Things My Mama Taught Me

All the good things that I am, came from my parents. The not-so-good? Well, I’veĀ  managed those things on my own. This morning I was thinking about things my mother taught me. I had never really tried to itemize them, they were just there. To list them would be like trying to draw a diagram […]

Goose Summer

Goose Summer

From The Heritage of Etta Bend by Susie Latty Day. Time: around 1918, Place: the Latty Farm. In the fall come rare, sparkling days that are warm and bright, with very little wind, when nature seems to savor the last remnants of summer. Spider webs break loose from their moorings and float through the air, […]

In the Walnut Woods

In the Walnut Woods

From The Heritage of Etta Bend by Susie Latty Day. Time: around 1918; Place: A small farm in Oklahoma. Autumn, on our farm at Etta, had its special joys. East of the spring branch, maples blazed in gold and russet. Oaks wore yellow and brown. Walnut trees dropped their leaves, then shed their green-coated nuts […]

The Ticking of a Clock

The Ticking of a Clock

  When I hear a clock ticking, I go back a few decades and find myself in Ma and Pappy Latty’s house. They always had a wind-up clock and I can remember how the sound meant peace and security for me. I can see my grandparents’ living room, sun coming through the windows, and feel […]

Changing Times

Changing Times

I have an 1888 Noah Webster blue-backed spelling book. It’s fascinating to look through at the illustrations, words, and stories. Times have changed greatly and so have teaching methods, even the words we use. The book has some fables and other short stories. This is one of them: Of the Boy That Stole Apples An […]

Hats Off to Galveston

Hats Off to Galveston

Yesterday was the anniversary of the 1900 hurricane that wiped out a good portion of the island of Galveston, Texas. I couldn’t let that date go by without mentioning it. If you haven’t read much about it in history, let me tell you that it is an amazing, true story of devastation and horror and […]