MARYSVILLE GOLD ON 'D STREET' - CANDY BOX

This old geezer once chided Nancy Pasternack, scribe with Appeal Democrat, about the lack of stories about The Candy Box and the lovely owner.  Nancy has a sense of humour and wrote back telling MOI had been 'local' not so long and The Appeal Democrat HAD written countless stories about the shop and the lovely lady.  Truth be told, this old geezer is bit full of self a times and forgets that much has happened BEFORE his arrival on the local scene.

When one finds gold local, it can never be tiring to remind folks of the pure pleasure at the discovery.  Given that this is me blog and am not short of space, it might just follow that my take on Ethel and the wondrous delights to be found at the Candy Box might get more aware of the treat missed by not coming through Downtown Marysville.

 Although it has been a year since first meeting Ethel, it was a meet one never forgot.  I was new in town and wandering round the road looking for things to purchase or marvel at.  Stepping into the Candy Box, I was warmly met by Ethel, who gave a sample of her wares to and told about the new town I had picked to call home.
I was gobsmacked at her story telling at her story telling ability, made more special by her telling the story of the McIntosh Turtles, written by her and soon to be published.  It was quite clear that Ethel loved her product and loved people.
I promised to buy her book when it came out and did purchase chocolates that very day.  Returned oft to get even more.  Might explain why this old geezer got so massive.  Mind, it was me fault and not the result of the chocolate, no one said I had to eat the whole bloody box.  And what a lovely box it is, the collection of McIntosh turtles are wrapped in gold.

A year passes quickly when you are doing community work and living in a different part of the community.  Linda was no so far away but the trips to The Candy Box were not as oft as they might have been.  Odd how one misses out on so much when one does not visit.  Me bad.

Now I am back in Marysville proper and one of the first places gone to was The Candy Box and to have a long chat with Ethel.  Mind, the chocolate was calling as well, even if this old geezer is on a diet.

 Times were mean a year ago, and it seems as if mean times still haunt D Street.  There are more shops gone and merchants up and down 'high street' click tongues and tell one and all how tough it is to make a buck when no one comes to D Street.  To hear some merchants tell it, they are just waiting for the lamps to be turned off, casting the road into darkness.  So down are some local merchants on selves and lack of business, they keep the 'urban legend' alive that D Street is DEAD and see no reason to go out and capture new business or tell a different story that reminds folks of the real treasures to be found Downtown.

Ethel Padgett and her Candy Box are California & Marysville GOLD.  Ethel never waivers in her positive attitude, nor misses opportunities to chat up the Downtown business area and encourage others to be positive.

No small trick that when there are so many willing to sit in shops empty of customers and wonder what is wrong with that picture.  So mean have they become in attitude, they fail to see that their attitude might contribute to folks not wanting to venture in.  Who wants to patronize a shop where shop owners  could care less about their patronage.  Local merchants fail to remind selves that one has to get out and bring business in.  That is something only pro-active shop owners can do, there is no magic cure available.

I digress...

It is not hard to be high on The Candy Box when the owner is so very pleased to see you come into the shop.  No purchase is so small that it goes un-appreciated, even to the point of a small sample being offered to brighten one's day.

Were all of the shop owners of the mindset as Ethel, there would be massive number of folks on D Street.

Making candy is hard work and there are times when Ethel toils away into the wee hours of the morn to fill orders.  No request is overlooked.  From making chocolates for a large wedding (300), to special colour requests, Ethel and her helpers stand ready to make one and all happy.

Ethel no longer has to work the 1913 caramel making machine, it being retired to front of shop, she still has hands full operating all of the other tools.  Did you know that the kitchen at Candy Store does not have an oven?  I did not know that one is not required to create 'food of the gods'.  Fancy that, you learn something new every day.

Ethel is a very modern lady, she has a website for her product.  Folks from all over can go there and order and they do.  www.littlefarmhousecandies.com be the place.

The Peach Festival will soon be here and as in years past, Ethel and her helpers will be serving up many delights for the massive number of folks who come each year.  Ethel even has Peach-flavoured licorice for the event.  Ethel does not raise prices for the festival, not even for bottled water.  More's the pity that many who come and set up stalls try to rape the festival goers for every dollar possible.

I went online to see if comments could be found about The Candy Box and Ethel and managed to find a few.  There was one that was so very close to truth in telling of Ethel and her wares;

"Bumped into this place while at the Peach Festival during my peach ice cream hunt. As soon as we walked in, there were two young women to our right offering us a sample of their peach licorice and peach mint candies. I'm usually not a fan of licorice but that stuff was so good we bought 5 packs for $5. We didn't try the peach mints until after dinner and as a write this, I kind of wished we bought a bag of these too. For only $3 I had a double scoop of peach cobbler ice cream on top of a slice of peach pie. 3 words: TO DIE FOR! I shared this with my husband but he noticed for every spoonful I gave him, I gave myself three. Oops."

I have marked diary for Peach Festival and plan on helping Ethel serve up a lot of love to one and all.

Ethel told me in parting, when I did the filmed bit at her shop, to mention to all of the lovely viewers and readers to mention the blog or YOUTUBE and receive a special treat.  It is my pleasure to do so.

My dears, the filmed bit is before or after this post, pray give it a peek...

ACTIVISM IS MY RENT ON EARTH - LINDA REMEMBERED

My dears, at some point one has to try and make a difference.  To be told that one person can not make a difference is but so much tosh.  Like any 'urban legend', if repeated oft enough it takes on life of own and tends to be taken as truth.

Dear reader, were all to feel, that it would be a sad world we live in.  How horrid to think that due to things being one way, change is impossible, that once turned to custard, things can not be sorted out and made proper.  Over the past few years, many have told MOI that the rose-coloured glasses worn are bit dated, that one has to view the world, or patch of earth lived on, with all of the grit kept in place.

Past places lived have offered challenge and opportunity to try and make a difference.  Results were mixed.  Lives had been turned round and social change happened to a degree.  At some point one comes to realization that lasting change will only come about if the folks one is trying to save are truly interested in accepting a new path and stop clinging to the attitude of 'entitlement'.  Truth be told, there are some who feel more comfy living in a blighted community as it enables them to be benefits cheats and lazy layabout scroungers.  It is OK for drugs to be sold and the poison it is  continue to ruin any hope of a better life.  More's the pity that.

"In order to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse, it helps to start with a silk sow."

Linda be that 'silk sow'.  Abused and forgot, folks lost footing on life's path and settled for less than deserved.  Regardless, the community is still there, just waiting for the dead branches to be cut away and the ground to be watered and made ready for new growth to spring forth.  Sounds a bit much?  Depends on who you chat with and what you have see of the level of interest in being made more brilliant.

This old geezer has been blessed.  Met many lovely folks  in Linda and community round.  Am just willing to listen to stories told and try to reach out to folks.  Grand as that may be, it is for naught unless you capture like minded folks along the path, willing to join in the efforts.  I have been gobsmacked at how much support is out there.

To be true, it started with top copper of Yuba County promising to take an active interest.  Add in Supervisor Andy Vasquez, toss in Supervisor John Nicoletti and mix in the coppers and ordinary folks willing to do extra-ordinary things, and you begin to get the picture.  One has to also give credit to Murray Kay, who partnered with and has come to see that sorting out the Linda Villa was the morally right thing to do.

Community activism is multi-layered.  One has to have more than a vision.  Helps to have tools to right some of the social ills that plague a troubled community.  Being able to fix up flats and offer good housing to deserving folks.  Folks who have limited cash but want to be safe and responsible.  A place that children can live and play without fear of coming into contact with the wrong sort.

Taking a huge hit in the pocketbook and getting bad folks out of units.  There is no future in renting to folks who deal poison or use it.  Expose their children to a poison that can ruin young lives.  There is no high to be got from poison, it is a complete downer and destroys all it touches.

The snaps featured with this post tell part of the story.  Horrid it is that folks just hurl broken furniture round bin and into.  Linda Villa is not to be in business of rubbish removal, it just plays out that way.  Bad folks who refuse to accept any responsibility.  Why should they, they live in a throw-away society and see selves as throw-aways.  Tenants and folks round who have no shame in 'dumping' on the Linda Villa.  In order to bring lasting change one has to suffer a few blows and this be one of them.

Rounding up 17 strays and removing has made life better at the Linda Villa.  No one is ever going to get this old geezer to feel that it was humane to feed growing population of cats.  Or that it is OK to allow dogs to poo where they may and not clean up after.  Not a popular action, but one MOI can live with.  Am not here to be everyone's best mate.  One has to knock a few heads together.

I abhor crude and filthy language, almost as much as I loathe folks who spew hatred.  Racial or lifestyle.  Unacceptable.  Having been viewed with hate in life, am acutely aware of how horrid it be.  To teach children hate words continues the cycle.

This old geezer is far from perfect.  I am trying to be more perfect and to make a difference.  How grand to know that path is filled with like minded folks.

"If you change things in one way, you change them in other ways."  I passionately believe that.

For the first time in ages am of the opinion that social activism in Linda can turn round the community.  Folks deserve better than received in past.  Public opinion is being changed, and Linda, the Linda Villa, the brilliant new neighbours moving in and the old neighbours cleaning up act are making that easier and easier.

I have been called a shameless self promoter in getting ink in local newspaper.  If that be price paid to draw attention to patch of earth live on, so be it.  More's the pity that more do not do.

Nothing kills a community more quickly than apathy.  From all heard about Linda, the good folks did nothing to correct the impression that Linda was DEAD.  Folks were too quick to jump on the bandwagon and spread the rumour that all was lost in this community.  To be true, there is loads of blame to go round.

Local Merchants forgot that customers have to be gone after, cultivated to the point that they truly want to come to Linda to shop, eat or live.  The Air Force community has not been brilliant either.  Linda is at the door step to the Air Force base, any guess how many of the folks stationed there live in Linda?  What about the local college?  Do many of the students lived round?

Linda has been robbed of its personality.  So much so, the postcode for Linda is Marysville.  How silly is that?  Linda matters so little that it can not even proclaim self in the post code?

Call me daft, and it may well apply to some degree.  I have propensity to be pedantic.  Some might even go so far as to say shrill.  Whatever.  Truth be told, I live in this community.  I want to see it be as brilliant as possible.  Want more and more folks to step forward and try to make a difference.  Passionately want folks in Yuba County to know that Linda contains lovely folks who are part of what makes the county a special place to live.

What I want and what I will get are two different things.  That is just the way of it, my dears.  I will just continue to bang on for change.

CALIFORNIA'S GOLD

Whether it's a divorcee posing in her wedding dress by the light of a charcoal grill or an 18-year-old afflicted by a skin condition that makes him appear far younger, The Trailer Park is a complex journey through a world more often cast in simple stereotypes.

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PAUL WAS BRAIN DEAD

You, who are 'au fait' with this blog will remember Paul.  Paul suffered a massive stroke some three years ago and was declared 'brain dead'.  Recent articles in the newspapers about a 13 year old girl in California, who is also 'brain dead', made me think much about Paul.

It is very hard to be told that a person you care deeply about is gone.  Made more hard when it seems as if they are still very much alive.

The good doctors in hospital sat me down and explained the condition that Paul was in.  Were it not for the machines, the Paul I knew was gone. Paul was never going to come back.  Paul had signed up for the organ donating programme and the doctors explained to me that there were folks in dire need of such organs.

Paul gave the gift of life to several people.  A miracle.

The family of the 13 year old girl are hoping for a miracle.  It may well be that they had received thier miracle, just not the miracle they were hoping for.

It is very hard to let go of someone we love.  I know.  I have had to do it twice.  Call it God's plan.  Do any of us really understand it?

The family of the little girl want her to be a part of thier lives for many more years to come.  It is a great comfort to me to know that Paul lives on in the lives he saved.  Paul will be remembered.  Still very much a part of life.  I wonder if the family of the little girl have the same options.