Johnny Bullard

“So, you won’t take warning, eh? All the worse for you. I’ll take care of you now instead of later. When I gain those ruby slippers, my power will be the greatest in Oz. Now my beauties. Something with poi-son in it I think. With poison in it. But attractive to the eye and soothing to the smell. Ha-ha-ha-ha. Poppies. Poppies. Poppies will put them to sleep. Sle-ee-p. Now they’ll sle-ee-p.”

— Spoken by the late Margaret Hamilton who played the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 classic motion picture “The Wizard of Oz.”

I am at the age where I am singularly unimpressed by most things; however, there are some things that do impress me and that I love, and they don’t cost a lot, but they are so valued and treasured that they can’t be purchased.

A front screened porch shaded by trees, two comfortable chairs, a pot of freshly brewed coffee, an old, cherished and trusted friend for over a half century, and I am as happy as a “dead pig in the sunshine.”

On Monday morning, Aug. 27, my friend and I did not discuss the Wizard of Oz or poppies. What we did discuss was the bounty and wonder provided by our Creator here on this earth and how His bounty is all around us, and we often ignore it.

First we talked about saw palmetto berries, and he informed me, accurate or not, that those berries now were being purchased for close to $2 a pound, and I told him that my brother, Jerry Lawrence, my cousins, Rhett and Paige Bullard, needed to purchase some snake boots, some strong mosquito repellant and something to keep the ticks off and hit the woods north of White Springs. I know saw palmetto berries are used in a vitamin supplement and are supposed to be effective in helping gentlemen with prostate issues. I purchase it, and whether it works or not, my father who was not a cancer survivor began his battle with cancer being diagnosed with prostate cancer in May 1992, and he was dead in November 1993; eighteen months from the date of his diagnosis. Of course, Daddy’s cancer had metastasized and had moved into the lymph system becoming an aggressive form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The late Dr. Luis G. Fernandez, Sr., longtime urologist in Lake City, Florida, was the first to give me this news. I loved that man very much, a true humanitarian and a great American; his diagnosis was later confirmed at North Florida Regional Hospital. Daddy’s 66 years around the sun were not nearly long enough, but in those years he packed 166 years of laughter, of love and marvelous stories. He blessed my life. Medicine has come a long way since then. The discussion about the saw palmetto berries brought it all back.

Then we talked about those natural things that don’t necessarily taste good, but they make great jellies and jams; elderberries, mayhaws, wild plums, as we called the hog haws, bitter as gall to eat, but cooked down and the juice squeezed through cloth and enough sugar added; heavenly jelly. Even guavas, which are not grown here in our beloved north Florida don’t particularly have a great taste on their own but made into jelly, you can’t beat it on a hushpuppy.

We talked about towns like our little sleepy town bypassed by the interstate bringing hundreds of thousands a day into the Sunshine State. We talked about the terrible tragic shooting in Jacksonville. Another friend came and visited, and we even joined hands, which is not usual, and we said a prayer of Thanksgiving and said a prayer for those who were victims of the Jacksonville shootings and their families.

It was hard to grasp that there on that front porch with dear friends, watching the butterflies dart among the Mexican Sunflowers and taking in the first blooms on the Cardinal vine and luxuriating in the cool late summer breeze that so much tragedy and destruction had occurred on a river and in a place so much a part of my life.

My beloved cousins live there. I spent a lot of my early adulthood near the Landing and went with my cousins the night it opened and what fun we had!! I remember looking that night at the peaceful and beautiful St. John’s River, enjoying cool drinks, and I remember laughter. My memories are my own like those spent on the front porch this morning.

But despite all that great beauty, like the Wicked Witch of the West making her potion to put Dorothy and her friends to sleep with poppies, we, as a people, at times, have been lulled into the fact that “all is well with the world,” because it is well with us, BUT, in the words of the old African American spiritual “If you haven’t any rain in your life, wait a while.”

I know in this column you all have indulged an old fool who works at expressing love for this place we call home. The thing is, I truly, with all my heart, do love it, but in loving it, I know that “Even Eden had shadows and a serpent.”

I also know that LOVE is the most powerful thing in the world. Love brought the Savior into the world. LOVE made Him go to the cross and die for me, and LOVE made Him rise again, or we would be a lost ball in high weeds.

So take that kind LOVE and don’t be stingy with it. Take it and demonstrate it to those for whom you care; encourage others with it, utilize it to make our world a better place. You wonder, don’t you, if before those who perished in Jacksonville did perish, did someone say to them before they left home that day “I love you.”

Beauty is here with much given to us by our Creator, but those poppies are here too, not literally, but all that looks and tells you it’s beautiful may or may not be. Pray about it and make your own decision. We are blessed, but we got trouble, and it’s more than on a movie screen. It’s here. Don’t live in fear, but be warier today than you were yesterday, and amidst it all, don’t forget to express positive energy and love.

By the way, in last week’s column I mentioned Mrs. Gwyn Herrington’s shop, and now I have spelled her last name correctly. It is Herrington, and she has a marvelous floral designer there who helps her so very much, Cheryl Wooley and her Christmas Open House at her shop is on Sunday, Nov. 4, from 1 till 4 p.m. Don’t miss it. Nothing but beauty there.

From the Eight Mile Still on the Woodpecker Route north of White Springs wishing you a day filled with joy, peace, and, above all, lots of love and laughter.