Stop and check your driver’s license. If it expires within three months, get in line now. Seriously. While working on my income tax recently, I came upon a note to verify my driver’s license. I was shocked to learn it had expired five months ago. In other words, I was driving without a license since last summer. Never mind that …
College’s marathon prayer service heard round the world
Meeting at Cane Ridge, KY, 1801. Spy balloons, toxic train derailments, earthquakes, UFOs. With all the bizarre news, it’s hard to be amazed until you consider what’s going on at a small Christian college in Kentucky. Asbury University near Lexington has had a spontaneous prayer service for two weeks. It grew out of their weekly chapel service and folks …
Anybody remember the U-2?
All the hoopla over the Chinese spy blimp, a.k.a. “weather balloon,” brought something to mind that I haven’t heard about in a long while. Anybody remember the U-2 incident? And no, I don’t mean the rock band. Francis Gary Powers was an American pilot whose Lockheed U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. He’s still a footnote …
High egg prices won’t be over easy
Recently, I saw a dozen eggs priced at $8.30. Granted, they were organic eggs at Publix, but still. The national average is $4.25 per dozen right now, roughly triple from last January. Agriculture forecasters say that prices will trend downward this year, but don’t expect eggs to cost what they did a year ago. As most of us know, the …
Essays that tickle the funny bone
A funny thing happened at a writer’s club meeting last fall. My friend and colleague, Lisa Williams Kline, suggested we team up to give a presentation on our recent collections of essays. Both books contain a lot of humor, she said. She was referring to my book, Going Plaid in a Solid Gray World, and hers, The Ruby Mirror. In …
Christmas displays: The kitschier the better
This year considered another pilgrimage to McAdenville or Tanglewood, but Saturday evening, we opted to avoid the lines and stay local. We drove slow past homes in Newton, Conover, Rock Barn, Mountain View and Startown. We oohed and ahhed at glowing shrubbery, porch railings and rooflines, the whimsical cartoon figures and solemn Josephs and Marys. A brick ranch, the home …
My favorite Christmas
The “Hickory Daily Record” invited me to share thoughts on my “favorite Christmas.” This piece appeared on Dec. 25. For me it was the year of Patti Playpal, the doll Santa brought when I was in kindergarten. 1959 was probably the last Christmas I fully believed in Santa Claus—reindeer on the roof, jingling sleigh bells and all. Somehow Santa had …
Be someone’s blessing; Stock that box
Chances are you’ve seen Blessing Boxes, those cabinets on legs in church parking lots. A Blessing Box is a “Little Free Pantry” that provides nonperishable food (like cereal, canned soup, Beenie Weenies) as well as hygiene items (like soap, deodorant and toothpaste) for people in need. Last summer I noticed a Blessing Box near my son’s home in Hickory, and …
Power outage glimpses life without white noise
When the remnants of Hurricane Nicole swept through the area Friday, winds took out a tree on McKay Road. Those of us south of Newton heard the power go out at 11:47 a.m. I say “heard,” because electrical power outages have their own sound. It’s not so much the scream of the microwave or the snap of lamps going dark. …
Oh goody! It’s chicken pie season
You see them advertised on big signs with movable plastic letters, or handmade posters or the church bulletin during October and November. Folks, it’s chicken pie season! Until I moved to North Carolina 43 years ago, I had no idea that meat pies were such a thing. Where I grew up in the Midwest, a local church hosted “Harvest Home …