Sharman Burson Ramsey's Blog, page 28

Thoughts on Marriage from the Perspective of 45 years.

"The love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay because love isn’t love until you give it away."

God has taught me a few things that I will share from the perspective of 45 years of marriage. November 8, 1969. Jan Moseley, Robert Grimes, Martha McCarty, Bill Ramsey, Rondi Bates, Rick Williams, Gail Tyson, Randy Pierce, Doug Moseley, Yancey Nowlin, Dick Moseley, Debbie Spann, John Thomas, Pam Thuss, Ed Ramsey Patt McLauchlin (out of the picture) Georgianna Grand, Sylvia Burson, Sharman Burson Ramsey, Joel Ramsey, Elkanah Burson, Philip Ramsey1.     Never give up. You may remember singing the song:
Here am I, Send me Lord
Here am I, Send me Lord
Make my live useful to thee. 
He sent you. The man/woman you chose, the home you made, the children/ grandchildren born or adopted are your very first and most personal mission. Not farthest Africa. Or the Rescue Mission down the street. Or the church you attend. If things are not right in your home, you are not right. By realizing that you have put God first.

Sharman and Joe Ramsey
 2.     The children in that home were not sent to you alone. No one will love those children like their own father or mother. There are exceptions to this, but they are anomalies.
3.     When you don’t feel love, let God love through you.  There are three types of love: eros (sexual that brings you together), filios (companionable love, friendship) and agape (when you CANNOT love you must let God love through you). Pray for the love. And then follow His command and “Walk believing you have received it and you shall have it.” That means act as if you love and the love will come back. Greet your loved one with a kiss. Fix their favorite meal.
4.     If you become bored with your home and can’t afford something new, don’t take it out on your spouse. Be proactive and not reactive. Money is not the answer to everything. Rearrange your furniture. It makes everything look and feel new. Check out a new cookbook from the library and become a better cook. Learn something new. Take up gardening. Be creative around your home and build your nest.

Gail Tyson, Rondi Bates, Jan Moseley, Martha McCarty, Pam Thuss, Debbie Spann, Patt McLaughlin, Sylvia Burson, Georgianna Grand
Robert Grimes, Rick Williams, Ed Ramsey, Dick Moseley, Bill Ramsey, John Thomas, Doug Moseley, Randy Pierce, Philip Ramsey must have been seating someone 5.    Develop friendships so you are not dependent upon your spouse for your total emotional support. It’s also fun to have “news” to bring back home and share. The caveat here is in your choice of friends. Choose friends that help you be the best you can be. Unfortunately, there are those who might want you to jump into their own situation just so they will have company there.

 6.     Don’t hold grudges. What example are you setting for your children? Does a parent's example not matter any more? Has "if it feels good do it!" become the new Commandment that replaces the former Ten? If you’re not happy, it must be your spouse's fault? Is the answer really to throw the other person away? You’re still stuck with yourself and you will probably be living with more problems than before:  financial, social, dating men/women who may not have the paternal/maternal attitude toward your children that will provide a secure home for those precious children God entrusted to your care. Will the problem of today really matter next week or two years from now?

Keep your eyes on the prize-- holding grandchildren and looking beyond them to the same man/woman who held their mother or father, the one who sacrificed so they would have the best chances life could offer.  Those babies are the reason you were born – not your contribution the GDP.  “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” will be the reward.
Joel Ramsey and son, Andrew Ramsey (9 pounds 9 oz)
  
7.     Keep a thankful spirit. Remember the good. Forget the bad. See your life as half full and not half empty. Give friends and family leeway. God isn’t finished with any of us yet. Most of us are doing the best we can with the situations of life and ability that we must deal with. Realize that some are more capable of demonstrating their love than are others. They may be less articulate in verbalizing feelings and expect you to see their love in their actions- their fidelity and support.

Sylvia Burson, Jean Gillis Burson, Sharman Burson  Dr. E. G. Burson, Jr. and Sharman Burson with Jan Moseley, Martha McCarty and Patt McLaughlin     8.     It is a spouse’s, friend’s, parent’s, child’s responsibility to bring out the good in the ones God has entrusted to them. Encourage and support the best in the ones you love. As we become older, we realize that God doesn’t just give children to the parents, but the parent to the child. It is just as important for the child to love, pray for and support the parent entrusted to them as it is for the parent to love, pray for and support the child. Remain prayerful and wait for God to do the work He has begun in those He has placed in your charge. 
Joel and Sharman Ramsey with Reverend Paul Duffey, First United Methodist Church, Dothan, Alabama

 9.     “You will teach these things to your sons and your sons’ sons.” If you have chosen to follow God, don’t be a hypocrite about the vows you took or think you can retire. There is no more important job than to make sure each of your little ones know the pathway to Heaven. Life has a death sentence. The end comes to us all at different times. Some earlier than others. Like a military mission. So rather than cling to length, embrace the challenge of making the moment count. I think of the teachers at Sandyhook who heroically put themselves in front of their students. Though brief, those lives held meaning and purpose. They were true heroes. Can mothers and fathers do less for their own children in their everyday life?  
A wedding is a Sacrament, a Holy moment, during which vows are exchanged and a family begins. Somehow along the way we've lost sight of that fact and we have gotten lost in the party. Is the honor of a man/woman so much less important now than in the past? We in the South believe that a man's word is his bond. Is business more important than marriage?

"I could not love thee dear so much, loved I not honor more." Richard Lovelace, "To Lucasta Going to the Wars"

Honor matters.




10. The grass always looks greener on the other side. If only… can make you totally miserable. You have life and breath. Embrace the family that God entrusted to you, the friends with whom you are blessed … and speak your love.

Because love isn’t love till you give it away.
45 years later Steven Butterworth, Cecily Butterworth, Mike Evans, Brooke Evans and Molly, Drew Ramsey, Brittany Ramsey and Sam, Megan Evans, Sharman Ramsey, Joe Ramsey, George Ramsey, and Lily Butterworth
Thank you, God. I am so blessed.“Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made. Our times are in His hand who saith, 'A whole I planned, youth shows but half; Trust God: See all, nor be afraid!” Robert Browning

A Puppy Love ASPCA Fundraiser

Col. Thomas Rushing and TudorThe ASPCA (Dothan Humane Society) held its annual fundraiser on November 1, 2014 at the home of Col. Thomas and Dr. Sylvia Burson Rushing in Spann Farm in Dothan, Alabama. Inspired by their love for their own two Yorkies, Tudor and Moses, Tom and Sylvia were a natural fit to host such an event. You see Tom cuddling Tudor in the picture to the left. MooMoo, below, is ten years old and follows Sylvia everywhere.  Moses (a.k.a.MOOMOO) Rushing

Tudor Rushing  Ellen Webber sets up the appetizers

In spite of the sudden cold spell that kept the large number of people who attended inside, the flickering flames in the fireplaces added warmth to the casual, well-attended evening.

Brian Hart entertained on the guitar Segrid Gale served as organizer and members of the board all participated. Humane Society members contributed appetizers (served in the kitchen) and desserts (dining room) while delicious barbecue, grilled chicken and all the fixins were served buffet style in the garage.




Cecily Ramsey Butterworth with Aunt Sylvia Burson Rushing, a guest and Rebecca Suggs, Mrs. Alabama My daughter Cecily and I sat in the kitchen enjoying new friends who were dedicated their pets. I must admit to being impressed with how husbands AND wives pulled out their cell phones to show us the pictures of their pets -- so obviously loved. These are dedicated people supporting and loving the animals among us who make such devoted friends. I have long been impressed with the way Humane Society member Marcella West dedicates her time to transporting animals around the country to places where abused or abandoned animals might find a home.

The event raised a lot of money for a very good cause.


Auburn and Mississippi State played on big screen TVs throughout the house

Mary Jo Woodham and Kay Nailen chat with a friend on the patio.
Even more serious football watchersI must admit that the warm casual atmosphere of this fundraiser made it one of my all time favorite events.

Delta Delta Delta Memories 1968

Along with this invitation came many memories. I graduated from Dothan High School in 1968 and was excited to be heading off to the University of Alabama. I had been accepted on Early Admittance to Agnes Scott, but suddenly had an epiphany -- Agnes Scott College did not have a football team! I quickly came to my senses and applied to the University of Alabama, the only college I had ever seen, and that was because my father took a quick drive through Tuscaloosa after a doctor's visit to Birmingham with my mother! Daddy graduated from the University of Alabama where he was a Sigma Chi before he went to medical school at Tulane
That summer I attended Freshman Orientation where, along with my roommate (whom I had never before met) and others on our hall, we took off down the halls to find others more experienced to ask what we really needed to bring with us in the Fall. At the first open door with a friendly face, we introduced ourselves and asked our questions. Imagine my surprise when I found that same friendly face at the front door of the unique round Tri Delt House during Fall Rush of 1968. Pieface (a.k.a Beth) Finch just happened to be President of Delta Delta Delta.
I had started dating my one of my best friends' brother's best friend, Joel Ramsey, that summer. He had grown up just a few blocks away in the house at the intersection where I had learned my right from my left (up the hill to the left was the IGA and to the right was the Country Club). I admired that house every time we stopped there, especially at Christmas when his mother had the most beautiful Christmas trees in the bay window of the white Monterrey colonial at the top of the hill. He had transferred from the Citadel and was then a senior at the University of Alabama. He planned to attend Law School if the Vietnam War didn't call him first (a distinct possibility since his birthday brought him a low draft number). 
I remember Rush almost as if it were yesterday. I had bought my clothes for Rush from Creamers Dress Shop selecting mainly earth tone dresses. Yes, we dressed for Rush and football games back then! In spite of the short skirts, I remember how very hot it was and how hard it was to be "cool" in the heat. 
Joe was a Pi Kappa Phi who had fallen in love with every girl on campus with long hair when he transferred from the Citadel. Fortunately, I had long hair. He told me, "Lots of good sororities at Alabama, but you can't go wrong with First Circle." Those were the houses in the curve of Sorority Row ... Alpha Gamma Delta (that most Dothan girls pledged just as most Dothan guys pledged Sigma Nu), Kappa Delta (that my Aunt Elliece wanted me to pledge because Miss Kathleen Fuller, one of her Colonial Dames friends, had been one of the founders of the Chapter, she told me), and Delta Delta Delta, a sorority in which I had no connections. Except the chance meeting with Pieface. And yet, it became my first choice. I especially remember the big impression that Susan Cleage made upon me during Rush. 
I, along with my new friends at Martha Parham Hall (all female at that time) who had gone out for Rush, all sweated it out, literally, through Ice Water Teas until Serious Night and then Squeal Day when we got our bids. Joe was waiting for me in front of the Tri Delt House with his best friend, Robert Grimes. He'd called my mother and already knew what I had pledged. I gave him a hug and then headed up the steps to embrace my new sisters. 
Look at these girls! Wouldn't you want them as your best friends? That beautiful Round House and those wonderful young women became my home and family for the next four years. There I am on the second row third from the left. 

Barbara Jean Adams, pledge sister and later University of Alabama cheerleader, directly to my right above and in the middle below, was later selected Pi Kappa Phi Star. So we, her sorority sitters who dated Pi Kappa Phis, had to celebrate. Yancey Nowlin (Trucks), Mike Teal, Barbara Jean Adams, Susan Kuster (Barton), Ronnie Coleman (Archon of Pi Kappa Phi), Joel Ramsey and Sharman Burson (Ramsey). 
 Ahh. Those were the days my friend... So young. So foolish!




As pledges, it was our responsibility to decorate the "Round House" for Homecoming. Since I was dating a Pi Kappa Phi, I enlisted helpers from the Pi Kappa Phi House to come assist. Among those who came were John and Jake Bivona who, in later years, Yancey came to know quite well. Her  daughter married John's son.  Billy Barton met Susan Kuster and the two of them married. 

I am up the ladder here stuffing crepe paper in the chicken wire of our Homecoming float. From the safety of the ground below Theresa, Rondi, Judy, Susan, Judy et. al. provided moral support. Our song was from the Jungle Book, "The Bear Necessities," a play upon words, of course. Our football coach was Bear Bryant.
Look for the Bear necessities,
Those simple Bear necessities
Forget about your worries and your woes
Look for those Bear necessities,
Just let us put your mind at ease,
Those simple Bear necessities of life!


Anne Kerrigan and I took the lead  pulling the float down University Boulevard past the Quadrangle singing at the top of our voices. I think Anne must have pulled her bear head off with the heat because, otherwise, I cannot imagine her leading our float in curlers!


 Mary Colquitt Ray was our fantastic pledge trainer.  There was no hazing in Delta Delta Delta.  They teased us that there would be something terrible that would happen to us in the basement -- it turned to to be a party honoring the pledges! I had the best Big Sister of all! Laurie Stone (in the middle below with glasses on).


We rolled our hair in humongous curlers then -- and slept on them!!! This is me with my study board and the hair dryer I took everywhere. It worked, however, to capture the attention of the love of my life. We got penned.  Joe got rolled in molasses and feathers and dumped on the front lawn of the Tri Delt House. I attempted to pour water on his fraternity brothers from the balcony (and accidentally hit him. He hasn't forgotten!)


Riverboat at the Pi Kappa Phi House

It was much more fun being on the other side of Rush. Rather than Fly Delta we sang: Tri Delta!

 There I am below in the middle on the balcony singing our Serious Night song.

Tri Delta True
I'll dream of you and love you
When college days are o'er
Those vows I took
May I remember always



Pieface (Beth) Finch is in the middle of the picture below taken at an Icewater Tea. Girls sat along the wall as we crawled along on our knees before them trying to put a face with one of the recommendations our city alumni had sent us to study on the girls they thought met the standards for Delta Delta Delta. Scholarship, Leadership, Character and Service all mattered and it was the hometown alumni who were aware of the reputations of those who would represent Tri Delta wherever they went.

Georgia Davis served as housemother. She planned the meals and became our mother on campus. I remember Friday night tuna fish, potato chips and brownies were our staple dish. (Tuna fish had never been served at our house so that stood out for me.) On game days she often served a hot fruit casserole that I still remember.



I returned to my sophomore year in 1969 engaged. Joe was a freshman in Law School. We married November 8, 1969. Alabama had an away game that weekend. So, I only experienced one Rush. By the time the next Homecoming arrived, I stepped out of the married students dorm, brand new Rose Towers on the Black Warrior River, excited about actually seeing a Homecoming Parade and saw a car with shaving cream all over it decorated stem to stern with "Just Married". "Look, Joe," I said. "Someone else just got married!" "Sharman," he said. "That's OUR car!"



Rondi, Yancey, Margaret and I got to visit in Margaret's beautiful home in Tallassee just a few years ago. Facebook has brought many of those Sisters I had lost touch with over the years back to me. Those friendships remain very special. Those were gilded times. The Round House is gone. But in my mind I can still experience running out the back door from Harris Hall, hair in curlers, with my roommate Rondi on Friday night for the tuna fish and brownies with the sound of Otis Redding drifting from an open balcony door of the Tri Delt House across the street mixed with Steppenwolf coming from an open KD window, the brisk autumn air, the anticipation of band party at the Pi Kappa Phi house, and the excitement of tomorrow's football game. 
On November 16th, 46 years later,  I will return to a different Tri Delt House but one I was privileged to make a small contribution toward building. You see, I had a debt to repay. They welcomed this anxious South Alabama girl and gave me the security of a family in the middle of a huge student body my first time away from home. My Tri Delta sisters encouraged me, supported me, and have always made me proud to be always and forever a Tri Delt. 


Delta Delta Tri
By and by,
You'll know why
This girl is a Delta Tri.
Little Shy
Loves her guy
And he loves his
Delta Tri.

The Wakefield Plantation Cookbook and History has a new a...

The Wakefield Plantation Cookbook and History has a new addition: Manners and Etiquette.

In the South, Manners matter.

 “The more you act like a lady, the more he’ll act like a gentleman.” Sydney Biddle Barrows
"Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t." Prime Minister of England Margaret Thatcher

Thoughts on EBOLA

Thoughts on Ebola
On cue, we run across the valley, across a creek, and then into bushes. We stay close. Never looking back. I am fifteen and I run like I have never ran before. As we go further into the bushes, it gets darker and darker. Together we move as one, for we cannot see ahead. The moon provides some light when we are in the open, but most of the time in the bushes it was pitch dark. We stop and lie down on the desert ground to rest. It gets colder. A baby cries close by..."
I try to run away, but the sound of the baby crying draws me. I crawl toward the sound and find the mother lying motionless, not breathing. The moonlight shines bright on the helpless child's innocent eyes looking at me. I look at her mother. I close the mother's eyes, grab her carryall and lift the child into my arms. If I leave her she is certain to die. I run with the others toward the wagon that take us to a wagon that takes us to a garage. Everyone smiles, because we have made the crossing! I think, I am safe now from the gangs and rapists that roam the streets of my home in Guatemala. My family has pooled their savings so that I might make it to my cousins in America. 
We make no noise. I remember that the child's mother joined us late. Her eyes were bright and her face was flushed. Nerves? Excitement? 
I quietly ask around. No one claims to have known the mother or the child.  To leave the child would mean its death. I am afraid to ask the Coyote or trust him with the child. Her crying endangers them all and he would just as soon abandon her to the desert animals, I know. The carry all has no diapers for the baby. Another mother shares diapers with me. The little girl opens her eyes and smiles at me. I scrounge through the carryall and find a bottle though I only have water to give her. I cannot abandon the baby!
An older woman holds the child for me to dispose of the diaper. The coyote throws the diaper back at me. They are to leave no sign. I pick up the diaper and put it into the carryall. There is nowhere to wash my hands. The coyote touches each individual and pushes them into different groups. Together, but apart, he  takes us to the San Diego airport for a flight to Los Angeles. The coyote directs me and others in my group to a cab. The child cries and throws up. I comfort the child who falls asleep. A coyote assistant takes us to a nice neighborhood with fine homes and large yards. 
From there, he once again divides the group. Overnight buses, trucks and cars transport members of the group to different parts of the country. I find my family living in Alabama. They see the sick child. They are concerned. 
"We are all in America illegally. If we go to the hospital with the sick child, will we be deported?" I ask. I do not want to go back.
My family work hard in construction or plants trees or picks fruit. I brought this upon us. We decide that I will take the child to the small rural hospital in Alabama.
I go to the restroom and change the baby's diaper once more. "They will take care of you here, little one," I whisper. I put the dirty diaper in the pail. I take the child into the emergency room and then I go to prepare myself some coffee to fill my empty stomach filling it with sugar. I look back into the room. No one is watching. I slip out of the waiting room and run into the dark and several blocks over. I climb into the waiting car. 
I have done all I could for the child. I am safe. The child is safe. I am so exhausted that my eyes ache. The coffee did not sit well on my stomach. But I smile and laugh. I have made it. I kiss my cousin and her children. 
A nurse comes out to register the woman who was just there. She finds the child. 
The child is dehydrated. They take the child into the emergency room and call all social services to aid the child.  A young mother walks in with her child. She puts her diaper bag on the floor where the young woman stood preparing the coffee. She touches the same carafe. She walks with her child by the hand to where the infant was found. She places the diaper bag on the entry counter. Her child falls to the floor. She lifts him in her arms and places him on the entry counter, signs in then goes to her seat. 

As Business Insider reports, "EBOLA preys on our human need to touch and care for the sick, which is why much of its spread is to caregivers and healthcare workers."The mechanism Ebola exploits is far more insidious," as Benjamin Hale wrote in Slate. "This virus preys on care and love, piggybacking on the deepest, most distinctively human virtues."That's why the virus strikes children, their parents, families, and communities. All it takes is one small slipup, one uncalculated act of humanity, and the disease spreads even further. Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-makes-ebola-virus-so-deadly-2014-10#ixzz3GLt9kvrA

In this simple scenario, who all is now contaminated? Has that hospital developed a secure isolation unit and invested in protective gear for nurses and health care workers? How carefully is the baby's specimen taken to the lab or does it go through a pneumatic tube loosing the virus onto the sides of the tube and potentially onto other specimens that those in the lab come into contact with? The young woman touched the doors, the coffee machine, her shoes carry the virus into the room. 
How many others eventually come into contact with the baby, the young woman and the vehicles in which they rode? Will the child go immediately into foster care? 
How secure is the water system? Will the sewage from flushing toilets be treated sufficiently so that the virus does not get into the water supply? Will all possibly contaminated materials be properly taken care of?
The hospital waiting room could just as easily have been a fast food restaurant, bus station, or grocery store.
As I think these thoughts, I cannot help but wonder about the economic repercussions and the way we live life thinking about potential spread of this deadly disease. Although Ebola spreads less easily than a cold, because it isn't airborne, the Ebola virus is far more persistent.
Like cold germs, Ebola virus particles survive on dry surfaces, like doorknobs and countertops, for several hours. But unlike a cold virus, which primarily infects the respiratory tract, Ebola can also live in bodily fluids like blood and saliva for several days at room temperature.Doctors have found Ebola in the semen of men who have survived the virus up to three months after they recover.Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-makes-ebola-virus-so-deadly-2014-10#ixzz3GLZibG00
The bill for the average Ebola patient treated in the US is a lofty $1,000 per hour. In West Africa, where that sort of money isn't available, most patients simply go home to die. Is our for profit health care prepared for such an onslaught?Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-makes-ebola-virus-so-deadly-2014-10#ixzz3GLc28BPV 
As I wrote the scenario above, I realized that the disease cannot be contained in Texas. 
So, what can we do to protect ourselves and our families. Hand sanitizers — along with chlorine, heat, direct sunlight, soaps and detergents — can kill Ebola living outside of a host, according to Doctors Without Borders and numerous reports. Washing hands with soap and water immediately after contact with potentially affected areas, objects or persons is effective. When soap is not available, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says waterless alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol is a good substitute.
For those who want something stronger, Bill Horan, president of Operation Blessing, a non-profit humanitarian organization, told the Washington Post chlorine is most effective. “Soap and water is better than nothing, but chlorine and water is what will kill the virus and stop the spread of Ebola,” Horan said last week. 

Note from Robert Sweet of the National Right to Read Foundation

I wanted to share this wonderful email that I received today from Robert Sweet of the National Right to Read Foundation (http://www.nrrf.org). He is commenting upon the Opinion part of my website: http://www.southern-style.com/Educati....  This note brings the wonderful gift of encouragement!

Sharman,

This is Bob Sweet…President of The National Right to Read Foundation.  I just found your website and posted it on NRRR.org.  Thank you for your clear thinking and fact based writing on the “politics’ of education, and other relevant topics.  Yes, I have been tempted many times to head to my garden and pull weeds too!  And, I do not blame you one bit for feeling so overwhelmed and discouraged about making change. I have been on the front lines for many decades myself, and even though I too am discouraged, and weary I trudge on because each child we rescue in our efforts is worth every bit of "blood, sweat and tears.”  At the moment my wife Joy and I are in Murrieta, CA to resent the Patrick Groff Teacher of the Year Award to a young lady who is a kindergarten teacher here.  She too was a “casualty” of the upside down reading practices when she was in elementary school.  He Mom called our office and both my wife and I spoke with her, between the sobs and tears being shed in frustration for her daughter.  After battling the school system for a long time, with no avail at that time anyway, she pulled her daughter out of school and taught her to read at home…using phonics of course….duh!  Now, her daughter is a kindergarten teacher in the very school system that could not teach her to read.  I visited her classroom a few months ago and the NRRF Board and I decided to choose her as our “Teacher of the Year for 2014.”  I will be presenting it to her in a couple of hours…and, even though the school district is still lost in the morass of “politics” and poor education policy like Common Core and “leveled reading”  (same old same old) there are glimmers of light that are beginning to shine through, and this young lady is one of them.  The news reporters will likely be there today…and certainly the children in Ashlee’s classroom will be proficient readers at the end of the school year.

I want to thank you for including so much valuable information about the lack of proper reading instruction on your website, and for your willingness to engage in the battle against illiteracy.  The value of even a few students who succeed is worth the effort.  God bless you.

Sincerely,

Bob

P.S. Dr. Patrick Groff was my mentor and friend and served on the NRRF Board for almost 30 years.  At the request of his son Christopher I spoke at Pat’s memorial service last April.  He was 90 when he passed away.

Seriously Southern Entertainment comes to Wakefield

 Life brings all sorts of surprises on this journey that we take. Oh, the Places You'll Go! The Things you will See! This weekend was one of those.

Beri (Sarge) Platz and his partner, Steve Webb, of Seriously Southern Entertainment gathered with a stellar group  to film a proposal for a reality show. I never dreamed something like this was even on the radar!

Mrs. Alabama, Rebecca Suggs, is participating with us in this excellent adventure. It just so happens that her husband, Paul, is an avid deer hunter. So he helped Col. Thomas Rushing, co-owner of Wakefield plant deer plots.

Mrs. Alabama had a look of shock at some of the guys rocking their moves during her session at The Wakefield Plantation! .....yes there was a twerk involved and Nascar racer Garrett was involved...







Hattie Ray, taught by her grandmother like most great Southern cooks, kept everyone well fed. She's the star and czar of the kitchen at Wakefield.

In the evening, we gathered around the grand piano for another great Southern tradition, song and music. I sang and David Ethridge played the piano. 
Beri Platz and his crew were fantastic to work with. 

Now, what kind of production could have assembled this diverse group together? 

Stay tuned... 

Behavior models attitudes and beliefs

"The protest at a busy intersection near Littleton marked a continuation of demonstrations that began Friday with a sick out from teachers upset over issues including the plan to focus on material that promotes patriotism and respect for authority."

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation...

Years ago educators discovered that manipulating behavior molded attitudes and beliefs (Pavlov). That was when education shifted from Traditional to Progressive. Desks were shifted to having desks face (co-operative learning) with teachers as the "guide on the side," making the group Alpha, from having desks in lines (Individualism) with teachers as the Authority in the classroom. History became Social Studies and thematic education (taking issues in education from which to extract writing, literature, science, events, whole to part, a.k.a Whole Language as a movement). This supplanted the traditional method used for thousands of years utilizing chronology in developing a formative understanding of our past and a foundational, sequential understanding of science, Math and English -- skill upon skill, part to whole.

Many teachers love teaching those controversial topics that undermine patriotism by focusing on the most negative events in our history -- the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for example rather than developing an understanding of what led up to that event. Perhaps it fits their world view. Traditionalists among us discovered that teaching had become a subversive activity and suddenly traditionalists were outside the wagons that circled to defend the new status quo. Now students tell teachers what they need to know and the result is that we have developed a nation of self-confident, arrogant, entitled, extremely dangerous ignoramuses.

Who do you think encouraged the civic participation of those students skipping school to protest? Apparently the teachers on a "sick out" approved (and probably motivated) their actions. (Values free education? There are very definitely values being molded here. Just not those of the concerned, conservative parents.) District representative spokeswoman, Lynne Setzer, (administration?) said, "We're going to allow students to make their concerns heard."

What are these children and teachers protesting? A plan to focus class material on topics that promote patriotism and respect for authority while discouraging civil disorder. Please note the location here -- LITTLETON.

Remember what happened there? Perhaps we now have a clue why. When you continually focus on the negative, what does that do to the psyche of children while developing a Lord of the Flies mentality that children should rule? Reminds me of the Bible warning: "As a man thinketh, so is he." Traditionally there was a community standards committee that evaluated curricular and reading material. That went by the wayside when we paid the fox to enter the henhouse and rewrite the bylaws of the school boards to fit the Outcome Based Education agenda.

I started thinking about this again recently when I began a study of Southern manners. When a parent teaches a child to stand when an adult enters the room, say yes ma'am/sir, no ma'am/sir, please and thank you, to give up a seat on a bus or in the living room to a guest or elder, that a young man should stand should a woman comes to a table in a restaurant and continue to stand until that woman leaves, and to bow his head when grace is said, that parent has begun modeling the attitudes and beliefs of that child. The child is taught respect for authority and his elders, as well as self-discipline. Behavior models attitudes and beliefs.

Sorry folks, the blood of this old teacher and grandmother of five boils when I see what has happened to my profession and the minds and behavior of our children. And what my friends currently sincerely trying to teach are up against.

Book Launch for Mint Julep Mysteries will be held at Wakefield Plantation, Furman, Wilcox County, Alabama in December

Book launch for the Mint Julep Mysteries, including Wakefield Plantation: History and Cookbook of one Southern family will be held AT WAKEFIELD PLANTATION
the inspiration for the setting of the series) in Furman, Wilcox County, Alabama in December. More information to come.

An excerpt from Mint Juleps and Murder, a novel that is both fun and serious:
That was our last practice before Sadie Summer arrived for the Charity Revue. I asked Ruby what the money was being raised for and Miss Ruby told me it was for the homeless, hopeless, helpless and hungry. I was glad. That was such a sad, sad sight seeing women with their children by the hand both wearing the knapsack that identified them as having recently been housed by a Rescue Mission and provided with free toiletries. I couldn’t help but put myself in those women’s shoes and think of being alone, homeless and with no resources with little ones trusting me to take care of them.
There was little time left for us to practice because we would be taping our food preparation segments for our guest Diamond Lagnappe.  But tonight we were to go with our Five O’clock Somewhere group to the Cypress Ridge Dinner Club. I did not succumb to the temptation of giving our group the name of the acronym FOCS for fear someone might take it a step further and refer to us as the FOCS which could then be taken a step further by some wit who might refer to us as a bunch of Old FOCS, to which I think we might take umbrage.
We got back to the Big House and who should be sitting on our back steps but the anesthesiologist for my colonoscopy, Dr. Gavin Crenshaw. It had been such a long time since I had seen him that I nearly leapt into his arms. At the sight of that good-looking man, Faye Lynne had immediately transformed into her version of Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof-- sultry, sensuous--and dangerous.
It was wasted. Wasted, I tell you! He only had eyes for me.
“I knew I had been away from you too long,” he said. “You’ve just been wasting away you’ve been pining for me so much.”
“Sorry, handsome. Truth is Ruby T made me start jogging,” I said.
We had talked frequently in the time we had been separated, but he’d been busy with his medical responsibilities and his daughters, one had a new baby, and I had been running like a house afire preparing shows and getting used to the celebrity of being a hit show on the Dishing It Network.

GLOW (Give. Love. Observe. Wonder.) A revolutionary concept for a mundane walker

I have an idea that I want to share with you. I wonder if there is anyone out there who also believes this concept might really work and who knows someone who could build a prototype for this concept.

GLOW (Give. Love. Observe. Wonder.)
If so contact me at:
sharmanramsey@gmail.com  334.701.6578 The GLOW system is targeted toward a demographic that Wharton MBA, Marti Barletta founder of The TrendSight Group, calls “ PrimeTime Women” whom she says “win the trifecta: they are the largest segment of women, they are the highest spending segment of women, and they are the fastest growing segment of women…From ages 45 to 65, individuals experience more life transitions than at any other time in their lives. This translates to BIG opportunity for marketers and retailers to win the hearts, minds and business of PrimeTime Women, THE Boomer big spenders.” (http://www.trendsight.com/content/view/95/170/) These women are accustomed to personalizing everything. Even if they are not buying the walker for themselves, they may be called upon to purchase walkers for relatives. Those now available often seem depressing and institutional. Having dealt with aging parents myself as well as contemplating my own future, I envision a new product for this very discriminating consumer. Constructed of a hard plastic with the capacity to light up like a glow stick in different colors: pink, lime, clear, blue, purple, etc. This light would guide the user through dark rooms without turning on a room light that might bother someone else.Liquid personalized with individual interests with floaters: dogs or cats of all varieties, purses, high heels, etc. and for men pointers, deer, quail, etc.Height of the walker determined by the push of a pneumatic button for different activities whether standing or sittingLock for rollers on the walker.Plastic roughened on the handle so that one does not slip.Bar to hang accessories, washrag and towel when going into a shower.Potential for GPS with an available AP like those for finding lost IPhones to find potentially lost people In addition there could be a line of accessories to hang on the walker co-ordinated with the Walker in Dorothy Draper style (Greenbrier inspired) colors and fabrics. All could be special ordered and personalized. For example: 1.     A removable handbag2.     Eyeglasses case3.     Medicine carrier4.     A desk to fit onto walker on which to prop book or IPad or eat a meal. Pneumatic capabilities of the walker adjusts to different needs.5.     Vinyl lined bag for toiletries needed in shower6.     Towels to match walkerGowns (Lanz-like flannel and cotton), Robes and House shoes to match walker7.     The sky is the limit I continue to become more and more excited about this concept. I think of how difficult it has always been to come up with an idea for something to purchase for birthdays and holidays for older friends and relatives. It is possible to extend the concept from simple products to lifestyle. We could publish a GLOW magazine featuring different members of the GLOW family, sponsor GLOW cruises and trips, feature GLOW bridge groups (which extends the product line to bridge and score cards, etc.), Wine groups, Culinary groups including Lunch and Supper Clubs, Book clubs, etc.), publish romance and mystery short stories and novels for this category of reader, a currently untapped audience. This demographic is determined to keep their brains as active as possible, continue being involved with their families (grandchildren would LOVE these products that make Mimi and Poppy more upbeat), and keep involved in living life regardless of physical challenges. I am confident this is a concept that will sell. With the logo of a glow worm or lightning bug the product comes with a positive message – let your light shine wherever you are. Both product and purchaser bring a happy glow with them wherever they go.