I warned you.

Before Summer had yet started and the year was still approaching middle age I warned you that there was a Texas dynasty about to fade away into history and anyone who is a fan of Texas based sports franchises or just loved the sport of basketball at all should find the time to watch a group of sports heroes who made their name in the Lone Star State and whose accomplishments should be praised alongside such legendary names as  Roger Staubach, Andre Johnson and Tom Landry.

Between 1999 and 2014 the San Antonio Spurs won five NBA championships and reached the NBA Finals as the Western Conference Champions five times in that same span of time. The last championship in 2014 stopped LeBron James (arguably the best player in the NBA today), Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh from getting their third straight NBA title.

This past Summer however, the one dead sure hall of fame caliber player who was on all four NBA Finals teams retired, power forward Tim Duncan, who was also rookie of the year the prior season to the team’s first NBA Championship.

Averaging nearly twenty points and just over ten rebounds a game while shooting fifty percent from the field for his career, Duncan was also on the All NBA team fifteen times while he played, to match his fifteen times appearing in the All Star Game and on the all NBA Defensive team.

Duncan was also the league MVP twice and the NBA Finals MVP for three of the Spurs five championship victories.

He was productive even after he was past the usual prime of an NBA player’s body and although his cool and laid back on court and off court demeanor meant he was never one of the more flamboyant superstars of his era, his work ethic and marks where it counts, in winning made him a once in a lifetime talent and a player people will be talking about for generations.

While Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili remain on the team for now, the last remnants of the glory days where every year the league would sleep on the Spurs and count them out and yet they would go to work with their white collar attitude and get to the post season year after year. But now the pair’s talents are declining and while they definitely still have a role to play on a winning NBA team, their best days are in the rear view mirror.

That is not to say that the Spurs may not have a good season this year or that there are not bright spots on the roster. One of the best coaches in the league today, Greg Popovich is still roaming the sidelines and there is the all star tandem of Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge, who are two great players in their own right and Leonard continues to improve each year.

Add to that the addition of Pau Gasol, the former Chicago Bull and Los Angeles Laker who also has NBA Championships on his resume, and you have a potential playoff squad. Gasol will help offset the loss of Duncan’s offense production, but probably not his ever steady defensive presence in the post.
While the Spurs could most likely make the playoffs this year and have some assets going into the future, it is indeed the end of a great era in Texas pro sports and NBA basketball…you were warned.

Discouragement can be a ruthless enemy of the soul. It can leave one feeling beaten, battered, and broken; convinced there’s no hope, and no reasonable cause to expect that anything will ever be any different. I know, because I’ve been there.
While the occasional bout of discouragement is absolutely normal, chronic discouragement and depression are not. Aside from chemical imbalance, which can be a very real problem for some folks, often the problem is a matter of failing to discipline one’s thoughts. Our feelings are directly related to what we’re thinking. This is borne out in principle in Proverbs 23:7, which says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” However, we must realize that our thoughts about a particular situation may be inaccurate. For instance, because I think things are hopeless doesn’t mean they are. Because I think and feel that I’m a failure doesn’t mean that I am. We must be willing to challenge the validity of our mental assumptions.
One thing is for sure: When one is wallowing in discouragement and despondency, the focus of the mind is one’s self, rather than where it belongs—on God, the One with whom there is real help and peace. Consider the following:
“Discouragement is a tool of Satan. The story is told that Satan was ‘going out of business.’ All of his tools were offered for sale. They were attractively displayed on a table. What an array—hatred, envy, jealousy, deceit! One harmless-looking one, much worn, was priced higher than any of the others. ‘What is that tool?’ someone asked. ‘Discouragement,’ was the reply. ‘Why is it so expensive?’ Satan answered, ‘Because it is more useful to me than any of the others.’
Will our distress drive us to despair and discouragement or to God? May we, like David, ‘encourage ourselves in the Lord.’”1
Today, may we take to heart the truth of Psalm 42:5, which says, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.”
1Mildred Stamm, Meditation Moments, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Corporation, 1967), Devotion for May 16.

Three books this time: one a very light book for easy reading; one that is fiction based upon fact; and the third, a very topical nonfiction.

The first is HULA DONE IT? written by Maddy Hunter, one of this series she is writing about this travel coordinator. And this time, the travel group is taking a trip to Kauai, Hawaii aboard a cruise ship.

Emily Andrews is the coordinator of global excursions for a travel club from Iowa composed of varying types of seniors, and always, there are many mishaps that these “elderly” travelers encounter, including this time, the demise of another passenger. There is an excellent description of Kauai that makes you long to visit, but even more interesting is the descriptive life aboard a cruise with a group. This book comprises easy reading and one that each page will often supply a smile or a giggle.

THE ONE MAN by Andrew Gross, a writer who came to prominence co-writing books with James Patterson, has now branched out on his own. This book is one of his best as it is loosely based on the life of Denis Avery, a British soldier who was captured in North Africa, and then held in a POW camp in Poland. He snuck into Auschwitz to confirm rumors of its horrors, and then returned to tell its story to the world. And Gross also based this book on the background of his father-in-law who was from Warsaw, Poland. After becoming aware of the tragedies that would be coming to Poland, he left in 1939.

Beginning in 1944 with the encouragement of FDR and his Secretary of the Treasury, Harry Morgenthau, a young man from Poland and a member of the Armed Forces, is recruited to carry out a terrifying mission – to drop into Poland and then to become an inmate in Auschwitz. Nathan Blum’s mission is to locate and bring out a specialized scientist, one of two in the world with familiarity in nuclear science.

The descriptions of life in this horrendous POW camp are unbelievable; although many Americans are familiar with these stories, they still create a horrendous emotion in the reader.

The third book is 13 HOURS by Mitchell Zuckoff with verifying information from the remaining members of the Annex Security Team, part of the security force contractors. This book will cause one to really agonize with the remaining members as to the incompetence that prevailed from the CIA “headman” who continued to forbid instant help to the Compound and our Ambassador.

On the night of September 11, 2012 and continuing into the following morning, the U.S. State Department Special Mission Compound (known as the Compound) and the nearby CIA base called the Annex in Benghazi, Libya were attacked continually and ferociously by a murderous mob.

A long lasting battle ensued, and the decision was reached by others to save the Ambassador and his Communications expert by having them shelter themselves in an interior room. However, this was not to be as they were unable to reach that room. And they then perished due to smoke inhalation as the villa had been torched.

And still the security team was not allowed to rescue the inhabitants of the Compound.

The author continues literally from minute to minute during the first battle, and then the second which was fought from the roof tops of the Annex.
If you had seen the film, you would have received an excellent ongoing plot from minute to minute of this catastrophe. Many of us had watched the interviews with the surviving members of the security team, but without the book and accompanying maps, you did not fully grasp the enormity of this battle. The author has written the book in a narrative, and therefore it is extremely easy to follow the action. I heartily recommend this book.

We, in the Library, and our wonderful helpers are anticipating the writing and assembling of our SECOND Christmas and Holiday Recipe book. As you readers are the ones who make this possible with the sharing of a special traditional recipe and the explanation of why it is special, we look forward to receiving those recipes. Our cutoff date is the end of November, and Shirley and I can hardly wait to learn of those luscious foods that made your Christmas and New Year’s a special time of life. And we thank you very much for help.

I know I’ve used the following quote for several years, but it really makes sense: Just Think About It!
“When an old person dies, a library burns down!”
Karen Gillespie

Bless all who support our library in so many different ways; we welcome our visitors that enter here from time to time and also the many regular folks who are part of our every day joy.

Sat., Nov. 19    Dedication of Dr. E.F. Knipling marker 10:00 am    Calhoun County Extension Building, PL

Sat., Nov. 19    Farewell Party for Barbara & Jimmy Crouch 1:00-3:00 pm    First Baptist Fellowship Hall, POC

Fri., Dec. 3    Seniors’ Christmas Luncheon 11:00 am    Port O’Connor Community Center

Sat., Dec. 3    Toy Run Arrives aprox 2 pm    The Inn at Clark’s

Sun., Dec. 4    Seadrift Community Choir 9:00 am St. Patrick Church, Seadrift
6:00 pm    First Assembly of God, Seadrift

Wed., Dec. 7    Seadrift Students sing at FNB Seadrift
9:30 – Fourth Grade    2:30 – Third Grade

Wed., Dec. 7    Food collection for Christmas Baskets
5:00-7:00    Speedy Stop

Thurs., Dec. 8    Seadrift Fifth Grade Sings 9:30 First National Bank, Seadrift

Thurs., Dec. 8    Seadrift Community Choir 6:00 pm    Trinity Shores, Port Lavaca

Fri., Dec. 9    Seadrift Students sing at FNB Seadrift
9:00 – Second Grade    2:30 – Pre-Kindergarten

Fri., Dec. 9    Seadrift Community Choir 2:00 pm    Seadrift School

Sat., Dec. 10    Santa’s Golf Cart Scavenger Race 2:00-4:00    Seadrift bgray3@tisd.net

Sat., Dec. 10    POCVFD Gun Raffle Fund Raiser
6 pm (Meal at 7 pm) Port O’Connor Community Center

Sun., Dec. 11    Seadrift Community Choir
11:00 am    First United Methodist, Seadrift
6:00 pm    First Baptist Church, Seadrift

Sun., Dec. 11    Santa Claus in Port O’Connor 1:00 pm    POC Fire Station

Mon., Dec. 12    Seadrift Students sing at FNB Seadrift
10:00 – First Grade    2:30 – Kindergarten

Mon., Dec. 12    POC Chamber Christmas Party 6:30 pm The Sanctuary

Dec. 14-16    Lighting Judging in Port O’Connor