July 29, 1964 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Can you believe it’s almost August? We go back to school in August. Groan. We used to wait until after Labor Day, but then it snowed quite a bit one winter and we were still going to school in June. The powers that be decided it would be better to …
This Old House – Saying Goodbye
“He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.” ~Harold Wilson Things change. That’s the one thing in life you can be sure will happen. Maybe not every day, but then again maybe every day. Sometimes we want to hold time in a bottle and keep the world from changing …
Bible Stories, Crafts and Cookies at VBS
“A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove… but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.” (Forest E. Witcraft) Did you go to Vacation Bible School when you were a kid? Have …
Chiggers, Briars, Stink Bugs – the Price of Jam
Hollyhill, Kentucky July 22, 1964 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Well, from Holly County anyway. We, Dad and Aunt Love and I, actually live outside the city limits. We don’t live on a farm exactly, but there are farms all around us. Some of those farms have plenty of blackberry bushes on them and it’s blackberry season. …
Hometown Reading Friends
Do you like to talk about books? Well, then you should check with your local library or bookstore and see when an author is coming to town, because if those writers are like me, they’ll be talking books. That’s what I did today. When Scent of Lilacs first came out in 2005, I decided that since I had used my …
Celebration Prizes and More Flower Stories
Do you like entering contests? Have you ever won anything? I’m imagining a lot of you shaking your heads. That’s why I have that “never win” drawing in my Celebration Contests. Somebody who says they never win has to be a winner. This time it was Brandy from TX. I’m hoping she doesn’t have neighbors who don’t like wind chimes. …
The Hokey Pokey
July 15, 1964 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Main Street, Hollyhill, Kentucky. I’m back from 4-H Camp. What a blast! I hardly missed Hollyhill at all. Well, Dad and Wes some. Zella not at all. But she was looking pretty happy when I went to the newspaper office this morning. Guess she had a good week with me out of …
And the Winners Are
Aack! It’s not Sunday. I’m late! A person should not put the end of her giveaway contest on the same day she has a deadline for her current work in progress and on a day when she has to sit with her mother!! I made those mistakes and then the kids came out and picked blackberries. Now, you have to …
Deadlines, Dandelions and Stories
http://www.rofotos.com/nature/flower/000008grape-hyacinths-muscari/ My deadline is staring me in the face. My book in progress needs to be off to the editor before Monday. I suppose if publishing houses didn’t set deadlines for writers, we might play with our stories and words forever and never get them out there for readers. So deadlines are good. Even before I had deadlines from editors, …
Off to Camp
July 8, 1964 Jocie Brooke here, but not reporting from Main Street, Hollyhill. It’s 4-H Camp week. No time for reporting anything. Been learning to canoe today. Only flipped into the water once and that boy, Jarrod, who was paddling with me, he did that on purpose. He thought it was hilarious. I laughed too. It wasn’t so bad. I …