Back to the Witness Protection Program man one more time. When he was transplanted here my WPP guy initially owned a pizza parlor.  He sold it and decided — or decided with the government...

Two weeks ago when I was on vacation, I went out the door of my mother in law’s condo and headed for the park across the street.  I had just started out when I...

We had a little white dog named Barney who lived to be ancient.  He and I adored one another, we were like Velcro. If there were ever a world disaster and things rationed, I...

Last summer my neighbor up the road stopped me as I was walking past. “Me and Joanne got everything we need,” he said.  “We got enough money, we got a nice house.  We even...

Last week my husband and I were sitting on a Florida beach shortly before sunset when a young woman approached and asked us to take a picture of her standing in the surf.  She...

When we lived in Kentucky, our children’s friends called their grandparents Mamaw and Papaw.  In Texas, they were Meemaw and Peepaw.  For my grandchildren, I chose the German version, Oma.  My husband is Opa....

The Viet Nam War was a defining event in my life. I lived in a town of a thousand people where everyone pretty much knew everyone else and the losses were strongly felt. When...

When two people who were walking together would pass on opposite sides of a lamp post or a parking meter or anything, actually — my mother always said “bread and butter”.  I grew up...

Several years ago I was out walking with Jake, our dog at that time. The people about a mile away owned a few cows who that morning had escaped and were wandering around the...

We lived in a small town in North Carolina for a while and everyone had a nickname. Sometimes even a first name sometimes sounded like a nickname. There was Uncle B.B. who was known...