Wednesday November 26, 2008

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the Nebraska Safe Haven Law. It was passed to give options to young mothers who would just dump unwanted babies. There were others though who thought it a good option to drop off their children for various reasons, most of them in their teens. Recently the law was amended to allow only babies up to 30 days old.

It breaks my heart think of parents dropping children off because they were no longer able to handle them. I wonder how the children feel when they realizing they are being left behind.

What tears me up is when children are born with things like FAS, due to the lack of caring by the mother, but on the other hand, the mother’s life may be pretty awful because of decisions made by other people in her life.

It reminds that our decisions affect people around us much more than we are aware. Things as “small” as resentment and unforgiveness can affect generations. On the positive side, people who are forgiving and offer grace to others will affect many people.

So this Thanksgiving I’m thankful for parents who lead a disciplined life and took the time to love me as well as teach me that life is not about me. For family and friends who love me despite my flaws, offering me grace when I don’t deserve it.

I could be that young girl abandoned at a hospital in Nebraska.

 

 

 

 

frosty  

frosty 2

Letters from the Editor – Wednesday November 19, 2008

Dear Burger King employee,
If I order a sandwich, fries and a drink for one person and ask for ketchup, don’t you think 7 packs is a little overkill? It will be nice to have extra to keep at the office. Thanks!

Dear Harry Burns, Jr,
I never met you but there is a neat walkway built in your memory. It doesn’t have a spectacular view but it is a great place to get some fresh air over lunch break. That grapevine photo in my header was taken along the boardwalk trail.

Dear silver Ford Expedition driver,
You really pulled a bad move with your left hand turn today. At first I was kind of ticked because I thought you probably did it because you had a big vehicle and figured the small car whose right-of-way you stole would rather hit the brakes and yield to you than bounce off of you. Then I thought that perhaps you, like me, sometimes pull dumb stunts without thinking of what you’re doing and that you will be kicking yourself for the next two blocks.

Dear JFO Bargain Barn,
I really wish you didn’t close over lunch. I like to do some shopping over lunch break and you often have great deals on furniture. If you don’t believe me, come see my house. We have some stuff from there and need some dining room furniture. I’ll guess I’ll have to try later.

Dear Jesup football players,
Here’s to a good game on Saturday. I hope you go out there and get them. Over the past number of years you’ve played many games, losing most of them. But I’ve heard numerous people admire how you play to have fun and not to win at all costs. It is better to lose than to compromise just to win a game. You don’t lose sight of the fact that your opponents are people you will sit down and eat supper with later. I’m proud of y’all even if you don’t win most of them. But I really would love to see you win!! If you hear someone in the stands hollering out an offering of a steak supper to whoever sacks their quarterback, that’s probably me.  For what it’s worth, I grill a pretty mean ribeye.

Dear city maintenance (or whoever controls the traffic lights in town),
The turning signal on W Cherry and S First St is not working properly. It will give a green arrow regardless whether there is anyone in the turning lane or not. This wastes time for the people who are waiting. If there is no one in the left turn lane, for about 15 seconds not a single vehicle will move. Think of how much time this wastes in a 24 hour period. Two more things … the light at Macon St and Cherry St is very prejudice against me. When it sees me coming it turns yellow, then red (yeah I know that part is typical of ALL lights) about 85% of the time I go through that intersection. Could you give it an attitude adjustment for me? Thanks! I drive a silver ’02 Honda Accord. The last thing is the blinking light at S Macon and W Orange is a safety hazard. People will approach it on the red side and think it’s a 4-way stop. I’ve seen people pull out in front of those who have only a blinking caution light.

Dear fellow drivers,
There is a small lever on the left side of your steering wheel column. If you push it up, it makes a “dinker, dinker” sound. If you push it down, it makes a “dinker, dinker” sound. That’s not the only thing it does. It also controls some small lights on the front, back and side of your car. It tells other drivers of your intention to make a turn. Use it! Someday it may save your life. In the mean time, your fellow drivers will thank you.

Dear creative De-Motivators,
The humor at despair.com is depressingly hilarious. I wish I was that creative. Of course there may be people who think your humor is too negative but I guess not everyone has the odd sense of humor like some of us do. My favorite quote: To put it simply, motivational posters don’t work. But that’s okay because our de-motivational posters don’t work even better. Thanks for letting me borrow your depressing text to make my own poster.

poster13371272  

Dear Mr. Morgan,
We enjoyed a delicious meal last night courtesy of your generosity. Thanks for your thoughtfulness in providing this for our church year after year. The many women who did not have to cook supper were delighted once more.

Dear Ms. Sybil,
For the second time about 7 years our annual treat by the Morgans was not eaten at your restaurant. Perhaps you did not miss us. If you did miss us perhaps you could let us know that if we do eat there again that we could have our own buffet instead of walking through the restaurant into the middle of the other dining room to get our food. Your sweet tea is second to none and your southern food is really good (to most of us) but the setup was not that great. I bet you didn’t miss having children running around your parking lot, though.

Dear Charran and Kathi,
That was one great meal y’all made and served to us last night. Our options for local caterers are quite limited and you willingly drove 5 hours to make a delicious meal for us. It was so nice that the kids had plenty of room to play and we could talk as loudly and longly as we wanted without the fear of disturbing other people.

Dear God,
The frosty ground sparkled this morning with freshness and crispness and coldness. It almost looked like snow. Do you mind surprising us the year and sending us a little snow? Even 3 inches would be enough to be considered snowed in here in the deep south.

Monday November 17, 2008

It was quite warm and humid last weekend, a flashback from summer. We played softball Friday evening and my muscles are still protesting. It seemed odd to be playing in November at about 75* plus humidity. Forecasts were for a cool front to push the system out and for cooler weather to hit us.

Saturday my mom, sister and I left at 6:30 to go yard saling at a 50-family yard sale in Brunswick. When we got there it was still misting and people were still setting up. Well, there weren’t 50 families there and of those that were there, we didn’t find anything we wanted. Kind of a waste of time. So, we decided to try out St. Simons Island and did well there. I bought a pair of Bose speakers that plug into a DVD player for $1. Found some really cool glass bottles for $1 each. Not necessarily stuff that we had to have but for the price we will find a use for them.

By the time we got back home that evening, nearly dropping from shopping, it was getting quite cool. Since I saw a pretty sunset, I couldn’t resist chasing it down. For your viewing pleasure:

sunset 16

sunset 15

sunset 17  

 

Oh, yeah. And had a photo shoot at this gorgeous southern “mansion”. I forgot to get any of the back of the house.

southern house2 southern house1

Yes, those plants below are ferns. I forget what they’re called. Something with giant in it? They are massive!!! 

southern house3

 

Looking out the one side of the house. The porches run completely around the house on both levels. The little house you see out the back in this shot is a playhouse built like the house.

southern house4

 

Friday November 14, 2008

The good news is: you can’t unlock my car with a slim jim
The bad news is: you can’t unlock my car with a slim jim

The good news is: you can’t lock the open driver’s door with a key in the ignition
The bad news is: apparently you can on the passenger’s side

The good news is: I usually get out of the driver’s side
The bad news is: I had a passenger with me*

The good news is: I have a spare key
The bad news is: it was in the car too

The good news is: the lock makes a loud noise when locking
The bad news is: neither of us heard it

The good news is: I was close to home
The bad news is: my lights were still on

The good news is: I was at a friend’s house in front of their garage
The bad news is: there was a truck inside that had to leave by 7:00 the next AM

The good news is: it was still early in the evening
The bad news is: I waited late to call AAA

The good news is: AAA is open 24/7
The bad news is: AAA sent someone from 30+ miles away

The good news is: I got my money’s worth from my AAA membership
The bad news is: none. Just good news.

The good news is: I got to bed early that night
The bad news is: it was early in the morning

* not actually bad news

 

 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Yes, we do get a little color around here. You gotta look for it, but it’s there. The bonus of having so many pine trees is that it is not completely bare here in the winter.

foggy fall morning

bradford pears

nobody's perfect

Evening Shade

 

Edited to add a few more:

bend in the road

bend in the road bw

 

Let’s not be negative about these now. Ha. Dumb pun intended. Isn’t this negative image kinda cool?

reverse tree   

 

Not negative but different:

reverse tree light