In the early morning of April 1895, a fire broke out in a livery stable in downtown Tahlequah. Before the blaze was extinguished, it destroyed much of the town: dry goods stores, grocery store, church, residences. The fire happened long ago, is a part of history, and many people have forgotten but in the restoration […]
Dec 29, 2024
The January Thaw
By · 4 Comments
In the days when my grandparents, Levi and Edna Latty, were on their farm at Etta, my grandfather waited for the January thaw, those few January days when winter paused to take a deep breath and remember that spring would soon be on its way. During the January thaw, Pappy would hitch his team of […]
Dec 7, 2024
A Battle Cry for Freedom
By · 2 Comments
“A day that will live in infamy,” President Roosevelt said. And, indeed, it has and will. A sneak attack by Japanese aircraft against the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor triggered the United States’ entrance into World War II, December 7, 1941. As I watch old film clips and read first-hand accounts, I can imagine […]
Nov 28, 2024
Aroma of Pumpkin Pie
By · 6 Comments
Cornbread and biscuits are baked and crumbed, mixed with onion, celery, and sage, the makings for dressing. Cranberries are cooked and sitting in a bowl, red and sugary; yeast bread is inside the ‘frig, waiting to be popped into the oven this morning. Yesterday, Nathan was in the kitchen, stirring and measuring ingredients for a […]
Nov 19, 2024
On a Stormy Afternoon…
By · 4 Comments
Agnes my asparagus fern is safely indoors for the winter and it’s a good thing. Temperatures are dropping and although the sky is a beautiful, clear blue and the sun looks warm against my neighbors’ houses, it is a chilly morning. Fall is here and frost isn’t far behind. Yesterday was not so–it was a […]
Nov 14, 2024
Rain, a Hundred Years Ago
By · 2 Comments
We’ve had wonderful autumn rain lately and it has been a blessing. This morning, I’m thinking backward about a hundred years and imagining what it might have been like at the Levi and Edna Latty Farm, my grandparents’ farm, in the early part of the twentieth century. It would be dark on the farm at […]
