Goodbye Carolina and Hello Again Sunshine State.

The hardest day was when I left my beloved North Carolina Mountains and went back to The Sunshine State (Florida) to live.  It has been 5 years now and I am finally accepting it was the best decision to make. 

Wishing I Could Go Back

(I wrote this back in 2010 and it has stood the test of time for me.)

I wish I could go back

In the summer when I was a little girl growing up on Arch Street it was grand.  After dinner and after the dishes had all been washed and put away all the grown ups would go out to their respective porches.  If they didn't have a big porch they'd sit on the stoop (as it was called).  The men would be smoking their cigars or cigarettes (it was long before we knew they could kill us). The mothers or grandmothers would be in their house dresses. Some even had their hair already set in pin curls.  The kids would be playing hopscotch, jump rope or with their rubber balls or hula hoops.  Suddenly all at once each kid heard the bell or the music of the ice cream man.  In our neighborhood it was Mr. Softee. I don't think I have to this day tasted any better soft serve vanilla ice cream than what I got at Mr. Softee's truck.  All the kids would sit on the curb comparing notes on who got what and who would get something different the next night.  I didn't know then but it was quite a budget stretch for my parents back then to give me that nickle or dime for the ice cream man.  My mom and dad were great.  After we were done consuming our treats we would go back to playing with our sticky hands and faces.  Then it would get dark and the lightning bugs would come out.  We would run around and scream as each of us caught one. Usually the girls would let them go but most of the boys would squish them on the pavement to see the "lightning magic goo".  Oh I wish I could go back to that time for just a little bit.

I Am Disgusted With Puritanical Thinking

With disgust, I have been reading the stories in the news about Arizona’s anti gay laws.   Now the Governor of Florida,  Rick Scott, is fumbling over his words that he too would endorse such laws in the Sunshine State.   Because he is running for re-election, the good governor is trying to work both sides of the fence and will now not say if he does or if he doesn’t feel the asinine anti gay law is good for his state.   What has happened to this country?   Have we slipped back several centuries into the puritanical mentality of old New England?   I recently discovered that one of my “very” great great grandfather emigrated from England and settled in Cape Cod.   He was a Quaker minister and along with his sons set about to see to the spiritual needs of the other Quakers who had settled there.   In less than a year, he was driven out (probably with the threat of being tarred and feathered) by the Puritans who called him blasphemous.     His family ended up in New Bern, NC where he established the first Quaker church in that area.   Because he believed differently  than one group he was prevented from his peaceful ways.   Obviously he was different you see and was a threat to the pure perfect thinking of the Puritans.   Fast forward to 2014 and I am waiting to see certain elected officials of Arizona and Florida don the costume of the Puritans.  Oh can’t you just see them in those big black hats, white collars and basic black clothes.  According to one of this country’s  more  important documents all men  and I should hope women are created equal.   I am appalled that some holier than thou business owner has involved politicians in the political quagmire that would prevent my son, your son or daughter from their lawful rights as given to them when they were born into this country.   So Mr. Businessman if you want to be a prejudice ass and refuse service to men and women you deem “unclean” I guess that is your right.   I’m sure in time you will have your select few of cronies that will come in order their coffee and give you a minimal income.   I resent you thinking that you can insist on creating laws which will send this country back into a period like the Jim Crow laws.   Shame on the politicians and the narrow minded citizens who think by enacted laws there should be two separate standards.   I for one, want nothing to do with you, your not so special business or your throwback politicians.  But don’t think the people of this country are so blasé that we will let you and your simple minded elected officials send us back to the dark times where people were burned at the stake just because they are not a carbon copy of you.

AUTUMN HAS ENTERED THE BUILDING

I love Autumn from it's golden sunlight to the changing of the wardrobe of the trees.  At this moment, Sept. 23, Autumn has only put its' toe in the door.    The nights here in the mountain are cooler.  We need a light blanket to make sleep cozy.   The daytime sun is warm but not overbearing.   Here and there trees are beginning to get color.  One leaf at a time they start the process of changing their dress.   Woolly worms have appeared with their black and rust fuzzy bands.   We all look to our little visitors to predict the coming Winter.   The black stripes' width predict a bad winter while as the rust colors tell the weeks of mild weather.   At this point I would like to find an all rust woolly worm.  I try to push the thought of the coming  long cold Winter from my mind.   Instead,   I begin to make a checklist of all tasks which must be done before the cold blast comes across the valley.   Today though, I will take a break and enjoy the golden sunshine of Autumn.

Put Our Money Where It Is Needed

I'm am so tired of the arguments over gun control. Yes I believe we need to have better regulations on who buys a gun. Does this mean take all guns off the market, NO. It means have better checks and balances to check out the person buying the gun, making sure they go through gun safety classes, background checks. I don't believe we should have our right to bear arms stripped from us. I truly believe the problem isn't the guns it is our Country's lack of care for the mentally ill. No I didn't jump the rail and go to a different subject. Our government needs to make the effort to restore affordable psychological care, both outpatient and inpatient, to  our mentally ill and their families. Parents and caregivers of mentally ill adults have nowhere to turn. Oh if the mentally ill person physically hurts the parent they can turn to the local police but then what happens? The person is removed from the house, perhaps put in a cell for a night or a hospital room and then put back on the street where they can return to the parents/caregivers home. I know that our mental hospitals of the first part of the last century were just warehouses and that is not my solution.  Funds need to be appropriated and funneled into a health care system where the mentally ill can live and receive treatment instead,  of  wasting time and money on gun control hearings and other crap such as whether they should build a bridge to nowhere. Hopefully with help, they can be assimilated back into  society and return to their family. At least they won't be turned out onto the streets. Insanity and guns are a very deadly combination we have learned this lesson  all too many times this past year. Stop pointing the fingers and fix the problem.

What I Might or Might Not Write About

This blog isn't about cutesy pictures of animals, chain letters that if you don't email 5 katrillion people your Aunt Sarah will be hit by a four legged bus or games.  It is my outlet for my rants and ravings that Twitter can not accommodate.  When I write I let the words flow and I do not like error messages saying I only have 3 more characters left.  I pour my words out until there is nothing left not even a drop of what point I was trying to make.  I had two wonderful teachers especially Mrs. Johnson who encouraged me to write.  I never made a profession out of it much to my regret.  So let's get on with it.  Some of my rantings will be about what I see or hear in the news.  We used to call it Current Events.  But it sure won't be limited to that.