Cooperative Living November/December 2016 - 4

Viewpoint | by Richard G. Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor
Vol. 71, No. 1
ISSN 1529-4579
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
Executive Editor
BILL SHERROD
Editor
LAURA EMERY
Field Editor
JANET BAILEY
Production Manager
LAURIE MILLS,
Apple Eye Studio, LLC
Graphic Designer
AMANDA S. CUNNINGHAM
Advertising Sales
MARY HOWELL
Classified Ads
To contact magazine:
9 a.m.-5 p.m. M-F
Phone: (804) 346-3344
Or at any time:
Fax: (804) 346-3448
Email: bsherrod@vmdaec.com
Web: www.co-opliving.com
Published by the VA, MD & DE Association
of Electric Cooperatives
LARRY C. HOWDYSHELL
Chairman
JAMES E. HUFFMAN
Vice Chairman
HERBERT R. PATRICK
Secretary
FLETCHER B. JONES
Treasurer
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
President & CEO
Board of Directors: R. Wayne Browning, Belvin Williamson, Jr.,
A&N; C. Michael Sandridge, Michael J. Keyser, BARC; George N.
Goin, Gary E. Wood, Central Virginia; Robert E. Arnold, Michael
I. Wheatley, Choptank; Jeannette S. Everett, Steven A. Harmon,
Community; James E. Huffman, Shawn C. Hildebrand, CraigBotetourt;
Patricia S. Dorey, J. William Andrew, Delaware;
Fletcher B. Jones, John C. Lee, Jr., Mecklenburg; Russell G.
Brown, Greg W. White, Northern Neck; J. Manley Garber, Stan C.
Feuerberg, Northern Virginia; Dale McNiel, Randell W. Meyers,
Powell Valley; Herbert R. Patrick, Micheal E. Malandro, Prince
George; Richard C. Oliver, Kent D. Farmer, Rappahannock; Larry
C. Howdyshell, Michael W. Hastings, Shenandoah Valley; Frank
W. Bacon, Jeffrey S. Edwards, Southside.
To advertise in Cooperative Living, contact:
Amanda Cunningham (804) 346-3344
National Advertising Representative: NCM,
611 South Congress Ave., Suite 504,
Austin, Texas 78704 * 800-626-1181
Member of the NCM network of
publications, reaching more than
8 million homes and businesses.
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COOPERATIVE LIVING (USPS 473-300) is
published 10 times a year, monthly except for
combined March/April and November/ December
issues, by the Va., Md. & Del. Association of Electric
Cooperatives. POSTMASTER, address changes
should be sent to: Cooperative Living, 4201
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ADVERTISING published is accepted on the
premise that the merchandise and services offered
are accurately described and willingly sold to
customers at the advertised price. Neither this
magazine nor the electric cooperatives in Virginia,
Maryland, and Delaware endorses any products or
services advertised herein. If any readers encounter
non-compliance with these standards, they are
asked to inform the Editor.
Evergreens of a Season
The year's end clears the landscape, bringing into focus the
simple beauty of evergreens, and the precious gift of faith,
family and friends.
I
n this year - far more than most - we are
thankful that seasons change. That political
seasons end, and that holiday seasons follow,
our focus now wheeling from outward to
inward, from the woes of our nation and our
world to faith ... family ... the shared table ...
the common hearth. We now focus gratefully
on this season of celebration and hope. On this
season so rich with memories.
Memories of magical walks at night,
propelled by the gravitational pull of familiar
places, to our grandparents' home, the moon's
gauzy glow lighting our way, our cold breath
wreathing our red faces as we approach the
house, black silhouette against black sky,
rectangles of yellow light escaping into the
inky darkness.
Memories of doors opening wide, those on
the threshold instantly awash in a generous
cloud of sweet smells and welcoming voices.
Memories of special feast foods seen but once
or twice a year - ambrosia, fudge, honey ham,
divinity, sweet potato casserole, beef tenderloin,
lemon chess pie.
And long past bedtime, memories of wood
fires hissing, crackling, fading into embers,
their molten glow transfixing sleepy children,
transforming the everyday den into a magical
shadow-world of dancing darkness.
The political season now past is much like
autumn: a riot of color with a parade of leafpeepers,
eager to watch the showy display.
Always, though, the colors fade, the leaves fall.
And once the bright curtain drops, our eyes
behold what was there all along: evergreens,
now on full display, beautiful in their simplicity,
timeless in their power. Faith and family and
friends are among the " evergreens " of this
blessed season.
To celebrate them, we continue a long-time
tradition and publish a few favorite passages
from literary works of the season.
Late November brings an end to full-fledged
Autumn. The lasting warmth, the balmy days,
the hazy in-between time, seldom endure much
beyond Thanksgiving.
2
Then it is that the pines and hemlocks stand out in
cold-season strength of green; then the white reach of the
birches is clear and clean against the sky ... The season
changes so slowly that I must pause and listen to hear
the silence.
Autumn creeps away in sandals woven of milkweed floss;
Winter makes no noise until it owns the land.
- Hal Borland, This Hill, This Valley, 1957.
m
Imagine a morning in late November. A coming of winter
morning more than twenty years ago. Consider the
kitchen of a spreading old house in a country town ...
A woman with shorn white hair is standing at the kitchen
window. She is wearing tennis shoes and a shapeless gray
sweater over a summery calico dress. She is small and
sprightly, like a bantam hen; but, due to a long youthful
illness, her shoulders are pitifully hunched. Her face is
remarkable - not unlike Lincoln's, craggy like that, and
tinted by sun and wind; but it is delicate, too, finely
boned, and her eyes are sherry-colored and timid.
" Oh my, " she exclaims, her breath smoking the
windowpane, " it's fruitcake weather! "
- Truman Capote, " A Christmas Memory, " from
Selected Writings of Truman Capote, 1956.
m
" Good Spirit, " he pursued, as down upon the ground he
fell before it: " Your nature intercedes for me, and pities
me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you
have shown me, by an altered life! "
The kind hand trembled. " I will honour Christmas in my
heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past,
the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall
strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they
teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this
stone! "
m
This week, many will be reminded that no explosion
of atoms generates so hopeful a light as the reflection
of a star, seen appreciatively in a pasture pond. It is there
we perceive Christmas - and the sheep quiet, and the
world waiting.
- E. B. White, " The Distant Music of the Hounds, " from
The Second Tree from the Corner, 1949. ■
www.co-opliving.com
- Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, 1843.
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Cooperative Living November/December 2016

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