Country Life – Then and Now
Memories in a Pocketbook 1999
It was an article in a recent magazine that started me thinking about when had I ever cleaned out the innermost pockets of my purse — not only the one I carry every day, but others I never carry any more. In the beginning of this undertaking I discovered a virtual time capsule. This quote…
Read MoreA Windy Knoll Report
Whew! This small garden we have is in full swing. Yesterday John brought in okra to be worked and today he brought a peck bucket of bell peppers and another peck bucket of tomatoes. I’m considering leaving here ’til we have a frost. We are too old to do all this, but. . . . . I…
Read MoreProtracted Meetin’ 2008
The last two weeks of July and the month of August was a time when farmers and their families could take a step back and not work as hard. Spring was always a hard time — tilling the soil, planting the seed and then tending the crop. The weeks in mid summer were reserved for revival…
Read MoreAbout Corn 2003
Corn has long been a staple here in the south and especially here on Sand Mountain. Sweet corn is not our favorite corn to be “cut off the cob.” It’s good on the cob, but our favorite to be “cut off” and “fried” is Malsby. This is an old field corn variety, white in color, and…
Read MoreThe Pipes Come A Callin’
What a pleasure it is to have some of John’s favorite cousins visit. How these kin met is quite a story. A number of years ago our daughters wanted to join DAR, started the search and then had to have documentation. In the genealogy search, Donna found a man in Florida with the name Crumly, contacted him…
Read MoreRemembering a Slower Time 2005
A recent e-mail made me pause and remember how it was when we used to travel two-lane roads to wherever and enjoy seeing the countryside. This was a time when “modem” meant what Pa had done to the hay fields (he mowed ’em) and “download” meant gettin’ wood off’n the wagon. There were no interstate highways…
Read MoreA Windy Knoll Report
We’ve had so much rain we discussed looking for plans to build an arc, but John decided we wouldn’t need one since we live atop Sand Mountain. He said, “Let those people over in Wills Valley worry about that.” It’s a busy time here — the garden is growing, but so is the grass therein. …
Read MoreWindy Knoll Animal/Bird Stories 1995
It could have been a morning long ago – a clear morning following a rain, which made conditions just right for weeding the flower beds and herb garden. Up front let me say we have one very amorous female dog (Sadie), one adult male dog (Jake), who is just now being introduced to amorous females…
Read MoreJuly Fourth of Old
,Independence Day has been a day for celebration since 1776, but for the Sand Mountain farmer of the 1930’s and 1940’s it was pretty much just another day. Of course, families celebrated in different ways. We usually had lemonade, or something special to eat on that day. We were lucky if we had ice from the…
Read MoreRemembering my Favorite Scope of Woods
As I sit here on this front porch and look across the dirt road at the woodland, my mind drifts back to years ago. Health issues prevent me from walking in this scope now, but occasionally we do go there in the golf cart. When I was little I made playhouses in these woods by raking up…
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