Happy
Mother's Day to All You Beautiful Rescue Moms by Maggie Van
Ostrand 5-12-23
Kids
by Wanda Orton 1-3-19
Who
Killed Cock Robin? by Maggie Van Ostrand 10-8-18
An
Overdue Mother's Day Gift Of Amends by Maggie Van Ostrand 5-10-18
Children's
Meds by Wanda Orton 10-1-17
Talking
toddler in grocery cart by Wanda Orton 9-2-17
Mother's
Day: Make It Count by Maggie Van Ostrand 5-9-17
Prolific
Progenitors by Carolyn Heinsohn 3-22-17
And
'sew' it went by Wanda Orton 7-1-15
That's
My Mom by Frances Giles 1-18-15
Ghost
of Cookies Past by Mike Cox 12-16-14
Grandpa
and Grandma Lindig by Mike Cox 2-27-14
Envelope
Season by Maggie Van Ostrand 1-22-14
Grandma
Barnett Pioneer Woman by Mike Cox 9-18-13
They used to say that Grandma Barnett could knock a squirrel’s eye
out at 40 paces with a rifle. Nancy Ann Smith Barnett aimed true
because in 19th century Texas, a woman often had to. When the men
folks left to work in the fields or tend the stock, the women stayed
at home with the children. They had to be able to defend themselves...
In
Times of Need by Bruce Martin 5-1-13
My mother was one of those benevolent individuals, consistent and
dependable.
When
the Worm Turns or Rites of Spring by Frances Giles
4-7-13
The advent of warmer weather to the upper Texas Gulf Coast means
different things to different people, but to my mother it meant
it was time to give the house a good scrubbing and time to worm
the kids.
My
Granny's Apron Strings by Frances Giles 2-7-13
My maternal Czech grandmother, for whom I was named, was a warm,
sweet presence in my childhood, and I always felt her unconditional
love and approval.
Lame
Christmas Gifts: It Is Harder to Receive Than to Give by Maggie
Van Ostrand 12-30-12
After Christmas, my refrigerator door has more macaroni art than
a Sicilian pasta factory...
The
Day Mother Became Attached to her Clothesline by Jesse Suttles
12-19-12
Catastrophic
Coiffures by Frances Giles 12-2-12
Mama and many other mothers across the US got a good bit of help
in corralling their daughter's manes, namely in the form of the
Tonette home permanent...
Birth
Poem by David Knape 11-25-12
Putting
up peaches brings back memories by Delbert Trew
10-23-12
My mother devised a recipe even cowboys could produce
La
Tipica by Wanda Orton10-2-12
An all-girl orchestra from Baytown’s Mexican community -- played
an important role in local musical entertainment from here to California...
“There was always a community dance on the Saturday night before
Mother’s Day… We would then go to the home of each of the orchestra
members and sing and play ‘Las Mañanitas’ for each mother."...
Ashbel
Smith's Foster Daughter by Wanda Orton 9-14-12
Native Baytonian and retired Lee College professor Robert “Bob”
Wright has many recollections of his grandmother, Anna Allen Wright,
foster daughter of Dr. Ashbel Smith...
Beaumont
to Caldwell With a Boogie Woogie Beat by Frances Giles
9-14-12
Mama's name was Estelle and that woman loved music. She liked Big
Band, Country and Western, especially Western Swing, “church music”
and gospel, rhythm and blues, almost any genre, and she heavily
favored anything with a lively beat...
Blind
Drunk in Beaumont by Frances Giles 8-17-12
Cleaning Day in Beaumont
Mother
by Maggie Van Ostrand 5-5-12
A beautiful woman is queen of every room she enters. Conversation
hushes, people turn to look, and the center of attention falls upon
her. My mother was not like that...
Faithful
wife, dutiful daughter by Wanda Orton 3-2-12
Sarah Williams was one of those stoical pioneer women who kept things
in order single-handedly on the home front...
Country
Living in the Mid-1900’s by Bruce Martin 2-23-12
"Grandma cooked meals on a wood-burning stove and oven; she
had that down to a science, as I cannot remember eating tastier
home-cooked meals and bakery goods."
Water
producers, grandmas make miracles by Delbert Trew
6-14-11
Of all the strange, weird and confusing bits of history, none quite
compare with rain dancers, water witchers and grandmas. Each could
perform miracles if the sign was right, a fresh peach tree twig
was used or the malady could be cured with Castor Oil or Black Draught
Tonic...
Thank
you from San Francisco from Susan Fry 6-2-11
"...Thanks for bringing her back into the room for a moment...
I do have to visit the Panhandle some day. My mother said it was
awful -- yet all her life she had an affection for the people and
the culture... she never lost that. And, reading about the place
now, I realize how enormously who she was had to do with where she
was from..."
What
Do You Want For Your Birthday? Or, It Won't Be What You Asked For
by Maggie Van Ostrand 5-20-11
I'm sick and tired of people not listening when you answer their
question, "What do you want for your birthday?" I suppose my kids
are getting even for me giving them things they hated when they
were little, like instead of the toys they wanted, they got underwear
and socks. Well, revenge may be sweet, but not to the revengee....
LBJ
and Sad Irons by Clay Coppedge 9-10-10
As Johnson biographer Robert Caro pointed out, “Without electricity,
even boiling water was work.” Water was hauled by hand from a well
or creek and carried to the house. It took about 40 gallons of water
a day to run a farm, which meant a lot of trips from the well to
the house. Lyndon’s reluctance to help his mother with pumping and
hauling water was a source of constant friction between the future
president and his father...
Kate
Polly's Pancakes by Mike Cox 6-3-10
Next time you fry a stack of pancakes, imagine what it would be
like if your life and the well-being of your children depended on
it.
Wash
Day: Drudgery Through the Centuries by Robert Cowser 4-1-10
When I read Letitia Barbauld’s poem “Wash-Day,” written in the eighteenth
century, I was struck by certain similarities between the plight
of the laundresses in the poem and my mother’s struggle to provide
clean laundry for our family of five...
Sabotage
by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal 12-18-09
By the time you read this the wedding we have been planning and
working toward for the last nine months will be all over. The bride
is doing fine as I write this two days before the ceremony...
MOB
vs. MOG by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal 9-24-09
This is my first go around as Mother of the Bride and it’s been
fine so far. We’ve got the gown, got the favors, lined up the photographer,
talked to the wedding coordinator at the church. Yesterday we lucked
onto just what we were needing...
Parade
honoring mothers-in-law drew thousands by Delbert Trew 6-16-09
The story begins in the hard, dry, financially troubled year of
1934 when Gene Howe, editor and publisher of the Amarillo Globe-News
Corporation and his "Tactless Texan" newspaper column somehow offended
his mother-in-law Nellie Donald...
An
Evening In Paris With Mom by Maggie Van Ostrand
"Someone was wearing Evening In Paris perfume the other day.
The scent of it instantly reminded me of Mom; I haven't smelled
Evening In Paris since we lost her, yet its fragrance transported
me back to my childhood and to the Mother's Day when I spilled a
precious bottle of it."
An
Introduction of Two Persons 3-9-09
From "The Americanization of Edward Bok: The Autobiography
of a Dutch Boy Fifty Years After"
“Make the world a bit more beautiful and better because you have
been in it.”
Juicy
TomaToes by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal 4-11-09
Here’s a news flash – I am crazy about my daughters. I am thinking
about them because they are out of town today. And it occurs to
me that the word "love" is entirely insufficient. One word is not
enough for it...
“And
His Mama Cries” by N. Ray Maxie 4-1-09
“And His Mama Cries” is words in the lyrics of a popular song titled
“In The Ghettos” sung by Elvis Presley. I remember well, hearing
the recording real frequently when, during the 1960's and ‘70's,
I regularly worked the late night shift in and around Houston’s
big notorious ghettos. But this story is about a different time
and different place. Many years and much distance removed from the
above.
Drivin’
Me Crazy by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal 8-26-09
In just a few short weeks my youngest child will get his learner’s
permit...
Wedding
Belles by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal 3-27-09
Older Daughter is getting married... I learned very early on in
the planning process exactly what my role will be...
Wedding
Nightmare by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal 8-3-09
It is approximately 140 days until the wedding and some hidden time
bomb of a countdown timer in my brain must have just kicked on.
I can imagine it like a big red alarm clock – the old fashioned
kind with two bells on top – nestled snugly in the soft folds of
my gray matter tick tock, tick tocking away...
How
Women Think or How They Don’t Think by Peary Perry
3-25-09
Your child can be fifty years old and their mother will still have
their drawings from the first grade....
My
Funny Valentine by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal 2-7-09
I have received some wonderful gifts from my children over the years.
I have received many different things, necklaces, bracelets, fairies,
angels, boys and girls, made out of macaroni. I have received glazed
and fired clay elephants, rhinos, fairies, angels, boys and girls...
But I wanted to tell you about my best Valentine.
Mother’s
Wash Day Monday on the Farm by N. Ray Maxie 2-1-09
Throughout the years, on our family farm at least, sure as death
and taxes, Mondays were always wash day...
No
Place for Sissies by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal 1-9-09
Bette Davis is famously quoted as saying, “Old age ain’t no place
for sissies.” I’m here to tell you, if you haven’t had the dubious
pleasure of discovering it for yourself, that taking care of elderly
parents is no picnic either. And it is an experience that more and
more of us are going to be sharing as the years pass.
October
Barrel by Mike Cox 9-25-08
Eight-year-old Viola Helen Anderson did not grasp that the U.S.
stood on the brink of a financial crisis that would come to be called
the Panic of 1906. All the San Angelo girl cared about was that
her daddy had died...
Pickle
Intervention by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal 10-1-08
It is a sad day when a young adult child is confronted with the
realization that her parents are not super-heroes, that they are
not members of some omnipotent, omniscient, immortal race of superior
beings...
Turning
into Mom by Maggie Van Ostrand 5-8-08
Most of us remember our moms with affection, or occasionally, dislike.
But we always remember them, even when they're not around any more.
I turned out to be more like my mom than I could ever have expected...
Elective
by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal 11-5-07
There are good things about having grown children and not so good
things about it. Big kids are, for one thing, much harder to cuddle...
Big
Babies by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal 5-11-07
"It is a sad day in a mother's life when she suddenly realizes
that her daughters do not consider her to be the font of all knowledge;
from what is polite, to what is fashionable, to when one might reasonably
give up on DayQuil and make a trip to the doctor's office. It is
like losing something, losing a public office perhaps, or ..."
Bad
Mothers by Maggie Van Ostrand 5-11-07
It's difficult to write this story about University researchers
in Canada coming up with the unpleasant fact that mothers take better
care of "good looking" children than they do "ugly" ones.
Brotherhood
of Motherhood by Peary Perry 4-25-07
There exists in our society today a brotherhood much larger than
that of cops. This is the Brotherhood of Motherhood.
Sam's
Mother-in-Law by Mike Cox 3-30-07
"Despite the rocky beginning of their relationship, Sam Houston
treated Mrs. Nancy Lea, his mother-in-law, with all due respect.
He must have learned to accept her eccentricities as well, like
the lard incident..."
Autograph
book reveals mother's girlhood by Delbert Trew 2-1-07
...Naoma was only 8 years old and the first entry was by her father
who wrote, "Love many and trust few, but always paddle your own
canoe. Respectfully, your Papa." The second entry was by her mother
who penned: "Dear Naoma, Keep a watch on your words my dear for
words are a wonderful thing. They are sweet like the bee's honey,
or like bees they have a terrible sting. Lovingly, your Mama."...
Gram
and Daffodils by Robert Cowser 2-1-07
"One afternoon in the early spring shortly after my younger
brother and I had arrived home from school, Mary brought Gram, as
John called his grandmother, to visit my family. Mary wanted Gram
to meet our family. She also wanted Gram to see the daffodils in
bloom in the pasture across the road from our house..."
Blame
it on the Boogie by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal
It was a typical afternoon. Nothing very exciting, nothing too out
of the normal course of an afternoon. I have been thinking and thinking,
trying to define what particular event might have pushed my youngest
son Andy irrevocably into his Adolescent Angst phase...
Mother
by Mike Cox
She used to sit in the lap of the legendary old Texas Ranger Capt.
John R. Hughes and pull his white beard and ask him questions about
the Wild West. She remembered when soldiers on horseback gave a
public parade every Sunday at Fort Bliss...
Harvey
Girls and Juke Quarters by Delbert Trew
"My mother was a Harvey Girl... At 16 years of age, she left
home for the first time, signed a Harvey Girl contract and moved
into a room above the restaurant alongside the railroad track at
Temple...."
"For the first time in their lives, they had shiny black shoes,
hose and fine underwear, plus black skirts and starched white aprons
to wear each day." ...
Nesting
by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal
"...Friends, something truly wonderful has happened to me and
I want to share it for those of you who are one or two steps behind
me on the life experience ladder...."
Love
You, Ociffer! by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal
It takes a very special person to work the night shift successfully.
Monsters
of Big Creek by George Lester
A Mother's Wisdom
Don't
go Near the Water, Son, Until You Learn to Swim by N. Ray Maxie
My mother, the kindhearted, nurturing and caring person that she
was, became extremely over-protective of us kids during the 1930's
and 40's. She was raised through some mighty tough times and later,
the Great Depression.
When
Traveling in Mexico, Leave Your Pantyhose At Home by Maggie
Van Ostrand
Meeting the relatives of Keiko, my son Jason's beautiful wife.
Bring
Me the Head of My Least Favorite Nephew by John Troesser
In back of many lunch counters and cash registers in Texas and around
the South, there is a sign that states: "If Mama Ain't Happy, Ain't
Nobody Happy." It is mildly amusing if it was a family member who
put the sign up. It isn't funny at all if "mama" herself put it
up. This is a story of a son who tried to please "mama" a little
too enthusiastically ...
Neta's
Snake Tale by Neta Rhyne
"Our oldest daughter started college in 1989 and since employment
opportunities are few and far between in remote west Texas I began
looking for ways to make money. One evening while reading the local
paper I came across a want ad which read "Wanted Live Rattlesnakes"
will pay $6.00 per pound. Now catching live rattlesnakes was not
on my list of things I wanted to do but considering how many rattlers
there are in these parts I figured this could be a profitable enterprise."
Women
Want Details, Men Cut to the Chase by Peary Perry
How come when babies are born, the way men describe them is entirely
different from women?
Grandparenting
by Peary Perry
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