They're Coming to America. TODAY!

Far
They've been traveling far
Far from their homes
But not without a star.

Sunday morning arrived all dark and rainy. Not the sort of day I wanted the first of the my exchange students to experience! But even tho it was raining, we headed out to Tupelo to await the arrival of Katya from Ukraine who is staying with the Scott Wright family in Calhoun City. I had a lot of thoughts while waiting with another family and the AYUSA Community Rep that was waiting there for their student from Russia to arrive.

I can’t describe the excitement that my family felt in seeing the girls exit the plane. I was feeling so much excitement and I was just picking up a child to deliver to the host family! Katya was arriving just as Bro. Scott would be getting ready to step up to his pulpit to deliver the Sunday sermon to his congregation and it was easier for me to miss church than it would be for him. So we greeted Katya and brought her to her new home in Mississippi USA!

Free
Some want to learn to be free
They huddle close
Hanging on to a dream.
Katya is a very talkative and poised young lady. Her English is fantastic and she is eager to learn our customs and way of life. We left her with her host family and new host grand parents and headed on down to Columbus to await the arrival of Anna, the student from Armenia that we are welcoming into our family. The last we saw of the Katya and her new family, she was snuggled under a blanket on the sofa flanked on each side by her new little sisters and showing them a DVD about Ukraine and its history. Bro. Scott was eating some chocolate she had brought (and he didn’t even share!) while Denise was cooking dinner

With their bags and on the planes
They're coming to America
Looking forward to adventures again
They're coming to America
Anna’s flight was running a little behind schedule and I was getting antsy, pacing the floor in the atrium looking out at the runway. My pacing was finally rewarded with the sudden appearance of the aircraft as it emerged from the clouds and lined up with the runway to touch down. I realized I was holding my breath when the wheels touched the pavement!

Home, don't it seem so far away
Oh, They're traveling light today
To see for themselves
This land of the brave.
These kids are really brave to leave their homes at such a young and tender age to travel half way round the earth to places they have never heard of or seen just to experience our way of life. And their parents are very trusting to entrust their precious children to a Host family to look after and raise as their own for the academic year in a far off land.

Home, to a new and a shiny place
Make our bed, and we'll say our grace
Freedom's light burning warm
And our smiling friendly face.
Every one of us Host Moms that I know personally have been in a dither making the spare room an inviting haven for our newest family members. We want this to be a great experience for these kids that have been brave enough to come here. All of the rooms are quite colorful and quite welcoming! Anna was very excited to finally see her room. I had sent her pictures this week and she told me her Mom was very happy to see where she would be sleeping for the next 10 months.

Everywhere around the world
They're coming to America
Every time that flag's unfurled
They're coming to America!
As we drove back to Bruce, Anna commented on how clean everything was and how much space there is. She comes from a country that is one-fourth the size of Mississippi with 3 times as many people. She was amazed at all the land devoted to trees also. We arrived home and I cooked spaghetti and garlic bread as she explored the house. She told me that her home is Armenia is only 4 rooms. I felt bad for the times that I think I don’t have enough space!

Got a dream that brings them here
They're coming to America
Got a dream they've come to share
They're coming to America
A new adventure has begun for my family and the Wrights. It will also begin for the Schmitz family and the Adams family of Bruce as their students will arrive next week and the next. Brother Scott and Denise also will join us in the double placement club by accepting another student. Cindy from France had been placed in another part of the state and her host family backed out at the last minute. So Katya will not be the only exchange student attending Calhoun City High School this year.

Welcome to America and Calhoun County Katya and Anna. We are so glad you came!
They’ve come to America! TODAY!!

Their coming to America

With apologies to Neil Diamond.



Far
They've been traveling far
Far from their homes
But not without a star.

Free
Some want to learn to be free
They huddle close
Hanging on to a dream

With their bags and on the planes
They're coming to America
Looking forward to adventures again
They're coming to America

Home, don't it seem so far away
Oh, They're traveling light today
To see for themselves
This land of the brave.

Home, to a new and a shiny place
Make our bed, and we'll say our grace
Freedom's light burning warm
And our smiling friendly face.

Everywhere around the world
They're coming to America
Every time that flag's unfurled
They're coming to America

Got a dream that brings them here
They're coming to America
Got a dream they've come to share
They're coming to America

They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
Today, today, today, today, today

My country 'tis of thee
Today
Sweet land of liberty
Today
Of thee I sing
Today
Of thee I sing
Today

FLEXible Anna and Katya

Blogging from Bruce
Vonda Keon
July 20, 2009


Let us build a new relationship with Russia and the New Independent States - one based on two peoples coming together in a common commitment to make the tough choices for the long-term health of each country and the world; two peoples aware that having stared each other to the brink of nuclear holocaust, we now have a special responsibility to find in each other and within ourselves the capacity to reconceive our possibilities as two nations, two peoples, one world.
-1992 Former US Senator Bill Bradley
The Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) is a federal government program that provides opportunities for high school age students from former Communist Bloc countries to spend a year in the United States, living with a family and attending a U.S. high school. The scholarship is awarded through a merit-based competition, to students from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine.
This Sunday, July 26, a new cultural adventure begins for my family and for the family of Brother Scott Wright, the pastor of Lewis Memorial in Calhoun City. Both of our exchange students will arrive on that day. Katya fromUkraine,the student that will become a part of Bro. Scott’s family, will be arriving in Tupelo at 10:30 AM. I will be at the airport to greet her and bring her to meet her new family.
In a recent Facebook chat with Katya I asked her a few questions.
Q.What do you think will be the most exciting thing about coming to live in the USA for the school year?
A. Getting new experience, making friends, learning American culture.

Q.What do you think will be your biggest challenge when you arrive?
A. To my mind it will be sharing my own culture, mentality, habits with Americans.

Q. Why did you want to be an exchange student?
A. Because I want to know more about Americans, there culture, become more independent, meet new friends.

Q. What do you hope to achieve during your time here as an exchange student?
A. Independence, looking things from different points, being FLEXible.
After we drop Katya off in Calhoun City, we will be headed to the Golden Triangle Regional Airport to await the arrival of Anna, our own exchange student from Armenia. Anna is very excited to be coming here. Her first email to me said it all…..
“Hello Dear Family! How are you? I'm Ann, I'm going to stay with you for a year, and I believe that we'll get to spend a lot of good time together.
First of all thank you for choosing me. I was so happy to know that I was one of the first ones to be chosen. I am very excited and a little nervous at the same time. I am excited because I know that my year in the USA will be unforgettable and wonderful. And I'm a little nervous, because I know that it would be just a little hard for me in the beginning because of my English, but I'm ready to overcome all the challenges.
I have already started to imagine everything, my departure, my first day in school, the celebrations of the holidays with you, and many many other things.
I'm very happy to know a little about you. I saw the pictures, and I'm sure that I'll spend great time with you; especially with my sisters (I have no sisters, only a brother). Now I want to write a little about me, my hobbies and interests. I'm sure you know that I've played piano for 8 years. I really enjoy hearing classical music. But it’s a little crazy I like to hear rap and rock very much too. I found out that you like the series of ”Harry Potter". SO DO I!!! Here we go!!! There is already one common thing. I had mentioned that I like to read the books of "Harry Potter", but besides that I like to read historical books, because history is my favorite subject. I've read that you are interested in Armenia, and it will be a great pleasure for me to tell you about it, because it's a small country, but it has a very long history and a rich literature, and it's very ancient. The weather here goes up to 104 (F) in summer and 0 F, so I will definitely enjoy the weather in Bruce. I hope I'll be there for the first day of school. I've told my parents about you, and they are sure that you will take excellent care of me. They are little sad, but on the other hand they're very happy that I have the opportunity to learn about the US lifestyle.”
This Sunday Bro. Scott and Denise and their daughters will join in the cultural adventure along with my family as we learn to be FLEXible and become the Host Families for two extraordinary girls!

Germany will meet Bruce USA in a couple of weeks!

“With an open heart and an out-stretched hand
I have met the foreigner in his own land.
And she is now my friend and he is now my brother,
and together we will build a world in which we love each other.”

The preceding quote is from a poem written by a CBYX Alumna. CBYX is the acromyn for Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange. The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange was initiated in 1983 by the United States Congress and the German Bundestag in celebration of the 300th anniversary of the first German immigration to North America. The exchange program is all about the importance of common values, mutual acceptance and lasting personal relationships to young Americans and Germans.
Since 1983, almost 15,000 German high school students have come to experience the American way of life. By extension, these numbers multiply into 15,000 hosting families. This year, a wonderful girl from German is coming to live with Jeff and Jessica Adams and their 3 boys and attend high school at Bruce. I was so excited when Jessica told me her family would love to share their home with Julia and to become a part of the growing group of Host Family’s in Calhoun County.
As with my other ‘kids’ that I have placed, Julia and I have been communicating via Facebook. The Host Moms and I are in daily contact with each other and all of the kids. I get questions about what clothes to bring and what is the weather like and which banks will work with an overseas bank, what is school like, etc.
In a recent exchange with Julia I asked her what motivated her to come to the USA to study for a year and what expectations she might have. This is her response:
“I wanted to be an exchange student because I wanted to find out if all the things you hear in Germany about the USA are right or not. I don't want to build on the things other people say about. I want to find it out by myself.
I want to live exactly like my host family and getting familiar with all the American customs they have and being a part of that family and treated as their own children. I want to try out everything I have the possibility to. I don't know which things those are but I wanted to come there to find that out.
I think the language will be a thing which will be a very strange thing at the beginning. But also all the habits we don't have in Germany. The completely different school system in the US.
I hope I can reach all those aims and won't disappoint my family!!”

Just think about the culture shock. Julia is going to go through as she discovers all the differences between our country and hers. She comes from the Bavarian region with centuries old castles and the best chocolate in the world! Things like street-signs and everything she takes for granted will suddenly just upside down. In the end her horizons will be broadened and she will feel like she has discovered a new world!
Some interesting facts about Germany are that there are no speed limits on the highways. In Germany, many people (83 million) live in a small space about the size of Montana. And the food! I love German food. You have not lived until you have eaten real German potato salad and real sauerkraut!
The Adams family is getting ready to forge a relationship with a girl and her country. In later years they may find themselves visiting her in her hometown. Both the Host Family and the student are going to be changed by this experience. Welcome to America and to Mississippi Julia. We drive slower and speak slower and we are looking forward to learning about your culture and your life and sharing ours with you!
Check out www.AYUSA.org and look at all the students that want to come to study in the US. Sign up on line or call me. I’ll be glad to help you become a Host Family!

Hosting a foreign exchange student

"My experience changed my life. My host family helped me have a great experience and they really opened my mind to everything. My host mom, she has a big deep heart, I learned from her that nothing is impossible in this life, and the important part is to make sure that you always give your best for everything."

This is what one exchange student had to say about the experience of coming to America and living with a host family for a year.

As a new school year is rapidly approaching my family has been busy getting ready to begin our second year of being a host family. And to add to that excitement, I decided to answer the call to become the Community Representative for this area and find the perfect homes for foreign exchange students wanting to come and experience our way of American Life.

One of the exchange students that will be arriving soon is Amjaad. She is a YES student from Bethlehem. YES is the acronym for Youth Exchange and Study. She has been preparing for this experience for a long time, learning English and writing essays. It is a very competitive process to go through in order to be chosen to come to America.

Bethlehem (in case you don’t know) is a city about the size of Tupelo. It is the birth place of Jesus and home to the oldest Christian community in the world. It is THE HOLYLAND. Amjaad lives there with her Mom and Dad. Her mother teaches English and her dad teaches history.

Amjaad and I have been chatting almost daily thanks to Facebook . She is half a world away but we chat a good bit. She asks questions and I answer them. I won’t be hosting her but I will be like the second Mom for her. As the Community Rep with AYUSA, the organization that I work for, I will keep close contact with the exchange students and the host families to help make the transition easier and to just be another person welcoming a student to our American ways.

Amjaad called her host Mom, Gina Schmitz of Bruce, on Sunday. She is so excited about coming and being the big sister to Gina’s three very active boys. She also is excited about starting school here and she wants to play basketball with the Lady Trojans. She plays on her country’s basketball team in Palestine. Thanks to YouTube, she has been able to see some video’s of the Lady Trojans in action.

She tells me she is a little scared about coming. Not that she is fearful of anything. But she is scared because everything will be new for her. Just imagine what it will be like! Every day will be a new adventure to cope with; new sights, new smells, new foods, new home, new family, new bed to sleep in. She will be attending a new school, meeting new teachers, having to speak a language that is not her native tongue, study History and Literature that is not familiar to her culture and meeting all sorts of new people that will be just as curious about her as she is about them.

It will also be an adjustment for her host family. Gina will finally have another female in that house full of boys and will be learning about high school subjects also. But what a wonderful time this will be for this family.

I can tell you from our previous experience that hosting an exchange student is such a wonderful learning experience. You learn about other customs and cultures. It is a wonderful sharing of ideas and values and experiences because not only is the exchange student learning something new, so does the host family, and the teachers and students at school and the community at large that the students are a part of.

All exchange students come here to learn about our leadership belief systems, our civil society principles and community service. We will be taking them to Jackson to see our State Government in action, (hopefully there will be some sort of action and lawmaking going on!). They will attend city council meetings and be making presentations about their native cultures and traditions at local churches and for the local Civic clubs. They will become part of our community and a family member in their host homes.

For a short time, Amjaad will be here learning what life in Mississippi is all about. The Schmitz family has opened their hearts and their home to a wonderful young person from another country.

We don’t want to be the only ones having all the fun. You too can say YES by opening your heart and home to a young person from another country.

Things that make me go Whaaat?

June 22, 2009

This past week has been a week of things that make me scratch my head and go “Say whaaaat?”

One such incident was Naked Hiking Day which occurred Sunday. I am as serious as a heart attack. Naked Hiking Day occurred on the Summer Solstice which was also Fathers Day this year. According to an NBC news report, every year on the first day of summer, a few outdoor enthusiasts nationwide expose virtually all of themselves to insects, scrapes and thorns for the pleasure of bonding with nature au naturel. The hikers that were interviewed said it's not about being lewd and crude and all that. It's just enjoyment.

One hiker who blogs about hiking in Mississippi's Homochitto and De Soto national forests on his Web site, theplacewithnoname.com., cited as inspiration, passages from Henry David Thoreau, naturalist John Muir and backpacking guru Colin Fletcher that suggest nudity enhances one's appreciation of nature. This strange dude said he started hiking naked as a boy after a day of skinny dipping one long hot summer.

I don’t know about you but the woods and the great outdoors can be hot enough as it is this time of year with clothes on and I am sure not going to be shagging my duds just to commune with Mother nature. Can you imagine? I shudder at the thought of seeing some Borat or Bruno type character traipsing through the woods with a pale bare bottom just a shining in the noonday sun.

What are these people thinking? Don’t they worry about ticks, chiggers and the ever present, always hungry and looking for a meal, Mississippi mosquitoes? There are just some places on the body that OFF and DEET just should not touch, if you know what I mean! Now some of the naked aficionados’ claim that there's an advantage to hiking naked in a buggy area: wood ticks on the skin are easier to spot. And they do wear hats and hiking boots and carry back packs as well as apply plenty of sunscreen and bug repellent.

Thank goodness. And here I thought they were totally naked.

Now since these folks are out there hiking in parks, which is public property, that means you or I could happen up on them. Or what about the Boy and Girl Scouts that are out on their Summer time camping trips. If I am out in the vicinity of a wooded area, I sure hope some of these naked hikers accept the responsibility that I don’t want to be surprised by them and their enjoyment of nature, and they will keep to the shadows or at least carry some shorts to slip on. And between you and me and the backpack, if I ever do see a naked hiker, I will probably just start laughing at the ridiculous sight.

Politicians and Seagulls

Blogging from Bruce
Vonda Keon
June 29, 2009

Last week, I headed down to the Gulf Coast for a couple of days with Donna to go and meet a new Host Family for a foreign exchange student. Scott and the girls went along for the ride and planned on catching some sun and fun in the sand while Donna and I worked.

The drive down wasn’t as long as I thought it might be. And I was looking forward to a couple of days of not listening to the news about the economy and state budgets and Cap and Tax Bills. Politics and Government was not high on my list of things I wanted to know about.

While the girls walked along the beach and took in the sights of the sand and surf, the ‘Old Folks’ walked out on the new fishing wharf at Long Beach with our chairs and big cups of tea and sat under one of the covered areas and enjoyed the much cooler temperature sitting right out over the water.

We struck up a conversation with one of the fisherman that was hauling in crabs. It was an interesting sight to see. The female crabs were loaded with eggs and he threw them back into the water because there is a $500 fine for catching the females. The male crabs were aggressive. They would run up the sides of the baskets just snapping their claws. He said those vicious little snapping claws could hurt pretty badly. I believed him and just watched from my nice cool spot in the shade.

I sat and watched the waves and the seagulls as both were in constant motion. The seagulls were just hovering in flocks searching for morsels of food and I was fascinated at their ability to catch the breeze and hang in one spot like so many kites without a string.
When we walked back to the van the gulls started following us back to the beach.

We had the remains of our lunch so the girls held some of it up and the gulls swooped in and snatched it out of their hands. The noise level rose quickly. As soon as one bird scored some food it seemed like twenty or more of its feathered friends descended upon us. I don’t know who was screeching louder, us or the gulls. While the Ariel and Erin were holding food in their hands or tossing it onto the ground, I decided to toss my tidbits into the air sort of like getting a dog to catch the food you throw at it.

Much to my amazement, seagulls do that game very well. One gull in particular stood out as it was really starting to eyeball me. As the kids say, it was creeping me out. It would just hang on the air current and turn its head and where ever I tossed the food, it grabbed it from the others. I was throwing food with one hand and snapping pictures with the other. Then I realized that the air space over my head was just filled with big, squawking birds, and just what do birds do when they are flying over your head in big groups like that? Thankfully we all got into the van without being anointed on our heads with bird doo. Donna and I went on to meet with the new host family and then we turned the van toward the north and headed back home to the hills and heat.

As the rest or the week progressed and I listened to the news and the radio about the American Clean Energy and Security Act (Cap and Tax bill) that Congress voted on, the images of those seagulls kept coming back to my mind. . Congress is supposed to work for us and carry out our wishes but that sure isn’t what happened. The Cap and Tax bill narrowly passed and it’s just another power grab that is going to cost you and me, the tax payers a lot more of our hard earned money. As I have done my homework, this is what that bill is going to do: This bill will:-Increase our GDP by $2 trillion-Kill an average of 261,000 jobs-Add $1,960 to an average family budget-Raise electricity rates 90%-Raise gasoline prices by 58%.

Yep. Politicians are like those Seagulls. They hover around and squawk and screech that they will doo this and they will doo that for the hard working tax paying citizen and they appear to be working for the people that voted them into office. Then after they get what they want, (being elected into office and letting that taste of power go to their ego), they grab our ‘handouts’ and doo to us just what those hovering flocks of seagulls doo if we are ignorant enough to keep standing there giving them what they want.

Weathering the Weather

“Whether the weather be fine, Whether the weather be not, Whether the weather be cold, Whether the weather be hot, We’ll weather the weather, Whatever the whether, whether we like if or not” unknown

I have not been able to find who said those wise tongue twisting words but they seemed very appropriate to me after the weather events of Friday. This quote started playing in my head Friday evening as I sat and watched the storm roll through Bruce while I was glued to my computer screen watching the radar updates from the National Weather Service and sending in my reports of rainfall amounts and wind speeds.

Meteorologists will never solve the mysteries of weather until they can gain an understanding of the mutual attraction of rain and events and weekends. Stormy weather and special events go together like hotdogs and mustard, apple pie and ice cream, summertime and NASCAR. You get the idea. Such was the case with Friday nights Relay for Life.

The ever changing unpredictability of the weather is one of the things that has always fascinated me. I have been so fascinated by it that in the last few years when I found out that I could take training with the National Weather Service and get certified to be a SkyWarn Weather Spotter, I jumped at the chance. I went and took the initial training and then the follow up classes on identifying the clouds and how to report the
co-ordinates and what types of pictures to document weather events that the NWS wants.
I don’t usually have to ‘chase’ a storm. I am usually just ambling along and the storm ‘finds’ me.

I have never been one to think that bad weather always looks worse through the window. I’m usually out in it looking up like a gawking chicken saying stupid things like, “why is that cloud moving in a circle and what are those little finger like things coming out of it?” Ask my mother about the day I was standing on the top of my van in the parking lot of our business in Tupelo looking right up the gullet of a tornado that was forming. I was totally enthralled with the ominous beauty of the cloud. I did finally heed her warning and run for cover. The damage that little whip of a tornado did was amazing.

Friday morning I was in Tupelo ‘putting out a fire’ so to speak, at a store putting together a last minute display. I ran a few errands and headed back home at 2:30. The sun was out and the sky was that pure intense Cerulean blue that usually precedes an impending storm. I checked my phone and saw the text message from the NWS that all storm spotters were activated for the evening.

The trouble with weather forecasting is that it's right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it. I called in to tell them I had gotten the message and I asked what was going on. I had just crossed the Calhoun County line and the weather was dramatically changing before my eyes.

The sun was blocked by black roiling clouds. The cloud to ground lighting strikes were a bit too close for my comfort. When one hits and all you see is bright light and hear the sound immediately you know you are at ground zero. A tree exploded on the side of the highway where I had pulled over. The rain was blowing in sheets sideways and the tree tops were moving in a circular motion. Then the hail started. There I was, creeping on toward Bruce looking for a wide open space to stop instead of under the tree shaped lightning rods! I called into the Weather Service and reported the size of the hail. I had to yell over the sounds of the pickup getting pelted by all the hail. When I gave my approximate co-ordinates the meteorologists told me that there were micro bursts in the area and I needed to get out of there. Not wanting to be flattened by an invisible fist of air, I started creeping on home. Thankfully, I moved out of the little event back into the sunshine and made it home only to start waiting for the main event to hit the town square at 5:45.

There is a muscular energy in the sunlight that seems to go hand in hand with the spiritual energy of wind. Only those in tune with nature seem to pick up on the energy in wind. All sorts of things get swept off in the breeze: ghosts of events long past, pieces of soul, voices unsung, thoughts repressed, love uncherished, and thousands galore of spiritual ether. Wind is like an emotional rush because it blows those emotions away; along with your lawn furniture and tents and tree limbs!

Weather is a great metaphor for life - sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and there's nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella or in the case of Friday evenings Relay for Life, pack it up ASAP and go home and reschedule.

The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain and then wait for the rainbow.
Rainbows apologize for angry skies.

I founght the good fight and finished the race.

Well all I can say is …I am so glad the elections are over and done with. For the record, just in case there is anyone out there that presumes to think I have been sitting here licking my wounds and fretting about losing by only 3 votes, let me assure you that I am not. I actually felt a huge relief that it was over. The more I got involved in the campaign and looked at the issues at hand; I realized that I could be more vocal about things that need to be brought up by being the average citizen on the street. So to all you folks that are now sitting in the catbird seat, look out because I have been making a list and I promise to be very vocal about it.

I learned a few things by running for office. I learned there are still people out there are dead set against a woman being in any kind of political office. There is still a good old boy attitude out there. The glass ceiling still waits to be broken. I learned that people will try their best to dig up some dirt on you and if they can’t find any they will just flat out make something up trying to get a rise out of you. I am truly amazed at the people that will throw stones while living in a glass house. I have to wonder just who appointed those stone throwers as the paragons of virtue?

I also learned that people will tell you with their mouth that they will vote for you but their body language and eyes say they won’t. I never will understand that one. I will tell a person why I won’t vote for them. Why can’t people just tell the truth and be done with it when the person seeking office comes to the door? “Yes of course I’ll vote for you.” Or “ I’m sorry but you don’t stand for what I believe in and I am going to vote for the other candidate.” Now how hard is that? It’s a simple matter of being truthful and I have been known to be brutally honest with folks that knocked on my door. You can ask many that have ventured to my door asking for votes.

Will I run again? I won’t say yes but I probably won’t. I’m not a politician. I wasn’t running for an office because I wanted a ‘title’. I have plenty of those that I don’t use now. And it sure wasn’t for the prestige of the job. I wanted to work and be an honest beacon for people that don’t like to speak out for various reasons. But as Saint Paul said “I fought the good fight and I have finished the race.”

And that is all I have to say about that. Now if you will excuse me, I have a list to get back to.

Saying Good Bye to Lo Ping

Off they flew, into the wild blue yonder, Climbing high into the sun!
Off they flew into the wild blue yonder, back to where their adventure began!

I awakened last Friday to a whirlwind day. Ariel and I had some things to do Friday that apparently was an emergency and not what I needed on that particular day. We rushed around to get everything done and got back to Bruce by lunch time so Ariel could go vote absentee in the city election. Then we arrived home so Ping could start loading her luggage in the van for the trip to Golden Triangle Regional Airport. Her departure time was 3:45pm.

I was busy cleaning out the accumulation of junk and bottles and mail from the front of the van and Ping was busy tossing bags in through the rear doors. I would run back each time to snap a picture trying to document her last day with us like I tried with Jieun.

We finally all climbed into the van and made a quick stop at Moms so Ping could give her and Bella some gifts. Then we made a stop at Jeffery’s so she could get her last lunch there of pasta salad. We took pictures there also. We made one last swing around the square so she could have a visual goodbye to the Town of Bruce and we were finally off.

We laughed along the way about how she was staying awake which was so different from the first time we had made the trip and she fell asleep within 15 minutes. She was busy looking at things and talking about things that had happened to her during her 10 month stay with us.

When we arrived at the GTR we went in and she had to put all of her shampoos and other liquid toiletries into the luggage that would be checked. One of her bags could expand so she unzipped the expanding panels and shoved in the rest of her hand carried items and it took Ariel and Erin and Leslie holding and pushing down on the top while Ping was struggling to get it all zipped and strapped back down. After much grunting and pushing, the poor little bag was ready to be checked.

Pings ticket was ready and her passport and papers were in order so we walked around to the checkpoint area. There were no tears only laughter and everyone was hugging and saying goodbye as she went through the first checkpoint. We laughed as she took off her shoes and we saw she had on some wildly striped socks. She was just dancing and hopping with a huge smile on her face. She was so ready to go.

Finally after all of her carry on things were checked and rechecked, she was allowed to gather her things and segue into the passenger waiting area. We were separated by a glass wall so we were standing there laughing at her taking pictures of us taking pictures of her.

After a few minutes the passengers were allowed to board the small turbo prop plane. We went up to the mezzanine so we could watch the plane taxi down the runway and take off. We watched the red and gray plane as it gathered speed and lifted its nose into the air and made a graceful liftoff. As it turned into the wind and then made the flight pattern and headed toward Memphis I realized that our time as a Host Family was officially over for now.

The drive back to Bruce was quiet. We were all thinking about what all we needed to do when we returned. Supper had to be cooked, laundry was waiting, Ariel was going to move her things back into her bedroom now that both the girls were gone, Erin had grass to cut and Scott had to go to work after he dropped us off.

I came in and sat at my desk and suddenly a message from Ping popped up on my facebook page. It said “ i am at memphis airport right now ! paying five dallors for 15 mins internet...i miss u guys so much...i cried as soon as i got on airplane...cuz i started to miss u guys already...i am sad still!!!”
Then I cried.

Being the Host family for foreign exchange students has been a wonderful experience for us. The girls became a part of our family and everyday lives. Its going to be hard on them to make the readjustment to their culture just as we are having to readjust to them not being here. But I wouldn’t have missed this experience for anything.

Off they flew into the wild blue yonder, back to their Mom’s waiting arms!
We’ll be here in the Fall waiting to meet just one more!

Blogging from Bruce
May 26, 2009

Vonda Keon

Tuesday was a sad day. We finally said good bye to our Korean exchange student, Ji Eun. After a week of frantic packing and repacking and weighing and mailing boxes to her parents in South Korea , Ji Eun finally got her two huge suitcases stuffed full and closed and her carry on bag packed.

Erin took Ji Eun and Ping and some friends swimming for the last time on Memorial Day. I had cooked hamburgers and hotdogs and baked beans for them to eat when they came home. Then everyone started moping around just waiting for 2AM to arrive. No one could sleep.

I finished typing a report for a job I am working on. Ji Eun was making sure all of her clothes were washed and packed and she was double checking everything making sure that she had her passport and other travel papers ready for the long flight back to her homeland. She left some gifts for me and Scott and for some other people she wasn’t able to see before she left, so I will deliver those. She finished signing some papers for me to send to the Secretary of State Delbert Hoseman for certification of her grades so she can prove that she went to school here in Mississippi for the past 10 months.

I heard the girls at 1:30 loading her luggage into the van and at 2 AM we all climbed into the big white whale and headed north. The heavy suitcases were riding on the very back seat. Rachael and Leslie were in the next row, Ping and Ji Eun were on the middle seat and I had the seat behind Scott with Erin riding shot gun. Everyone talked for a little while but about the time we got to Paris, they were all nodding off.

The ride was quiet until we arrived at the Memphis airport at 3:45. Scott parked the van and unloaded the luggage and we all processed into the terminal. At 4:30 the ticket counter finally opened and Ji Eun’s bags were weighed. The heaviest one tipped the scales at exactly 70 pounds so she had to pay 50 dollars for that one. After her passport and visa was checked she said good bye to us because she had to start going through the check points.

She started crying and that was all it took. The rest of the girls started crying too. I took pictures of her as she passed through each check point. She had to open her carry on bag and take out her computer and open all the little zipper bags of her things. She had to remove her shoes and then walk through the scanner. Then they re-examined her bags. She finally got all of her things back in her carry-on bag and her computer bag and she turned and waved to us one last time before she head down the concourse to gate 11C.

She is going to be back with her familiar foods and her friends that she has grown up with. But she has changed after living here for nearly a year. She will have to make adjustments just as she did when she arrived here. Her family and I were worried about the swine flu and I made sure that she had a mask and plenty of hand sanitizer with her and I gave strict instructions about not touching her eyes and nose without washing her hands. But then as I looked at the news I saw North Korea was firing off test missiles. So there are worse things than swine flu to worry about.

It seems like only last week we picked up the shy quiet Korean girl at the Golden Triangle Airport in Columbus. She arrived wanting to experience life in the United States. This morning we returned a much wiser, more mature, and much taller young woman to embark on the trip back to her parents and her culture. She will be missed.

We are many parts

Blogging from Bruce
May 18, 2009

Vonda Keon


Well the days are counting down and the hours ticking along. This is exam week, packing week, scrambling to get plane tickets and paper work week. Our time as host family to Lo Ping and Ji Eun is quickly coming to an end.

Both of the girls will be leaving us next week. Tuesday, Ji Eun will fly out of Memphis International on her way back to Seoul Korea. Friday, Ping will leave from the Golden Triangle Regional Airport to go and visit her aunt in San Diego and from there she will wing her way home to Taiwan.

It’s creating mixed feelings with us all. We have enjoyed their time here and there is a part of us and a part of them doesn’t want to leave. They have made new friends and have experienced a different kind of independence and individuality that they didn’t have back in their homeland. As a parent I know their families miss them and want them home. Yet I have grown attached to them myself.

We had to make a quick last trip to Wal-Mart for ‘Space bags’ so they can get their luggage packed. They are only allowed two large pieces of luggage and one carry on bag on an international flight. I was looking at the accumulation of stuff and clothes and shoes that both girls have and I suggested the space bags to put their clothes in.

If you have never tried those things, I think they are the next best thing to white sliced bread. You can put half a closet full of clothes in one and seal it and then use the vacuum to suck out the air and the next thing you know, you have a flat thin bag of clothes. They are upstairs as I type this, filling those bags full of clothes and then sucking out the air. I’m pretty sure that they will get their entire wardrobe into one piece of luggage and then the next bag will be full of shoes and other items. That will leave their carry on bag for the laptops and toiletries and at least one change of clothing in case their bags miss a connection and arrive at a later date.

On the way back from Wal-Mart I asked them what they would miss about Mississippi. They said friends, the fresh air, their teachers, the laid back way of life we have and the wide open spaces we take for granted. They will not miss the mosquitoes that seemed to love them dearly. I asked them what would happen when they arrived in their respective countries. Ji Eun said her mother and father were going to take her to her favorite restaurant and she was going to eat Korean Barbeque. Ping said that her family will have a big reunion dinner and she would eat her favorite foods while seeing all of her family. I told them that they would both be sick from over eating.

They both said that they will have to immediately get back into their old school routine and take tests to see where they are academically. They will have to learn to blend back into their society and to rekindle old friendships.

I have watched them change over the 10 months they have been here. They went from shy and reserved to outgoing and outspoken young women. They have learned to live like a Mississippi teenager and go fishing and camping. They have learned their way around town and they want to take home their favorite pasta recipe from Jeffrey’s. I can just see them seeking out the American stores for the necessary spices like we had to seek out the Asian grocery’s to make some of their dishes here. They have learned to cook because some days I worked out of town and didn’t get home until after dinner time.

They experienced going to several different worship services and learned that in the Southern USA, church and fellowship is a major part of who we are. They both came from heavily populated cities that have more people in them than the whole state of Mississippi. I am sure at times they have felt totally isolated from the rest of the world. But then city kids need to see that rural America is what makes the world go round.

I think what they will carry back with them is the knowledge that we sing about quite often at church. We are many parts. We are all one body, and the gifts we have we are given to share. May the Spirit of love make us one indeed; one, the love that we share, one, our hope in despair, one, the cross that we bear.

on aging, barrels and bubble wrap

When I went to the post office Friday I found a pretty pink envelope addressed to me and it was emblazoned with the words, a Gift for Vonda Keon. Now I love a gift as much as anyone. So I eagerly tore into the envelope to see what the gift was. It was 50% off a hearing aid at a hearing clinic in Oxford. I was insulted! I may be 55 but there is nothing wrong with my hearing. Ask my kids, I can hear and identify the most minute sounds and conversations.

So what is the deal? Are we automatically in some AGE related databank that spits out cards for hearing test discounts, or scooter chairs or Depends? I started asking around and found out that several people I know have gotten similar mail and it all started at the age of 50.

I know that I don’t give into the aging process easily. Just because I am 55 doesn’t mean that I am ready to turn into a sedentary vegetable. Retirement is a long way off for me in spite of what my daughters may think. I will probably working until I just drop one day.

We all know that we are getting older. Each day most of us are waking up to the sounds of snap crackle and pop and I am not talking about a bowl of Rice Krispies cereal. I’m talking about the sounds our aging joints are starting to make. Some days I wake up and wonder how I am going to make it across the room. But after a few minutes of moving around and a hot cup of coffee, things start to loosen up a bit and I don’t hear those popping and creaking sounds any longer.

Age is a funny thing. I prefer it to the alternative; not getting older. But it seems like it leaps upon us when its least expected. Such as a few years back, the Spring of 2004 to be exact, I was still home schooling several children in my downstairs study. One day we were studying Newton’s Laws of Motion and I decided that we would do some practical experiments to prove them. One of the experiments involved a 55 gallon plastic barrel and rolling down the hill in my side yard.

I watched those kids crawl into the barrel and go rolling down the hill and then pop out of it whooping and hollering and having the best time. It really did look like a lot of fun. Finally I could not stand it any longer and after a bit of coaxing from the kids, I folded my then 50 year old fat self into that barrel. DJ, Kyle, Hunter and Corey gave that barrel a good shove and there I was trapped inside a white plastic barrel tumbling down a hill that seemed to go on forever.

I heard a loud pop when the barrel came to a sudden stop at the base of a large oak tree on the edge of my mothers’ yard. When the boys started pulling me out of the barrel I realized that something wasn’t quite right. Every bone in my body hurt and I couldn’t take a deep breath. I limped around and sat pretty straight for a couple of days before I finally gave in and went to see Dr. Bruce. After laughing at my account of the great barrel roll he told me I had broken a rib. Then he said there was nothing he could do for it except tell me to take Tylenol for pain and to stay out of barrels. And THEN he had the audacity to tell me that I wasn’t a spring chicken any longer. I would have hit him if I wasn’t hurting so bad at the time.

To add insult to injury, some anonymous friend thought it would be really funny to send me a huge roll of bubble wrap so that I might wrap myself in that before my next trip in the barrel. Ha ha! If I thought that would work I would try it but my husband has cut my barrels in half to make my container gardens. So my barrel rolling days are over and I will never know if the bubble wrap would work.

I CAN hear you laughing you know.

Mary, Mary, Where you going to?

Last week, on one of what I like to call my daily adventures, I struck out Thursday morning in the direction of Grenada for a little rescue mission. I had recently gotten a distress call from a childhood friend of mine who is now in ill health. Gwen has to move closer to her children in another state so they can help care for her but she can’t take all of her pets with her so she called and wanted to know if I could help her find homes for her furry babies.

During a previous visit, I had already met most of her fur babies and one in particular had stood out. Little Mary. Little Mary is a medium sized mutt or a “dukes mixture.” She has the saddest brown eyes and the air of a dog that has suffered abuse. Gwen had rescued Mary from a grocery parking lot in Grenada but it took many visits and several chicken tenders to gain the dogs’ trust. Mary also came with 10 puppies. The first day I met Little Mary she walked to me allowed me to touch her. My friend was shocked and she said that she knew that Mary would be fine with me.

I stopped at Wal-Mart and picked out a new lease and a collar and some other doggy supplies like shampoo and flea products and food and then went on Operation Rescue Mary. Gwen had been telling little Mary daily that she loved her and she wasn’t throwing her away. I arrived at their home in the boonies of Grenada Lake with the new lease and some chicken tenders.

The other fur babies along with Little Mary’s 10 babies had already been picked up and carried to new homes. Only Mary and couple of others remained. I offered Mary a piece of chicken and she gently took it from me and chewed it while I talked to her and put her on the lease. That was a new experience for her. I ended up picking her up and putting her in the front of the van. Then I got in and we drove off.

Mary just looked at me with her soulful brown eyes and I talked to her all the way home. She never took her eyes off of me and she stood the whole trip down 330 and then 32 to Bruce. I didn’t know how she would react when we got home because it was time to pick up the girls from school. She just looked at them as they got into the van.

When we arrived at home, she came into the house and looked around and lay down on the floor and never made a sound. She promptly went to sleep and slept for hours. She woke up and ate and drank some water. Then she drank some water and crawled under my bed and went to sleep again.

When I woke up Friday morning she was sitting on the loveseat at the foot of my bed and shyly wagged her tail. I put the lease on her and she walked outside with me. We walked around the yard and she sniffed and listened and looked around. Then she sat and wouldn’t move.

While giving her a much needed bath I discovered that she is absolutely terrified of hoses which leads me to think that she was hit with a hose and while she doesn’t mind water in a tub, don’t even think about pouring it on her. So bath time was a traumatic time for us. She tolerated it and I have the sore muscles and a few bruises to show for it.

The good news is that after a few days she no longer tucks her tail and drops her head. Her favorite spot is curling up on the sofa or sitting at my feet with her head on my knee. She has even rolled over on her back and allowed me to scratch her tummy. So far she still hasn’t made a sound except for a grunt when she wants to go out.

I promised my friend that I would give Little Mary a good home and unconditional love. I think Mary has found out she has nothing to worry about.

I don't know but I've been told!!!

I don’t know but I’ve been told…
I’m going to school to get some smarts!
We learn our Math and History…
English Comp and Chemistry!
If we can make it through these tests…
We deserve a Summer Rest!
Sound off…
One, two!
Sound off…
Three. Four!

The school year is winding down at an alarming rate for students and parents alike. I am watching the girls here in my house studying like there is no tomorrow. Ping went to Ms. Newlin’s History ‘Boot Camp’ several afternoons last week to cram for tests. Ji Eun comes in grabs a snack, shuts the door to her room and I hear books flying and pages flipping. Erin is reading books or working on papers and projects in between cutting the grass at Grandmommie’s house and dance recital practice. And Ariel has her head plunged into the books and is busily writing those final reports and going through printer ink and reams of paper.

Ping wants to return here to go to an American University. She has already taken the ACT test and she scored a 21 which is good considering English is not her primary language and is her weakest subject. But her determination is amazing and she wants to work in the international business market with her father. Her father called us last weekend to thank us for taking care of his daughter and helping her to assimilate our American culture. He is familiar with this area because he comes to the furniture market in Tupelo. He was very excited that his daughter was coming to an area of the US he was familiar with. He is ready for his daughter to return home for a couple of years and then come back to the US to go to college. He is a worried parent just like any of us would be.

Ping and Ji Eun will be leaving us the last week of May to return to their families. It will be sad to see them leave but they have learned a lot about rural American life in the 10 months they have lived with us. They have made new friends, learned to better use the English language and even speak it with a bit of a Southern Drawl. They have learned some slang and hopefully better understand the American Southern culture. But I know they are anxious to get back to what they are familiar with. I just wonder how it will be for them to readjust to going back to their culture and their schools where individuality is not encouraged.

My family is very excited to be a part of the Global Youth exchange program. I can’t tell you enough how much this has meant to us to be involved in this program. Yes there are ups and downs but we just treat these girls like they are our own daughters. I urge you to pray about it and think about how you can help shape the world, one person at a time. Families interested in hosting will have the opportunity to broaden their horizons, provide a unique contribution to their community and make a positive impact on global youth.
Why don’t you join us in this International Adventure? Let me tell you how.

AYUSA International, a non-profit youth exchange organization, is seeking families in the area who are interested in hosting one of these outstanding scholars. AYUSA students will arrive in Calhoun County at the beginning of August, equipped with medical insurance, spending money, a firm command of English and a strong commitment to becoming a member of your community. Host families are asked only to provide a warm, loving home, meals and sleeping quarters, either shared or private. Students pay for all other personal expenses while on program. This is something that you have to go over with them. If they want to go shopping, they do it when you go. If they want to eat something you don’t normally eat, they buy it. You just have to lay out the ground rules at the beginning. Our girls did their own laundry, kept their rooms clean and learned to cook. If they wanted to go to prom or the movies or eat out, they paid for their part. I monitored their spending and made sure they didn’t fritter it away and they had to account for all of their spending with their parents. They parents just loved that part!

We are already preparing for the next exchange student that will be coming to live with us in August. Her name is Anna and she is a FLEX student from Armenia. We are already doing our homework, learning what we can about her country before she arrives. Armenia is a small country. The state of Mississippi is 4 times larger than her country and we have half the population! She is coming from a mountainous country where Noah’s Ark is thought to have come to rest after the Flood to a land of rolling hills and many trees. Her country was at one time under communist rule but it is the oldest Christian country in the world and that is exciting for me to think about.

The Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program gives strong academic achievers from former Soviet Union countries the opportunity to come to the United States to study and gain exposure to American values and democratic principles. FLEX scholarships are awarded through a rigorous and highly competitive application process. These kids are coming here to learn what it is like to live in a democratic republic. They are the future leaders of their countries and they come here to learn and take that knowledge of living in freedom back to their homeland!
Please call me or email me for more information on how to host or be an exchange student, please contact Donna @ 662.682.9971 or 662.682.7456, dwilliams.ayusa@gmail.com or visit our web site www.ayusa.org . Be sure and say Vonda sent you!

No matter where I go or what I see, a W Girl I will always be.

After sewing the 'official' red dress for daughter Ariel to wear at Homecoming at the W,, she returned to campus and showed off my handiwork to the the other neophytes. Tuesday I got a text message asking if I could bring my sewing machine with me when I went down for the festivities. It seems there were a couple of young ladies that needed some alterations to their frocks.

My darling husband needed the white whale so he graciously drove me to Columbus. We arrived at the W bright and early Friday morning and unloaded my stuff and I set up my sewing machine in Ariel's dorm room. she already had some dresses for me to work on. I ripped out hems and re-hemmed them, shortened some and lengthened others. I had one wearing hers wrong side out so I could pin it on her to make it more tailored. One top hung like a potato sack. That one was almost a complete redo. I had a zipper to fix and a few hooks and eyes to sew on. All in all I was a sewing fool for a few hours while I visited with her Social Club sisters.

I was pleased with the results the next morning at the Homecoming convocation when all the Lockhearts marched in wearing their red dresses. While I fussed about that pattern, now that I have done it, I know I can do it again. I even told the girls that I would make the dresses for the next 3 years for each new class...for a price of course. And they have to be fitted because that is the only way that particular dress will look right on each girl.

I enjoyed visiting with all of my former classmates and fellow Alumnae. we are not really welcome on the campus since our Alumnae organization was disaffiliated. It's a sad sad day when a university administrator decides that the Alumnae are not important and takes umbrage with the very people that are the true supporters of the school. We can't even call ourselves MUW Alumnae without fear of getting a letter telling us to cease and desist. But we can proudly call ourselves Mississippi's FIRST Alumnae Association since 1889.

We have been called renegades and blued haired shills and accused of histrionics and hate mongering. people that don't know us or even know what all this brouhaha is all about think we are trying to live in the past which is so far from the truth. We are all progressively minded women and men that want our beloved Alma Mater to move forward and continue to be viable in this 21st century. We have good ideas and are quite capable of recruiting and helping the school in more ways than the administration can imagine. But for some strange reason they think they are the only ones that know what is best for the school.

The biggest bugaboo is the name. The W was established 125 years ago to give women a college education which was unheard of in that era. It has continued to have women's studies as its focus for years. Yes, it was in 1982 that the W was forced to make the change and accept male students for the first time. Many men have graduated from there and I suspect no one has laughed at their diplomas. But the mission of the school has always been to help women. Until the last 7 years that is.

The current administration is now pushing for another name change as if that will be the powerful cure all for what ever it is they think is ailing the W. The other Alums and I sat at an event that was supposed to be a celebration of the loyal daughters and sons that returned to their Alma Mater for class reunions and to visit with fellow alums. Instead we listened to a speech about how changing the name would double admissions and attract people that otherwise would never come to the school to which I now respond with a loud Bronx Cheer. The only name change that I see that needs to come about that will help the future of the W is to change the name of the administrators.

No matter where I go or what I see...A W girl I will always be!

Simply Sewing is so en Vogue!

Years ago, back when I was in high school, one of the subjects taught was Home Ec. It was taught to the female students primarily and we were taught how to prepare and cook everything from homemade biscuits to yeast rolls to a complete dinner meal. We were also taught sewing. I remember those instructions.

My Mom was an excellent seamstress. Every night I would be working on my sewing homework project and she would be looking over my shoulder. She actually taught me more about sewing than Ms. Bert Johnson. Mother had me ripping out seams and redoing them constantly. But I did learn to sew. I also learned that Simplicity made the best patterns and Vogue made impossible one.

When I went off to college at the ‘W’, one of the things that I took with me was a brand new Singer Touch and Sew sewing machine. It was a graduation gift from Mom. It came in handy many times.

The Touch and Sew finally blew a ‘gasket’ one day and I upgraded for a newer model that had some more bells and whistles on it. I continued to make some of my own clothes for several years and when my girls were little I made some outfits for them. Then alas the dear little sewing machine sat silently within its case, gathering dust in a forgotten dark corner of my closet.

Until last week, that is. Darling daughter Ariel, the college freshman, is in a Social Club. They have to have their ‘official’ red dress for those special club occasions. So I told her that I would make her dress. How hard could it be?

It was back in January that she told me about needing the dress. Every week I would ask where is the pattern and the fabric. Every week I go the same answer. Finally, on Palm Sunday no less, she comes home for a day visit and hands me the fabric and the pattern. It was a Vogue pattern and Chinese red silk shantung. Obviously whomever had picked the pattern and the style of dress AND the type of fabric, had never sewn a single stitch in their lives.

Then she told me she needed it to be finished by Easter Sunday!

For the sewing clueless, Vogue is probably the hardest patterns to sew because they are sized so strangely and silk shantung is the slickest, nubbiest fabric you can encounter. She didn’t have a notion what a notion was so I had to make a trip to Oxford to get the two zippers, the thread, the interfacing, hooks and a new pair of scissors. It seems that some one had gotten my good fabric shears and had cut paper with them.

I didn’t get the pattern pinned on and the pieces cut until Thursday evening. I realized that even tho she had gotten the size she thought she needed, I was going to have to make some adjustments. I had to take her measurements and do some creative cutting to make everything fit properly.

Friday afternoon I started sewing. My audience of teenage girls stood and watched me as I pinned pieces and matched notches and lined up seams and sewed them together. Ariel had to press out each seam as I finished. They were all full of questions about why there was interfacing and why I had to make the darts and why did I have to clip the curved seams.

The zipper was the big determining factor for me. I called dear sweet Mom during one of my frustrated moments and was asking her about a weird sewing term that was in the Vogue instructions. She had never heard of it either. I was on my own. After a shaky start I got the hidden zippers in both the skirt and the blouse. I made the last hem stitch at about 10 pm Saturday night.

The moment of truth had finally arrived. Ariel put the outfit on and lo and behold it fit like a glove. Ever thing was where it was supposed to be….I could not believe that I had actually done it. We went to Mom’s to show her. She didn’t find anything wrong with it so I knew I was home free.

I don’t know what Ariel’s other Pledge Sisters are doing about their short notice dresses. But my daughter is going to be prancing around in the dress that her Mom made. And she thinks that I am ‘Da bomb!’ because I know how to sew. Whew!

Farmer Wannabe

As usual, early spring weather and I are going to war. All of these nice sunny days have given me the chance to get out and get my container gardens and garden boxes ready for planting. So far I have broken the handles in my hoe AND my rake and I am feeling the burn in every muscle in my body as I stretch and dig and pull to get my ‘garden’ planted.

I love to garden mainly because I have a bad habit called eating. Eating a tomato or a pepper that I grew is very satisfying and I have always had some sort of garden.

For years I lived in apartments with itty bitty patios and no yards. One of my neighbors was heavily into patio gardening and introduced me to container gardening. For a while I had huge wooden whiskey barrels from the Jack Daniels distillery. Let me tell you, I grew some pretty happy plants in those barrels. I was good at growing little salad gardens too. If it could be grown in a container, I would plant it. I also grew roses. I loved having roses that bloomed year round. I would bring them home after a while, when my rose bushes grew too large, and plant them at Moms or at my grandmothers.

When Scott and I bought our first home in 1990, it had a large back yard and some of the poorest soil I had ever encountered. We worked constantly making gardening beds in the yard. He liked black berries and grapes and I liked my flowers and salad veggies. When we moved to Bruce in 1996 I really hated to leave my flowers. I had some of the happiest, healthiest roses and Scott’s blackberries and grapes had finally started producing.

My yard now isn’t large enough for a traditional garden so Scott built me 4 x 4 garden boxes. I can sit on all four sides and reach across to weed and seed and feed. I can also make the soil any Ph I want it to be. I had one box full of strawberries for several years but the fire ants took it over last year and put a stop to those. I have since reclaimed my box and am working on getting the soil healthy again. It is going to be my compost box for this year.

Last year I tried my hand at growing tomatoes in hanging five gallon buckets. It was an experiment and it went well. Now that I have my learning curve, I am ready to plant even more hanging tomato vines. We took some five gallon plastic buckets and filled them with soil and drilled holes in the bottom and planted the tomato vines. In the top of the buckets I planted sweet basil. Then we hung the buckets on an old swing set frame. The basil does two things. It makes the tomatoes taste wonderful and it keeps away those ugly tomato horn worms. I love to cook with basil also so it’s a great herb to have around.
My tomato plants are sitting inside waiting for this cold snap to go on. I learned a long time ago not to plant my tomatoes before Easter Sunday.


I also grow potatoes in containers. The first time I tried it, I didn’t think I would get any potatoes. I had some seed potatoes and I planted them and pretty much forgot about them until just before the really hot summer weather hit. When I went and started and turning the dirt over with the pitch fork I was shocked at the potatoes that had grown. That 4 x 4 box was packed full of nice sized baking potatoes. Since I had good luck previously, I planted my seed potatoes again over the weekend. And with the quirky weather we are having, I covered my containers with plastic sheeting to keep the soil warm. Potatoes are heavy nutrient feeders so I have to make sure to keep the soil really rich in that box. In 90 days I expect to be enjoying from fine potatoes.


This year I want to have carrots and onions and bell peppers and jalapeno peppers. We learned a valuable lesson one year about peppers. We love jalapenos as well sweet banana peppers. The bees apparently loved both also and cross pollinated some of my peppers. We had some sweet banana peppers that were packing enough heat to bring tears to your eyes and then a small crop of jalapenos with no bite at all. I have never planted my hot peppers near another type of pepper since then.

Uncle Jim told me once that I had to be really angry when I planted my hot peppers or they wouldn’t be hot. I’ll have to work on a good ‘mad’ when I put those plants out this year. And with the stiffness I am feeling at the moment that is not going to be too hard to do. All I need now is a few Tylenol or Motrin, some warm weather, just a little rain and time for the fruits of my labor to end up on my table. It’ll be worth it when I get to eat that first juicy tomato sandwich with a hot pepper on the side!

When Doves Cry

Blogging from Bruce
March 30, 2009

Vonda Keon

For someone who has suddenly been thrust out into the land of job seeking once more, I have been staying pretty busy. Redoing my resume and bringing it up to date took a major portion of my time last week. In today’s economy and job market there are 40 plus people competing for the same jobs so I have my work cut out for me while I try to standout in the crowd.

At one job I applied for, being a stand out wasn’t too hard. I was the only one over the age of 30 and the only one that was dressed in business type attire and not blue jeans and sneakers. I may be “old school” in my thinking but I don’t care if you are trying to get a job flipping burgers or cleaning the sewers, when applying for a job you should look like you care about your appearance. If you care about your appearance then you will probably care about the job you are trying to get.


After doing several interviews last week now I have to wait and see if I made a good enough impression to be called back for the second round of interviews. I do have a few skills that some people don’t, such as I actually know how to take dictation and to transcribe it. And I did learn to type the proper way thanks to Ms. Sandra Hubbard and Ms. Rosie Daniels back in the day when typing and office procedures were actually taught. Add those skills to knowing my way around a computer and Microsoft Excel and Office, plus past experience in running an office, I might just be marketable after all. We will see.

I have to be doing something and now that I have some leisure time, I am not just sitting around twittling my thumbs. There is spring cleaning to be done and organizing my cabinets again and digging through all of the papers that have stacked up on my desk. I have never just been used to sitting still and doing nothing.

I did, however, take a breather and sat outside one day last week during a nice day and soaked up the wonderful warmth of Spring. I was watching the stray cat that has adopted us as she cared for her new litter of kittens. She doesn’t speak much. She just comes over for the occasional neck rub and to thank me for the food and water and the nice box I made for her new little family. She is extremely protective of her little ones but she tolerates me checking on them as she keeps a watchful eye out for the many roaming tomcats that come sashaying through the yard.

One tomcat was making his way across the street when his attention was diverted by a family of doves that have made their nest in a hedgerow in my neighbor’s yard. This rather large gray tomcat crouched and went into hunter mode. I could tell he was getting so excited about the prospects of capturing a bird for his afternoon snack. His long tail was the only thing twitching as he slowly crept closer to the nest. Then all of a sudden one of the doves crashed to the ground and was running and crying and dragging its wings. The cat turned its attention to the injured bird. That bird stay just out of reach each time the cat pounced. I sat there fascinated by the ingenuity of the dove as it ran on the ground across the street and up my driveway with the cat in hot pursuit.

I was prepared to swat at the cat with my broom and when the dove ran down the hill by my gazebo and came to a stop on one of the large rocks that make up the creek bed that separates my yard from my moms. The cat spied the dove and slowly made its way down the hill and under the little bridge never once taking its eyes off the dove. The little dove was sitting on that rock making a distress noise and preening its wing feathers seemingly oblivious to the danger that was steadily creeping toward it.

As I watched I realized what the sly little bird was doing. The rock it was perched on was no where near dry land. It was sticking up out what appeared to be a pile of leaves. Under that deceptive layer of leaves was a lot of cold water. Mr. Tomcat was not aware of this cold wet danger as he only had his eyes on that bird with the sagging wing. He slowly and steadily moved into a position to ambush the injured bird. It was a beautiful and scary sight to watch the cat as he homed in on his prey. The concentration and the control over every muscle was amazing.

Then the cat was airborne, his strong leg muscles propelled him toward the bird still serenely sitting on the tip of that rock in the sea of leaves. Just before the cat hit, the bird had a miraculous recovery and flew straight up, the cat’s paws were grasping at empty air when he plopped into the cold water. Cats don’t swim you know. This one was trying his best to walk on water though! It took him a while to get out of the water and onto the safety of the creek bank.

I sat and laughed at the poor wet bedraggled creature as did that sneaky dove and my little mama kitty. The last we saw of him he was skulking off shaking each wet foot in a desperate attempt to dry off. Mama kitty went back to her little hungry litter, the doves decided to rebuild their nest in a little higher spot that happens to be hanging right over the creek bed and I felt a little better about being unemployed for the moment. If I had been at work I never would have seen the antics that occur in nature.

Tomorrow is another Day!

Spring Break is over and I can truthfully say that was one of the most stressful weeks I have ever experienced in my life for a myriad of reasons that I won’t bore you with. I was desperately in need of hearing Scarlett O’Hara utter those famous words, “Tomorrow is another day!”

Ariel and Erin felt sorry for me because my Monday had turned into the Terrible, Horrible No Good, Very Bad Day, and after spending the better part of it trying to get my blood pressure down to a reasonable level and battling a rare migraine, they decided that I should accompany them on their little adventure up and down the Natchez Trace. The Trace is 444 miles from Natchez to just before you reach Nashville. They wanted to do it in 2 days.

Tuesday morning all I can say is, my daughters kidnapped me and put me into the back seat of the red car and off we went. It was the Keon version of Thelma and Louise and Chevy Chase’s Family Vacation minus me being strapped to the top of a motor home! They just wanted me for my pocketbook and navigational skills I am sure.

We had to make a stop at the grocery store to pick up some provisions. The cooler was soon filled with bottles of water, some sodas, sliced turkey, apples, grapes, and bananas, the good old stand jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread and a few other snacky things. Toss a bag of ice in on that and a full tank of gas and we were off to follow the Devils Backbone from Davis Lake to Natchez.

We stopped at every little historical marker except Pigeon Roost because there was some serious road construction going on there. But we did see all of the Indian Mounds and the dead spots at Witch Dance. We walked the Cypress Swamp and got a great shot of an alligator sunning itself on a log. It acted like it didn’t see us and it wasn’t moving a muscle. I preferred to react just the same way. I didn’t want to see it but I did keep moving in case it decided I might make a nice lunch!

The day wore on and we noticed and few folks that must have been doing the same thing we were as we kept running into them at different stops. Our goal was to get to the very first historical marker on the Trace before sunset! We made it to Emerald Mound and climbed to the top of that mound atop of another eight acre mound. That was a pretty awesome sight to see. Then we had a few more stops to see before we came to the beginning of the Trace. The sun was rapidly setting but we achieved our goal that day and turned around and head for home. We arrived back home around 11:30pm. We had covered 562 miles in one day!

The next day dawned with me getting up before the girls did and making sure that the car was loaded down again and off we went in the northern direction, again leaving from the Davis Lake exit. Its fewer miles going north but a lot more to stops it seems. We stopped and looked at the Bay Springs Lock and Dam, walked some of the Old Trace and saw the Confederate grave sites, found a cave with a spring and got as far as Cherokee Alabama and Buzzards Roost when we decided to take off on a rabbit trail. We decided to go to Tuscumbia and visit Helen Keller’s birth place at Ivy Green.

Much to my disappointment, they have taken down the sign that said, “Come see what she couldn’t”. In its place though is a large picture of Miss America 1995, Heather Whitestone as she was being crowned Miss America. She was the first woman with a disability to win the title of Miss America. Heather was deaf and stated that Helen Keller was her inspiration since Helen was also deaf and mute and learned to read, and write as well as speak. The caption on Heather Whitestone’s sign is “her parents were told that she would never make it past the 3rd grade. She apparently wasn’t listening.” I took a photo of it just in case anyone doesn’t believe me!

We had to cut our trip short at that point and head on back home. We are saving the Tennessee portion of the Trace Trip for a time when Scott can ride along with us. It wasn’t the beach or Disney World, but they turned my Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day into 2 days of sitting in the backseat of the car with forgotten cares watching the country side go slowly by and feeling my stress slip away as we revisited some southern history. Fiddle Dee Dee. Tomorrow is another day.

Nerds Spring Break

Well it’s Spring Break and here I sit. The much anticipated and sorely longed for trip to visit the house of THE Mouse was doomed as soon as we did our tax return. And ‘return’ is the operative word. So the Spring Break trip turned into the Spring Break day trip to Huntsville, Alabama to visit the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. It’s Alabama’s No.1 tourist attraction. You can’t miss it. There is a 363 foot tall Saturn V rocket standing tall on the side of the highway.

Saturday morning before the ‘crack of dawn’ we were herding some very sleepy girls into the van. It is a four hour trip one way to Huntsville and it was rainy and just plain nasty weather but the Space Center is one of our favorite spots to visit. The girls slept most of the way to ‘nerd heaven’.

The U.S. Space and Rocket Center houses the largest space museum in the world and is the result of the inspirational insight of Dr. Werhner von Braun. Now a nerdy kid like me knew all those rocket scientists names. I read all about Chuck Yeager, Robert Goddard and von Braun and their work on the rockets that would eventually put men on the moon. I met astronaut Alan Shepard at Ole Miss during a field trip once time. I recall I embarrassed the teacher that was our chaperone (I can’t remember who it was) but I broke away from the group and walked right up to Mr. Shepard and talked to him about being the first American into space.

The Rocket Center is also home to Space Camp and Aviation Challenge. Oh to be a kid again so I could go there and go through some of the paces the astronauts go through before going up into space. I think I would have loved to ride atop one of those huge roman candles for the chance to ride to the edge of space and see what the universe really looks like. I still get goose bumps when I see a shuttle take off and land. I get on the internet and listen to the daily reports from the astronauts that are in the Space Station or on Shuttle Missions. I can even tell you when you can walk outside at night and see the blinking lights of the Space Station as it is speeding over our heads.

We had a very good time there in spite of the weather. We didn’t get to do the space shot or the centrifuge rides due to the rain but there was plenty to see and do. I watched the kids as they scaled the 60 foot tall rock wall. It looked like a lot of fun and I was seriously considering trying it until a woman about my age but much smaller started climbing. Then I got to thinking about how ridiculous I would be looking strapping on what looked like a leather chastity belt with a tether attached and trying to haul my big ole booty up that wall. Plus some of the men didn’t make it up the wall so I stopped entertaining that thought and said it was time for us to get into the van for the 4 hour long return trip.

A little R and R is a good thing, making a fool of myself is not. I would have probably broken a rib in some freakish accident and then would have to explain to Dr. Bruce that I was not acting my age again.

Ariel and Erin have decided to set out on their own little road trip this week and travel the Natchez Trace and stop at all the historical markers. I did that one time many moons ago and it was a great experience in Mississippi history. There is so much to see in our great state and we just take for granted. The beauty of the Trace is free and should not be missed.

Ji Eun and Ping will be going to St. Louis with some other exchange students for their little Spring Break Trip. They will probably sleep on that 6 plus hour trip too, which will be a good thing for their chaperone. I keep telling them that they are missing some great scenery by sleeping.

To me that is part of the fun of a trip; looking out the window seeing the ever changing landscape and wondering when are we going to get there and maybe even seeing something that makes me want to stop and investigate. Like the Coon Dog cemetery near Florence. After seeing Sweet Home Alabama, I want to go and check that place out. Then there is Tuscumbia, Alabama, home of the most politically incorrect sign on the face of the earth. “Welcome to Tuscumbia, Home of Ivy Green, birth place of Helen Keller. Come see what she couldn’t.” I kid you not! I couldn’t make something up like that! Others have seen that sign and they were just as shocked as I was.

Maybe those folks are nerds like me and think being politically correct is a crock.

I have never really considered myself a political activist.

Blogging from Bruce
March 1, 2009


I have never really considered myself a political activist. I have voted in every election that has rolled around since I first registered to vote in 1971. The first thing I did when I moved to a different town was go to the city hall or court house and register to vote. My right to vote in the democratic process has always been very important to me. As I have gotten older and more knowledgeable of the workings of city and state governments, I see how important it is to have accessibility to the people that are elected so that your voice can be heard. That said, I have decided to run for the post of Alderman in Ward 5 in Bruce.

Running for office is not about a popularity vote. The good Lord knows I have never been popular. Someone like me that has a mind of my own and is not afraid to say what is on my mind is never popular. If I see something that I believe needs to be addressed, I will study it, walk around and mull it over, try to look at all the angles, weigh the pros and cons and then state my case. I’ve been known to state my case quietly and I have been known to ambush someone to get my point across. I’m not afraid to take chances nor am I opposed to change. That is just me in a nutshell.

Now onto something else that I feel strongly about; Saturday was food pantry day. In spite of the bitter cold weather, the usually crowd was lined up in Bollinger’s parking lot waiting for me to cross their names off the list to get their voucher so they could go and pick up their boxes.

We give out a pretty decent box of food each month and its contents vary because we depend solely on donations and contributions from people like you and the Mississippi Food Network. But all boxes do not contain the same items which I think some folks don’t understand. We have no control over what food items are given to us. We just pick up the shipment and bring it back to Bruce and divide it up.

Some of our elderly recipients can’t make it to the pantry to pick up their boxes and they will call upon other people to come and pick up their box and take it to them. We have allowed this practice from the beginning because we know what a hardship it is for some. Alas, I may have to stop that practice tho. For the last couple of months, it was brought to my attention that one of these ‘good Samaritans’ was stopping in the parking lot of a local store and going through the boxes and keeping the ‘good stuff’ for themselves.

I didn’t want to believe that any of the people on our list would be so dishonest but I called one of the little ladies on my list and asked her if she had enjoyed her Christmas ham. She didn’t get one even tho I know that I personally put a ham in each box that was loaded into the car that was picking up her box. In January, a couple of our Pantry volunteers witnessed the rearranging of the boxes again in another location. This month, I personally followed the car and watched as they pulled over and got out to check out the contents of the boxes and then did a bit of picking and choosing.
I am greatly disappointed and enraged at the behavior of these people. They are supposedly helping out another person in need and they go through the boxes and take out what they want first and leave what is left for the person that trusted them to come and bring back a box of food. This is something that I will have to pray about long and hard before I say anything directly to the people in question.

When we started the Our Daily Bread Food Pantry nearly 9 years ago it was to fill a need that has proven to be sorely needed for the elderly that live on fixed incomes and as an emergency food source for those in need. We did it with the intentions of being the face of Christ to others and to do what he admonished us to do which is “That you continue to love one another in the way I have loved you, that you also love one another. This is how everyone shall know that you are my disciples, if you have that love toward one another." John 13:34-35

Saturday I found it very hard to love someone that I know is stealing from another person in need. I will find the proper time and place to be the Voice for those out there that need one. And if that makes me a political activist then I guess I am.

Things that make me go HUH!

Blogging from Bruce
Vonda Keon
February 23,2009

Have you ever read something or heard something that made you stop…shake your head in disbelief and go HUH?

The other day I was reading with interest about the new Economic Stimulus Package that President Obama signed. I was a little startled to see what he and some other Washington politicians considered a middle class income. The range is from $200,000 down to $96,000 a year. I don’t know about you but this little ole country gal would absolutely love to be somewhere close to the lower of those two numbers. In my book that is a rich income!

I happen to be privy to what the income for poverty level is nation wide since I have to fill out the paperwork for the food pantry each month. Are you ready for this? Ok, a single person making $13,520 a year, is poverty level. A married couple living on 18,200 is poverty level. A family of 4 trying to pay rent, pay off a car note, send a kid to junior college and another one in high school trying to make ends meet with 27,560 a month is poverty level. These numbers are nationwide folks. It’s a darn good thing that people in Mississippi are used to having smaller incomes and a lower cost of living than other places.

Upper, Middle and Lower class are just words and nothing more. I think we are divided by working class and retired, blue collar workers and white collar workers, college educated and highschool educated. I’m sure you have known some ‘low class’ rich folks just like I know some ‘high class po’folk’. But still, seeing what the politicians in Washington consider the ‘Middle class income’ just made me go ‘HUH”?

Now to the next thing that recently made me stop and stare and go HUH? For the past few weeks I had decided that I was having some pretty vivid dreams mostly starring a rooster welcoming the morning with his loud and boastful cockadoodle do!

Living in the Town of Bruce, having chickens roaming in the yards is slightly frowned upon and if I am not mistaken there is an ordinance against such barn yard birds inside the city limits. Well imagine my surprise when, a couple of weeks ago I was returning home after a meeting with Coach Grubbs about the exchange student program, Scott and I had just come to a stop at the 4 way sign near our home and we noticed a rooster strutting his stuff.

I am not well versed in chicken-ology but I know one when I see one. And Mr. Rooster was not alone….he was chasing a cackling hen. My first initial thought was thank the Lord I am not crazy. I HAVE been hearing a rooster crowing. My second thought was, why is that rooster and hen in town? It seems one of my neighbors has decided to join the "urban chicken movement" and raise their own backyard flock.

I am all for fresh eggs but if I walk out my door and see somebody wringing a chicken’s neck so they can eat that bird for dinner I may just go ballistic. I have nothing against eating chicken, its my meat of choice. But I have an exceptionally vivid memory of seeing a woman wring a chicken’s neck when I was about 7 or 8. The sight of that headless white bird flopping around that woman’s yard was worse than any horror movie that Hollywood can dream up. I still shudder at the thought.

And now I will leave you with one more thing to ponder. Do you use the drive-up ATMS? Why do they put Braille on the buttons of the drive through bank machines?
HUH?

I wanna be a deer and not a fat grumpy bear

Blogging from Bruce
February 16 2009

I hate diets. I love food but I hate diets. You know the kind that promises that if you spend mega bucks on this food or that food or this pill/supplement of eat this like the ‘stars’ do after just 2 weeks look just like their glorious emaciated bodies. Ha! Yeah right.

I am just like every other woman that has hit the over fifty age mark. After having two children and working at jobs where I sit on my tushie most of the day, my metabolism has slowed to a snails pace. It seems that every bite I take ends up putting a bit more ‘junk in my trunk’ than I really want to lug around. A tummy tuck and butt lift is fine on TV but out of the question for me. I am sorry. I will own up to reconstruction surgery after my mastectomy but I gotta tell ya, after the pain I experienced for the year that the reconstruction went on, I will not be doing any kind of rearranging or reduction of my body flab that involves being put to sleep, scalpels or crazy dream inducing drugs!

I know people that have tried Jenny Craig and Nutri-system and it worked great for the couple of months until they could not stand the cardboard and soy bean tastes any longer. I have seen some people cut out all carbs and eat only meat, I have seen some that cut out meats and proteins and eat only veggies. I’ve seen the cabbage soup diet which is a particularly nasty one and I love cabbage. The ‘negative calorie diet’ is out there and I can’t figure that one out unless it’s the old “does drinking a Diet Coke cancel out the calories of this mega jumbo Snickers bar that I am going to cram in my mouth!” diet.

Hollywood Diet, South Beach Diet, Slim Fast Diet, Special K Diet, Atkins Diet, Herbal Life Diet, Rachel Rays Diet, Oprah’s Diet (that one is going to full you up and out from the looks of her and she has a personal cook!) The list can go on and on. I have come to the conclusion that these are all just quick fixes and not even a fix at that. There is a good solution if people would just do it.

Many years ago I found out I was hypoglycemic. That means my blood sugar is chronically lower that it should be. If I want to feel good and be at my best, I need to eat small portions of something 6 or 7 times a day. In other words, I need to ‘graze’. Over the last few years I have gotten away from the grazing and started eating 3 big meals and that is when the scales started tipping against me.

I think the time has come for me to start grazing like the many deer I see standing on the roadside instead of eating like bear going into hibernation mode! You may laugh, but it actually makes sense. Just take a look at the animal world. A deer is svelte, toned and strong. He grazes on grass intermittently throughout the day. A bear, on the other hand, eats with a hunter-gatherer frame of mind, meaning that he stocks up every time he eats to get himself ready for the winter fast.

As humans, we're really more like the deer when you think about it. We have food stores at our disposal. Everywhere we turn there's a 24-hour grocery store, coffee shop or burger joint for our feasting enjoyment. However, the majority of the population is obese because we eat like bears as if every meal were our last. It's true, when we eat 3 meals a day we tend to eat until we get our fill and then some. The problem is people don't hibernate for the winter. Nor are we homeless or experiencing a food storage, so our bodies process all of these excess calories and turn them into fat storage. And where does all that fat land? Look in that full length mirror and you will see what is following you and it’s not a steady stream of admirers! It’s called a boo-tay. Or a spare tire or love handles. Yeah right.

The grazing-eating strategy is far more effective for metabolism and weight control than dieting because you're not depriving yourself. When the body is deprived on a diet it's programmed to go into survival mode and it will eventually binge at the fear of starving. Grazing, on the other hand, reprograms your body. It says, I'm only feeding you a little now because you'll be fed again in 2 hours. And you have to feed it according to the food pyramid.
Each night I weigh out my lunch for the next day at work. I make sure that I get my portions just right. If I can eat 4 oz of meat I weigh it out. I can put all of my little quarter and half cups of fruits and salads and cheeses and veggies and grains in little containers and take it with me to eat. I drink water instead of sugar or sodium filled sodas.
And of course I need to get up off my lazy sit down and walk it off. I have my exercise bike and I sit on it to watch my 3 TV programs. Plus I walk briskly; I don’t ‘mosey’ down the hall way when I am at work. I may not ever see a size 9 again but I am going to tone this weight thing down and keep on feeling good. I really do want to be more lean like a deer instead of a fat grumpy old bear. So excuse me while I munch on my lunch.