Faith, Folklore, and Friends

Every good gift and every perfect gift  is  from above, coming down from  the  Father of lights  with whom there is no  variation or shadow due to change. ~James 1:17

My friends and sisters, Jan and Ann, have birthdays the same week I do in January.  Every year, we have one lunch to celebrate them all. January was bad for us.  I had some oral surgery on January 5 that kept me moaning for most of the month.  Jan and Ann both had some health issues.  We postponed our lunch. We all got better, then Ann went on a wonderful trip to Florida, so we postponed the lunch again. We made dates for lunch and postponed it several more times, due to Mother Nature's confusion about North Alabama weather.  We reached the point where we were afraid to write it on our calendars, fearing another icy forecast. Finally, yesterday, we had our January lunch.  On March 12.  We had so much fun together, it was worth the wait.  Maybe we should do it in October this year. In addition to enjoying their company, I got this birthday present.  Jan is an artist and didn't know hummingbirds were my favorite, so it ...

Violet Beatrice Gean Stricklin October 26, 1917-November 11, 2007 It's my mama's birthday. The Earth raced around the Sun and the seasons changed ninety times while she was here. She was uneducated, but wise. Beautiful, work-roughened hands that were never still. Her life was taking care of her family, and that she did well, even when the road was hard. She did massive amounts of laundry on a wringer washer; her clothes lines full every sunny day expect Sunday. She could coax nutritious vegetables out of tired clay soil, rising with the sun to do battle with weeds. Her quilts still warm our beds and our hearts. Known for her incomparable biscuits, she made enough in her lifetime to completely fill a Cracker Barrel. More familiar with pain than joy, she endured. She lived to see adult children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. We are educated, talented, well-traveled, scattered. She lives in all of us. Beadie Haynes, Marie Thompson, Mama, Geneva...

Today is a very special day for birthdays.     Google Images. Kyra Sedgwick, who will be remembered for The Closer .  I miss that show. Who can remember Adam Arkin from Northern Exposure , with his nasty cap and long hair? Christian Slater Matthew Perry Number 42. Tipper Gore.  Wonder if she and her former husband celebrated with the Clintons when they were in office?  I met her many years ago when she was campaigning for Al Gore when he was running for senate. Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek . Coco Chanel Malcolm Forbes The poet Ogden Nash.   I think that I shall never see a billboard lovely as a tree. Perhaps, unless the billboards fall, I'll never see a tree at all.  Orville Wright  Willie Shoemaker The cutest and best person born on this day is my little sister, Robbie June.  Happy Birthday!

Convenience isn't always better.  Such is the case of the federal holiday called President's Day, created apparently because it is just too much trouble to honor two great leaders in the same short month.  On President's Day, did anyone hear George Washington mentioned? Or Abraham Lincoln?  Or was it joy that there was no school and big sales at the mall? I am concerned that children today are not being taught about where they come from, about leaders that struggled and sacrificed and gave everything, sometimes their lives, so our country could be free. George Washington couldn't afford to go to college.  He left school when he was fifteen to learn to be a surveyor.  He was a born leader, and said yes when asked to lead a bunch of untrained men against the British army. He persevered in spite of unbelievable conditions. The new Americans, this body of people who had witnessed the birth of a nation, loved George.  They begged George to be their...

The woman looked anxiously at the sky, then bent over to get another wet diaper to hang on the clothes line to dry.  She was enjoying this warm weather, but something  just didn't seem right, it being late January and all.  Still sore from the birth of her baby girl a few days ago, she quickly hung the cotton diapers to dry.  She could see the clouds building in the western sky. By the time she collected the dry diapers a few hours later, the sky was overcast and a northwest wind cut though  her cotton house dress.  Grabbing her heavy coat, she began to bring in dry wood for the fireplace.  By the time she had enough for that night, a cold rain had began to fall.  When her husband got home from work a little while later, the rain had begun freezing and already, a thin glaze of ice covered the porch steps. They listened, quiet, that night as the rain pounded the tin roof of the house and the wind raged outside their windows.  The husba...

In loving memory of Mary Lynn Stricklin Horton January 12, 1937-December 2, 1990 She was the same kind of different as me. My half-sister, Mary Lynn, was my oldest sibling. Her mom died from complications of measles/pneumonia when Mary was about four, and her brother was two. Before too long, my dad and mom were married, my mom a new bride with an instant family. My parents lives, like those of everyone we knew, consisted of growing cotton and corn and children. The world was very small, immobile, static for generations. An aunt and uncle had moved to Michigan searching for a better life, and had found it there. When the aunt became pregnant, Mary traveled there to help during the pregnancy. She saw how big the world was. She returned home when she was no longer needed, but was never content there again. There was not a lot of opportunity for social interaction with anyone who was not a relative. People visiting from outside the area always seemed different and exciting. When Ma...