Friends Annual meeting is scheduled for Saturday, June 25 at 9:00 am at the First Baptist Church in Port O’Connor. Following this time for Friends updates and visions will be a 10:00 am meeting for all who have a special interest in joining our Advisory Council. The POC community is welcome and encouraged to attend both meetings. Also, it’s time once again to renew “Friends” memberships and get some updates on what’s happening in the quest for our bigger, better library. For online membership applications, please go to www.friendsoportoconnorlibrary.org.

Friends of the Port O’Connor Library, Inc. PO Box 497 Port O’Connor, TX 77982

Be a Friend to the POC Library! The Friends of the Port O’Connor Library are dedicated to encouraging community support, usage, awareness and enthusiasm for our Port O’Connor Branch of the Calhoun County Public Library. In addition, the organization is currently involved in a capital campaign to raise funds to build a new library for the POC area.

Your annual membership supports these activities and more:

-securing of materials that are beyond the ordinary budget of the Library
-guest speakers and educational programs for adults
-summer reading program and Saturday movie mornings for children and youth
-library volunteer staffing and supplies for special events and programs
-mentoring of the student advisory council
-fundraising activities benefiting the current construction project

Please join annually to show your support for the POC Library and the ongoing activities of the Friends. Our new membership year runs from July 2016 – June 2017. Annual membership starts at $3 for students and $25 for adults.

Two books; each remarkable in its own way; yet each so very different?

The first is another intriguing book as written by Joy Fielding, who is a very stunning writer. Her book, entitled SHE’S NOT THERE is really more than unusual; this is an author’s walk into a family’s life; a life that can be somewhat familiar with its characters to the reader.

A couple travels from San Diego to Rosario Beach, a lovely resort area in Baja California/Mexico for the celebration of their 10th wedding anniversary. Accompanying them are their two small daughters; the older being 5 years old and the other barely 2 years of age. Greeting them to the wife’s surprise are three other couples of friends; whose company the wife enjoys but had strong hopes that she and her husband would be alone to rekindle their married life. However, on the last note of their celebration, the younger daughter is kidnapped from her crib. And, Caroline Shipley, spends years and years of her life searching for news of any kind of her daughter.

Eventually, the marriage ends; the older daughter and her mother become antagonistic relatives; and her mother, Grandmother Mary (the mother from hell) takes sides with her granddaughter and her non-do-well son against her daughter.

The climax of this plot will catch you totally unaware; but do plan to read the author’s Acknowledgments at the ending of the book. It may be somewhat enlightening. This author has an unbelievable talent of being able to pull the reader into the plot; and then turn that reader loose to wonder. I heartily recommend reading the other books of Ms. Fielding we have in the Library; you will not be disappointed.

David Baldacci has an incredible talent of writing; short succinct sentences that carry a full impact. (Goes back to his legal training!) He has written six serial books of characters and the latest, THE LAST MILE further carries the protagonist of MEMORY MAN into another trip.

The “memory man”, Amos Decker, a former NFL player, for at least one play, is embellished with the skill of never forgetting anything; he has become an acquired savant. As a result of that play on the football field, in which he died twice, he is now a “victim” of hyporthymesia. This means he never forgets anything, whether in his past life or a news item he has read. These become flashbacks into his mind in sequence. Additionally, he has obtained the “skill” of seeing events and people in colors, known as synesthetes. To see a person as he does, embellished in a dirty gray is not a welcoming sight nor is an observance of a death scene in Neon Blue..

Somehow Decker, a former policeman and private investigator, becomes involved in the life of another football player, Melvin Mars, who is facing the death chamber in Texas for a crime he didn’t commit. Traveling through this plot that takes you back to the killings of black children in Alabama and into the present day time is a talent of Baldacci; he can make you believe and see what you are reading.

June will be arriving shortly and with it will be the Summer Reading Program at our Library. Do plan to come and see our knowledgeable Librarian, Shirley Gordon, for more information to sign up your child. The Summer Reading Program begins May 31st with sign ups at the Library, with the first program being June 14th and ends July 9th. The theme of this celebration will be: Get on your mark; Get set; READ; which should spur all young readers on. And the Friends of the Library will be sponsoring another Movie program on Saturday June 11th with popcorn, pickles and a drink.

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

And we certainly don’t want our Library to burn down!

Bless all who support it 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.

And a word of regret, we just lost a very wonderful lady, Diane Howell, who with her husband, Dixie, were regular peoples that came in to see us. We miss Diane very much; just hope to see Dixie from time to time.

What is fishing with you, my child, really all about?
Is it how many redfish, flounder, or the trout?

Is it about the lures, the rod, reel, or bait?
Is it about the time of day? Before sunrise or late?

Does it matter where we fish? A lake, the sea, or river?
Will the sky be blazing hot or so chilly that we shiver?

Is it about the size of bass, catfish, or a gar?
Is it how you cast your line? A foot away or far?

For me, it’s more about the catching, not only just the fishing.
Catching time and catching memories. That is what I’m wishing.

As you concentrate so hard on that fishing line,
I am thanking God above that He made you mine.

When a squirmy little fish wiggles in your fingers,
Around a moment such as this, my beating heart just lingers.

I smile because I love you and this time is what I treasure.
It’s not about the fish we catch or inches that we measure.

As you stand there waiting on the line that you have thrown,
It gives me time to look at you and see how you have grown.

When you stare at your cork bobbing in the sea,
That gives me a chance to realize how much you mean to me.

When you yell hysterically, “Woo-hoo! This one’s a keeper!”
I recognize my love for you has only gotten deeper.

We’ll be fishing. I’ll be catching…precious time with you.
Catching moments left and right. That is what I’ll do.

So when you ask if I will go fishing with you soon,
You can bet that it’s a yes! I love you to the moon!

A 30 cubic yard roll-off bin will be located behind the fence on 16th & Harrison for POCID customers’ bulky waste to be hauled off. The bin will be available from 8:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 4. POCID customers only may deposit large items like, carpet, furniture, mattresses, stoves, etc. Auto batteries may be left outside the bin. POCID Customers must sign in with their name and physical address. No Commercial Waste, Paint, Tires or Gas Cans accepted.

My neighbors Parker and Patty are always telling me how proud they are to be a part of Port O Connor, Texas. They say it is a great community and so friendly. Their kids and grands visited for Easter and it was special. They had some good weather for fishing and some foggy weather for celebrating on the front beach Sunday morning. With air mattresses everywhere, dishes in the sink and clean up needed, the grands and Patty came home Sunday afternoon and got busy. First they turned the television up blaringly loud to their favorite music and then they washed, mopped, packed and folded, dusted and cleaned until they left the house sparkling. Patty was very appreciative.

The grands and their parents gathered their Easter candy haul, coolers full of fish and all their belongings, loaded the cars, hugged and kissed and with the music still blaring Parker and Patty watched them drive away. With a deep sigh, they turned and went back into the house to rest up after the visit. Parker wanted to turn down the music and change the TV channel, but he could not find the remote anywhere. The newer flat screen had no obvious buttons to control so he was at a loss. For several minutes he and Patty screamed and hollered back and forth as they tried to locate the remote, discussed how to mute the noise, pondered and even argued about who could have ‘misplaced’ the remote. They grew more and more frustrated. Finally, after what seemed like hours in a torture chamber of loud noises they stepped out the door and called the kids. They explained the missing remote and asked who knew where it might be. There were lots of helpful and not so helpful suggestions. One son told Patty she lost lots of things and look in the usual places. The grands suggested the fridge, the freezer, Grandy Parker’s overall pockets, under the dog bed, in the laundry and lots of other ridiculously possible locations for the missing remote. Parker and Patty were quite distressed by this point. They scurried from place to suggested place looking for the necessary remote, they shined flashlights in corners and under tables, checked easy chairs and made up beds, but they did not find the remote. And they kept complaining about the noise. During the entire time the kids and grands on phone and sometimes on speaker, were laughing and cracking jokes and making fun of the loud music and mounting frustration over a remote. One grandson cracked that is was like an egg hunt for grownups. Parker and Patty were not too amused.

Finally, the youngest grand sweetly said,” Nani, just flip that red switch by the TV and it will turn off the power. That will stop the noise.” Patty did just that and breathed a sigh of relief at the silence. She and Parker hung up the phone and sat down with a glass of tea. They were heard to quote the silly song that says “our kids are grown and now it’s so, we’re glad to see the children come and glad to see them go…”, and truthfully they felt much like that. After a cool drink and some down time. Patty got up to let the dog in and just happened to think about the ledge under the built in bookshelf next to the chair in the cozy darker corner of the living area. Who knows why she thought to look there except she remembered the littlest grand playing there while they were cleaning up. Now Patty’s not blaming anyone, but there just out of sight under that ledge she found the remote and her sense of humor. As she flipped on the quiet broadcast of the evening news she thought about how precious family is. She also thought about how she used to walk over to the TV each and every time she changed the channel. Life keeps changing…you better keep up.