My great grandparents lived on a homestead. They cooked on a wood stove. Most of us today have no idea how good we’ve got it. For my great grandparents’ generation, remodeling the kitchen meant picking a different place to stack the wood. When I was growing up in...
After a recent meeting, a coworker mentioned that she and her family had bought a new home. Actually, it was new to them, but it was built in 1963 in what was then and is still now one of the city’s most desirable neighborhoods. What seemed like a typical workplace...
Last year, my wife and I were finishing up our first year as College Student Parents. I wrote an article about advice for parents about to take that step. It was well received, so I thought it might be helpful to revise a little after twice as much...
One time, when my son was young, he was acting up. The behavior continued to the point that he needed a spanking. He obviously was not thrilled about this punishment, and he began to cry, even before the spanking. So, in a moment of what seemed to be parenting genius,...
I’m not sure how a tomato became the symbol of sewing in the South, but it did. My mom, and every other mom I knew in Ashdown, Arkansas, had a pincushion in the shape of a tomato. Many of those pincushions are still around. Judging from the workload that women endured...
Can you believe it…we’re already at the end of March 2023! The first quarter of the year has flown by so quickly and many of us are still trying to get started on many of the resolutions we’ve made for the New Year. It’s amazing to see this...
My uncle’s mother, Mrs. Ward, had a storm shelter. And I snuck into it every chance I got. Few others had one, so a storm shelter was absolutely fascinating to me. At least, a storm shelter is what they told all of the kids it was. It doubled as a storm shelter, but...
To witness bipartisanship at the Texas Capitol, look to the lawmakers who are working to improve open government laws. Legislators from both political parties are igniting interest in transparency and creating the opportunity for all lawmakers to protect the people’s...
When Eisenhower, JFK, and LBJ were in office, rarely would you find a kitchen that didn’t have one. Waking up each morning to the smell of bacon, sausage, and fried potatoes was just how the world turned in 1960s Ashdown, Arkansas. And an electric skillet was part of...
