Sometime I went through a transition from childhood to becoming a man. I never considered that there was a time when such a transition may have happened. I just grew into it without noticing the difference. Childhood had many phases, few of which were near to manhood.

My high school days ended when I was 18. By that time I had done the things that teen-agers typically do: become an athlete, learn things but only if I thought I needed to know, get by with things my parents didn’t know ab...(click to continue reading)

It seems odd to me to head west when our destination is east, but that’s how it was. Daughter Catherine and I left for Savannah via Houston on Saturday morning. Much earlier that day son David left northern Virginia in his car for the Savannah airport. He arrived shortly after we did, and after an impromptu tour of Savannah where we accidentally nearly crashed a wedding in one of Savannah’s many parks, made our way on to Tybee Island. Being first to arrive at Tybrisa Beach Resort we had our choi...(click to continue reading)

I’ve written about my mother’s family to some extent, but my children may be interested in more, at least their names.  Granddaddy was Francis Marion Wells.  The name sounded to me like a woman’s name, but not so.  Grandma was Octavia Watkins Cousins Wells, called Tave by her husband.  Momma whose name was Ivo Onolia had two sisters, Idyle Faire and Odette.  Everyone knew Idyle as Tump, a name derived from her attempts to repeat “Sugarlump” as someone called the sweet little child.  Odette was c...(click to continue reading)

In midwinter during my grammar school days a box with a slotted lid would appear on the teacher’s desk.  (I think they’ve renamed it elementary school, but we really did learn some grammar.)  The teacher explained that it was a box for valentines and that anyone who wished could stay after school and help decorate it.  A few girls volunteered and the next day the box sat transformed into Cupid’s parade of hearts and lace.  We were all invited to drop valentine messages for whomever we wished int...(click to continue reading)

The view from our airplane window was spectacular as we glided over Los Angeles toward the airport.  Dusk was nearly upon us and the city lights were illuminated.  The scene shimmered in a pale green glow, dotted throughout by jewels of light for as far as I could see in any direction.  I was sorry to land so soon. 

After a long trek through the terminal, we emerged at the ground transportation area where we found a vehicle from our hotel waiting for us.  I was not so impressed that the...(click to continue reading)

Our esteemed leader admitted that she comes from a goofy family. Well, ‘goofy’ was not her word for it but it’s close enough it seems to me. At any rate I wondered if she thought that she expected her students to admit to being goofier than her family. It’s quite possible that some of us were even goofier.

I may as well start with my Uncle Kyle. He lived with his family about a mile from the village of East Stone Gap. Most every morning after he did his chores he walked to town to hang ...(click to continue reading)