It was the car I’d always wanted. A 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 Convertible.
I found it one morning while cruising (pun intended) on eBay. The guy who owned it and had it for sale lived just east of me, a few miles across the Louisiana line.
It was red, with large white stripes on the hood. From the photos, it looked to be in great condition for a 32-year-old car. I stared at it on the computer screen.
I wanted this car.
My love ...
Continue Reading →
I don’t understand the new TV shows.
Well, maybe that’s a bit of an overstatement. Shows such as “Cops,” “World’s Wildest Police Chases,” and “Judge Judy,” are fairly straightforward. Some of those programs even remind me of family members. But, I’m getting off track.
We’ve come a long way from “The Andy Griffith Show,” “Happy Days,” and “Touched By An Angel.”
I often wake up early and sometimes spend a few hours alone, which gives me complete control of the TV remote. This ...
Continue Reading →
Forty-five years ago, my mother began collecting a series of antique canning jars. I can’t remember why this happened, but my best guess is that she came across one that was unique, she liked it, and she bought it.
This purchase would start a chain reaction and a multi-year search for my family.
Specifically, she sought green Atlas jars with glass lids. These were also known as “Lightning Jars.” Allegedly, the name came from how much faster they were to open than ...
Continue Reading →
Chain restaurants are rapidly replacing what I believe has been one of the best facets of small town America: the local diner or restaurant.
Unexpectedly and unannounced, the drive-in in our small town closed last week. In fairness, it was a Sonic, which technically is a chain restaurant, but it wasn’t a corporate location, it was locally owned.
Whenever we lose an eatery that was owned by someone who lives in our town, we lose a little bit of who we are.
After ...
Continue Reading →
Once upon a time, daytime television was filled with game shows, people winning prizes, and funny celebrities. I miss those days, and one game show in particular. Match Game.
During the midday hours of the summer breaks in the mid-1970s, just about the only thing on TV that a kid wanted to watch were game shows.
We stayed with my grandmother during those summer days. She watched game shows too, but she mainly watched soap operas, or as she called them, her ...
Continue Reading →
For those who know me, it’s no secret that I enjoy perusing the classifieds for yard or estate sales. But, a recent online visit to the local Craigslist site led to the purchase of a manual typewriter. A 1958 Remington Quiet-Riter, to be exact.
This column was written on it.
Some might consider an almost-60-year-old typewriter a nonsensical purchase, considering that desktops, laptops and iPads (the latter typically being my chosen device for writing) are much easier to navigate and correct mistakes.
All ...
Continue Reading →
Rising quietly from the bed as not to wake her, I dress in the dark and make my way to the door. I open it and walk into the hallway. On the bedroom wall, I watch the dim light shining in from the living room narrow and then disappear as I lightly close the door.
As I make the short walk from our bedroom to the living room, the light brightens. It’s 3 o’clock on Christmas morning and the lights on ...
Continue Reading →
Santa came to our house on Christmas Eve, before we went to bed. Some of my friends had to go to bed before Santa would come. Their gifts would be under the tree when they woke up.
Not me. I didn’t have to wait. My grandmother would take us for a Christmas Eve ride in the station wagon to look for Rudolph’s glowing nose in the sky.
All of the local radio stations would give Santa sighting reports. The North American Aerospace ...
Continue Reading →
A few days ago, the oldest child in our family announced that he was looking for a truck. His current vehicle, which was born during the first George W. Bush administration, was ready for retirement.
Our family is one that drives vehicles until the proverbial wheels fall off.
He looked at a number of different trucks, and surprisingly, even though I thought he was a devout Ford man, he even considered a Dodge. Ultimately, he stuck with a Ford.
He sent us a ...
Continue Reading →
When I was a child, there was a painting that hung on my grandmother’s kitchen wall. It portrayed a man who was praying over a meal of bread and what appeared to be a bowl of soup. Near the man was a book, which I always assumed was a Bible, and a pair of spectacles.
From my earliest recollections until my dad’s mother passed, I remember looking at this painting while we ate in her home and wondering many things. Who ...
Continue Reading →