Hero’s life seems stuck
Unanswered questions abound—
Pausing, writer’s block
Feeling overworked
Watching over eager lad—
Guardian angel
Running to the bus
Excited for his school day—
Pizza pie for lunch
A constitution, as important as it is, will mean nothing unless the people are yearning for liberty and freedom.
Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot love.
From Job 1:20-22: “Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped. He said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.”
This is the second post of a relatively new feature here at Big Sky Buckeye. Every couple of months or so different snapshots about the Buckeye State of Ohio will be featured.
The month of October brings images of bountiful harvests and the pumpkin patch as found in the memorable comic strip “Peanuts.” In central Ohio, the month also means the annual Circleville Pumpkin Show is approaching.
The Pride of Pickaway County is billed as the “Greatest Free Show on Earth.” Sadly, this year’s celebration has been cancelled because of Covid-19, but let’s still check out this festive event.
“The Pumpkin Show” was first held in October, 1903. From its humble beginnings, it started out primarily with displays of corn fodder as well as pumpkins cut out as Jack-o-Lanterns. Now the show has grown into the sixth largest festival in the United States.
Yearly features include traditional favorites:
Over four days and nights, nearly 400,000 people attend, with free admission. Circleville, with a population of about 14,000, really pulls together to make this event the success which it has become. The annual celebration has been continuously held every year except for three years during World War II.
Numerous contests are organized every year around a harvest theme as well as the star of the show . . . pumpkins!
The show begins on the third Wednesday of October and runs through Sunday. Local community groups and charities provide food vendors as a way to raise funds for their causes. If a person wants something uniquely made with pumpkin, he or she has come to the right place.
From James 5:11: “Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
Totally unexpected, overwhelming
Lingering cracks appearing along life’s road
Tripping, stumbling, and finally crashing down
Shattering confidence, from life’s heavy load
Floundering, drowning . . . caught in river’s rapids
Endlessly swimming, lost at pool’s deepest end
Feet never finding firm ground, dour fear arrives
Replacing life’s daylight with night at each bend
Life’s turbulence teaches us lasting patience
With the Lord, with ourselves, and with life’s curve balls
Fumbling life’s slippery game ball once again
God’s love sends patience after every fall
Endurance of Job, life’s journey shall require
Living with patience, frees us from each briar
From Galatians 5:22-25: “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.”
Don’t you try and go through lie worried if someone had liked you or not. You best make sure that they are doing right by you.
One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can’t utter. [James Earl Jones struggled with stuttering in his youth.]
Morning
Internet outage
Experiencing suspended animation
Blank screen stares back
Stuck
Perfection
Constantly searching
Patience wearing thin
Never will be content
Impossible
Always
Forgiving everything
Kind and compassionate
Never holding a grudge
Puppy
This series of poems (written in the German-inspired style of Elfchen or Elevenie) shares a total of eleven words in each poem, with a sequence by line of one, two, three, four, and one words.
In December, 1989, the Romanian Revolution ignited with passion which would no longer wait in silence. The rest of the Eastern Bloc countries under Soviet influence had already experienced peaceful change from communist dictatorships. Under Nicolae Ceausescu’s harsh leadership, Romania was the final holdout as the democratic wave of freedom blitzed across Eastern Europe. This poem shares some of this revolution’s story.
Ruthless, authoritarian rule controls the cards
Harsh, brutal regime crushes dissenting voices
Quietness hides the remaining, burning embers
Daily life conceals wounds, offering few choices
Citizens endure lack of even the basic needs
Challenging days, facing endless heartbreak
Darkest days of winter, hunger and little heat
Voices stifled, experiencing numbing heartache
Freedom routed, plummeting to rock bottom
System of repression forcefully controls lives
Defiant opposition, beaten down to nothing
Dictator’s untruths cover up with empty lies
Scattering of small voices continues to speak out
Smoldering protests fueled with hungry passion
Government crackdowns to silence any dissent
Voices growing bolder, backed with compassion
Massive protests ignite courage in a distant city
“Timisoara” becomes a rallying cry for liberation
Unexpectedly, dark and evil house of cards folds
Season of change witnesses rebirth of a nation
God forbid that the day should ever come when, in the American mind, the thought of man as a consumer shall submerge the old American thought of man as a creature of God, endowed with unalienable rights.
The path of progress is seldom smooth. New things are often found hard to do. Our fathers found them so. We find them so. But are we not made better for the effort and sacrifice?
The decade of the 1960’s brought many new gadgets, tools, and toys into stores across America and around the world. Some of these products still exist today in their original form or with a modern update. All images are courtesy of Pinterest.
Kodak Instamatic 104 Camera
Barbie Doll
Uncle Milton’s Ant Farm
Sunbeam Mixmaster
Etch-a-Sketch
West Bend Flavo-Matic
Chatty Cathy
I hope you enjoyed a journey back in time. I imagine some of you used one or more of these products. Do you have any other gadgets or toys from the 60’s that you remember?
Big Sky Buckeye 