My aunt, grandfather, mother, father, and sisters. I was taking the picture. Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family. ~Anthony Brandt Today is my grandfather’s birth date. If I’ve done the math right, John Lewis Houchin was born in 1871 on September 23. Around that year anyway. He was one of four sons. I …
Darrell, Eugene, Ronnie Hinson, and David singing “The Lighthouse” One of the most beloved songs in Southern Gospel music is “The Lighthouse.” Ronnie Hinson wrote it when he was just a teenager. He and his brothers and sisters were singing in church out of hymnals when he had the chance to hear the Speer family, a well known gospel singing …
“There is still no cure for the common birthday.” ~John Glenn Birthdays! That’s something you have to have once a year as regular as clockwork. And the clocks seem to work faster the older I get. My sister sent me a birthday card with the picture of a dog with his ears and fur all blowing back like a race …
If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things in nature have a message you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive. ~ Eleanora Duse “Not a cloud in the sky.” You’ve heard people say that, I’m sure. …
That’s a big gift when people say to you that a song helped them or brought them to some place in their life where they needed to be. ~ Lenny Kavitz The National Quartet Convention is in Louisville this week. The Patriot Quartet, the group my husband sings bass with, will be singing on a showcase Monday afternoon, …
A double dose of hope What expresses hope for the future better than a rainbow? And two rainbows are even better. Hope can be amazing, and perhaps it was that message of hope about my little great-niece on my Facebook page that has so touched people. The honks are still coming in. If you didn’t see my earlier post on …
Work is no disgrace; the disgrace is idleness. ~ Greek proverb Labor Day weekend – the last hurrah of summer. In some places it’s when school starts although here in our community, school has been starting earlier and earlier, and now the kids have usually been in school several weeks by the time Labor Day comes around. Labor Day was originally conceived as a …
My book in fine company at WalMart Every week on my Facebook author’s page, I do what I call “Shaker Wednesday.” On those days I hunt up some bit of Shaker history or maybe a picture of something the Shakers made or a building in one of their villages. Some days I just post one of the Shaker sayings. They …
“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.” (Margaret Atwood) I’m struggling to write a story now. I love to write. I have always wanted to write. I have always been writing something since I was ten years old and maybe before. I like the feel of a pen in my hand, a notebook open in …
Did you ever play with a June bug? That’s the bug in the photo. On a walk several weeks ago, the June bugs were swarming along the path I took. Just in one area. I’m on first name basis with this bug and have never really been afraid of it even though it has a hard outer shell and can …