Atmore News (AL) contributing writer Bonnie Bartel Latino keeps her eyes open, at least on one side. And when she sees something that needs just a little more looking into, well, she starts connecting the dots...or in this case, the gumdrops, and before she knows it, there's a story. Though she's never "seen" Sunset Hills' Lighted Christmas Balls per se, what she "saw" through the eyes of Master-At-Arms 1st Class Fritz Currie, United States Navy, Reserves, was as clear as if she had been on Ridgeway Drive herself. Currie, it turns out, touched down in Greensboro to see friends (Sunset Hills' Blake and Robin Conklin), enroute to Atmore, AL from the Middle East, and got bitten by the Lighted Christmas Balls. Fritz "took" the Lighted Christmas Balls to his native hometown, where they grace 305 S. Pensacola Avenue. I can't wait to meet him. He can't wait to light up the whole town.Treat yourself and read Bonnie's feature article which was printed in the Atmore News New Year's Eve edition.
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Hi, Jonathan and everyone in Sunset Hills and Greensboro, N.C.:
ReplyDeleteI love having my story about Fritz Currie's gumdrop tree on your delightful web site. You and Fritz really MAY be twins with different mothers! Fritz is really psyched about turning Atmore, Alabama into Lighted Christmas Ball (LCB) Paradise in 2009.
I had to stop and think about what you said in your introduction of my article, that I "keep my eyes open - at least on one side." I decided it must be because there were only L.C.Bs on one side of Atmore's Pensacola Avenue--on FRITZ's side of the street.
I wouldn't want your readers to think "Atmore News" has a cyclops writing for them! ;-)
Please keep your little boy spirit alive forever! It's a gift.
In Friendship,
Bonnie Bartel Latino
Atmore, AL
"keep your eyes open, at least on one side," Theodore Geisel's advice (I can read with my eyes shut); no cyclops could have written what you wrote. Am quite sure Dr. Seuss would confirm.
ReplyDeleteTonight, an 89 year old called; he, his son and his son's wife are our friends. New Year's eve, we had dinner, dessert, and toured the neighborhood, admiring the lighted Christmas balls. We came back, warmed ourselves before the fire, handled LCBs close up. He got hooked. Or maybe he got hooked on the riding tour, and sitting on the hearth, knee to knee, I understood what transaction had happened in his heart. Hopelessly hooked he was. Anyway, he called tonight. His mission, I learned, with the men of the church, is to make dozens and dozens of lighted Christmas balls, and light the whole First Christian Church of Winston Salem up.
The Father's heart is a playful heart. And it longs for playful lives where it can freely beat.
Jonathan Said: >>>The Father's heart is a playful heart. And it longs for playful lives where it can freely beat.>>>
ReplyDeleteGood grief! You really ARE Fritz's twin! ;-)
~Bon