A long time ago, when we didn’t know any better, we picked out light fixtures for the house. Although we looked at so many different styles I became overwhelmed, we at last, due to overload, picked a light for the stairwell that hung from the ceiling.

The chain is just a couple of feet long, and it is very pretty.

We could have selected lights that attached to the wall in the stairwell, but at that time in our lives we weren’t worried about the future.

Or the thought of what we’d have to do when the bulb burned out. We never thought at all.

So now, if, heaven forbid, the bulb in the stairwell burns out, it takes a bit of doing to change it.

Doing heights has never been one of my strengths, and it seems to

The leaves on the snowball bush are turning red, as are the tips of the leaves on the dogwoods. That’s the first message sent saying “Get ready. Fall’s coming.”

Even before this nature alert, there was something in the air. Just before the onset of autumn, we notice a discernable difference when the front door is opened and we breathe in the morning. It’s in the breeze. The sky seems a slightly different shade of blue.

The butterflies hovering around the lantana are beautiful, but some of their wings are a little tattered on the tips. In the late evening yesterday, there were 25 zebra swallowtails counted on one lantana alone.

They know something is coming. There is going to be a change, a

Emerson’s 11th birthday is right around the corner, so I spent this holiday weekend laboring lovingly over her birthday scrapbook while she and Ella were visiting with Brian. As I sentimentally organized piles of pictures from the last year, I couldn’t help but marvel at how much my “baby” has grown.

The tallest girl among her peers, we are no longer able to shop in the kids’ department, which presents challenges, as I don’t want my 11-year-old looking like an 18-year-old. Em is in the fifth grade and her last year at Forest Acres Elementary; then she will enter the unchartered territory of Gettys Middle School.

I like to have ambient noise in the background while I work on projects. Lifetime provided both noise and an educational experience Sunday afternoon as I scrapbooked memories of the last year. In Sunday’s Lifetime lineup was a movie called “The Choking Game.” While I didn’t focus my attention on the movie, I heard and saw enough to wonder if this is another thing I need to add to my mental checklist of things to worry

Education money

Dear Editor,

Money for education has evolved into a strange beast.

Back in the 1960s, I was able to save enough from my summer work cutting grass and in the textile mill to pay for college tuition. It also included paying for the commuting gasoline, clothes and books … and whatever teenagers spent for amusements.

That was also when minimum wage was $1.25 to $1.40 per hour and tuition and student fees were $650 per year … $2,600 for a four-year degree. The equivalent in 2014 dollars would be $8.13-$9.10 for minium wage, $4,225 per year and $16,900 for a degree.

Some textbooks now, the real kind with ink on the pages, cost half of what I paid for a semester’s tuition. But all of

I’m not sure how I do it. Every year I get myself excited for the Clemson football season, as if they are going to be undefeated and win the national championship. That’s not really a good excuse, because in 1981 the Tigers were undefeated and won the national championship, yet somehow my check from the school must have gotten lost in the mail.

So the lesson is that if Clemson is undefeated and wins the national championship, my pay remains the same as if the team lost every game of the season. So why do I get so excited every year?

This season I was really excited. All we needed to do was beat Georgia, somehow upset Florida State, then win the rivalry game against the Gamecocks — a tall order since they have won five straight years against Clemson.

But we didn’t even do the first one. Now upsetting Florida State in a couple of weeks looks unlikely, and who knows what will happen when we play those birds from Columbia. And North Carolina is looking iffy too. And Louisville, Duke, Wake Forest

I really hate to break the news but they’ve moved Whitewater Falls. No, I’m not making this up. We know they’ve moved it because we went up to Jocassee with the express purpose of kayaking up to Whitewater Falls, and it was nowhere to be found.

And, what’s more, we looked pretty carefully at the large map mounted near the boat ramp, and it clearly indicated where Whitewater Falls was located.

Someone, maybe the park ranger if they have one, had stuck little silver stars onto the map to indicate where all the water falls are around the lake. There’s a printed legend that identifies the different falls.

Not only did we consult the map, we also asked someone at the boat ramp who looked knowledgeable about waterfalls, and he told us

Football season is finally here. Last week we had a handful of high school contests in the area. We’ve had plenty of preseason pro football. But this week, college football begins just about everywhere, and I can’t wait.

Thursday, South Carolina will host Texas A&M in the Southeastern Conference opener. I am a little perplexed over this one. I grew up a South Carolina fan, but when I got to Clemson, I became a Tiger fan.

The moment that assured the deal was when I met a Clemson cheerleader at a convenience store on the Saturday morning of a ballgame. I knew then she was the person I wanted to bear my children. She smiled as we were waiting in line and asked if I was going to the game that day. I’m glad she did not ask if I was imagining our lives together, because the answer was the same. “Yes!”

As I never really got to know her, the part about her bearing my children never came true. But I pulled for the Tigers each week

Do you know a multi-tasker? You probably know someone who claims to be a multi-tasker. Anybody can lay claim to the title. And anybody can be one. As long as the tasks don’t have to be done right.

I can type, read, talk on the phone and watch television. And, yes, these tasks can be conducted simultaneously.

However, if anyone witnesses this, they may notice that my end of the phone conversation consists mostly of “UmHum,” If tested after the conversation has been completed, it might not be possible to tell you who I was talking to or what they said. Same goes for what happened on the program I was supposedly watching. Usually, if any writing is being done while on the phone or when the TV is on, the finished product turns out to be a transcript of whatever was being said.

And as far as reading at the same time goes, let’s just say a book may be open nearby. That doesn’t mean it’s being read.

Studies conducted on the subject show that human beings are incapable of effective multi-tasking. The brain has only so much capacity available for concentration, and much of what needs doing,

I have about a week or so to get ready for football season. Last year when it came time for football season, I had injured myself a week or so earlier, so Rocky had to find someone else to cover the games.

When I got better, the person who replaced me, Kerry, was doing a good job, so I simply took the season off.

Part of the sickness of this profession is that you somehow want to find yourself working all the time. But when you add up the time spent covering the game, the time spent interviewing the coaches, the time spent writing the story … well, it’s not that great of an opportunity.

Don’t get me wrong. If I am needed I will cover games and be dedicated to it. But not being able to cover games really is not the end of the world.

And I can choose what game I want to go to, since I won’t be covering the event. This Friday I will probably go see Pickens play Easley — my alma mater against the team I covered for about 20 years. Next week I am looking at the Easley-Daniel matchup, keeping it in the county. I need to include a Liberty game in there this season and meet up with my friends in Liberty.

Then Saturdays I will be following college football. Again, not having to cover any game is really an advantage. Of course, most games I will watch on television. My father taught me a long time ago that the advantage of watching a game on television is that little switch that says “off.”

Last week as I was sitting in the pharmacy waiting area at CVS, I found the gentleman at the register looking over at me trying to figure out why he recognized me. He studied me. I studied in response. It clicked.

“You used to write for the paper,” he half asked, half stated.

“Yes,” I replied.

“I miss reading your stories,” he said. “I keep hoping that you will make a guest appearance or come back.”

This exchange got me thinking about how much I have missed writing for The Courier. To the gentleman at CVS, this is for you. Thanks for inspiring me to make a comeback.

News of Robin Williams’ suicide really made me sad, and it also made me think about my life and mortality. Death has a way of doing this for the living. After news of his suicide circulated, what followed was information about a recent Parkinson’s diagnosis. While it isn’t a death sentence, the disease would certainly change one’s life dramatically. This