By Sherry Hopkins

Community Columnist

This past Sunday was a cold blustery beautiful day. The night promised to bring a Super Blood Wolf moon eclipse. We sure do embellish things with a lot of adjectives these days. A moon eclipse would have probably sufficed, but we always have to take it a step further.

So Dear Don and I ventured out between 9:30 and 10:30 pm to watch the transition. The moon was not supersized as advertised but by the time the eclipse was full it had taken on an eerie red glow. The wolf moniker comes from an old Native American legend that named any full moon in January the Wolf Moon.

Funny thing is each time we went out to view the progress it seemed as though every dog in our community was barking and howling.

Dear Don is now back on quarantine until the flu season subsides. So I am going to church alone on Sunday mornings. We have a much smaller group on Sunday night and he is able to isolate himself better so we can still attend those services.

After I came home Sunday morning, we decided to take a long drive in the country and then we came back and spent the rest of the afternoon playing Scrabble. Our moods have certainly shifted upwards of late and laughter, sarcasm and bouts of pure silliness can once again be found here.

As I write this I am smack in the middle of prep for a colonoscopy tomorrow. So you know what fun I am having. My thoughts are straying towards meatloaf and yeast rolls with creamed potatoes piled high. I can just taste a pineapple banana milkshake from Sonic or a turtle brownie from the Caramel Factory. Boy, if I could get my mouth around a plate of pancakes from IHOP loaded with real maple syrup and dripping with butter I would be a happy camper. But I have chicken broth, orange jello and a rainbow of popsicles to keep the hunger pangs at bay. Sounds delightful doesn’t it?

On Sunday nights I have a group of young girls that belong to our Southern Baptist group called GA’s or Girls in Action. Some of you will remember this same mission group from years ago as Girl’s Auxiliary. I was a member myself about 60 years ago.

The purpose of this group is to raise the awareness and open the eyes of girls to be able to see the needs of the world near and far.

We have a great time and we all learn a lot about the world and one another. They have already accomplished so much by being so ministry/mission minded.

As I write we have begun a new project that will benefit the Panola Food Pantry. We are collecting non-perishable items to donate to this organization that benefits folks in our area who struggle to feed their families.

We will make our first of many deliveries this week. Each week when the girls come to class with their food items you can see the excitement in their faces. They are happy to be dong something worthwhile.

At the end of each class we go to the Problem Solving Box and draw out a slip of paper that one of the girls has put in, that presents a problem they are having that they need help resolving.

So this past Sunday the problem was written as follows; “My Grandma always lets me eat sweets at her house. Should I tell my parents?” These problems are always anonymous and some of the solutions are hilarious.

The consensus among our gaggle of girls was, “What happens at Grandma’s stays at Grandmas! As a Grandma I would have to agree, but as a leader I told the girls to ALWAYS tell there parents first when they have a problem.

So I am off to see what flavor of popsicle I want next, but I could sure use a box of Jiffy chicken about now.

Stay tuned.