Welcome to my blog. Here are some true tales about growing up Southern, some stories about how everyday things are sometimes more meaningful than they seem, and some musings about stuff connected some way or other to my books.
It Happened Like This & Other Stuff
Living with a Cemetery
While mowing my back yard one day last summer, I got to thinking about cemeteries. And not because our lot backs up to one—or to get technical, a memorial park. It was the mowing that [...]
The Trouble with Playing around Septic Tanks
He warned me. I give him that. And he didn’t punish me, and I was grateful for that. I still have a scar from the experience, though. I see it every time I eat, wash [...]
Before Amazon There Was Duncan
I don’t remember his last name, and I’m no longer sure his first name was Duncan, but that’s how I always think of him. Duncan, the grocery delivery man.
Long before Amazon, Instacart, Wegmans, and others [...]
Get Away from Me, Jolly
A while back in a blog post about eating squirrels when growing up in southern Arkansas, I mentioned the single time my daddy took me hunting for raccoons, or “coons” as everyone called them. We [...]
Are You a Yankee Now?
A number of years ago, when I was living in Nashville, Tennessee, and traveling the country for the American Association for State and Local History, I was called home to Arkansas while on a trip [...]
Traveling on the Sound of Tires
I love how the Internet and my smartphone allow me to hold a massive virtual library in my hand and search for almost anything I want to, when I want to. Like checking the statistics [...]