The Letter to Enroll Toby

Friday - November 14, 2008

Occasionally Bill and I come up with an ornery plan. Some of this mischievousness may come from having worked with middle school students. However, most of it comes from working with some of the personnel. When the middle school was first started back in the 80's we were told that a middle school teacher needed to have two characteristics. Those included us needing to be FLEXIBLE, and boy was that that truth! We could always plan on our schedules and lesson plans to be disrupted due to fire drills, assemblies, state and national test, and even sports activities! However, the most interesting trait was that we needed to be "SQUIRRLEY!" In order to keep your sanity, we did need to go with the flow. We taught; the students learned; but we also had some fun time with them as well! Not only did we have a good time with kids, but we also had some wonderful time with some of our co-workers. The following letter was sent to a very dear friend of ours who is still teaching and helping out with an after school tutoring program. I could not help myself. I had to write this letter to her. Bill and I could both see her laughing when reading the letter. She knows how much Toby means to us and how much he has been a comfort to us both over the years - especially when we had rough days at school! We hope you enjoy this little bit of humor! When a person can't smile and laugh, it is a sad, sad day for all around them!

Dear Mrs. W,

I am writing in reference to the notice I read in the WC News about "free" tutoring being offered after school at WMS. I have a 12 year old son who is in trouble of failing and would benefit greatly from some extra help. Most kids do not like the idea of "extra" time at school, however when he discovered that snacks would be served, he was jumping up and down all over the place. He tends to take after his father when talking about free snacks! He is well behaved most of the time as long as he gets his way - meaning he wants to go outside a dozen times a day! He also likes to snuggle and will always make you laugh when feeling sad, depressed, or lonely. He learns quickly when being offered snacks - just a little bribe that works wonders! His attention span is short at times, but that could be because he does have trouble seeing. His hearing is also poor, but his sense of smell lets him know where the snacks are! I sincerely hope you will consider him as a potential member of your program. One other attribute that might be very beneficial with him being in your program - he will help keep the other kids in line!
I am enclosing an updated picture of my son to help you make a decision as to whether he might be able to join your program.

Sincerely,
Phyllis S Hardin

Our 12 year old son:

Mamaw Goes to a Concert!

Wednesday – November 12, 2008

This posting is being written later than I intended due to a little excitement we had on Monday! Whew – that was some day! Just so thankful no one was hurt, and the only thing burnt was the mower!

As some of the earlier postings have indicated, Bill and I have attended a number of concerts. These included the concerts of Bob Dylan and James Taylor to Celtic Woman and Celtic Thunder. We have not limited our concert going to one genre only! We have seen some of the “old” rock stars; country classics; then on to what is called “world music,” and we have included some gospel music in our repertoire. We have been to see some musicals (Romeo and Juliet) which have been part of the Marshall Artist Series. As an early Christmas present from David and Jeni, we will be going to Lexington to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra perform in December. We are excited about this and have purchased a couple of CD’s. They sound wonderful.

Mom has usually scowled when I tell her we are going to a concert. This could be for several reasons. One, she wants me to stay with her so we can run around. Two, I’d be spending money foolishly. And three, she has no real comprehension as to what a “concert” really is. I’m sure had I used the terminology of “song fest” or “singing” she would have grasped the meaning of what a concert is all about! She has been to several concerts over the years, but just referred to them as going to see The Gaithers, The Journeymen, Loretta Lynn, and Conway Twitty. She attended those latter two many years ago when I was still at home!

She loves listening to gospel music and watching The Gaithers every weekend. Back in 1952, a cousin of Dad’s, Harold Lane – son of Curtis and Cassie Lane – started a group called the Gospel Harmony Boys. They actually could be seen on WSAZ TV Channel 3 weekly. Harold was raised in Wayne; had been in the service; gone to school and became a music/band teacher at Wayne High School. He and three of his “singing” friends formed a group they were going to call the “Shepherd Four.” However, there was another group that had already been using that name. So, on their way to the studio for their first show, they had to change their name. Thus, they became known as The Gospel Harmony Boys. This little bit of trivia came from listening to Homer Frye, a former member of the GHB, at Saturday’s concert. You can read more history about the GHB on their web site. The link will be posted below!

We grew up listening to the GHB and knowing that we had a cousin who sang with the group and later went on to Nashville and joined The Speer Family. He also wrote many songs which became hits for other gospel groups such as The Inspirations. The one song that comes to mind is “Touring That City” which was a big hit for the Inspirations and sung by many other gospel singers.

Last year, Bill and I were in Hillsdale visiting David and Jeni at the same time the GHB were to be at The Gospel Barn. We all decided to go! Not only did we want to go listen to the singing, but I was going to get to visit with a cousin of mine whom I hadn’t seen in a very long time, Donna Gail. Donna is the youngest child of Dad’s sister, Oma Blevins and her husband Alfred. Donna is married to the bass singer of the GHB, Calvin Thompson. We had a great visit and were able to listen to some great singing. The GHB were to perform at the Huntington City Auditorium the next month. Donna wanted me to bring Mom.

So, the next month, Mom, Mike, Debbie, Bill, and I went to the “concert.” Mom enjoyed it tremendously, especially when her “nephew” made a special point to make her feel like a queen. We took Mom back again this year to their 56th Anniversary Concert. Again, Mom was treated special – she even had her picture taken with Calvin by their photographer! Oh my, she was grinning from ear to ear. Thank you Calvin! We were able to find seats up front so she could see the singers a little better. She is losing her eyesight, and we wanted her to be able to get as close as she could so she could see the singers. She had a wonderful time. She was able to not only see The Gospel Harmony, but the groups Sincere, Bloodline, The Guardians Quartet, and the Adkins Brothers. It was a great evening!

We are going to list a few links for you to click on that will take you to the Gospel Harmony Boys main web site and YouTube where you can see and hear them perform. Also, we are posting pictures from last year’s concert as well as the picture of Mom and Calvin from this year’s performance.

Mom and Donna - 2007 concert


Mom with her two nieces - Pat and Donna - and me - concert 2007

Donna Gail, Mom, and Debbie


Former and Present members of the Gospel Harmony Boys - concert 2007


Mom with Donna and Calvin - concert 2007


Mom and Calvin - concert 2008


Through the years many of my cousins and me had been told we could have passed for sisters! Donna this is for you - look what I found I had scanned - let's let the readers decide if there is a family resemblance!

Donna Gail


Me



Link for The Gospel Harmony Boys:
This is their official web site. You may have to copy and paste the url in your browser to get to the site. Appears the blogger system is not going to work properly.
http://www.gospelharmonyboys.org/index.html

You can also go to YouTube and type in The Gospel Harmony Boys and find several songs which have been placed there and you can see and hear them sing.

If You Don't Want to Mow the Yard - Just Say So!

Monday - November 10, 2008

I'm sure the title for today's post may have caught your attention. Why would we not want to mow since we do have(had) a working riding lawn mower? No real reason unless the weather is too cold, rainy, or hot! Today was a perfect day to be working in the yard. It was a little windy which did cause some problems this afternoon.

If today is a preference to what our week is going to be like - I'm going back to bed and not get back up until next week! Maybe I am asleep, and I had a nightmare. No, I'm awake, and we both had an experience we will never forget!

We have shown you pictures of our beautiful trees in the front yard! Today, Bill decided to mulch up some of these leaves. He got more than he bargained for! Using the riding mower, he made one swipe through the front yard when he noticed smoke! He turned off the mower; got off; and proceeded to move the leaves which appeared to be smoldering away from the front of the mower. Whoa - did our eyes see what appeared to be red flames shooting up from underneath the mower. Sure did - flames were blazing out from the front of the mower - that's where the gas tank is on this mower! Thankfully he had stopped the mower away from the bulk of the leaves in the front yard!

He saw he wasn't going to be able to stop the flames and told me to call the fire department. I ran into the house and dialed 911. I explained what was happening, and they assured me they would get someone here quickly! It seemed like hours before they came - but it was about 10 minutes! We have a volunteer fire department, and one of the members is the Chief of Police for Wayne! He and another volunteer came down and using our neighbors water hose (and their water) put out the fire! Our hose and spicket are on the other side of the house from where the mower was burning. They stayed around to assure us that there were no hot spots around the mower, and that the fire would not start up again.

Needless to say, we lost the mower; damage was done mainly to our neighbor's yard; and there was some smoke damage to a tree on their property. Insurance has been contacted and hopefully the damage to the neighbor's property will be taken care of, but we probably won't get back enough to buy a new mower. The insurance adjuster explained the process they had to use and that our policy has a $500.00 deductible!

The main thing is - no one was hurt! I thank God for that! We were afraid the mower would explode! Thankfully all it did was smolder with red flames blazing out from all around it. We are going to post some of the pictures Bill took for insurance purposes! I'm glad he thought about taking pictures - all I wanted to do was RUN!

I believe that the pictures will tell the story better than I. At one point we thought the fire was going out when swoosh the wind fed the fire and it came back with more vengeance!

Leaves, Leaves, Leaves

Sunday - November 9,2008

We have posted several pictures showing the beauty of the trees in the front yard. We have also alluded to the impending work which will soon be upon us! This afternoon we took Toby out to enjoy running through the leaves that have fallen from the branches of these trees. We hope you can see the enormous amount of leaves already on the ground and the amount that still will be falling! The trees are beautiful, but oh the work we have ahead! Hope we get it all cleaned up before it gets too cold! :)

Due to Toby's poor eyesight, he was a little skiddish with the rustling of the leaves around him! He wanted to up and run! Bless his heart!








Here are a few pictures of how many more leaves will be falling!!!!!

Transportation, Trees, and Imagination

Wednesday - November 5, 2008

The day after election day! We could be philosophical and discuss the election and what may be in store for our future according to the politicians - but we really don't want to do that. We wanted to write something that was entertaining and light and that might let your emotions of laughter, your ability to recognize nature's beauty, and even you ability to use your imagination to form a picture from a knot on a tree trunk take over and make you forget the worries of the day. Challenging as it may seem, try it! It may take away some of that stress you may be feeling!

A means of transportation that just doesn’t get you anywhere is what Bill was relying on this past weekend as I had the car with me at Mom’s! This is usually the case every weekend, but we try to make sure he has all the necessities to make it through the weekend - sugar free ice-cream, chocolate syrup, sausage, eggs, bread, and whatever else he might like to fix! Many weekends I may go to Mom’s and stay Friday evening, come back home and then go back Saturday. Other weekends I am there from Friday until Sunday.



Days get really long for Bill, so this past weekend he came up with a plan to go to Wal-Mart. He got this bike out of the shed and set it on the driveway for a spin to the store! He said he got on the bike and started pedaling! He pedaled and pedaled, but he said he never did move from the driveway! He got a good workout, but never did make it to the store!!!! I guess we will need to find a different bike that will at least get him out of the driveway!




We have some really beautiful trees in the front yard. We didn’t think they would turn to be as beautiful as they have in the last three or four days. They are so pretty right now, but in a few days, oh the work they will cause. Our neighbor just had someone rake up his leaves, and their yard looks absolutely great – nice and clean. But I dare say that by tomorrow evening, more leaves will have fallen and taken their place! We are going to try and mulch the leaves using the lawn mower – hopefully we won’t have to rake or blow too many leaves over to the creek bank! Now talk about fun, Toby has had a blast jumping in our nice neat leaf piles in the past! Hopefully we will capture some pictures of him playing in the leaves.

These trees are in our front yard and the yellow and orange hues really show up with the sun beaming down on them!





These pictures show how blue the sky was in the background. One of the trees is virtually bare - it is on the creek bank - while the other one is still full with the beautiful fall leaves.




We also have a very interesting tree on the creek bank across the road from us. Bill noticed it this summer and kept talking about seeing a “face” on the trunk! He finally pointed out this spot of interest to me a couple of weeks ago. We tend to let our imagination roll, and I did see a face – a face of a bear!!!! Of course the face Bill saw was one of a human! I’m not sure which one of us has the more vivid imagination! We’re going to post several shots of this tree with the face to see if you can use your imagination, connect the dots, and come up with your own picture! Ready, set, go! Let you imagination go!

Notice the “knot” below the yoke of the tree. The first picture is from a distance. The next two pictures show the knot a little closer. If I could draw a border around my face with a magic marker I would, so use your own magic and see what you can draw around the knot!






Remember our cloud pictures from the beach? Here’s another look at them. To me it looks like a parade marching up the beach!




This is my "Angel" cloud!



When we get down, we can read God's words and His promise to us. We can also look at his creations around us and lose ourselves in the beauty He has created. Forget the stress and problems for the day and enjoy the beauty around you! Hope you all have a great day!