Gathered Around the Hearthfire

Gathered Around the Hearthfire

My guest blogger this morning is my niece Missy Albrecht. The stories are some my brother Tracy Day told her. They are family stories, handed down from generation to generation. Storytelling is the oldest form of entertainment and also of oral history, often told as families gathered around the hearthfire after a day’s work. I […]

The Weight of Many Years

The Weight of Many Years

The weight of many years was too much for an historic building in my hometown of Tahlequah. The back end of 120-year old Masters’ Hardware, collapsed. Judging from the pictures, it just let go and crumbled to the ground. Luckily, the store had been closed for a while and no one was inside. What caused it? A 3.0 […]

Turning Back the Calendar 100 Years

Turning Back the Calendar 100 Years

Tonight, we take down the calendar for 2016 and put up a new one, but wait a minute! What if, suddenly, the calendar went backward instead of forward, pages blown off by the winds of time, years and decades whisked away, technology, modern marvels, all today’s concerns disappearing in a flash and there we are, in […]

Into the Darkness of the Cave

Into the Darkness of the Cave

I mentioned a few days ago that my mother had written a personal account of exploring a cave near the Illinois River. People going out to fish on the Illinois may not realize it was once a free-running river, with no dam to block its progress. They may not know that caves lie hidden on […]

V Stands for Veterans; V Stands for Valor

V Stands for Veterans; V Stands for Valor

The Valor of Veterans Down through the mists of time they come, marching to a distant drum. Soldiers, sailors, airmen, all, who stood to answer their country’s call. From the Revolutionary War days, through the War of 1812, The Civil War, World War I and World War II, Korea, Viet Nam, Afghanistan and Iraq, brave men […]

The Blight of Progress

The Blight of Progress

Sure, I know “you can’t stop progress.” I’ve heard that many times and fear it may be largely true. Question is, where is this march of progress leading? I’m all for progress in medicine, in doing things better (not necessarily faster) and for headway made against the ills of mankind. What I’m not for is senseless […]