September 17, 2003
It has been noted that it has been a while since I have plugged in the coffee pot and had you all over for a chat. Well, the coffee is perking right now and I'm glad you are here. Don't you love the smell of fresh brew? Might be a tad "expresso" this morning!
"The Taste of Norcross," held at Norcross High School on September 12th was absolutely fabulous. Twenty-seven restaurants in the Peachtree Corners area participated with very generous tastes of their fare. My husband and I bought two tickets at $10 each from one of the students in our neighborhood. We turned those in for 11 sampling tickets each. The samples were so generous that we were filled up with the wonderful food and had four tickets left over. The Commons at Norcross High School was packed with folks. Parking spilled over into nearby lots and residential streets. I would say this first "Taste of Norcross" was an unqualified success.
Norcross PTSA co-president Debbie Mason said they haven't finished counting the money yet, but what with 3,000 tickets sold and one of the largest silent auctions I've ever seen, this was a huge fundraiser for the school. Everything was donated and expenses were low. That's a recipe for success! All of the school's booster clubs and the PTSA will benefit from the proceeds, which will be considerable.
Organizers Ann Case and
Julie Hunt will probably be passing their winning formula around to all the schools in the system. When parents take an interest and get involved, everybody wins. That is the big secret for success Gwinnett County Public Schools would like to share with the rest of the state. Large-scale parent involvement with students' academics and extra-curricular activities is what is missing in so many other of Georgia's school systems. We have been working on that item for some time here in Gwinnett.
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Be sure to head over to Peachtree Corners on Monday, September 22nd, for the United Peachtree Corners Civic Association's general membership meeting. Atlanta's premier guru of gardening,
Walter Reeves, is the speaker. The meeting is free and open to the public and we hope you will be there. This special program was months in the making, and hearty thanks go to UPCCA's vice president
Pat Bruschini for doing all the work and making this happen.
Walter Reeves will have a book signing at 7:00 p.m., so come by early if you would like to buy one of his fabulous gardening books. The program itself starts at 7:30 p.m.
The location is the Simpsonwood Conference & Retreat Center, 4511 Jones Bridge Circle, in Peachtree Corners. We'll be meeting in the main Rollins Building in the North Georgia Room; this building is the one with the portico in front. Just follow the UPCCA signs when you enter
Simpsonwood's grounds.
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My computer had a dose of that last virus that blew through, annoying as all get out. I deleted over 10,000 e-mails and virtually could not use my e-mail program it was so gagged. If a legitimate e-mail got deleted in my exasperation, it is no wonder. In this process, I discovered that the annoyance factor greatly overwhelmed the utility factor and I really would not have minded unplugging everything and pitching it all into a closet to be used nevermore. I can go just so far with these machines.
I now have a super-dooper deluxe Norton Anti-Virus message washer that automatically deletes anything sent to me with a virus hanging on it. This program also checks over and sanitizes any message I may send to you.
It is my opinion that the federal authorities that nabbed the misfit kid who created this chaos ought to provide him with a punishment that is equivalent with the frustration he caused to be sent to all of us…something memorable, a little endless, and costly for him, too. Maybe give him about ten acres of pecan orchard in South Georgia to hand rake on a hot and humid day and then make him pay the farmer for the privilege. That might make an impression. He wouldn't ever want to see another computer again, much less mess with one.
This is a proven formula for changing the behavior of plank-headed young men. I am reminded of the time our eldest son, a teenager then, came home drunk late one evening. My husband got him up very early the next morning and made him wash all of our cars; I think we had about five at the time and one was a big ol' Explorer van that was the size of Texas. Poor kid was greener than the privet hedge he threw up behind, but it was the last time we ever saw him inebriated.
Our youngest son did not ever learn any lesson by example, only hard knocks. In due time he came home drunk late one evening and so my husband required the exact same early morning car-washing detail from him. It was the last time we ever saw him inebriated as well.
These sons of ours, who are grown men now, laugh about this excruciating memory they both share. They sure didn't think it was funny at the time. Their father and I were the ones doing the laughing.
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This is my favorite time of the year. I love what the light does, seems to become softer and mellow. I had a visit yesterday afternoon from a young buck that emptied one of the bird feeders in the back yard. He was miffed that I caught him at it and swaggered off, giving me a stern look. We frequently see our deer friends about the neighborhood.
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Hope all is well, and thanks for reading.
091703
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