Category Archives: Uncategorized

forsythia1

Originally uploaded by Thirdlayer.

Well, almost. The forsythia hedge blooms early, and usually I can get a couple of photos with snow on the blossoms, so we can have some cold weather yet.

I cut the forsythia to the ground every second year so that it grows long wands and does not get too dense or acquire dead stems. It is in it’s second year, so some of the wands are 15 feet or longer. More photos on the Flickr page!

DSCN3860

Originally uploaded by Thirdlayer.

We took several photos of the cloud formations around Cumberland Gap on January 20th.

Christmas Cactus again 1

Originally uploaded by Thirdlayer.

Well, it just keeps blooming. That is why I just keep photographing it. Simple as that, really. No big deal.

flowers

Originally uploaded by Thirdlayer.

I was in South Carolina recently for the funeral of Carl’s uncle, Herschel Glenwood (“Glen”) Williams. When I was working on my M.Ed., I collected interviews from people who attended or taught in one-room or small schools in southwest Virginia, and Glen gave me one of the best descriptions of a small school that I found in my research.

This is a bit of history that Glen recorded for us.

Peach_Tree

Originally uploaded by Sarah Williams.

Of course I don’t get tired of watching my plants grow through the seasons and taking photos of them!

The peach tree has a fair number of peaches this year. The white planter has three grapefruit tree seedlings that are about two or three years old. It was on the bannister above. A thunderstorm last night with some strong wind knocked the planter off, and I found it this morning, upright and unharmed, sitting under the peach tree.

Millie

Originally uploaded by Sarah Williams.

This is Mildred all tired out after a long session of ignoring me.

In an AP story published in the Bristol Herald Courier on Friday 6/17 related to yesterday’s post, Houston lawyer Bruce Shortt (a sponsor of the proposal to encourage Southern Baptists to take their children out of public schools) is quoted as saying that “churches should look into whether schools are teaching acceptance of homosexuality”:

“Much of this is deceptively labeled as anti-bullying, diversity, safe schools, AIDS/HIV awareness,” Shortt said. “For those who care to investigate, homesexual activists with their agenda are moving through the public schools like freight trains. It’s a problem I think too many denomination leaders don’t understand.”

According to the AP story, Bobby Welch, SBC President and a Daytona Beach Florida pastor, does not support the proposal. He says:

I believe that public schools offer the greatest mission field….We are put on this planet as change agents. It seems contrary to me we would draw back from the opportunity to make a change. Public schools are a great place to make a difference.”

The story also quotes Robert Parham, executive director of the nonprofit Baptist Center for Ethics:

[Parham] said many SBC leaders fear a backlash from public school teachers and an “awakening within churches about the extremism of their world view.”

Does this mean that he believes that the ordinary lay member Southern Baptist should sleep on and not trouble their mind about what the church is doing? Or that the Southern Baptist public school teachers (of whom there are many) might not like being called “godless”? He continues:

“These SBC leaders who are resisting the resolutions engage in the worst sort of moral duplicity,” Parham said. “They oppose the anti-public school resolutions while they send their own children to Christian academies or homeschools.”

Working around the multiple negatives of opposing the anti-public school resolution being a moral duplicity, it appears he believes that the resolution should be supported in spite of the risk of awakening and backlash.
This is going to be an interesting conversation.

Okay, the Southern Baptists are shrinking away to nothing, their children leaving the church in droves, as liberal education leads them astray. No, wait. I heard they were growing by leaps and bounds, controlling more and more areas of business and politics — even elected one of their own to the highest office in the country, where he has appointed other like-minded faithful to high offices.
It occurs to me that there may be two realities, and I am caught in one of those Star Treck episodes with a parallel universe….
<a href="http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040511-111759-5766r.htm&quot;
Southern Baptists eye exiting public schools By Julia Duin in THE WASHINGTON TIMES

A resolution urging Southern Baptists to remove their children from public schools has been proposed by an Alexandria man for the denomination’s annual convention in Indianapolis next month.
Thomas C. Pinckney, a retired Air Force brigadier general and former second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Bruce Shortt, a Houston lawyer, co-submitted the resolution on April 29.
“It dawned on us that academics were going downhill,” said Mr. Pinckney, who edits the monthly Baptist Banner newspaper, which he said has a circulation of 20,000. “That was the beginning of our awakening.”
The resolution urges Southern Baptists to “remove their children from all government schools and see to it they receive a thoroughly Christian education.” It also instructs the denomination, which is the nation’s largest non-Catholic sect at 16.2 million members, to “counsel parents regarding their obligation to provide their children with a Christian education.”
It notes that public school students receive “an anti-Christian education,” that public schools teach the acceptance of homosexuality and that student-run clubs friendly to homosexuals are spreading in public schools.
Quoting a biblical passage comparing children to “arrows in the hands of a warrior,” the resolution notes: “Just as it would be foolish for the warrior to give his arrows to his enemies, it is foolish for Christians to give their children to be trained in schools run by the enemies of God.”

If SBC’s Resolutions Committee decides to present the resolution to the full convention (June 15-16), it will need a simple majority to pass. If the committee rejects it, Mr. Pinckney can still introduce it on the floor, but it would need a two-thirds majority vote to pass.

He [Mr. Pinckney] said many Christian parents eventually will boycott public schools.
“Some public schools are doing a good job, as are some teachers who are Christians,” he said. “But they are in a system that is officially and legally godless.”

Mildred_2

Originally uploaded by Sarah Williams.

This is a photo of Mildred ignoring me. She does not pay much attention to me unless she wants brushed, wants the water turned on in the bathtub, wants Arby’s roast beef (her favorite food) or, of course,if I am sitting in her chair. If I am nearby and she thinks I might want the chair, she makes it a point not to notice me, even if I have the camera.

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