Peeping through my Venetian blind, I saw the red berries of the firethorn and of the yaupon, putting me in mind of Christmas, just two months off.

Time flies.

Speaking of time, isn’t tonight the time to set our clocks back an hour, to “fall back” an hour, thus gaining an hour?

At the Corner Market for the lunch buffet this past Tuesday I met an Englishman from London, Tony Horn, who divides his time between a home there and a home here. He’s a friend of the late Mr. and Mrs. Mosdell and came here through their friendships.

Also seen at the Corner Market were James Bristow and Joyce Leddon.

When James was a mere tot, his mother laid a plum in a window to ripen. When her back was turned, he ate it. Upon her return she found it gone and asked James if he had eaten it.

The little boy said, “You didn’t see me!”

Quipped his mother, “You have the makings of a lawyer.”

Seen at Larry’s were Ed and Judy Buck and a party of their kin.

Seen Saturday night last at David’s Catfish were Johnny and Liz Cumbie of Decatur, here to visit his mother.

My cousin, Johnny Cobb, a pharmacist in Mobile, was in town Oct. 24 for a visit, prior to a workshop in Brewton.

We dined at Tabby D’s before touring the town, stopping by the two pharmacies run by David Darby. David was off that day, but Johnny got to meet Mrs. Darby.

Johnny and David were at Auburn together in the School of Pharmacy and also in the honorary fraternity for pharmacy students, Phi Delta Chi.

Another Andalusian Johnny met while at Auburn was the lovely Abbie (Taylor) Miller.

Seen at Larry’s were Clara Bass with her son, Jerry, and his wife Mary Lou, Robert Lee Holley, and Doug and Frances Castleberry.

Seen at the Corner Market for the lunch buffet were Kenneth Baker and his wife Susie.

Rogerl Reeves sang “The King Is Coming” a cappella in the opening assembly of the Baraca Class last Sunday.

Richard Pass taught the lesson, having returned to his duties upon the improvement of his wife’s, Georgette’s, health.

The Baraca Class meets in Baraca Hall, the chapel of the First Baptist Church, East Three-Notch.

In the morning worship of First Baptist, during Pastor Appreciation Week, Larry Avery, on behalf of the deacons, presented a gift certificate to the preacher, Dr. Fred Karthaus, as well as certificates to the church staff.

A newly organized Student Choir sang in evening worship at First Baptist.

Pat Palmore, chairlady of the local murals committee told me that women from Australia were in the “Dimple of Dixie” Thurs., Oct. 25, to see the Hank and Audrey Williams marriage mural. They had been visiting friends in Melbourne, Fla., and had rented a car to drive up and see the spot where the Williamses were wed, there at the corner of Central Street and East Three-Notch Street. I understand that some have been married in that spot since the mural was painted.

Seen for the lunch buffet last Sunday at Granny’s in Perry’s Store Crossroads were Sara Bowden, Cecil and Brunetta Patterson and Dr. Wayne and Lenora Johnson.

The buffet included fried chicken, baked chicken, chicken potpie, ham, dressing, deep-fried bread, rutabagas, butter beans, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet-potato casserole, turnip greens, corn salad, a salad bar and a dessert bar.

Mrs. Gotrocks of Greenville likes to say, “If you can’t make somebody jealous, then what’s the use of living?”

The Study Club of Andalusia assembled for its first meeting of the academic year on Wed., Oct. 9, in the Dixon Memorial of the Andalusia Public Library.

The club’s theme for the year is “Magnolias, Mimosas and Memories.”

President Caroline Picking presided.

The program was presented by Marianne Merrill Weber, who shared “Remembering the Childhood Days of Truman Capote and Harper Lee in Monroeville.”

A native of Andalusia and a graduate of the Andalusia High School and the University of Alabama, Mrs. Weber lived in Monroeville during the l960s and became acquainted with Capote’s first cousin. She went on to write a book, Truman Capote’s Southern Years (University of Alabama Press), which led to her being included in the Speakers’ Bureau of both the Alabama Humanities Foundation and the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

Mrs. Weber is not only an author, but also a social worker and freelance writer.

Her program included a Power Point presentation, which recounted her meeting both Capote and Lee during her family’s time in Monroeville.

There Mrs. Weber saw firsthand the “elements of literary color and genius that began in that city and endures in some of the finest writings of our time.”

Hostesses for the meeting included Linda Andrews, Caroline Picking, Eleonora Birk, Barbara Bryant and Lenora Johnson.

The celebration of the War of 1812 continues.

Again, I ask that citizens of Andalusia join the Covington Historical Society and pay its annual dues of $25 to help preserve the history of our county, whether you attend meetings or not. Mail to CHS, P.O. Box 1582, Andalusia, Alabama 36420. Include your e-mail address if you wish to be reminded of upcoming meetings.

To commemorate the Sesquicentennial of the War Between the States, let us return to this week l50 years ago.

Chattanooga, occupied by Federal troops and besieged by the Confederates, was at last reinforced with Northern troops and supplies over the “cracker line,” which stretched from Bridgeport.

An invading Federal bridgehead was established at Brown’s Ferry in an attempt to relieve the Federals in Chattanooga.

The Federals continued to bombard Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.

A Federal steamship, the Chattanooga, arrived at Chattanooga via the Tennessee River to deliver food for the besieged Federal troops and feed for the starving horses and mules.

President Lincoln was invited to present a “benediction” at the dedication of a new cemetery at Gettysburg.

For those who collect stamps, consider those associated with the War of 1812 and the Sesquicentennial of “the War.”

For the 10th week the mysterian is still a mystery. The answer is part of a riddle, “Where can one park at Straughn and yet not be at Straughn?”

Birthdays this week are those of Teddy Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States; Erasmus, Dutch scholar; Harvard University, founded in 1636, the first college in the United States; the Statue of Liberty, completed in 1886, a gift from France; Jonas Salk, an American doctor who compounded the vaccine which helped prevent the dreadful disease polio in patients; James Boswell, a Scottish biographer, whose The Life of Samuel Johnson is considered by some the greatest biography ever written; John Adams, the second president of the United States; Jan Vermeer, a Dutch painter; John Keats, an English poet who wrote the most famous of all lines of poetry, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever;” and Martin Luther’s 95 theses, a list of protests against the Catholic church of that day, posted on a church door in Germany. (The Protestants, I presume, get their name from that list of protests.)

In addition to Teddy Roosevelt, who is shown on Mount Rushmore?

Jonas Salk is a hero to me. When I was a child in the 1950s, polio was feared as a crippler and killer. People were afraid to go out in public. I recall my being the only one in my Sunday school class one Sunday. One time our community was required to assemble at Capitol Heights Junior High in Montgomery. We sat in the school auditorium until our family was called. Then we marched to the school cafeteria, which had been converted into dozens of stations for getting shots. I was so embarrassed when my unders were pulled down so that I could receive a shot in my “setter.” My generation had to get booster shots through grade school and college. By the time I was no longer required to get annual shots, the vaccine was placed on a sugar cube; and I simply swallowed the cube.

My generation, and others, may owe our very lives to Jonas Salk; therefore, I pay honor to him.

Concerning Martin Luther, the German priest and protestor, some of my ancestors, called Lutherans, because they believed as Martin Luther did, left Germany and sailed to Charleston, South Carolina, for religious freedom and a new life. That is how I came to be here.

Now, gentle reader, allow me to encourage each of us to be in his place of worship this weekend, Lord wiling.

Fare thee well.