From The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, by Dorothy Gillman, 1966 I can still see the dog-eared paperback clear as day on the guest bedroom nightstand in my childhood home in Memphis: a mystery novel by Dorothy Gillman titled The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, my great-grandmother Gracie’s reading selection on that visit. On the book jacket a woman … Continue reading A Family Memory: Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax and Surprise Connections
Books
Travel Story: Road Trip to Tennessee the WPA Way
Looky what came in last week’s mail. The only thing better would have been stumbling across this in a Vermont antique store or at a local tag sale. Well, that, and maybe a first edition, instead of this third edition. I did locate a first edition in excellent shape in another online vendor’s inventory, evidently … Continue reading Travel Story: Road Trip to Tennessee the WPA Way
Travel Story: Writer with a Wanderlust
The best gift Chef David gave me this past Christmas is a beautiful little piece of non-fiction writing by John Steinbeck called Travels with Charley: In Search of America (Charley being a colorful and personable Standard Poodle). I’ve always loved me a good Steinbeck story, but ‘til now have read only his novels. Travels with … Continue reading Travel Story: Writer with a Wanderlust
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
Idling in Vermont
Some forty years after its publication Bruce Chatwin’s In Patagonia is still considered a pivotal and authoritative piece of travel writing about this 400,000-square-mile South American region. Ferdinand Magellan called the tall aboriginals he encountered there Patagones after a mythic character, it is rumored, hence its name. Straddling two countries and claiming most of a … Continue reading Idling in Vermont
Summer Reading: Some Promising Looking Fresh Hell
What fresh hell can this be? It is a line sometimes attributed to Shakespeare, but Dorothy Parker said it. Dang Shakespeare. It's one of those quips that sounds so civilized, so much better than any number of other crude things one might choose to say when a situation demands it (wtf comes to mind). I found Dorothy … Continue reading Summer Reading: Some Promising Looking Fresh Hell
Reflections: Loss, Life’s Frailty, & Gratitude
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.—Groucho Marx Mind you, this is not too profound. After last weekend's disappointing discovery of the incipient decline of many, many of my books I am feeling better about them tonight. I'm lucky to live with somebody … Continue reading Reflections: Loss, Life’s Frailty, & Gratitude
Forgotten Books, Forever Friends, & Harper Lee
In Memphis and other parts of the South and Midwest powerful storms are inseparable from the spring and summer landscape. Once upon a time civil defense sirens meant a tornado, prompting the requisite sequestration of our family in a tiny downstairs bathroom under piles of pillows. By age six or so I learned to fear any old thunderstorm that … Continue reading Forgotten Books, Forever Friends, & Harper Lee
Sycamore Stories 