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H/9/1991-1-

September 3, 1991, Lakeview, page 1

A pleasant day preceded our meeting at Lakeview, home of Mary Seiler. Her
house and grounds embraced us with their graceful and modern lines and
hospitable and genteel atmosphere. Our guests were Helen Farquhar and
Brooke Farquhar. Unfortunate to be missing were the Hanels, the Rogers,
Tom Canby, Tim Eller, the Mannings, Ellen Hartge, and Priscilla Allen who
nonetheless graced the evening with flower arrangements on the dining tables.
The dining was splendid and punctuated with a dessert that was initially
observed then avoided then sampled and bravely ingested = namely Elizabeth
Thornton's Potting Soil Delight; a dish that looked as it was named but tasted
like chocolate cookie crumb custard mousse.

When we began the meeting proper it was 8:25. The minutes from the last
meeting penned by Tom Canby, August's pro tem secretary, were read and passed.

Next, Jim Bullard read a chapter from Forest Carter's book, The Education of
Little Tree. The book is a recollection of a Cherokee boy's upbringing in the
care of his grandparents in North Carolina in the early 1930's. The book is a
charming, eloquent, and touching chronicle that ranks among the likes of
Russel Baker's Growing Up, and Twain's Huckleberry Finn. The chapter that
was read was a clear inducement to find the book, read it, and share it as
Jim was doing. A postscript mentions that newspaper accounts have since
identified the book as a hoax and Forest Carter as a psuedonom of a political
writer whose general inclination was towards radical conservatism, racism,
and facism. The book remains eminently readable and its fans defend the
book and feel that the said hoax is itself a hoax or misguided investigative
academics.

There was no volunteer article so John Hartge read the minutes from this
month in 1891 at Falling Green. Notable was Norwood who had one surviving
turkey out of 50 starters versus [Falling Green]] who had lost none - typical of
the tricks hosts play.

Partly due to the late hour the Forethought was straightforward,
economic....perhaps poetic in a haiku ("A Japanese lyric poem of a fixed 17
syllable form that often simply points to a thing or pairing of things in
nature that has moved the poet") sort of way. "Wait 'til next year, then
start over." One could delve into the drudgery of fall crops, purging the
garden of dead stuff, cutting lawns high, and living in anticipation of cool
weather but I like the seven syllable solution best.

John Hartge followed with the Meteorology report - in 5 syllables: another
dry month. The area went 14 days without rain and we only got 2.72 for
the month. that put us at 8 3/4 inches below average for the year to date.
Temperature-wise the month started hot and ended hot. The high
temperature was 95 on the 3rd and low was 57 on the 22nd. It has been
the 2nd hottest summer on record since 1871. 1980 was the hottest. We
had a limp-wristed brush with Hurricane Bob but the Brinklow area made up
for it with the August 20th Tornado/Micro Burst which cut a swathe of ruin
from the Ellers on Goldmine Road across New Hampshire Avenue, through