The Results of Socialism

Every once in a while one of those pesky e-mail forwards has something good to say. Check this out.

An economics professor at a local college made the statement that he had never failed a single student before but had once failed an entire class. That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism." All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. It could not be any simpler than that.

What a profound short little paragraph that says it all:
"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for,that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."~~~~
Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931

It's looking a little bleak around here...

Well...
This is not our yard, thankfully!

We went for a drive yesterday. Many trees have lost their leaves, so things looked pretty dull. This last pic is of a blueberry field. They do look pretty in the fall.

New Recipes

In the last two days I have tried two new recipes:
Hearty Ham Casserole and Stuffed Pepper Soup (scroll down to find that one). They are both delicious! I will definitely make them again.

Something old, something new

Dave and Elaine, friends we have known for years, have moved to our area and are now a part of our church family...again. They came from Saint John where we served for 15 years. They have moved into a lovely, new-to-them house outside the city. Elaine said that this is a modern house and they are "not having any old stuff in it!" So who do you give the old stuff to? To us, of course! We really need it! No, actually we just like it. So this "hat rack," as they called it came to live with us. Where it will end up, we do not know but we know that we like it. It was once part of a hall rack with a bench seat below it. At some time during it's long life, someone cut if off. Whoever did the cutting did a decent job. It could use a little TLC. We will give if some and hang it somewhere.

Fall in the City

A History Lesson

Last Thursday we went to the funeral of another dear friend who is now in glory with her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Annie was a wonderful lady with an open house and a meal for anyone who was in the area. We enjoyed her hospitality many times. She had a way of making everyone feel welcome and comfortable. We saw many "old" friends and had a wonderful time visiting with them. Isn't it wonderful to celebrate the life and homegoing of a true believer?

After the funeral we did a little cross-border business. We mailed the Raggedy Ann outfit for our Cutie Pie and also some goodies for the boys! We visited Marden's, of course, some antique shops and then drove down Highway 1 a ways. We stopped in at a National Historic site across from St. Croix Island which is in the St. Croix River and was inhabited by French colonists in 1604. They spent a disastrous winter there, losing 1/2 of the settlers to scurvy. On the island they did not have access to fresh water (the river is salt water fed) or game and the river became impassable. The next year they migrated to Port Royal, Nova Scotia, which was a healthier place for them.

The historic site is on the shore looking out at the island
which is not inhabited.

It is a beautiful place.
We enjoyed it even though the day was cold and windy.

Looking out at the island

There were several statues depicting the way of life the settlers must have lived.
I was interested to see the shoes pictured here. They look like wooden shoes.

Here is a Passamaquoddy native. They were friendly and peaceful.

A model of how the village may have looked

Unbelievable Sandwiches!

You must see Funky Lunch! These sandwiches are amazing!

These are a few of our favorite things...

at the farm...

The Breakfast Chef

Lisi
(she is really the artist, but I call the pic "Lisi")

Kitchen sink window

Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving. Sunday we had a Thanksgiving meal after our morning service and then an afternoon Thanksgiving service. Both the meal and the service were wonderful! We have a feeling that we will all want to do it again.

The afternoon was beautiful and we planned to go to the farm for overnight. However we both konked out for a nap when we got home. I thought we would just stay in our cosy house, but we decided to go anyway. On the way it started to pour and we missed all the lovely scenery because it became dark. Then it was COLD at the farm. We snuggled down in bed and told ourselves that we were having fun!

What do you have for breakfast with your ham and eggs when you forget bread,
butter and jam? Pie, pumpkin pie of course on Thanksgiving Day!

One big storm and our beautiful maple leaves could be on the ground.
We enjoyed it while we could.

We went for a drive
through the countryside.

When we got home it was COLD here!
We didn't want to turn the heat up because we like it cool to sleep.
And winter isn't here yet!