Christiansen's Comments HindsCounty Gazette August 4 2011

Is Summer over?

Must be school is fixing to start…When I was a kid summer was not over until after labor day. It has me scratching my head wondering…why are kids today learning less with more time? I don’t know, maybe they are sharper then tests show…maybe we should find out what they know and test them on that…. .Maybe they don’t need to now how to spell anymore, computers do that for us….Do they have to know how write complete sentences?…or dissect a sentence?…I know for sure I never dissected a sentence after I finish school….young folks write very concise now….like LOL that is laugh out loud…Computers do the math….It is a new world.

I do think many children and possibly their parents…No doubt all of us, could stand some brushing up on our manners ……Simple pleases and thank yous and learning how to sit quietly would be a good start…..computers don’t teach manners, kindness, or courtesy….But like I said it is a new world….maybe courtesy is old fashion and out of date too.



When children see grown folks on the TV yelling, name calling and using ugly language….It is no a mystery to me that there is a enormous problem in this country with children bulling children.



I don’t know how I got off on that tangent, but speaking of TV…I have gone a month now with out cable TV…and have not missed it! I kept saying, “I don’t watch TV enough to warrant the $65 it is costing me every month.”…but sometimes you do things more then you think you do….So I tested myself, I have only old fashion TVs, so I borrowed a converter box from Doug Turner …used it for a about month, and I did not get the DTs…. I did fine… No anxiety… no separation issues. . So I called and had it cut off July 1.





On the converter box you just get the local channels and it is still more TV then I need…PBS has a channel called “Create” that is about all I watch, it is mostly gardening, travel, cooking and crafts. Nobody yelling on that channel.



Well, we vote Tuesday, by the time you get the paper we will have already voted. I am scrambling to figure out who I should vote for, I am not very well informed, as I watch very little news, because it is so awful…But a couple of weeks ago I tuned in to watch the news to see Scott Cannada, has been named Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Mississippi farmer of the year…He is up for Southeastern farmer of the year….you probably saw that in last weeks Gazette. We are all very proud of Scott. And his wife Lesley, we are proud of her too! Lesley headed up Bible school this year…we had nearly 50 children!!! Can you believe it!!!! 50!!!! It was great fun! I love Bible School!

Music

Craft time in the nursery

Most everybody

Receration for the last day!

But anyway while waiting to see Scott, a political commercial came on, it was so refreshing, there was no yelling, or ripping his opponent apart. It was just a man, the candidate, and an old lady sitting on a park bench, the old lady is telling us what the candidate is running for and how he stands on the issues…..She is well informed on his stand and what he is running for but she just can’t get his first name right, she calls him Gilbert, Filbert, and Ingelbert…and each time she calls his name wrong. he gently with a big smile corrects her, “Yes Mamm, but it is Delbert”



Oh! Have you noticed the E D W A R D S sign in the side of the hill at the Presbyterian Church, Eric Armstrong painted it, he wanted it to look nice for Bible School. Eric Armstrong you may not know him, he married Shanna Floyd, you may not know her, they live in Miss Francis’s house on Birdsong lane….Ms Francis was Shanna’s grandmother. If you knew Ms Francis you have not forgotten her. Just the other day we were remembering Ms Francis … she planted the azaleas at the Methodist family center…they are the first to bloom in Edwards. ”Ms Francis planted those, they would not dare not bloom!” Ms Francis was a determined lady…to say the least. Eric and Shanna have two little girls….sweet family…proud to have them in Edwards.

Eric Armstrog

Speaking of the Methodist Family Center…That is where Inez Lee’s 90 th birthday party was held. Huge crowd!!! Folks were lined up out the door, into the street waiting to get in to help Inez celebrate. I was getting concerned I had not gotten enough punch ingredients for a crowd that big…but had enough for one more making….

Ms Inez and a few of her many fans

Got to go now

Call if you need me….

Christiansen's Comment Hinds County Gazette July 14 2011

It is still hot here in mid Mississippi… record heat…Our once very stylish ,crisp linen and cotton outfits…are no longer crisp…they are crumpled, rumpled and clinging to us, like plastic wrap…. our makeup melted off weeks ago, our sweet southern smiles, has turned to more of a forced grins …but we are soldiering on …chin up and shoulders back…The PGA Viking golf classic is this week and we start Bible School next week….

Even though it blistering hot out there… Our Southern hospitality is not suffering from the heat. Inez Lee‘ has a birthday this Sunday, this will be the number 90. There will be a celebration honoring Ms Inez at the Edwards Methodist Church, family center from two until four this Sunday, July 17. If you Know Ms Inez please come….you will no doubt see folks you have not seen in a good while…..And there will be nibbles and punch!

Ms Inez and just a few of her many fans....

And our Ms Worrell will be 99 this Sunday! That is a lot of Mississippi Summers! Happy Birthday Ms Worrell!

Ms. Worrell's birthday 2004

Bolton’s St Mary’s and Raymond’s St Marks Episcopal churches have entertained us with wonderful musical programs this Summer. You all, every time I attended one of these programs, a memory would almost spark…But I could not quite grab it….I could not put a picture to what I was feeling …. I would lose it. But this Sunday, the Brick Street Barber Shop quartet came at St Mary’s and while they were performing, the memory… it came to me!

St Marks
Raymond Mississippi

St Marys
Bolton Mississippi

Back when I was growing up every city park had a band stand…it was a large white gazebo affair and Sunday afternoon bands would play. …and probably groups singing….I don’t remember. When the elusive memory finally clicked , I could see children, they were laughing…the music was way in the background…I was at the swings, merry go round and teeter totters at the park in Palisade Nebraska with lots of kids. No doubt we kids didn’t sit quietly enough to suit the adults and we were told to “go play” .



I love recapturing old forgotten memories. Memories from days past is one of Gods great gifts to old folks. …. old folks tend to live in the past and ramble…To all of you out there in Gazette Land thanks for listening. Call if you need me.

Christiansen's Comments from Hinds County Gazette June 30 2011

It is Summer and life take on a more anxious pattern in the Summer, don’t you think? Summer, well, more accurately, warm weather brings with it tornado season and has us nervously standing in the doorway watching the clouds churning and the sky change colors. Some years warm weather brings rain….so much rain we begin to wonder if it will stop long enough get the crops in the ground. Other years we are watching rivers rise flooding the fields and homes… forcing folks to abruptly change the course of their lives . Some years it is drought…no rain…..weeks without rain…the ground turns cracks and turns to dust.

This year seems we have had it all….Killer tornados, record flooding and drought….



I watched my farmer friend Russell as the days without rain wore on and on….turning into weeks of no rain….acres and acres of planted fields desperate for rain….it can’t be easy watching crops suffer….his face, not unlike the parched ground seemed to crack a bit ….

Russell and his dog Lee

But Russell is my new favorite hero….every year Russell plants a field of sweet corn and shares the corn with so many folks around Edwards and beyond…. We look forward to corn picking time at Cannada Farms….Asking , “When will the corn be ready?”



The fields of corn and soy beans, the cash crops Russell couldn’t do anything about them….but that field of sweet corn, he would be giving away to friends, family and neighbors…They hauled water from a pond to save the sweet corn….picked it, brought a pickup load to Church, sacked it and gave it away….I feel sure Russell and Scott have been delivering corn all over the county….and letting friends and neighbors pick what they wanted.



The lesson learned from Russell…Is you can’t help but worry……but give up, no. Russell did what he could do…..one thing he could do was tend to that patch of sweet corn….and by doing so brought much pleasure to so many.



Of course I think we all know that when life is a bit rocky we should have faith and do what we can do…but the lesson sinks deeper when we see someone actually doing it.



I am grateful the life lesson reminder… when times appear bleak and unpredictable ….“Do What You can Do”…. and I am also grateful for the corn.



Rain has since fallen on the fields around the county…I don’t know if it was enough…but Russell’s smile was much broader Sunday.



Love to all call if you need me