Not so long ago, you could tell quite a bit about someone by the car they drove.

If someone drove a sensible vehicle, such as a small sedan, they were frugal and wanted to make sure their family enjoyed comfort during their travels. If someone drove a big red sports car, they had a lot of money — and a lot of speeding tickets.

In the 50s and 60s in Ashdown, Arkansas, most families had one car. The dad drove it to ...

I don’t remember a time when Burt Reynolds wasn’t around. That is until he passed away a few years ago.

When Gunsmoke was one of the biggest shows on television, Burt played the town blacksmith, Quint Asper.

It was a character I noticed, because my grandfather and great grandfather were blacksmiths.

Burt wasn’t always on the show, but when he was he reeked of the cool he would later embody when he ruled the box office in the 1970s.

I likely should not have ...

My grandparents lived modestly. Most from their generation did.

It wasn’t a choice. It was necessity.

My grandmother and grandfather were teens when the depression hit, so instead of enjoying their formative years, they worked to eat. They worked to survive.

I heard a lot about the depression. The thing I heard most often was that no one had anything; at least nothing of significant value, and certainly nothing that was frivolous.

When I came along in the early 1960s, the post-World War II ...

Something happened to tea along the way. Something bad. And it needs to be stopped.

Growing up in Ashdown, Arkansas, in addition to water, tea had just two other ingredients; tea and sugar. Not necessarily in that order.

This sacred recipe was handed down through generations of southern grandmothers, who made sure that the right portions were in place and were never to be adjusted.

There were two simple tests that ensured sweet tea was made correctly. Did your teeth hurt when you ...