Halloween

Many Halloween memories here in addition to the years spent trick or treating with our 3 now grown children in years gone by.

There were the Halloweens we lived in a suburb of Chattanooga on Signal Mountain, a bedroom community. Way on over the mountain there was a coal mining community called Edward's Point. The people there were mostly poor miners. The first year we ran out of "treats" for the children. The Edward's Point people were hauling truck loads of children in the beds of their pick up trucks to troll for treats. Mr C had to make a quick run to the store for more candy.

Growing up in Athens Ga. in the 1930's we had never heard of "Trick Or Treat" on Halloween. We just shivered outside in the dark while pretending to look for goblins.I do remember my older brothers playing tricks on some of the neighbors but no such thing as ringing a doorbell and asking for treats. :) I think the trick or treat Halloween tradition must have migrated south after the war years and during the '40's

We lived in Washington D.C. for 4 years at the Watergate Condos which was near the Georgetown area of the city. Halloween night we took a taxi drive through Georgetown to see the impromptu parade of adults dressed out in weird costumes.

Now in the townhouse community where we live, not many, if any, "goblins" come by.

Circle of life I guess.

Homeplace

REM
186

It's gone.
The house is gone.
He came and tore it down.
He built on the lot.
In fact he built on 2 lots.
180 and 186.
The red Georgia dirt is still there.
The same blue sky.
The same night time stars and moon.
I used to sit on the front steps
With my brown and white dog
I would gaze up
At the stars as they twinkled in the darkness.
Back then you could see the Big Dipper
and Little Dipper.
The Milky Way.
So clear it was.
No smog.
No haze.
Just clear, beautiful night sky.
We moved away.
I grew up.
Still in my mind's eye
I returned again
And again
To the old house
On the hill.
I was born in the front bedroom.
Skipped down the front steps
And walked to Chase Street School.
Climbed the flowering peach tree
In the back yard.
Gathered pecans
As my brothers climbed up
And shook the pecan tree's limbs.
Now he has come.
He brought his loud band
And microphone
And tailored suits
And money.
He built HIS house.
But underneath it all
I know. I can hear it.
My house still whispers
The same old sweet song at twilight.

Ron Howard on voting

Ron Howard (Opie on Andy Griffith wants you to vote Obama)

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/cc65ed650d

click on title of this post for link

Go Obama

My absentee ballot finally came in the mail today after almost a month to the day. We sat down at the kitchen table and voted after supper tonight.

Whew!! That was some ordeal getting that ballot. I feel like Joan of Arc or Betsy Ross or someone special after going to so much trouble and overcoming all adversity and not giving up.

Tee Hee. ( Strains of "The Impossible Dream" playing in the background.)



"The Impossible Dream"

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far

To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star

I am voting

I am voting for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

I am voting, that is, if I ever receive my absentee ballot.

We, my husband and I. mailed our request for absentee ballots on September 26. We mailed two applications, his and mine, in the same envelope to the Fulton County Georgia Voter Registration Division. About 10 days later my husband's ballot came in the mail. No ballot for me arrived.

I waited about a week and called and got someone at the registrars office who said,"Just because you mailed your absentee ballot requests in the same envelope that don't mean they get handled at the same time. We are workin til bout 9 or 10 o'clock at night trying to handle all of this stuff. We's so swamped"

She said wait about a week then call back and check again. I did and when I called back there was no answer and no answering machine taking messages. ( In the meanwhile I had arthroscopic knee surgery and did not feel up to taking on Fulton County again."

After the anaethesia and pain pills wore off I put on my thinking cap and decided to call the Georgia Secretary of State's office and tell them about my voting dilemma. The person who answered, after I was transfered to about 3 different extensions, put me on hold forever. She came back and said she also could not get an answer at the voter's office. She said she would send an email to them. Making an inquiry in my name. Someone should call me from that office by the end of the day.

No one called. Days passed and still no ballot

I called the Secretary of State's office again and the person who answered that time suggested I send in another request for absentee ballot. I did so. By fax and by mail.

Two days later, finally someone with good sense called, identifying herself, and saying she regreted the problem I was having and she would help solve the dilemma.She had been contacted by the Secretary Of State's office. She asked me to fax to her personal fax number my request for ballot and she would "walk it over" to the proper location in the same building. I did so. She called back and said she had received the fax and my ballot would be in the mail no later than tomorrow, Monday, October 20.

Cross your fingers and wish me luck.
(To be continues)

"What a country" :)

Terms of endearment-----NOT

Ronni Bennett on her blog,"Time Goes By" has an excellent post about the demeaning "terms of endearment" some people use when addressing elders.


I had a routine chest Xray last week as part of a pre op physical in preparation for arthroscopic surgery of my knee which has a meniscis tear.

The Xray tech, about 40 years old female, called me "young lady" twice. This irrates me. I know I am not young although I am SURE I am a LADY!!

I don't want to curse so I am trying to think of a way to correct someone when they use these demeaning names.

My husband said to tell her my name and say " I prefer you use my name instead of "young lady"

Any suggestions for a good retort?

Long ago and far away.

Mort of Octogenerian said this:

"The current financial crisis, generating fears that the U.S. faces a serious depression, has triggered my memories of the Great Depression of the 1930s."


This got me thinking about those times in the 1930's

I was born in December of 1929, the year the stock market crashed. We lived in a small college town in the south which did not seem to be greatly affected by the depression. I remember my Mother telling me about families who had to come begging for food and clothing. She always gave them something and my brothers gave them some good clothing of their own. My Father died in 1939 when I was 9 years, Our hard times began then since my Mother was left with no insurance and no income. When WW2 started and my 3 brothers went into the service we got small allotments from each of them. I never really felt poor because during the War since everyone had to do without. Even shoes were rationed so the fact that I had only one pair of shoes for three years in high school was no big deal.

We had to save up to buy any and everything before the advent of credit cards. At first there were store credit cards and then the advent of credit cards in the 1950's . My husband got his first American Express Card in 1958, the first year they were issued so he is a charter member.

There was layaway in the stores. You could pick out a dress, coat or anything and the store would "lay it away" or hold it until you paid the full purchase price. A few dollars a week.

I also never had a bicycle, just roller skates which I would use until the metal wheels were worn down to the bearings. Then my brothers would take the skate wheels and make a scooter with scrap wood.

We played "Kick The Can" in the street. Jump rope, HopScotch, flew homemade kites and made swings from old tires and ropes. Another favorite game was marbles played outside in the dirt.

An ice cream cone was a real treat. We never kept ice cream at home No freezer.For a long time just an ice box. So we walked to the drug store and bought a yummy cone. The same for candy bars.

I sat outside at night with my mixed breed dog and gazed up at the clear night sky. Filled with stars. No pollution. Not many cars.I chased after fireflies and put them in a jar with holes punched in the lid. Took them inside for a magic lantern in the house.

We walked most everywhere. Only once do I remember being driven to school. Walked downtown to the picture show. Walked to the city swimming pool in the summer. Walked to friends' houses.

Long ago and far away. Despite hardship, I had a happy childhood because I knew I was loved.

Many of you did not live through the 1930, but you all were once children. Want to share a memory?