Conversation

Watching Our Kids Interact with the Mural People


It looks like these boys are having a conversation with the little Chinese girl.

The Return of Louis XVI

The Young American President Repeats History


The hunting gardens of Versailles...


...Louis XVI's massive palace.

Here's an Article [click to read] in Political Mavens that I must confess I have been waiting for, Michael LeGault [click for bio] has written a great comparison of Barack Obama to the French monarch. You probably remember Louis XVI's wife, Marie Antoinette. When advised that the peasants had no bread, she is reported to have said: "let them eat cake."

"The president’s fondness for a party has been likened to the Roman Emperor Nero’s questionable emergency response tactics. A more fitting comparison is to Louis XVI, his wife Marie Antoinette and their court at the Palace of Versailles in pre-revolutionary France around 1788. Like the United States today, France in the time of the Louis XVI was saddled with enormous debt. The Seven Years War against Britain had depleted the treasury, and the fiscal crisis was compounded by the extravagant, often gluttonous lifestyle of the King and his attending aristocrats. In order to finance the deficit, a 5 percent tax was levied on all revenues. When further tax increases were blocked by parlements, the King and the French government enacted a policy of taking out large international loans. Sound familiar?"

Dare to Dream, Persist in the Dream

Dr. King Presented a Dream, One Woman Pursued it

This is part of the 'Milestone Monday' series.

Modern Day Pioneer Woman


The Boxwood House in Culpeper, Virginia.

Today the Boxwood House Complex in Culpeper sits by the side of US 29 as a rehabilitation facility. Few know its remarkable history as the fulfillment of a dream.

Ruby Beck was an African American woman who worked for other people most of her life. In the mid-1960's she dreamed of opening her own restaurant using old family recipies. When most people would have been planning retirement she was out looking for financing.

The local banks wouldn't touch her project. They'd listen politely and then politely brush her off. Mrs. Beck was not the kind of person to give up easily. Eventually she found her way to the offices of Burke and Herbert [click to read], a locally owned Alexandria bank. They listened politely to her business plan and gave her the initial financing to go ahead.

Mrs. Beck built a building that was described in this manner: "what Howard Johnson's would build if they had less money and more taste." She used E. A. Clore chairs [click to read], custom designed with low backs for ease of movement for the servers. It was configured just like a Howard Johnson's but guests always lingered at the tables and Mrs. Beck's glassware collection soon took over the counter. Her meals always featured homemade bread, her own preserves and pickels, and fine Southern recipies. To dine at Boxwood House was to partake of Southern cuisine as high art.

Her sister Lizzie joined her in the business and was probably the head chef for most of the establishment's existence. Lizzie had been my Aunt Molly's live-in caregiver prior to coming to Boxwood House. A vivacious woman who taught us how to catch tadpoles and smallmouth bass, Lizzie was also the best marksman we knew. Her good eye became a family legend after we witnessed her shoot a snake out of a tree in the darkening evening. We never feared for her or Aunt Molly's safety living alone in rural Madison County. We did fear for anyone foolish enough to sneak around their house at night.

In those difficult days of the mid-sixties, Ruby and Lizzie established themselves as people you had better not mess with. I think their dad taught them the fine points of marksmanship and endowed his daughters with the gift of confidence. They were great ladies!

This Blog began with the story of Dr. June McCarroll [click to read], the inventor of pavement markings. Her story is one of overcoming opposition and skepticism... and her amazing perserverance in doing so.

Back to Ruby Beck [click to read]. She was remarkable enough in that she concieved the idea of owning her own restaurant. OK, there was a problem. She was living in the mid-Twentieth Century and Massive Resistance was in full force. No banks would loan her the money but she persisted until she found lenders at Burke and herbert willing to take a risk along with her.

She built her Boxwood House Restaurant around family recipies and her sister Lizzie Harrison joined her in the business as chef. Lizzie's cooking was famous. She cared for my Aunt Molly in her later years as a live-in caregiver. When Aunt Molly threw a family dinner it was an experience! Homemade bread! Homemade Preserves! Cornbread! You get the picture. Lizzie took these fine recipes to the Boxwood House and, with her sister, made history! In 1971 Ruby Beck won the “Virginia Small Businessman of the Year Award.” Ruby was the first woman in Virginia, the 2nd woman nationally and the first minority business owner in the South to receive the prestigious award. Pretty impressive!

Lizzie was pretty impressive in her own right. She was a lady who found joy in taking us down to the little pond to catch tadpoles. She was kind and tough -- one of the best marksmen we ever knew. Once she shot a snake out of a tree and became the family's own version of Alvin York.

We never feared for the safety of Aunt Molly and Lizzie, though they lived along busy U.S. 29. Lizzie's rifle skills were such legend that no locals would have messed with her. Our standing family joke was that out of town troublemakers would have been met by the following sound: "BLAM!!!, Who WAS that?"

Here's an Article on Mrs. Beck [click to read] from the Culpeper Star Exponent.

Restoring Honor 08/28/10

Thoughts from the Side of the Reflecting Pool


Here I am at the rally. Photo by T. Barbour.

At today's Restoring Honor Rally, Glenn Beck pointed out the scar in the Washington Monument. Far down the reflecting pool, the mighty obelisk rises as a pure form of ancient architecture. Look closer and you see a change in the stone color, about a quarter of the way up the Monument.

That 'scar' marks the point where work was stopped as North and South fought the War between the States. This bloody conflict might well have ended the American experiment... but the Nation survived and became the great Nation we live in today. When work was resumed on the Monument, the builders went back to the original quarry but were unable to match the marble exactly. The change in color bears silent testimony to one of our most perilous times.

Beck asked the thousands listening to him to look beyond the scars of our differences and see the good that is in our Nation.

Joined by Governor Sarah Palin and Dr. Alveda King [neice of the great Civil Rights Leader], Beck led a call back to the foundations of good in our Nation... the sure step to do the right thing when no one is looking, the value of individual honor in service to one's fellows.

Aaron Copeland's 'Fanfare for the Common Man' played over the Reflecting Pool as the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity were celebrated. That piece had become a theme piece as I visited the Memorial on the July 4th weekend. It was on Xaver Wilhelmy's demonstration DVD played on the glass organ pipes! It was a nice departure from the 'Rocky' theme as I trotted up the steps of the Memorial to watch the morning light illuminate the shrine to Lincoln.

Now it became the theme for honoring people who exemplified the virtues.

Under the trees lining the Reflecting Pool, ordinary Americans came together to affirm the foundations of this country's greatness.

Restoring Honor 08/28/10

Crowds at the Lincoln Memorial


Arriving at the Lincoln Memorial for the Restoring Honor Rally...


...and the crowd stretches all the way down the reflecting pool to the World War II Memorial.


The crowd from the air... ht/Mike


...there are people crowded UNDER those trees as well.

More Photos [click to view].

Lynn Has More on the Rally [click to read].

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume II, Issue XXXV

Restoring Honor

The 'other' Weekly News Magazine [click to read] bears the headline: "Rethinking Home Ownership." The housing crisis is just a symptom of deeper problems our country is facing so THYME is breaking from the usual parody to offer the event the MSM is ignoring... Restoring Honor!

Our nation has sought out Divine intervention on its behalf before, noteably in our naiscant time of struggle to be free of British tyranny. Again we prayed as our nation was divided in a bloody civil war and then in the Twentieth Century as we faced wars in Europe and the Pacific.

Today we face a new set of dangers, most noteably from those within our own borders who fail to see the foundations of this great nation who's blessings they enjoy.

Here is the Place [click to read] for information about the events on 08/28.

More Information and Pictures [click to read] can be found here at Glenn's Producer's Blog.

It's a Matter of Honor [click to read]. Dr. Alveda King – the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., – explains why she's speaking at the Glenn Beck 8/28 rally in Washington this Saturday: "Americans are hungry to reclaim the symbols of our liberty, hard won by an unlikely group of outnumbered, outgunned, underfunded patriots determined not to live in servitude to the British Empire. If we want to sing the national anthem at a memorial to the man who led this fledgling nation out of slavery, and made my people free, we should be able to send our voices soaring to the heavens."

Throughout history America has seen many great leaders and noteworthy citizens change her course. It is through their personal virtues and by their example that we are able to live as a free people. On August 28, come celebrate America by honoring our heroes, our heritage and our future.

Join the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and many more for this non-political event that pays tribute to America’s service personnel and other upstanding citizens who embody our nation’s founding principles of integrity, truth and honor.

Our freedom is possible only if we remain virtuous. Help us restore the values that founded this great nation. On August, 28th, come join us in our pledge to restore honor at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.

The National Cathedral


Light from the windows above...


...frames a statue of George Washington.


Stained glass and stone.

The Lincoln Memorial


The morning light illuminates the statue of Lincoln...


...from the East.











The Debt We Owe to the Defenders of Liberty


The World War II Memorial.


Vietnam Memorial...


...and a hero remembered.

Ask Yourself: 'What Would Moses Do?'


Thomas Jefferson sought to establish an architectural identity for the young republic...

"Many nations are forged in war: struggles for independence that not only define their future mode of governance but also create the conditions of their national identity. Americans fought off the British in 1776 under the banner of freedom, but it took decades, perhaps a whole century, before their identity would be cemented as "one nation, under G-d." For the Israelites, by contrast, identity preceded independence." -- David Hazony

"The Lord our G-d spoke to us [at Mount Sinai], saying, 'You have dwelt long enough in this mountain: turn, and take your journey …behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers." (Deuteronomy 1: 6-8)

Here is a Brilliant Article [click to read] by David Hanzony in Jewish World Review.


...Washington today is built upon ancient imagery, but uses it as an inspiring backdrop to the pursuit of liberty.

The People in the Mural

Every Person Has a Story


Girl from Mindanao.


Girl from Thailand.


Girl from Peru.

The Journey is as Interesting as the Destination

As we've continued work on the Staunton Alliance Church Mural [click to read] the sketches have become part of the story too. Laney and I research each culture and create the characters with some knowledge of their background. This is not your Mother's nursery mural. Our goal is that our kids will actually be able to reach out and touch people from around the globe and learn something about their respective cultures.

The mural is an attempt to portray the New Earth described in Isaiah 60 and Revelation 21. Here we see the peoples of the entire world coming to the throne of G-d. The beauty of each person's culture and the representation of Imagio Dei in each person is an important part of the story. Part of this beautiful redemptive story for us has been to find real pictures of children in these places today... often in hard and impoverished places, and place them in their beautiful traditional costumes as princes and princessess of this renewed world.

Most of the time it is a pretty enjoyable task, but there are times when the state of children in the present world slaps us in the face. When my fellow artist in this project was researching Burma, for example, she was confronted with images of dead childrens' bodies when she searched the term 'Burmese children.' This type of reality has strengthened our resolve to show a redemptive reality on the walls of our church building. Please pray that we will be able to do just that.

When we began this project, my colleague prayed "Lord, work through our hands." Indeed that is a prayer I want to carry into my other tasks and endeavors as well.

Palestine's Nakba Narrative

The Biggest Obstacle to Peace in the Middle East

In The Nakba Obsession [click to read] Sol Stern in City Journal presents a clear-headed analysis of the Palestinian problem and why it needs to be better understood.

"There is only one just compensation for the long history of suffering, say the Palestinians and their allies: turning the clock back to 1948. This would entail ending the “Zionist hegemony” and replacing it with a single, secular, democratic state shared by Arabs and Jews. All Palestinian refugees—not just those still alive of the hundreds of thousands who fled in 1948, but their millions of descendants as well—would be allowed to return to Jaffa, Haifa, the Galilee, and all the villages that Palestinian Arabs once occupied.

Such a step would mean suicide for Israel as a Jewish state, which is why Israel would never countenance it. At the very least, then, the Nakba narrative precludes Middle East peace. But it’s also, as it happens, a myth—a radical distortion of history." --Sol Stern

The problem today is that the origins of the problem are ignored in the discussion. The original attack on Israel and the subsequent refugee problem are succinctly stated in Stern's piece. Also noted is the fact that Israel's neighbors, who could have assimilated the refugees, have instead chosen to perpetuate their status. The Left today has run with the Nakba Narrative. Anti-Israel sentiment runs high, often bubbling over in Vitriol of the Worst Sort [click to read], but it was not always so.

The Left, in fact, once viewed Israel as a great triumph. Stern Chronicles journalist I. F. Stone's initial praise of the modern Jewish State and his subsequent conversion to Palestinian apologist. The progressives who once lauded Israel for its... progress... cutting edge agriculture and technology, modern cities and inclusive government later abandoned her as they took up the causes of victimology and redistribution.

The Left's own narrative that those who have achieved prosperity have obviously stolen it from the disadvantaged plays well here. Also ignored in this narrative is the fact that Israel groans under the burden of the many refugees it has brought in, such as the Russian Jews who populate places like Sderot and often bear the brunt of missle attacks from places like Gaza.

Perhaps a better narrative for this part of the world would be one that sees most everyone in the region... Jewish, Coptic or Palestinian as one who has suffered under or fled the forces of oppression.

Let's Hope the World is Right About 'Evil' Israel


Can we trust the world's compass if it is that broken?

Dennis Prager [click to read] in Jewish World Review.

"The reason mankind has to hope that the world, its leaders, its newspapers, its so-called human rights organizations and the United Nations are right about Israel is quite simple: If Israel is the decent party in its war with the Palestinian Authority and Hamas — and nearly all the world's countries, nearly all the world's media and the United Nations are morally wrong — what hope is there for humanity? If the world's moral compass is that broken, are we not sailing into a dark age?"

The Plain Truth about Israel [click to read] by Caroline B. Glick.

Who's the Bigot Again, Ms. Pelosi?

It Cant be Feisal Abdul Rauf, Can it?

Nat Hentoff [click to read] in Jewish World Review makes a clear and concise presentation of the facts surrounding the Ground Zero Mosque and its controversial imam. I guess Ms. Pelosi will be investigating him now.

They've Got Our Back...

...Do We Have Theirs?


Photo by Pfc. David Hauk, U.S. Army. Kandahar, Afghanistan
November 12, 2009

Remember Me

Lynn has This Reminder [click to read] to continue to pray for our troops and our military families. Tomorrow morning our mens' group meets and we always remember those we know corporately. Let us make a habit of lifting up these men and women on a regular basis.

My Grandparents... August 21, 1904

Lynn Remembers a Special Day for Her Family



Guest Post by Lynn R. Mitchell in the Milestone Monday series.

There's a narrow gold wedding band I wear along with my own ... my grandmother's wedding band ... that was left to me when she passed away many years ago. Inside is engraved my grandparents' initials and the date of their wedding ... August 21, 1904 ... 106 years ago today.

My grandfather was from Grayson County in southwest Virginia. My grandmother was from Allegheny County, NC, just across the New River and state line. I don't know how they met, only that they were married in Cox's Chapel along the river. Their names were John and Molly and they were two teenagers beginning life together as generations had done before in those isolated hard-scrapple mountains.

They settled in a small cabin on the side of a mountain near an area known as Mouth of Wilson in the shadow of Grayson Highlands and Mt. Rogers in the days before it became a state park. The land was sloped and rocky ... the elevation was over 3,500 feet ... and to walk it today makes me wonder how they were able to survive in the harsh winters and difficult summers. In two rooms, they began raising their family that would eventually include 10 children ... my mother was the youngest ... as my grandfather farmed with a mule and plow, piling rocks on the hillside that are still in place to this day. A small creek passes below the cabin, a source of water during the days they lived in those cramped, sparse conditions.

They were surrounded by family. Our relatives are all through those hills, most staying close as they grow into adulthood, marry, and raise families of their own. My grandfather's parents lived in a log cabin on The Knob, the family place that was made up of two rooms and a fireplace on the ground floor, and one large room upstairs. My grandmother's father was prosperous and owned a store outside Sparta, NC. She left to marry and make a life of her own.

Because they were tough and made their own way, they set a work ethic for those of us who followed that continues to this day. And it began on this day 106 years ago when John and Molly became man and wife....

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume II, Issue XXXIV

The 'other' Weekly News Magazine [click to read] asks the question: "Is America Islamophobic?" in reference to the flack being generated by the Ground Zero Mosque [THYME's editorial directive says we have to call it that].

Well, let's not forget who started this war [yes, THYME's editorial directive says we have to call it a war -- this is a tough place to work for the politically correct]. The pay is pretty lousy too.

The attacks on America are documented on our cover starting with the seizure of the US Embassy in 1979. We're not going back as far as the Barbary Pirates. Our Marines whipped them a long time ago. Our point is this is a long standing hostility and its story has many chapters.

Could it be that to understand this conflict, journalists need to be looking for the source of its ignition?

Be Sure to Thank These Guys...

Lynn Has the Details [click to read]. They're fighting this WAR to keep us safe.

9-11 Hard Hat Pledge

These Construction Workers [click to read] won't lift a finger to build the Ground Zero Mosque. I'm with them. I sure wouldn't do renderings for this project at its present proposed location. Does this mean Speaker Pelosi will now be investigating construction workers? ht/No Sheeples Here

Update: 'Ameriphopia'

Notes on the Word [click to read] from American Thinker.

"I've just Googled "Ameriphobia" and, indeed, some 634 uses come up. A tiny number, but the word has been used -- just not popularized. Now might be the time!" -- American Thinker

We cannot claim the word originated here at THYME, but we'd love to help promote its usage.

More People are Wondering These Days

Is Mubarack Hussein Obama a Muslim?


"Give me a child until the age of seven and I will give you the man." -- Jesuit Saying.

Maybe it was the creepy extended bow to the Saudi King, or the way he seems all to willing to throw Netanyahu under the bus but when I came across an article by Victor Mordecai asking the question "Is Obama a Muslim?" I took notice.

His Kenyan Father and his Stepfathers were clearly Muslims and his early education was in that tradition. To observant Muslims in the Middle East that qualifies him. Still, to ask the question invites the label "lunatic fringe" for reasons that have largely been manufactured out of Political Correctness.

Mr. Mordecai's wife monitors Arabic radio broadcasts and has documented the following:

Saudi Radio in the months before Obama's election stated: "We will have a Muslim in the White House."

Lybia's Quaddafi said of Obama after his election: "Our man in the White house."

One station stated that Obama would first deal with the Shi'ite of Iran who "threaten all Sunni Muslims" then deal with the "fanatic" new government of Israel under Netanyahu.

Conventional wisdom has it that Obama's education in Muslim schools until age 11 are in the past, just as his association with Jeremiah Wright. Unfortunately Wright's church, with its James Cone inspired Black Liberation Theology is more Marxist in its core philosophy and Christian in the use of language and symolism. If Barack Obama is a Christian there is not a lot of evidence to convict him of it.

Fringe thoughts? Perhaps, but when you have a President who is uncomfortable with 'Victory' in Afganistan [although he seeks it outright for his domestic policies], drags his feet on supporting his troops and bows at the waist to the Saudi King, is the question really all that unreasonable?

Update: From Obama to Osama with Love [click to read] perspective from 'Gates of Vienna.'

Update: David Limbaugh has These Thoughts [click to read].

Ground Zero Mosque is More than a Mistake

The Voices that Really Matter in this Debate


ht/SWAC Girl

Extreme Irony... You Can Build a Mosque, not a Church

Phil has This Report [click to read] on the plight of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which stood in the shadow of the World Trade Center.

Update: AP's PC Memo:

It is a good thing that I write for THYME and not for Associated Press. Apparently I've broken AP Rules [click to read] twice in as many days.

Debating the Existence of G-d

The New Atheists and their Old Argument


Honeysuckle outside the studio.

Suzanne Fields has This [click to read].

Fields writes: "I've spent several long summer afternoons reading the books of the New Atheists, looking for original illumination on behalf of godlessness, but finding instead smug, shallow and arrogant assertions. Atheists by definition believe in nothing, and anyone would find it hard to make something of nothing."

Hebrews 11 addresses the matter of faith:

"1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2For by it the elders obtained a good report.
3Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
4By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
5By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
6But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

So how does one step into faith. Surely it takes faith to assert there is nothing out there as much as it takes faith to declare G-d is. Romans 1:20 asserts:

"20For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:"

There is simply too much evidence of a Master's hand, seen in the beauty and complexity of nature, for me to accept the atheist arguments.

As a child I watched men launch rockets into space. They used the observations of Sir Isaac Newton and others to arrive at principles for how spaceflight would work. Trusting in their calculations based on these laws of physics, they travelled to the Moon. Faith was required on many levels in the journey. First, were the laws of physics consistant in outer space? Could the crew rely on the numbers provided by their computers [flying by the seat of your pants won't work in space] and could the astronauts rely on the machinery to perform as it was designed to do?

In a similar manner, can we observe evidence of the unseen hand of the Creator? Can we trust our collective observations and come up with some conclusion about the Divine? It is of note that some of the Divine's greatest apologists -- men like C.S. Lewis, for example, set out on honest quests to disprove diety. In the end they concluded that the evidence led them to belief rather than unbelief... "he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

Ground Zero Mosque is More than a Mistake

This 'Outreach' is Really a Call to Surrender

Star Parker has This Clear Analysis [click to read].

Feisel Abdul Rauf says that he wants to 'improve' America's relations with the Muslim world. Unfortunately that translates something like: "agree with us or die."

"The website for the project, the Cordoba Initiative, advertises itself as "Improving Muslim-West Relations", and "steering the world back to the course of mutual recognition and respect and away from heightened tensions." But if Feisel Abdul Rauf is primarily motivated to "reduce heightened tensions," why would he do something as obviously provocative as building a Mosque and Islamic Center a few feet away from 9/11 Ground Zero? " -- Star Parker.

Summer in the Garden

A Feast for the Eyes Awaits in the Back Yard


Lantana attracts butterflies and hummingbirds.


Crepe Myrtle.


Outside my studio.

The Untold Story in Our Midst

What Happens When a Few People Run with a Vision

A new Milestone Monday:

What happens when a handfull of people study the Bible and actually decide to run with what they're learning. One of our church's small groups did just that. They decided to create an outreach to the young people in one of our local high school football teams. Their coach is in the small group and his response was: "let's do it!"

They planned an evening for the team around dinner and a film. Last night our church hosted 35 players and 15 coaching staff. Steve Young reports on how the evening went:

"The food and fellowship around the tables were great. The movie "To Save A Life" was powerful as it touched on many of the issues that teenagers and young adults are facing today in the real world."

"At the conclusion of the film, the Head Coach made some comments and then opened it up for sharing. Through tears, some players told about difficult family situations and others related the challenges they face on a daily basis and their desire not to disappoint their teammates. Most of us were moved to tears as well as we listened to these stories and sought to console and encourage. And then the message of salvation, forgiveness of sin and eternal life in Jesus was presented and at least 5 players indicated decisions in responding to the moving of God's Holy Spirit. Later, at least 20 of us recommitted our lives to Jesus asking Him to use us in reaching out to others, in making a difference and even seeking to help save lives through His enabling."

Many look at the situation facing young people today and see hopelessness. Read the newspaper and you get a pretty bleak picture with the exception of the occasional homeschooler making the finals in spelling bee.

Some, however, are looking at the young people around us and seeing great promise and great opportunity.

What do YOU see when you look into the eyes of the young people in your church?


White Rock Falls.

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume II, Issue XXXIII

The Stories Around Us

The 'other' weekly news magazine features the 'great American novelist' on its cover this week. Of course, THYME goes where others fear to tread. THYME looks around and sees the stories that abound in our friends and family.

In Africa they pay their story tellers and probably never buy a novel. We in the Western world put a dear price on the work of a few and neglect the story unfolding right next to us.

My favorite books to read to the kids were stories like those of Laura Ingalls Wilder, who wrote about her own frontier childhood... and Cheaper by the Dozen, the real life story of the Gilbreth family. The greatest stories are the real stories... and they reside in each of us.

You can go to church, work with, or live with with someone for years and never hear their story until you work beside them and listen. I'd say it is time to remedy that.

More Mural Progress

Here is the Beginning of Painting the Cherokee Nation


Sunlight filters through the trees... evoking a forgotten time.


An Inuit boy with a malamute pup...


...and a black bear cub.

Singing the National Anthem

You Can Sing it at the Lincoln Memorial, Right?


My photo of the Lincoln Memorial.

Lynn has This Story [click to read] that will shock you.

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

In 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote the poem, Defense of Fort McHenry. The poem was later put to the tune of (John Stafford Smith's song) The Anacreontic Song, modified somewhat, and retitled The Star Spangled Banner. Congress proclaimed The Star Spangled Banner the U.S. National Anthem in 1931.

Photos of Afghanistan

Through the Eye of Brian Carterelli

Lynn Has the Photos [click to view].

Brian Carterelli from Rockingham County was one of the humanitarian workers killed in Afghanistan. His photos speak for themselves. ht/SWAC Girl

Ninjas in the Outfield...

I Could Really Get Into Watching Japanese Baseball


Masato "Spiderman" Akamatsu of the Hiroshima Carp!

The 'Guy' Who Invented Pavement Markings

Specifically, the white line.

Here begins a series of 'Best of'' posts from the series: 'Milestone Monday.' This was the very first one:



Who besides myself has ever wondered"who was the 'guy' who invented pavement markings?" Without them modern highways could not function so their origin must have been forged by necessity.Some historians like to point to Roman street crossing stones as the forerunner of modern 'zebra walks' and that is certainly good history but the actual sorting of traffic by lanes requires a visit to more recent times.

As the automobile came into common use in the United States, the U.S. Numbered Highway System came into being and the various states embarked on a mission to pave cross-country highways. In their gravel and dirt condition the danger of head-on collisions was not so life threatening as the speeds were not that great.As the great highways became paved, however, the speed of vehicles increased to the point that dangerous collisions did occur. U.S. 99 in Indio, California was a particularly dangerous stretch of road and in1917 necessity would soon become the 'mother of invention.'

Dr. June Hill Robertson McCarroll was born in New York's Adirondack Mountains and went on to study medicine in Chicago during an era when few women completed professional studies at all. When her first husband John Robertson developed tuberculosis, she moved with him to Southern California hoping the desert climate would help his recovery. She took a job as a nurse with the Southern Pacific Railroad. Mr. Robertson died in 1914 and Dr. June later married Frank McCarroll, the local station master. She continued in her medical practice and at one time was the only physician serving the desert area between Palm Springs and the Salton Sea. She began to see victims of automobile accidents on an increasingly regular basis.

Driving in her model T Ford, along what was to become U.S. 99 inIndio, the good doctor was run off the road by a large truck roaring toward her in the center of the pavement. In her own words: "My Model T Ford and I found ourselves face to face with a truck on the paved highway. It did not take me long to choose between a sandy berth [sic] to the right and a ten-ton truck to the left! Then I had my idea of a white line painted down the center of the highways of the country as a safety measure."

Dr. McCarroll approached the Riverside County Supervisors and the Chamber of Commerce who listened politely to her idea and politely shelved it. Frustrated, but far from defeated, she finally engaged in a bit of guerrilla road improvement, hand painting a four-inch white line down the center of a mile-long stretch of U.S. 99 to create two distinct lanes.Aided by the Indio Women's Club, she began a statewide letter writing campaign and finally, in 1924 the state highway commission adopted her proposal. Initially 3500 miles of road were striped at a cost of $163,000. Soon pavement markings were in use around the world.

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume II, Issue XXXII

Animal Intelligence, What Does it Mean?

The 'other' Weekly News Magazine [click to read] is hot off the presses telling us that new research shows that animals are pretty smart.

If you subscribe to the theory of Evolution that's good news to you. If you believe in the Divine being the author of life, it simply proves how majestic our Creator really is.

Writing today's THYME I find myself humming the old 'Flipper' theme. Rush Limbaugh is fond of saying: "Show me the great works of art wrought by Dolphins. Where are the Dolphin hospitals?"

Yes, Koko the Gorilla can learn sign language... but can she create a language?

At 384 words, Kanzi the Bonobo is pretty articulate, by primate standards. But the point remains that these apes were taught. Kanzi is no George Gist [1.] to the 'Bonobo Nation.'

There is something unique in the Human character... Imagio Dei.

1. George Gist created the written form of the Cherokee language.

Seen in Charlottesville

Does this Really Need a Caption?

Recovery in Progress...

Obama Stimulus Money to Study Monkey Cocaine Use

From Red State comes This [click to read] which must be prefaced with a hearty: "I am NOT making this up!" Researchers at Wake Forest University are mentioned in the report Summertime Blues [click to read] authored by Senators Tom Coburn and John McCain:

"28. Monkeys Get High for Science (Winston-Salem, NC) - $144,541 Researchers at Wake Forest University think that, in at least one case, it is good to monkey around with your stimulus dollars. The Department of Health and Human Services has sent $144,541 to the Winston-Salem college to see how monkeys react under the influence of cocaine. The project, titled “Effect of Cocaine Self-Administration on Metabotropic Glutamate Systems,” would have the monkeys self-administer the drugs while researchers monitor and study their glutamate levels. When asked how studying drug-crazed primates would improve the national economy, a Wake Forest University Medical School Spokesman said, “It’s actually the continuation of a job that might not still be there if it hadn’t been for the stimulus funding. And it’s a good job.” He added, “It’s also very worthwhile research.”


Primate house at the National Zoo.

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume II, Issue XXXI

Speaking about the Unspeakable

The 'other' Weekly News Magazine [click to read] got it right this week. The cover features a beautiful Afghan woman. You look into her lovely eyes and suddenly recoil in horror... her nose has been hacked off! Punishment for fleeing her husband's abusive family. The photographer has crafted the image well, lighting her in such a manner as to draw you in to her story before confronting you with the harsh reality of her situation.

Upon seeing this, I almost decided it was time to end THYME, then I realized that citizen journalists need to stay in the game when it gets tough.

An old Dragnet episode came to mind. The episode had Friday and his partner confront the abusive murder of a child. Friday's partner, you may recall, was the picture of a doting Father.

Harry Morgan has to go off and vomit after seeing the crime scene; Then the two detectives prosecute the crime! Sense must follow sensitivity. We cannot let the bad people win. Closing your eyes and wishing it were not true won't work here. Radical Islam is at the door... and it seeks to savage our women!

We cannot give up our instinctive protection of our wives and daughters. Counting them as equals before G-d requires supressing the brute force of our baser instincts which would default to overpower and enslave them.

If being a woman in Afghanistan is bad, being a Jew or Christian is worse. The persecution of our fellow believers for 'blasphemy' is horrible. Followers of the 'religion of peace' beat a man sensless for this 'crime.' They mutilated this poor saint so badly that he is unable to use his hands and arms. His family must assist him in everybasic function of life. Sadly, if you follow reports of persecution, this type of story repeats itself again and again.

Yet the 'politically correct' among us see nothing wrong with having a mosque with a shariah compliant 'party place' overlooking Ground Zero in New York. I agree with whoever stated that this would be fine at some time that a Synagogue or Christian church could be freely built anywhere in the Muslim world. Hopefully TIME is waking up to the fact that these people desire no less than to put Western society under their opressive law... or destroy it.

That is why THYME's cover this week depicts the mutilation of Liberty. She is one lady we must protect at all costs.