Yearning for a Teddy Bear
Call them Teddy Bears. It’s easier than Bichons…or Shichons. I’ve been yearning to see one, to hold it, OK, to own one, for three years now, ever since I wrote a story for Country Living and first learned about them. A cross between a bichon frisee and a shitzu, they’re smart, loyal, don’t shed, don’t yap, … Continue reading Yearning for a Teddy Bear
Farewell Toaster Oven
Toaster Oven Dec., 1959-Sept., 2018 You were a wedding gift 59 years ago. You’ve made our toast every morning and reheated our snacks. We remember who gave you to us. We intended to write GE to tell them about you, but didn’t. You outlived GE’s small appliance division anyway. You made our toast yesterday and then quietly turned off, not to be revived. Rest in … Continue reading Farewell Toaster Oven
Goodbye, Winston…..revisiting a memory
Goodbye, Winston. When I agreed to foster Winston early in December, 2013, I thought he’d be around only a few weeks. He stayed four months. Just out of a bad situation of neglect, he was so happy to have a home, people to love—and a name—that he followed my every step. I’m sedentary, though, and my steps are slow. He needed playmates. Now he has … Continue reading Goodbye, Winston…..revisiting a memory
Looking For—My Senior Malady
Everything in its place—and it still gets lost. Somebody, most often me, is always misplacing something. It’s like a senior moment but with things, and it’s getting worse. If it’s not my glasses, it’s the car keys, or my credit card, or the door key. Or any combination, or something else. What’s lost usually turns up, but I may be using up my luck. … Continue reading Looking For—My Senior Malady
Sparks Fly for Old Lovers
The husband leans over and asks his wife, “Do you remember the first time we had sex together over fifty years ago? We went behind the village tavern where you leaned against the back fence and I made love to you.” Yes, she says, “I remember it well.” OK, he says, “How about taking a stroll around there again and we can do it for … Continue reading Sparks Fly for Old Lovers
The Last of Mountain Tom
Lee Freeman paints Tom as an urban legend in a scholarly paper. Here are the first paragraphs: Tales from Beyond the Grave: The Life and Legend of Thomas Marion “Mountain Tom” Clark By Lee Freeman, Local Historian/Genealogist for the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library in Florence, Alabama. Most locals have seen the marker and know the story of how Tom aka “Mountain Tom” Clark lies buried underneath East … Continue reading The Last of Mountain Tom
An Elephant, Stag and Rambling about Research
By Jennie Helderman In 1810 a man in Huntsville, Alabama, sold tickets to see an elephant. I have a copy of the flyer advertising the event. Now I happen to know that in 1810 Huntsville was the western frontier. Very few people lived there, and travel was hard. So how did an elephant get to Huntsville? And how could the man keep the elephant … Continue reading An Elephant, Stag and Rambling about Research
The Mother of All Stubborn Streaks
This story isn’t a funeral story, not exactly, but stubborn to the death is close enough. A stubborn streak runs through my husband’s family. If he or certain of his forebearers take a stand, the crash of all the techtonic plates of the Pacific Rim won’t budge them an inch. The mother of all stubborn streaks and there’s indication the stubborness may be intensifying. I know where … Continue reading The Mother of All Stubborn Streaks
I Knew Her As Mother
The picture is of Kathleen Russell of Walnut Grove, Alabama, from the 1931 Glomerata of Auburn University. You might have known her as Kathleen Miller, married to Ed Miller of Gadsden, Alabama. I knew her as Mother. She died on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, died in her sleep at age ninety-two, which is why I’m thinking about her in the holiday season. I hesitate to … Continue reading I Knew Her As Mother
Our Home in Havana, Cuba Part II
Our home in Havana, Cuba—an elegant old home with a marble spiral staircase. Four floors to walk up and down—and down, down, down when you slip at the top of the final flight and tumble head over heels all the way down. I hit hard and was lucky the only broken bone was a slight fracture of my left clavicle. Determined not to miss anything, I … Continue reading Our Home in Havana, Cuba Part II