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Sue visited the Cypress Basin Master Gardener plant sale in 2013 and proudly showed Roger her treasured purchase: a pistache tree. Sue was so excited to find the tree her mom had taught her to love years ago. The tree didn’t look like much, four feet tall, scrawny, with two branches. Sue thought it was beautiful, and it only cost $12! Roger took one look at the scrawny tree, gazed at the 60-foot-tall pines and oaks on our property, and said, “Well, I guess we can find room for it somewhere, since we like pistachios.” “Um, Roger? It’s a pistache tree, not a pistachio. It doesn’t produce nuts.”

Fourteen years of disorganized stuffing is quite enough! We’ve lived in our current home for those 14 years, longer than we’ve lived anywhere in our 45 years of marriage. Can you just imagine all the stuff we’ve collected during those fourteen years? Finally, we said, “Enough!” We decided to go through every closet, every box, drawer, cabinet, and long-forgotten bin in the house, attic, gym, workshop, and sheds to sort out what was there. We discovered boxes still taped, untouched from our last move 14 years ago. We set a weekly goal of a full trash can to the curb and three bags/ boxes to Goodwill. We regularly exceed that goal. The task will take us several months, a little at a time.

The Northeast Texas Community College (NTCC) Foundation, on behalf of the NTCC Adult Education and Literacy (AEL) Program, was recently awarded a $5000 Literacy Opportunity Fund Grant to support ongoing adult education services to help students improve their literacy skills and achieve their educational and career goals. Additionally, the funds will help to expand educational resources and support student success. Pictured at the check presentation (from left) is Fredia Thomas, NTCC Director of Adult Education, and Nita May, Director of Development.