Newspaper Page Text
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SATURDAY,
FEBRUARY 10, 2007
WR play
opening
Warner Robins Little
Theatre is opening
Twain by the Tale
Friday.
If you are a Mark Twain
fan, you won’t want to miss
this evening of theatre which
will bring to life the unpre
dictable wit and timeless
percep
tions of
the great
humorist.
Done in
the Story
Theatre
and
Thurber
Carnival
form,
some of
Twain’s
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Jane Winston
The Left Rail
favorite targets will be laid
bare: bigots and bureau
crats, monarchs and moral
ists, cowardly duelists and
frustrated suitors.
You will also experience
Twain’s unreserved, razor
sharp thoughts on friend
ship, vice, good breeding and
politicians.
The play, directed by vet
eran Fred Hardin, opens
Friday and runs through
March 3. Call the theatre at
929-4570 for more informa
tion.
Good people in our
world
As I sit writing this week’s
column there is a crew of
four men in my attic “shor
ing” up my roof.
Now, the roof didn’t cave
nor did I even realize any
thing was wrong, but the
builder caught me out in
front one day and said, “Miss
Jane, your roof is bowing in,
and we are going to come
fix it.”
And they are, and, to my
way of thinking, she, Judy
Ross, didn’t need to even
mention it, as I didn’t even
know anything was wrong!
Good people.
First Tuesday book
club
And as they are “shoring
up” my roof, I am going off
to my book club where the
discussion will be about The
Known World, a Pulitzer
Prize winning novel, writ
ten by Edward P Jones. I
have not finished it as it is a
difficult read but well worth
the effort.
“In his daring and ambi
tious novel, Jones weaves a
footnote of history into an
epic that takes an unflinch
ing look at slavery in all of
its moral complexities.”
I am a voracious reader,
and most novels I can read in
bits and pieces prior to fall
ing asleep and capture the
essence of it to my degree of
satisfaction.
Not so with The Known
World, and that is why
belonging to a book club is
so rewarding, I am forced to
read fiction and non-fiction
works that I would not usu
ally pick up to read!
Houston Peach
Community Read
The coming five days are
your last opportunity to
have your say in just what
book you are going to join
the community in reading.
Visit www.aauwwrga and
vote for the book of your
choice.
Once you have voted wait
for the announcement of the
winning novel and secure
your copy so you can join in
this Giant Book Club!
Southernness
One book club mem
ber must think I need to
become more “Southern,”
as she sent me an email on
Southernness.
Now she needn’t think for
a minute I am going to fall
a party to any of it and
start saying fixin’, all y’all,
Addlanta, bless your heart,
rivuh and crick, shugah,
Chawl’stn, cook up a mess
and furthermore I will not
enroll in the Southerneness
See WINSTON, page 108
Peach painters raise funds for DDM
Special to the Journal
The Georgia Peach
Painters is a chapter of
the Society of Decorative
Painters, and was orga
nized locally in 1996. The
Georgia Peach Painters
are a group of decorative
artists of various levels,
working together to edu
cate themselves and others
about the art of decorative
painting. Their meetings
are held bi-monthly with
the first meeting of this
year is planned for Feb. 17
at the First Christian
Church in Perry.
The Georgia Peach
Painters paint a project
after each meeting and
have various types of class
es with various skill levels
throughout the year.
This year, as part of their
community involvement
program, they chose to sup
_rT ~ r W
ENI Gary Harmon
Clinchfield Postmaster Sue Davidson is making the most of the new Hershey Kiss postage stamp.
Post office offers new Hershey Kiss stamp
Special to the Journal
It’s time for Valentines
and chocolate kisses.
The U.S. Postal Service
and Hershey’s have joined
together to celebrate the
10lH 1 year of chocolate
kisses with a postage stamp
A porch is God’s gift to a troubled soul
One of the problems
with the world -
just one, mind you
- is that people don’t do
enough porch sitting any
more. In fact, it is a trend
these days to forego porch
es and settle for patios and
decks.
The problem with that is
there is no roof so it’s not
inviting and comfortable to
sit in the glaring sun and
touch nature or the inside
corners of your soul.
Porches provide those
moments for settling down
into a comfortable rocker,
feeling a fresh breeze rip
ple across your skin, hear
ing nature’s sounds and
watching squirrels as they
scamper from limb to limb.
It is calming and pure.
A porch, I have decided,
is God’s gift to a troubled
soul.
W’hen I was designing
my house, I was firm with
the architect, “In addition
to the front porch, I want
a back porch that runs the
full length of the house.”
From the beginning,
every visitor has stepped
out on the back porch,
breathed a deep sigh drawn
from a yearning for quiet
ness in a hectic, screaming
world and said, “This is
Lifestyle
port the Heart of Georgia
Developmental Disabilities
Ministries, Inc., which is
raising funds to build a
home for the developmen
tally disabled.
The group painted a car
ousel horse with a design
of roses done in peach,
took donations and held a
drawing at their December
meeting.
“With this effort we were
able to contribute just over
SBSO to the Heart of GA
DDM,” said member Cindi
Taylor,” We are delighted
that we can help this won
derful organization and
hope that we can do more
in the future.”
If you are interested in
painting with the group
or learning more about
decorative painting con
tact Cindi Taylor at
dcbjtaylor(o cox.net.
that’s perfect for mailing
Valentines.
You can buy the stamps
now at any post office, but
Postmaster Sue Davidson
is making a special promo
tion of them, and having
fun at the same time.
Drop by the Clinchfield
the best part of the entire
house.”
And, it is.
I spend every possible
moment on that back porch
with a book, a cup of coffee
or my
laptop.
It is the
place
where
my soul
gently
releases
its best
words
for the
stories
I weave.
Ronda Rich
Columnist
It is there that I can lean
my head against the rocker
and travel back in time to
the porches of my child
hood.
The front porch on my
Maw-maw’s little house in
the mountains looked out
over a hard dirt front yard
that she kept immaculate
ly clean with an old broom.
Every day or so, she swept
her front yard.
Sometimes when I fret
over the aggravation of a
lawn, I think how the old
mountain folks had the
right idea - all dirt and no
grass or weeds.
More often than not,
yard birds - usually a cou-
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Contributed
Cindi Taylor, left, of Georgia Peach Painters recently presented a check to Heart of
Georgia Developmental Disabilities Ministries. From left are DDM members Shirley
Randall, Hulda Cook, Judy Johnston and Audrey Glance
Post Office, and in addi
tion to buying stamps, you
can guess how many candy
kisses are in the candy
jar and win a collectible
Hershey Bear.
Second place prize will be
the chocolate kisses.
pie of hens and a rooster
- would peck at the ground
and sauntered around with
an imperial air of being the
kingdom’s rulers.
We grandkids would
dash in from church on
summer Sundays, throw
on our swim suits, grab
old inner tubes and head
down to the swimming
hole for hours of laughter
and splashes.
We’d walk back, trailing
river drops then arriving
to find Daddy, still wearing
his Sunday best, sitting in
an old creaky rocker that
my grandfather had pieced
together, having conver
sation with other family.
Sometimes they debated
the Bible, other times
they talked of a sky that
wouldn’t rain or the rising
cost of getting by.
At my childhood home,
there is a sweet porch that,
though not large, is roomy
enough.
Decades ago, Mama
planted roses there and
Daddy stretched wire from
one end to another so that
she could train the climb
ing roses to run the length
of the porch.
They were magnificent.
In the spring, hundreds of
red roses would lay their
JMk %,
beauty in the bosom of
that porch.
Once, I tried to count
them but gave up when I
got to 300.
I strung beans, shelled
peas and read Gone With
The Wind in the glider on
that porch, now shaded by
a huge maple tree. There
were times that Mama and
I just sat there quietly and
watched the occasional
cars ramble by.
In a time not too far
passed, I stood at the door
and watched Daddy in a
rocker on that porch as the
afternoon sun streamed
over his head and he fought
valiantly, though in vain,
to hold back death’s call.
I guess all porches have
both happy and sad memo
ries.
In all honesty, porches
can’t solve the world’s
problems of war, famine
and disease.
But they can soothe a
troubled soul.
And that, if you ask me,
is worth pulling up a rock
er and sitting down.
Ronda Rich is the best
selling author of What
Southern Women Know
(That Every Woman
Should) and The Town
That Came A-Courtin’.
SECTION
7B
Couple
plans
trips for
groups
A local couple, Franki
and David Hodge, of
Centerville, have been
“making wonderful memo
ries with wonderful people”
for the past 17 months trav
eling throughout the local
area as well as in other
states.
Franki and David have been
married for almost 39 years
and have lived in Houston
County since August 1975
when both began working as
civilian employees at Robins
Air Force Base.
The couple retired from
the base in 2002 and imme-
diat e 1 y
began
traveling
as often as
possible.
Over the
years they
thorough
ly enjoyed
traveling
through
out the
country
whenever
Melanie Lewis
Columnist
Houston Springs
opportunities arose in both
their professional and per
sonal lives.
In September 2005, a few
friends from the Centerville
Senior Citizens group decid
ed they wanted to travel to
Blue Ridge and ride the Blue
Ridge Scenic Railroad to
McCaysville and Copper Hill
Tenn. They were unsure
how to make arrangements
- so Franki volunteered to
do the research and set up
the trip ( she was expecting a
caravan of two or three cars
to Blue Ridge with just these
friends).
As these couples began
talking about the trip to
their friends and neigh
bors word began to travel
around Warner Robins and
Centerville.
Before Franki and David
realized it, the “friends”
trip grew to 88 people and
two motor coaches and the
Middle Georgia Memory
Makers was formed. The
response to their trips since
then has been tremendous
and they enjoy sharing their
experiences with other peo
ple.
Since that trip, MGMM
has now completed 24 other
trips to such Georgia desti
nations as the new Georgia
Aquarium, Fox Theatre, 14th
Street Playhouse, Savannah,
Warm Springs, Colquitt,
Madison, Americus, Plains,
and Callaway Gardens.
The group has also trav
eled to Niagara Falls;
See LEWIS, page 108