I’ve noticed
Americans are notoriously hard to divide along class lines. With the exception of professors of sociology (who knows exactly where in the upper middle class they fit) and a few billionaires–who hope they are middle class, but have a horrible fear there may be a real aristocracy hiding somewhere in Chicago, Dallas, or Denver — [...]
A smile
This morning I found a small box in the back of the storeroom. On the back of a piece of wallpaper I found this note from my great Aunt Zilpha. The advice was good then and still good today:Some people are too tired to give a smile. Give them one of yours, as no one [...]
Things have changed in the last 70 years
Wednesday I took a jackrabbit furlough and drove to the town where I grew up and went to school. I visited some of the places where my friends and I rode donkeys, mules and horses, swam, played and got into good clean mischief. The huge old and knarled cottonwood tree that stood by the swimming [...]
When I was a kid
When I was a kid, movies cost a dime. Even so, back in those tough days when dimes were hard to come by, my friend Henry and I could somehow scrounge up two.
Mother’s kitchen range
Note: This photo was taken by Oris George of his wood-burning heating stove. Inside, behind the glass, the fire flashed and light flares through the glass and travels out through the room. While doing dishes this morning, I listened to the snap and crackle of cedar wood burning in the wood-burning heating stove. My memory [...]
A corncob fortune
As the years march along, I vividly recall the fun, and not-so-fun, times, my friend, Henry, and I spent from the third grade through the ninth grade. I’m working on a story that took place during the fall of 1941. We were eight years old. Neither one of us had any money. We put our [...]
Christmas 1939
Christmas is always fun. Lots of new memories are made. Old friends have gone. As I thought back over the 77 Christmas times of my life, many memories flooded my heart. There were some great memories. The one that stands out closest to my heart was the Christmas of 1939. I was six years old. [...]
Henry
In the third grade, under the tutelage of Miss McKinley, Henry and I became lifelong friends. We knew we were friends because we liked a dog, a donkey and a fishing pole. Together we walked along the back roads of yesterday. At times a dog trotted at our heels. Henry talked a lot. He made [...]
A Twinkle of Time
The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming book — Along the Back Roads of Yesterday. “Oris. Getting you to listen to what I’m telling you is like asking a pet mouse to eat a bushel of red apples.” I had asked Mom if I could hitch my mule Red to the cart and go for [...]
Single Male Coyote
Single Male Coyote looking for Single Female Coyote between the ages of 2 and 7 years. She must be free of mange and lice. Having all of her teeth is a plus. Other than having a litter once a year, she will cook, raise a garden, bring me the newspaper, pick the lice out of [...]
