The seasons they are a-changin’

And so it is September, the changing of a season, when two seasons meld together to become one of changing weather and ripening of the grapes so important to this area.

It’s odd these days: leaves are turning color and I can still have bouquets of roses in the house. Seems even odder to me that most schools started about a month ago; I am so used to years and years of school starting after Labor Day

For one reason or another, I am behind in many tasks, this column being one of them. So I need to go clear back to June to begin. The class of 1968 at my boarding school in Delaware had its 50th reunion and invited me. It would have been my 80th reunion, and I told them so when I had to write a note of refusal, travel anywhere being beyond me. Three of them sent me very nice notes on picture cards of the school, and the chairman of the event, a school employee, sent me a small picture of my formal graduation picture. There we were: five boys and six girls, all looking very serious and some of them downright mad, but one of the girls had a very nice gentle smile that had to do for all of us. I did not look mad — just very serious.

A side note: a friend of mine at church works with Ancestry on her computer, and kindly volunteered to backtrack my father’s family, about which I know very little. In the course of connections here and there, she turned up my boarding school yearbook picture and I looked like a very young girl who wouldn’t say boo to a goose, as the saying goes. I was 16 when I graduated, and I guess I wouldn’t have said boo to anybody in those days. How a couple of years of college changed all that!

I’m sure everyone has read the stories about John Callahan and how he plans to put up a new flagpole to replace the one in American Legion Park that has been swallowed up by trees. Nothing was clearly said about the plaque beneath the pole, so a friend of mine in the Lodi Legion Auxiliary copied it for me. Here’s what it says: “Dedicated in Memory/To Our Deceased Members/American Legion Auxiliary/ Lodi Unit No. 22/June 13, 1976.” (Slashes indicate separate lines.)

News stories have started out mentioning the Legion auxiliary and have wound up mentioning more about the Legion, which makes things a little confusing. Right now the current Auxiliary officers are researching their back records to see if they can find the history of the pole and its plaque. Incidentally, John told me that the national Legion newspaper had contacted him and picked up the story, so our local news is getting spread widely about.

I couldn’t let a column go by without making comments about the misuse of the English language, which is getting worse and worse. Words are being left out where they’re needed and added where they are not needed, and grammar is getting terrible. I read somewhere that “trends have showed that fewer people attend church.” I don’t like these trends, but what really upset me was “showed.” It should have been written “have shown.” All kinds of prepositions and connecting words such as “to” and “with” and other similar small words are being left out altogether. I guess people are typing too quickly, possibly because they are so pressed for time in some jobs.

The two omissions that drive me up the wall are the words “from” and “of ” when speaking about graduation and time periods. One does not graduate high school or college or anything else. One graduates FROM these institutions. And it is not “a couple weeks.” It’s a couple OF weeks. Use of language tells one about people, I think. A recent quotation in the paper from a professor making a claim about sexual harassment stated, “He grinded his body against mine . . .” Come on — the word is “ground.”

Given half a chance, English can be an interesting and beautiful language. Its history is fascinating, but it’s all being lost in shortened words and figures because they are quickly punched into cell phones. I rejoiced to see that some schools are beginning to teach cursive writing. One of these days we just may need to use it again.

And hooray! Play is being prescribed for children! Just free play time, where they can play games, make up little stories to act out, and invent other activities right out of their imaginations. So what goes around does come around. Ninety years ago, this is what we all did as children. Nobody pushed buttons or watched pictures moving on screens of several sizes. My friend and I used to play Flash Gordon and the Emperor Ming, a new comic strip that really wasn’t comic but really caught the imagination. We climbed trees and made mud pies and roller skated on the grounds of the Tome School for Boys which had paved sidewalks. All my friends and I lived in the country in Maryland so we didn’t have our own paved walks. During the summer all the area families used to go to the school and swim in the gymnasium’s pool.

The school, a private prep school, had beautiful grounds and buildings. My grandfather had been a treasurer of the school, and later my aunt worked as secretary for several of the headmasters. Unfortunately, the trustees did not handle the funds very well, and the school closed. The Navy took it over as Bainbridge Naval Training Station, and also took over private properties outside the school, including my grandfather’s house. After the Navy closed the station, the property went derelict, and what was a beautiful campus is an absolute ruin. My grandfather’s house completely disappeared from lack of care.

Well, that was then, this is now. I miss many things about the old days that I think were much, much better, but there are some things about the present day that I think are better in their way. such as washing machines and dryers. A friend and I were emailing about memories of washing hung on long lines which had to be propped up with wooden poles so sheets and other large items wouldn’t hit the ground. There were certain ways of hanging laundry — socks by the toe, pants by the leg, shirts by the tail.

Of course all the laundry was washed by hand on washboards in laundry tubs, including all the sheets and towels.

Another modern-day marvel for which I am very grateful is my Kindle reader. My eyesight is so limited these days that there are many books I can’t read without having them on this terrific little electronic pad. I was able to finally read Pat Conroy’s “Lords of Discipline” and I am now working my way through a large Elizabeth George mystery much more quickly than when struggling with a heavy volume with small print. I am eternally grateful to Second Daughter for this gift.

Speaking of books, I can’t find Ken Follett’s “Night Over Water” and James Michener’s “Recessional.” I don’t think I turned them back in to the Library bookstore, so if I lent them to someone, will you please call me and let me know whom. These books I found terrific, and a friend wants to borrow them. If you don’t know my number, please write a note in care of the News-Sentinel.

So much for forgetting. But here’s something I remember well. A recent story in the paper about three owners of House of Coffees was incorrect. There have been four owners. Mary Warner started offering coffees for sale in that little sliver of a store between the present shop and what used to be Sell Rite Market and is now In Step. She was soon able to move into a larger store somewhere in the area of what is now

Matsuyama restaurant, and was assisted by her daughter. She sold the business to Deb Goni, who later moved it into its present corner location, previously occupied by Hello Kitty, of all things. Debbie was the second owner and built the shop into a place of conviviality and interesting gifts, as well as promoting coffees, of course.

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And so we come to the end. Because of increasing health problems, not the least of which is worsening eyesight, this may well be my last column. I’ve been writing them — far more regularly in years past — for 20 years. I like talking in print, but it’s hard. Email has its problems, too. It’s not like there aren’t a lot of good local columnists who contribute to the Sentinel: Steve Hansen, Steve Mann, Chris Piombo (his latest one was just great), Durlynn Anema, and non-local Gina Barreca.

Also, there are a great feature stories written by Kyla Cathey and the steadfast writing of John Bays to keep us informed of local news. Dave Witte and Mike Bush handle and edit the sports section just fine, and not much gets past Bea Ahbeck’s busy camera. And of course, Scott Howell has to edit and decide what goes in the paper and what doesn’t — no light load. Blessings and cheers to them all.

And I can’t leave without acknowledging faithful readers who keep saying, “When you going to write another column?” and making nice remarks about the columns I do right. These readers are the ones who have kept me going all these years. Blessings and thanks to all of you.

And one to end with: Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.