Thought that it just might be a good thing to do on a day loaded with weather alerts, Just looking at images of far away places, and images closer to home.
At the time Former President Carter died , i remember thinking that he would be known more for the good he did in his private life and not so much for his one term in office. He was a different kind of leader. If you agreed with his ideals or not; if you agreed with his politics or not. The spark he lit in the hearts of others is his legacy.
Jimmy Carter, 39th US president and noted humanitarian, has died
15–19 minutes
Former President Jimmy Carter,
honored more widely for his humanitarian work around the globe after
his presidency than for his White House tenure during a tumultuous time,
has died. He was 100.
“My father was a hero, not only to me but
to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love,”
said Chip Carter, the former president’s son. “My brothers, sister, and I
shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs. The
world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and
we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared
beliefs.”
Carter died Sunday in his hometown of Plains, Georgia.
In November 2023, the Nobel Peace Prize-winner's wife of 77 years,
Rosalynn, also passed away
in the modest house they built together in 1961, when he had taken over
his father's peanut warehouse business and was only beginning to
consider a political career.
In February 2023, he had announced he was ending medical intervention and moving to hospice care.
Jason Carter had visited his grandparents
at the time of the announcement and said "They are at peace and – as
always – their home is full of love," he posted on Twitter.
At peace, perhaps, but still political: The former president vowed he wanted to cast a ballot for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
After
serving a single term in the White House, Jimmy Carter became one of
the most durable figures in modern American politics. Evicted from the
White House at age 56, he would hold the status of former president
longer than anyone in U.S. history, and in 2019 he surpassed George H.
W. Bush as the nation's oldest living ex-president.
Carter
remained remarkably active in charitable causes through a series of
health challenges during his final years, including a bout with brain cancer in 2015. He was admitted to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta in November 2019 for a procedure to relieve pressure on his brain,
a consequence of bleeding that followed a series of falls. A few months
earlier, in May, he had undergone surgery after breaking his hip.
In the White House from 1977 to 1981, Carter negotiated the landmark Camp David peace accords
between Israel and Egypt, transferred the Panama Canal to Panamanian
ownership, dramatically expanded public lands in Alaska and established
formal diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China.
But the 39th president governed at a time of soaring inflation
and gasoline shortages, and his failure to secure the release of
Americans held hostage by Iran helped cost him the second term he
sought.
“He’s never going to be ranked as a great president; he’s
middling as a president,” said historian Douglas Brinkley, author of a
1998 book on Carter, "The Unfinished Presidency." “But as an American
figure, he’s a giant.”
After losing his reelection bid to Ronald
Reagan, and until well into his 90s, Carter continued working as an
observer of elections in developing countries, building houses through
the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity and teaching Sunday school at the tiny Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, his hometown.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, 22 years after he left the White House.
"I
can't deny that I was a better ex-president than I was a president," he
said with a wry laugh at a breakfast with reporters in Washington in
2005.
"My former boss was humiliated when he lost in 1980; he
felt he let himself and the American people down," David Rubenstein, a
young White House staffer for Carter who became founder of the Carlyle
Group and a billionaire philanthropist, told USA TODAY in an interview
in 2019.
"For a long time, he was basically the symbol of a weak
president and a terrible person. And today, 40-some years later, he's
seen as a very incredible person who has had many good things he did,
though he didn't get reelected," Rubenstein said.
Peanut farms and nuclear subs
James
Earl Carter Jr. was born on Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains to Earl Carter, a
peanut warehouser who had served in the Georgia Legislature, and “Miss
Lillian” Carter, a registered nurse and formidable figure who joined the
Peace Corps when she was in her 60s.
He grew up on a peanut farm
in Plains, then graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. In the years
after World War II, he served in the Navy's submarine service in the
Atlantic and Pacific fleets. After doing graduate work in nuclear
physics, he became a pioneer in the introduction of nuclear power in
submarines.
When his father died in 1953, Carter resigned his naval commission and took over operation of the family peanut farms with Rosalynn, his hometown sweetheart. After a rough early patch, the business flourished, and Carter became increasingly active in community affairs and politics.
During
two terms in the Georgia state Senate, he gained a reputation as an
independent voice who attacked wasteful government practices and helped
repeal laws designed to discourage Black Americans from voting.
But
in 1966, he lost a race for governor to segregationist Lester Maddox in
an election that analysts said reflected a Southern backlash against
national civil rights legislation enacted in 1964 and 1965. In a second
bid for governor in 1970, Carter minimized his appearances before Black
audiences and won endorsements from some segregationists.
After he
was elected, though, Carter declared that the era of segregation in
Georgia was over, and he was hailed as a symbol of a new, more inclusive
South.
Still, he was an unlikely presidential contender. When he
launched his bid for the 1976 Democratic nomination, the former one-term
governor was so obscure outside the Peach State that “Jimmy who?”
became a campaign trope. He perfected the meticulous cultivation of
voters in Iowa, and his unexpected victory in the opening presidential
caucuses there provided a launching pad that long-shot contenders tried
to emulate for decades.
The Watergate scandal
boosted Carter's prospects. In the aftermath of President Richard
Nixon’s decision to resign in 1974 rather than be impeached, Carter
pitched himself to voters as an outsider who would reject Washington’s
unsavory ways. “I’ll never lie to you,” he told them.
In 1976, he
narrowly defeated President Gerald Ford, whose campaign was damaged by
verbal missteps and by controversy over his decision to pardon Nixon.
Four
years later, Carter would be ousted himself. He faced a damaging
challenge for the Democratic nomination from the left by Massachusetts
Sen. Edward Kennedy and then a landslide defeat in the general election
from the right by Reagan.
The former California governor tapped
into discontent with Carter’s leadership. “Are you better off than you
were four years ago?” Reagan asked voters in the iconic closing of their
only campaign debate.
Presidential achievements eclipsed?
Carter’s defenders argue that he was a better president than generally recognized.
"I
think that he is the most underappreciated modern president that we've
had," said Stuart Eizenstat, a veteran Washington official and
ambassador who was Carter’s chief domestic policy adviser in the White
House.
"The reason for that is the lingering memories of his
presidency are negative ones – gasoline lines, high interest rates and
inflation, the Iran hostage crisis, the Desert One failed rescue
effort – and those totally obscure a really remarkable set of
accomplishments both at home and abroad, which in many ways didn't
materialize until after he left office."
Eizenstat, author of
"President Carter: The White House Years," published in 2018, said
Carter's policies and appointments laid the groundwork for a stronger
economy, energy independence, environmental protection, business
innovation in transportation and more.
On foreign policy, Carter
painstakingly negotiated the 1978 Camp David Accords, a historic
agreement between Israel's Menachem Begin and Egypt's Anwar Sadat that
led to a formal peace treaty between the two countries the next year.
But he stumbled when he came to the politics of the job.
Despite
having the advantage of a solidly Democratic Congress, many of his
legislative proposals, including a consumer protection bill, stalled.
The no-backroom-deals approach that helped him win the White House
contributed to his difficulties in actually governing once he got there.
He was mocked for charging members of Congress for their breakfast when
invited to meet with him at the White House and for eliminating alcohol
from most evening events.
He was seen by some, then and later, as prickly and sanctimonious.
Meanwhile,
unemployment rose, interest rates for home mortgages climbed into
double digits and Americans found themselves waiting in lines to buy gas
in an oil crisis created by OPEC, the powerful international energy
cartel. In a speech to the nation in July 1979, Carter described a
“crisis of confidence" among the American people. Although he never said
the word, it became short-handed as his “malaise” speech.
"He
lacked the political and managerial skills needed to make best use of
the office he held," said Robert McClure, a political scientist at
Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
Damaged by the hostage crisis
Most damaging of all was the Iranian hostage crisis.
Carter
had agreed to allow Iran's deposed shah, a former U.S. ally who was
living in exile, to receive cancer treatment in the United States. In
protest, Iranian Islamist radicals overran the U.S. Embassy in Tehran
and took 52 Americans captive. The confrontation, which began on Nov. 4,
1979, would end only as Reagan was being inaugurated 444 days later.
Carter
chose diplomacy and economic sanctions over military action. He halted
oil imports from Iran and froze Iranian assets in the U.S. He severed
diplomatic relations with Iran and imposed a full economic embargo on
the country.
Finally, he approved a top-secret military mission to
free the hostages, but it ended in catastrophe. Three helicopters
developed engine trouble in a remote staging area in the Iranian desert,
forcing the mission to be aborted. Eight U.S. troops were killed when a
helicopter and a plane collided while forces were being withdrawn.
It all added to the impression that Carter was out of his depth.
"The
hostage crisis left a bitter taste in voters' mouths, which Carter was
never able to overcome," said Stephen Hess, a Brookings Institution
scholar who worked on Carter's transition team when he was
president-elect.
On the day of Reagan's inauguration, Jan. 20,
1981, Iran agreed to accept $8 billion in frozen assets and a promise by
the U.S. to lift trade sanctions in exchange for the release of the
hostages. Minutes after Carter's successor took the oath of office, the
hostages were freed.
Finally, a Nobel Peace Prize
Carter left the White House, but he didn’t retire.
Jimmy
and Rosalynn Carter established the Carter Center in Atlanta, their
home base for decades as they worked on global health and democracy. He
helped negotiate an end to the long civil war in Nicaragua between the
Contra rebels and the Sandinistas. He met with North Korean leaders to
try to end its nuclear weapons program. He mediated conflicts in
Ethiopia, Liberia, Haiti, Bosnia, Sudan, Uganda and Venezuela. He led
dozens of delegations of international observers to various countries to
help assure elections were free and fair.
For decades, the Carter
Center also led an international campaign to eradicate Guinea worm
disease, a devastating tropical ailment that in 1986 afflicted an
estimated 3.5 million people in Africa and Asia. In 2020, it was on the
verge of eradication; just 27 cases were reported in six African
countries.
For a week each year, the Carters volunteered with
Habitat for Humanity, a charitable group that renovates and builds homes
for poor people around the world.
He also wrote more than 30
books – controversial ones on the Palestinian territories and the Middle
East and less controversial ones on Christmas memories and fly-fishing.
He published a collection of his poems and a collection of his
paintings. Again and again, he returned to writing about the lessons and
demands of his Christian faith.
Carter,
who attended Donald Trump's inauguration in 2017, at times criticized
the 45th president. In June 2019, at a Carter Center conference in
suburban Virginia, he questioned the legitimacy of Trump's election,
citing allegations of Russian interference that were later called into
question.
Trump responded at a news conference by calling Carter a "nice man, terrible president."
But
there were also times when Carter reached out to Trump. On the 40th
anniversary of the normalization of U.S.-China relations, in 2019, he
sent Trump a letter offering advice on managing that relationship.
Carter said the phone conversation that followed was the first time the
two men had spoken.
In
2002, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize that supporters thought
he had deserved years earlier, when it had been presented to Begin and
Sadat. The Nobel committee honored Carter "for his decades of untiring
effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance
democracy and human rights and to promote economic and social
development."
"The bond of our common humanity is stronger than
the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices," Carter said in accepting
the prestigious award. "God gives us the capacity for choice. We can
choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace.
We can make these changes – and we must."
When
he left the White House, Carter moved back home to Plains. Unlike most
other modern presidents, he didn't choose to make money by delivering
high-priced speeches or serving on corporate boards. But he did
regularly speak to hundreds of visitors who would gather for his Sunday
school class at Maranatha Baptist Church.
In November 2019, he told those gathered that he didn't fear death.
"It's
incompatible for any Christian not to believe in life after death,"
Carter, then 95, told them, although he acknowledged he had wrestled
with doubts throughout his life. In his prayers, he said, "I didn't ask
God to let me live, but I just asked God to give me a proper attitude
toward death. And I found that I was absolutely and completely at ease
with death."
In July 2021, he and his wife hosted a 75th anniversary party in Plains
attended by about 300 friends, family members and fellow pols, among
them Bill and Hillary Clinton. Carter, his fragility apparent, made a
point of greeting the guests at each table for what many of them assumed
would be the last time they saw him.
"He was not a self-promoter
in the White House or afterwards, and I think that hurt, because it
leaves all the sour tastes from the failures and didn't allow the
positives to shine through," Eizenstat said. When Eizenstat visited
Carter in Plains in 2018, Carter told his former aide he was comfortable
with letting history judge.
As he approached his 90th birthday, Carter mused about his legacy in an interview with USA TODAY.
"One
is peace," he said. "I kept peace when I was president and I try to
promote peace between other people and us, and between countries that
were potentially at war, between Israel and Egypt for instance. And
human rights. ... I think human rights and peace are the two things I'd
like to be remembered for – as well as being a good grandfather."
OH, this brings back ,memories, of the the old A&P, and it's huge parking lot, behind the movie theater. The black sparkely floor, i thought it was tar with glitter in it. On Saturday mornings my Dad would take me with him to buy a few things, my Mom always gave him a list....and he always bought a couple Spanish bars and we ate one on the way home.
A&P Spanish Bar Ingredients:
½ cup shortening
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg
¾ cup molasses
1 cup boiling water
2¼ cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 Tbs cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves, optional
½ cup cut-up raisins
Instructions: Preheat the oven to 325F. Cream the shortening,
sugar and egg, blend in molasses and add the boiling water. Sift
together the remaining ingredients except the raisins and stir it into
the egg mixture. Fold in the raisins. Divide the batter equally between
two greased and floured loaf pans. Bake in a 325oF oven for 30 to 40
minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out
clean. Cool the cakes in the pans for 5 minutes, then remove them from
the pans and cool .
BBRRRRRRRR OOOPS! this is the right color 4 today, it is cold, mean really cold might even have to put my socks on!! I kid you not.
The Full Worm Moon reaches its peak on the morning of Tuesday, March 3, 2026, at 6:38 A.M. ET.
This year’s March Moon is especially notable because it coincides with a
total lunar eclipse. The eclipse reaches its greatest point at 6:33 A.M.ET—just minutes earlier—and during totality, the Moon can take on a coppery red or orange glow.
You
don’t need any special equipment to enjoy this celestial pairing.
Simply step outside and watch as the Full Moon changes color over
several hours. For a detailed explanation of what’s happening in the
sky, see our guide to what happens during a total lunar eclipse.
A Rare Bonus: A Total Lunar Eclipse During March’s Full Moon
During
a total lunar eclipse, Earth’s shadow gradually moves across the Full
Moon, causing it to darken and take on a warm, coppery glow—often called
a Blood Moon. This color change happens slowly and can be safely watched with the naked eye.
Read Next
Viewing Notes for March’s Full Moon Eclipse
This lunar eclipse will be visible across much of North America, though what viewers see will vary by location. The Moon enters the penumbra at 3:44 A.M.EST (12:44 A.M.PST) and the umbra at 4:50 A.M.EST (1:50 A.M.PST).
Totality—when the Moon is fully within Earth’s shadow—lasts from 6:04 A.M. to 7:02 A.M.EST, with the greatest eclipse occurring at 6:33 A.M.EST. See our time zone converter.
The Moon leaves the umbra at 8:17 A.M.EST (5:17 A.M.PST) and the penumbra at 9:22 A.M.EST (6:22 A.M.PST).
In eastern regions, totality occurs close to sunrise, while observers
farther west will see the eclipse higher in the pre-dawn sky.
During March’s Full Worm Moon, Earth’s shadow will gradually darken the Moon, creating a red ‘Blood Moon’ effect.
When to See the Full Worm Moon in March 2026
The Full Worm Moon reaches its peak on the morning of Tuesday, March 3, 2026, at 6:38 A.M.ET. This year’s March Full Moon is especially notable because it coincides with a total lunar eclipse. The eclipse reaches its greatest point at 6:33 A.M.ET, just minutes before the Full Moon peak, and during totality, the Moon can take on a coppery red or orange glow.
If clouds interfere, try early Tuesday morning again before sunrise, keeping in mind that totality occurs near sunrise in eastern locations.
If conditions are just right and there’s a bit of mist or rain in the air, you may even spot a rare phenomenon called a moonbow—a rainbow created by moonlight instead of sunlight. Moonbows are most likely when the Full Moon is low in the sky. Learn more about moonbows.
This March Moon may also appear especially large near the horizon due to the Moon illusion, which makes the Moon seem bigger when it’s close to buildings, trees, or hills.
Why Is It Called the Worm Moon?
The Full Moon names used by The Old Farmer’s Almanac
come from a mix of Native American, Colonial American, and European
sources. Traditionally, each name applied to the entire lunar month in
which the Full Moon occurred—not just the night it was full.
March’s
Full Moon has long marked a turning point in the seasonal calendar,
when winter begins to loosen its grip and signs of spring slowly return.
The Surprising Truth Behind the Worm Moon Name
March’s
Full Moon is known as the Worm Moon. For many years, it was believed
this name referred to earthworms appearing as the soil warms in early
spring—drawing birds such as robins and signaling the changing season.
However, historical research suggests another explanation. In the 1760s, Captain Jonathan Carver
recorded that the name referred to beetle larvae—another type of
“worm”—which emerge from thawing tree bark and winter hiding places at
this time of year.
Either way, the name reflects the same idea: the land is beginning to wake up.
A Seasonal Signal for Gardeners
For
generations, this Full Moon served as a seasonal marker for people who
worked the land. The Worm Moon reflects a time when winter begins to
loosen its hold—when daylight is increasing, snow and ice start to
retreat, and the natural world shows its first subtle signs of change.
Rather
than signaling planting time, this Moon traditionally marked a period
of observation and preparation. It was a cue to watch the landscape,
take stock after winter, and begin planning for the growing season
ahead—even though the ground itself was often still frozen.
Another traditional name for March’s Full Moon is the Sugar Moon
(Ojibwe). In many regions, this is the time when sugar maples are
tapped, and sap buckets begin to fill—an early sign that spring is on
its way, even if snow still covers the ground. Learn how maple sap is turned into syrup.
Alternative Names for the March Full Moon
Many
traditional names for the March Moon reflect the transition from winter
to spring. Some are tied to animal behavior, while others describe
seasonal changes:
Wind Strong Moon (Pueblo): referring to blustery late-winter winds
There
are quite a few names for the March Moon that speak to the transition
from winter to spring. Some refer to the appearance (or reappearance) of
certain animals, such as the Eagle Moon, Goose Moon (Algonquin, Cree), or Crow Comes Back Moon (Northern Ojibwe), while others refer to signs of the season:
The Sugar Moon (Ojibwe) marks the time of year when the sap of sugar maples starts to flow.
The Wind Strong Moon (Pueblo) refers to the strong, windy days that come at this time of year.
The Sore Eyes Moon (Dakota, Lakota, Assiniboine) highlights the blinding rays of sunlight that reflect off the melting snow of late winter.
An alternative name for March’s Full Moon is the Sugar Moon.
Sugar maples are tapped in late winter; sap buckets gather the sap,
which is later turned into maple syrup!
The sky is so blue and there is a gentle breeze, it's warm enough to comfortably work outside, but there is 5 inches of snow on the ground and more is coming ...... looking at seed catalogs, and filling tiny flower pots with potting soil is just not enough to express my Spring Fever. But this could help.
1970. George Harrison stands at the gates of Friar Park, staring at what everyone else calls a catastrophe.
The Victorian mansion is rotting. Grass pushes through floorboards inside. The estate's gardens, once the pride of England, have gone feral. Collapsed greenhouses. Buried grottoes. Pathways strangled by decades of neglect.
He's 27 years old. The Beatles just ended. He could go anywhere, do anything. The world is waiting for his next move.
He buys the wreck and decides to dig in the dirt.
Not as a weekend hobby. As a life. He hires ten gardeners and works alongside them, dawn to midnight, covered in soil. His sister-in-law takes one look at the estate and asks what he's thinking. George doesn't try to explain. He just keeps digging.
His son Dhani grows up watching his father work by moonlight, squinting in the shadows because darkness hides the imperfections that would bother him during the day. The music industry keeps calling. They want albums. Tours. More of George Harrison the Beatle.
He wants to plant trees.
Friar Park isn't just a garden. It's an eccentric's fever dream from the 1890s. Caves. Underground tunnels. A four-acre Alpine rock garden with a scale Matterhorn on top. Garden gnomes everywhere. He photographs himself among them for All Things Must Pass, then goes back to pruning.
When a nurseryman mentions slow sales, George buys one of everything in the shop. When someone offers 800 varieties of maples, he takes them all. His wife Olivia remembers him saying, "It's not my garden, Liv." He sees himself as a custodian. The garden doesn't belong to him. He belongs to it.
By 1980, he publishes his autobiography and dedicates it "to gardeners everywhere." He writes that he's simple. Doesn't want the business full-time. He's a gardener. He plants flowers and watches them grow.
Journalists visit and call it un-rock-star-ish. George doesn't flinch. He'd lived through Beatlemania, screamed into stadiums, changed culture. He found it hollow compared to restoring topiary.
After John Lennon's murder, the gates lock forever. George and Olivia keep working. Not for visitors. For the work itself.
He dies in 2001. The gardens are now considered masterpieces of Victorian landscaping. Olivia still tends them at Friar Park. The estate stays private.
George Harrison chose dirt under his fingernails over applause. And in that choice, he found something the stadiums never gave him. Freedom.
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Herbs That Root in Water — But Prefer Soil Later
Vegetables That Regrow from Scraps in Water
Starts in Water, Needs Soil for Real Harvest
Essential Care Tips
