A Lulu of a Nightmare

A Lulu of a Nightmare

The nightmare jolted me awake. This is the opening line of By the Fright of the Silvery Moon and last night, it was quite literally true. An awful nightmare, which I shall not recount to you, woke me. I came to the sofa, went back to sleep, and, although I didn’t sleep well, didn’t dream the same thing […]

That Little Brown Church

That Little Brown Church

The Little Brown Church in the Vale was one of my dad’s favorite songs. Each time I hear it, I think of him. If you’d like to hear the Statler Brothers sing it, click on their name. This song always brings memories of a simpler, quieter, more devout time in our nation’s history. I love […]

The Lovely Feeling of Being Home

The Lovely Feeling of Being Home

The older I grow, the more convinced I am that there’s absolutely no feeling that can beat the feeling of being home. Home…where you can just be yourself, relax, put on old shoes or go without shoes, eat if you’re hungry, go to sleep when you want, clean house until it sparkles or not. Home! […]

Chilly Morning, Hot Coffee and Into the Day

Chilly Morning, Hot Coffee and Into the Day

The morning is chilly, almost cold. Is it really June? Sunlight tips the treetops and the day opens before me. What will I do with the gift of another perfect day? Thoughts of yet a third Ned McNeil cozy mystery keep running through my head. What can I do with these imaginary plots and characters except […]

Winds of Change: Conclusion

Winds of Change: Conclusion

This is the second and final installment of my May 5, 1985 Daily Press article about the tornado which destroyed Peggs, Oklahoma on May 2, 1920. In 1920, Walter Neel lived with his parents, brothers and sisters on the Gid Morgan farm, two and a fourth miles southeast of Peggs. The storm went a mile […]

Winds of Change

Winds of Change

Since it is the 97  year anniversary of the Peggs tornado, and although I re-published it last year at this time, I do so again today. For a time, I wrote feature stories for The Tahlequah Daily Press. On May 5, 1985, The Press published an article I wrote about the tornado that destroyed Peggs, […]