Creekbank Stories Curt Iles, Storyteller

How to Fight a Bear I’ve got hiking fever. It’s strikes me several times a year and I find my heart, if not my feet, on a trail in Arkansas or the Appalachian Mountains. In both of these hiking locales, encountering black bears does occur. I want to share a few good bear stories along with information from a “Bear …

  Uncle Quincy’s Goose   (From Curt Iles’s third book, Wind in the Pines.) “He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.” -Proverbs 21:23   You are probably familiar with the old story of the gossip who was confronted for spreading an untruth throughout the community. The offending “tale-bearer” apologized and volunteered to go back to …

A Good Time to “De-clutter”   As many of you know from my stories I love to hike in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas and along the Appalachian Trail (or the “A.T.” as it is called.) One thing backpacking quickly teaches you is the priority of traveling light. When you are carrying a 30-40 pound pack on your back for …

One Step at a Time I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.  -Psalms 32:8   I grew up in the woods at the end of a dead-end country road. Clayton Iles Road was unpaved a mile long, and extremely dark on moonless nights. It’s …

A word from Curt The following story, about King George VI and his famous Christmas message and poem to the British people during the darkest days of the War. Scroll down to read this remarkable story   January 1 Lagniappe A New Year  This is the final post from our book, Christmas Jelly. We’ve enjoyed visiting with you during the …

December 31 New Year’s Eve   Finishing Strong   Ted Williams is generally considered the greatest hitter in the history of major league baseball. Two events from his career speak about the concept of “finishing strong.” In 1941, Williams entered the last day of the season with a batting average of .3995. This would qualify him for a rounded off …

        A Word from Curt   Grateful. Gratitude is one of my 6+ words for 2016. I’m thankful for the wonderful gifts in my life. Today I’m thankful to have the calling of writing. It’s what I do. Who I am.  I’m thankful that you have chosen to read this blog and allow my heart to hopefully …

For the next week, through January 1, I’ll share a daily short short story with thoughts to help us all navigate that wonderful week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. I lovingly call it “Bah Humbug” Week. It can be the most difficult week of the year. Stay tuned  daily for a story, thought, or insight that hopefully will make …

A Story for Christmas  During December we’re featuring one short story per day from my latest book, Christmas Jelly.  Today’s story is my favourite from the thirty-two stories.*   Enjoy! Christmas Jelly contains thirty-two chapters– 0ne for each day in December plus January 1.     MY GRANDPAS’ BOOTS CURT ILES       My name is Abe and this …

  An Easy Mark “I’m a thousand miles from anywhere, waiting for a train.” -Jimmy Rodgers “Waiting for a Train”   Calling someone an “easy mark” is normally not a compliment. We use it in the context of taking advantage of someone and associate it with weakness. I have a story that explains the term’s origin. I’ll let you—the reader—decide …

The Hay’s in the Barn It’s “Christmas Eve-Eve.” Two days until Christmas. It’s close but there’s still time for planning and dreaming. A strong cold front is blowing in as I arrive at Foreman’s Meat Market. Last night we were in shirtsleeves. By tonight it will be freezing. Long vee formations of geese have been flying over all morning. They’re …

                Another Soldier Comes Home for Christmas I wonder when they finally took his Christmas stocking down. What year did the family remove his vacant chair from the Christmas dining room table? His name was Lt. Commander James R. Bauder. The date was September 21, 1966. Bauder and his fellow pilot , Lt. …

Lazarus’ Second Funeral I guess I’m only one who attended both of Boaz Lazurus’ funerals. The second one was yesterday. The first one was thirty-one years ago. I remember the first funeral well. I was a young rabbi, only recently assigned to the Bethany synagogue. I’ll never forget the raw grief of his two sisters, Mary and Martha. I had …

                     Christmas Jelly. Learn more at www.creekbank.net   This is chapter 20 from Christmas Jelly. It’s written by one of my favorite people, Erik Pederson.  Mr. Erik touched all of us with his love, humor, and smile. He’ll always be missed in Dry Creek.   I encouraged him to write this story and …