Garden Ghoulies!
Summer always grows on me—sometimes in the weirdest ways. Photo Credit: Catherine Hamrick
MorePoems, stories, and reflections
Southern Crazy Quilt
The Heirloom Dress
My mother was no-nonsense, even when it came to planning weddings. “For God’s sake, don’t book it on religious holidays: Christmas, Easter, and SEC football season. You’ll have no-shows around New Year’s, spring break, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day. Mother’s Day is sacred, too. Father’s Day? Oh, men get over it.” “Forget […]
More“The Sea, the Sea—It’s So Empty”
They said the LST could ride higher in the water when landing in trim. She hit the sloping beach, and the bow door fell and disgorged jeeps and tanks and finally men with hands to work. It was gray all round, the water, the sky, ship after ship beside, around, and behind as far as […]
MoreWhat’s Love Got to Do with It? Everything
Whatever your faith, there is a season of goodwill and the love of family on holy days. “I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year,” Ebenezer Scrooge promised in A Christmas Carol. Well written, Mr. Dickens. If I could keep that promise, then I would feel humanity to […]
MoreHe’s Got the Beet
I always hated beets—until I met Jeffrey Robey at the Lynchburg, Virginia, Community Market. All summer he was my go-to guy for fresh yellow squash and tomatoes. Now he is the king of all things green—collards, kale, and mustard greens. At least those are my top three picks when I stop at his outdoor stand, […]
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Shadow Stroll
History rests quietly in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery on the otherwise lively University of Chapel Hill Campus. Oaks, maples, cedars, and pines shade this death march through time, which began with George Clarke, a Burke County student at the university, who died September 28, 1798. Monuments, obelisks, tables, slabs, and nameless fieldstones mark the […]
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