Sugar Grove
By Paula Mitchell
The yellow school bus is rolling down the highway, carrying precious cargo for the new school year. With that, there are life skills that parents can teach and work with their children to make these skills beneficial for their future.
- Teach them good manners…say “please” and “thank you,” learn to set and clear the table, learn to use good table manners, learn how to appropriately use napkins and utensils and put away all devices and learn to have conversations with family around the table.
- Learn how to ride a bike…it teaches balance and focus.
- Keep room organized…sweep, vacuum, and dust.
- Learn to show gratitude.
- Do laundry chores by having kids match the socks, fold laundry, and make the bed.
- Work on learning how to snap, zip, button jackets and tie shoelaces.
- Having face-to-face conversations helps the child in life with job interviews and work. Answering the telephone in a congenial way is so important also.
- Being able to cope with failure. This skill will help to prepare one’s life emotionally, mentally, and socially.
Learning these life skills has so many benefits for the child. Over time, the skills will come naturally.
Be sure to wave at the kids on the school bus. They get so excited, and it just may “make their day.”
Life’s little instructions may be little, but they will mean a lot.
- Have clean fingernails.
- Purchase clothes one never has to iron.
- Put surprise notes in a child’s backpack.
- Call home just to say “hi.”
- Pick fresh flowers for no reason.
Mornings are rather cool, inspiring one to open windows for a good night’s sleep. However, the days are such that one looks quickly for cool spots. Most farmers are finishing up their second round of haymaking for the year. The river is below normal, not very conducive for gigging. In other words, the community is in bad need of rain.
This weeek’s clickety-clacks for the chin waggers are as follows:
- Alice in Wonderland was inspired by a real girl named Alice.
- Sept. 9 is the most common birthday in the United States.
- A grizzly bear’s bite can break a bowling ball.
- Barbara Walters, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Anne Frenk were born in the same year.
- There are two escalators in Wyoming.
Sitting on the porch swing with a fan is where The Talk of the Grove is interesting:
Glenn and Sue Sivak of Youngstown, Ohio, spent the weekend with Tom and Paula Mitchell. Both couples attended the Walter Mahlon Pitsenbarger funeral at McDowell/Monterey Virginia. Saturday evening found them dining at the Brandywine Family Restaurant with Dinah Beverly and Mike Eye.
Becky and Emma Puffenbarger had a girls’ camping weekend. They camped at Brandywine Lake.
Bill and Donna Arrington had a big birthday party Sunday for their grandson at the VFW. There was a bounce house and a water slide for the children’s fun.
The Lions district governor, along with the zone chairman and their respective wives, enjoyed the Lions annual family dinner Friday evening at the VFW pavilion.
Visitors of Rosalee Grogg were Marleta and Junior Wimer, Leana Leap, Hendrix Bogan, Terri Grogg, Claude Castleberry, Evelyn, Raymond and Kelly Varner, and Peggy Vandevander and friend, Shelby of Charlottesville, Virginia.
Celebrating her birthday and beginning college on Wednesday was Amelia Gibson. She and her mother, Tara Kelly of Springfield, came to spend the weekend with Phil Downs. Amelia’s request in the culinary department was to enjoy macaroni salad and sweet tea.
Saturday visitors of Evelyn Varner were Joey Judy and girlfriend, Hiroko. Sunday found Evelyn enjoying the company of Cory, Rachel, and Marcus Giaz from Timberville, Virginia. Janet Judy and Terri Grogg also were visitors.
On Aug. 5, Gary and LaDonna McDonald celebrated their 50th anniversary with family and friends. Their journey began in McCoole, Maryland, in a small church on Aug. 5, 1973. The couple is looking forward to many more celebrations. Gary and LaDonna reside at Brandywine.
Quotes to inspire one and all are as follows:
“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.” — Edmund Burke
“Order is the sanity of the mind, the health of the body, the peace of the city, the security of the state.” — Robert Southey
“A good name is a sound inheritance.” — Unknown
“People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges.” — Joseph Fort Newton
“It is my belief that every man has the divine right to work.” — Ernest Lundeen
September birthdays are coming up on the horizon: Loretta Blankenship and Gail Bowers, first; “Butch” Puffenbarger and Shirley Sisson, second; Trent Alt, third; Elinor Simmons and Ralph Parker, fifth; Nila Bland, Sandy Smith and Mike Eye, sixth; Don Frame, seventh; Kelly Sites and Allen Sisson, eighth; Lorena Hoover and Liz Somerville, ninth; Cara Mitchell and Jed Conrad, 10th; Braxton Grogg, 11th; Mary Simpson, 12th; Brenna Mitchell, Barbara Woodward, Kyler Kiser, Karrie Homan and Laura George, 13th; and Brian Harper, 14th.
Concerns for this week are many. They are as follows: Charles Anderson, Roger and Joan Ashley, Mercedes Aumann, Vernon “Fuzzy” Baldwin, Lynn Beatty, “Bo” Boggs, Marie Cole, Jed Conrad, Jeff Craig, Maurice Davenport, Mary Eye, Donna Fleisher, Lola Graham, Jordan Greathouse, Marvin Hartman, Steve and Armanda Heavner, Jackie Hill, Virgil Homan, Jr., Adelbert Hoover, Myrtle Hoover, Debbie Horst, Alice Johnson, Richard Judy, Marsha Keller, Danny Kimble, Dennis Kincaid, Kim Kline, Melissa Lambert, Robert Lambert, Rex Landis, Angela Lung, Linda Malcolm, Betty Mallow, Roger and Skip Mallow, Willard May, Neil McLaughlin, Barbara Moats, Melvin Moats, Aaron Nelson, Ruth Nelson, Don Nilsen, Cheryl Paine, Barbara Parker, Sutton Parrack, Shirley Pratt, Alda Propst, Kathy Propst, Linda Propst, Harley Propst, Mary Puffenbarger, Jason Rexrode, Jimmy Rexrode, Pam Rexrode, Donna Ruddle, Annie Simmons, Barry and Phyllis Simmons, Davey Simmons, Erin Simmons, Robbie Sites, Rosa Tichenor, Sandra Vandevander, Amy Vaus, Judy Williams, Junior Wimer and Margaret Wimer.
