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 […]
Tag: camping out
Mosquitos across time and space
Some years ago, my husband and I took a trip to Panama, and of course we visited the canal. Of particular interest to me was finding my great-uncle James (nickname Jinks) Jervey’s name, as he had been an engineer on the canal building project in about 1903. Sure enough, the list of names in the […]
Convict season
I grew up living downstream (James River) from the Virginia state prison, aka the State Farm. This fact was known to create some excitement from time to time. I came home from school one day to find our yard full of state troopers and German shepherds. It seemed a convict had escaped, as they were […]