A Mentor named Jay Miller   “I was born in a tiny Southern town. I grew up with my family and friends all around.” Something to Love Jason Isbell   I grew up in a rural community where I was fortunate to have a long line of mentors and role models.  Many of these relationships continued even into my adult …

  The bird crashed into the plate glass window. My friend and I walked over to where a red cardinal lay on the grass. She said, “It’s dead.” “Let’s watch for a while. I’ve seen birds, knocked silly from a collision, get up, wobble around, and fly off.” But it was evident this cardinal’s flying days were over. He was …

Ten Mile Fire Perkins Road Ten Mile, Louisiana The Wayfaring Stranger Excerpts from Chapter 42:  The Ten Mile Fire Aunt Mollie and the Big Fire Thursday, September 7, 2023 Yesterday, I drove through the devastation of the Ten Mile Fire, which burned 8,000 acres along the Rapides/Vernon Parish lines.   Ten Mile refers to the creek that winds its way across …

The Wayfaring Stranger  by Curt Iles   It’s our first novel and still a reader favorite.   You can download a PDF of the entire novel here.

The Wayfaring Stranger    The Big Fire Full. Chapter 42 Joe Moore was making what he called his “firewood rounds”: he would go by Aunt Mollie’s, then the Sweats, and finally Miz Girlie’s. By the end of the day, he would have supplied every family with plenty of smaller sticks for the wood stove, as well as larger ones for …