Some years ago, I (sort of) helped my sister Laura and her son Landon get two big black snakes out of Landon’s chicken house. Landon had called Laura for help, saying that he had finally figured out why twenty chickens were only giving about two eggs a day. Laura went over there, and I tagged […]
Author: Evelyn J. Willburn
Bicycle dreams
My first memory of wheels is a tricycle I got when I was three or four. I wanted to paint it because it was a little bit rusty. My mother produced a small can of blue paint and a brush, and I went to town. I have often wondered if a bit of parental touching […]
Mary’s hair
Due to popular demand (by which I mean requests from my friend Carolyne and my sister Laura, both popular people), I am presenting here some evidence to back my past claims about my sister Mary’s hair. Take a look-see: Isn’t it wonderful? Until she was seven or eight, Mary’s hair did what you see here: […]
Admiral Richard E. Bird
Growing up as we did, in a farmhouse surrounded by enormous trees, my sisters and I encountered birds of all shapes and sizes. Not all of them got the same reaction from my family. My mother, for example, built special houses for the bluebirds, but would take after the starlings with the shotgun. The robins, […]
Holding on for dear life
This morning, I woke up wearing a furry feline hat. No, I have not gone into the business of turning pets into designer fashion. What I mean is I woke up to find my beloved, twenty-something cat Socks wrapped around my head, claws lightly gripping my forehead. My perimeter-breach alarm was just beginning to chime, […]
Let’s talk about lettuce
During my growing-up years, “lettuce” meant “iceberg lettuce,” although occasionally my mother would show up at the house with a strange, leathery substance known as “romaine.” While we grew many fruits and vegetables on the place, lettuce was apparently not among them. When a head of iceberg lettuce came into the house, there were three […]
Sunburn
When she was in her early twenties, my sister Mary fell asleep on Myrtle Beach (South Carolina). I am quite fair-skinned; Mary (and Laura too) might be even paler than I am. Anyway, when Mary woke up, she was badly burned (notice I don’t say “sunburned” because somehow that phrase seems to take the sting […]
All pets go to heaven
My niece Helen was quite young when one of her family’s beloved cats died. When her mother, my sister Laura, tried to explain what had happened, Helen became very thoughtful and said, “he must be licking butter off Jesus’ table.” What a heart-squeezingly beautiful image this comment conjures up. More recently, someone suggested to me […]
I’m trying to toughen myself
My great-uncle Brooks, a most colorful character, had as many stories as he had career ventures. At one time in his life, he found himself the informal caretaker of an elderly gentleman named Eddie Wilkinson, who had become increasingly eccentric in his old age. In the vernacular of the day, Mr. Wilkinson would often be […]
Me, my sisters, and the web-crawling spider-bots
These days I am starting to get a few subscribers to this blog that don’t come from my inner circle of oft-exhorted loved ones. Thank you, new friends! I am eternally grateful to my sisters Mary and Laura, though, because for quite a while it seemed like they comprised my entire audience, and they have […]