February 15, 1966 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Do you like candy hearts? I do. They always say something even if it’s mostly silly stuff. Be Mine or Yes or Love U or Let’s Go. But you have to read them before you can eat them. I like Valentine’s Day too. I have ever since I started school …
Snow Means No School
February 2, 1966 Jocie Brooke here reporting from very snowy Hollyhill, Kentucky. Do you like snow? I do. So much that I decided to write a poem about it. A Haiku. Do you know what that is? I sort of do. We’ve been talking about them in English at school. It’s a short three line poem. Not sure exactly how …
1967 – Here We Come
January 1, 1967 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Happy New Year!! 1967 showed up on a Sunday so that means we started out the New Year in church. You are in church every Sunday when you are a preacher’s kid! But I don’t mind. I like going to church. At least, most of the time. Church people get …
Hollyhill Christmas Memories
December 21, 1966 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Since Christmas is almost here, and I don’t know about you, but I can hardly wait, I decided to interview my dad about his Christmas memories. Me: “Tell me about Christmas when you were a kid.” Dad: “Christmas was a pretty simple affair when I was a boy. We had …
Remembering Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1966 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. From peaceful Hollyhill, Kentucky. But Dad and lots of others are remembering a day twenty-five years ago that wasn’t peaceful. A terrible Sunday that changed all their lives. The day Pearl Harbor was attacked. “A day of infamy.” That’s what Dad says the president then, President Roosevelt called it. Dad …
Miss Sally’s Reasons for Thanksgiving
November 23, 1966 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky on the day before Thanksgiving. Don’t you just love Thanksgiving? I do. And it’s going to be especially good this year because everybody’s coming to Miss Sally’s for dinner. Miss Sally is the best cook ever. People nearly come to blows over the last pieces of her pies at church …
Jocie Brooke Here Taking a Thankfulness Survey
November 9, 1966 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. It’s November and so Dad says that we all need to think about our blessings and reasons we have to be thankful. Sunday morning, he challenged everybody at church to think of a new reason to be thankful each day for the rest of the month. I could do that. …
Apple Picking Time
October 19, 1966 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. It’s apple picking time here in Hollyhill. Makes me wish we had an apple tree in our yard. There are some old apple trees on the farm behind us. I’ve picked up some of those windfalls now and again for Aunt Love to make applesauce, but they aren’t big pretty …
Preachers’ Kids and All Day Meetings
October 3, 1966 Jocie Brook, preacher’s kid, reporting here from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Have you ever been at an all day church service? I mean literally all day? Morning till the sun goes down? If not, you must not be a preacher’s kid. Preachers’ kids spend a lot of time at church. A lot of time. Preachers’ kids are expected to …
Do You Cheer on Your High School Team?
September 22, 1966 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Do you like football? High school football? Holly County High School has a football team. We’re not big time winners or anything, but Dad says the boys try hard. I don’t think that counts on the scoreboard. Whether we score or not, we keep cheering them on. Last week they …