The Corset Some women will do anything for fashion...even going as far as wearing undergarments made of bone and steel to reshape and mutate their mid-section and waist. The corset was a heavy-duty apparatus, worn to hold and train the torso into a desired shape and posture...

Sin Eater “I give easement and rest now to thee, dear man,” said the sin eater. “Come not down the lanes or in our meadows. And for thy peace, I pawn my own soul. Amen.” For around three centuries, mourning families in England, Scotland, and Wales hired sin eaters to “consume “ their loved ones’ unconfessed sins by eating a meal they had placed on the body of the corpse...

Momo The Missouri Monster A cryptid is a creature that is said to exist but has never been proven so. One of the most famous cryptids is Bigfoot. Bigfoot is also commonly referred to as Sasquatch. The name “Sasquatch,” meaning “wild man” or “hairy man,” is derived from the language of the Halkomelem Native American tribe in the Northwest. ...

Lost Soles Old houses are full of secrets. Sometimes during a renovation, when walls come down, secrets are revealed. Old newspapers, photos, and shoes are often concealed within a building’s structure, under floorboards, within chimneys, or in walls...

Muscadines and Scuppernongs I watched a show years ago on RFD-TV about muscadines, and have been curious about them ever since. Not many are grown in our area so I didn’t know much about them. This year, I was on a mission and finally found some. Muscadines are related to grapes, but are nothing like your run-of-the-mill oblong table grape. ...

End-of-Summer-Bummer The last few weeks I have felt really off, somewhat anxious, and have a disquieting sense of things ending. Where did the summer go? Labor Day has passed, September is nearly gone, and it’s time to resign myself to the fact that summer is over. It’s still 90° some days, so it’s hard to feel that fall vibe...

Jam 101 I have made a lot of jam this summer. Jam is a staple on today’s breakfast table, but years ago it was much different than today’s sweet deliciousness. The first recorded recipe for jam (quince mashed in honey) was written around the 4th century in the Middle East. Honey was cheap, easy to find, and a common means of preservation. While honey could be used to sweeten and preserve fruit, eventually sugar became the sweetener of choice...

Cave Spring It’s been a summer of day trips, mainly to once thriving towns, cemeteries and mills. People gathered at these water powered mills, located near springs, to grind corn and wheat, or saw lumber for homesteads. The springs often provided drinking water as well...

Chiggers Ahh, the joys of summer. The sunshine, the river, the fresh produce, the family time. The bugs. Gnats, ticks, mosquitoes, and one very tiny parasite that you’ll swear came straight from the depths of hell if you’re ever unfortunate enough to have them hitchhike a ride on you... chiggers...

The Boze/Huddleston Connection The summer of 2015 will forever be known in our family as the “#adventuretuesday summer.” It was spent exploring our area, mainly Oregon County, to the west of our county. Boze Mill was the first stop on our summer-long adventure. ...

Mercury In Retrograde When we hear the term “Mercury is in retrograde,” we may also say “that explains a lot.” This event is blamed for a whole host of problems in people’s lives, from flight delays, malfunctioning electronics, fights and communication issues, car accidents and bad decisions; all caused by a tiny planet 48 million miles away from earth...

Super Okra We have a healthy crop of okra in the garden this summer. The plants are nearly six feet tall, loaded with blooms, and we’re harvesting every day. Okra is a fast-growing, heat-loving plant that thrives during our hot, humid Missouri summers...

Gardening And Canning With Faith The Bible is full of references to gardens and gardening. From the garden of Eden to the parables of Jesus, gardens are used as a symbol of God’s love and care. Gardening is a way of connecting with the creator and nature. It’s a way to slow down and appreciate the simple things in life and practice patience. Just planting a seed in the soil is an act of faith; faith that it will sprout, grow, produce fruit, and eventually nourish our bodies...

Cousin Week This week has been absolute chaos. The whole house is sticky. I can’t find the source of several weird smells, especially in the bathrooms. I’ve done at least two loads of towels every day. The basement television remote is missing. Food and drinks have been devoured as if by hungry wolves. There have been six kids staying at Pop and Gram’s for Cousin Week...

This week I bought a half bushel of peppers from my friend LeAnne. I was choking and crying and burning as I was processing them, and I started wondering why some people love hot, spicy food. I can tolerate the occasional jalapeño, but we don’t do a lot of blazing inferno, tear-inducing, gasping-for-air foods in our house, at least not on purpose...

Long Lost Cousins People complain about how bad Facebook is. But for me, it has been a blessing. Years ago, during some health issues, I was homebound. Facebook let me stay connected to the world outside my house. I’ve found former classmates, kept up with community events, and stayed in touch with family. ...

Polk Sallet Growing up, we ate a lot of foods that city folk might call strange or even disgusting. Neck bones and rice were a staple at our house. Cornbead with cracklings made from the hog skin that mom had rendered down was a favorite, and head cheese was made from the same hog. ...

Living With the Fae Many people believe in mythical, supernatural, and otherworldly beings. It’s not uncommon for people to believe in ghosts, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, or extraterrestrials. But, do you believe in fairies? According to folklore, fairies are beings with magical powers who look similar to humans, and live amongst us...

Hardly anything is free nowadays. Back when I was a kid, and even before that, companies often gave promotional items to people for shopping with them. Some businesses gave stamps that customers could collect and turn in for goods. S&H Green Stamps was a line of trading stamps popular in the US From 1896 until the late 1980s. They were part of a rewards program by the Sperry and Hutchison Company...

Rex Jelly A couple of years ago one of my sisters asked me if I could make some Rex jelly, and I said, “What is that?” I’d never heard of it, so I started researching it. Rex Jelly was trademarked in 1902 by the Corn Products Company as an institutional item for bakeries to use in jelly-filled doughnuts, rolls, and long johns, but it quickly became popular with the public...

Kids In Summer Being told to “go outside and play” is almost considered cruel by some kids nowadays. To be sent out where there are heat and bugs, you must first pry their tablets and iPhones from their sticky little hands. The thought of entertaining themselves is whine-worthy...

Osage Orange Scientists believe that hedge apples were food for prehistoric animals, possibly wooly mammoths or giant ground sloths. Those animals are now extinct but the hedge apple is not, and is believed to have existed for over 13,000 years. Hedge apples, Irish snowballs, monkey brains, horse apples, or Osage oranges are not related to oranges, although they have a citrusy smell. They’re more closely related to the mulberry family...

Barn Quilts Have you ever been on a road trip out in the country and seen an old dilapidated barn with a brightly painted quilt block on the front of it? If you are lucky enough to have seen such a thing, it is called a barn quilt. A barn quilt is a form of Americana folk art found in different rural areas of the U.S. ...

Sparks on the Highway With daddy’s steadily worsening driving skills, we kids all breathed a collective sigh of relief when my sister Margrette was permanently installed behind the wheel. She assumed the task of carting our clan all over the countryside. She must’ve been not easily ruffled to maintain her calm with daddy barking orders from the passenger seat, and with up to a dozen people (mainly kids) riding along...

Sometimes cemetery research can leave you feeling a little...lifeless. The endless hours spent photographing headstones, entering information often garnered from said headstones, hours searching the internet “working on mysteries without any clues” can be a long, tedious process. But sometimes you stumble across something at 1:00 a.m. and feel like you’ve found “buried” treasure...

The Bugs Are Coming... Each year around the end of April, we begin to see an influx of strange looking creatures who’ve taken up residence in the trees. This year, their kinfolk, who they haven’t seen in 13 to 17 years, will join them. Get ready for Cicada-geddon, Cicada-pocalypse, Cicada-palooza. They’re coming, and they are loud!...

After The Eclipse On April 8 the sun and moon perfectly aligned to create a spectacle that I may never see again. The continental U.S. will experience totality again in 2045. I will be 86, so I may get to experience it one last time. Seeing the sun as it really is, a vast, spiky star in space, is a profoundly beautiful and shocking sight. ...

Courting The Huddleston Girls “Oh, you better not go to Huddleston Mountain if you’re lookin’ for a wife. Old man Huddleston has some pretty young daughters and he’s pretty handy with a butcher knife.” Some Carter County boys penned this little ditty to the tune of “Wolverton Mountain.” Only the bravest of lads dared to even attempt to go steady with my sisters, and they’d better be ready to propose marriage once they were face-to-face with daddy. ...

The Rocking Chair There was a rocking chair on the sidewalk across from my sister’s house. It was put there to go to the trash pile. It was Mission style, and looked to be about 100 years old with dark stain and a leather seat nailed on with tarnished brass tacks...

Thistle I love all things Scottish. I dream of someday traveling to the land of Jamie Fraser, bagpipes, whiskey, Tartan plaid, and men in kilts. I asked my husband, “Did you know that the thistle is the national flower of Scotland?” His response was “Ugh, I hate thistle!” Sometimes, it seems his mission in life is to fight thistle. ...

Springtime With Goldia I know spring is finally here when the flowers called tiny bluets start blooming in my yard. I learned that from my mom, but she called them “wet beds.” She may not have known the botanical names of plants, but I’ve always preferred the old-timey names. Her knowledge of plants and ability to grow everything would rival any botanist...

I attend the Macedonia Church homecoming most years. One year,  two of my young granddaughters were with me. They needed to go the bathroom, so I took them outside to the outhouse. Their response to going inside that tiny,  smelly house in August was “Ewwwww!” They opted to wait until we got home. ...

So Much Stuff For months, my life has become way too cluttered. Cluttered with junk, cluttered with papers, cluttered with people who bring me stress, cluttered with so many thoughts that I can’t sort through them. For weeks now, I have been on a mission to declutter my life and mind...

How would you feel if you were interrupted on your wedding night by a raucous crowd gathered outside your new home? Although I haven’t heard of anyone being shivareed since I was a kid, I can remember when newly engaged couples dreaded the thought of having a shivaree...

Save The Library When I was a child, one of my favorite school days was library day. By simply opening a book, I could travel to distant lands, be a pioneer on the prairie, solve a mystery, or learn to create art. Immersing myself in a book was like stepping through a magical gate to a different world, and still is...

When I was a child, one of my favorite school days was library day. By simply opening a book, I could travel to distant lands, be a pioneer on the prairie, solve a mystery, or learn to create art. Immersing myself in a book was like stepping through a magical gate to a different world, and still is...

Be Mine Today, Valentine’s Day is all about hearts and flowers and candy. The origin of Valentine’s Day isn’t quite so sweet. Saint Valentine was a priest in Rome who was persecuted for his Christian beliefs. He was interrogated by Emperor Claudius ll, who tried to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. ...

The Bloomer Girls There was once a group of really ugly women that struck fear in the hearts of athletes in Carter County. Throughout the early 70s to late 80s, these gals terrorized teams on the softball diamond and the basketball court. Using their womanly wiles and often resorting to cheating, these sirens brought the male teams to their doom. ...

The Higher The Hair, The Closer To God I graduated high school in 1977. Ours was the generation of blue eyeshadow, clear lip gloss, bell bottoms and tube tops. Some rocked an Afro, mainly the guys. Said guys mostly went for the girls with straight hair and highly feathered bangs. For those of us whose genetics didn’t provide straight hair, our beauty routine in the morning required some effort. Luckily for us, the blow dryer and electric curling iron had recently become available...

Snow Day The view out of the window on winter days is more muted, well, actually brown. The lack of green leaves and colorful flowers tends to bring down the mood of most people. The winter blues are a real thing. January is made worse by the post-holiday slump, the lack of mood-enhancing sunlight, and knowing that the next vacation days are far away. One of my grandkids asked if school would be off for Valentine’s Day, and was deflated when I said they wouldn’t get a long holiday until Easter...

WLS I have always loved rock music. As a teenager biding my time in the hills of rural southeast Missouri until I could escape and live what I thought was “the good life” in the city, my daytime musical listening choices were limited. Sure, we had records, eight tracks, and later, cassettes. ...

The Slow Life In today’s world, the sense of hurry and rush, and living in a constant state of chaos and movement makes it hard to know if you’re even on the right track anymore. I’ve been cultivating a “slow living lifestyle” for a couple of years now. The hard reality is that I have more years behind me than I do ahead of me, unless God allows me to live to be 130...

New Year, New You New Year’s resolutions are about hopefulness. They’re a way to appraise what we want for ourselves, a means of cataloguing our personal dissatisfactions, and a method of erasing the errors of the past year. Some of the more popular resolutions are: losing weight/eating healthier/getting fit, drinking less alcohol, spending less/making more money, finding a better job, getting more education and managing stress...

Old Man at Christmas An old man walked into mine and my granddaughter’s booth at a vintage show to pay for a rotating light. He stayed and talked for several minutes. He decided that he had imposed upon us for too long and said he’d get out of our way...

A Christmas Carol At one time celebrating Christmas was illegal. In the early 17th century, a wave of religious reform changed the way Christmas was celebrated in Europe. When Cromwell and his Puritan forces took over England in 1645, they vowed to rid England of decadence and as part of their effort, cancelled all holy days, including Christmas. A total ban was placed on everything festive from decorations to gatherings...

Twelve Days of Christmas You may think “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is little more than a silly repetitive carol, but there is actually a hidden meaning behind it. From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England could not openly practice their faith. During that era, a poem was written in a secret code, known only to members of the church. It was set to music and could be sung in public without risk of persecution...

Tree Of Life I like to have my Christmas tree up by Thanksgiving. Three car loads of Christmas decorations get hauled out of storage, sorted through over a few days’ time, then displayed. I realize I have too much. I overcompensated for being poor as a child, and my house once exploded with Christmas. I’m now at the point where I want to simplify so some things are given to my kids...

Thankful This week signals the arrival of the holiday season. Thanksgiving is my husband’s favorite holiday. Surrounded by family and sometimes friends, we partake in the usual feast; turkey, ham and all the many side dishes and desserts. The day usually includes football on television and ends with National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. ...

Spicy Season Love it or hate it, now is pumpkin spice season. Contrary to popular opinion, pumpkin spice doesn’t have actual pumpkin in it. It’s a spice mix featuring cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cloves. We assume the annual pumpkin spice craze has been around about 20 years, thanks mainly to Starbucks. ...

Spring Forward, Fall Back “Only the government would believe that you can cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and get a longer blanket.” Quote from an old Native American. The end of daylight saving time and the switch to standard time was Nov. 5. That means mornings with more light and darkness arriving earlier...

People Are Strange Recently, a friend and I were discussing a mutual acquaintance. My friend described her as “peculiar.” It was a fitting description. I said that I don’t mind peculiar, and she agreed “Neither do I”, perhaps because we’re both a little peculiar...

Fall Bouquet This was the summer that I fell in love with zinnias. I believe zinnias are underrated and overlooked as an important part of the garden. I myself sometimes feel underrated and overlooked in the garden of life, so I can relate. Zinnias are extremely versatile, resilient, and brighten a room simply by being placed in it. They can quickly adapt to their environment...

Very Superstitious  Have you felt uneasy on Friday the 13th, avoided cracks in the sidewalk, or skirted around a ladder leaning against a building? If you say “bless you” after someone sneezes or cross your fingers for luck, you are probably superstitious. ...

The Old Country Church The last hymn has been sung. The final benediction has been given. A place where families and friends gathered for weddings, funerals, revivals and Sunday school, will soon be a memory. At the entrance was a sign that said, “Enter to learn.” As you exited the building was “Leaving to serve.” Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church has closed its doors and the old bell will ring no more...

“Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.” Samuel 17:4 Giants are mentioned several times in the Bible. Perhaps the most famous of these, Goliath, was approximately 9’ 6” tall...

Broken One morning during calving season in early October, my husband went to the farm, like every morning. He was running late getting home and called asking me to come get him because he thought he had sprained his ankle. He had no cell service in the field so he managed to crawl to the side-by-side and drove to the barn where he had a signal...

Just Visiting The heat is finally subsiding as Fall is nearly upon us. I can’t wait to hear the crunch of leaves under my feet. My many boxes of autumn decorations are on the back porch being unpacked little by little and put in place. They’re on the back porch because I saw a big snake skin in our storage building, and those boxes are not coming in my house. I’m hoping the mosquitoes, chiggers, and ticks will soon be gone as well as the snakes...

Signs Recently we experienced a blue supermoon. A blue moon occurs when there are two full moons in one month. Some may not believe that the moon affects behavior in humans, but law enforcement, hospitals, and teachers would probably disagree. The full lunar cycle takes 29.5 days to complete. ...

Daddy could handle a team of mules or horses and a wagon like nobody’s business. Born in 1886,  a team and wagon were his main mode of transportation for most of his life. He plowed fields with mules, skidded logs with a horse, and hauled countless kids to church in a wagon.  Unfortunately, when he switched to driving a vehicle, he also drove it like a team of mules. ...

When Life Gives You Scraps, Make A Quilt Getting cozy under an old worn quilt is like being wrapped up in a hug. A quilt is so much more than just a warm cover shielding you from winter’s icy blast. It is love, memories, and creativity expressed through the patterns, materials, and hands of its creator...

As September approaches, some of our yards are being bombarded with green balls dropping from trees. These globular objects can twist an ankle if stepped on, tear up a lawnmower, kill the grass, and make a big gooey black mess. I’m talking about black walnuts...

“Pop and Gram’s House… where cousins go to become friends.” Our house this week has been loud, messy, and chaotic. Three dishwasher loads of dishes a day, a couple of loads of laundry, the refrigerators are getting empty, and I’m worn out and grateful. For the last five days there have been 8-13 kids at my house depending on the day, cousins and a few stragglers added in the mix...

The House Dress My kids used to make fun of me for wearing “house dresses”. I’ve been wearing them for years. I’m not talking about the stiff cotton muumuus with the snap front closures that grandma wore. I’m talking about soft, worn out, sometimes stained, cotton dresses that feel like a favorite old T-shirt...

Dog Day Afternoon “Dog Days are approaching; you must, therefore, make both hay and haste while the sun shines, for when old Sirius takes command of the weather, he is such an unsteady, crazy dog, there is no dependence upon him.” –The Old Farmer’s Almanac, 1817...

Several years ago, my friend ran a store called Herbal Comfort. When you walked through the door the aroma was an absolute comfort. The smell of dried flowers and herbs, homemade soaps and lotions, herbal tinctures and all manner of potions, and the scent of fresh herbs filling the air made that place feel magical to me. I miss that Herbal Comfort smell...

Redheaded Missouri Summer If you see me outside this summer and it’s over 90°, I appreciate you asking if I’m okay. My face may be bright red and I’ll be really hot. You may think I’m having a heat stroke, but I am likely alright. I’m just a redhead trying to survive a hot, humid Missouri summer...

Four Part Harmony My sisters suggested that we take a trip to the Memphis Quartet Show. I was not excited, but agreed to go. A bunch of old men singing boring old songs didn’t sound like much fun. Boy, was I wrong. I’d forgotten how exciting it was when a quartet came to your church to sing; men in suits and shiny shoes singing four-part harmony, extremely high notes and extremely low notes, with a big finish and a pianist that rivaled any honky-tonk piano player...

So many older women try desperately to hold on to their youth, however youth and beauty are fleeting. As we age, we’re no longer noticed for our looks.  This can sometimes make us feel invisible, because often our appearance is what identifies us.  Outward beauty fades and begins to lose its power to attract and charm. With old age comes flappy arms, varicose veins, gray hair, and wrinkles. ...

Every Saturday from April through October, I get up at 5 a.m., load my car, and am in town by 6. Once there I unload a canopy, three large folding tables, a chair, several large boxes full of baked goods, a dozen flats of jelly, and some handmade crafts. It’s farmers market day...

Hay Widow

No one loves you more, or drives you crazier, than family. A family reunion is a celebration of that love and connection. It’s a time to visit with elders, hear stories about your parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It’s a time to meet new spouses and new babies. These gatherings give everyone a chance to spend some quality time together and remember what’s uniquely wonderful about being part of the same family...

There are certain sounds, sights, and scents that take me straight back to the summers of my childhood. Summer’s promise began with the chirping tree frogs assuring us that cool weather was nearly over. The calling of the whippoorwill signaled that it was time to kick our shoes off and run barefoot for the next few months. ...

The Lost Art Of Porch Sitting

Garden Therapy

We didn’t have many “pets” on the farm growing up. Most of the animals had a job to do to earn their keep. Cats and dogs were there to catch or keep rodents, snakes, and other varmints away. The chickens, pigs, and cow provided eggs, meat, and dairy products...

Old Things

There’s a little green and pink faded dress hanging on my sewing room wall. My doll, Mary Jane, wore it proudly. There were rips in the fabric, crudely repaired with black thread by 8-year-old me. Before the dress was Mary Jane’s, it was mine. It was sewn by hand with my mom’s tiny signature stitches and made from a printed flour sack...

A Weed Is But An Unloved Flower

Kiss My Grits

Jesus Freaks

Chicks, Man

Spring Fever

The Secret Ingredient

Door-to-Door

I was 14 when I bought my first record. It was Crocodile Rock by Elton John, purchased at Roberts Brothers in Doniphan in 1972. My sister had given me a record player and a stack of 45s that I wore out. That’s when my love of the Beatles began. I memorized all their pre-Maharishi songs and most of the Beach Boys hits...

My youngest son, Zach, was born at home. My first husband and I were young and poor with no health insurance. When he suggested we have our third baby at home with a midwife I thought he was insane. No backwoods granny woman was going to deliver my baby. He was persistent and talked me into meeting the old hag...

“You may think yourself lazy, or flawed. Yet your body is made of almost exactly the same elements as the stars. Your bone composition matches the coral in the seas and you, my friend, are ruled by the moon and the sun, whether you like it or not. So no, you are not lazy. Nature is simply pulling you to slow, like the life, flora and fauna around you. It is not your moment to rise. It is winter, you are wintering. And you are right on time”- Donna Ashworth. ...

Daddy spent a lot of time looking up into the night sky. When we asked mom what he was doing, she said looking for flying saucers. He thought the moon landing was fake, yet he searched the skies for alien craft. Did he see something that made him a believer?...

Crawdads and Mudpies

Twixmas

The year 2022 is drawing to a close and for many it has been a trying year. With 2023 comes the excitement of a fresh start and a year that could possibly be better than the last. New Year’s Eve holds its own traditions; a kiss for the one you want to keep kissing for the next year, setting off fireworks, watching the ball drop, and shooting guns at midnight...

My 64th birthday is 10 days before Christmas. So I’m old enough to remember at least one old-timey Christmas tradition. We always received a brown paper sack filled with goodies around Christmas. It might have been from our parents, or the school, or received at a church play or singing. ...

This morning my granddaughter came from the bedroom into the dining room, telling me hi before she entered the room. She knew I was in there without seeing me because of the sound of ripping rags. Most people would wonder what that noise was, but she knew, because it’s not uncommon for me to be ripping, cutting, or destringing at any given time...

I love British period dramas. I love them to the point where my husband says I’m obsessed with them. One of my greatest joys is to become immersed in a drama-filled story set in a romanticized past with beautiful locations, opulent houses, and gorgeous gowns. There’s always a brooding hero and a beautiful, intelligent leading lady. The cast often includes a rake who tries to seduce the main female character, and sometimes a difficult family with at least one silly member...

Dark Christmas We all know the legend of Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicolas or Kris Kringle. A kind and jolly man in red, Santa brings toys to good girls and boys on Christmas Eve. The legend can be traced back to a real person, St. Nicholas of Myra, a Christian monk who lived in the 3rd Century. ...

This week signals the arrival of the holiday season. Thanksgiving is my husband’s favorite holiday. Surrounded by family and sometimes friends, we partake in the usual feast; turkey, ham and all the many side dishes and desserts. The day usually includes football on television and ends with National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. ...

The temperature is dropping and it’s getting dark earlier. For many people, less natural light during the cold, darker months brings on the winter blues. Also known as SAD (seasonal affective disorder), it occurs in the winter months and leaves when warm weather returns...

Grandin was established by the Missouri Lumber and Mining Company. It became the largest lumber mill in the country and the population was nearly 3000 residents. By 1910 the lumber supply was exhausted and the company moved out. By the 1960s its population was around 250, but it was still a busy little town. There was a car lot, gas station and garage, a library, four churches, Masonic lodge, a bank, several stores, a school, and a restaurant called the Rock House Café...

As cool weather approaches, we crave certain foods and drinks; hot chocolate, cider, chili, and anything pumpkin. For me fall means it’s apple butter making time. Some years I’m lucky enough to have apples given to me. This year I purchased a variety called Cortland; large, sweet, and juicy with red and green mottled skin...

Halloween is celebrated each year on Oct. 31. The tradition originated with the Celtic festival Samhain which signaled the end of summer and harvest, and ushered in the dark part of the year. It was believed that the veil between the world and the spirit world broke down on this day and ghosts returned to the earthly realm. ...

The Y2K scare in 2000 made us all think about disaster preparedness. My interest in prepping began around that time.  The ice storm of 2009 showed us how well we could survive in a disaster. Our family earned a B. We had a well-stocked pantry, generator, four-wheel-drive vehicle, and I made candles that winter so we had a stockpile to use and share...

Several years ago, I took a series of classes called Reiki. Reiki is a healing technique based on the principle that the therapist can channel energy into the patient by means of touch, to activate the patient’s natural healing ability. I learned to do Reiki to help those I cared about and I always felt that it was a gift from God. ...

Recently my granddaughter Myla came walking from the woods carrying a three-prong stick shaped like a Y with the front prong pointed downward. I said “Are you witching for water? Your great-grandma used to do that.” Of course, she didn’t know what I was talking about, but for me, it stirred memories of mom witching water. ...

Family is everything. The Huddleston family reunion will be this weekend at my house. There have been up to 300 people at our reunions. It’s a lot of work, it’s a lot of trouble, and it’s some expense. Why would anyone want to attempt this? When I was a kid, we went to Pocahontas Huddleston reunion every year to see my dad’s brothers and sisters and families. ...

Good Hope Church holds many happy memories. Our family arrived early in the chilly months to build a fire in the wood stove. In the spring we’d pick flowers for the church from an old house site just past the outhouses and graveyard. Mr. Moses had hand painted Bible verses on the walls; over the door was “God be with you ‘til we meet again”...

In 2015 my daughter, Erin and I traveled a five-state radius, selling junk, handmade, and repurposed items at vintage markets. We were gone nearly every weekend at shows and not seeing her kids much. So we decided to do something with the kids to make that summer unforgettable...

Ripley County is saturated with history, although some of it is forgotten. We are familiar with place names in the county but most don’t know their origins. Budapest is an area off K Highway that was settled around 1910 by Austrians, Czechoslovakians, Poles, and Russians from New York and Chicago who purchased land from the Missouri Lumber and Mining Company and developed a thriving community. The name was in honor of the capital of Hungary...

At one time Ripley County had over 40 one-room school houses. My brothers and sisters attended Macedonia, a one-room school situated next to Macedonia Church and cemetery.  The Huddleston bunch walked three miles, crossing creeks, woods, and fields to get to school. My brother Cecil always encouraged the bull in Chaligoj’s field to give chase. ...

Mom didn’t brag much, but she always said everyone thought their sorghum was the best in the country.  We planted a 5-acre field of sorghum cane every spring. It looked similar to corn growing and we kids played hide and seek and tag between the tall stalks of cane, being careful not to let the sharp-edged leaves cut us. ...

“We are the chosen in each family. There is one who seems called to find the ancestors, to put flesh on their bones and make them seem alive again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but instead breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the storytellers of the tribe.” Unknown...

The Ozarks are rich with superstitions and legends. Tales of MoMo, Karcagne, Ozark Howler, UFOs, and haunted places abound. The Irish Wilderness is steeped in mystery.  One such legend lies in the town of Doniphan in Oak Ridge Cemetery. Belle Neal’s tombstone is a beautiful statue of a woman and the most prominent in the cemetery. Its inscription reads, “Lord, she was thine and not mine own, thou hast not done me wrong. I thank thee for thy precious loan, afforded me so long.” ...

Summertime in the Bible Belt of the 1960s was revival season. We five youngest Huddleston sisters sang throughout Southeast Missouri, especially when it was revival time. We were excited about reconnecting with friends we hadn’t seen in a year, fried chicken dinners shared with preacher’s families, and good music...

Bacon makes everything better. Growing up, I don’t remember having a lot of salves, creams, or ointments in our arsenal of medicine. But we did have Vaseline, Vicks, sweet oil, flaxseed, tobacco, and bacon grease. Spider bite? Step on a nail? Put a hunk of raw bacon on it. Tick and chigger bites? Gnats buzzing? Use bacon grease...

If lovin’ junk is wrong, I don’t wanna be right. My love of junk (antiques) started as a small child going to auctions with my parents. We were poor so they probably went out of necessity or maybe they just liked the thrill of the hunt. Daddy bought tools and man stuff; mom loved dishes and glassware. My favorite doll, Mary Jane, came from an auction...

Gram’s Jams The scent of peach jelly cooking transports me back to my childhood. For a moment I am in my neighbor Louise’s kitchen getting a drink of cool well water from a metal dipper. The aroma of peach jelly fills her very tidy, hot kitchen. The “pop”, “pop” of canning lids sealing is a beautiful sound to a jelly maker. Jelly making for me is a ritual, very precise, and must be completed in an exact order to succeed. ...

I believe in free range grandparenting. So did my mom, but my grandkids aren’t quite as free range as her’s were. We have a really big family, so at any given time in the summer there might be as many as a dozen kids at our house. They were my nieces and nephews but were more like siblings or cousins to me...

A 1900 New York Journal article defined a Hillbilly as “Someone free and untrammeled (unrestrained), who lives in the hills, dresses as he can, talks as he pleases, drinks whiskey when he gets it, and fires his revolver as fancy takes him.” Last weekend my daughter got married to a great guy from Chicago who is a country boy at heart. ...