“Do you know what today is?” My Granddaddy leaned back in his chair and regarded me through partially closed eyes.
August 18th—what Civil War battle took place on that date? My mind roved frantically through a jumble of generals and statistics field maneuvers that he was always parceling out to me like choice sweets. But my […]
[This is a guest post from Philip. Read it quick before Lanier sees it!]
Lanier’s friend Rachel stopped by the other day for a little visit. After a few cups of tea, they moved to the piano and sang a few tunes. I got out my laptop and tried capture a little bit of the captivating […]
We had the first fire of the year yesterday. I’ve been checking the weather for weeks now, remembering with a sigh the years that the first earnest cold snap descended in late September. And I’ve been laughing inwardly at the thought of the night last fall when I invited one of my best girl friends […]
I’m a self-professed Austen purist, and I’m a little concerned about the new Pride and Prejudice coming out…looks somewhat contemporized to me. Of course, I’d love to be pleasantly surprised. It’s been far too long since a captivating and lovely and worthy period film hit the theatres and I’m feeling rather starved. (So much so, […]
For an enchanting sojourn in a quaint Scottish village tucked away in the heart of the Angus Glens, allow me to recommend J. M. Barrie’s delightful The Little Minister.
The story—among the most touching of love stories I’ve ever read—opens with the arrival of a new minister in the town of Thrums, a village based […]
I find that I must apologize for an apparent lapse. It seems that while I was pleasantly diverted entertaining houseguests that my domain name expired–I’m not sure exactly when! Allow me to put in a good word for auto-renewal! Thank you to all those who expressed concern..
Isn’t it lovely the way a truly great book lingers with you long after the cover is closed? I dreamed about the end of A Room With a View last night, and this morning I pulled it off the shelf and looked up Mr. Emerson’s heartfelt speech to Lucy in the second to the last […]
for Frances, Charlotte and Margaret, three beautiful princesses…
(I wish that I had written this!)
Just Like a Book
My little girl of many dreams, the world a book and life a story, How beautiful the princess seems, how well the hero wears his glory. I don’t intend to shake my head and tell you all the […]
There is something in the air of a breezy, shimmery autumn day—overcast but not dour, cool but not chill—that always brings to my mind images from Tennyson’s Idylls of the King and Malory’s Morte d’Arthur. Is it the memory of school days, of afternoons on a woolen blanket spread beneath the dogwoods on my neighbor’s […]
I picked the last of my vegetable garden today, and that upon the urging of two horrified girlfriends who spotted tomatoes literally rotting on the vine this weekend. The truth is I grew weary this year before my garden did. Usually around the end of July it succumbs to the tropical humidity we are infamous […]