Beautiful wade-fishing sunset in Port O’Connor. -Photo by Mack Davis

What time is it? That is a question we often ask or are often asked. The more perplexing question is different. What is time?. That is, as they say, the 64 dollar question. If we have a watch or clock we all know what time it is. However, the second question still doesn’t have a definite answer.

Einstein said time and space are hooked together. Modern quantum physicists spend hours and lots of effort to explain what that means. They say things like, clocks go slower when they are moving faster like in a plane. We measure time by how many times a certain atom vibrates a second and when a jet plane flies around the world the test atomic clock has a few less vibrations than the same type of clock that stayed on the ground. So who really understands. Actually it wasn’t the same atom vibrating.

The upshot of it is that time is what our clocks tell us it is. And that is based on how fast the earth rotates both on its axis and around the sun. So if we were on a different planet it would be different wouldn’t it? What we really know is that time does pass.

This time of year the sun rises in the east. It does so late enough that I frequently watch it. When one visits a beach on the West Coast of Florida you can watch the sun set into the Gulf of Mexico. Living on the west side of Carancua Bay, I can watch it rise from the bay. In both situations one of the amazing things is how fast that ole sun is moving down close to the horizon. We get a sense of how fast the earth is really rotating The difference between sunrise and sunset is the passing of the daylight during the season you are watching it pass.

Living out here one can easily see that sun moves north and south as the seasons change. Those astrophysicists call that the ecliptic. Each year at the time of equinox, that passage is right over the equator. That’s when the daylight time and night time are equal. It happens in September and March.

As the sun rose this morning the old song “Sunrise, Sunset” popped into my mind. For those of you that are not as long of whisker as I am, that song was from the movie and musical “Fiddler on the Roof”. It has a verse in its lyrics that describes what can be called the real meaning of time. That passage has these words.

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears

In “Fiddler” the song is at the wedding of the older couple’s children and they are reflecting on the new cycle starting. When you think about it, that is the way of life. Regardless of what time it is, a cycle is starting, a cycle ending. That is what time is.

Lions School Supply Drive: Lynn Reeves, Kathleen Lambright, Lisa McLean and Eldon Gaines. Not pictured: Peggy Gaines, Club Photographer.

Picture this…Thursday afternoon at 4 pm, August 26, 2013. Temperature in the mid- to upper 90s and four very determined Lions out under a pop up canopy in the front yard of the First National Bank of Port Lavaca in Seadrift. Signs on the chairs say “Donate School Supplies Here!” We knew we only had two hours to collect whatever the community could give and whatever cash we could raise because school starting was soon to be upon us and we had a meeting that night! That first hour flew by and a few people stopped and gave us the money in their pockets and bags of ‘spare’ supplies they had set aside just for this purpose. That last hour was hard. It was hot and we were tired but we had collected three big boxes of school goodies and some cash!

We decided to add $100 to that collection and asked Lion Peggy to go shopping the next day. Lo and behold if she doesn’t come back with the back of her minivan loaded for … School!

56 Composition Books
88 Spiral Notebooks
62 Packages of Notebook Paper
24 boxes of tissue
32 pair of scissors
449 pencils
49 boxes of crayons
12 boxes of markers
6 boxes of colored pencils
8 Hi-Liters
184 Pens

So, with a hearty THANK YOU ! to the generous citizens of Seadrift and the assistance of a few proud Lions (Lion Lisa McLean, Lion Kathleen Lambright, Lion Peggy Gaines, Lion Dale Gaines and Lion Lynn Reeves), Seadrift School Principal Dwana Finster accepted our donation.

Tim Smith Palacios Police Officer and Seadrift Pastor

Tim Smith Named Officer of the Year

The 100 Club of Matagorda County held its Annual Awards Banquet on Friday, August 16 at the Fraternal Order of Eagles Lodge. Tim Smith of Seadrift received the 2013 Palacios Police Department Officer of the Year Award. Smith was selected for the honor by the Officers of the Palacios Police Department.

Calhoun County Historical Commission Award Calhoun County Judge Michael Pfeifer presented the Texas Historical Commission’s Distinguished Service Award to members of the Calhoun County Historical Commission (left to right) Chairman Mary Belle Meitzen, John Meitzen, Steve Koch, and Avril Sassman. -Photo by Philip Thomae

The Texas Historical Commission (THC) recently recognized Calhoun County with a Distinguished Service Award for the 2012 year of service. This award was presented by Judge Pfeifer to members of the Calhoun County Historical Commission (CCHC) during a meeting of the Commissioner’s Court on August 22, recognizing the CCHC for managing preservation programs that educate citizens and generate interest in the history and character of Texas. This award also acknowledges the CCHC’s efforts to preserve Texas’ unique heritage by promoting stewardship of, and tourism to, our state’s unique cultural and historic sites.

“The Distinguished Service Award is our agency’s way of affirming County Historical Commissions that continue to improve and expand their preservation programs,” said THC Executive Director Mark Wolfe. “The Texas Historical Commission works with CHCs to save the real places and tell the real stories of Texas.”

Among the accomplishments of the Calhoun County Historical Society in 2012 were their assistance in the restoration project by The Daughters of the Republic of Texas of the Indianola Cemetery and the purchase and installation of a steel plate Camel and Soldier Silhouette artwork near the LaSalle Monument to memorialize the “Great Texas Camel Experiment”.

During 2012, the following Marker applications were submitted by the CCHS and approved by the Texas Historical Commission: Port O’ Connor Historic Texas Cemetery, Honorable Howard Hartzog, Indianola Texas Camel Corp, Sunlight Girls, Don Martin deLeon and Dr. Edward Fred Knipling.

During 2013, the CCHC will dedicate the Historical Markers for World War II written by Mary Belle Meitzen, Sgt. William Barnes written by Gary Ralston, Chihuahua Trail Terminus written by Nelson Marek and the folklorist Ed Bell written by Lea Hall.

Little Mary’s Grave* was surveyed, photographed, leveled, and repaired during its restoration. The Historic Texas Cemetery Designation application is being completed.

The Marker Committee, chaired by John Foester is currently working on The Battle of Norris Bridge, Mission Refugio and German Immigration through Karlshafen which was accepted as an Undertold Marker Story by the Texas Historical Commission.
The Calhoun County Historical Commission has currently completed over 1,000 volunteer hours.

Unlike most states, Texas counties have the legislative authority to establish CHCs to initiate and conduct programs that preserve historic and cultural resources. Texas CHCs are made up of unpaid county appointees whose reported volunteer hours for the 2012 year of service had a monetary value of more than $8.8 million. The THC provides services to CHCs, as well as citizens across the state, to preserve Texas’ heritage for the use, education, enjoyment, and economic benefit of present and future generations. CHC contributions include the preservation of countless historic buildings, artifacts, documents, and other components of Texas’ rich history.

* Little Mary’s Grave is located on Hwy 238 next to Chocolate Bayou, just before the bridge, on the left, as you come in to Port Lavaca. It is the grave of Mary Jane Mitchell, who was listed in the 1860 census of Indianola. She is buried close to the train route from Indianola. There are various tales of how she came to be buried there and her grave marked by such an ornate table top tombstone, but her death and the circumstances of the location of the stone remain an unsolved mystery.