This recipe is so strange – almost like a science experiment, but it will be the easiest, and most delicious dressing you’ve ever made. Your guests will love you. I’ve had stuffing in a turkey — once. That was enough for me to add another reason why I love living in the South. There’s nothing…
Read More
Always wanting to be properly dressed, I searched my closet for a replica of what Lucy wore when she and Ethel stomped grapes. It was the closest activity I could associate with my first olive harvest. Planted in my backyard in humid Alabama for less than a year, I didn’t expect the little olive tree…
Read More
Those seated near me in church surely thought the Holy Spirit was doing a number on my heart, when in reality, the vintage earbobs I wore were doing a number on my earlobes. The pain, pinching and pulsating pressure sent tears streaming down my face. Once belonging to my grandmother, the tiny enamel bouquet of…
Read More
This was a feature story I wrote that appeared in the Sunday, August 15, 2021 edition of the Mobile Press-Register, Birmingham News and The Huntsville Times. It wasn’t included in their on-line site, and many of you contacted me, unable to read it without a hard copy of the newspaper. Thanks for your patience while…
Read More
In the photo on my desk, my son Joe was 9 years old, wearing a baseball cap twisted backwards and baggy old hand-me-down jeans. Flip flops finished his scruffy-kid look. In his hands, he clutched a bouquet of red camellias picked from the neighbor’s yard. There was a soft almost embarrassed smile on his face.…
Read More
The World Meteorological Association has announced a list of names for this year’s storms. When we ran out of names last year, they supplemented with Greek letters like Eta and Iota. This year, they’ve decided to go ahead and create a second list of regular names — like the JV squad. Since most hurricanes blast…
Read More
When my house would rumble with skinny, sweaty, screaming teenage boys, I learned that all I needed to calm them was my 13-inch cast iron skillet and a $1 box of Betty Crocker Cake Mix. Sure, I can bake from scratch and have produced beautiful Hummingbird, Red Velvet and Lemon Curd layer cakes — regionally…
Read More
My son just told me a story about the time he was a little boy and attempted to construct a circuit using a few batteries, paper clips, tin foil and other thing-a-ma-jigs he found around the house. The experiment was unsuccessful, so he shoved the items into his pocket along with a few pieces of…
Read More
Busy days have taken me to The Grand Ole Opry and beyond. Here’s what’s going on.
Read More
This was my view from the socially-distanced open-air front porch of the charming Sundog Books in Seaside, Florida. Not a bad day at the “office!” Have any of you been to Seaside? It was truly one of the best book signings I’ve had. Not only did I sell out of the hardback copies of Exploding…
Read More