After the house burned, and when we were living in a one-room tar paper shack, Papa had a part-time job with the city working on road construction; he ran an overhead crane and dug ditches for sewer pipes. It was a good job. But then he got an offer to transport house trailers between FloridaContinue reading “Eight Hens Roosting”
Author Archives: Judelaine
Ant-Acid Tablets Nearly Killed John
“John. John,” I repeated softly while bending down and looking into my husband’s face. “Just let me sleep. I need to sleep,” he mumbled. “Sit up,” I urged. “You’ve been lying flat for four days. At least sit up for a little while.” He didn’t reply. This was not like John. He is one ofContinue reading “Ant-Acid Tablets Nearly Killed John”
TEEN GIGGERS
TED AND I MOVED SILENTLY along a well-worn path close to the river’s edge. Moonlight lit this path and us as well, so we bent low to keep from being seen. The unceasing songs of crickets and jug-o-rum of bullfrogs filled the humid night air. But Ted and I could hear another sound, we couldContinue reading “TEEN GIGGERS”
Proud-Cut
NOT LONG AFTER I returned to college, Mama hired Landis Spurbeck to deliver and stack hay in the barn. Landis was the old cowboy who had told me Prince needed to be broken. “You got to teach him who’s boss,” he had advised. Landis drove his pick-up truck loaded with bales of hay to the barnContinue reading “Proud-Cut”
Home Birth
RUTH WOULD ATTEST to the fact that nursing does not prevent pregnancy, since she conceived the couple’s second child while nursing, a year and a half after Elizabeth’s birth. And so, it was that on a hot summer day nineteen-year-old Ruth called from the cabin door, “Charlie, I think it’s time! You better get DocContinue reading “Home Birth”
Swamp Spruce
THE FIRST WEEK of December, Papa came home for several days before having to haul a house trailer to Florida, and while he was home, he proposed cutting some of the spruce trees that were growing in a swampy area north of the pasture. “I can haul them to Illinois and sell them for ChristmasContinue reading “Swamp Spruce”
Compassionate Service
Throughout my childhood and teen years, I remember my mother helping people who were poor. It wasn’t because she was wealthy, it was because she understood what it was to be poor. This photo reminds me of the old men she helped. They lived on what we called Bachelor Avenue, a country road that hadContinue reading “Compassionate Service”
Recent Loon Paintings Aug 2023
A Little Hairy Thief
Following is a chapter from the recently published children’s book title Daffy: A Monkey’s Tale (available on Amazon). Pooping on the classroom piano wasn’t the only behavior that gave Daffy notoriety. He was a free-range monkey, going in and out of the house whenever he desired through a small window in Ted’s bedroom. He especiallyContinue reading “A Little Hairy Thief”
Mr. Butler and Miss Lilly
”Jack, leave Boots alone. Miss Lilly will get upset if you frighten her cat, and she’ll be ornery,” Mr. Butler grumbled to his dog. Jack ignored the grumble and barked loudly while racing up the walkway. When the cat yowled loudly, the door flew open! “You know better than to bring that beast here!” MissContinue reading “Mr. Butler and Miss Lilly”
As the Crow Flies 