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August 2026

August 25, 2026

A Place Where Anything Can Happen

"Did you hear several kids from LaBelle got into a bad accident?" said Jimmy....

August 14, 2025

Summer Ends, In a World Without Mercy

Summer ends, first with a bang, and then a whimper. I had been moping at...

June 2025

June 27, 2025

And the Rain Will Wash it Away

(A caution to my more sensitive readers: this story involves an injured animal, and a...

June 24, 2025

A Neighbor, on a Dark Night

This isn't a good story; just a true one. A good story has a...

June 17, 2025

Walking the Mound, Between Bones and Floods

Mountains Older than Bones On Wednesday, we went to Moundsville. "Going to Moundsville" is...

May 2025

May 14, 2025

A Recollection at Dusk

As the sun was getting low, I went out to inspect the garden. Charlie the...

March 2025

March 01, 2025

In the Here and Now

Again and again, I try to write the way Northern Appalachia feels, here and...

January 2025

January 19, 2025

The Only Place

I drove out to the overlook at Fernwood State Forest, not feeling too well....

January 06, 2025

An Appalachian Epiphany

It was a difficult night. Things have been a bit easier. I will never not...

October 2024

October 10, 2024

The Other Half Gold

On the last day of my thirties, I woke early. I got into respectable clothes...

September 2024

September 30, 2024

A Little More Serendipity

How do you get rid of Serendipity? I'm not asking some kind of philosophical...

September 29, 2024

A Word on the Catastrophic Flooding in Appalachia

Thank you to the readers who asked if we were okay in the rainfall after...

September 15, 2024

I Believe in Flyover Country

I saw them getting on the bus, a long time ago now. They were...

August 2024

August 13, 2024

Better than Rubies

I picked a bag of tomatoes for a friend. I'm hauling in more tomatoes than...

August 07, 2024

The Holy Blue

We went to look at cars. Jimmy the mechanic has become our best friend....

July 2024

July 27, 2024

Let the Weak Say

I woke up sick. The colitis from June keeps coming back, then almost clearing up,...

July 26, 2024

The Goldfinch

The birds took flight as soon as I came back to the garden. Most...

July 09, 2024

A More Perfect Union

The mother of the Baker Street Irregulars sent me a text. She texts me...

July 01, 2024

Facing the Opposite Way

It was the kind of weekend I haven't had in awhile: the kind where...

June 2024

June 23, 2024

In the Boiling Gray

Twelve days of sick is too much. I've been sick with one thing or...

May 2024

May 29, 2024

In the Garden, In the Cool of the Day

It was finally the cool of the day. I was hoping for rain. It's...

May 04, 2024

Hodgen’s Mound

I went down to Tiltonsville, to see the ancient burial mound. I'd been looking...

March 2024

March 26, 2024

A Little Resurrection

Things were bad, and then they were wonderful. This happens more and more often lately....

March 13, 2024

I Saw the Water Flowing

It's really spring now. The world is recalled to life. I was raised to believe...

March 06, 2024

On Appalachian Economics

Jimmy the mechanic got a new car. By which I mean, he got an...

January 2024

January 25, 2024

On the Road to Getting Better

We went to Robinson in Serendipity. In the past several months, I have learned...

January 11, 2024

Ordinary Time: A Short Story

[One day in foggy, rainy winter, here in the Ohio Valley, just at the...

December 2023

December 07, 2023

It Felt Like Christmas

We did not get to the Christmas parade on Saturday. Steubenville has a really...

October 2023

October 23, 2023

When Grief Gives Way to Peace

October Saturdays are soccer days. Adrienne is doing well at school and on her soccer...

October 05, 2023

The Price of an Onion

There was a knock at the door. I could tell it was Jimmy...