Beth Durham's Blog, page 15

More Music from Yester-Year

 

Last week we started talking about the history we can learn from lyrics of yester-year’s music.  While the song I highlighted last year was an encouragement to the World War 2 generation, today’s songs would have been relevant to all country folks, those rural Americans who knew about a hard days work in the sun and watching crops ripen then enjoying the fruits of the labor.

“What’s the Matter with the Mill” laments a broken grist mill, along with a few concerns about his girl and his 96 year...

Lessons from Lyrics

Now y’uns know I love old music – we’ve talked about it here several times before.  So it won’t surprise you that my modern, fancy phone pipes into the wireless earpiece Bob Wills, Bill Monroe and The Spears Family.  I sing along, tap my toe and often don’t even think about the actual lyrics – well until the Spears sing “He’s Still in the Fire” and that one makes me cry (and maybe shout) everytime.

Bob Wills is the king of Western Swing music and if you can listen to him while you’re exercis...

A Legacy of Faith in God and Love for Family

The loss of a loved one always sets you thinking about days gone by and memories of him or her.  Well when I heard last week that my great Aunt Lois Key Roberts had passed away I couldn’t help but think of the whole Billy Key family.  Aunt Lois was the youngest of 12 children and the last to pass; they were my Grandmothers siblings and were always a huge part of my life.

What a blessing to be able to tell you that I knew all of these great aunts and uncles – lots of you may not have known your...

When your Lost for WordsI am so thankful that I didn’t gr...

When your Lost for Words

I am so thankful that I didn’t grow up around profane and filthy-talk.  I well remember picking up from a girl in elementary school the use of God’s name in vain and I tried it out on Mama while she was washing my hair (back in the day we’d stick our head under the faucet in the sink you know and sometimes it maybe felt a little like torture) well I let out that holy name and thought for all the world Mama would drowned me as she declared we do NOT talk that way.  I do...

Travelin’ Around

The things you can see from a Country Road!

I love it when I bet the chance to see some of the countryside.  And I’ve talked here before about travelling a’foot and stage coach trips and all such as that.  Still, I am continually amazed by the terrain of our Cumberland Plateau – really all of the Appalachian Mountains.

We certainly recall that the rugged mountains were the primary reason our people were so isolated for about 200 years before World War II.  I guess that same rugged beauty is...

Taking a Little Break

As the summer winds down and school is about to ramp up I have to confess I’m finding myself just a little tad overwhelmed!

So The Stories will take a short break this week and be back with a bang next Friday (hmmm, is there a story in guns, cannons or other noisemakers!?!)

If you aren’t receiving Tennessee Mountain Stories in your inbox each Friday morning, this might be a great time to subscribe! Just click in the box on the right hand of the screen and leave me your email address.

We’re Porch People

Well a couple of weeks ago I wrote about the dog days of summer coming early and now it’s turned off cooler than we usually expect in late July.  And it’s perfect porch weather!  You may recall from an earlier post that I’m a big fan of the Cumberland Homestead and since they’ve kindly stocked my books in their Homestead Tower Museum, I’ve been spending more time in that community of late.  The museum’s curator and I were just discussing that the houses were clearly not designed by a local pe...

Reunions Then and Now

This weekend I will gather with a group of extended family – relatives of my paternal great grandmother.  We’ve talked here before about how I enjoy the family reunions and looking forward to this visit I’ve been thinking just how blessed I am to know so many of my distant relatives.  One my cousins shared these pictures with me a couple of years ago and when I came across them again recently I knew I wanted to pass them along to you. 

This is the Norris family, gathered nearly 75 years ago...

The Census Question

The media is abuzz with the 2020 census question, “Are you a US citizen?”  Now this is not a political blog and I’m not here to weigh in with my opinions.  However, as a (very) amateur genealogist I can’t help but think about the historical data we have in the census records.

Census-taking is an age-old practice.  Way back in King David’s time, he took a census of the people of Israel and got in a lot of trouble with the Lord for doing it.  God had been trying for ages to get His chosen peop...

Summer’s Heat

We’re still a ways from the “Dog Days” of summer but it really seems to have heated up.  I think summer’s heat hurts me worse the more time I spend in the air-conditioned house; well that’s just logical I suppose since your body gets a little shock every time you suddenly go from the 70-something house to the 90-something outdoors.  And every passing year (and pound) increases the summer’s impact.

Still I can’t help but remember the days that I spent in fields picking beans or even helping wi...