50-year old photographs celebrate the birthday and memory of one who left us too soon: Steven Thomas Harvell.

Reconstructing Grandpa in the museum of my heart – a poem in memory of an amazing man, Thomas Carlyle Holt.

I have never said this in a public forum: my brother’s untimely death four years ago was a suicide. Hear my plea: if you’re hurting, please tell someone.

A treasure trove of family photos includes some from my 6th birthday.

Labor Day weekend of 2000 was the last time I saw my Mom; we shared cherries and empathy at the beach house on the Bolivar Peninsula.

Two little stories about the first day of school range from joy to violent despair.

When you lose someone you love, you go through changes that you cannot control. Some part of you goes away for a while, trying to process it.  Some other part tries to maintain the status quo, to “be strong”.  You hold some of yourself in…

A little bee poem from a grieving and grateful daughter about making Dad-memories into honey.

Haiku for Dad from a grieving and grateful daughter.

Glover Gardens mourns the loss of patriarch and muse Frank Harvell and shares his obituary.

An article by Peggy Trowbridge Filippone posted on The Spruce From the Swiss Alps to American suburbs, fondue proves it’s always hip to dip Fondue headlined suburban American theme parties in the 1960s, then pretty quickly fell out of favor, as fads so often do.…

This rough little poem came spilling out of me as I thought of those halcyon sand-ridden childhood days and so many memories flooded in. Everything seemed so safe, so permanent, so lively-lovely in our tiny town of 600, Gilchrist, Texas.

A young American writes an award-winning essay after being thanked by a Frenchman from Normandy for D-Day. The essay is relevant today.

Dad tells the story of a crayon-drawn collector’s item he “earned” from an artist during a 1964 radio interview.

A tale of a chili cook-off fundraiser in a tiny Texas town, two friends, five gallons of spilled chili, dozens of kind people and a chance meeting with the governor.

Decorating a Christmas tree and talking about the ornaments is a family’s oral history. This haiku celebrates the tree.

Wine Spectator provides a perfect “cooking with friends” menu with duck and root vegetables. Try this at home with friends.

In honor of Mother’s Day, I’m reposting this little story about my adventures with another mom during a time of uncertainty.  Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms out there, and if you have small children, my wish for you is that you have…

A memory and poem from the halcyon days of super-busy parenthood. It is a beautiful thing to watch our kids grow into themselves and soar into their new journeys, but a little bittersweet, too.

I’ve learned in my first year of blogging that people blog to share what they know, express what they feel, and connect with others. They are simply a channel for all types of writing and communications and run the gamut of human expression.