Category: In “What Would Granny Say (and Other Somewhat Embellished Memories)
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The Bear Whisperer
It was one of those days just made for hiking. The temperature was hovering around 65 or so, the wind was light and the air enjoyed that particular brand of clarity that only comes from a combination of altitude and last night’s rain. As I walked, the sunshine filtered through the poplar and sycamore leaves… Read more
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What Would Granny Say
My Granny Tharpe was not what one might consider proper in the way society defines proper. She was a bit gruff and a bit tough and altogether one of the neatest people I have ever known. She was such an odd combination of tenderness and toughness, of kindness and strictness, of femininity and don’t mess… Read more
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Whiskey Slough
Whiskey Slough is a magical place for me. It’s filled with mystery and mosquitoes, memories and moccasins, alligators, allegories and the cool green shade of summers past. When life begins to weigh upon my soul, I often find myself journeying back some fifty years or so to a memory nestled beneath the outstretched arms of… Read more
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Diamonds and Stones
At last I had found peace; peace and quiet and a calmness of spirit that I hadn’t felt for a long time. It was late summer back in 2006, and my ordeal of prostate cancer was almost over. At least the surgery and acclimating myself to the changes in my life were nearly over. That… Read more
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What and Why
For coming up on thirty years, I have been hauling my carcass all over the world doing mission work of one kind or another. I just love it. I have been on medical missions, construction missions, rescue missions, disaster response missions and disaster recovery missions and have been greatly blessed each and every time I have… Read more
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Whittling
I have often written of my Granny and Grandpa Tharpe. They were two of the best grandparents a kid could ask for, in my opinion. Grandpa was kind and gentle, soft spoken and graceful in his own way; and since he worked for Borden Dairy, he also had access to fudgesicles from his truck, which… Read more
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Trusting
There are few words in the English language that change a person quite like the word cancer. For those of us who have heard that word spoken in relation to ourselves and our condition, the moment it was uttered is branded in our memories. Mortality rushes in like a flood with fear riding the crest… Read more
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Words Are Cheap
The best I can recall it was early August, the dog days of summer in the panhandle of Florida, and hot enough to make your eyeballs sweat. I was in Granny’s backyard doing what young boys did back then in a time before video games or Ritalin. I was digging holes, looking for catawba worms,… Read more
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The Coaster
I started out wanting to write to and about all of you moms and grandmas out there in that it’s May, and Mother’s Day is right around the corner. Now in order to do the subject justice, I felt I needed to get into the role. So I sat down at the keyboard and asked… Read more
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Life In The Brackish Water
It was so hot that you could feel the sweat trickling down your back. If I had been wearing a shirt, it would have been sticking to me, but I was twelve or so and my wardrobe for the summer consisted of a pair of cutoffs and tennis shoes. As I recall I seldom wore… Read more