Good morning. It's a little after seven a.m. and the sun is already shining here. And guess what?? Yesterday, Deanne, Eddie and Bobby (their eldest son) came over and while the guys were taking down my screen covers, Deanne was cleaning and setting up my porch for me. She even cleaned all my little solar thingies and set them all out on the porch railings. Eddie and Bobby even put in an electric outlet out there for me.
Their is still some planting stuff (pots and dirt, etc.) on the porch to be put away in the shed, but I can take my time now and get it all put away. It is so nice to be able to be out on the porch and now I can see my whole yard. (The screen covers are not see through)
I have been asked where I live. Pogo and I live in Randolph, MA. We are about thirty minutes south of Boston. (that's by car) It's a pretty town, especially on a day like today. We have no big stores, just supermarkets, businesses and some small shops. But we're not very far from the big stores.
Today I thought I'd like to comment on an article in yesterday's newspaper. It says that too many of our kids are going hungry, and it tells how the schools are helping. The newspaper article lists all the towns that it covers and gives the percentages of how many children in each city and town are going hungry. It says that many of these children can't wait to get to school so that they can have a meal.
This disturbs me. First, no children should be going hungry. Low income families get food stamps, and free food from food pantries. The towns with the highest percentages are the towns with the higher influx of immigrants. This is not listed in the article. Also not listed in the article is the lifestyles of a lot of the population in these towns. A lot of them live rather well. They drive nice cars, dress fashionably and almost all of them have expensive cell phones.
Here's a sentence from the article: "Just the other day (assistant principal speaking) I had a student who was acting out in class and I asked him "Are you hungry?" I took him to my office and he took the Power Bar that I had, an apple and a few other things. He took everything that I offered, and he was wearing $200 shoes. It's an undeniable problem."
Towns are trying to make it so that all children, no matter the income, get free lunches at school. Some schools even send all the left over food from meals home with the neediest children to make sure that they eat at home.
The part that bothers me is the "why" of it. If so many of these families can afford expensive shoes and cell phones for their kids, why don't they have food in the house for them? WalMart sells much cheaper shoes and phones, (that look really nice) and that would leave more money for food. Right?
Folks, when I was younger, raising my children, I never got out of the poverty level, even though I worked two or three jobs, whatever it took, to keep a roof over heads and food and clothes for my family. Granted, we did not have the latest or the best of everything, but we had everything we needed, and we made it through just fine. My kids grew up to be awesome adults and parents. (and now, grandparents)
Okay, enough of my little rant. Today is a gorgeous day and I don't want to spoil it. Today I want to spend some time out on my beautiful little porch. It's so nice to be able to sit out there and listen to all the birds in the trees and watch the squirrels and chipmunks scurrying around the yard.
I have two new quick pages for you today. I'll try to do this every week for a while to make up for all the QP's that I did not get to post. This first one is a bit whimsical. Have fun with it.
Here is your download link:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/t2ix6b8g35tot1s/EB_-_QP_2019_-_25.zip/file
The next one is a fun page that might be nice for the kiddo's photos. Enjoy.
Here is your download link:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/mb5nxbt9ho79o91/EB_-_QP_2019_-_27.zip/file
I enjoy making these pages, and I have fun with a lot of them. Can you tell? Some times I really try hard to make them much plainer, but then they are not as much fun. My personality comes through with a lot of these whimsical pages. I hope you like them.
Now I'm going to make a fresh cup of coffee and do a bit of blog reading. Then I'm going to watch Jewel School on JTV. So, till tomorrow, Y'all have a fantabulous day.
Hugs, Edna B.
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4 comments:
I agree with you on feeding the children. However, kids do not appreciate the little things life has to offer.
I agree with you...100 percent. The parent are selling their food stamps and using the money for drugs, alcohol, clothes, etc. The children are eating hot dogs and mostly ramen noodles. I had some like that was living in 2 lease houses on my street. They were also on section 8 housing voucher. The ones that were so bad (finally moved) was also on section 8 housing voucher program and getting food stamps. All they did was try to walk from house to house begging. I told her she beg too much and she should stop knocking on my door. All you could smell was dope burning when you walk outside. The children aren't responsible for buying the right food and cooking. The parent will not cook. I am like you, we grew up with not very much but we were clean, neat and had a full stomach every day. We also had our lunch money to eat at school. It was 7 of us. My mother was up early cooking biscuits, bacon and eggs, grits, rice and whatever she could for us and when we came home from school, we had big pots of veggies. Children these days don't know what veggies are, or what it's like to have a cooked meal. I grew my son up just the way I grew up. It's sad and we can rant all day but until the government stop taking care of the drug and alcohol habits, it will continue. I blame the government for making it possible. whew, I do get angry about this mess. Have a great Sunday and I am glad you got your porch open. You and Pogo enjoy the pretty days outside.
I will join this rant. In many cases the kids are used to get the extras and they don't reap the benefits. SO SAD:( I can't stand the thought of a child being hungry whatever the reason. I admire the schools for helping them fill their tummies. Enjoy your day dear friend, have some porch time and fresh air. HUGS!
What a lovely gesture of Deanne, Eddie and Bobby to help you with the porch and all and they even made an outlet for you. Wow. They are wonderful people and you are right to be proud of them, as helping hands as well as being great parents!
I agree with your rant too, because here there is a same problem, although you shouldn;t say it, because we are a "rich"country as they say.
But we have poverty here too and yes, more and more children being hungry.
It is a shame though, because in our country we have lots of possibilities of help if you need it.
But.... let;s go on to your next post( I also want to make a post on my blog later).Have good times at your porch!
Hugs
Kyra
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