His character was as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar. He was stubborn and he could be stern. He didn’t talk an awfully lot but he had a keen sense of humor and liked a good joke. And whatever he said, I knew was the truth. The whole world might be wrong, but not my […]
May 24, 2017
Grubbing in the Ground, Sunshine in My Heart
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Grubbing in the ground doesn’t sound like fun, does it? It’s hard work, getting down on my knees, scooping up errant Bermuda grass sprigs and weeds, gnats and a few mosquitoes lighting on my nose and forehead. My jeans get dirty, my hands get dirty, and it’s thoroughly wonderful. You see, I’m working among the […]
May 22, 2017
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow at Our Family Cemetery
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Yesterday, I thought a lot about long ago yesterdays, years past, people who are no longer with us, and the promise of tomorrow. The weather smiled on Decoration Day at our cemetery, a cemetery that six generations of my family have honored through more than a hundred years. The weather was perfect–so chilly yesterday morning that […]
Dec 31, 2016
Turning Back the Calendar 100 Years
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Tonight, we take down the calendar for 2016 and put up a new one, but wait a minute! What if, suddenly, the calendar went backward instead of forward, pages blown off by the winds of time, years and decades whisked away, technology, modern marvels, all today’s concerns disappearing in a flash and there we are, in […]
Dec 5, 2016
Into the Darkness of the Cave
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I mentioned a few days ago that my mother had written a personal account of exploring a cave near the Illinois River. People going out to fish on the Illinois may not realize it was once a free-running river, with no dam to block its progress. They may not know that caves lie hidden on […]
Sep 21, 2016
The Heritage of Summer
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Does anybody remember that old song, Enjoy Yourself, It’s Later Than You Think? Well, we had all better enjoy this day because it’s the last day of summer and it is truly later than I can realize. As summer passes, I wonder what is the heritage of this season? What will I remember and look […]
