The end of polite society

It happened again yesterday. I was picking up Briggs from day care. It was the first time I had been there in quite a while, and I had not met one of the teachers this year. She asked, "Are you his grandfather?" I've gotten accustomed to being asked that as I've gotten fatter and grayer. But what really ate at me was the turn around in manners. I wish she had led off with something along the lines of, "I'm Kelly, Briggs' teacher. How are you you this afternoon?" Much nicer, and she would have gotten the information she wanted (without the growl) when I would have responded, "It's a pleasure to meet you; I'm Briggs' dad." People do it on the phone all the time, too. Especially galling are the telemarketers who open with, "Hey, Mike; how are you this evening?" Click.

Learn some manners, people!

I work on manners constantly with the children. Eli is about to learn that if doesn't pipe up with a polite response to someone, when I'm around, he's going to be embarrassed when I answer for him. Briggs and I dropped in on an impromptu fire station show and tell yesterday evening. I made him say that you to everyone in uniform as we left, for the kindness they had shown him in walking him around the equipment. We know that manners begin at home. Folks report the the older boys are polite when we are not around, but we remain vigilant about these sorts of things. I've even tried it with my young piano students; some teasing about their lack of response to a greeting from me let's them know what's expected. Even the most demur are more responsive and conversant in very little time.

A "private caller" who happened to be a church member caught the brunt of my built up aggravation with the notion of failing manners in society last night at bedtime. I had given him a pretty good growl before I asked him to identify himself again. Yikes!

We all can improve on our manners; and ask forgiveness when we err.

Congratulations Heather and Josh

Libby's nephew Joshua Barksdale got married this weekend to Heather Mann. We attended the wedding in Winston on Saturday night. They got married at the Embassy Suites hotel, and had a nice reception in the grand ballroom afterward. We got to see Aunt Frances and Cousin George (first time in nearly two years), Martha and Russ, and Charles Overby, among plenty of others. Here are some photos. A couple are of Calvin getting a bath before we left town.

Fall Colors

After the fire department open house on Sunday, we ran home got Libby and Calvin and made a dash for Mt. Mitchell. It's only 15 miles north of us, but because the south approach on the parkway is closed, we had to go to Marion and thence to the peak. It was gorgeous. Had we been able to go earlier it would have been even better with less haze, but it was still a nice trip. Cold though: 48 degrees at the peak. It was 74 in town. We came down via Route 80 which we do not recommend for the weak of heart! It's almost as twisty as Route 111 in Virginia. Briggs was kind of green before we had come down halfway! Here are some photos including a couple of Calvin contentedly sitting on the floor of the museum area.

BMFD Open House

The guys at the local fire department had an open house yesterday. All the gear and apparatus for the department was on display, with a healthy dose of police department stuff available also. Eli and Briggs had a blast; Calvin was at home napping. Eli got to ride in the cab of one of the trucks. Briggs was content to get a photo with Sparky the Fire Dog. He also had a good time looking at the old gear in the museum area. In the museum we saw a large display of photos from major fires in Black Mountain history put together by two kids from church (Marc B. and Paul C.). The folks at the station did a great job putting on an exciting and intersting event. More photos of the day here.