Dignity in Defeat

Dignity in defeat and graciousness in victory. I’ve often wished, if I could go back in time, that I might have been present that day, April 9, 1865, in the parlor of Wilmer McLean of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. I would have liked to see General Robert E. Lee, tall, erect, and dignified, dressed in […]

How About Tat?

Happy International Tatting Day! You thought it was April Fool’s Day? Well, yes, it is, but it is also a day to celebrate tatting. I love tatting. I like the feel of the smooth shuttle in my hands, the way the thread slips through my fingers and the gentle click, click, as a thing of […]

January Thaw

In the days when my grandparents, Levi and Edna Latty, were on their farm at Etta, my grandfather looked forward to 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 […]

Layer upon Layer

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 […]

The January Thaw

The January Thaw

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 […]

A Battle Cry for Freedom

“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 […]