Faith, Folklore, and Friends

Stories from my Daddy Storytelling is the oldest form of record keeping.  Most of what we know of ancient history is from oral telling of facts and events, with each generation passing them on to the next. Stories are the most important inheritance we have to pass on.  ~ Donald Davis I cannot remember a time when my Daddy wasn't telling stories.  He told them while we worked, at the supper table, before bedtime.  In the summer, when the heat from the tin roof and wood cook stove drove us out of the house, we sat on the porch with a gnat-smoke in a metal half-bushel tub and Daddy told stories: Stories about hard times, violent deaths of people we didn't know but had allegedly shared DNA, war stories, and mule stories. They included tales about his siblings, which amazed me because his subjects were now elderly people with children of their own, and it was so hard to imagine my sweet aunts jumping fences while running from snakes. Daddy told stories of favorit...

They always come , my Daddy said, the spring rains always come. Some years, they come in roaring storms; the rain falling too fast for the cold ground to absorb. They come with hot lightning and thunder that makes our houses tremble. Some years, they come gentle, sweetly watering the pregnant ground waiting to birth a new season, a new spring. We've had rain about every day this week, and the water is standing; the saturated ground can't hold anymore.  Everywhere, trees are budding, fat, just about ready to explode into bloom.  The rain has washed off winter's dirty gray, allowing some green to peep through. The spring rains always come , my Daddy said. Winter-weary people rejoice.

Former President Ronald Reagan was born this day in 1911.  I can remember the 'Reagan Years' well.  We were so proud of him and trusted him to do what was right for our country.  Some say he was the most loved American president, but no one loved him more than my daddy.   They had a special bond--my daddy was born on this day in 1915, a hundred years ago today. The term 'yellow-dog democrat' refers to those voters that believe the Democratic Party is so superior, that it would be better to vote for a yellow dog than any Republican. I don't know what the Republican equivalent to that is, but I know my daddy would have had splinters pushed under his fingernails or faced a firing-squad before he would have voted for a Democrat. If someone really thought the Democratic candidate would be the better choice, well, we just learned to keep it a secret around Daddy. After he retired, Daddy loved helping Mama with her flowers.  In the photo above, he is pulli...

Storytelling is the oldest form of record keeping.  Most of what we know of ancient history is from oral telling of facts and events, with each generation passing them on to the next. Stories are the most important inheritance we have to pass on.  ~ Donald Davis I cannot remember a time when my Daddy wasn't telling stories. He told them while we worked, at the supper table, before bedtime.  In the summer, when the heat from the tin roof and wood cook stove drove us out of the house, we sat on the porch with a gnat-smoke in a metal half-bushel tub and Daddy told stories: Stories about hard times, violent deaths of people we didn't know but had allegedly shared DNA, war stories, and mule stories. They included tales about his siblings, which amazed me because his subjects were now elderly people with children of their own, and it was so hard to imagine my sweet aunts jumping fences while running from snakes. Daddy told stories of favorite milk cows, of coon dogs,...