Stories
Daddy
Bull, Mr. Billy, Daddy, and Poppa Bear
were all names for my father, William Homer Saunders. The nickname Bull was given
to him when he played football...
Momma's Shoes
My mother,
God rest her soul, always had a closet full of shoes. From early childhood this
was a source of fascination to me. There was every kind of shoe...
Trees
I loved to climb trees when I was growing up. It
turns out that I still do, but my current tree-climbing is greatly limited by
social expectations for people...
Hills and Mountains
My first sight of a mountain in North
Carolina around age 11 was a wondrous experience. I couldn’t believe how the
land rose up and was framed by the sky. Our f...
Poem by my mother, Ruth J Saunders, written August 6, 2003
Inspired by overhearing her granddaughter, Rebecca, telling her younger sister, Crystal, “You can’t put a frog in a book bag.” You can’t put a frog ...
Letting Go
For
me summer begins when the hummingbirds arrive and ends when they leave. I
remember seeing my first hummingbird feeding at a Mimosa tree blossom in the
backyard...
Ice Cream
Saunders Family Recipe for Homemade
Ice Cream Few
memories are more delicious than those of home churned ice cream in the
summertime. Here is the Saunders...
Fishing
It
doesn’t take much imagination to know the outcome of my first and only fly-fishing
outing in a boat: I hooked Daddy in the back. In the long view, no harm w...
Learning from Tadpoles
The nearly flat soybean field surrounding
our childhood home was bounded on its lower side by a drainage canal, fondly known
as the “big ditch.” The clear, sti...
Learning on the Job
During
high school summers I began learning about characteristics of my preferred occupation
by experiencing jobs lacking these features. It was like having to...