A Serving Of Jelly And Philosophy

January 29, 2012

I scanned the road as I drove down Highway 105, searching for my jelly vendor. The gorgeous faux-spring weather seemed likely enough to bring a roadside vendor out to play. I certainly hoped so, because my sweet tooth was aching for jelly like Mamaw used to make (although she never made mayhaw) slathered all over [...]

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Off The Beaten Path. A Step At A Time.

November 10, 2011

Vida never veers from the pathway her paws have plowed in the earth. “Vida” is the dog next door who greets me at the fence each day. Although when her path was created she had to weave around bushes in the yard, those obstacles have since been removed. There are simpler ways to cross the [...]

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The Boulder In My Boot

December 6, 2010

I have no clue how that rock got into my shoe. Perhaps it was because I stumbled clumsily across the parking lot. Or, maybe that itty bitty rock hopped into my shoe to try to teach me some obscure life lesson. At any rate, it traveled over the top of my boot, down the length [...]

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An Epilogue: Finders Weepers

October 1, 2010

My “inner selves” were at war. Good Shelly battled Evil Shelly in an epic “cat fight,” as I pondered what to do about the stamps I found at the post office yesterday. I’m not talking a couple of “Forever Stamps” … I’m talking big money : $36.60 worth of stamps. Evil Shelly snarled, “Keep ‘em, [...]

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Losers Weepers

September 30, 2010

Except that they deal with larger issues, this belongs on an episode of that ABC News television show called “What Would You Do?” Someone is weeping and wailing right now, but it isn’t me. In that old rhyme (“Finders keepers, losers weepers”) I’m the “finder.” I also feel faced with a tiny moral dilemma. Your [...]

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Pruning

July 21, 2010

From my back porch, I spend a lot of time observing the plants and critters in my yard. As I sit pondering, I often find that I learn lessons from Mother Nature. The problem for me is that as the seasons change, I forget what I have learned. At the moment, I’m trying to indelibly [...]

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Sometimes Life is Like a 404 Error Page

April 16, 2009

You know what a “404 error page” is don’t you? When you read those words on your computer screen, it means that the URL (link) that you just followed took you to nowhere. You didn’t get where you intended to go. You have to backtrack and head in a different direction, because you didn’t find [...]

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Firm Foundations

March 18, 2009

Spring is surely here in my part of Texas, my friends. Yesterday, I sat on my porch enjoying the sunshine, and the spectacle of two mourning doves who were building their summer home. What a beautiful sight it was! First, the Mrs. flapped up on a branch and nestled a twig in place. As she [...]

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Wear Clean Underwear

March 11, 2009

“Wear clean underwear, in case you are in an accident!” I actually heard my grandmother utter that cliché once. Y’all thought that was just a joke people used, didn’t you? I’m not sure I understand exactly why clean underwear would be important. How can I put this “delicately?” I’m telling you that if I were [...]

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I Can Do This

February 16, 2009

I sat on the front porch step with my chin in my hands and an enormous scowl on my face, as I watched the other children gleefully riding their bicycles down the street. My heart was positively green with envy. Granddaddy carefully eased himself down on the step beside me, using his hands to position [...]

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Empty Words

January 14, 2009

In a storytelling workshop with 4th grade students this week, I had a child ask me a question that has given me pause. It made me start pondering my storytelling and my blogging. I told the kids that I didn’t start telling stories until I was in my thirties, although my life’s path had been [...]

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New Year Podcast. The Worm Whisperer

January 1, 2009

Happy New Year to all! Let’s hope we get lucky and 2009 is the best year ever. Have you eaten your black-eyed peas today? If not you’d better get started! My Papaw, who called them “cow peas,” always said you had to eat one pea for every day of the year that you wanted to [...]

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Life Balance, Part Two: It’s A Jigsaw Puzzle

October 26, 2008

By anyone’s standards, my Daddy was a successful man. He owned his own electrical contracting company and made money hand over fist. His hours were long, but he got everything done every day. On weekends, he took the family to our vacation home (a trailer) at Lake Texoma. Though he spent a lot of time [...]

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Life Balance, Part One: Walking A Tight Rope

October 26, 2008

“Don’t worry,” she said confidently. “I can do it all.” The skeptical thoughts running through my head at that moment included, “Maybe …unless life gets in the way.” She was a “thirty-something” young woman, who was telling me about her busy life, which she kept highly organized. She has a husband who works a late [...]

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Mind Your Manners, And The Rest Is Soon To Follow

June 17, 2008

“I think once you stop hearin’ “sir” and “maam” the rest is soon to follow.”~Sheriff Bell (Tommie Lee Jones) in No Country For Old Men Though the Cohen Brothers packed their movie with violence, the most memorable part of No Country For Old Men, for me, was the line above. It’s been bouncing around in [...]

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The Angel of Marye’s Heights

June 13, 2008

I’ve been working on my story repertoire the last few days. In that process, I came upon a tale from the time of the Civil War. Times of conflict can bring out the very best in some people. Richard Rowland Kirkland was one of those people. I wanted to share with you his story (facts [...]

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Thursday Thirteen #42. It’s Graduation!

June 4, 2008

Do any of y’all have graduates this year? We have one about to graduate (Yippee!) and he is the last of the bunch. That means that the last few weeks have been busy, and it isn’t going to slow down soon. For Thursday Thirteen, I guess this is thirteen observations. 1. I love this quote [...]

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Balance Is A Choice

May 11, 2008

Have y’all seen the little old lady in the buffet line? You know the one I mean. She drives you nuts, because she is so dadgum slow! While you stand there grumbling, she carefully fills her plate. She dawdles around while you fume. She takes a little bit of this, and a dab of that, [...]

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Gentle Rebellion–Finding Balance–A Group Writing Project

April 23, 2008

The last many months for me has been nothing but go. . . go. . . GO! Every woman out there knows what I mean, and I believe that most men understand it, too. Some of us fill our lives so full that we barely get to enjoy the things we do. I’m one of [...]

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Thursday Thirteen Number Forty—Things I’m Learning From Blogging

March 27, 2008

Y’all, I’m about to celebrate a blogging anniversary. Though I have been blogging since January of 2007, I migrated to WordPress and my own domain in April. It’s been quite a “ride.” During the course of this blogging experience, I’ve learned a lot of things about it, about people, and about me. For this Thursday, [...]

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