Long summer nights sitting on the porch gives one time to think and reminisce. As the lightening bugs emerge for their nightly dance, the mind returns to a time of tag, hide and seek, croquet with family and friends and the second most important Holiday to a kid (sorry Easter and Thanksgiving, even Halloween), Fourth of… Read more »

Lately there has been much on my mind. For a person who has been kindly described by my wife as having an “active mind” (interpretation – shut it down for a while), the events of this year have me in mental overdrive. So, it was with pleasure that this past Saturday I hopped on my riding… Read more »

While it is good to get excited about big things (birthdays, weddings, grandkids), I also find that it is the unexpected that often brings me great joy. Let me add that sometimes the unexpected  – when you take a few minutes and think about it – really shouldn’t be unexpected. The world has been turned… Read more »

Have you ever been the beneficiary of a stranger’s gift? Perhaps you have made your way to the drive-thru window to pick up your sausage biscuit and learned that the person ahead of you has paid for your order! Each summer, the deacons in our church go to a local gas station just off of US-23,… Read more »

Over the years, I have often used regular Appalachian words or phrases that, shall I say, surprise some folks. I can recall using the word “diddle” (Appalachian for “a small chick”) at a Bankers Meeting in Richmond. As I saw the blank stares, I explained the word to a group who, beyond not knowing what… Read more »

A few years back at my wife’s family farm, we found a big old bell. Her cousin Erik erected it on a pole and rang it out. Man, was it loud! It was the bell that had been used on the farm for years to call folks back in for a hearty farm lunch (or dinner… Read more »

I recently read that this will be a tremendous year for gardening as folks are homebound and looking for activities that will get them outside. There is even talk about folks having Victory Gardens this year. A routine at our home for 25 years has been buying flowering baskets for display on our home’s wrap… Read more »

Our thought and prayers to you and your family as we continue the good fight. Perhaps when you were a kid, or now as a parent or grandparent, you spent time reading fables. Fables have been a part of humanity for centuries. In 600 BC, Aesop told of the Ant and the Grasshopper, The Brothers… Read more »

As many (if not most) of you know, I love history–Learning from those who faced challenges and interacted with friends (and former enemies) and learning why they did what they did. One aspect of being a lover of history is iconic pictures (pictures, after all, are worth 1,000 words) and paintings from those times. A picture that… Read more »

My wife and children (and others) poke fun at me for loving to mow so much. On the mower, with my iPod – for two hours (yep the yard is pretty big) I am in solitary bliss! They have often kidded me that I reminded them of Mr. Douglas (Eddie Albert) from the 60’s comedy… Read more »