Sugar Grove
By Paula Mitchell
Summer is dying. There are signs everywhere to attest to that. The hummingbirds have gathered up to move to a warmer climate where summer thrives. One can sense it as the days grow shorter, night falls earlier, and darkness lingers longer each morning. There is a chill every morning, with frost coming more frequently. The dry, dead leaves are falling, and the vegetation in the garden has a dry rustle of the cornstalk.
Cords of firewood, neatly cut and stacked, line sheds, porches and roadways. This attests to the fact that many people have been as diligent as the ant and not fiddled their summer away as the grasshopper. The cellar bulges with its rows of canned goods, and the barns are filled with hay for wintering livestock. The apple trees groan and creak under their burden of red and gold fruit.
Squirrels are scrambling madly to gather nuts and grain for the winter ahead. Do they have the same sense of security that people do when they know that they are prepared?
It is time to bake and sew, to dream and rest. These first snappy, cooler days remind one of baked apple pie and homemade cookies. Keeping the cookie jar full is a delight for the grandchildren.
The hills are garbed in their fall colors. From a distance, they resemble a vast patchwork quilt working in harmonizing shades of brown, scarlet, orange and yellow. Maples are glowing crimson, as does the scarlet oak and dogwood.
Time continues its relentless march onward; ever-changing and never stopping. Everyone is swept along with the tide of time. So, enjoy these beautiful days, for the cold hand of winter will soon be upon one.
Life’s instructions to have a great week include the following:
- Sing in the shower.
- Hold a baby kitten.
- Enjoy the chatter of a babbling brook.
- Have lunch with a friend.
- Listen to the voices of children singing.
October’s supermoon, known as the Hunter’s Moon, will be the biggest and brightest full moon of the year. This supermoon arrives during an active month of skywatching between the rare northern light sightings and the once in a lifetime comet. The moon will be closest to the Earth for this orbit.
Several farmers are giving a last hay mowing for the filling of barns. Mornings are dipping to the lows of 26 degrees. That is getting quite close to “winter cold.” It is long past for the gardener to stay up late debating whether to cover plants for the frost or not.
This week’s clickety-clacks for the chin waggers are as follows:
- The United States Post Office Department ruled in 1920 that children could not be sent by parcel post. It seems that some parents found it cheaper to ship Johnny through the mail than to buy him a train ticket.
- Artist Andy Warhol became famous for his painting of Campbell’s soup cans.
- Charles Lindbergh was honored in New York City for his transatlantic flight. More than 750,000 pounds of shredded ticker tape showered down.
- In 2012, Nik Wallenda became the first person to successfully tightrope walk directly over the Niagara Falls. Ten million people watched on live television.
- Lake Titicaca, which lies between Bolivia and Peru, is the highest navigable lake in the world.
Come sit by the fireplace where the friendship is free, to hear the “Talk of the Grove.”
The VFW and Sugar Grove Lions Club had another successful chicken BBQ on Saturday. The community rallied to support this worthy cause.
Charles and Pidge’s grandsons, James and Charles, are in from Kentucky. They brought the great-granddaughter for the first time. Everyone had a happy reunion.
Helen and Rhonda Nash enjoyed a recent visit from granddaughter/niece, Virginia “Ginger” Nash of Gordonsville, Virginia. Ginger and Rhonda finished making votive candles to be used as guest favors at the upcoming nuptials of Ginger and fiancé, Justin Keller. Helen and Rhonda also enjoyed the dramatic presentation this past Saturday of Doug Wood as frontiersman Thomas Ingles at the History Alive! program held at the Pendleton County Library.
Willard and Judy Rader and Benny and Linda Custer enjoyed Kayla Eckard’s 15th birthday celebration with family and friends in the home of Troy and Jennifer Eckard in Linville, Virginia.
Quotes for the week are as follows:
“To me, hope is informed optimism.” — Michael J. Fox
“Putting a little time aside for clean fun and good humor is very necessary to relieve the tensions of our time.” — Hattie McDaniel
“Good work is good work, wherever it’s done.” — Parker Stevenson
“If frogs could fly…well, we’d still be in this mess, but wouldn’t it be neat?” — Drew Carey
“Today’s teardrops are tomorrow’s rainbows.” — Ricky Nelson
Concerns list is as follows: Bob Adamson, Dyer Anderson, John Ashley, Roger Ashley, Mercedes Aumann, Richard Bennett, ‘Bo’ Boggs, Roy Spencer Bowers, Marie Cole, Stanley Dahmer, Christian Dasher, Phil Downs, Benny Evick, Isaac Eye, Linda Eye, Marie Eye, Mary Eye, Thelma Fleisher, Carl Gant, David Gillespie, Lola Graham, Patsy Green, JC Hammer, Marlene Harman, Adam and Jennifer Harper, Missy Harrison, Marvin Hartman, Steve and Armanda Heavner, Starr Hedrick, Jim Hiner, Evan Hise, Tim Hively, George Hevener, Edsel and Mary Ann Hogan, Virgil Homan, Jr., Adalbert Hoover, Keith Hoover, Myrtle Hoover, Tim L. Hoover, Debbie and Enos Horst, the Jeanette Jamison family, Lisa and Mike Jamison, Jessica Janney, Alice Johnson, Richard Judy, Marsha Keller, Kim Kline, Tracie Knight, Laura Kropp, the Terry Kuykendall family, Melissa Lambert, O’Dell Lambert, Robert Lambert, Rex Landis, Roger and Skip Mallow, Yvonne Marsh, Ed May, Gene and Joan McConnell, Gary McDonald, Neil McLaughlin, Rose Miller, Bruce Minor, Barbara Moats, Gloria Moats, John Morford, Bill Mullenax, Aaron Nelson, Ruth Nelson, Cheryl Paine, the Julia Pennington family, the Marie Pitsenbarger family, Delores Polaski, Andy Pond, Janice Propst, Eldon “Butch” Puffenbarger, Alda Propst, Janis Propst, Mike Propst, Sheldon Propst, Tom Rader, Brandon Reel, Jason Rexrode, Linda Fay Rexrode, Dennis Riggleman, Donna Ruddle, Jenny Ruddle, Mary Sawyers, Brittany Shriver, Annie Simmons, Erin Simmons, Eva Simmons, Greg Simmons, Judy Simmons, Nelson Simmons, Robbie Sites, Mike Skiles, Tina Stuben, Steve Stump, Linda and Larry Vandevander, Sandra Vandevander, Amy Vaus, Judy Waggy, Sheldon Waggy, Estelle Wagner, Mary Louise Waldschlager, Rene White, Sherry Wilfong, Judy Williams, Ann and Ed Wimer, individuals and families affected by the natural disasters and the people of Ukraine, Israel, and Palestine.
