DYK: Did you know? Pulling out a stop lets air flow through a pipe and make a sound. Prior to the introduction of pipe organs the word ‘stop’ had, in a musical context, been used to mean ‘note’ or ‘key’. Organs have stops to control the air flow through the pipes and pulling them out […]
My Aunt Phyliss by Bob Doherty My granddaddy, Mike, had nine children; four boys and five girls. My grandmother died before three of the children were old enough to take care of themselves. Since the oldest girl had married before her mother died the duties of the woman of the house fell to the second […]
I Hate Privet Hedges by Dorothy Graham Gast I hate privet hedges. In the mid 1900’s privet hedges were used in southern landscapes as cheap fences. A row of bushes 3 feet apart would soon grow into a dense barrier. If untamed they might grow 15 feet high and serve as a windbreak or feeding […]
BEARS by Dorothy Graham Gast I love bears. Not the seven foot grizzlies that chase careless tourists for their picnic baskets, but the manmade fluffy varieties carried by firefighters to calm frightened children after trauma. The kind teenagers leave on their pillows each day and the kind grandmothers rest their arthritic elbows on as they […]
NAME THAT TUNE by Joyce Ray Wheeler It happens frequently! On a busy morning of routine scheduling, I find myself almost inaudibly humming just a snatch of a tune. In fact, I don’t realize I am humming until all of a sudden I pause and ask myself “What is the name of that old tune? […]
FRUIT CAKE, ANYONE? BY INEZ MCCOLLUM The fruit cake is the proverbial joke this time of the year. There are stories about re-gifting them into the following year. Me? I happen to be quite fond of them. I purchase the bar type and keep it in the refrigerator. It doesn’t go anywhere since I am […]
CARNIVOROUS PLANTS by Inez McCollum It is interesting to see the word “carnivorous” associated with plants. My desk dictionary even passes up on that, recognizing it with animal life. My first experience with the venus flytrap was at a small plant shop in Homewood. My youngest son was with me as I shopped for some […]
My New Orleans Experience: My Purse was Snatched! By Jean Butterworth My son, Danny was the mascot, Big Al at the University of Alabama from 1985-87. On November 9, 1985, Bama was to play LSU, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. It was a long drive to Baton Rouge but a nurse friend, asked me […]
I LOVE ROCKING CHAIRS by Jean Butterworth I love rocking chairs! When I am out with my friends and I see a rocking chair, they say, “there goes Jean to the rocker”. I have always done my best reading, sewing or just thinking sitting in a rocking chair. This might have started when I was […]
Pepe, the headstrong dog I thought we should adopt a dog to complete our family. When I discovered a large black, male standard poodle for sale, I convinced Bob this was just what we needed, little knowing how wrong I would be. He delineated his territory When Bob brought him home and introduced him to […]
