latest
Many of us who still go to Sunday School are studying a part of the Old Testament called Ecclesiastes. Not only can we not spell it, we in the “Cemetery” Class have a hard time trying to comprehend the teachings of the old teacher (Solomon). But we try. This morning I got out of bed and walked toward my kitchen where my wife was fixing our breakfast. She had our TV tuned to channel 25 and it was saying something about the “heartbreak of erectile disfunction.” That was the same commercial that had played the morning before. Yep. Just like in Ecclesiastes, it too had already been. And my breakfast was on the stove.
Read more
Noccalula Falls in Gadsden, Alabama is a scenic 90-foot-tall point of scenic beauty. It’s also considered a very romantic spot. A place where a young man might take his best girl on a date. One reason it’s considered so romantic is that a long time ago, the beautiful Cherokee daughter of a great Cherokee Chief had fallen in love with a handsome Cherokee Prince. The son of the afore mentioned Chief. But as it happens, the Chief had already made a deal with a nearby Creek Chief in which he promised his beautiful daughter to this Creek Chief’s son instead. This did not go well. The heartbroken princess went over to the place she and her lover had spooned so much and she jumped.
Read moreMy dad once told me about the first self-propelled automobile he ever saw. He couldn’t remember exactly when but he was just a little kid who was born in 1910. The car amazed him and his numerous little brothers as the car chugged past their house on Goat Ridge Road in Leflore County, Oklahoma. The boys were so impressed they tried to preserve the tire imprints in the sandy road, but you know how sand is. The tire tread marks were soon gone. And dad said it was a long time before another car ever came by.
Read moreLast week was a busy week for many Allenites. It was the alumni week here in Allen and many former Allen grads were all about town for the big celebrations. Then last Saturday night I drove over to my old hometown of Stonewall for the alumni meeting over there. A good meal was had in their great cafeteria and much to my surprise, not one of my classmates of 1952 showed up. But, nevertheless, Pat and I had a good time and a good lot of visiting with other old friends that made up the crowd. Saw some old acquaintances from out of state too that I hadn’t seen in many years. Ann Brooks, Pat Toney and Billie Miller to just name three of them. Had a good time reminiscing about old times in old Stonewall.
Read moreSeems like we spend a lot of time dealing with trash. It’s everywhere and there is lots of it. I remember living over at Stonewall. “Take the trash out” meant taking it out to the burn barrel and sticking a match to it. This got rid of most of it as we sent the stinking stuff into the atmosphere to pollute the atmosphere. It was gone with the wind as far as I was concerned. Residue of ashes and other non-burnable gradually filling the barrel with ashes would be hauled off to the dump and you could start all over. Environmental damages? Not a worry for me.
Read moreI didn’t know that in order to leave one Baptist church and get into another (and keep your good standing) you had to walk down the would-be new church’s aisle, declare your intentions and instruct their church clerk to write your old church clerk a letter (on her own church’s stationery) and request this letter. Good heavens I thought after my mom had explained all this to me, I wondered what other secrets concerning wellbeing and heaven-going I hadn’t been told about.
Read moreMy article’s title refers to the eight people missing from Allen. I suppose they are anyway. The Census count in 2010 was 934 but in dropped to 926. I guess we will just have to make do. If you know who they are or were, let me know.
Read moreJune long ago meant school was out. It was time to visit. To travel. It usually meant that my brother Gerald and I would be shipped off to our grandparents down in Leflore County to visit our grandparents and help out on the farm doing what my brother called “slave labor.”
Read more