Head of the Family

His hat hangs on a peg in my hallway. It’s not the Stetson he wore on special occasions. This one has sweat marks, and a small spot of oil. It’s the one he wore every day as he mowed lawns, drove to the sale barn, or any time he went out the door. He never […]

The New Old Quilt

It’s a bright little quilt top. It doesn’t look as if it’s several decades old, and it has a story–a history. Many years ago, when I was just a young girl, I started this quilt for my sister’s new baby–a little boy. I wanted to hand stitch it so he’d know his Aunt Blanche had […]

A Look Through Their Glasses

My sister-in-law Linda and I found some old glasses in their case when we were cleaning out Mom and Dad’s storage room.  I know two things about them:  they are old and I like them a lot. They did not belong to my parents and I’m guessing some previous owner of the house and storage […]

St. Swithin

For the past two mornings, thunder roused me out of sleep. Rain! It’s wonderful to have rain in July. St. Swithin’s Day is tomorrow. What does an ancient saint have to do with the weather? His is an intriguing story, if you’d like to look him up. It has to do with rain and July. […]

A Land of Many Springs

A Land of Many Springs

My mother was born in 1906. She had many memories of Cherokee County, the way it was when she was a child. One of the things she remembered was the abundance of fresh, clean water. These are her words, her story as she told it to me: Green country used to be a land of […]

Check That Foundation!

If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? —Psalm 11:3 Before a builder builds a house, he pours a foundation. If the foundation is not solid, the house has problems. Sometimes, a foundation is firm to begin with, but, through the years, things happen. Water can seep in, causing cracks. A too dry climate […]