A Word's Worth

A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT AGING

2012-01-31T11:29:00.000-06:00

"Green grass continues to grow beside an old oak." Yesterday, during a funeral service, I experienced feelings of mortality and began to count up the number of funerals I’ve attended lately, a large count of which is supposed to indicate that your friends are aging and dying…and your demise is not far off. When I’m faced with so many funerals and with various aches and pains in my body and

A PAINTING SENT BY BROTHER…

2012-01-23T15:25:00.000-06:00

With a little frame showing. Whoops! Nothing brightens my day more than the arrival of a photograph of one of my brother’s paintings. The most recent painting is one of the northern California coast–the magnificent rocks and water executed in varying shades of blue. Something about the one blue color gives me a feeling of peace, and I hope to put it on the cover of a new book of poetry I’m

IN PRINT: Redeemed By Blood, a novel

2012-01-18T13:32:00.000-06:00

For the New Year’s reading, my latest book, Redeemed by Blood, has been produced “in print” and will be available on www.amazon.com in the next day or so. (I will update this post with a link when the book is available.) If the more-than-500 readers who took advantage of a freebie Kindle offer during a five-day period are indicators of reading enjoyment, those who like to hold the actual novel in

THE GREEN GRASS GROWS…

2012-01-16T10:49:00.000-06:00

St. Francis oversees grass at our address. Sometimes the light on gray, fog-ridden days of winter in Louisiana equal those early spring days in "Grayburg," the name I coined for Sewanee, my other home on The Mountain in middle Tennessee. In Louisiana, the slate colored sky hangs above my window overlooking the backyard, and for awhile, I looked out at dreary bare earth under the oaks–a wide

SAFE (?) CYCLING

2012-01-08T17:57:00.000-06:00

Ready for another ride on the Pink Flyer! Most people who have been cyclists can tell you the exact year they learned to ride a bike. I was seven when I attended a birthday party in Lake Arthur, Louisiana where the most important moments of the party weren’t cake and ice cream or opening be-ribboned packages – it was the opportunity given each child to try out their cycling legs. I don’t

A WORDS’ WORTH ABOUT A CROW’S WORTH

2012-01-04T11:25:00.000-06:00

Diane's drawing of her favorite bird. How many reams I’ve written about crows, much to the annoyance of people who regard them as public nuisances! This morning, the first relaxed morning I’ve enjoyed in the New Year, I went outdoors to look at a sea of newly-grown rye grass and above me I heard the familiar caw of my favorite bird, the crow. It perched at the top of a towering oak near the

PRINCESS RUTH:LOVE AND TRAGEDY IN HAWAII, a new novel

2011-12-26T11:43:00.000-06:00

Christmas Eve, I received a book entitled Princess Ruth: Love and Tragedy in Hawaii by Jo Ann Lordahl. Jo Ann, an author friend of 34 years, now lives on Kaua'i Island in Hawaii and has been resident there for ten years. Years ago, she spent several months in New Iberia, Louisiana working on one of her novels, and I wrote a feature story about her for The Daily Iberian. She has visited here many

REDEEMED BY BLOOD

2011-12-23T15:05:00.000-06:00

Several of my books were published in 2011, and the last novel written this year goes on Kindle today. Redeemed by Blood becomes my thirtieth book, but it isn’t my final one as I have in the writing mill another book of poetry, Breakthrough, now competing in a contest, which will eventually be published, and a non-fiction book about Rip Van Winkle Gardens that I was commissioned to do. 2012

A DAY FOR SQUIRRELS…

2011-12-17T16:48:00.000-06:00

Gray squirrel taken through a glass darkly. You’d think that they’d have eaten their fill, their bushy tails shaking in the fork of the gray oak in my backyard as they peel acorns and toss their shells onto the patio, feasting on the bitter meat that fuels their acrobatics. No wonder they leap about and run as if their tails were on fire–the tannin they consume is as strong as the over-steeped

THE VERSATILITY OF AN INDIE PUBLISHER

2011-12-11T16:17:00.000-06:00

Gary Entsminger, publisher, Pinyon Publishing, and Garcia. When Pinyon Publishers published Chant of Death, a mystery by me and Isabel Anders, I posted a long interview for this blog about publisher Gary Entsminger and another one about Susan Elliott, the gifted artist and writer on Gary’s staff. Both of these talented artists have one distinguishing feature in common: versatility—and this

THE FIRST OF FIVE THINGS…

2011-12-08T11:32:00.000-06:00

Poet Darrell Bourque in his citrus grove. Earlier this week, we had dinner in the home of Dr. Mary Ann Wilson, a distinguished professor of English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette who initiated the Women’s Studies program at this university. We shared this meal with the former poet laureate of Louisiana, Darrell Bourque, and his wife Karen, a glass artist. Mary Ann, who is of

POST THANKSGIVING – BLESSINGS, NAMASTE, AND INTERACTIVE PREACHING…

2011-11-29T11:33:00.000-06:00

St. Mary's chapel, Sewanee, TN Following Thanksgiving, several friends of ours who attend the chapel at St. Mary’s Convent, Sewanee, where we worship when we’re in Tennessee, wrote to us about their part in an interactive Thanksgiving service at the convent. Although the liturgy at the convent usually follows the conventional Anglican way, every once in awhile, the Sisters jolt us out of our “

RETURN OF THE KAJUN KWEEN

2011-11-23T12:49:00.000-06:00

Now in Kindle format Petite Marie Melancon of The Kajun Kween fame has been waiting in the wings for several years, and today she went into press again as a Young Adult book of fiction on Kindle. Thanksgiving seems to be a good holiday to recognize Petite for her heroic antics in deepest south Louisiana as the heroine of Kurrent Komics, a fictitious New York comic book publication. Petite

HONORING A BOTANIST

2011-11-18T14:47:00.001-06:00

Most people who know Dr.Victoria Sullivan (otherwise known as Vickie) recognize that she is a gifted person in many fields, and it’s not surprising to those of us who know her that yesterday she received an e-mail informing her the most recent edition of Systematic Botany names a new species of Eupatorium (the genus of plants that Vickie studied and wrote about for many years), Eupatorium

ABOUT “THE MOUNTAIN” PRESSES

2011-11-17T09:16:00.004-06:00

Today, we plan to lunch with our good friends, Henry and Kathy Hamman, a couple who owns one of The Mountain’s small presses called Plateau Books. Henry and Kathy, who’re world travelers, have formidable credentials in the editorial and publishing field, and my friend, Vickie Sullivan, who owns Border Press, often compares notes with them about the complicated job of marketing. The Hammans

ARCHAEOLOGY AT MIDNIGHT

2011-11-10T14:07:00.006-06:00

Book Cover on the Fly! DOG EATS MY CHECKYesterday I received an e-mail from a friend who owns a small, feisty dog whose name I won’t mention for fear of embarrassing both dog and owner with my story about certain dog misbehavior that occurred recently. It seems that the anonymous dog, who obviously had more curiosity than sense and sharper teeth than most of her canine cousins, picked up a check

SACRED SPACES…

2011-04-08T09:49:00.000-05:00

This morning I’m re-reading a copy of a column entitled “Sacred Space” that appeared in “Tuesday Morning,” a Sewanee publication edited by my good friend, The Rev. Dr. Susanna Metz. Susanna is the professor of Contextual Education at the School of Theology here at the University of the South and has often appeared in my poetry as the Tuesday morning preacher at St. Mary’s

THE WOMEN OF TANZANIA

2011-04-03T14:41:00.000-05:00

U.S. journalist and explorer Henry Stanley once dubbed Africa “The Dark Continent” because the country seemed to be a mystery to Europeans of the 18th century who thought it had no civilization at all. Mapmakers even left Africa a dark color when they drew their maps – it was a country regarded as a harsh, sub-Saharan desert. Later, Europeans exploited the country’s resources, but gradually

EX-VOTOS

2011-03-24T11:49:00.002-05:00

var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-22481369-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];

SPRING AT SEWANEE IS FAR AHEAD…

2011-03-18T13:12:00.000-05:00

No March winds blew us back to Sewanee. Last year when we returned to Sewanee during March, the wind roared around our cottage and snow fell several times before Spring arrived. This year, the Mountain endured a severe winter, but daffodils and forsythia already fill the woods. The beautiful white pear trees that a friend of ours calls “lollipop trees” have begun to blossom, and yesterday when we

LENT OR THANKSGIVING?

2011-03-09T13:07:00.000-06:00

In the year of my 76th Lent, I feel more of a need to make affirmations about the inexhaustible nourishment I’ve received in this life, rather than concentrate on the things I should give up in observance of this season. True, the longer we live, the more we need to be instructed in how to live, but, for me, it doesn’t include marking the year by making a list of my petty needs (otherwise called

THREE POEMS IN THE SPRING (With apologies to Three Coins in the Fountain)

2011-03-03T12:30:00.000-06:00

Spring! Or at least false Spring! And I’m among the fortunate people who enjoy two Springs – one in south Louisiana and another on The Mountain in Tennessee. Deep pink camellias, white and purple azaleas, and the Japanese magnolia trees have begun to bloom here, but I hear from Sewanee friends that only the daffodils are flowering in fields on The Mountain. By the time I arrive in Tennessee this

YOU WHO MAKE THE SKY BEND…

2011-02-22T11:45:00.000-06:00

A childhood friend who lived next door to me in Baton Rouge, Louisiana owned a collection of saint cards that she kept in her missal. Each time she came home with a different card, she singled me out to view the entire collection again, many of which depicted Jesus with blood dripping from his heart and Mary weeping at the foot of the cross, and I wanted to hide when she brought home a new

SWIMMING SOLO: A Daughter’s Memoir Of Her Parents, His Parents, and Alzheimer’s Disease…

2011-02-19T14:59:00.000-06:00

Over five million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and the costs for treating the disease exceed $6 million, according to David Perimutter, M.D. These figures alone are daunting to seniors approaching their last decades of life, but the emotional costs to family members of Alzheimer’s patients are incalculable. Our good friends, Henry and Kathy Hamman, who own an

ALEXANDER…

2011-02-19T10:21:00.000-06:00

There I was, writing a novel based on the life of my great-grandfather, Lawrence Dade Greenlaw, when the telephone rang and my daughter informed me that it was time for me to travel to Covington, Louisiana to become a great-grandmother. “Hay la bas,” I thought, “I have the distinction of being the only living great-grandparent in the family now!” I arrived about 15 minutes after Alexander Charles

WRITING A SAGA

2011-02-15T09:52:00.000-06:00

In the advent of the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, I sit, surrounded by reference books, maps, and a sketchy diary belonging to my Great-Grandfather Greenlaw, writing a novel about his early life in the Rappahannock country of Virginia and his role as a Captain in the 2nd Tennessee Regiment of the Confederate Army. What I write is a work of fiction, based on scant facts supplied by

PHOTOGRAPHING FRAGILE BEAUTY

2011-02-09T15:59:00.001-06:00

On New Year’s Eve, 2002, a cold wintry night in New Iberia, Louisiana, I delivered a homily and performed the wedding ceremony for Marjorie Brown, the daughter of Martha Brown, a church member of the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany. Marjorie was married to David Pierson in a beautiful ceremony, blessed by The Rt. Rev. Willis Henton (now deceased). The bride and groom, a handsome, well-educated

CHANT OF DEATH IS ON KINDLE!!

2011-02-08T11:00:00.000-06:00

The latest news from Pinyon-Publishing, the press that published CHANT OF DEATH, is that Gary Entsminger, publisher and editor, and his book designer/artist, Susan Elliott, have placed this mystery that I co-authored with Isabel Anders on Kindle. You can read the book on your personal Kindle reader which can also be downloaded on iPad, iPhone, PC’s, and Mac’s. Of course, if you love collecting

CIVIL WAR VIGNETTES OF ACADIANA…

2011-02-02T11:07:00.000-06:00

I’ve written many times about the works of Morris Raphael, a New Iberia writer who has been my friend for over thirty years, and I’m happy that his latest book, CIVIL WAR VIGNETTES OF ACADIANA, A SESQUICENTENNIAL COMMEMORATIVE, has been published in time for the Sesquicentennial celebration of the Civil War in April of this year. Morris has made valuable contributions to the history and culture

IN THE PULPIT

2011-01-26T13:12:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, when I was preparing a sermon for this coming Sunday, a book I had ordered winged in from Amazon, and instead of reworking the sermon, I sat down to read MAKING YOUR WAY TO THE PULPIT by Jerrilee Parker Lewallen (Was this a signpost for me on the road to better homilies?!). Jerrilee is an Episcopal priest who lives on The Mountain in Sewanee, Tennessee where I sojourn eight months of

THE RIGHT WAY TO WRITE…

2011-01-25T12:04:00.000-06:00

The other day I read an article about Emily Dickinson that gave me great pause. It stated that Dickinson published only a dozen poems in her lifetime because she didn’t like the way her poems appeared on a page when published, preferring her handwriting as it added to the poem’s meaning. She liked her own calligraphy and slashes and thought her poems looked much better in her own script than

BLESSINGS AND PRAYERS FOR MARRIED COUPLES

2011-01-17T12:11:00.000-06:00

This past year when CHANT OF DEATH was published by Pinyon Publishing, co-author Isabel Anders and I were working on other individual writing projects that came to fruition in 2010. Isabel is an editor of “Synthesis,” a resource publication of commentaries on Scriptural readings designed to assist clergy and lay people with their sermons and teaching. In her spare time, she publishes at least one

THE LATEST IN INFANT CARE

2011-01-09T18:46:00.000-06:00

I’m in my seventh decade of life and next month, I’ll become a great-grandmere. This week-end I participated in the preliminary celebration of this blessed event. We traveled to Baton Rouge to attend a baby shower honoring Martin and Kristin, my grandson and his wife, and I was quickly exposed to a sub-language that has developed to identify all the equipment, toys, and clothing now available for

A COMPANION PIECE TO MY BRAZILIAN YEARS…

2011-01-07T11:37:00.000-06:00

When we meet for morning coffee at author Morris Raphael’s home, we frequently share in a conversation about the numerous people Morris and Helen know who live throughout the world. Yesterday, we met to talk about his upcoming book, CIVIL WAR VIGNETTES OF ACADIANA, and at the end of the visit, Morris gave me a copy of a book about Brazil written by his close friend, Jane Durand Smith Randolph.

ARMADILLO ARRIVES WITH ADVENT OF NEW YEAR

2010-12-31T13:06:00.000-06:00

Today, while I was sitting at my computer overlooking the backyard, I began listing my New Year’s resolutions and right smack in the middle of the process, an armadillo appeared beside the upside-down bird bath. It was 9 a.m., and he should have been asleep in the coulee, but appeared to be fully alert, rooting in the mound of leaves by the Spirea bush. He was fat and seemed to be tanking up for

ADOPTION, A SUPERB SPECULATIVE NOVEL

2010-12-30T12:58:00.000-06:00

Hot off the press – ADOPTION, a “what if” novel that arrived yesterday! It’s written by my good friend and author, Victoria I. Sullivan, and here’s a brief preview of an outstanding story about speculative science: As Val Smythe lectures to her class in Evolutionary Biology at a university in Vermilion, Louisiana, she suddenly recognizes that polyploidy characteristics in Eupatorium, the plant

CAR TALK

2010-12-28T13:23:00.000-06:00

My godmother, Dora Greenlaw Peacock, once told me that of all the things that enraged her, machines and inanimate objects were the worst offenders. Although she is now deceased, I agree with her completely. I have difficulty with power-driven can openers, computers, vacuum cleaners, and directions for putting together mechanical models of anything. My knowledge about the mechanics of cars tops

FINDING SERENDIPITY AT ANTIQUE ROSE VILLE

2010-12-24T14:04:00.000-06:00

Monday of this week we joined author Morris Raphael, his wife Helen, and daughter Rose Anne at Antique Rose Ville near New Iberia, to celebrate the occasion of Morris completing the first draft of his book containing Civil War vignettes. Publication of the new book will coincide with the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War in April, 2011, but the holidays presented a chance for us to meet with the

AT BELMONT PLANTATION…

2010-12-20T10:19:00.000-06:00

Saturday evening, we were guests at Belmont Plantation where we joined in a celebration honoring Guy Estes who recently received an M.A. in History from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Guy is the son of Mary Wyche Estes who presently lives at Belmont, a shady Bayou Teche plantation home near New Iberia. Belmont (circa 1765) has been in the Wyche family since 1858 when the old plantation

“AVE MARIA – ANOTHER QUEENLY VERSION”

2010-12-14T10:08:00.000-06:00

A few days ago, I received an invitation to attend a book signing from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. today at the ULL Alumni Center in Lafayette for my poet friend, Darrell Bourque. The signing celebrates Darrell’s new and selected poems which are contained in IN ORDINARY LIGHT, the work of the finest poet in the state of Louisiana and one who deserves the post of Poet Laureate of the United States. I

NEW ORLEANS COOKERY BACK WHEN…

2010-12-09T14:04:00.000-06:00

When my daughter Elizabeth comes from California for a visit (the one who got the supply of fig preserves), she reads my shelves for unique cookbooks and usually takes away at least one volume that will increase her knowledge of south Louisiana cuisine. Yesterday, I passed on to her a small volume, published in 1932 and reprinted in 1960, entitled NEW ORLEANS CREOLE RECIPES by Mary Moore Bremer

A GRACIOUS PLENTY OF FIGS!

2010-12-04T11:00:00.000-06:00

Have you ever heard the phrase: “I don’t care a fig about that,” which means that something or someone is not important to you? Well, yesterday, I received some products that showed just the antithesis of that remark when two good friends gifted me with a gracious plenty of fig preserves. In my last blog I mentioned that I had searched for a jar of fig preserves for my daughter Elizabeth to take

THE MAIN EVENT, THE MAINE EVENT…

2010-12-02T11:17:00.000-06:00

The main event yesterday was a trip to Konriko’s Company Store, a shop next door to the Conrad Rice Mill, which has been in operation for 90 years and is a draw for tourists from throughout the country. I had set out to find fig preserves for Elizabeth, my youngest daughter who is visiting with me, to take back to California. She has loved this biscuit topper since childhood, and every year for

GREG GUIRARD AND THE ATCHAFALAYA BASIN

2010-11-29T12:46:00.000-06:00

As we crossed the Atchafalaya Basin Thanksgiving Day, I again thought about Greg Guirard, one of Acadiana’s premier photographers and writers about the people and scenery of the Basin. I’ve only visited with Greg three times during my forty-six years in New Iberia, but I hear about him often through one of his many friends, Janet Faulk. Janet, author of ROAD HOME, is the friend who told me about

IN ORDINARY LIGHT

2010-11-20T11:26:00.000-06:00

There’s nothing ordinary about Darrell Bourque’s poetry. His latest book, IN ORDINARY LIGHT: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS, is an extraordinary collection of poems written during his career as a poet, teacher, director of poetry projects, and as an inspiration for those who love language, particularly the language of poetry. In this collection, Darrell speaks to us in the same manner as he lives his

ST. MARTIN DE TOURS

2010-11-19T11:39:00.000-06:00

When my daughter Elizabeth, who lives in Palmdale, California, visits me in New Iberia, Louisiana, we make an annual pilgrimage to St. Martinville, a small town approximately ten miles down the road from us. She goes down to get her yearly “fix” of baked goods from Dana’s Bakery, one of the oldest bakeries in Acadiana. Yesterday, we made this trip on Hwy. 31, a road pockmarked with holes created

A PASSING

2010-11-12T12:35:00.000-06:00

Last year before we departed from New Iberia, Louisiana for Sewanee, Tennessee, we drove over to Franklinton, Louisiana, my birthplace, and visited with my Aunt Eleanor and Uncle George. I came away from that visit feeling that I might not see my beloved aunt again. Three days ago, she died. I am deeply saddened at her passing, but I have some wonderful childhood memories of her that give me

A “PASS THROUGH” ABITA SPRINGS

2010-11-10T11:47:00.000-06:00

At lunchtime yesterday, on the return trip from Florida, I tired of reading aloud from PEOPLE OF THE LIE (an arresting study about what human evil really is) by Scott Peck, and we veered off course to the little town of Abita Springs, Louisiana, population 2000. It’s known as part of the “North Shore,” an area near Lake Pontchartrain that includes Slidell, Covington, Abita Springs, Madisonville,

THE LEGACY OF ERNEST J. GAINES

2010-11-01T12:56:00.002-05:00

Back in the late 80’s I submitted a short story to Ernest J. Gaines and was selected to be one of a dozen members in his Creative Writing class held at a university then called USL, the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette, Louisiana. It was a memorable time in my life, and Gaines became one of my writing mentors. Only a few years prior to the class, he had been invited to become

HOW LONG HAVE WE BEEN HERE?

2010-10-28T11:49:00.000-05:00

I rarely discover contemporary novels that combine intellectual ideas with intriguing human relationships, written in a readable fashion, but I recently read an intriguing novel by Gary Entsminger and Susan Elliott of Pinyon Publishing which combines science and mysticism with the story of humans struggling to work out their destiny in our mysterious universe. OPHELIA’S GHOST (2008) was written

AN ANNIVERSARY

2010-10-26T11:10:00.000-05:00

Ten days ago, after leaving Sewanee, Tennessee, I celebrated an auspicious anniversary in my life. On October 16, 2008, following my retirement, I became an associate of the Order of the Sisters of St. Mary, a religious community based at Sewanee that has made a significant difference in my life on The Mountain. It is there that I was given the space to worship and pray freely without worrying

HUNTING FOR HYDRILLA

2010-10-21T17:50:00.000-05:00

After spending several days on house repairs and yard maintenance during resettlement in New Iberia, the urge for a change of scenery overcame us, and my botanist friend Vickie decided to drag me along on a search for a plant that grows in nearby St. Martin Parish. She has included a write-up about this plant in her book WHY WATER PLANTS DON'T DROWN, which Susan Elliott of Pinyon Publishing is

BACK IN ”THE BERRY”

2010-10-19T15:13:00.000-05:00

As we drove along Main Street for the first time after returning to New Iberia, and I saw the columns of The Shadows on the Teche, a National Trust antebellum mansion, my spirits lifted. Back in the 80’s, my good friend Morris Raphael wrote a biography of Weeks Hall, the man who restored this antebellum mansion and left it to the National Trust so that it would become the town’s principal

THE LAST PICTURE SHOW

2010-10-16T10:17:00.000-05:00

Because I wanted to record a vivid picture of Tennessee that I could take with me when I returned to Louisiana this month, we ventured over to Nashville to see the famous Cheekwood Gardens, 55 acres of lovely gardens and an art museum. The estate was built by the Cheeks, who established their fortune through Maxwell House coffee at the turn of the century and includes a 30,000 square foot

RETURNING TO THE LAND OF POETS

2010-10-04T11:03:00.000-05:00

This morning I received an e-mail bulletin from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities which included an announcement that Darrell Bourque’s term as Louisiana Poet Laureate would end in May, 2011. The announcement caused my heart to drop a beat or two in a sudden whoosh of regret that this talented poet and friend will no longer serve in this prestigious position. Darrell Bourque is the star

COMING ATTRACTION

2010-10-01T09:22:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning, my oldest daughter Stephanie called from New Iberia and asked me what I planned to do that day. I told her that I was searching for blog material, and we were going over to Collegedale, Tennessee near Chattanooga to see the Little Debbie factory. “You’re kidding me, you don’t ever eat anything like that,” she said. “I know, I know,” I answered, “I had to take your sister to a

SECOND CHAPTER OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, BATTLE CREEK, TN

2010-09-30T09:35:00.000-05:00

Last year, I wrote a piece about finding a small Episcopal Church near Sewanee that was tucked away on Ladds Cove and Kirby Tate Road with an address of Battle Creek, Tennessee. I posted pictures of the exterior and interior of St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church on this site. I was particularly interested in St.John’s because our good friend, The Rev. Dr. Susanna Metz, celebrates there every

WHAT’S COOKING IN COOKEVILLE?

2010-09-23T12:21:00.000-05:00

I’ve seen Cookeville, Tennessee advertised on PBS several times during my sojourn at Sewanee, and yesterday we set out at 9:30 a.m. to see what all the hoorah was about. We traveled northeast through McMinnville and Sparta, Tennessee where nurseries abound on every other hill and arrived near lunchtime in this city that is about ten times larger than Sewanee. Cookeville touts itself as home of

SWEET FEET

2010-09-14T14:50:00.000-05:00

Of all the household tasks I dislike, vacuuming floors is at the top of the list. I’ve owned every type of vacuum known to clean – uprights, canisters, drag-alongs and push arounds, all of them with no get up and go unless you hurl them about and say nasty words when you’re untwisting the cord from around your ankles while moving them from room to room. Even the ones touted to clean the dust and

MISTS AND MYSTICISM

2010-09-13T12:35:00.000-05:00

Cool mornings here at Sewanee have frequently been misty and have evoked thoughts about how much I like places overhung with mists. At Sewanee, I love the early morning mists hanging over the valley that I see through the windows behind the altar at St. Mary’s Convent chapel. I think of mists or fogs as veils, which when parted, offer endless discoveries. I remember the great mists in the Big

EXCERPT FROM CHANT OF DEATH

2010-09-08T13:38:00.000-05:00

My newest book, CHANT OF DEATH, co-authored with Isabel Anders, has been on the market several weeks now, and some “would-be readers” have asked for a peek into its contents before ordering this mystery set in south Louisiana. I have often included excerpts to other books I’ve written, as well as poems taken from my poetry chapbooks, so I’ve decided to include an excerpt from Chapter I for those

A COOL SEPTEMBER MORNING

2010-09-06T16:22:00.000-05:00

A few days of cool breezes and 60-degree temps in the mornings provide us “Sewaneeans” with hope for an early Fall. The weather actually reminds me of late September in New Iberia, Louisiana (my other home) when cool, dry air banishes the oppressive humidity and sugar cane farmers begin to talk about “grinding season.” September signals the time to cut cane and take it to the mill for grinding