Overheard, out and about, Mrs. Grundy sees all, tells all

Staff

Published Saturday, November 22, 2008

Peeping through my Venetian blind, I saw Clydie Clump, lying in a pile of leaves he’d raked up on the front lawn of Covington Hall. I stepped out onto my porch and called, “What in the world are you doing, Clydie?”

He yelled back, “Just livin’!”

I don’t blame Clydie at all. Piles of leaves are comfortable, like old clothes and old shoes.

About that time I spotted Miss Cora, heading my way. She had a basket of sasanqua blooms for me, bless her heart.

The morning air felt so good — fresh, cold, invigorating! The sweet scent of my tea olive was everywhere.

The recent cold marked an end to our first Indian summer; usually we have three or four before Christmas.

People are putting up Christmas decorations on the Golden Square, as well as at home. The electric snowflakes are up on our light posts along East Three-Notch. Churches are planning “greenings of the sanctuary.” Folks are ordering poinsettias in memory or in honor of loved ones, to be used to decorate churches. Christmas cantatas are being rehearsed by choirs. Gifts are being bought and wrapped. Clubs are planning Christmas parties. Cards and Christmas letters are being written – and Thanksgiving isn’t even here yet!

The pine straw lies thick and golden this time of year, making the South a wicker basket.

Miss Cora and I were out riding the other day on Sanford Road and passed that golden maple in Janette (Burke) Carroll’s front yard. I look forward to seeing it each year.

Can you believe how low gas has gotten? I keep holding my breath that it’ll last.

I saw Wayne and Judy Holmes and Diane Russell in David’s Catfish House this week. I’d gone by to buy a quart or two of the slaw. It’s the best slaw in town.

Mrs. Gotrocks of Greenville tells me that the new Georgiana school has walls up, roofs on, and bricking begun.

Colonel Covington said something the other day that stuck in my mind, “We live as though we have a thousand tomorrows, although we are not guaranteed another second.”

Miss Primme, the English teacher, tells me that Eva (Nix) Maloy, a retired elementary teacher in the Andalusia City Schools, has moved from a retirement home in Auburn to one in Columbus, Georgia, to be nearer her daughter Ann Whittington. Eva and her late husband Samuel James “Jim” Maloy lived their adult lives in Andalusia, rearing their two children, Sam and Ann. In their retirement years Jim and Eva moved to Auburn, as did several Andalusians, Edna Horton and Dot Mullins, to name two. Jim died and is buried in Auburn. Eva lived on at their Homewood-Drive home till recently. Jim had a beautiful tenor voice and sang in the First Baptist Choir and Baraca Quartet. Eva played the organ.

Ken and Mary Ann (Rabren) Johnson are the proud parents of their first child, Campbell “Cam” Rabren, born November l0. The grandparents are Bill and Frances Rabren and Wayne and Lenora Johnson.

Seen at Moore’s Buffet on Highway 84 last Sunday were Leamon and Fosteen Hudson, Randy and Sherry Kelley and her mother Nadine Parker, Elmer and Myrtis Davis, and their grandson-in-law, Kevin Wilburn, pastor of Southside Baptist in Opp, husband to Mandy Davis, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Davis of Mobile. Sherry (Parker) Kelley, by the way, earned her doctorate in elementary education last December at the University of Alabama. Congratulations!

Mrs. Gotrocks and I dined in the Cracker Barrel in Greenville this week. We enjoyed the chicken pot pie and the warmth of the hearth fire nearby.

Seen at Perry’s last week were Hubert and Rebecca (Sullivan) Sullivan, Roger and Judy McLain, the Jasper Smiths (she’s Tachi Perry’s daughter), and a group from the First Baptist in Andalusia, Zelmer and Catherine Jones, Gordon and Trudy Vickers, Kim and Eleanor Dyess, Herb and Sue Carlisle, Gillis “the Combman” and Laura Ann Jones, Sarah Gene Clark, Margaret Smyly, Bill Law, Joe Wingard, and Glenn and Sarah Anderson.

A little bird told me that Robert Lee Holley and his mother Bernice ate at the famous Fantail Restaurant just off I-65 at Millbrook. Its seafood buffet is widely known.

Gentle reader, remember that tomorrow is the annual Tasting Fair, sponsored by the Oleander Club of Andalusia. The food will be spread in the new Adult Activity Center annexed to Church Street School and offered l2:30 – 2:30 p.m. for seven dollars a person. I look forward to this every year. You will get to taste some of the best food in “the Dimple of Dixie,” and the money goes to good causes.

Betty Mitchell, “the Travel Queen,” last Saturday afternoon sponsored her annual fellowship for those who travel with her on her bus tours during the year. About l25 gathered in the Shaw Recreational Center for a buffet lunch, a musical program, and door prizes.

“Miss Betty” presided. James Allen worded the blessing. Tables glowed with Thanksgiving decorations. Guests helped themselves to a cornucopia of homemade dishes, brought by those attending, dishes such as turkey and dressing, chicken and dumplings, ham, every kind of casserole one can imagine, fresh vegetables, and piles of cakes and pies! Oh, such a bounty, a rich, culinary variety that would have made C.H.T. do cartwheels!

Miss Betty remembered those in her travel family who had died during the last year, Bobby Johnson, Willa Dean Fuller, M. V. Stokes, and Collis Steele.

I sat at table with Sir Francis and Ann McGowin. Sir Francis, something of a romantic at heart, detailed his love of November with its frosty mornings, quail and squirrel hunting, and colors. He spoke of November’s “snowing color” and observed that the cold makes him want to walk in it. Said he, “You know that God loves you” during November.

Joyce Adams sang two songs to taped music.

Then the Heart of Dixie Dulcimer Club played a program of music, inviting the audience at times to sing along. Among the old mountain songs were “Sugar Hill” and “Wildwood Flower.” The music included “I’ll Fly Away,” “Amazing Grace,” “Oh, Susanna,” “She’ll Be Comin’ ‘round the Mountain,” and “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder.”

Three travelers summarized the three major bus tours of the year; and, as the old newspaper editors used to say, “A good time was had by all.”

Irene (Davis) Butler, past president of our local American Association of Retired Persons (Covington chapter), and Joe Wingard, current president, motored to Montgomery for the annual AARP state awards luncheon Tuesday in the RSA (Retired Systems of Alabama) Plaza.

The two-hour program was set in the Capitol Room, one of three meeting areas atop the RSA Plaza, all surrounded by a sixth-floor terrace with benches and planters. The glass-enclosed room provided views of the rooftops of Montgomery, including other RSA buildings, the former St. Margaret’s Hospital, and the Capitol dome, being repainted at this time.

Many awards were presented, but the main one was posthumously given to Ruth Blacker, famous in Alabama AARP circles for her years of service. Her sister Eunice accepted the Andrus Award (named for Mrs. Andrus, who founded the AARP) amid tears and standing ovations. Two tables of family, most from up North, were recognized.

Also in honor of Mrs. Blacker, the first annual Ruth Blacker Advocacy Award was presented to Col. Glen Dunlap, a member of the Executive Council of the AARP Alabama.

Colonel Dunlap said of Mrs. Blacker, “To those we owe so much, we pay so little.”

Participating were Ray Warren, AARP state president; Joan Carter, AARP state director; Bill Hawkins, associate state director; Oscar Covington, director of the Southeast AARP, out of Virginia; Dr. Gloria Walker, past state president; Rick Heinzman, executive council; JoAnne Minnitt, executive council; Earl Heath, last year’s recipient of the Andrus Award; and Janice Charlesworth, director of the state’s retired teachers in the Alabama Education Association.

AARP is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

Following the luncheon, Mr. Wingard toured the state AARP offices on the l8th floor of the RSA Tower, the tallest building in downtown Montgomery.

At First Baptist last Sunday the Baraca Quartet sang “Jesus Is Coming Soon” in three Sunday-School assemblies. Billy Marsh, a member of the Deaf Ministry, signed the words, assisted by Mary Hill. Mary Clyde Merrill and Martha Givhan took turns playing the piano accompaniment. The quartet included Kim Dyess, Dwight Crigger, Larry Shaw, and Joe Wingard.

A cornucopia decorated the altar at First Baptist. This traditional beauty was provided by Alan Cotton.

Each year at Thanksgiving I look forward to four songs in particular. One was played beautifully last Sunday in First Baptist by Jeanice Kirkland at the organ and Mary Clyde Merrill at the piano, “Let All Things Now Living.” The others are “Bless This House,” “We Gather Together,” and “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come.” If I don’t hear them, it just doesn’t seem like Thanksgiving.

Jason Tucker conducted the new orchestra at First Baptist as the instrumentalists accompanied several hymns. At the end of the service Mr. Tucker and his wife Jessica joined First Baptist. They have a baby son, Riley.

The speaker last Sunday was Shannon Ford, a Baptist missionary who has worked for ten years in the Ukraine. He brought with him a preacher, Andry Kornyychuk, from the Ukraine, who spoke in his own language with Mr. Ford, interpreting. Mr. Kornyychuk was charming, humorous, and informative. First Baptist has sent several missions to the Ukraine and so feels a special connection with that part of the world. Hazel Griffin, who has been to the Ukraine, testified of the work there and said, “God needs us everywhere.”

One of the perks for volunteering to work at the paper, as I do, is an occasional, culinary treat. Today, for example, I enjoyed a bowl of hot, butternut-squash soup and a dessert of creme brulee, prepared by the editor and her husband, both known for their culinariarity.

Today is the birth date of George Eliot, the pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans, perhaps the best novelist from England, next to Charles Dickens. There was a time when every school child read Eliot’s Silas Marner. Grandmothers and grandsons, generations, could laugh together at “Eppie in the coal hole” because all had been educated with the novel in common. It is good to have good things in common, generation after generation. Older folks should pass them on; younger folk, who will become older folk, should do the same. The daisy chain should not be broken. I grieve when I hear of teachers who do not know and appreciate the classics and who do not feel the cultural obligation to preserve and to pass on what has been singled out by the test of time.

Next week brings the birthdays of John Harvard, for whom Harvard University, our Nation’s oldest college (l636), is named, and William Blake, artist and poet. Mrs. Blake once said that she had very little of her husband’s company because his mind was always in Heaven. Today scholars declare still that over half of Blake’s poetry is beyond their comprehension. He left us a number of quotable lines, though.

There’s a poem-song, “Thanksgiving Day (l844),” by Lydia Maria Child, that is sometimes confused with Christmas. It begins “Over the river and through the woods.” If your child does not know this one, teach it to him as part of his American heritage.

Well, I’d better get back into the kitchen. I’ve some pies to finish for Thanksgiving this coming Thursday, pecan, sweet-potato, pumpkin. The Covingtons have invited a number of us over for Thanksgiving at noon. Miss Cora will do most of the cooking. Some of us are helping her. Miss Dora will treat us to some music. Miss Flora will have the old place decorated. Colonel Covington will preside. Their cousin, Clematis, should be there, too, as well as Miss Primme, her beau, Mr. Propper, Miss Purdie Birdie, Mrs. Gotrocks of Greenville, and I-don’t-know-who-all.

Fare thee well for now, gentle reader. Remember to thank God for all of His uncountable blessings; that’s why we have Thanksgiving.