Imagination and Inspiration

I think Bill Chatman has finished cutting tobacco now. We also see a lot of farm equipment on the road as farmers gather their corn. Fall has truly arrived!

IMAGINATION. So the other night we sit down to eat supper when Ben takes a swig of his drink and proclaims that he loves Mountain Dew (a rare treat as he usually wants water at supper). Vicki looks at him and says, "You're drinking Diet Dr. Pepper." To which Ben indignantly replies, "I know. I'm pretending!"

WALNUTS. The kids catch the school bus in the mornings in front of Kenny and Lori's house. While waiting for the bus the boys have had a lot of fun lining walnuts across one lane the road so cars will hit them. They've put so many out there that there's a dark line of walnut stain on the pavement. Each time a car hits a walnut they jump up and down and cheer. Mrs. Alice makes their day when she takes special aim to take out as many walnuts as she can with the bus. I'll have to say that the bus makes a pretty impressive crunch when this happens.

GOODBYE SYLVESTER. Back in the summer we found three stray cats in the corn field behind Aunt Mar's house -- two kittens and a momma cat which, on closer inspection turned out to be a tomcat.

Over the months we've all come to enjoy the cats, especially Aunt Mar. She loves watching them from her chair and gets upset if Mom doesn't move fast enough to feed them. Almost every day we talked to them they were telling us some cute thing the kittens had done.

The most outgoing and tamest kitten we named Sylvester since it was white with black spots. Sadly, I found his body in the ditch as I was mowing the side of the road today. The other kitten is still around, but it's not the same since it rarely let's any one get near it.

INSPIRATION. When we found Aunt Mar's poems we knew we hadn't found all of them because we remembered most were in a couple of 6x9 writing tablets. So, we looked around a little more and finally turned them up. There's 60 or so poems dating from the mid 1980s on into the early 1990s. I don't think she wrote much, if any, outside of this time.

I asked Aunt Mar what inspired her to write her poems. She said that was about the time Aunt Myrtle's health began the fail and she could no longer live at home. Aunt Mar said she would get so sad when she went to visit Aunt Myrtle that writing the poems helped her deal with her feelings when she was up late at night. I was also away at college during this time and after Mom had gone to bed Aunt Mar had plenty of time to think, write, read the Bible, and pray.

(I've mentioned Aunt Myrtle a time or two before. She was actually my cousin. In this case "aunt" is an affectionate title. She was the one who taught me to jump rope. I was 7 at the time and she was 77.)

I plan to share more of Aunt Mar's poems in the future, but this time I want to share one that Jenna wrote last Sunday as she's been inspired by Aunt Mar's writings. She came in, went straight to her room, and 10 minutes later came out with her poem.

O Father, where are thee?
Behind the door or behind the tree?
O Father, I need thee.
Don't you hear my cries and pleas?
O Father, be near me.
Please don't turn away from me.
O Father, I thank thee.
Thank you for finally answering me.

Joe

Tinges of Fall Color

The mornings are cool. The days are pleasant. And I think I see the barest tinge of color in the trees.

MISSION CROSS PLAINS. The youth group at our church is coordinating with other churches in Cross Plains to get people involved in local missions and to help those around us who are in need. They are calling the project Mission CP.

While this isn't exactly local, last week Vicki and Jenna went with a group of folks to serve in a ministry in Nashville. Nashville has its share of homeless people and families. The Bridge Ministry (http://www.bridgeministry.org/), which has been going for eight years now, has started up that meets on Tuesday nights under the Jefferson Street Bridge on the north side of downtown. Volunteers feed all the people who come (usually 200-250) a warm meal, give away free clothes and food, and hold a worship service.

Both of them came back talking about how much we have compared to many people and how special the experience was. Jenna went on to say the experience reminded her a lot of what she saw in New Orleans. You know, it is very important that we get out of our regular community and rub shoulders with others frequently as it is so easy to be comfortable with where we are. I had a schedule conflict preventing me from going that evening, but I hope I can get there soon.

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO MAKE PANCAKES? I used to make pancakes every Saturday morning. As the kids got older that tradition fell by the wayside, but not before passing the spatula off to Ben. He's quite the pancake chef now.

The other night we were having breakfast for supper and Ben was at the griddle. As he and Vicki talked he asked, "Do you know how to make pancakes, Mom?"

Vicki looked at him and said, "Who do you think taught your dad?"

You could just see the wheels turning in his head as he made the connections. Then a smile spread across his face as understanding dawned.

When he asked me about it I said, "Well, it certainly wasn't from G'Anne." (Sorry Mom, but let's face it, you are about as comfortable in a kitchen as I am.)

MY HERO, MY MOM. Fifth Grade, in Robertson County at least, does a lot of creative writing. Ben came home with an assignment to write an essay about his hero. The essay had to meet several criteria in content and length.

What made this noteworthy was that Ben chose Vicki as his hero for the paper. He came up with several very nice things to say about her which made it a pleasure for me to help him with the assignment.

NESTING BIRD. I've mentioned our spider a couple of times before. She's gone now. Only her two web sacks remain. We're keeping an eye on them for signs of life.

Now we have a bird nesting in the pear tree outside our kitchen window. She's about 12-15 feet up in the air so we can't see in the nest, but we have a great view of her as she sits there. Hopefully we'll see her chicks after the hatch.

POETRY BY AUNT MAR. Here are a couple more poems from Aunt Mar.

"Be not afraid."
But I fear.
"Be of good cheer."
Sometimes I cry.
My talents, God gave me, I must have hidden.
So little I have accomplished,
Much to me forbidden.
I care,
I pray.
God hears in his own way.

This next one was dated "February 9th, 1986.”

The earth is all covered in a blanket of white,
Sprinkled with diamonds illuminating the night.
Cold outside, quiet, still.
Dogs in their houses all warm, until
A noise is made and out they come.
Barking and charging, ready to run.
The oaks are standing looking bare and cold.
Wonder if they are a story untold...

Joe

Fabulous Fall Weather

We have enjoyed some of the most pleasant weather! For the most part it's been just right -- Not too hot, not too cold, and not too much rain. Bill Chatman has begun cutting tobacco and a lot of farmers are cutting their corn.

CONGRATULATIONS! We went to a wedding last weekend. Our cousin, Greg Keith, married his fiancé, Cathy Wilson, last Saturday. Nate was a bit confused about the nature of the event we were going to. As we were getting ready he asked, "Now is a wedding where someone dies or gets married?”

Greg and Cathy had a very nice ceremony and reception dinner over in Clarksville. I particularly enjoyed the vows they had written for each other. They both told of their first impressions of each other and how their relationship grew. It was very special.

Of course, our family has really enjoyed The Princess Bride. So, when the minister at Greg and Cathy’s wedding, who is an older, distinguished looking gentleman, said, “Marriage,” and then paused, it was only natural for Ben to lean over to Vicki and whisper, “Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday.”

Greg and Cathy will be living in the little house next to church so we hope to see them around quite a bit.

A SINCERE PRAYER. I've mentioned before that the kids and I pray together on the way to catch the school bus in the mornings. I've heard some of the best prayers listening to them.

As with anyone, the kids use some of the same phrases in their prayers from day to day. Ben usually says, “Use me in all the ways you can," somewhere in his prayer. Well, the other morning Vicki took the kids to the bus and she told me later how special Ben's prayer was that morning. After saying the phrase quoted above he paused and added, "I know I say that all the time, but I really mean it."

3, 2, 1, BLAST OFF! We've been back in the rocket business again. Back in the summer we completed two different rocket kits but were never able to launch them because the store was out of wadding when we went to buy some. It was a couple of months before we got back down to the Rivergate area to try again. So, with plenty of wadding and a package of rocket engines we were back in business.

Last Sunday our church had a tailgate party at Kilgore Park to watch the Titans play on TV. We shot off our rockets at halftime. Everyone seemed to enjoy the show. Our smallest rocket (the one we've shot up before) went out of sight and we thought we'd lost it, but one really sharp-eyed kid spotted it and we recovered it. The other two rockets were easier to track and more fun to watch. The largest one performed perfectly and came down very close to our launch pad. The other did well, but it's parachute was a bit too big for the rocket and didn't deploy. It was melted in spots when we pulled it out to see what went wrong.

YOUNG ANGLERS. I think the boys are hooked on fishing (pun intended). We went to the county wide RA campout at Coldstream Camp Friday night. The boys tried fishing but didn't have any luck. However, we did go back to Jackie's pond yesterday afternoon and Ben caught three. One was almost as big as the one Nate caught the last time we were over there. We got pictures this time so Vicki would believe us.

Of course, as luck would have it, Ben snagged his hook on something on the bottom of the pond. While he was struggling with this his fishing pole came apart at the joint where the two pieces fit together and the upper half slid down the line into the pond. We could still see it about ten feet out from the shore. Somehow I was elected to wade out and get it. While I was out there the boys were telling me that I was the best dad in the whole world to go out and get the fishing rod. I was just hoping I wouldn't meet up with a snapping turtle while I was knee deep in the water.

POEMS BY AUNT MAR. We are continuing to look through stuff at Aunt Mar's house. Last night we ran across some poems Aunt Mar wrote about 25 years ago. She said she used to write them late at night before going to bed. She gave me permission to share here so I'll pick a few and include them here and there for you to enjoy. These two were on a paper dated February 1986.

The Lord is my shepherd
Sometimes I forget
And do what I want
Without being led.
If I would only listen
To what He has to say
There would be no penalty
For having my own way.

This next poem was written about Aunt Myrtle, a relative we all loved and enjoyed very much. She was about ten years older than Aunt Mar.

I visited her the other day.
A lady wise with much to say.
My years are passing,
Little time,
To be like that lady
When I am eighty-nine.

I think, at 96, Aunt Mar has achieved this goal. She is one of the wisest people I know.

Joe

Temperature Extremes

Today marks the eighth anniversary of the Swann Family News. I have expressed this before, but I am completely astonished that I have kept this project up this long. I'm glad because we have eight years of the happenings of our family written down that we wouldn't have otherwise. So, not knowing where things will go from here, I'll plan to continue writing as I can to keep you up-to-date and leave a paper trail of our lives as we go.

ONE BUSY WEEK. I am always glad to get to Labor Day weekend as it marks the end of the first month of school. By now many of the start of school activities at work and in our family life are over and we are settling into a routine. This past week, however, was most challenging.

I don't think I mentioned it, but the Fairest of the Fair was a week ago Saturday (the 27th). Then every night last week had something going on. Monday was Scouts. Tuesday I had a workshop to teach and then I took Ben to visit a Boy Scout Troop meeting. Awana was Wednesday and I had another workshop on Thursday.

Vicki has also had a full plate. She's been working hard to get Awana running smoothly and also volunteered to work a PTO fund raiser at school. Our Awana Club has really grown. Last week we had 111 in attendance (this includes the adult helpers). This is quite a few more people than last year which brings new challenges to running the club.

A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER. Last week started out nice, but the temps kept getting hotter and hotter each day (of course, those in Texas would say we have nothing to complain about). We had planned to go to the fair Friday evening but the thermometer read 100°F at 4:00 when I got off work so we decided to see the Smurf movie instead. This wasn't such a great decision either as the computer that runs the projector crashed and they had to refund all tickets. We wound up eating out and going home (and seeing the movie on Monday which we enjoyed).

By Sunday the rain started to move in -- the first rain we've seen in a long time. This weather system is the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee. So far we've gotten about 3.5 inches of rain. The rain also brought much cooler temperatures. Today's high of 58°F was the coldest high temperature on record. Sort of odd to think that within 72 hours our high temps have gone from 15° above average to 15° below average.

SPIDER UPDATE. We've had a lot of fun continuing to watch the spiders that have built webs in the yard. One built her web under the eave of the shed where we park so all the action has been at or near eye level. She had a real prime spot for catching prey as we saw her happily sipping away at some unfortunate bee, butterfly, or other bug that strayed into her web.

She's also made an egg sack above her web so we're keeping an eye on that too. From what we've read these should hatch this fall. With the cold snap we're having I'm not so sure momma spider will be alive to see her spiderlings emerge.

FISHING. Ben has been after me to take him and Nate fishing for a long time. I have always put them off because Uncle Ed was the only one who ever took me fishing with any regularity -- and that was only when he was visiting from Arizona. To be honest, I just haven't wanted to appear completely inept in front of my boys.

Since we didn't go to the fair Friday night I took them over to Jackie's pond Saturday morning to do a little fishing, and lo and behold they caught five fish! Ben caught two and Nate caught three -- all bass. One of Nate's fish was the largest by far, measuring as long as my forearm from elbow to fingertips (about 18 inches). Vicki refuses to believe this because there are no pictures (and all fishermen come home with their tales). I didn't even bother to take a pole for myself, much less a camera, because I knew I would be the only one tying on the hooks, baiting the hooks, and taking the fish (should we happen to catch any) off the hooks.

At any rate, this is our story and we're sticking to it. Whether you believe us or not is your business. We have our own skeptic to put up with.

Joe