With fall in full swing now, I’m trying to get in as many outside jobs as possible before winter — while continuing to hone my populist image (“Joe the Painter’). LOL. This was a shed I was painting in rural Bluffton recently… In recent weeks, I have done yet more newspaper interviews, sat in on council meetings, and so on… For instance, I interviewed a woman from Ada, Ohio, who is originally from there, but had lived in other parts of the country before returning to Ada. She said there’s just something about being around “…people you’ve known your whole life.” She said she can best describe it as comfortable and rooted. We would do well, I believe, to value this a whole lot more than we currently do in our increasingly transitory American society… I also did a story on a local, non-denominational Christian church. A “core principle” of the church? “Prayer is powerful.” And so are “works.” The church helps fund international missions work, as it helps fund local community work. In fact, it is churches like these that are, often, the metaphoric “glue” that holds these small town communities together… Note: I have also just become a grandfather for the first time. Our Sarah and her husband Gabe have had a little baby girl, Eliza Day. The “Day” is after well-known Catholic Worker Dorothy Day. We volunteered a good deal with Catholic Worker groups around the country over the years. Anyway… Sarah asked me what I’d like to be called by Eliza Day: I said: “Grandude.” Sarah asked if I had a second choice.
