lynn.jones's blog

Last week Danielle was talking to the kids in the library at Anderson Elementary about Thanksgiving. She mentioned the Pilgrims and asked if anyone knew the name of the ship on which they came to America. One little boy raised his hand and said excitedly, “I know, I know.” Danielle said, “Okay, tell us the name of the ship on which they came.” He said, “They came over on the Cauliflower.”

As I was growing up, one of the staples of my television viewing was “Lassie.” Lassie’s master was Timmy. I use the word “master” loosely because Lassie actually ran the show. Timmy was constantly getting into various jams, and Lassie was always the one who came to his rescue.

Once upon a time, some TV guys figured out that busy people needed to be able to turn on their televisions and catch the news anytime they wanted. So, the producers came up with a channel devoted to giving a synopsis of the news every 30 minutes. They called it, “Headline News.” And, behold, it was good.

Last week I finally got around to doing a job that I dislike and usually put off as long as I can. I moved all of my plants into the greenhouse for winter. By this time of the year I am tired of gardening and want a break. There is, however, this one final job that has to be done to wrap up the growing year.

Homecoming was a wonderful day in our church this year. The day was topped off by a great meal with many wonderful dishes that the cooks in our congregation had brought.

This past June, amidst gloomy reports on the economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the following cartoon appeared. The cartoon showed a man in a suit talking to a couple of workers outside an office door. The man was saying, “I regret to inform you that we are closing this department.” The name on the door of the office was “Silver Lining Department.”

You hate to see a department like that close. In the darkest times, we have stubbornly clung to the belief that every cloud has its silver lining.