-
An Arkansas Story
Day 4 of our virtual road trip takes us east from Oklahoma to Arkansas. We moved so many times over the years that no one place really seems like “home” to me unless it would be Grandmother and Granddaddy’s home place in the Ozarks. They lived there as early as I can remember, and when they finally sold it in their retirement…
-
An Oklahoma Story
The third day of our virtual road trip takes us north from Texas to Oklahoma. Three of my great-grandparents were still alive during my growing-up years. They were all three on my mother’s side and they lived in Eldorado, Oklahoma–a tiny town in the arid southwestern part of the state where my mother grew up. We went to visit them several times…
-
A Texas Story
The second day of our virtual road trip takes us west from Louisiana to Texas. The summer I was 8 Dad accepted a call to pastor a church in Lufkin, Texas. How exciting to be moving again. We lived in Arkansas at the time. We had never been to Texas before. It sounded so exotic. It would be really hot there,…
-
A Louisiana Story + My Gumbo Recipe
Today kicks off the Write 31 Days blog challenge which runs through the month of October. You may remember that I participated last year without a set topic. I planned ahead a little better this year, and decided to share Stories of 31 States as a “virtual road trip.” I hope you’ll come along! My series begins in Louisiana, because…
-
Remembering 75 Years Ago
My Mother was born 75 years ago today. She has a very good memory, but strangely enough, she doesn’t remember that day. Several years ago I asked my Grandmother to tell me the story of the day my Mother was born. Here’s what she told me [with my notes in brackets]… The Story of Pallie Sue’s Birth As told by…
-
Cousins Day
Did you know that National Cousins Day is this weekend? I didn’t either until one of my cousins tagged me on Facebook a few months ago with a “Happy Cousins Day” graphic. I had never heard of Cousins Day before so I Googled it to find out more. Well, turned out it wasn’t actually Cousins Day when she posted that,…
-
Kodaking in the 1930s
It’s interesting to me how certain words that start off as nouns become verbs. For instance, we often talk about “googling” something, which means, of course, using the Google search engine to find it. Did you know “kodaking” used to be a verb? Obviously, Kodak is a brand of camera, so kodaking meant “taking pictures.” I came across this term…
-
One Hundred Years
One hundred years ago yesterday a baby boy was born to Frank and Kate Easley in Jackson County, Oklahoma. They named him Gordon Wilson. He told me once that his dad admired a religious writer named Gordon and that one of his uncles admired President Wilson, and that’s how they chose his name. I just called him Granddaddy.In 1971 I…
-
Celebrating My Grandparents
I was blessed to grow up with both sets of grandparents. We were close to both sets, as well. It wasn’t until I was grown that I realized what a special privilege that was. In honor of Grandparents Day I wanted to share some pictures of my grandparents over the years. Mother’s parents, Granddaddy and Grandmother Easley, lived in Arkansas.…
-
We are Ezells
As it happens, my dad’s people were from the Monroeville, Alabama area couple of generations back...
