The cicadas won’t be back until 2011 U
got .8 of an inch Friday and an inch Monday afternoon.
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On a trip to Tybee Island, I checked the prices of gas on the way. Here in Wilkes and surrounding counties, prices were mostly around $2.69. On Tybee and the surrounding areas, the cost was in the $2.40s range. Why is that?
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Around The Square last week, it was beginning to look almost like a ghost town. Bee Southern had moved to the South end of The Square, leaving that building on the West side empty; and all three of the shops in the Fitzpatrick building were empty with trash piled up and a big dumpster out front. But this week, work has already begun to the Fitzpatrick building to accommodate some changes. Two of the three vacated storefronts will be occupied by a restaurant, and there will be a gift shop in the one next to the Fitzpatrick entrance. There are also plans for the hotel restaurant which include re-activating the Sunday buffet luncheons in the ballroom. So all’s well that ends well. But we still need to get some more buildings occupied. . . . Bee Southern and Restore Galore are open for business in the Restore Galore building on the south end of The Square. . . . Be sure to patronize our Washington-Wilkes businesses.
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Alfred's On The Square has closed and has its contents for sale.
haven’t been able to find Jean Davis-Blair, the owner, to find out more. She also owns Southern Elegance Bed and Breakfast.
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Several people have called to ask if we've got cicadas in the area. The best I can determine is that the noise we are hearing is not cicadas. Next year is the year they are supposed to come out. What we are hearing is probably what my Mama used to call July Flies. In the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, the best entertainment we had was to gather in somebody's front yard when it began to cool off
little and get dark. (There was no air-conditioning.) All the children played "Hiding" (we didn't call it Hide and Go Seek), and "Ain't No Booger Bears Out Tonight, 'cause Grandpa Killed Them All Last Night." Along about sundown the trees would be full of a racket that was so loud sometimes it would be hard to hear what your neighbor was saying. Mama said they were July Flies and if we went and put our hands on the tree they occupied, they would stop. Sometimes that was true, sometimes, not. But it was fun to try, anyway. . . . But, we can be on alert for the cicadas next summer.
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Sharon and Wayne Williamson at Newtown have been enjoying watching a hawk that has taken up residence in their yard. They say that they watch him as he hunts but especially like to see a little Mockingbird harass him and run him off.
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Dolores McAvoy has been cleaning out things in her studio and last
2011
week brought me an interesting picture. Most of you know that I collect marbles and enjoyed playing marbles as a child. I have a copy of
Norman Rockwell’s picture titled “Marbles Champion” which shows a girl beating two boys in a game of marbles for “keeps” and winning all the marbles. Dolores found a picture by an artist named Leslie Thrasher which is dated April 18, 1931, and shows a girl shooting with a “steelie” (you marble players will know what I’m talking about) and beating two boys. Dolores said, “Look, she’s skinned her knee.” And I said, “No, that’s just dirt where she has been on her knees shooting marbles.” . . . Those were fun times, as was hopscotch. How many of you had a special piece of smooth flat glass which you used to play hopscotch during recess at school? . . . Dolores also brought me a collection of marbles belonging to her late husband, Hollice McAvoy.
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Around July 4 was the time my hummingbird book said we were likely to have a flood of hummingbirds pass through going South. The only person I have heard who says he had a big pick-up in numbers at his feeder is Arthur Graves on Water Street. Others just report having one lone hummer.ƒ
Watch The Braves tighten up and win the pennant this year! They have come close, but haven’t won the World Series since 1995.
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There is a beautiful red, white, and blue, fiberglass tree in the yard of the yellow brick house on East Robert Toombs Avenue between the Overstreet home and Michael Horgan and Ora Mae Kirk. I have not been able to determine its origin yet (lack of time), but hope to before next week. Check it out. It’s beautiful at night.
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I did some "people-watching" at the fireworks and Fourth of July celebration July 2. I had just read an article in The Augusta Chronicle about obesity and especially ibesity on children. I told a friend that I had never seen so many obese people as I saw that night -- not fat people. There’s a difference in being fat or a little fat, and obesity. The article said that Georgia has the secondhighest childhood obesity rate in the country, behind Mississippi at 21 percent. Georgia’s adult obesity rank is number 17, or 28.1 percent.
ƒ The July issue of the Georgia Electric Membership Corporation's (GEMC) "Georgia Magazine" has an article on seven students who have been awarded Rayle EMC scholarships. Two of these students are Wilkes County students and two have Wilkes County connections. The scholarships are for $1,000 each and were presented at the annual meeting at the Pope Center in Washington. The two Wilkes County students are Courtney O’Neal Gunter and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Meriwether Keen. Courtney is the daughter of Danny and Monica Gunter of Rayle and graduated third in her class at Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High School. . . . Lizzie is the daughter of John and Rhonda Keen of Washington and graduated from Briarwood Academy with a 4.0 grade point average and was salutatorian of her class. . . . Shelby Burnam is the daughter of Tim and Kae Burnam of Colbert, formerly of Washington-Wilkes, and granddaughter of Carol Burnam and the late Frank Burnam of Washington- Wilkes. . . . Jack Veazey Butts, is the son of Michael and Jackie (Veazey) Butts of Crawfordville. He is the nephew of Kathryn Hunter of Washington-Wilkes; and the grandson of Sybil (Mrs. Jack) Veazey of Crawfordville.
