Sunday was Mother’s Day. If you’re a mother, or have a mother you probably celebrated. Which pretty much means, if my reasoning is correct, everyone was celebrating since most humans have a mother. Except Mr. Levenhall down at the bakery. … Continue reading →

“You have to keep your eye on a banjo player,” said the woman behind the counter of the little restaurant, a six-table joint that was a cross between a coffee shop and a pet store judging by the number of … Continue reading →

It’s late April at a Blue Ridge Mountain campground “resort.” Most people’s idea of a resort doesn’t involve sleeping on the ground next to a fire and using a composting toilet.  But this place is every bit a resort today, … Continue reading →

She was at least 88 years old. Her face showed every child, every job, every heartbreak, every laugh, every row she’d ever planted or picked or hoed. And in those wrinkles, all three dead husbands still lived. When I drove … Continue reading →

Jimmy “The Freak”, a friend of mine dries salmon on a stick, eating it like a fishy corn dog. He gets his fish shipped in from Seattle in big, frozen boxes. On the days his shipments arrive, he gets so … Continue reading →

I was just checking all my investments – okay, that’s not true since my investments consist of a seriously used Ford F-150 and a formerly valuable bass boat that is currently on loan to a friend of mine in southern … Continue reading →

Baseball season started the other day. And I’m not talking about major league baseball. I’m talking about little league ball. Real baseball. No steroids, no millionaires, no whole-paycheck-eating ticket prices, no $9 hotdogs. The baseball game I went to broke … Continue reading →

About two weeks ago I was sitting in Dreamland, the barbecue joint in Tuscaloosa made famous by ribs and Crimson Tide football. Next to a wall filled with decades of Alabama football memorabilia, I nursed a plate of ribs and … Continue reading →

In workplaces all over the country today, people are not working much. Well, they’re not working for their companies really. They’re busy filling out their March Madness brackets and arguing about who will win here and there. I was just … Continue reading →

“I’ve started making lists of places I want to go,” says Katie, her tow-headed 4 year-old son, Mason – named after her grandfather, a former train conductor – running in circles in her yard. “I remember when you were his … Continue reading →