The Huron Expositor, 1979-07-26, Page 31.19;g4799,.99,9•99,99 ,••• 9
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P0 ry yqcir:
BY ALICE GIBB
After 47 year in the classroom, •Donelda
Adams of Seaferth won't have to answer
the school bell this 5ePteMber. But
although her retirement from teaching at
Hullett Central School in Londeborn will
give Mile Adams Mote time to Purette her
hobbies, she admits she's a little cone
certied about "the shock of severing the
conneetioe" with the classroom and stue
dents after teaching fer so many years. The
solution she hopes will lessen the shock is
to do some velenteer remedial work with
local student e riext year,
Ponelda Adams became a teacher
almost by aceident. She attended S.S. k3,
Hullett and: graduated from Seaforth
Collegiate Institute. During her school
years, she planned to train as a nurse, but
the SCI principal suggested since she
enjoyed working with younger children,
maybe teaching was her forte. It's e choice
Miss Adams has never regretted,
Donelda Adams decided right from the
first that she wanted to specialize in
primary education, which meant she had to
attend teachers' college in Toronto, Tbe
• transition from living in a rural community
to the "big city" might have been a
• confuSing experience, but there were two
teachers at the college who made Mies
Adams feel right at home,
One was Mabel Hodgins, the daughter
• of a former minister of Seaforth's St.
• Thomas Anglican Church, and the other
was teaching master.Thornton Mustard, a
native of Brucefield,
Mr. Mustard, a respected educator who
later became principal of the college, went
• down with the luxury liner the Athenia
• when it was bombed and sunk by the
German navy in 1939;
Miss Adam e' said since the Toronto
college was the only one in the province
that offered a primary .specialist course,
her fellow students came from as far away.
as Dryden, Fort William, Timmins and
• Kapuskesing.
After graduation with her teaching
certificate, Donelda Adams returned be
5
Huron Connty, Where he taught for 13
years at Clinton Public School. Then she
In9yed to J.D4 McCurdy (named in honer of
the man who, flew the Silver Dart) Public
School it Centralia, where she taught the
children of RCAF personnel for the neat 17
Years.
Teaching on 4 military base obviOusly
appealed t Kea Adams, and she said tile
school never knew when an air marsball or
other high-ranking official would drop into
the classroom to visit with the students,
Although she was still teachini the
primary grades, Miss Adams found her
students on the base were °nee a
well -travelled lot. One of her kindergarten •
students for example had moved five times
in one year from a base at Whitehorse. in
the Yukon, to Maritimes bases and finally
to Centralia.
• 109ENROLLIED
The school on the base always had a
floating enrolment, since career military
men, and their families are often trans-
ferred. Pee year Miss Adams had 109
students on the roll in her kindergarten.
class, and the average enrolment in' the
school was usually about 80 kindergarten,
pupils. Fortunately Miss Adams had an
assistant for the larger classes,
In 1966 the flying training ceased at the
•base, and in Centennial year, the base was
closed. Donelda Adams taught at Wawa -
nosh Public School in Sarnia for one year,
but then her parents' failing health made it
necessary for her to return to the local
area, She started the kindergarten pr
gram at Hullett Central School and has
been there ever since.
For 28 yeare of her career, Miss Adams
taught kindergarten, spending the other 14
years in a Grade 1 classroom,
Kindergarten children, ,Miss Adams
believes, are quite, simply "wonderful,"
First, they're very dependent on the
teacher, which meaes the teacher "has to
fill the role of mother at school." While you
have to he broad-minded with younger
children -steed you have so many types to
Doneldg Adams le
deal with" and can end ,up doing every-
thing Anent sewing: •eiti huttoes to fixing
zippere, Miss Adorns enjoys primary
students because "those are the learning:
years." She said ,children today -cart
hardly wait to start school", particularly if
• they have elder sisters and brothers
already at school. She said any child who'S
Already been enrolled in a clay Care eie
nursery program has an extra boost,
because these children are already used le
"the School routine."
Today, Miss Adante deeSn't find there's
NOT MUCH DILFFERENcE •
a great deal of difference between rural
and urban kids, since both are exposed to 4
great deal *lore eaperiences than they
were years ago. She said on the senool field
trips, which she believes are so valuable
for students, urban children are expoeed to
wildlife when they tour a buehwhile ruret
children have a chance to tour the hospital
and places of industry when the class gee*
on a trip in town.
If students have changed in the four
decades Miss Adams has spent with them,
she said the major change is in their
environmental exposures. Today, children,
are exposed to television and to travel, .far
more than they were years ago.
If. Miss Adams has any doubts abotit the
fate of the reneger generation, its concern
over their diet of television viewing. The
teacher feels parents should mentor the
television shows their children are watch-
ing, so students are seeing something
that's "informative as well as entertain,
TEACHING HAS CHANGED.
Teaching has also changed in the years
since Miss Adams joined, the profession -
today, the pressures on teachers are even
greater, Miss Adams said while there is a
• shortage of teaching jobs for elementary
teachers right now, she doesn't think
teachers, should despair if they can't find a
• job. She said by 1983-84 she's convinced,
things will level off and there will again be
a job for every teacher, Mut possibly even a
yes ..H.v11,ett Clentrcil
Donelda Adams
scarcity of trained teachers.
Donekla Adams said in the years since
she pined the profession, she's seen both
a scarcity and surplus of trained teachers.
Now that she deesn't have to be up at 6
a.m. every morning to get ready for the
day, Miss Adams is looking forward to
spending more time on her gardeniog, and
at her easel, 'file teacher, who took
Timber of art courses during her teaching
career, paints landscapeS, seascapes and
still lifes in ads. There will also be a bit
more time to spend with her three pets -
two Pekinese and a German sheitherd.
After her years in the classroom,
Penelda Adams thinks "our kids el today
are really wonderful!" If she has one
recipe, of success for dealing with the
citizens of tomorrow it's simply this -
"children need a great deal of encourage-
' !tient, praise and love.' ' •
One can't help believing that Miss
Adams used this recipe liberally.
.• $13,000 for 13 fires; Tuckersmith S7,000;,
Hibbert S4,000 and Hullett $2,000.
James Crocker, Seaforth clerk -treasurer,
. said those would be minimum charges: Each
• additional fire would cost $200 per vehicle
• for the first hour and $100 per vehicle per
• !Icier thereafter..(The vehicles would include
the fire truck and the water tanker.) A false
• Maim or where the services . of the brigade
are not reguired would cost; $100 each per
vehicle call,• •
• Reeve Hunking sais Hullettwould divide
.'
fire departments, w,hich now provide some
protection and with no trouble. Seaforth's
contention that buying its protection Would'
he cheaper is "reit possible" he said.
At et closed meeting last week. SE.aforth
acknoWledged it ,would lose all equity in. the
present firefighting equipment, now housed
• inthe town, by tattling out of the .board.
• That meatis the town "will belie to start
from scratch" to set tip its own fire brigade,
,said Reeve Flunking. He predicted a jump in
town taxes and "I think if the taxpayaers of
•Seaforth lcnew, they'd be up in arms".
William Leeming, McKillop Councillor,
who is heading a Committee the tovirishtps
have set up • to handle Moving the fire
• equipment and organizing A new protection
system said "Seaforth is losing one of the •
best fire brigades in Huron -County," He
• added the townships would be willing tO sell
' fire protertion to the town.
Joseph Gibson, Hullert Councillot, eeho-
ing sentiments of other representatives, said
"We'd still negotiate anew agreement with
Seaforth "le save the present hoard.
. Bue'MaYoe Sinnamon offered no hope of
reconciliation sating, "I don't feel we have
i
(Contnued from Page 1)• any choice but to go it alone."
*fire. The • charges would be: McKillop • The MeYor said the town has been having
troubles' with its neighbours for the past
five years, peaking last March with a battle
over maintenance of town fire hydrants.
When Seaforth asked the townshipsto pay
overdue bills for the past four years for all
•the . hydrants in the town .rather than the
• four from which the trucks are filled for
•
fighting fires in the . townships, the town-
ships refused until they were giv-en detailed
costs ofenaintenance of each hydrant. The
town wanted S5,400 •per year •and the
, townships wanted to know how that sum was
township protection under Clinton and Blyth
Farmer's gam
arrived at. The total bill including 1979
Would amount to S18,000. •'
Since the agreement was signed in 1970
• • ,
die town had acc epted $1000 each year until
1976. In March the totvn threatened to take'
•
Sugar and spice
t40
Let's tetriember
got a kick out of newspaper reprints from
pastgenerations such as (In Years Agone)
planned back (twenty five, fifty and so on
Since 1 was t ;entail boy, I have: always
this
• on page I reali . ze th re e prints are
years). •
•Seaforth area residents contributed
heavily into two world wars, surely a small
corner of this page could be dedicated to
(Lest We ,Forgdt) articles of interest
There is a vast population of youth who
do not fully realize the importance of
patriotism because they are not told ite •
importenceand the solemn cost in the past
that was paid. It would also help lift the
• moral standards of eaoh mid every one of.
us in Canada today,
The Legion will never forget, hut neither
should the *rest of us.
• Robert E Helley,
• reprinted from the war years. • Winthrop'
THE HURON. EXPOSITOR' JULY 31 lin.
0
''' ,'10 , , ,. ;..,t, .,,.. ;,...11rt '' ',, :0 say
,
,
by Si.tsain White
Everybody, especially
people who write weekly
eolemne, needs inspiration.
Some people ger theirs
front sunsets, freshly
scrubbed floors or clean and
polished cars, 1 get mine
froiri flowers. from Working
in the gardep er from ewime
ming in ceol, relatiVelY Clean
Lake Huron,
-But I also *get inspiration:
from newspaper conventions
from talking to people in the
trade. Frorn sharing giggle*,
and moans with people who
have the same jobs in their
smell vommunities as I have
in Seaforth. There is nothing,
nothing, that'll settle your
soul 1 find, like a good gab
with some other weekly
editors.
Bill Smiley knows what I'm
talking about. And if you
missed his column on the
weeklY business ii last
sveek's Expositor, please go
and fetch it from the gar-
bage, the bird cage or
wherever and read it. Hewas
an editor in Wiarton some
years age and he knows 'the
business inside and out.
Bill Smiley, !retch to my
disappointment, was no-
where to be seen at the
Canadian Community Newe-
paperekssociation convention
I attended in Toronto last
week. But editors from a fair
number of. Canada's 550 or
so weekly 'papers were there
and we managed to talk to
cm& a feW Of them. .
There's no .• .common
denominator among weekly
editor S that t could see.
We're short and fat, tall and
skieny, rich and poor, polit-
ical and non-political. A lot
more of us are women:than
used to be the case. We're
like a gathering of ,sinall
fi
who get together firma all
overCanada, We're involved
in a fast growing, fascinating'
industry and we're opthnistic
about its future. '
And we learn, a lot, from
each other.
It can be gratifying to find
that your paper is doing
some feature stories on a
subject that New Bruns -
business people in any - eld
wick paper wrote about with
success- six months ago. Or
xpositor asks*
How dei YOU beat the heat?
that a Saskatchewan town
t
I 10 .
ns Ira ion
has amicably eolved an IsSite
that's. threatening te tete
'froyguier cfo"thec1;72:0.7.CatiltPaitrttle'
It's great to talk to PeOPI'e
twohsoeeloviteptrohisspleattr.4, And Want
It's sobering to talk te
people front the English
speaking press in Quebec.
This cieneention, the
association's 60th, was to
have been held in Montreal.
Mid -winter that had to be
abandoned! because there
sirnply weren't enciegh
English Weeklies left in the
province to carry the work
load which is necessary to
put on the three day affair.
We joked with a couple
from Montreal that perhaps a
future newspaper convention
could be held there, "Yes,
pbaustspboyrts,th,,en one of
need
MoBnuttreoahlertsberreeplwkedr,e bright
rnoments toe. "How old ARE
you?" a young, couple from
northern Ontario who oper-
ate a fine award winning
small paper asked when I
told them we'd had our baby
after ten years of marriage.
When I gave them the awful
truth (32) both looked
gratifyingly amazed and sad
they'd thought 1 was about
25, a asked for that in
writing so I could show my
husband, who did not, alas,
attend the convention.)
There are editors in this
country who've worked out
interesting wAys of doing
their jobs and of getting to
know Canada. We talked to a
family ,from Alberta with two
boys aged* two • and lour,
who'd travelled to Toronto by
train, It was great they
reported and allOWed lotS of
time to play with your kids,
something a weekl dit
doesn't always have at home.
Another editor, from the
Northwest. • Territories; is
about to do something that
everybody in the business
drearinee He and his young
family are moving ecnith to
Montreal for eight and a haif
months whtle he takes a new
Northern Studies program at
McGill,. He's got a friend,, a
fermer student editor, to take
over for the duration. Why?
"I need a break," he said
and every editor who 'heard
that nneleraloOd eemPletelY-
On the whole, weekly
newspaper people are a
pretty friendly bunch, and
tteit just at the after -hour
sessions that ge, en. We eat
at lunch one .4eY with A
CoPple fretn13eitish CMUMbi4
When the lady won a can of
pc salmon in one of the
draws she presented it to 4
friend from Holland who
attended the convention with
me. There's no sense tak,
ing it back where it came
frcint. Here's a bit of Canada
for you to take back to
Holland," she paid grac-
iously.
A series of tiny happen-
ings'and conversations
maybe. But for me they add
up to inspiratien.
Ai. i refugees
,
thru Red Cr'oss
Although no community
organization in Seaforth has
yet taken up the cause of the
Vietnamese boat people,
area residents can assist in
the lifeline which may save
the lives of thousands of the
'refugees.
The London branch of the
Canadian Red Cross has
launched a two-week fund
raising campaign to help
boat people in refugee camps
and in the dilapidated boats.
Donations sent in to the
Red Cross will be sent to
refugee camps to buy food,
shelter and sanitation serv-
ices for the hundreds of
thousands of Vietnamese,
Cambodian and Laotian ref-
ugees wile have fled their
countries.
Donations can be sent • to
Mr. Mulvihill, Canadian Red
.
Cross, 850 Conlmissioners
Road East, Box 4007, London
• Ontario. NSW. 5G9. Anyone
wishing a receipt for income
tax purposes can write their
name and address on the
back of the cheque.
Funds mailed to London
• will reach the camps within
48 hours of the time they are
received at Red Cross head-
quarters.
Cheques should be marked
"Boat People" when mailed
to the London office.
the Fire Board to court to collect the S18,000
• and warned at that time it would ask for
hydrant rental costs back to 1970 and not just
from 1976.
At the closed meeting Wednesday, the
Mayor said the township officials threatened
that their residents wouldn't shop in
Seaforth. "That's silly talk....blackmail."
The Mayor said the ,fire •chief was
• criticized for carrying out some of his duties.
The fire chief had pumped water out of a
Seaford' house which was flooding. McKil-
lop and Hulett officials had criticized him
for doing this saying a similar request to
eumP a house in Dublin earlier had been
refused. •
The Mayor said the Chief can have "Only
one boss." He must answer only to the
Ontario fire marshall's office.
"It's unfortunate things have gone this
far," the mayor said, "I don't feel there has
been enough communication,"
BY JANE ALLAN
As Huron county sweated out a week of
• especially summery weather, the Expositor
asked around to find out what local people
find is the best way to -beat the heat."
Mrs. Ken Stapleton of Dublin says, she
"can't complain a bit" about the sumnier
• weather. Her unbeatable system consists
of sunning until she gets warm; thee
• jumping into theirindoor pool. On a really
hot day Mrs. Stapleton says she would sit
at the pool all dap
A big maple tree keeps the house "nice
and. cool" for Mrs. Don MacLean of
Egmondville. She also uses a fan to keep
that cool air circulating.• -
Simply "think cool" says Carol Miller,
• daughter of Frank Miller, of R.R. 2 STaffa. •
• "Eat light and drink lots" says Mrs.
. ..
(contiriudd froth Page 1) present machines don't discriminate be-
, tween the size of the spear, and pick those
Gabber. Last year, he was still picking on
Nov. 27.
His second problem, after the weather,
is labour. He planned to hire Jamaicans,
but the "government just wont do a damn
thing except tell you to go to Manpower."
• With vegetable crops, 75 acres are all he
Can handle. If you could 'get help, it
tvould be different, but people just don't
like to work on a farm".
He tried the farm labour pool. and was
sent one person, but she sot another job by
the tinie he was ready to start. He has
hired young schOol kids, mostly peigh-
beers, he said, Who "do a fine job," but
other than that, workersare hard to find.
"Hell', if people want to work, there are.
jobs on farms."
This year, Mr. Gottschall is going to try
using a corn picker. If that doesn'twork
out,"he could use Seven Or eight people
to pick the corn, and No° to harvest the
eauliflower.
He hopes .that the corn picker Will work
without bruising the cobs. Cauliflower,
however, is ve• ry difficult to mechanize,
he said. Each heed must be tied, which can
be done mechanically, but selecting the
heads according to their size and colour
should be done by hand. -
MECHANICALLY OUT
The cabbage, he said, OM be me-'
thanically eut, but 'picking h up,and
trantporting it Must be done manually to
preyed bruising, He can mechanically
harvest' the broetoli and the asparagus,
but the asparagus is difficult, Many
attempts have been made to refine the
mechanital biding, he said, but the
•9e
only two or ,three inches high without
giving them a chance to grow,
You lose roughly, 40 per cent picking
aparagus with machines, he said., but
losing it is equivalent to the cost of hand
picking the crop.
The labour advantage in the United
States is the main difference in the
production between Canada and her border
country, said Mr. Gottschall. The U.S.
vegetable farmers hire Mexicans.
• Other than that factor, "There's no
reason We can't produce as well as they
can," he said.
Out in the field, he points out, the
difference between the cabbages he
planted as seeds June 8, and the seedling
eabbeges he planted 10 days ag o. The
seedlings, weedless, are three times the
size of the seed cabbages he planted
earlier,
He looks critically at the field planted in
broccoli, not yet showing through the soil.
They had been planted' tees weeks earleir,
but there had been no rain.
His third problem, he said, it lack of
knowledge " "ignorance" On his part. But
he got into vegetable farming because the
returns were good and expects to learn
More from each season.
Mr. Gottschall's wife, Elaine, just
received' her Master's degree from the
UniverSity of Western Ontario. She teaches
nutrition tit Western evening classek, and
will go on stUdYing for her PhD, hoping to
do research. His one daughter is editor of
the Campbellford newspaper, his Other
daughter it an attorney in Chicago.
Herb Oottschall has much to be pnind
- •
jot) Cronin
'Joseph Gerard Cronin, 47,
• of 'Dublin died Saturday at
Seaforth Community Hosp-
ital. Taken ill as he was
coming home from Stratford
to Deblin, Mr. Cronin was
'driven to hospital where he
died shortly after admit-
tance.
Prominent Dublin area
business man he Operated
Cronin Transport and built
the business into a major
transport service. Since the
sale of the business Several
years ago he had Continued
as manager.
Mr. Cronin had Served as
Village trustee rot 11 yeart
and was also a Chartet
Member of the Dublin Lion;
Club. He was tidied in
George Love, Sr., of R.R. 4 Walton,
"especially if you're working hard.- Mrs.
Love added that if you can "take it easy
you're O.K.
Edna Eckel of R,R. 1, Varna just tries to
telex and "not think about it.-
• Mary Co:meetly of R.R. 3. Kippen "just
suffers", but she thinks you should "spend
the time in your pool, if you have one,"
Little Lisa Henderson of R.R. 2, Seaforth
has an easy solution, she just rides- her
bike,
Go to the beach, absolutely, said MrS'.
Barry Gordon. She isn't too fond of the hot
• weather but says if she can spend it by the
Water, "everything's fine." . '
Mrs, John Kerr of Seaforthshuts the
doors on the house and heads for the shade
with. a cool drink to beat the heat. ,
Well . kn�wn Dublin
businessman dies
corimmnity sports programs
and was vice president of the
Dublin and District Athletic
Association, He managed
and sponsored the Dublin
Shamrocks. e junior ladies
softball team. He was a
member of St. Patrick's
. Roman Catholic Church,
Dublin and Of the fourth
degree of the Knights of
Columbus. •
Born in St. Coltimbari he
was the son of the late
Joseph Crot hi and the
former Elizabeth Roach.
Surviving are his wife, the
former Delaine Denomme to
whom he was married at
atvlount Cartel in 1956; one
daughter Mrs, Gerry (Karen)
Ryan. R.R. I, Dublin; three
sons, Gary J., Wayne E. and
Dale M., all at home; on
Sister Mrs„ Jack (Bessie)
O'Rourke, R.R, 1, Dublin
and five brothers; Frank J.
Dublin; Jamet E. of St.
Columban; Leonard P.,
Warren, 'Michigan; Lorne D.,
Burlington and Robert P.
Dublin. He was predeceased
by two brothers Clarence and
Jack. , •
Friends were received at
the R.S. Box,Funeral Home,
47 High St, Seaforth where
parish prayers were Offered
at 8:30 p.M. Funeral mass
was celebrated Tuesday at
1030 tern. at St, Patrick's
Church, Dublin. Celebrant
was Father Gordon Dill,
assisted by Father P.A. Oost-
vcen and Father Looby. An
honour guard included the
Third and Fourth Degrees of
the Kitights of Columbus and
members of the Dublin
Shamrocks.
Burial followed in St. Pat-
riek's • Cemetery. Dublin
when the pallbearers were:
David O'Rourke, Greg
Gamble, Meal(' Cronin,
Bryan O'Rourke. Bradley
Oldham And Ronald
Deponime.
7
I ou re
invited
Adults, young people and
visitors are invited to take
part in a Heritage Walking
Tour of Main Street (Sills
Hardware and Cardno's Hall
will •be epee for viewing)and
the historic Whitetail house
on Sunday, June 29th froth
2.4 p.m„- etittimeneieg At
Vittoria Park. Spensored by
Local Atehitettural
ConeerVatiOn Advisory
Committee, NO charge.
The jungle must g
For weeks I'd been telling her, / said,
"The jungle ISI coming in on us. rin not
kidding. It's a bloody jungle out there, and
• it's going to get us."
She thought I was hallucinating again.
• Jungle. Creeping in. Rubbish. And then 1
took her out and showed her, She hadn't
taken a good tour of the estate for a couple of ,
years. And tvhat she saw shook her. "You're
right. It is a jungle." •
• A few years ago we had a kaleidoscope of
colour out there. Now it's almost solid green,.
relentlessly creeping in from all sides.
We had two rose beds. We had actually
planted some roses in them, and some of the
roses actually. grew." Peace roses. Dypso-
maniac roses. Red roses. As soon as they
bloomed, I'd cut them, put them in a vase,
and we'd sit around looking at them as
though we'd borne children.
I cut them back dutifully, piled dirt around
thein in the fall, and a couple even bloomed
the second year.
The roses were planted cheek -by -jowl with
a fine healthy row of peonies that produced
almost obscenely. The second year of the
roses, the peonies were a little sick. The
third year they were definitely ailing..
This year that particular flower bed has
produced, two peonies, three rosebuds, two
elm trees about eight feet high, a healthy
young maple and enough hay to feed a herd
of cows. The jungle.
Our other rosebed was somewhat of a
failure from the beginning, despite all the
fertilizing and •fussing. Therefore, when a
couple of aeotne the squirrels had Missed
sprouted, i thought, "Why not? It'll add a
nice touch of green." Almost overnight it
stemsthose attires have grown to sawlog
dimensions,
First few yeart here we had tiger lilies and
all kinds of other exotics, This year we had
tigers. Yo ti could see there sitting there in
the jungle at night, peering with yellow
eyes. Stem people might say they were cats.
I know they were tigers• ,
A few years age we had brown -eyed
daisies galore. This year we had brown -eyed
children gakite, slashing and gallciping
throttglt the jangle that ,once was brown -
eyed daisies. —
Even the weedpilet are dee ping doter.
At first they Were orderly woodpiles, in their
&CC* ready to be thrown into the cellar,
adding rather a quaint touch of rusticity to
the backyard, as it once watt
They We started piling felled branches on
top Of them. Now they are horrible
Vmodpiles, crooked and beckoning, fes- ,
tooned by vines and other creeping green
things.
Used to be a fine yoeng spruce growing'
near the.garage. Top of it would have made
a nice Christmas tree. It's grown so fast in
fifteen years that it's a hazard to low-flying
airPlaPehsAve
• Wesquirrels so big and so bold ;
they'll jump up on the picnic table' and
snatch the second half Of your peanut -butter., •
and -honey sandwich, without so much as a
"Do you mind?"
•We have robins who pull out worms as big
as rattlesnakes and then have to surrender
them to grackles as big as seagulls, strutting
about the clearing in the jungle in that ugly
pigeon-toed gait of their. •
Bees as big as beavers buzz Around ,out
• beer bottles. Huge black ants hoist
themselves up the hair en my legs, spit in
my eye, and waltz off to attack' a starling.
Every day we move our lawn chairs a little '
• closer to the hack door. '
Out front, our mighty oak grows ever
greater, peers in windows, rubs • his nose
against panes, chuckles with amusement,
gives the brick a smack With one of his huge
hands, and goes back to waiting for the next
north windso that he can drop a dead
branch across our TV 'cable wire,
Up the back of the house crawls a great
green vine, with tentacles like these of A
giant squid, slowly, carefully, and with
super -human skill pulling bricks loose, one
by one. Every so often it starts to die, and I
Watch with glee and hope. But no,, fresh
green tendrils sprout, every one of them a..
potential brick puller.
We hack, we chop, we slash. To no avail.
Everywhere the trees, the weeds, the vines,
trawl toward and over the hoUse. insidious.
••tnaliciouswhispering to each. other their
eventual triumph.
In this steady, frightening encroachMefit
,ajungle, there is only one bright spot, one
'thing that won't grow. That's. the privet
'hedge bet ween the yard and the street, that
Oyes us about as much privacy -at a stripper
at a medical convention.
Planted at great expense, trimmed with
decreasing regularity because there's noth-
ing to trineit locikt llke& kid who's been in a
fight and had A couple of front teeth knocked
out. That's the good part. Down at the other
end, whore the snowplow man dumps fotty-
eight tons a year, it resembles a pygniy With
a bad case of malnutrition,
junt:liet'sforthcCeswauyswteopreeto. "Steal' ;fine: ot -
through one of the ga pe is the hedge
pushing the grand piano in front ot