Dixie Has Been Forced to Retire
I mentioned in the porch chat a couple weeks back that my beloved Dixie Belle had given up on chasing squirrels. I’m sorry that comment made so many of y’all sad but it is what it is. There was a time when Dixie chased the squirrels around here to China and back on a regular basis. Not anymore. These days squirrels treat our backyard like
Turn the Volume Down, Please
Facebook is like a social media almanac. Scroll through the news feed and picture after picture will tell you, just in case you don’t know, that summer vacation has begun in earnest. Sadly, you will not see the farmer and I represented at the beach. If we manage to get away, (and this belle is determined to do so), our best chance will be in
Who Holds Your Treasure?
“Here, Keggie,” my granddaughter said, “Hold my frog, please. I don’t want to lose it.” It would be a waste of time for anyone to tell Emerson she shouldn’t play with frogs. That ship has sailed. And for the record, this Keggie complied. You may or may not share Emerson’s fondness for frogs, but I’m guessing we all know what it means to trust someone to
A Different Kind of Food Chain
The demands of All Things Southern require me to keep a pretty consistent schedule. Dixie Belle knows this to-do list inside and out. If I leave by the front door early in the morning, she knows I’m going for a walk. Should I exit through the back porch, she knows that it’s kayak time and the old girl starts fretting immediately. Dixie takes her security
Statue in the Pew
The picture got my attention first. It was a bronze statue of a lady sitting on the front row of a beautiful church, with what appeared to be an open Bible on her lap. Now, that was interesting but the accompanying article was unbelievable. In it, the statue was described as the embalmed and bronzed image of a longtime church-goer named Mrs. Gert, who was
Stinking to High Heavens
It was the loveliest of Saturday afternoons. I was back porch tap, tap, tapping on my laptop and nearing the end of some very challenging edits on my next manuscript. Meanwhile, my man was getting a good bit of yard work done and my sweet Dixie Belle was having a high old-time wading in the edge of the lake and chasing the occasional squirrel. Ah, the
Spotting the Mighty Eagles of Lake Providence, LA
We’ve had people in town tell us about a pair of eagles that have made our lake their home and I’ve seen cell phone pictures others have captured, but until recently, it was just that, hearsay. Then we saw him for ourselves, this mighty bird with the wing span for days! And can I just say, “Wow!” It was Easter Sunday. He landed high atop a
Elvis the Egret Hits the Jackpot
I was watching a flock of egret fish for shad along the lake bank when I saw him. He wasn’t unique in appearance, same white feathers, same spindly legs, and beady eyes. It’s just that I happened to glance his way right about the time he hit the jackpot, struck pay-dirt if you will. While his buddies munched on two-inch shad, Elvis the Egret was
Welcome to my Birthday Month!
Welcome to my birthday month! I decided long ago that a birth day was too short a celebration. I usually try and stretch it out for a week, but this time I’m thinking a full month is in order! Friends, I will be half a century old on the last day of April, which just seems crazy, but you can’t mess with math. Of course,
Don’t Ask Me to Roll An “R”
I’ve never made a secret of the fact that I couldn’t talk well when I was young and I’ve freely admitted that traces of my childhood speech impediment can still be heard. I honestly don’t know whether or not I’ve told y’all about the dreaded speech therapist who used to hold my tongue while putting me through his little regimen, but that’s the gospel truth,