Spring flowers

There is a cherry tree in the back of the property where my office is located, which is in full bloom right now. The limbs of the tree hang over the parking spaces and one of the limbs of the tree is diseased and shows the ravages of time and weather and parasite. Nevertheless, the tree is now in full bloom with tiny white blossoms with a pink tinge and the bees and other flying things swim through the air around the blossoms. Today, Cindy and Kate drove up to pick up something to take to Dunwoody and say goodbye to me before they left. Kate parked right beneath the tree and I walked up to the passenger side of the car and found myself kissing Cindy beneath the blossoms and among the buzz of the bees. Spring was personified there in the shadows of the tree limbs. The tree is old and is suffering from time's ravages, but it also shows its life quite sweetly at the back of the property.

The blooms of the saucer magnolia are mostly fallen, and the pink and white of the blossoms are fading. For several weeks the saucer magnolia was the primary recipient of Spring's coming and showed the life bursting out on its branches even when it was cool and wet and more Winter-like in feel and impression. Now many, if not most, of the blossoms have fallen onto the concrete parking lot and have provided a thick, slick blanket beneath your feet when you walk to your car.

Today I noticed the blossoms coming out on the dogwood beside the port-cachere on the side of the house. They are early and light green and don't show the full beauty of their glory. On the other hand, there is something tender and sweet about the small green crosses opening on the thin branches. It is ironic that these little green crosses are so early in their development when tomorrow is Maundy Thursday and Sunday in Easter. It seems almost inapropriate that the blossoms are so early but I guess Easter is early this year.

It is time to start cutting the grass and raking the fallen leavings of Winter and early Spring.

Costly justice

I knew a man who harbored a dispute
With his next door neighbor,
Who fumed and spat upon the ground
In consideration of all that seemed so wrong
As a result of the selfishness and meanness
Of this unrepentant sinful neighbor
But fearing the cost
Of hiring an attorney
He sought Dame Justice
Without the assistance
Of learned counsel
And seeking his own counsel alone
In the end he suffered
The loss of everything for which he prayed
For want of the knowledge
He found a bit too expensive.

Alexander Pope on justice

Once (says an Author; where, I need not say)
Two Trav’lers found an Oyster in their way;
Both fierce, both hungry; the dispute grew strong,
While Scale in hand Dame Justice pass’d along.
Before her each with clamour pleads the Laws.
Explain’d the matter, and would win the cause,
Dame Justice weighing long the doubtful Right,
Takes, open, swallows it, before their sight.
The cause of strife removed so rarely well,
“There take” (says Justice), “take ye each a shell.
We thrive at Westminster on Fools like you:
’Twas a fat oyster—live in peace—Adieu.”
Pope—Verbatim from Boileau.

This, perhaps, is the concern of most people, who, having a beef with another, are afraid to hire an attorney to represent them, lest they lose all they seek to their counsel.

I have a friend who was injured in playing a game he enjoyed. After his injury he was taken to a hospital nearby and the physicians operated on him in order to correct the damage he had suffered. Afterward, he continued to play and further exacerbated the damage he already had. As a result, he was permanently marred with an injury which remains today as a reminder of his youthful participation in games. I assume he is unable to participate in games these days for his desire to continue playing games in his youth. Thusly, his desire to play games, to his peril, took away his ability to play games. At least the ultimate result was ironic.

Whose fault is this? Like the hungry travelers, we cannot resolve the dispute ourselves, and in our anger, we continue the dispute in such a way which prevents our future attempts to continue the argument. It is perhaps easy to blame the law. However, it is justice that, given a situation in which both disputants sought the whole, neither got any of it to the detriment of the other. Equally, they both received an equal share of the dross: she shell. That was justice, I suppose.

The end of the day

It was a beautiful day and Kate went to the grocery and made a Southwestern style salad with black beans and avacados for a congregational supper at church. We went to church and ate with a lot of folks and a few new people were there and no one seemed to be cleaning the kitchen afterward so Cindy and Kate and I pitched in and used the kitchen hardware to clean the dishes and silverware after the meal. That kitchen is amazing. I wish I had a kitchen like that. Man. It's not pretty but it has all the bells and whistles.

Afterward, Cindy and Kate decided to join me for choir practice and it was fun to have the girls with me in the choir room. We are all singing on Maundy Thursday and Easter. That was fun.

Tomorrow we will have community group and I am making shrimp and grits for the group. I am using Paula Dean's recipe which has two main things going for it: it is very simple and the combination is really excellent. I have had so many versions of shrimp and grits over the years and the best are so simple. Seafood needs to be simple. What is better than raw oysters? You just need a little hot sauce and a garbage can for the discarded shells. And a cold beer.

I think I am going to drive myself crazy here if I go on any further with this line of blogging. I think it is time to turn it off and finish for the evening.

Last step turnaround

I just found out that this singer/musician had gone to music school and was working toward some degree or some certificate or other and he withdrew within one credit of graduating and getting his degree or certificate or whatever, and I know that Ashley Judd did the same thing at UK, even though she is quite smart and loves Kentucky and is constantly being seen at UK basketball games and such and the camera loves her and she couldn't be a better ambassador for the school and the team, because she is smart and pretty and talented and she smiles in the crowd and the camera loves her and she is all dressed in royal blue, as is some Kentucky royalty and I wonder what made her quit at the precipice and I realize that it is not like she needs the degree to get parts in Hollywood and this same musician doesn't need the degree or certificate or whatever to play the piano or drums or write the music and the lyrics but geez what is the deal why couldn't they just complete the task and get the paper to hang on the wall and please their parents a little bit, but I guess their parents are pleased but you've got to wonder if something in the back of their minds is just wishing they had finished the task just for the sake of it, but on the other hand its their lives, respectively, and whose to say what they should have done, but on the other hand it is kind of a waste to get that far and just stop.

Psalm 147

Psalm 147:1-11


1Praise the Lord!

How good it is to sing praises to our God;

for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.

2The Lord builds up Jerusalem;

he gathers the outcasts of Israel.

3He heals the brokenhearted,

and binds up their wounds.

4He determines the number of the stars;

he gives to all of them their names.

5Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;

his understanding is beyond measure.

6The Lord lifts up the downtrodden;

he casts the wicked to the ground.



7Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;

make melody to our God on the lyre.

8He covers the heavens with clouds,

prepares rain for the earth,

makes grass grow on the hills.

9He gives to the animals their food,

and to the young ravens when they cry.

10His delight is not in the strength of the horse,

nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;

11but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,

in those who hope in his steadfast love.


This psalm was on the Presbyterian church devotional site for this morning and it spoke to me and I just wanted to include it here. We have suffered through so much rain and dreary skies over the past few months and we have received our share of snow and cold. I do understand that all of these differences in precipitation and temperature are necessary to the overall health of the planet, but at the same time when you are faced with a tree full of pink blossoms and a sky devoid of any clouds, compeletely dressed in baby blue, it is easy to consider the beneficence of God and the wonder of our world, His creation. At times like these we should stop and recognize His steadfast love for us.

Jefferson Davis Memorial, Fairview, Kentucky

I haven't visited this place for a very long time. Right now, I am planning on driving up to Clarksville around the middle of April for a fair. Perhaps, I will drive up to Fairview for a look when I go. I remember when I was a child driving along the two lane highway toward Bowling Green and coming across the obelisk along the road. It was impressive to a child. We usually had a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and a picnic lunch when we went. I can only remember one time when we went up into the monument to look out the windows at the surrounding countryside. It is not much of a memorial, but it was historically significant since it marked the birthplace of Jefferson Davis, who was a hero of the Mexican War, Senator from Mississippi, Secretary of War under President Pierce, and President of the Confederacy.

The place where it sits is a small village on the edge of Christian County, but it was surrounded by quite pretty farmland. There was a Baptist church which sat on the site of the small inn operated by Davis's father, and which was donated to the Baptist church by Davis toward the end of his life. One time, when we were driving to Russellville, we stopped at an antique store on the corner where the state park sits and I found a collection of political buttons which included buttons for JFK, LBJ and Harry Truman. Obviously at Democratic collector. I do remember seeing a "Keep Cool with Coolidge" sign at the Morgan's house in Princeton. Other than Uncle David's mother, I didn't know too many Republicans back then, or at least it never came up in polite company. Now, most of the children and grandchildren of those old Democrats are Republicans. I don't think much changed other than the label.

Nevertheless, it is a sentimental little picture and reminds me of picnics and visits to the countryside from my grandmother's home in Hopkinsville.

The Ides of March are upon us.

It was a wet, quiet day today and there were very few interruptions with the exception of a couple of clients and one unexpected mother of the client. Now this evening we are getting ready for the end of the day and I have felt pretty ill all evening even though there has been basketball on the fringe and Kentucky beat Alabama and Tennesse won and Georgia is getting ready to take on Vanderbilt and Tech beat Maryland, My Maryland.

This is an exciting time of the year. Conference championships in basketball followed by March Madness. UNC is basically eliminated. Duke is good, but not great. Kentucky has a real chance to pass on to the later rounds. What a great year for basketball.

I think I'm going to be watching a lot of basketball in the next few weeks. I just wish we could get a few pretty weekends in March. Wednesday is St. Patrick's Day and we are preparing to serve Irish food to the congregation that evening. I am also going to explain to the group how the Irish saved Western Civilization. We'll see how successful I am.

Enjoying Georgia

Today started off quite beautifully with an early warm, sunny day, followed by some midday clouds and a pretty afternoon. Kate and I accomplished quite a bit today in the office and without. I had a bit of a nap at lunch and another after supper. Now it is 10:32 and don't really feel like going to bed yet, so here I am.

I am watching a Georgia Traveller episode in which they are going to different places in Georgia which involve golf. They started off at putt putt courses in Helen, then went to Lake Blackshear to play real golf and frisbee golf at Georgia Veteran's State Park, then to Atlanta to visit the Bobby Jones shrine at the Atlanta History Center. Now they are up in North Georgia at Brasstown Bald. You can golf, swim, ride horses and enjoy the area. They have five hundred acres of land in which the golf course is located. Kate and I want to visit. They even have a spa. Pretty cool. I think I could get Kate and Cindy up there.

Yes, today was a reminder of how much of the year is open to enjoy in the great state of Georgia.

Spring?

I am so irritated. Today was supposed to be bright and warm and just a perfect precursor to Spring. And I walked out and took a look around and what did I see, but clouds and a blue-grey Western sky. And it is too chilly this morning. And there is an absence of daffodils and crocus.

The morning is quiet and waiting. And I am waiting too.

Garage sales and sausage biscuits

The day began earlier than normal this morning when we readied ourselves for a garage sale at church to benefit an orphanage in Haiti. The Haitians need medical assistance and housing and our missionary there is housing more orphans than he wishes to admit because the need is so great.

We found out yesterday evening that they are trying to build houses for the dispossessed at $2,500 a pop. The idea came about of soliciting twenty five people who would be willing to give $100.00 a piece for a house for a family in Haiti. Cindy and I are going to work on that next.

Our garage sale netted us a little short of $2,000.00 this morning. It was fun. My sausage biscuits and coffee did not go over as well as I wanted. However, the people who came were more interested in the garage sale, which was fine in the end. It was fun to watch towards the end when people kept coming and women started buying the used prom dresses they had for sale.

It is a pleasant thing to see people join together for a cause greater than their own welfare.

Forever Winter

Stepping lightly along the grey fencerow
The Winter snow has begun to blow
The white-faced cattle mewl from the fields
And the trench coat men will grasp their hats
As I am pulling my coat tighter
Around my collar, wincing at the wind
My eyes tear with the memory
Of earlier times when I was young,
And the world was also, and we would run
And play in the Christmas snow, jolly, sweet and clean
Bounding down the sugary hills on sleds
Waxed for speed the old-fashioned way, with candlewax,
And our breath solid-visible in the cold,
Cold air and the darkening world so silent,
Creeping so silently a muffler around
The old neighborhoods, holding the fire deep within my coat
To burn an ember that lasts even until today.

Thursday

Cut loose from the Henry County Court docket, I took Cindy to work and left Kate asleep to nurse a cold, while I went to work and fought the battle of dealing with a rather obnoxious lawyer from Atlanta who likes to use volume over legal points to overwhelm you when you don't immediately concede to her contentions. I guess that is one modus operandi.

By the end of the day I was through with the vagaries of the law and I was able to drive over to church to assist in the intake for the yard sale we are holding at the church for an orphanage in Haiti.

Lately, all of the news has centered around Chile. Haiti has been pushed to the back burner. I guess you can find a people group with very serious problems.

But, the temperature is warming up and the skies are very blue and it is supposed to be a beautiful weekend. There seems to be a lot to do.

It is time to hit the ground running tomorrow. Court in Fayetteville. Back to church in the afternoon. I have got to figure out how much to buy for breakfast on Saturday.

Lots to do. Better go to bed.

Snow and relief in the offing.

With the third snow of the year yesterday and thousands of school children in North Georgia out of school for the third time last year, I think we need to fire that groundhog in Stone Mountain who opined that Winter was over. Of course, I think he always says that Winter is over on February 2nd. He probably is employed by the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

Today is a bit different. The blue skies are back, but so is the cold. When I arose there were windchills all over North Georgia in the 20's. It is supposed to get warmer later in the week.

I have been released from court for the week and now only have to worry about a hearing in Fayette County on Friday and the church garage sale for the orphanage in Haiti.

I should be able to take it easy for a bit. Of course, there is always something to take my time away.

Crying in the rain in Talbotton, Georgia

I am relating this at the behest of my wife, who heard the story orally and decided it needed to be told.

Today was foreclosure day in Georgia on the first Tuesday in March. Ordinarily, in March in Georgia you can expect the temperature to be a little warmer and the ground to be the receptacle of the early buds of Daffodils and Crocus. However, today there was snow over about half of Georgia, anywhere from a flurry melting on the windshield of your car to three inches up in the high mountains of North Georgia.

I had previously sent my daughter Kate and my part-time bookkeeper, Patti, to the more frozen environs to the north. After calling the Judge's office in McDonough to determine the status of a court calendar, I decided to head down US 19 toward the turn off toward Talbotton, the county seat of Talbot County.

Talbotton is a small, mostly forgotten town hidden in the piney woods between Macon and Columbus. I was told once by one of its denizens that it lies about thirteen miles east of Columbus. I have since come to understand that Talbotton was once a rather influential location in the early settlement of West Georgia. Several governors lived there. The Supreme Court of Georgia held its first sessions there, for some reason. The original Episcopal Church, modeled after Tudor churches in England still stands, around the corner from the buildings which once housed a Female College and a substantial Methodist Church.

Immediately prior to the Civil War, a young Jewish couple from Prussia, settled there, planted a family and opened a general store. About the time the Civil War began, they had moved to Columbus, where they supplied the Confederate Army and Navy, which were both found in abundance in the area. At the time, Columbus was a river port on the Chattahoochee, just up from Apalachicola, which was a major gulf seaport of its time.

After the war, the Strauss family emigrated from Columbus, Georgia to New York where one brother bought a little pottery concern and turned it into Macy's Department Store. After making his fortune, he left considerable money to Harvard, endowing a building or two, then travelled on a cruise to Europe with his wife to see the sites. Unfortunately, he and his wife decided to come back home on a brand new cruise ship, freshly manufactured in Belfast, Northern Ireland. About three quarters way back to New York, their cruise ship struck an iceberg and the couple went down with the ship, The Titanic.

Another brother served in President Roosevelt's cabinet. The whole family was quite influential and prosperous, for a group which found its original American start in a tiny town in West Georgia.

Unfortunately, Talbotton has fallen by the wayside through the years and, rather difficult to find, seems to suffer heavily from the loss of its former glory. I guess you could say it is just thirteen miles from the present. Several decades from the future.

At any rate, I drove down US 19 and turned west on the unmarked country road, a former Indian trail, which leads from South Upson County to Talbotton. The road runs predominantly through dense woods and abandoned cotton farms. You drive forever before you finally find the outskirts of the town of Talbotton. When I arrived, I headed my car up to the courthouse building on the square, only to find the courthouse surrounded by construction trailers, equipment and all of the sidewalks torn up with the work I assumed was going on inside. I passed the courthouse and its disarray and pulled into a convenience store down the street. I bought myself an iced tea and asked the clerk if she knew where they held court in the county.

She replied matter of factly that she knew they didn't use the old courthouse. That seemed a rather obvious conclusion. With a noticable lack of confidence, she pointed back behind me toward a white wooden building, the top of which I could see through the windows on the front of the store, and told me she thought they held court there.

I knew that counties often used such buildings as temporary court buildings while they renovated the old courthouse or built a knew one, so I exited the convenience store and reentered my car for the short trip to the white building.

As I passed the old Zion Episcopal Church building, I pulled alongside the white building, only to realize that there were no cars parked around the old building. There was a historical marker in front, but no living people. This obviously wasn't the place where they were holding court.

At this point, I decided to call directory assistance on my cellphone. After struggling to make the operator understand that I wanted a number in Talbotton, Georgia, and that I further needed the number for the Talbott County Superior Court Clerk, with a few seconds wait, I was suddenly connected with someone in the clerk's office. I wish I could remember her name.

A female voice answered my call, "Talbott County Clerk of Superior Court?"

She said her name, but I don't remember the name.

"Can you tell me where you are?"

"At my desk."

"Ok. Where is your desk?"

"In the clerk's office."

"Can you tell me where the clerk's office is located?"

"In the off-white building across from the courthouse."

"Can you tell me where the courthouse is located?"

"Where it has always been located."

"Even with all the trailers and such?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Can you tell me where you cry out foreclosure sales?"

"On the courthouse steps of the old courthouse."

"Really?"

"Yes, unfortunately."

"Now, where at the courthouse do you cry out the sales."

"In the same place they always do them."

"And where would that be?"

"Do you know where the statue is?"

I was about a block away from the courthouse, "No."

"Do you know where the flagpole is?"

I pulled up alongside the courthouse and saw the flagpole, "Yes."

"On those steps beside the flagpole."

"Really."

"Really."

There was a long pause on my part. I looked at the grounds in front of the steps. The sidewalks were torn up. There were puddles and mud everywhere. Everything was a mess, "Its awful muddy."

"You can take your shoes off and squish the mud between your toes like you did when you were young."

I considered the suggestion.

"Im 53. I think I'll pass."

"That's your choice."

"Well, thank you."

"You're welcome."

I exited the car and stepped across the street to the muddy grounds in front of my destination. I considered the best possible path. There was none.

"Oh well," I said to no one.

I began to step gingerly across the grounds. At several points my feet almost removed themselves from my shoes to become a permanent part of the muddy grounds. I tightened my toes within my shoes. I finally gave up my journey and read my cryout page under the shelter of my umbrella. I looked around at the empty grounds, the empty town, the absence of cars passing the courthouse. I listened for a moment to the construction workers inside. I knocked the sale off to the only player in this theatrical with any real interest, the absent lender who I represented with my lonely presence.

Afterward, I stepped again across the yard and made my way back to the car. My shoes were covered with mud which was the deep red hue of all mud in Central Georgia. I tucked the foreclosure instruction papers under my arm, opened the door to the car, folded my umbrella into the car and drove back through the piney woods of West Georgia, back to civilization, or what goes for civilization in comparison, somewhere north of Perry.

That was as interesting as it could possibly get.