The East Beauregard Trojans head to Oak Grove, Louisiana tonight for the state football quarterfinals.   In honor of the team, and my brother-in-law Coach Gordy Glaser, I’m dedicating this song to the Trojans:  Tony Joe White’s “Saturday Night in Oak Grove, Louisiana.” It’s one of my favorite tunes from Louisiana blues/folk singer Tony Joe White, who is a native …

Turkey Pinecones and cornbread dressing Last week I ate twice at school cafeterias. It was Thanksgiving lunch and we grandparents were invited. I don’t miss a grandchild event if I can help it. One day was with our adopted (truly) African-American granddaughter, Daizy Mae Thomas. The next day was with Luke Iles, aka Chief Wampum. Both meals featured turkey, cornbread …

A word from Curt Thanksgiving. It’s more than a day. It’s a life habit.   There are many images of thankfulness in my heart. But the sketch below illustrates one that touched me the most: It was scrawled in black spray paint on the side of a partially burned house trailer. It was east of Pitkin on Hwy 113/10. Probably …

A word from Curt I’m living in 1881 and 1882 today. I’m right at 92,000 words on As the Crow Flies.  My goal is to have 100,000 words by the week’s end. In the second draft, we’ll begin cutting down on words.  My goal is the book to weigh in at about 75,000 words in its final form. What I’m …

I’m thinking about thanksgiving. Not the day but the attitude. It’s about gratitude. And it should be about giving. All day long, an image has been playing out in my mind. A small dirt-floored church in a northern Kenyan refugee camps. Hundreds of South Sudanese crowded in for worship. It’s time for the offering.  In African culture, you come forward …

A word from Curt: This is an excerpt from our ebook, Trampled Grass. The read more: “The O Word” from Trampled Grass Today is Grandparent’s Day at Peabody Montessori School in Alexandria. DeDe and I have been invited by Daizy Mae Thomas. She’s our 9th grandchild. Read below and you’ll see why.   The final adoption story is extremely personal. The …

    Wow. The Life Long Learning journey is the road I want to be on. I call it LLL. Will you pray that DeDe and I will hunger and thirst for learning more? More about God. More above living life. More about how to serve.       This is part of my current reading list. Soul Keeping.  I’m …

Ignore that fancy word. Juxtapositon. It simply means comparing and contrasting. How is an orange like an apple?  How is it different. It’s a big part of how my mind works as I take three steps daily: Being curious Being Amazed. Being Moved to tell a story.     Many times my stories are about these amazing things and how they …

                  Young longleaf seedlings underneath the dead landmark tree   I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. Kilmer said it. It’s hard to be a tree. I’ve always seen God’s fingerprints on trees. The intimate life cycle between the animal world and botanical. Trees take in …

  We’re no longer in Africa but Africa is still in us. I’ve been thinking about the Sahel this week. It’s where Sand Africa meets Grass Africa.   “We were showing “The Jesus Film” outdoors in a village. Just at the moment of Jesus’ crucifixion, a snake slithered through the crowd. There was chaos. The viewers literally ran out of …

                Holding the Rope in Prayer: Pray for DeDe’s tutoring. Pray for Curt as he writes As the Crow Flies. God’s guidance for our precious children and grandchildren.  Thanks for praying! Booted out of the Mall I have contracted with several places in Alexandria that have become my writing offices.  At the end …

It’s my mantra: Be curious. Be amazed. Tell about it. I arrive at Freedom Baptist Church early. Walking in the auditorium, I stop at a group of photographs on the back wall. I know what it is: black and white photographs of the men and women from this church who served our country.  Most are WWII faces. Most  Ten Mile …

There’s many bigger houses. Taller. More expensive. Older or newer. But the house at 622 Clayton Iles Rd is where my heart is. Built by my parents in 1960. Where my sisters and I grew up. It’s a good place. A good place to go home to.    

Last week’s posts put us over 1100 posts for the past dozen years or so. Just one more example of the simple perseverance of  writing daily. All of those stories, whether touching or forgetful, have come from my heart. From my heart to yours. Thanks for being on this journey. You can glean from these thousand plus posts by category …