For the Week of:

December 4 - December 10, 2008

ISSUE #370

Weekly Community Magazine

~ Priceless ~

The Scarecrow Al Jones

After last week’s front page, entitled "Lady K", (if you missed last week’s issue, you can read it in our back issues section at www.heresthescoop.com), a lot of folks have stopped me on the street to ask me about the scarecrow. They couldn't see the significance of the scarecrow in the overall story or even the importance of going into any detail about it. Well, folks, that scarecrow was a very important part of the story. So, to paraphrase one of my idols, Paul Harvey, “…and now, the rest of the story.” Every day for many years, Lady K could be found in her garden, sitting by a scarecrow. It didn't take long for us youngsters in the neighbourhood to realize that her behavior was somewhat unconventional. You see...Lady K had an unusual relationship with this scarecrow. To look at the two of them from any length of distance, you would swear you were approaching twins. It's the only scarecrow I've ever known to have had its outfit changed on a daily basis. Not only did the scarecrow get a freshly laundered set of clothes everyday, but it would be dressed in identical, or very close to the outfit of the day worn by Lady K. That was enough to keep all the kids in the neighbourhood curious. But there was more yet. As a child, I remember my friends and I peering between the slats of her fence and spying on her. "What's she saying?" one kid would ask. "Who's she talking to?" another one would ask. "I don't see anybody else there," another would declare. After a while, we came to realize that the audience at the receiving end of her one way chatter was the scarecrow. Now, our daily challenge was to try and hear what she was saying to the scarecrow. We learned that the scarecrow had a name, "Marlene". "It sure is hot out today, Marlene. Remember when nana used to make us iced syrup slush on days like this? Sure wish we could get a taste of one of those today, eh?" or "I heard from cousin Tom last night. Remember all the trouble he used to cause Auntie back in the day, Marlene? Well, I guess he's getting a taste of his own medicine now. Tom Junior got himself in trouble with the law yesterday and Tom is

(Continued on page 2)

Page 2

beside himself as to what to do with the boy." Day after day, we would go and eavesdrop on Lady K and Marlene. It was like tuning in to a daily radio show. Not only did we get to hear about Lady K's daily activities, but we also got to hear about her past when she reminisced with Marlene. The one thing that we had always hoped to learn was why she talked to this scarecrow. Why did she seem to be so attached to this inanimate imposter of a human being? Out of about twenty or so kids, only two would ever find out. My friend Andy and myself had cause to visit with Lady K several years later. It was during that visit that we asked her about Marlene. In a soft voice, Lady K began. "We were the very best of friends, Marlene and I. We walked each other to school, ate our lunches together and hung out with the same crowd. When I got a job at the local market so did Marlene. We even double dated together. When we finished high school, we moved on to the same college. Throughout college, and long after, we were roommates. We were in our thirties with the world by the tail. Happy as two peas in a pod until Marlene took ill. After several months, she lost weight and became weak. I was still very active, but Marlene could no longer do everything I did, nor could she go everywhere that I could. But the one thing we could still always do together was dress alike. I would bring her an outfit everyday similar to what I'd be wearing. Because she didn't get out much, I would sit and talk to her for hours to keep her company. Near the end, she told me how the only thing that had kept her going as long as she had, was looking forward to our daily chats. She insisted that I promise to still talk to her every day after she died. She, in turn, promised she'd always be watching over me and listening. I have to say, although I've lived alone ever since, I've never felt alone. I always have Marlene to talk to." As Andy and I said our goodbyes, I turned and asked one more question, "Why did you always dress the scarecrow?" "Two reasons," she replied. "The first, being that it allowed me to still do something with Marlene every day. The other reason was so all you kids wouldn't think I was talking to myself. After all........talking to oneself could make you look crazy!" she laughed.

(Continued from page 1)

Snowflakes are one of nature's

most fragile things, but just look what they do when they stick together.

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- Mother Theresa

Page 3

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Page 4

Virtue of the Week

Love

Love is a special feeling that fills your heart. You show love in a smile, a kind word, a thoughtful

act or a hug. Love is treating people and things with care and kindness because they mean so much to you.

Love is contagious. It keeps spreading.

You are practicing love when you: • Treat others as you want them to treat you. • Say kind and loving things. • Share your things and yourself. • Love people just as they are. • Take good care of the things you love. • Do what you love and love what you do.

Affirmation I am a loving person. I show my love with thoughtful acts, kind words and affection. I treat others the way I want to be treated.

© 2002 Virtues Project International Inc www.virtuesproject.com

“Love doesn’t sit there like a stone,

it has to be made, like bread,

remade all the time, made new.”

- Ursula K. Le Guin

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Page 5

Snowflakes by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Out of the bosom of the Air.

Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken, Over the woodlands

brown and bare, Over the harvest-fields forsaken,

Silent and soft and slow Descends the snow.

Even as our cloudy fancies take Suddenly shape in

some divine expression, Even as the troubled heart

doth make In the white countenance

confession, The troubled sky reveals

The grief it feels This is the poem of the air,

Slowly in silent syllables recorded; This is the secret of despair,

Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded, Now whispered and revealed

To wood and field.

“While I relish our warm

months, winter forms our

character and brings out our best.”

- Tom Allen

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Page 6

O Henry Bars

Submitted by: Phyllis, Front Office Assistant, Here’s the Scoop

Line 8” pan with whole graham wafers.

Boil for one minute: 1 cup brown sugar

½ cup butter ½ cup milk

Remove from heat and add:

1 cup crushed graham wafers ½ cup chopped walnuts

1 cup fine coconut 1 tsp vanilla

Mix. Spread over wafers. Chill.

Ice with butter icing. Cut into pieces.

Pineapple Squares

2 cups flour 2 Tbsp sugar 1 cup butter

Blend, put into 9x13” pan. Bake at 325F for 15 minutes.

1 19oz can crushed pineapple

½ cup cherries ½ cup white sugar 2 Tbsp cornstarch

Combine above and cook until thick. Pour over the base.

Beat 2 egg whites and 3 Tbsp sugar.

Spread over cake and sprinkle with coconut. Bake at 375F until lightly browned – approx 8 minutes

Page 7

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Blindness There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend, “If I could only see the world, I will marry you.” One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend. He asked her, “Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?” The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him. Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying, “Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine.” This is how the human brain often works when our status changes. Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who was always by their side in the most painful situations.

“What's on your mind, if you

will allow the overstatement?”

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“ Love cures people – both the ones who give it

and the ones who receive it.” Karl Menninger

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