Saturday, November 07, 2020

 Gayle Service


  1. Introduction and welcome (Doug)

  2. Prayer (Phil)

  3. Robert Frost poem (Phyllis)

  4. Little Wings (Doug)

  5. Music (Aran, Nelson, Darrell)

  6. Sharing from anyone (Doug to announce)

  7. Closing and thank you from the family (Lynn)



  1. Introduction


Welcome. We are here to celebrate the life of Gayle Robertson- daughter, mother, sister, and dear friend. This is an informal graveside gathering and we will ask anyone who would like to share something about Gayle to feel free to do so after the music portion. 


Born in Martinsville, Virginia, Gayle lived in Charlottesville most of her life. She is a graduate of Lane High School, PVCC (Piedmont virginia comm college), and UVA School of Nursing. She worked at Martha Jefferson and UVA hospitals as an RN and retired from UVA Medical Center in 2012. She was recipient of UVA Hospital's first Nurse of Distinction (NOD) award. She was a lifelong member of the University Baptist Church.


Gayle adored and raised two children, her son, Nelson Leavell Garnett, Jr. and daughter, Phyllis Lynn Garnett. She loved being a grandmother to Aran Garnett-Deakin and Nelson Garnett-Deakin, named for brother Nelson and grandfather. She appreciated her flower garden and was an avid music lover. She had a beautiful voice and enjoyed singing. She instilled a deep love of music in the many members of her family.


We were blessed to have her live across the street from us for the last few years of her life. 


  1. Prayer

  2. Poem

Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf’s a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.


  1. Little Wings



Excerpt from Sunrise for Helen Chickering


It’s a wild snow

Racing like small white pigeons

Across the airport’s tarmac

I wish you could see it

I wish we could take you out

To sit in a lawn chair

And watch the snow over the airport

Like we watch fireworks each year



Little Wings

For Gayle Robertson


You pass and

We long for details

And see

A fox carving burnt in wood

Wind at the window

Dry leaves scatter

Green walls, the pictures of your family


You are smaller than we’ve seen you

And pass

Almost silent 

In the morning

Slipping out like the last warm day of autumn

The pain of losing a child

Before yourself

That weight

Packed up and leaving with you

Your bent hands still

The room still

The air still

Air


We long for details

And, outside, the wind reminds of the day

Helen died

Like you, a touchstone of family

The day also cold

And Ashoken’s Farewell

In the air

In the air still


These details 

are little wings

Lady bugs

Listening for your last breath and not knowing

When it comes

The crow on your lawn

Each morning

The new cardinals

The finches

Finally turning off the walkie talkies

We no longer need

The silence that is wind


Details

Little wings

Every mote we notice

As you leave



  1. Music

  2. Sharing 

  3. Closing and thank you from the family. 




2906 Green Meadows Ln

Charlottesville, VA 22901




White Oak Acorns

- For Nelson Garnett (1967 – 1991)

More acorns than most remember, Like stones,

like walking on ball-bearings or bones,

someone says, as we step from the wood.


Bodies rise with dusk in a newly mowed field-

across the road people leap, climb

after an arcing frisbee, jump from time


to time on memory to see the young man who last

week sketched the skeletal trees, who passed

the droughted Monocacy, who we recall warmed with


beer. A manned balloon scatters deer in uncut

winter grain. So many animals have leapt

into roads here, so many acorns are left


unturned by hands, by mouths, as we stand

and watch, blinded by the sun’s last bands, 

climb and catch- soft with this young man’s


wake and dusk in a newly mowed field. 



Sunrise

-       for Helen, before her death

I hear you are dying.

It’s near sunrise.

I’ll drive to work, like any day.

 

It’s snowing

But the sun still shows through a break

In the clouds

 

It’s a wild snow

Racing like small white pigeons

Across the airport’s tarmac

I wish you could see it

I wish we could take you out

To sit in a lawn chair

And watch the snow over the airport

Like we watch fireworks each year

 

I only have the sound of my tires now

Steady over the white road

Splitting the snow coming to me

And the sun so bright for so much snow

 

Now the clouds fold over the sun

Then release it in time to my tire music

 

The snow across the light tarmac

To the east, with the sun

Spinning the planes and hangar dizzy

Suddenly up to the light poles

Back to the road

 

And then a bend

And the sun is behind a hill

The snow suspends, stops

Before the green of pines

Before I turn to my office

Park and go into work

But can’t work

Before the bright light of sun

And snow

And you

 


Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Goodbye for now, FaceBook, hello blog to nowhere

I new this was going to be an ugly political season, and detrimental to my mental health. But I wasn't quite prepared for The Donald. First, my extreme disappointment that none of my conservative (GOP primary voting) relatives or friends came out to talk about the Mexican Rapist comments and sentiments was bad enough. I was sad. My sad drove me to dark places. But then the same thing happening after the McCain remarks? That's it for me- no more sad, just walk away. So, now, on hiatus, I get to do what I should have been doing instead of screwing around on Facebook. Time to write!

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Phyllis writes the superintendent

Dear Dr. Blackburn,

Thank you for your work regarding the school facilities situation in Montgomery County. The process has not been easy, but I feel confident that you made the best decision for all MCPS students when you voted to build schools in Blacksburg and Auburn, and to renovate the AHS facility for the middleschoolers.

I am the parent of a 7th grader at BMS and a 4th grader at Margaret Beeks. The issue that I have with the current BMS situation is the reduced instruction time for BMS students. They have a 12min shorter day than all other Montgomery Co. students, in order to accommodate the lengthened bus trip to Christiansburg. At the beginning of this school year, the relocation of BMS to OCMS was presented as a temporary solution that would last for 1 school year. In that context, a 12min per day decrease was an unpleasant but understandable sacrifice in a challenging situation. In the 2010-11 school year BMS students will receive 36 fewer hours of instruction time than the rest of Montgomery Co (180dayx12min/60min). As a parent, I was not happy about the lost instruction time, but I accepted it as a temporary solution to an emergency situation. Now the district is looking at somewhere between 2013-2018 as a timeline for opening a new BHS. That increases lost instruction time to 108-288hrs. That is not acceptable. Montgomery Co.'s school day is longer than the 5hrs 30min required by the state. The extra time given to students in Mont. Co. is noticeable in the accomplishment of its students and schools, particularly in the Blacksburg strand. BMS students feed into BHS which is consistently ranked by Newsweek as one of the top high schools in the country. It is not sufficient to consider BMS's loss of instruction time acceptable simply because it is still within the state requirements. The extra time allows students to excel, and BMS students are now deprived of that opportunity. The education of BMS students cannot be shorted any longer; to do so places their education quality below that of all other MCPS students. The BMS population has borne the highest burden of the BHS collapse, and the staff, students, and parents stoically rose to the occasion by first sharing then relinquishing our school facility for an overcrowed replacement, then giving up our instruction time. Now that the middle school student's quality of education is at risk for the foreseeable future, a solution needs to be found that will return BMS to an equal instruction status with the rest of MCPS. There are 2 possible solutions that I can see.

1. Reverse only 1 segment (am or pm) of the daily bus ride. That means either dropping BHS off last in the am or picking them up first in the pm. Since BHS currently has a lengthened school day and BMS has a shortened school day, this would equalize them.

2. Move BMS into the new Price' Fork Elem building when it is finished until BHS is completed. My understanding is that the capacity of the new Price's Fork will be 800, which is closer to the enrollment of BMS (881 students) than the OCMS facility. This would shorten the distance that BMS kids would need to be bussed and enable them to have a full school day. Since there is not currently a population enrolled at the new Price's Fork, no students would be displaced by this solution. This solution would also free up the OCMS facility for use by the school district to potentially house the Auburn MS student body (266 students) while their facility is being renovated.

Sincerely,
Phyllis Garnett-Deakin

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

And Phyllis writes Mr. Brown et. al

What great points:

I'm writing you today out of great concern regarding the BHS situation. The need for a new school, not a repaired one, is becoming more evident with every new piece of information regarding the building on Prices Fork Rd. As repair costs continue to escalate, the folly of putting any more of the taxpayers precious dollars into old BHS is clear. The answer is not in challenging the town building/safety inspector to lower her standards regarding the minimal code requirements for a school which will house 1177 of our children. The answer is not to accuse legitimately concerned parents of being 'bullies' for using the same constitutionally protected, nonviolent methods of free speech and discretionary spending power that liberated this country from segregationist policies and brought about the Civil Rights Amendment. The answer is to provide long overdue, safe, and appropriately sized facilities for our children in Blacksburg and Riner. Mr. Creed's comments questioning the need for a sprinkler system at BHS were astounding. Instead of using this question as an argument to lower Montgomery County's school system to the lowest common denominator, we need to question why it has ever been acceptable to house children in facilities with inadequate fire control/safety systems. Mr. Brown commented on the county's future need to purchase 10 new fire trucks, but is questioning the need for sprinklers in schools!

Blacksburg parents are being portrayed as spoiled, rich folks who simply want a new school for their kids. In fact, the median household income for Blacksburg, Va in 2008 according to city-data.com was $29,264 versus the median income in Virgina of $61,233. Blacksburg parents are perceived as 'complainers', when in fact we have quietly endured a building that was constructed with criminal negligence, the extent of which is just now being uncovered. Montgomery County was the victim of this criminal negligence many years ago. Our innocent children and the faculty and staff of BHS have endured the consequences for over 30 years. The substandard conditions over those years are finally being compiled and presented publicly in testimony before your board. As Montgomery County citizens we all, affluent and poor alike, deserve safe, appropriate facilities for our children's education. We're not asking for a 'Taj Mahal'. We are asking for a facility that will not collapse on the student body, will protect our children at legal standards from emergencies such as fire, and provides disabled students facilities as required by ADA standards.

Please consider the best interest of our entire county, and vote in favor of a new BHS, a new AHS, and a renovated AMS.

Sincerely,
Phyllis Garnett-Deakin

Letter to Bill Brown, Montgomery County Board of Supervisors

Bill Brown is the former Chief of Police for Blacksburg. He has claimed that his constituents, Blacksburg residents, are overwhelmingly in favor of repairing our death trap of a high school instead of building a new school for about 8% more cost. He is wrong- there is no data to back up his claim. This is my letter to him regarding his false claims.


Dear Mr. Brown,

I am once again on business travel and was not able to attend the joint meeting last night. I am also not able to come to tonight's meeting- I travel regularly to support my three growing businesses at the CRC which your board is doing a great deal to torpedo whenever I am away. I want to express my full support for the slight property tax increase to secure loans and build a new Blacksburg High School and Auburn High School.

I am very disappointed to hear, and hope these reports are incorrect, that you are representing that your constituency is overwhelmingly in favor of repairing the old high school. I simply can't understand how this is true, unless you produce many redacted emails from your constituents and give us access to whatever public opinion polling you have conducted. We certainly have made our polling available to you, which showed a massive majority in favor of new schools. It is bad enough that Mr. Creed seems to think we should fight against installing a proper sprinkler system and HVAC.

And as to intimidation, I would respectfully ask you not to make claims like that in the future. Our democracy requires and should encourage participation. You cannot berate the same people you claimed "did not care" when we don't show up and then turn around and accuse us of intimidating people who disagree with us when we do.

The polling we conducted showed well over 75% of Blacksburg residents supporting a new BHS and AHS. The numbers showing up at meetings represent that majority. I represent the feelings of a majority of business owners in Blacksburg who feel the same. This is a clear case of a constituency crying out to our elected leaders to tax us more so that we may all invest in a healthy county environment that produces the growth of intellectual and manufacturing businesses. I urge you all to vote yes to the increase tonight to support the building projects recommended to you by the school board.

Most Sincerely,

Doug Garnett-Deakin

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Survey results and letter to the BOS

September 20, 2010
Dear Montgomery County Board of Supervisors:
Your recent decision concerning repairing Blacksburg High School and the manner in which you
made the decision troubles many people. This issue is not over, as you may have hoped. At
the end of last week, a group of concerned residents launched an electronic survey of parents
of children in the Blacksburg schools. While this survey was not scientific, we wish to share
some of the survey results with you. Within the first 18 hours more than 700 responses were
received and a total of 1,133 people completed the survey. One response per computer was
allowed so ballot box stuffing could be avoided. The survey was open about 3 days.
A review of the survey results provides the following highlights:
 54.0% said they would not feel safe if their children attended repaired BHS
 24.9% of those that felt unsafe would send their child to a high school other than BHS
 73.2% believe that spending $15 million in repairs on BHS is not worth it
 74.2% said that taxes should be increased to build a new Blacksburg High School
 523 responded with individual comments, which we attach to this letter
 30.5% of the respondents do not have a student in the Blacksburg strand.
Conclusions and observations drawn from these statistics, our knowledge of the county, and the
comments received include:
 The survey represents about 30% of the Blacksburg students, many residents that do not
have students and even some residents of different areas of the county.
 A significant number of students will be lost from the MCPS system if BHS is repaired.
 A general outrage exists with the manner the Board of Supervisors acted on such an
important topic without giving the public notice or an opportunity for input.
 The clear majority opinion is to raise taxes and build a new BHS.
 More data is needed before any appropriate decision can be made. The decision was
reckless because it was made without knowing the full extent of the repairs required and
therefore the full cost and implications of the repairs cannot be understood.
 Many people raised the concern that repairing BHS will negatively impact the economic
development of our region.
We provide these data points for your consideration. Judging by the response rate, there
remains an intense interest in this topic and the issues should be addressed with the utmost
care and attention. We encourage you to your own public survey to revisit your decision and
more accurately consider the costs, timelines and safety factors resulting from your decisions.
Feel free to contact me at fenrich@idintl.com if you have questions concerning this survey and
the results.
Sincerely,
Richard K. Fenrich
cc: Superintendent Brenda Blackburn, Montgomery County School Board, The Roanoke Times

This is a good example of asynchronous collaboration to solve real world problems

Douglas Garnett-Deakin ‎#Zombie survival tip of the day: "Get up the staircase, then destroy it. " - Max Brooks
Top of Form
2 hours ago via TweetDeck · Comment ·LikeUnlike
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· Acie Slade likes this.
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Douglas Garnett-Deakin fair enough. I was thinking fire escape- steep, easier to destroy. But it's Max's top ten.
47 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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Acie Slade You could pour a can Acme Motor Oil down the staircase. Worked great in Looney Tunes
42 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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Douglas Garnett-Deakin
Looney tunes Zombies. I am FOR this concept. FYI- be careful in Zombie attacks with engine oils, gasoline, and other flammable items- you are trying to get the high ground and nothing can pose more danger to the high ground than fire. Let's... be careful out there, my friends.See More
41 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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William Rodenfels yeah, I had a short (no comments from the peanut gallery) thought about adding a flame thrower to my zombie kit, but then thought a bunch of flaming slow burning torches running around was not a good idea...
39 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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Acie Slade Good thinkin' ...I was never much for land tactics. Has that Zombie tv series started yet? ...on AMC? SciFi?
36 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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Douglas Garnett-Deakin
‎"a bunch of flaming slow burning torches running around was not a good idea" I think this is a phrase we can all live by. In fact, I want that bumpersticker. With Zombies, you really need to either get the head off the body or destroy the ...head. Torching just causes more trouble than it solves. I think the number 1 land tactic is to slow with large objects (no, caltrops do NOT slow zombies, but shopping carts do) and 2 remove or crush the head with something.See More
31 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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Douglas Garnett-Deakin FYI- Virginia Tech Defense has a "Zombie Kill of the Week" play they highlight. I love that.
31 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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Douglas Garnett-Deakin http://www.thenorthendzone.com/2010-articles/september/zombie-kill-of-the-week.html
30 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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William Rodenfels Dunno Acie? Just had another thought for the zombie kit that I quickly discard...Bow & arrow w/dynamite (Like Dukes of Hazzard), but thinking that the zombies are coming towards you & depending on how slow the wick burns, could blow up in your face (literally)
30 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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Acie Slade Hmm...can hollowpoints be legally purchased in VA? Not sure about MD. Of course, if the Zombie sh!t hit the fan then all legalities would go out the window I suppose
24 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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William Rodenfels I kinda' like the idea of killing them with Justin Bieber songs or letting me sing karoke. Either is pretty destructive!! (worked on "attack of the killer tomatoes)...which are kinda like zombie vegitables
23 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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Douglas Garnett-Deakin Rule 7: Stock up. Don't be afraid to steal, since you are probably stealing from the undead at this point. I should point out Rule 9 is Blades don't need to be reloaded. So be careful not to rely on guns alone.
23 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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William Rodenfels It really depends if the zombies are the fast running zombies like in 28 Days, or the slow pokes like in Shaun of the Dead. Really would need to have two different tactics to fight
19 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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Acie Slade Could go for blades in an open space vs. sparse opposition. So maybe claymores then sniper volleys from the high ground then mop up with swordsmen. Might lose some good men to unexploded claymores though. Such is battle
13 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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William Rodenfels I like the idea of the claymores. I was thinking more to old school tactics and charging with calvary and sabers. The horses could bowl over and trample, you have the high ground, speed of the horse to help the chop[ping with sabers, and as a last resort skoot out of there faster than the zombies.
7 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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Douglas Garnett-Deakin
I have to say that 28 days was not a movie about zombies, so I wouldn't worry about that. Rage infection fighting tactics would be much different.I like that you are both thinking about "Defense
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Monday, September 20, 2010

Updated standings in my pickem poll

This is only about spotting early trends, but where I deviate from before the season the most is maybe Tampa Bay. No one saw them coming out. Now, keep in mind that this is about match ups- are the Redskins going to be really great this year? No, but they have a really easy schedule. Is Dallas going to be horrible? Well, maybe, plus they have a really hard schedule. I just love watching their implosion.


National Football Conference
NFC EAST
W
L
Washington
11
5
NY Giants
9
7
Dallas
6
10
Philadelphia
7
9
NFC NORTH
W
L
Green Bay
12
4
Minnesota
11
5
Chicago
4
12
Detroit
1
15
NFC SOUTH
W
L
New Orleans
10
6
Atlanta
10
6
Carolina
8
8
Tampa Bay
6
10
NFC WEST
W
L
San Francisco
11
5
Arizona
4
12
St. Louis
3
13
Seattle
3
13
American Football Conference
AFC EAST
W
L
New England
13
3
NY Jets
10
6
Miami
9
7
Buffalo
4
12
AFC NORTH
W
L
Baltimore
14
2
Pittsburgh
10
6
Cincinnati
9
7
Cleveland
3
13
AFC SOUTH
W
L
Indianapolis
11
5
Jacksonville
9
7
Houston
9
7
Tennessee
4
12
AFC WEST
W
L
Denver
9
7
San Diego
9
7
Oakland
9
7
Kansas City
7
9

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Montgomery county shenanigans

The Board of Supervisors jumped in an early vote on Blacksburg High School. First of all, they have the costs wrong. Second of all, this starts the downward spiral of businesses in Montgomery County for over a decade.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/260358