The gentle falling of snowflakes takes me back to the days when cold weather would bring a tough decision at the old family homestead. Being cold in the winter was a common experience, since the only heat came from a fire in the main room. Grandma would always be the one up early to get […]
Fear is something that hides deep within each of us as we walk through life. I remember as a child, as many of my fellow youth gleefully looked to getting their first bicycle, within me was a sense of dread. I was comfortable with the tricycle and the insecurity of falling and losing my balance […]
Folks often see the change of a new year as an opportunity for renewal. “Let’s get rid of the old habits that plaque our existence,” is often what drives this sense of new found opportunity. We will shed those unwanted pounds, stop smoking, be kinder to those who irritate us, make up with friends or […]
The other day I realized I am now living 100 years beyond my grandparents’ key time in their lives. In 1920, my grandparents Bill and Kitty Bruce had been married for four years. My grandfather had spent his youth in the west, returned to Tennessee and found himself a bride half his age, bought land […]
OK its 2020, that is suppose to be significant in our lives right. Well, we are here, breathing and have every opportunity that life within the United State of America affords. There are so many significant dates that have passed in my life. Let’s see, when I was in school, we read a book called […]
The winter of ’34 in the valley below the Gravely Spur was an especially hard one. A Christmas snow had blanketed the valley, making travel through the mountain passes treacherous, even if taken by foot. With one false step, even those who knew the routes by heart could find themselves slipping into a snow drift […]
Actor/Artist Randall Franks was inducted recently into America’s Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame in November 2019 alongside Jimmy Bowen, Gail Davies, Jeannie C. Riley, and Grand Ole Opry star Jeannie Seely. Franks is best known for his role as “Officer Randy Goode” in the award-winning series “In the Heat of the Night.” Franks […]
If circumstances have set out a path for you in life, sometimes your senses become dulled to the cherished moments that surround you. You might become busy with meeting the demands of the day – keeping a family fed or meeting the demands of one’s job. You may find yourself in a race to achieve […]
Today most folks don’t give a second thought if they get their clothes dirty to go and change into another outfit. In the valley below the Gravelly Spur, an abundance of clothes in the closet was not something that most folks experienced. The Woods boys, like everyone, were often faced with limited things to wear. […]
The leaf swayed hanging on to the lonely limb tightly. As if, to say to the world “I am not done and you are not going to make me fall down no matter what you throw at me.” All of its fellow leaves had given up the ghost blowing in whatever direction the wind desired […]
