first been produced and the script had first been published. How little did he know how far-reaching the hope nand history sentiment would travel. It was my privilege to know him as a friend and share roast pig and Guinness with him at Irish Studies conferences and to enjoy his craic!. And to hear him read his poetry in person with his marvelous north of Ireland accent was a always a treat.

Terrell: Wow! Well, I knew of your interest in Irish theater but, wow!

Jaki Day: Celebration in TN

Julie Hatfield Burton: I’m very happy!!!!! What a nail bitingly week!! I’m so relieved!!! 

Judy Borgo: Yes! Yes! Yes!

Jim Curry: Georgia needs to do what Kentucky could not do. NEUTER MOSCOW MITCH! Electing TWO Democratic Senators will do it!

Comments on a Joe Biden "Thank You" video I shared:

Jim Curry: The American people have done what complicit Republican Senators would not do. Now, it’s time for Georgia to do what Kentucky would not do. NEUTER MITCH MCCONNELL. Electing two Georgia senators in January will do it! HELP NEEDED!

Jeri Carter: I thought I was tapped out on political contributions from what I already gave this year--but I dug deep and came up with a little more, because supporting Fair Fight and supporting Georgia in electing *both* Warnock and Ossoff is so much more important than take-out (we can have a few pintos and cornbread meals) or new shoes or whatever else I might have spent our small discretionary money on.

A few of the comments on a comic post I shared that got deleted:

Melissa Pyle Hamilton: I would love to see Trump and all members of his criminal enterprise taken to prison in the Biden Bus

Terrell: Nope. I want them taken in the regular old paddy wagon. I want them to have the best legal assistance they can get. I want them tried by absolutely impartial procecutors and judges. I want a jury of ordinary Americans to hear all the evidence. Then I want them convicted and jailed for the term that any other American would get for the same crimes. In other words I want them to experience the wonderful American system of justice just as they SHOULD have applied it to others.

Melissa: Great point.

Terrell: BTW we're celebrating at 5:30 downtown... did you get the word? Come on. Hawthorn Suites patio. Spread the word.

Whit Perry: True swamp draining. And Trump will soon be wearing orange, if he doesn’t flee and go Dancing With The Tsars!

Comments: 

Tracy S Lawler: (70% of Floyd County voted for Trump)

Terrell: BUT we upped our % AND our Floyd County vote is more than the difference in the statewide vote so way to go Floyd!

Dan Bolton: But the 30% might help Biden win the state
Tracy: Of course, Dan!
Taryn Janelle: And yet GA still went Blue.
Tracy: Yes, Taryn. Every little bit helps. (I am on the humane Blue Team, by the way.)
Peggy Davis: Amazing. Tears of joy.
Tracy: The GA counts grew overnight to 10,000-ish lead for Biden.

Angela Greear: I have been HAPPY DANCING all day

Laura Lagow Leathrum: Our daughter is a student at the University of Delaware. She and her friends are in Wilmington tonight!

Pam Allen Albert:

Oh My! I LOLed at this one -- another hilarious button from the great Herb Shemwell (can be ordered, I think, from Sunflower Buttons on Facebook.)

Gleaning Facebook: Lake Sturgeon are Coming Back!

 News of the Day from the DNR:

Fisheries Biologists collected two lake sturgeon from the Etowah River last week.

One of the sturgeons was 41 inches long and had previously been captured and tagged by University of Georgia personnel back in 2005 when the fish was only 17 inches long.

After weighing and measuring each, both sturgeons were released back into the river.

Sturgeons are a unique group of fish that coexisted with dinosaurs and have changed very little since that time. One lake sturgeon on record lived to be 154 years of age and another tipped the scales at 310 pounds. Both of these records were from northern states in the early 20th century and few, if any, such fish exist today.

LAKE STURGEON CANNOT BE HARVESTED. If you catch a sturgeon, it should be handled gently and released as soon as possible. As part of the sturgeon reintroduction effort in the Coosa River system, we would also like to hear about any sturgeon sightings: https://georgiawildlife.com/lake-sturgeon-reintroduction...

If you catch or otherwise see a lake sturgeon, please report the information to 706-295-6102. Note the date and location of your sighting and photograph the fish if possible.

Gleaning Facebook: PALS & Berry Elementary

I had a great time showing off animals and telling stories for Arrowhead Environmental Education Center at PALS (mothers morning out program at Trinity United Methodist Church) kindergarteners and pre-k kids yesterday. I took along Green, Gray, and Barking Treefrogs and told The Foolish Frog — a silly story written by Pete Seeger that I have been telling for about 60 years!

Then I drove out to Berry Elementary to show a baby alligator to fourth-graders and tell my version of Ed Stivender’s version of David Holt’s version of Joel Chandler Harris’s version of a folk tale about gators.

If you are in Floyd County or any other county in Northwest Georgia and would like to schedule a storytelling/nature lesson or program at your school, club, library, scout troop, civic group or ?? IM me. And if your civic group or school would like to help support this wonderful 28 year institution, please I’d sure like to talk with you.

I saw this interesting artwork in the lobby at Berry Elementary illustrating Rome and its three rivers .