Almost April + Clay County Fair!

As all parents say, time flies by too fast. Even though we want this school year to end so AA can begin High School, a new school, a new golf team, back to seeing her friends, we don't want our time together at home to go by so quickly. These are precious days we can spend together. And our Amaryllis continues to open more blossoms.

03/31/21:

I am not posting much politics these days even though there is so much to be angry about (recent Georgia voting bill signed by the Governor is enough to make any reasonable person to puke or rebel!).
The new Georgia law allows the State Board of Elections to determine that these county boards are performing poorly, replacing the entire board with an administrator chosen at the state level.
At the same time, the bill enhances the General Assembly’s control over the state board. It removes Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who famously stood up to Trump’s attempts to overturn the election results in Georgia, from his role as both chair and voting member of the board. The new chair would be appointed by the legislature, which already appoints two members of the five-person board — meaning that a full majority of the board will now be appointed by the Republican-dominated body.
One attention-grabbing section prohibits “the giving of any money or gifts, including, but not limited to, food and drink, to an elector...within 25 feet of any voter standing in line to vote at any polling place.” In effect, this means that it is now illegal in Georgia to provide food and water to people waiting in line to vote.
The Republicans who control state elections have cut the number of polling places statewide by 10 percent. And now it’s illegal for people to bring food and water to help the voters who wait in these artificially long lines. Imposing new limitations on ballot drop boxes that effectively ban their widespread deployment outside of a governor-declared emergency
Applies voter ID laws to mail-in ballots by requiring voters to submit their driver’s license or state ID number as part of their vote-by-mail application. If they have neither number, they need to submit a photocopy or electronic image of an acceptable form of identification (e.g., a passport).
This surge in voting restrictions is clearly motivated by Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 elections. It’s now an article of faith among Trump supporters, who make up a majority of the GOP primary electorate, that the election was stolen from him. Republican legislators at the state level are pushing legislation that’s designed both to appeal to these voters and to cement their own power.
But at the same time, the Republican use of state-level power to give themselves a leg up long predates Trump.
The new Law had no analysis: The party of fiscal non-responsibility is per usual happy to legislate without fiscal analysis and inflict unfunded mandates and local tax increases as they wish for their priorities- voter suppression- all while we are last in vaccine distribution.
Stacy Abrams Twitter:
What’s likely to come for SB 202: quick passage by GA Senate & a speedy signature by Kemp. Why? To avoid actual analysis + public awareness of how SB 202 hurts voters of color, increases taxes on struggling families & steals power from local governments. Today’s GA GOP.

Back to our family news: This week begins Easter week. We have not been inside a church in over 13 months, and really don't want to go when it is most crowded. We will watch an on-line service on Sunday. AA has been reading Bible verses each day and I am glad we are all listening and being reminded of our Lord Savior Jesus Christ.

Wednesday night we watched Midnight in Paris. The movie is a romantic/comedy with a bit of time travel. What he sees, learns and who he meets is what makes it interesting.

Thursday: Worked at NGS office, Ford made homemade spaghetti dinner. AA worked on her "Cold War" history paper, interviewing her Dad.

Friday: Good Friday, no school, so planned to go to the Clay County Fair. And crazy weather - cold again!  It is cooler in the mornings and 10 - 15 degrees cooler than last weekend. 49 degrees when we headed to pick up Noah. Entering fair grounds with masks on:

Waiting in line:

On their first ride:

Bee keeper supplies:

Plenty of pigs, birds and cows!

After lunch from Sweet Sensations and the kids playing a Switch racing game, we took Noah home around 4:30 p.m.

On our way home saw the new Dreamette Ice Cream shop (Mawhinney's told us about it). So we had to stop, each getting a cone, vanilla, chocolate swirl and strawberry.

And Good Friday comes to a close.....