Ruth P Saunders

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

During high school summers I began learning about characteristics of my preferred occupation by experiencing jobs lacking these features. It was like having to...