“Sitting around doing nothing, spring comes and the grass grows by itself.” Zen proverb
Spring is nearly upon us, and things are getting frisky in the yard. One morning my spouse the Binmeister came in from retrieving the Times-Union from the driveway and announced “the birds are making a racket, and I can hear things growing.” He was elated.
March is National Umbrella Month, so named because it brings gusty winds, rain and cold nights. Flocks of robins fly in they were early this year leaves emerge and pollen coats cars. Instead of March Madness, at the Rooney Bin we call it Mulch Madness. Binmeister loves to fling mulch hither and yon, although for the last couple of years he has hired professional mulch flingers.
Cliff Leonard. Saturday, he was presented the Veterans of Foreign Wars Commander-in-Chief Gold Medal of Merit by
Hal Roesch, VFW national commander.
Only a handful of veterans are chosen each year to receive the award, which is given for exceptional services rendered to the country and community. He also was given a lifetime membership to the VFW. The ceremony took place at VFW Post 7909 on Blanding Boulevard.
Leonard was a Marine from 1966 to 1968 and spent 13 months in reconnaissance units in the jungles of Vietnam. After his Marine Corps service and multiple other careers, he became a sculptor who creates busts of Florida Marines who died in combat. He gives them to family at no cost. Leonard has completed about 50 since he began making them 13 years ago.