Ode to Fall

A Fall Song -by Ellen Robena

Field Golden and red trees

Nod to the soft breeze,

As it whispers,

"Winter is near;"

And the brown nuts fall

At the wind's loud call,

For this is the Fall of the year.

Good-by, sweet flowers!

Through bright Summer hours

You have filled our hearts with cheer

We shall miss you so,

And yet you must go,

For this is the Fall of the year.

Now the days grow cold,

As the year grows old,

And the meadows are brown and sere;

Brave robin redbreast

Has gone from his nest,

For this is the Fall of the year.

I do softly pray

At the close of day,

That the little children, so dear,

May as purely grow

As the fleecy snow

That follows the Fall of the year.

Obituary: John W. Walton

April 8, 1937-Sept. 22, 2009

Utica - A funeral service for John W. Walton, 72, of Utica, will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, September 26, 2009 at Law-Baker Funeral Home, with Pastor Ken Kelley and Tori Front officiating. Burial will follow in Owl Creek Cemetery.

John died September 22, 2009, at his residence surrounded by his loving family. He was born April 8, 1937, in Mount Vernon, Ohio to the late John P. and Madge M. (Clutter) Walton.

John was a longtime farmer and self employed truck driver. He was a 50-year member of Morgan Grange #829 and Ohio Lodge #199 F&AM in Bladensburg.

He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Jo Ann (Pierpont) Walton, of Utica; son and daughter-in-law, Bob and Brenda Walton, of St. Louisville; daughter and son-in-law, Cindy and Ned Campbell, of Newark; grandchildren, Jennifer (Steven) Langton, J.R. Walton and Austin Campbell; brother, Michael E. Walton, of Chillicothe; sisters and brother-in-law, Marvel and Don Wilkinson, of Yulee, Fla., Karen Kashner, of Utica.
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My Uncle Sunny was a soft spoken man of few words. But when he spoke you knew to listen to him. My sister and I spent several summers with Uncle Sunny and Aunt Jo Ann on their farm. We loved being with our cousins Bobby and Cindy, playing on the farm and going to the county fair. Helping Uncle Sunny work on his truck or feed his cattle was everything I wanted to do as a kid. I saw him in July of 2008. He was the same then as he was 30 years earlier. I know his family will miss him.

A Socialist?

From Terence Ball a professor of political science at Arizona State University:

To many Americans “socialism” may sound vaguely “foreign” and “un-American.” Those at rallies protesting health reform now may be surprised to know that “socialism” and “socialist” have a long history in American political thought and that those terms weren’t always terms of censure.

For the anti-socialism protesters, here’s a quick quiz: The author of the Pledge of Allegiance (1892), was A) a conservative, B) a liberal, C) a socialist. The answer is C. Francis Bellamy was a socialist and a Baptist minister. (Yes, there actually were Christian socialists, then as now.)

The “Pledge to the Flag,” as it was originally called, was not descriptive of then current conditions, but it was aspirational: “One nation, indivisible” invoked a nation undivided by differences of race, class and gender. And “with liberty and justice for all” it envisioned a nation in which women could vote and African Americans need not fear rope-wielding “night riders” of the KKK.

Contemporary “patriots,” I hope, agree with such aspirations, despite their distinctly socialist provenance. It is historically false that the only “real” Americans are conservatives and that people of other ideological persuasions are not or cannot be “real” Americans. After all, what’s more American than the “socialist” Pledge of Allegiance?

Fall Is Nearly Here

Fall is my favorite time of the year. I am so glad to be back in New England for this one. This last week color started appearing in the trees around the pond and on the road home as you start to climb in elevation.

In Vermont there were lots of folks that planted orchards or singular apple trees on their farms and then as the years have gone by those orchards were abandoned. This weekend we traveled some back roads and picked apples along the side of the road. One variety that I had never heard of until this fall were Yellow Transparent. Juicey and slightly tart - they make great applesauce.

There has been a chill in the air the last few days... and the yellows, reds, orange and golds of fall are well on their way.