“I smell the river!” This boast from one of the several pre-teens headed to Cedar Grove in the early 1960s gave that 10- or 12-year-old bragging rights until the next Sunday’s after church foray. The siblings and cousins spent much of their rural lives together. Working on neighboring farms, attending the same country school….
They were called the “Bottle Cap Buddies” by some, the “bottle-cappers” by others. They called each other Walt and Jess. They had grown up together. Gone to war together as part of the AEF. The American Expeditionary Force that would help free Europe from the grip of tyranny. They had considered joining the…
This past week we have been in the presence of giants. Almost ageless giants. At the least, very aged giants. Very old giants. And giants they are. All nearing thirty feet in circumference. All more than fifty feet tall. All over eight feet in diameter. They are live-oak trees in South Carolina. The Middleton…
It started innocently enough. The presentation going well. Had a modest audience of around three dozen people listening to my recreation of Henry R. Schoolcraft. Part of the Old Greenville Days celebration, I was emphasizing the fact that Schoolcraft had taken the Bettis Ferry a half-mile from the remnants of the original Greenville Courthouse…
Why?” This query was from my wife, and was in response to what was in the front of my johnboat. I had just returned from a river cleanup with a somewhat worse-for-wear picnic table. It was just part of what I had removed from Upper Current River that morning. The tires and six…
Addictions. We all have them. Some “compulsive engagement in rewarding stimulants despite adverse consequences.” “Habit forming substances or behaviors.” It has been said, “An overindulgence of anything, even something as pure as water, can intoxicate.” Pete Rose’s was an addiction to playing baseball. For some it is drugs. Many; alcohol. Poker. Video games….
“It’s all in the details!” The lady offering this time-honored adage was wiping the spare droplets of water from her car she’d just washed. Not accustomed to people paying such care to a vehicle, I had asked about her actions while sharing adjoining gas pumps at a filling station. Seems she’d had the…
These lines of the Statler Brothers’ song “Flowers on the Wall” were always enjoyable to hear. I never thought that more than a half-century later they would be describing my life. But, if you will accept a temporary trellis of brown string covered with vining moonflowers as a wall, it does just that. Moonflowers,…
