Take on Television

As a child growing up with Have Gun Will Travel, Lassie, My Friend Flicker, could I have imagined the programming that would be on television in the 21st century. Heck, I couldn’t even imagine the 21st century. One night devoted to a dude trying to find lasting love in a house filled with back stabbing women only to be followed by “the beautiful ones” so full of themselves it makes one smile when they fall. Then two hours watching people lose weight; almost as fun as watching paint dry. A night of Super Nanny traveling to homes to teach parents how to control their out of control children; hey, wait, maybe the nanny and the dog lady could team up; it is called discipline. Next, two women who swap houses and families for a few weeks; and the point would be what? No complaints from me about any of the Law and Orders, NCIS, Criminal Minds, the Mentalist, Without a Trace or the original CSI and finally the cable networks are putting out some pretty good programming too. Damages, The Closer, Saving Grace, and The First 48 to name a few but even A&E panders to the undereducated. Two hours of Dog the Bounty Hunter followed by the Exterminators; I promise it is a show about killing bugs, rodents and other pest and I just had a thought; maybe the Exterminators should come on first and exterminate Dog and clan, yeah, that would work then the show about tow trucks could follow dragging off the vehicles and sweeping up the trash. Let’s not forget the shows in which people subject themselves to all sorts of torturous things, Amazing Race, Survivor, just to win money. Finally on those nights when sleep eludes be careful channel surfing there is some really weird stuff on early in the mornings.
Hooray!! The street sweeper finally made an appearance on our street. Thank you streets and drains.
For two years running the Chef at Augustino’s has won the chef challenge. I have been itching to try his cuisine and the opportunity finally came this week. The restaurant has good atmosphere, the prices are a little high for the area and the wait staff is excellent. However I was sorely disappointed in the food. The meal started out with fresh bread to be dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar; very good. It took a while to make the decision on what to order but finally I order beef filet morsels with mushrooms, red onions a red wine sauce and a nest of angel hair pasta. My friend ordered the swordfish. The plate presentation was lovely and since you eat with your eyes first I was expecting something quite savory. With the exception of the red wine sauce nothing had any flavor. The filet morsels were cooked perfectly but they were hard to cut and a little tough. The pasta was totally tasteless and cold. My friend loved her swordfish.

Mississippi Gentleman

The Mississippi gentleman was back in town this week. Every time we meet I am more impressed by his genteel nature, his belief in the way things should still be done, his manners and his wealth of knowledge. Rarely do I like someone instantly but from the moment we first met I realized I was in the presence of a true gentleman. He is always impeccably dressed if not a little flamboyantly and I have yet to hear him utter a harsh word about anyone. He is considering making North Augusta his home; we would be lucky to have him if he does.
Ok, I have a confession to make. When I was growing up I swore I would never color my hair; I thought it vain and that it would be denying the fact that we age. I now color my hair but that was the extent of trying to make myself appear younger than my years. At least that was true until a month ago. One day I was walking into a store, looked up and saw someone staring back at me in the reflection and wondered just who that older looking person was until I realized it was me. My heart sank. My interior still feels young but my exterior is showing that is not true. Panic set in immediately. My mind raced for solutions knowing logically there were none but faced with what I saw in the mirror it still searched. Going under the knife is totally out of the question; not only is it cost prohibitive but I am a chicken. So I fell for a remedy on television which, of course, did not work, knew it wouldn’t work but followed the routine faithfully for three weeks; nothing, zip, nada, no improvement whatsoever. Thank goodness I can send it back and thank goodness I have come to my senses. I’m aging, I get it and I intend to make the best of it now.
How sad it was when I drove out to visit my friends at Artistic Floral only to discover a closed sign, everything boxed and ready to move out and no one waiting inside with a smile or a joke. I have no idea why they closed but it is sad that they did.
For a few weeks I have been trying to get the street sweeper to make a pass on our street. The first call I made resulted in a one time effort that only partially did the job. I called back and thanked them for that but since then he has ignored us. I have made another call with no results. Not only does it look bad but the amount of leaves and trash are running into the sewer system with every rain can’t be a good thing. I wonder what one has to do?

Bailout, Idiots and B&B

Remember when gas prices shot up to over $4.00 a gallon last fall? Remember what the news people kept telling us? Hurricane in the gulf shut down the supply lines therefore demand was higher than supply. Turns out that was all a big fabrication. Now focus on the bailout. Think of the financial institutions that have received our money because they were going broke. Turns out that is all a big fabrication too. Some very smart people have traced subsidiaries of these same financial groups to huge holdings and stockpiles of oil and those same groups are trading in oil futures that were driving the prices up; one day alone the price of a barrel jumped $25. 60 Minutes broke this story this past Sunday and I must admit when I heard this I was furious. There are individuals in our country on the verge of losing everything they have ever worked for yet our government in its infinite wisdom has seen fit to give our money to these institutions to “bail” them out of what? When do you think the citizens of the United States are going to start paying attention and say enough is enough?
I spent a little time at North Augusta’s newest B & B this week. Carolina Oaks (819 Carolina Avenue), owned by Rachel and Kenny Franklin, is a lovely example of what one would expect in a bed and breakfast. The Franklins have done a wonderful job of making this 1905 Victorian into a warm inviting place to visit. As you walk up to the entrance the first thing you notice is the front porch with its comfortable seating areas; just the place for an afternoon of reading or enjoying an iced tea in the sultry summer afternoon. Upon entering you are enveloped in the warmth of the large foyer. As you make your way in there is a very comfortable sitting room to the right adjoined by a spacious dining area with a fire burning in the fireplace. Immediately you feel comfortable and at home. Add to this the restored hardwood floors throughout the main floor you can’t help but want to sit a spell and soak in the ambiance or imagine the history. Upstairs there are three guest rooms that have been lovingly furnished just waiting for you, the guest, to unload your stresses and take in the tree top views.
Don’t you just love it when you go to a drive thru for anything; food, bank, or to pay a bill and the person in front of you wants to carry on a conversation with the window person or is on the phone or is so busy talking with the passenger that they just sit there when the transaction is complete? The best is when they change their mind and want something else instead of what they ordered thereby making everyone behind them wait while they decide. Either they have total disregard for anyone else or they do it on purpose; either way it drives me crazy.

Be Who You Are

Trash day after Christmas must be a boon for would be thieves. If they took the initiative to ride through the neighborhoods early on trash day, they would be privy to almost everything each particular household acquired new for Christmas. On Monday I noticed one house in particular that had received new Cuisinart appliances. Others along the route received expensive computer games, boom boxes and a myriad of other things that would make a would be thief extremely happy and they could bypass the houses that received nothing of interest. Just maybe a small preventative measure such as putting discarded boxes in opaque trash bags would be enough deterrence.
How lucky are we to be living across the river from little New York City? Of course it’s the dropping of the ball on New Years Eve that I am referring to. Until Wednesday night, thanks to a local news channel, I had never seen the thing up close and now I wish I had not; it is just so crudely made it is comical. Have you ever blown up a balloon then wrapped it in wire or something else stiff enough to hold shape then popped the balloon? Well that is what the ball looks like. If that were not bad enough, this year they decided it needed more lights but instead of stringing more of the same Christmas lights on it they used lights with white wires which stuck out like a sore thumb. Cheesy? I wonder how far it drops; 20 feet, 25 feet and people actually go watch it. Amazing.
Once again it is a New Year and with the New Year comes ads for diet pills, diet systems, exercise equipment, magical makeup that erases time from your face, and ads for all the online dating services. 99% of the population makes new years resolutions to address one or more of these problems every year and 94% fail in the first two weeks. We are reaching for the unrealistic; the magic pill so-to-speak. We do this because we are inundated with ads and social pressures to look a certain way, wear certain clothes or keep up with the latest trends in jewelry. Those 94% that fail will take it badly when in truth being who and what they are is all that really counts.

Super Santa

It was as if I was revisiting the opening of Wal-Mart when I made my way through the new Kroger. Little clusters of people standing in the aisles with carts in tow carrying on conversations with no regard to anyone else in the store. Others were walking around as if they did not live in the 21st century and had never seen a new full-service grocery store; mouths agape, eyes wide; like children at Disneyworld. Once past the gossip groups and looky loos it became evident that the new Kroger is some store. In the deli section I was most impressed by the olive stand that included pickled baby artichokes and the bulk section right next door. The produce was beautiful and there were things in that section you used to have to drive to the Fresh Market to find; baby bok choy, mushrooms in bulk were among some of the choices. It could be the time of year but even though the store is huge the aisles are packed with stuff making it a little difficult to maneuver. I also found some really good prices and some not so good prices however, if you take the time to walk around there are some excellent specials. All in all the new layout takes some getting used to and if you get the chance to go when there are fewer patrons, it is worth the time it takes to walk the aisles and find all the goodies.
When I was a little girl the approximate population of the U.S. was 149,188,130. The world population was approximately 2, 556,000,053. Eliminating those that did not celebrate Christmas and the fact that at that age my world consisted of Georgia with a vague understanding of the U.S., it seemed a simple task for Santa to make all of his rounds on Christmas Eve. At that age the scope of the miles he had to travel or the number of families he had to visit was beyond my understanding. At that age I probably did not care whether he made it to anywhere else. Think about it now. The population has more than tripled. Although the miles are the same the number of houses to visit each year are monumental and Santa is really old now as are his Reindeer; so how does he do it? It has always been unclear if he and Mrs. C had children that took over the family business but we know that Santa has emissaries all over the world. Not those street corner guys; they don’t fly but they do, in most cases, take what they collect to those who do and in this economy Santa needs all they collect. Santa reserves his flying for special events and has his emissaries do the rest. And if you still think the scope too big don’t worry, Santa has provided super sonic jets and giving people all over the world. However, he has reserved the most generous caring group of emissaries for North Augusta. They know who they are; they know the wonderful thing they did and all I can say is from the bottom of my heart; Thank you.

Irish Travelers (Gypsies)

South Carolina - Age of Consent Laws
The following information was taken directly from the South Carolina legislative website at http://www.scstatehouse.net/code/statmast.htm



SC CONSTITUTION SECTION 33. Age of consent. -- No unmarried woman shall legally consent to sexual intercourse who shall not have attained the age of fourteen years. (1999 Act No. 3, Section 1, eff. February 16, 1999)
Editors Note: Although the AOC in South Carolina is hard coded into the constitution, state statutes specify criminality for sexual conduct under the age of 16.

SECTION 16-15-140. Committing or attempting lewd act upon child under sixteen.

It is unlawful for a person over the age of fourteen years to willfully and lewdly commit or attempt a lewd or lascivious act upon or with the body, or its parts, of a child under the age of sixteen years, with the intent of arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust or passions or sexual desires of the person or of the child.

A person violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be fined in the discretion of the court or imprisoned not more than fifteen years, or both.
Yet, only a few miles up the road it is common practice for 13 year old girls to have babies. These same girls are then taken by their parents to the department that issues food stamps, Medicaid, monetary assistance and what ever else there is to get and no one says a word or reports to authorities that these 13 yr olds, who had to be around 12 at the time of conception, have given birth which, under any law is sexual child abuse and statutory rape. To top that, which I admit is hard to do, when these families go to these departments they drive up in new Mercedes, Cadillacs or Range Rovers dripping in diamonds, Gucci shoes and designer clothes obtained on their last shopping trip to New York. The newborns have mink coats, diamonds, designer baby clothes and yes, baby Gucci heels. After obtaining what ever assistance they can scam out of the South Carolina and U.S. government, which is ultimately paid by you and me, they drive home to multi-million dollar houses. What is wrong with this picture?
Always a week late on events these days but I wanted to comment on the Christmas parade. The band was great, the horses, as always, are one of my favorites, Santa in the ladder bucket was ingenious but I had one question; if all the fire trucks were in the parade and piled with people, what would happen if there was a fire?

Last Christmas

Better late than never I suppose, to hope that everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Most of my neighbors went away for the holiday. The few that stayed around were visited by friends and family and from the sound of things they all had a wonderful time. It was enjoyable to watch and listen to the laughter.
For the past twelve years I have spent the two weeks before Christmas baking. Last year, when I was working twelve and fourteen hour days and most weekends, I made the time to bake. Usually in June or July I will sit down and go through my recipes, old and new, and decide what will come out of my kitchen at Christmas. Not only do the recipes get chosen but I start purchasing the non-perishable ingredients over the months leading up to the baking weeks. Chocolate and some of the other ingredients are expensive so buying them over a period of time or catching things on sale helped tremendously. Unfortunately there will be no baking this year and it breaks my heart. I had made my list of recipes and products to purchase when my job ran out but I did not worry because I was sure another would come along; wrong. This year my twelve year tradition has fallen by the wayside. You are probably wondering what the big deal is. Well the big deal is that for the past twelve years all the baking I have done has gone one place; North Augusta Public Safety. No one asked me to do it, it just sort of happened one year and I have done it ever since. I do it because they put themselves on the line for us everyday with little thanks and my gifts of baked goods are a small way to say thank you for making me feel safe. I have apologized to them for not being able to do it this year and even though they do not ask for it I still feel sad about not being able to.
This time of year is geared to family. Every commercial, sappy happily ever after movie, cooking show and soap opera shows family gatherings, joyous Christmas mornings and fun parties all with smiling family and friends. What happens to the single people with limited or no family this time of year? These people sometimes go into deep depressions believing that there is no one out there that cares about them at all. The suicide rate climbs during the holidays. Take the time to let your single neighbor or someone you know who is alone, that you care about them. For all the joys this time of year brings to you take a few minutes out of your hectic life to make a difference in their lives. Who knows, you may just save someone’s life. At the very least you may make someone smile.