There's No Such Thing As A . . .

This morning's Anderson newspaper contained a feature article about the summer lunch program being provided in Anderson county schools. (It was actually the headline article with a full-page photograph on the front page of the new tabloid-style newspaper - feature articles are now the primary source of attraction to make folks buy the paper. But that's another subject.)

Anyone who wants - no income requirements - anyone can go to the half-dozen schools in the area that serve free breakfast and lunch. Adults have to pay something like $1.75 for breakfast and $3.00 for lunch. But anyone under 18 eats for free.

People interviewed for the article gushed about how wonderful this is. A home daycare provider plans to take her entire brood each day. A couple of kids are making plans to ride on their bikes to the school each day. And the lunchroom ladies pointed out how several children came in on Monday, having not been fed since they left the cafeteria from lunch the previous Friday.

I'm certainly not against finding ways to help hungry children. But, contrary to the article, this is not a free program. I am paying for it, as are you, whether we want to or not. I would much prefer to donate to the charities of my choice, rather than be forced to pay through taxes.

And, this completely removes responsibility from parents. If a child has not been fed from a Friday to a Monday, proactive action needs to be taken to get those parents to face up to responsibilities, even if the children have to be removed from the home.

Nothing in particular will happen, however. There is such a huge underbelly of people depending on the government for their provision in many areas, even in towns like Anderson, that the problem will just get larger and larger. People like being provided for. They don't think - or care- about the fact that provision means control.

How Many Years Has It Been?

My old roommate Beth and her husband came to lunch today. She hasn't changed a bit. We just picked up where we left off. . .can it be 30 years ago? Surely not! Sometime when my daughter is here and can show me how to scan in old photos, I'll post one from when we were in college together. I always appreciated Beth's friendship in those days.

Beth - when are you going to start your blog? I'll be your most faithful reader!

No Longer a Minor - Now a "Major"

Eighteen Years Old Today

Five More - This Time from the Classics

I didn't even think about the classics in that list. So, five more:

1. HAMLET
2. MACBETH
3. THE GREAT GATSBY by Fitzgerald
4. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
5. GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Dickens

Fifteen Books

My friend Barbara posted a question that she took from a meme: Name fifteen books that have stuck with you. Here's my off-the-top list:

1. THE BIBLE
2. SHADOW OF THE ALMIGHTY and other works by Elisabeth Elliott
3. LITTLE HOUSE series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
4. A GARDEN TO KEEP by Jamie Langston Turner
5. LIES WOMEN BELIEVE by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
6. EASTERN BIRDS by Roger Tory Peterson
7. DON'T WASTE YOUR LIFE by John Piper
8. MUSINGS OF A MOTHER by Doris Coffin Aldrich
9. EVIDENCE NOT SEEN by Darlene Deibler Rose
10. YEARS OF THE LOCUST and other works by Loula Grace Erdman
11. THE VANISHING WORD by Arthur W. Hunt
12. Anything by A.W. Tozer
13. CALM MY ANXIOUS HEART by Linda Dillow
14. THE TRIUMPH OF JOHN AND BETTY STAM by Mrs. Howard Taylor
15. FAVORITE POEMS OLD AND NEW compiled by Helen Ferris

This is a very fast and eclectic list; I'll probably think of many others that probably should have been included. But it's a good overview of things I've read over the years that have impacted me in various ways.

My Son the Camp Counselor

Andrew starts counseling today, after a week of training. He called today since he now has to turn off his phone for the week. I think that's good - campers' parents aren't paying for the counselors to be talking or texting on the phone all week long.

He is going to have juniors this week, including some inner-city youngsters. This is going to be an educational summer for him in many ways! A summer of camp is a good experience - for the counselor.

I learned much about myself the summer that I did it - and not all of it was pretty. I learned that a counselor is a servant who puts his campers' needs above his own. I learned that if a toilet needed to be cleaned, I was not too good to do it. I learned that some campers have needs that I cannot solve and that much has to be taken to the Lord for wisdom. Much prayer is needed also for physical and mental strength.

This morning we mailed him some shirts he needs, and found out that FedEx is about half the cost of the USPS. Didn't know that. The box was $10 FedEx and would have been $22 USPS. Whew - big difference!

Pictures From Our Trip

We are terrible at taking pictures. We don't go places very often, and now when we do there are very few pics to document it! Here is one of us and two of the riverfront. We didn't even get the camera out at the beach! Pathetic.

In the city market area - about 6 blocks from the

riverfront where we stayed.

Taken from our hotel window, right on the Savannah River. The right shows the cotton warehouses which were used to store cotton before it was loaded on to huge ships to be taken to Europe and other places in the 1800s - before the cotton economy was shattered. Now it is used for little shops and restaurants, and you can also see the plaza on the riverfront. The tugboats in the background come and go from guiding big ships.

And here is a huge container ship going right by our hotel. Notice the name of the country on the side of the ship. Many of the container ships that went past us were either going to China or to Malaysia. We also saw an oil tanker come into port. While we were at Tybee we noticed that some ships were not moving - they were just sitting offshore. Mike said he's heard that sometimes they're directed not to come in and offload until the price of oil is

where the brokers want it.

Savannah

Mike and I got back at 1 a.m. this morning from two nights/three days in Savannah. It's been years since we took off somewhere like that, and we both had a lovely time. We spent one night at Tybee Island and got an oceanfront room after Mike talked the desk clerk down $40! It's easy to do that these days.

Tybee is different than SC islands - not much, but a little. We walked the south side, where one of the rivers runs into the ocean, and saw some clusters of shorebirds we hadn't seen in a long time. The dunes are much wider on Tybee, which means that not many of the houses or hotels have true ocean views. But it's a low-key island, good for middle aged people like we are - not a lot of teenage bustle like Myrtle Beach. The most interesting thing to us was seeing the ships coming from the Savannah River and going out to sea. It was beautiful to look out of the glass doors in the middle of the night and see the ship lights twinkling as they start off to ports probably halfway around the world.

The second day we went back in to Savannah - a fascinating city. It's well worth the price of a tour bus ticket to get all the history of the city as you ride around. Sherman did not burn Savannah because the Confederate soldiers had retreated before he got there - so he told Lincoln he was giving him the city of Savannah as a Christmas present. A little bittersweet story there. We saw the building where Sherman had headquartered during his time in the city. But hundreds and hundreds of 1700s and 1800s buildings are still standing and being used. They're full of ironworks decorations, interesting roofs, and historical stories. The city is laid out around a system of squares which make it very orderly and beautiful. There are live-oak trees and Spanish moss everywhere.

The riverfront is really interesting also. There are many shops and restaurants open in the old cotton warehouse buildings that front the Savannah River. You can walk up and down, sit in the plaza facing the river, and watch the huge cargo ships go past on their way to the port of Savannah. There is just no end to the interesting things to look at.

We priced several hotels by phone - then walked into the Hyatt and asked their price, not expecting much - and then found out it was cheaper than the others which were located further back! And we got a room with an outstanding view of the riverfront and the river. We were very thankful to have gotten two great rooms for just two nights in the area.

Yesterday we drove to Mike's old college roommate's house about an hour inland; then left there at about 9:30 last night. Part of the trip was through a terrific storm. It was good to see our house early this morning.

Kitty

I never was much on pets, particularly cats. Mike got one to "keep me company" while he was at work, our first year of marriage, but it was a Siamese with a complete Siamese personality and reputation, and I was not upset when we moved and had to get rid of it.

That all changed about ten years later, when a little girl begged for a cat for her seventh birthday. Her daddy, who always has been "wrapped around her little finger," finally gave in and told me to go to the animal shelter and pick one out. After one trip I thought I'd chosen the right one - a gray cat with a pearly appearance to her fur. I told the people at the shelter that I'd be back later that day to decide for sure. At that second trip, I was very grateful for my hesitance at deciding earlier in the day - the pearly gray cat had shredded everything in sight, and gave every indication of having a ragged personality along with a ragged cage.

Then I saw a small gray tabby, sitting calmly alone, not demanding attention like the rest of the caged cats in the room. She just looked at me, as if to say "I'd be a good one, but I'm not putting pressure on you." I decided on the spot, then left her to be spayed while we took a brief trip to the Smokies.

The afternoon of the seven-year-old girl's birthday, Andrew and I went back to the shelter to pick up the cat. When we got home, her dad told her to go look inside the box her brother was holding in the car. She looked in, pulled out her little cat, and we observed what love at first sight really does look like.

Kitty, whose official name was Pearl, was never really known by anything but Kitty. She always had a sweet and endearing personality. She was never any more demanding than she was at the animal shelter, and she reveled in anyone's attention, particularly that of her owner. They had a long and sweet friendship. Even as a teenager, her owner could talk to her cat when she couldn't talk to anyone else.

Kitty used up several of her nine lives very quickly. She was only about a year old when she climbed under the hood of Mike's truck and he started it soon thereafter. That's how she lost the sight in her left eye. We think she might have lost at least some of her sense of smell also, because there were times when she couldn't find her food unless we pointed her in the right direction. About a year after that, she got her head caught in the back of a dresser drawer. We had to wake Mike up out of night shift sleep for that one - because if he hadn't forced her head back through, she would have strangled. For weeks she avoided Mike, knowing only that he had caused her pain, and not realizing that he had saved her life.

There were probably other times she used up some of her lives that we didn't even know about, because occasionally she would disappear for a day or two. Who knows what she was into during those times. And we knew she finished even more of her lives during this last illness. Last week, when she was so sick while ML was on her senior trip, she used up what must have been her eighth.

Sometime late Friday or early Saturday, Kitty finished her ninth life. We knew she'd been missing, so after Sunday dinner I went looking for her, and after walking the perimeter of the yard, discovered her behind the pool house. This afternoon Mike and I buried her, wrapped in a soft shirt, on the edge of our property. The week after next will mark eleven years since that seven year old got the gift of her childhood dreams for her birthday. It's almost like the cat waited until after ML got back from her senior trip and got through graduation - as usual, Kitty didn't demand attention, but just quietly went on after all the hoopla was over. It's also ironic that her passing marks the end of an era - right at the same time that graduation also marks the end of the same era of her owner's childhood.

Kitty worked her way into all of our hearts. She will be greatly missed - even by the one who formerly didn't care for cats, the one who picked her out and brought her home eleven years ago, and who carried her to her final resting place today.

A Few More Pictures from Thursday night

This was a new thing that our new administrator started at this year's ceremony. Each graduate, along with one parent, went around the front of the auditorium. The parents' candles were lit by a couple of staff members; then, during a reading and song, the parents lit their children's candles, to represent "passing the torch" to their children. It was very sweet. Mike went up with ML to participate in the ceremony.

With one of her all-time favorite teachers (and good
friend) and her son.

With two of her good friends.

A display of pictures we had on the wall as
people entered our home.



Okay, I'm done posting graduation pictures. :-) However, there is a nice newspaper photo gallery at the Anderson Independent Mail

.