William McKinley was President when my dad, Robert Bryan Day, was born. People got from place to place by train or horse and wagon or riding horseback or they walked. At least, that was true of the Day family in rural Arkansas. Dad saw many, many changes during his eighty-eight years on this earth, from […]
Aug 19, 2015
What Is That Strange Sound?
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It took a while to recognize it. Sometime during the night, it must have started. It’s the sound of rain! Drumming on the roof, dancing off the deck, sluicing down the windows, rain! The street is a-glimmer; shimmers of lightning dance across wet pavement. Trees and flowers stand silently, lifting grateful arms to the dark heavens. Thunder prowls […]
Aug 18, 2015
A Harvest of Years
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Yesterday was one of those rare, golden days, a day when I reaped the bounty of years gone by. Dad planted some grape vines a long time ago; I don’t even remember how many years ago. Yesterday, I gathered what he had painstakingly planted. His great-grandchildren will be beneficiaries of those lovely grapes made into jelly. That’s, let […]
Aug 17, 2015
Old-Fashioned Girl
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I know I’m old fashioned But I don’t mind it That’s how I want to be As long as you agree To stay old fashioned with me So sang Ella Fitzgerald a few years back. And, do you remember Teresa Brewer singing, “Sweet Old Fashioned Girl”? Anyway, sometimes I feel terribly old-fashioned and out of […]
Aug 16, 2015
Starting Points
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Sometimes I think back to Etta Bend, to the middle child in a family of three girls and one boy who grew up there, as the starting point for my family, at least for my mother’s branch. Then, of course Dad’s side had another starting point in Mena, Arkansas. From those beginnings came (so far) five, six, […]
Aug 15, 2015
Campfires and Tree Frogs
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It was a perfect summer evening. Smoke from the fire pit curled up through the maples. Hot dogs sizzled, marshmallows melted, and the lightning bugs blinked in a friendly way. Tree frogs celebrated the summer evening with their enthusiastic voices. We stayed out until the sun’s last rays gilded the tops of the trees and twilight […]
