An Angel, Perhaps

A couple of weeks ago when I wrote of my friend Shelia's visit I mentioned our brief stop at a soup kitchen. This short stop was one of those times in one's life that makes an impact that is sometimes beyond articulation.

The woman to the right in this photo is Dale Dunning. She was recently featured in People Magazine, was Delaware's 2008 Jefferson Award winner and is a symbol of what can be good in all of us. The meeting came about because the Milton Lions Club was making a contribution to her ministry in honor of the MLK Day of Service. The woman on the left is Milton Lion Judith Priest. Ms. Dunning has made her mobile soup kitchen her ministry. She believes that you must fill the stomach before you can fill the soul. She uses an RV named Beulah to deliver her bounty. There are a couple of places where she uses a permanent facility such as the one where we visited. Her specialty is chicken rice soup. If the wonderful aroma is any clue, the soup is fabulous. Anyone is welcome to partake. If I remember correctly, she (along with volunteers who have enlisted including this day her husband and grandson) serves from 20-50 each weekday. She is at a different spot each weekday. She has two permanent spots she visits the same day of each week. The others will sometimes vary. Where ever she is, she is welcome.

The JUUST SOOUP Ministry does not solicit nor accept government assistance. Ms. Dunning wishes the ministry to be as free of government restriction and intervention as possible.

This woman is one of those who makes you feel goodness is all about. In these very difficult times it is so refreshing to meet someone who is kind, generous and gracious. She lets me feel that "there angels among us."

911 Center

The program for last night's Milton Lions Club meeting was a road trip. Following dinner we drove to the nearby town of Georgetown where we were given a tour of the new 911 Center. I was not sure what to expect except that it was not what we saw. This center is the 911 Center for the entire county and is certified for excellence. Perhaps the easiest way to describe it would be a "high tech modern day civil defense command center."

This center is what I would imagine a large city to have even if it is probably smaller. I know that a whole lot of what this center is is because of the emphasis of Homeland Security. However, I like to think that it has more to do with "good old common sense'" with common sense solutions -- maximize efforts with sometimes the minimum of resources. The design of the place makes it difficult for turf wars to get in the way of solutions to the problem(s) at hand.

While I was impressed with the functionality and purpose of the center, I was blown away with the technology. It made me think of what I believe the most technical of "situation room" should be. Dispatch stations were equipped with at least six monitors, two or three keyboards and the stations were electronically adjustable to fit the operator and to allow the operator to change positions during a shift. There are several of these stations and then there is in the same room a giant monitor capable of bringing six channels at the same time. All of this was like a "Bond" movie.

It was reassuring to find out about this center. If you have the opportunity, you should visit your local center. You will appreciate more what is done there.

As an aside, I could not find a good link for the center but will update when I do.

Summer is Winding Down

It is still officially summer and that is what it feels like outside. It isn't that it is so warm (high 80's), it's that it is just soupy. I truly do not care this. So, I am really looking forward to the autumn. I can honestly say that I miss cool nights and mornings. With all of that aside, however, it has been a pretty reasonable summer. Sure, we have had some very warm days but we have also had very pleasant days as well. There were fewer of those mornings with heavy, steamy fog than last year. For that we are grateful. We haven't been out and about as much this summer as last but we have enjoyed the concerts in the park and being involved with some of the Milton Lions Club activities. This picture is of several of the members at the end of a busy day on August 23. Running the Milton Clipper Express is a favorite activity. That day the club also sold funnel cakes and had a car raffle table set up in the park for one of the annual town activities, Bargains on the Broadkill.

There will be two more concerts and then we put the train away until May. I love projects like this because of the camaraderie of the members and most of all for the joy that they bring to young and old. The Carousel in Missoula, MT was also such a project.

Update: On a sadder note, our lovely nest of three beautiful blue eggs was abandoned. I am pretty sure that they are robin eggs and it was about the time of that post when I last saw any robins in our vicinity. The nest and the eggs appeared very late in the season. There would not have been much time for little ones to mature.

February, At Last

January finally ended yesterday. I spent almost all of the day working on the Milton Lions Club Bulletin. I recently upgraded my Office Suite and I struggled with some of the new features when I did this bulletin. Besides that I felt like I had a creativity drain and nothing read right or looked right. Today is a new day and a new month. Of course it was pouring early this morning. It is still gray outside but it is not cold. The heron has returned to the pond and now we start our adventure again of trying to get some good pictures. There he was this morning in all his glory in the rain and I did not have the camera out besides not having the time. Too bad because the rain provided almost perfected light. I think I will try later today.

Concerts in Park

When you see such sights as this tower, it is hard to believe how close we live to the huge influx of summer visitors. It is estimated that upwards of 190,000 people visited area beaches last weekend. That is not hard to imagine when trying to get to a beach. But, it is very hard to imagine when one spends the weekend in Milton. Saturday we attended the Horseshoe Crab Festival here in Milton and found parking spaces and very comfortable crowds of people. We even found an old stand like I have been looking for weeks.

Anyway, part of the festival was an evening concert (Lisa Scott & Melting Pot -- jazz, R&B). This was the first in a series of summer concerts. Most concerts are held on Wednesday evenings. Last night we attended our second summer concert and our first Wednesday evening one. What a pleasant evening!! We even took Bentley for his first park outing. He loved it, especially all of the other puppies who had also come for the evening.

The concerts are held at Milton Memorial Park. It is small park along the water and in the center of town. The library, City Hall, the fire hall and several businesses are just steps away. There is a small bandstand in the center of the park and a working narrow gauge train called the Milton's Clipper Express runs during the concerts. This is run by the Milton's Lions Club . We have become members of this club and enjoy the train experience ourselves.

Here is the the train leaving its little station. On Saturday the train ran most of the day and during the concert. It is amazing but 710 folks, boys and girls of all ages and their pets, rode the train at 25 cents a pop.

Yes, last night Bill and Bentley rode the train. They both enjoyed it. I am sure that it would take the "jaws of life" to get me off once I got on.

After the train ride we took a liesurely stroll around the park stopping first to listen a little closer to the U.S. Navy Cruisers (classic rock -- more easy listening if you ask me) perform. They were very good.

From where we were standing listening to the music we turned and could see (this view)across the water the bank, City Hall and fire station.

The park is the Milton Memorial Park and their are several places throughout the park with little memorial plagues and dedicated areas. This is the largest marker and tells of the holly industry that burgeoned in the early 20th Century.

This plague was next the one in the previous picture. It is dedicated to Charles G. Jones, SR -- The Holly Wreath Man. The tree that the plaques are in front of is a beautiful holly tree (bush). The State Tree of Delaware is the American Holly. I am hoping to take a holly wreath making class this fall.

Here are few more views of the Broadkill we enjoyed as we continued our stroll through the park and listened to the music.

Some quick sounds of U.S. Navy Cruisers