Sadie Hawkins day and Leap Day

"The comic strip featuring Miss Hawkins first appeared in 1937 and by 1938, the University of Tennessee hosted the first Sadie Hawkins Day. It was a joke probably taken too far, but it would soon explode. Sadie Hawkins Day Goes National. Sadie Hawkins Day has its origin in a comic strip, but it quickly grew to be much more." Source: /the-history-of-sadie-hawkins-day/

I know half my readers don't go to links...so here's the historic information.

"Sadie Hawkins Day is based on the character Sadie Hawkins from Li’l Abner, a massively important (and now very outdated) comic strip during the Great Depression and for decades after.

Our heroine, Sadie Hawkins, was a homely young woman in the backwater town of Dogpatch, a fictional town located somewhere in the south.

Unfortunately for Sadie, her looks didn’t make her a particularly attractive marriage prospect. In an attempt to get her hitched and out of his hair, Sadie’s father set up a race for all the single men around Dogpatch. The men would start running, and Sadie would chase after them. She got to marry the slowest man, or whoever it was she caught.

It was, effectively, a forced marriage mixed with a bit of progressivism.

Still, the idea struck a chord with American women, who were probably tired of waiting around to be chosen by a man. The comic strip featuring Miss Hawkins first appeared in 1937 and by 1938, the University of Tennessee hosted the first Sadie Hawkins Day."

It goes on to give the annual date as Nov. 13.  One source said it was Nov. 15.

"By 1939, only two years after Sadie Hawkins first chased down the men of Dogpatch, 201 colleges across America planned their own November dances inspired by the comic...

But there’s another tradition often confused with Sadie Hawkins Day – Leap Day.

According to Irish Catholic tradition, it’s permissible for women to propose marriage every four years on February 29th.

Sadie Hawkins and Leap Day have little to do with each other. First, Sadie Hawkins is the Depression-era accidental creation of Al Capp – the creator of Li’l Abner.

However, the Leap Year marriage tradition is believed to have started in the 5th centuryon the island of Ireland. According to myth, St. Bridget wasn’t happy that women had to wait forever and a day for men to propose to them. She complained about their plight to St. Patrick.

February 29th, also known as St. Bridget’s Complaint, was granted by the benevolent St. Patrick so that girls with guys who just wouldn’t commit could propose marriage on their own.

Like Sadie Hawkins, St. Bridget’s Complaint also took on a life of its own. Scotland picked up the idea in 1288 under the reign of the unmarried Queen Margaret. Allegedly a law was passed allowing women to propose to whoever they chose that year. 

Men who declined a proposal during a leap year were required to pay their suitor a fine. Payment could be anything from a pair of gloves to a dress to a kiss. 

So all my life I've heard of Sadie Hawkins Day as Leap Day. Someone sure got that mixed up. And like so many of us these days, I believed the lie.  Watch out!

Most women in 2020 have the knowledge that they can ask for what they want, and refuse what they want. The "me too" era has let many women speak about how difficult it is to say no to men's advances. I dare say that these days there also some men who find it difficult to say no.  But the important thing these days is to keep talking, and not second guess each other.  I'm serious. We have little internal dialogs that get us in so much trouble because we assume something another person does or says has a certain meaning. Yes, our facial and gestural indications (smile, frown, shrug) supposedly give information accurately.

But I just finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's "Talking with Strangers" and it's full of how we misunderstand another person's meanings. I highly recommend this book, though it may blow a few of our assumptions away.

So happy hunting for mates today, if you wish to do that. And enjoy asserting your own power, especially women if you were raised to be a people-pleaser. And the same goes for the shy men who never get around to asking another human to go out on a date.  Maybe nobody goes on dates any more. I've stopped watching TV episodes about romance, as it's kind of boring to me...so I don't know what is actually happening. I do look to improve communication by clarifying what I mean...when I can, and asking the same from those with whom I speak.


  

The church buildings change, but cemeteries remain

There's a beautiful old church on a hill, surrounded by a huge cemetery in Swannanoa, NC. I used an old photo of it from the Swannanoa Valley History Museum's book as my header at the end of Feb. 2020, and had to find out what had happened since my one visit there about 7-8 years ago. I visited the cemetery actually, not the church.

A later publication on line about the Piney Grove Cemetery gives a clue as to who currently may be using the church building.

Piney Grove Cemetery in Swannanoa is one of the oldest cemeteries in Western North Carolina. Located on the grounds of the First Presbyterian Church, founded in 1794,  Piney Grove heralds the names of the Valley’s founding families:  Davidsons, Pattons, Alexanders, Connellys, Stepps, Burnettes, Shopes.  You can also find other familiar names from Valley history:  Wolfe, Ward, Folsom, Clapp, Baker, Brown, Buckner, McMurray, Burgin, Parks.  Ruth Graham’s* missionary parents, Dr. L. Nelson and Virginia Bell, are buried here, as are Veterans dating back to the Revolutionary War.

While the First Presbyterian Church closed its doors in 2014, its cemetery soldiers on as a non-profit 501(c)(13) - its 1700+ graves on approximately 5 acres cared for by a dedicated Board of Directors and Associates.  The cemetery relies on donations for its maintenance so your support is greatly needed and appreciated.
​
As of July, 2018, One Focus Church entered an agreement with the Western NC Presbytery to lease/purchase the building that was the First Presbyterian Church of Swannanoa.

The Board of Directors (and Associates) of Piney Grove Cemetery met on December 13th, 2019.  Among the items discussed were additions to the budget, committee assignments, and the cleaning of monuments. Regarding care for the monuments, it was decided that due to liability concerns, families should be responsible for their care and cleaning.
A "mapping" of the cemetery continues to be a goal as well as identifying graves of individuals who made significant contributions to the history of the area, state and/or possibly, the nation. If you have any suggestions, please let us know and if you did not receive a newsletter - mailed in October - please email us via the form below.

The next meeting of the Piney Grove Board of Directors will be March 13th, 2020.
​A reminder that Piney Grove Cemetery now has a Facebook Page!  Please "like" and "share" if you're on Facebook and thanks again to Associate Board member Rebecca Schuman for maintaining it!   Source

I find more interesting history on their FB page, and am glad to see the board of the cemetery is doing a good job. (photos below) Look up the One Focus Church FaceBook site to learn about the new church meeting there.

*Ruth Graham was evangelical preacher Billy Graham's wife.

Sharing with Sepia Saturday this week.

The 1964 church building

The older church building in Book Swannanoa by Swannanoa History Museum

Here's the article which spoke a bit about the history of the church, and it's closing in 2014.

From the Citizen Times, Oct. 24, 2014 | Updated 11:12 a.m. ET Oct. 25, 2014

Link here

Swannanoa church shuts after 220 yrs

SWANNANOA – First Presbyterian Church of Swannanoa will celebrate its 220th anniversary Sunday. Then it will close forever.

"This church is the alpha and omega, and it is heart-breaking to see it close," Jane Hansel, stated clerk of session, said. "Although it is sad, God has a plan for it. It is the oldest church in Buncombe County, and we just don't have enough members to keep it going."

The church, at 372 Bee Tree Road, and the adjacent Piney Grove Cemetery, date back to 1784, and are historically significant to the area.

That history will be honored with a final service at 3 p.m. Sunday. The director of music and organist, Steven Noll, will play the 1890 organ that he recently refurbished. People will have a chance to share their memories.

Bill Alexander, lifelong member of the church, with ancestors who were members dating back some 200 years, says it is a sad day.

"I am devastated that the church is closing," he said. "My family was part of the beginnings of this church back in 1794. The land for Patton Meeting House was given by a Davidson and part of it by an Alexander. There are 47 Alexanders buried in the cemetery and 52 Davidson grave markers. It makes me want to cry.

"There were only 10-15 members who showed up on (a recent) Sunday out of about 33 totally," Alexander said. "It just wasn't enough to keep it going. We saw the closing coming, and I wasn't surprised, just sad. The WNC Presbytery closed the church because it had no people, no funds and no debt."

Davidsons, Pattons were first families 

The church has an important history. In 1784, relatives and friends of Samuel Davidson, one of the first settlers to cross the mountains and settle in the Valley, came from Old Fort and settled at the mouth of Bee Tree Creek, one mile west of the original site Samuel Davidson claimed. He had been killed by Indians the year before.

They built homes and cleared land for farms, and developed a deep need for a place to worship together. They gathered under the beech trees along the creek bank, and in homes, for some 10 years. They formally organized a church in 1794.

Robert Patton gave the church land for a building, and the Robert Patton Meeting House was built. It is still marked by Patton Cemetery, which is home to some of the graves of the earliest white settlers of the Swannanoa Valley.

Piney Grove Cemetery, which surrounds the current church building, is of equal historical significance. It contains some of the oldest grave markers in the Swannanoa Valley and is the resting place of veterans of four wars and friends of all denominations.

The church, along with the WNC Presbytery, is in the process of incorporating Piney Grove Cemetery.

"We are working to protect the cemetery through incorporation," Steve Hansel said. "I am helping get the process started, and will be a part of it for however long it takes. There is significant history there with over 1,700 people buried in the cemetery.

"It is a shame that the church has to close, but we are down to about 33 active members, and it just isn't enough to keep it open," Hansel said.

The cemetery is important to many people in the Valley.

"It is where I want to be buried," Alexander said. "That is where my whole family, my mother and father are buried, and it is where I want to be buried."

The church building will be sold. "We have several possibilities concerning what to do with the church building," Jane Hansel said. "It may continue to be a church with a focus on missions. We hope folks throughout the community will attend the celebration of the church's 220 years of service."

1 church, many buildings 

The late 18th century Patton Meeting House, a log church, was the beginning of what became Swannanoa Presbyterian Church, and was a place of worship until 1839.

Col. Samuel Davidson — a relative of the settler — had earlier executed a deed for 2 acres of land to George C. Alexander, John Burgin and George Patton, who served as trustees of the church. In 1839, a large white frame building was built on the hilltop and dedicated as a church on Sept. 8 that year. It was called Piney Grove Church, and was the congregation's house of worship until 1880. It was moved to the foot of the hill and used as a school for several years.

In 1880, the church was reorganized with a congregation numbering 43, and the session voted for the building of a new church. Bricks were made by hand at the Winnie Patton Farm and hauled by mule and oxen to the site of the church construction, which was dedicated in 1883. It was used for 82 years, growing slowly but steadily.

During World War II, Dr. L. Nelson Bell, Ruth Graham's father, taught a Sunday school class at the church. Sometimes a young preacher by the name of Billy Graham substituted for him.

The old church had a seating capacity of only 125. "Old timers" were sad to see it torn down. The new sanctuary was completed and first services were held on July 19, 1964. Rev. Henry Schum presided at both morning and evening services.

In 1983, the church was represented at the historic General Assembly in Atlanta. The assembly brought about a reunion of the Northern and Southern branches of the church, forming the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.

The church hosted a national conference in 1987, sponsored by the Chapel of the Air, to help pastors and church leaders guide their congregations in "spiritual adventures" of the present day. Seminars coping with divorce were also held at the church in the late 1980s.

Although membership numbers continued to dwindle, several significant improvements were made to the building property in the 1990s. An elevator and carillon were installed, a steeple erected, and the parking lot paved.

The 1990s saw a partnership established between the Bethlehem Presbyterian Church in Guatemala, and visits began between members of both churches. A decade ago, the church observed its 210th year with 42 members.

From 1798 to the present, some 50 pastors have guided the spiritual lives of the members of First Presbyterian Church of Swannanoa. Dr. Alex R. McLean was the last full-time pastor.

....The church is at 372 Bee Tree Road in Swannanoa."

Sharing with Sepia Saturday this week.

Nu... or Na...

I can't write out the words, because my dear Google watchers (HI Guys- though I know you have no gender, indeed, you're not even human) have banned me from watching a show, and then taken other actions.  Back up a bit, you say.

Nudes and nudity are ok...as an artist I've looked at a lot of models; and there are still nudist camps in Florida I'm pretty sure.  And when I took art classes with nude models, they are called figure drawing these days, it was an ok word.  We laughed at learning that naked meant what porn is all about...the use of sex objectified for pleasure of men and boys. (and maybe some girls and women, who knows...)

But last week, another potter blogger (and teacher) gave the link to The Great Pottery Throwdown, a Brittish show that is all about challenging potters to make things in competition with each other.  That week (episode 6) was to make a statue from a model...and they had a man and woman posing...in the Greek style.

I believe the editorial bots have no idea what Greek art was all about.  The YouTube posting had a disclaimer that it was ok for adult viewing.  I have trouble finding any photos of nude models (except athletic young men!) when I search for them. Apparently the beautiful females have been removed by some censors!

My friend in my pottery studio here in town, had watched several other episodes, and when I told her about this one, she went home and tried to watch it. Yesterday she told me it had been taken down. She couldn't get the YouTube show.  We laughed at how us senior women potters had now been marked as liking porn.

Ha ha.

Not funny today - when I went back to his blog (which I noticed hadn't been automatically added to mine every day as it had in the past...all posts missing for the past week!) and he had another The Great Pottery Throwdown link for YouTube. Yep, it came up fine. Fireplace tiles. Yep.

So I scrolled back to the one he posted last week, and sure enough, the link to that YouTube with Greek style statues of nude figures worked. I copied the link to share with my friend. Who knew what reason it wasn't working on YouTube for her, remember us laughing about it yesterday.

And my whole Safari program crashed.

Blink?

That's the Apple version of Chrome or FireFox on a PC.  The entire internet carrier was dumped. I still had internet, and the computer was running fine. But apparently it was a trigger to someone out there that I'd logged onto that site, and was copying it. Less than 3 seconds and it went off. Then I had to wait another 30 seconds of repeated trying to turn it back on. Click, click, click...been put on a wait, click click, click. (Yes that hesitation is something to watch out for ladies.)

So I finally booted my internet program Safari back up. And not to be paranoid or anything, wanted to tell someone. So I wrote an email on my gmail account and sent it to a friend...without either Greek statues, or naming the way the figures were dressed (or undressed, but draped).

Yes, big Brother is watching. I know google just sent out a new "terms of use" which probably has fine print somewhere that says, "we're monitoring the words you use, and the links you look at." I've just had that confirmed in a strange way.  I wonder what other lists I'm on. Definitely the anti-Frump one. And the matriarchy vs patriarchy one. And women's power, if that is separate. I don't use many swear words, so I'm probably not on that Christian list. Oh, I'm definitely on the "religions of the world vs. Christians are the only right people" list. And I like the idea of immigrants getting help to become US citizens (won't use the trigger word Sanc...ary.) I'm on a Roe v Wade list...and racial disparities. I hope that I'm on the list of good citizens who vote too. Watch out!

So now I'm not too happy about being watched. As a US citizen, where is my freedom of speech?  This is what happened when we changed something on internet a few years ago, remember folks? I just barely do. It was kind of warned against, then just happened.

Cue Twilight Zone music here.

Buy some oranges, if you lived here.

From Traces of Texas FaceBook. A house in Houston as taken by John Vachon in 1943. It was located at 1900 Franklin Street.

I google mapped this address, knowing it would no longer look like this. It's now an empty lot, a block from I-26 the Eastex Freeway, and the Minute Maid Stadium. Very much downtown, but most businesses aren't the thriving kinds. Lots of parking and I saw a bar near the stadium.

But that's avoiding the question of how this houe was built and what it looked like in its heyday! It's kind of Victorian, with Queen Anne touches...though I'm not an architect. I love the floating tower room, which doesn't attach to other attic rooms apparentlly, but must have had a ladder of some kind from the corner room below it.  The laundry hanging all over the second floor doesn't help much. But wrap-around porches were the traditional way to deal with the heat.

 Unknown ruined home.

Apparently Queen Anne style homes in America are very different than in other parts of the English speaking world (according to Wikipedia.) But after being built, often the fortunes of the owners, or their descendants, had a down-turn which did not include fresh paint. Having lived in Houston through four summers, I know how hard the humidity and heat was on buildings, and people. I can't imagine how people lived there without air conditioning for the first hundred years or so!

And then there is the wagon driver looking right at the photographer in our leading photo. He's probably wondering why anyone would want a photo of this dump! The house is definitely connected to the fruit stand, with an awning strung from the house to the front of the Valley Fruit Stand, where Golden Age beverages, Coca Cola and even Pepsi Cola signs on the roof.  The bushels look as if they are full of oranges and maybe other citrus.  Yes, the Rio Grand Valley was a great source of citrus fruits, not too far away. I'm guessing the wagon was used to take some of those citrus bushels to the nicer homes/restaurants in Houston.

But in this neighborhood, I dare say the original residents were enjoying a good income and expectations of a positive future. The current inhabitants are just trying to make ends meet. Was this house condemned? Though it needs paint, the roof and decorative gingerbread seems to be intact.

Treats

My own poppy bowl has a great serving (more than one scoop at least) of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream. As well as 3 Girl Scout Cookies, the chocolate mint variety!

And here's the photo I took of the blueberries and yogurt, which was the next day's treat...kind of making up for this one on the calories scale. Didn't quite make any difference on my own scale. Oh well. I'm a happy Buddha !

Some white wet stuff

Photo by JackCathyOllis Jan 2018, Black Mountain NC

 The art of melting snow on a car window.

 Last Thursday I decided to get the mail, and run the windshield wiper for a minute in the car.  The snow jut kept on falling though.

I like the art of snow turning into water on glass. Doesn't bother me if I don't have to drive through it.

Queen of Carnival

Helen Guenther, queen of the Court of Carnival Flowers, San Antonio TX 1911.

I came across this gorgeous photo the other day on FB (Traces of Texas perhaps, but I can't find it any more).

I saved it because I had a relative who worked on some of the dresses for the court.  My grandmother was a seamstress, though relatively young when Helen was the queen.  Mozelle Booth Miller had just reached her 13th birthday in Sept. 1911.  She was the oldest of the 4 girls born to a German immigrant father who worked for the railroad and a Texas born woman from a family of lawyers and Spiritualists.

I give her background, since almost everyone in San Antonio came from someplace in their family trees, those who'd originally come from the Canary Islands, those of German heritage, or the many Hispanic families from Mexico who settled Texas before it became a Republic and then a US state.

But back to my grandmother. At 13 she probably went to see the parade...imagine a rose parade as Texans would do it...lavish, colorful, a grand celebration with music and romance in the air. Grandmommy was precocious, I'd imagine, and wanting very much to dress up like those gorgeous ladies on the floats. She would know all about the "season" of balls and receptions that the elite families were having in the city. She wasn't going to any of them, but talking about them while attending school.

Why do I think she was precocious? She married when she was 17! Of course that might have been a normal enough age in 1915, and she turned 18 a month later.  My mother wasn't born until March of 1917. And her father was in real estate.

But he died very young, and Grandmommy continued living on her own, with her 2 year old baby at least for a year. (Census of 1920, after Bud Webb died in 1919.)

And this is where her career as a seamstress started, I imagine. She was good enough at her trade to sew the ball gowns, and perhaps some of the gowns worn by the court members of the Carnival of Flowers. Her sisters also listed seamstress sometimes on their census records.

I remember visiting her when I was pretty young and seeing the gowns hanging from doors...gorgeous fabrics and colors. I never got to see them worn, but I knew they were not to be touched by young hands. Perhaps that's why I enjoy touching fabrics so much these days.

And I'm sharing this with Sepia Saturday this week. I can't match this prompt, but figure having a nice old photo might let me sneak in.
What old photos (sepia or otherwise) might you wish to share?

The weather

I'm writing this yesterday morning. I got up early, hoping there was snowfall. Not a drop (flake).

I did all my morning routines, and now it's 9:40, and the mountain ridge across the valley shows some clouds dropping down, starting on the lower edges of the ridge line, then all the way to Big Windy Mountain. I can still see the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly's red roof across the interstate highway. Cars and trucks are still zooming left to right, right to left. There's very little wind in the tall maple boughs that I look through to see all these details.

We've had a forecast that was so severe, the county canceled all their schools by 8:00 pm yesterday for the next day, Thursday. So we've been waiting all morning.

I did my laundromat trip and grocery shopping Wednesday, a cold grey but dry day. So I've got lots of veggies and fruits and breads. Going vegetarian has taken a bit of getting used to in grocery shopping. I tend to over-do it and can't possibly eat all this produce in a week.  Asparagus, grapefruit, mushrooms, bananas, blueberries, avocados, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, tiny tangerines, sweet potatoes, ice cream, coffee and creamer, orange juice and beer, dairy products and breads of every flavor imaginable! A meal might come out of these, or not. Some of these I have 2 dozen servings, and some just one. But I do only shop every other week. My goal is one fruit, one veggie, one milk product and one bread a day.

And by the time this is published early Friday, before the sun arrives, it will either be wet, or dry, or white, or frozen, or not.

The way our weather arrives, coming over the ridge to the south...usually slowly, sometimes it seems to hang there for hours. 

11:30 am 2/20/20 - no more view of mountain ridge, Assembly roof, or interstate...we're in the cloud of flakes, and it probably won't stick for a while, but colder air is coming.

Around 7 the flurries stopped, and it was just a bit below freezing. Due to be sunny on Friday. But schools in Buncombe County are canceled again, from black ice danger on roads, I guess.

Forcing spring

Does it work? Momma Nature (Gaia I call her) has been tricky with nice warm days in February, and then a few which are below freezing. The other day I woke at 7 to frost on my car and the roof of the apartment building downhill from me. It then was sweater weather at 3pm of 56 degrees.

Rain was due the next day.

I was gifted with a nice big branch of Forsythia, which has been inside at a window, sometimes getting some sun, at least more consistently warm than outdoors. I was hoping for beautiful yellow buttery flowers.

I don't know what makes some buds turn into leaves, and some into flowers. Of course Momma Nature must know, and the buds were thus determined long before they open.  So this is how it is.

Enjoying February in Black Mountain

A great view of the YMCA's Blue Ridge Assembly building over the valley...and across Lake Tomahawk.  Dampnesss in the air acts as a magnifier of distances.

See the little red roof through the trees from my balcony? I'm actually much closer to the BR Assembly building, but this day the moisture in the air kind of made it harder to see it.

Here's another view from my apartment. I get to see the other side of the valley only for 4-5 months of the year...which is just fine with me.

Going down Black Mountain Ave

 Foothills meats is also a restaurant. I haven't eaten there yet, because I'm kind of vegetarian.

 I drop by the Black Mountain Natrual Foods store occasionally, today to get some more chocolate covered ginger.

 I also pick up Traditional Medicinal teas...especially the one for Breathe Easy.

At the end of the road is a bridge, and a view of the on-ramp onto I-40 going west.  And the new hotel in town...a Hampton Inn.  I've heard there's a salt water pool there, but they don't allow locals to come use it. Mmm, may have to invite some family to stay there so I can try it out, since I'm really allergic to chlorinated pools.

The Swannanoa River, in one of its many branches, runs under the bridge...here looking to the east where it comes from...

 And here looking west as it flows toward Swannanoa, the unincorporated town.

All the Town of Black Mountain offices are now in this grey building just to the right of the river, which once was a car dealership, and more recently Fabric and Foam. I wonder if they've thought of a new name for it yet.

Across from the Town Offices is the Stove and Chimney store. They have a somewhat tarnished reputation from the adult son of the owners having put a hidden video camera in the ladies rest room.  Yep, that was on the news. Glad I don't want to get a stove or chimney! It's kind of a fun building, which has been in the process of being built for about 5 years. The owners also aren't very high on customer service, according to one of my friends. Well, every town has someone like that, and mostly  they don't tell the things known about them.

A spread at the reception

A few days ago we had an opening reception at the Red House Gallery, of which I'm a member.  This is the pretty table ready to have guests have snacks, and oh my, such delicious deserts.

 A bit of a Valentine theme...

Ed had just purchased a painting (which I managed as clerical volunteer) and here another member serves him the first piece of the coconut cake made by Sheila, who also arranged all the food.

Here's Ed and his new picture by Rachael K.Clegg.

The Red House Gallery is home of the Swannanoa Valley Fine Arts League, of which I'm a member.  More of this show is being shared in my blog about art "Alchemy of Clay."

Are you going to vote?

About this time I get so tired of seeing the commercials for all the politicians running for office. And about half of them aren't even for offices in my state, because the only local TV station shares info for South Carolina as well as North Carolina.  The other 2 "local" stations broadcast from South Carolina completely, so I only watch national news on them.

I have a mute button to turn off all commercials.

And yet, I have to figure out who to vote for.

Our early voting has started.

And thanks to the Republican gerry-mandering in North Carolina, which has now been declared null and void or illegal, by some courts (supreme?) we have reverted to an earlier set of precincts, so some of our North Carolina and US offices are now in my district again.  For the forum the other night, one candidate said he had just found out he was running in Asheville and he hadn't been, up till that decision.

So I will watch the candidates introduce themselves on the video that my friend took at the forum, and their brief speeches.

And as my friend Linda said (quoting someone else) "Vote for a light post to run against the fool in the white house...it would be an improvement."

But this is a year I certainly won't stay home, thinking my choice doesn't matter.  It really does this time. And half of my choice will be based on who can win. OK, those are just my opinions. Who are you going to vote for?

Here's a humorous YouTube video about "The Day Democracy Died," sung by the Founding Fathers.

Crowded long tables

We've all attended some banquets, feasts, or large group dining!

 
Holly Jolly sales room, 2017 December. This shot is looking over the top of my display towards Pat.
These photos from a few years back show a crowd that gathered one evening to look at long tables spread with - yep, pottery!

And some of our potters do more sculptural things, like Dori English's display in 2017.

 Here's Fred with his whimsical wares.

Freida made sculptures like purses out of clay that year.

And Sally had different kinds of trinkets.

Suzie and Carie had more functional pieces...to get ready for a banquet, right?

I have Crowd-a-phobia.  It' otherwise known as Enochlophobia...

... known by different names such as Ochlophobia and Demophobia. As the name indicates, this phobia consists of an irrational fear of large crowds and gatherings of people. Enochlophobia is closely related to Agoraphobia (which is the fear of and desire to avoid situations wherein one believes s/he may be subjected to incapacitation, humiliation etc).

Actually I avoid going out most nights because of having cataracts, which make driving a bit difficult...glare of oncoming headlights particularly bothers me. And I hate how cataracts influence my life, such that I avoid driving at night often.

This week's Sepia Saturday prompt photo shows many men, each with their own bottle of something liquid and probably alcoholic, eating in a crowd.  Come on over HERE and see what other bloggers have come up with following this theme.