The suitcases have come out of the closet, and Scout-the-Labish knows something’s up. This time last year our planned vacation travel was still several months off. But hurricanes have derailed us twice now. First time was only a glancing blow, but there was torrential rain, the kind that falls sideways in sheets. At one point … Continue reading Travel Story: Way Down South Part IV
Family
Family Story: It’s in the DNA
‘We don’t hide crazy,’ I said. ‘We put it on the porch and let it entertain the neighbors.’—Nick Wilgus Surely you’ve seen some iteration of that quote in the context of how ‘crazy’ is handled way down South. The gist is, any self-respecting Southern family is not ashamed of the crazy aunt or the second … Continue reading Family Story: It’s in the DNA
Dog Story: The Quiet Intelligence of a Little Lab-ish
You're getting too big for your britches. —Mom And so it goes with Scout-the-Lab-ish, who snapped at David-the-Chef a few nights ago, after David got up in the middle of the night and returned to bed and found a dog where there had been a chef-sized space only moments earlier. David attempted to gently scooch … Continue reading Dog Story: The Quiet Intelligence of a Little Lab-ish
Mom Is Human: a Memphis Memory
/ˌSHto͝orm o͝on(d) ˈdraNG/ noun – turbulent emotion or stress. In the eastern suburbs of Memphis, Tennessee, you can tell a tornado’s coming—or at the very least a horrific storm—long before the civil defense sirens sound. The wind picks up red soil from rice farmers’ fields over in West Memphis, Arkansas, near the western shores of … Continue reading Mom Is Human: a Memphis Memory
Signs of Life: Sunday Photo Essay
The dark finish on the steps and handrails was elegant and dressy once upon a time, you can tell. But over weeks and months, then years and decades, it collected scuffmarks and even a few deep gouges, call it a patina if you wish, from the traffic in the house: you can see it clearly … Continue reading Signs of Life: Sunday Photo Essay
Vermontish Doppelgängers and Other Christmas Week Reflections
This one thing still happens to me every week, if not every day: I see somebody and I think I know who it is for an instant, and then remember there is no way I could possibly know them. I am new here still, and mainly disconnected, still. Back ‘home’ in Knoxville I could scarcely … Continue reading Vermontish Doppelgängers and Other Christmas Week Reflections
First Sunday in Advent: Finding Peace and Home
Last Thursday afternoon I stood on the front porch of our new home having a delightful chat with a pair of young Mormon missionaries. Earlier I’d seen them combing the other side of the block for anybody whose ear they could bend to share their earnest message. One after another door remained closed; some folks … Continue reading First Sunday in Advent: Finding Peace and Home
Shape Shifting Words and Other Moving Truths
Have you ever fixated on a simple word until it’s no longer recognizable? The word desk, for example, is a four-letter word that means “a table, frame, or case with a sloping or horizontal surface especially for WRITING and reading and often with drawers, compartments, and pigeonholes,” so says Merriam Webster. Roll around the word … Continue reading Shape Shifting Words and Other Moving Truths
Find a Penny
You are a hoverer, I said to the twenty-something this morning, aware of his presence just behind and to the left of me while I was kneading biscuit dough. A what? A hoverer: whatever I’m doing, there you are, hovering like a helicopter. The other morning you were standing there at the bathroom door talking … Continue reading Find a Penny
Hole in That Theory: B & W Challenge Day 7
Birds around here fall silent in winter, but this summer and fall the woods around this little cottage have resonated with so much birdsong at times that we've raised a fist skyward: trying to sleep, here—can you please keep it down? A parliament of owls lives in our trees. That's what you call a group … Continue reading Hole in That Theory: B & W Challenge Day 7
Sycamore Stories 