The Comfort of Quilts

The Comfort of Quilts

  This morning, as I got out of my comfortable bed, I thought about the things that keep me warm at night–quilts. And then, I thought about how life is much like a homemade quilt. Some of the colors are bright, some are dark, but they all go together to make the quilt. Some of […]

The World Needs Valentine’s Day

The World Needs Valentine’s Day

Remember how excited we’d get as children on Valentine’s Day, counting those cards, reading the verses, keeping them in boxes? What a sweet custom! It seemed to me that my kindergarteners got more excited about Valentine’s Day than about Christmas. They would decorate white paper sacks which I fastened to the chalk tray then they would […]

The Artist

The Artist

She was born Lydia Head  in South Carolina in 1824 and married James Barker in 1847. Lydia and James worked on their farm in Georgia. Life must have been hard but good for Lydia until something happened to change it all. The Barker family was about to go to church. James was sitting in the […]

The Way It Was

The following story is from my mother’s book, Remembering Etta Bend. These are the words of Susie Latty, who, much later, became my mom. The year would have been around 1918. Most of the things we used were homemade and they had to last as long as possible. Papa carved his own handles and wood […]

Grandfather’s Barn

Grandfather’s Barn

“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8) That verse reminds me of my grandpa, Levi Latty. I can picture him going to his barn to milk, morning and evening, […]

Armistice Day!

Armistice Day!

It was a different kind of world in 1918. Woodrow Wilson was our 28th President. Postage stamps were two cents, a loaf of bread cost a dime and a gallon of gasoline was eight cents. An epidemic of Spanish flu ravaged the country, causing more than 500,000 deaths. Some of the popular songs were Over […]