Many of the ladies I know had the experience of baking Friendship Bread. Someone who loved baking bread invented it for those of us who had no talent in that department.

The morning of 9/11/2001, I was getting a haircut in Barnes Barber Shop, downtown Guntersville. The TV was on, of course, and we all watched in disbelief as the Global War on Terror exploded into full blossom.

“Its great to be a Guntersville Wildcat,” the old familiar cheer goes.

I’m involved in an interesting project that might be an idea for creative people around Guntersville. It’s a collaboration of poets and artists.

Although this is the bicentennial anniversary of the creation of the State of Alabama, we thought it would be interesting to look back 100 years ago when it was celebrating its centennial. The January 1, 1919, Guntersville Democrat gives us a good clue, as it lists business licenses for that year.

On Saturday, Nov. 9, a fall photography workshop will be held at Lake Guntersville State Park with two sessions, the first from 8 a.m to 12 p.m., and the second from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

While visiting my son, I did a lot of walking. He always plans excursions that requires us to get out there and move around. I move pretty slowly, most of the time dragging behind everyone else

For the last 3 or 4 years, I've been a member of the Lake City Civitans, the club that puts on the annual Pumpkin Patch on Gunter Avenue next to the Rock House. 

My friend Donna, who is an artist, tried to outrun a table, but she lost. A long-time friend kept asking her to embellish a small table she had. In fact, she carried that little table around in her car hoping that Donna would give in.

Long ago, in the 1600’s, at a place called Jamestown, Virginia, Captain John Smith, who was a leader of this private British colony development, said “If it be not ripe, it will draw a man’s mouth awrie with much torment.”

In August 1971, a rumor began circulating through Guntersville that a member of The Partridge Family was vacationing at Val-Monte. Word spread quickly, so much so that by the time a local reporter drove out to the resort, he saw a veritable mob of children near a fishing pier. The target of …

Sometimes it seems like I’m in and out of my car all day long. As I have gotten older, the getting in and out has been tiresome.

The Alabama State Parks Mission statement is as follows: To acquire and preserve natural areas; to develop, furnish, operate and maintain recreational facilities, and to extend the public's knowledge of the state's natural environment.

When I was a small boy, my mother would take my brother, sister and me to visit my grandparents G.W. (George Washington) Junkins and Minnie Myrtle Bright Junkins, who lived just up from Guntersville at the top of Brindlee Mountain on the south side of Highway 69.

Although I don’t have a garden, I’m lucky to have generous neighbors. I got some beautiful tomatoes this week, probably the last of the season.

(More of Michael Kirkpatrick's remembrances of life at Point of Pines.)

We humans, in our haste to tame Nature, tend to take a dominant role in the construction of our landscapes. We mow, chop, trim, spray, cultivate, embellish, pour concrete, lay rock, and otherwise spend loads of time and energy to get the “perfect landscape” around us on our private pieces of…

More and more, I’m finding that people have so much in common. I’m teaching a class on “Writing Your Life Stories,” and as I listen to some of the stories that participants have chosen, I find that I, too, have done the same things.

I made a big mistake once. I checked out supplemental health insurance on the Internet. I got on a list of every company in the country, because they’re calling me from Alabama, Florida, Maryland, California, Georgia, Chicago, New Hampshire….the list goes on and on. That has been going on fo…

The dry conditions are playing a major role to stress agriculture around the home and farm. Several homeowners have contacted the office related to lawn establishment and management during these times.

We’ll soon be officially into the fall season. It’s my favorite time of the year. I’m instinctively drawn to color, and the Lord blesses us with such a magnificent pallet of reds and yellows.

(Another boyhood remembrance of growing up at Point of Pines by Michael Kirkpatrick.)

Living in the Campbell household is kind of like living in a musical. People just randomly burst forth in song from time to time. 

It was my granddaughter’s birthday, and we were scheduled to go out for dinner that evening. My daughter suggested wearing something casual for outdoor dining

Alabama is the most biodiverse state east of the Mississippi River. When sufficient research is done and even more unique species are discovered, our state may very well be the tops of all the U.S. in total number of species within its borders.

Some friends and I went out one cool afternoon to see several giant fields of sunflowers in Wisconsin. It was quite the tourist attraction. Families were out taking photos all along the fence line.

It can be easy to rush to judgment, especially when there’s a photo right there in front of you.

But it’s best to wait and hear all the facts. 

The brouhaha at Douglas involving the football program last week was a textbook example. A parent posted a photo on Facebook of a kid’s hands that were all torn up and said he suffered the injuries when the entire team was made by the coach to do “bear crawls” on the hot pavement.

When I first saw the photo, I was incensed just like everyone else. But that little voice in the back of my head said, "I don't know of a coach in America that would do such a thing."

It turned out the little voice was right, as it so often is. 

We got the chance to speak to Sheriff Phil Sims about the episode. The “facts” that weren’t reported in the post were:

• The pavement wasn’t hot. The bear crawls were done at 7:30 in the morning, not in the heat of the day.
• Some of the kids didn’t have PE clothes and the grass was wet. That’s why the crawls were done on the pavement not on the field.
• The coach showed the kids how to do the bear crawls first. He did what he was asking the kids to do.
• Just about all the parents and the kids supported the coach.
• A few kids had scratches on their hands, but they were no big deal. The last time we checked, football was a tough sport played by tough people.
• The injuries in the photos were related to power lifting, not the bear crawls.

This was one of those incidents when part of a story got out and a lot of people got upset. It was easy to see why. The pictures were damning.

The only problem was that they weren’t. What you saw told a story, but not the full story.

The old saying in journalism – and really in life – is that there are 2 sides to every story. It took a little time, but the second side eventually got out in this one and painted a much fuller picture than the Facebook photo did.

The next time you see something on Facebook that just seems too incredulous to be true, remember the Douglas football punishment story of 2019.

The truth will come out. it just might take a few days for that to happen.

(Another in a series of boyhood remembrances by a resident of Point of Pines at Beech Creek.)

In July, our family had the unique experience of attending our granddaughter’s quinceañera, the traditional Spanish 15th birthday party for a young lady. My daughter in law celebrated her quince at the same age 25 years ago and wanted her daughter to have the traditional quince also.

(Another in a series of boyhood remembrances by a resident of Point of Pines at Beech Creek.)

(Educators and authors Whitney and Barbara Snow traveled to Ireland earlier this summer. This is the last installment of Whitney's account of that adventure.)

Years and years and years ago, I wrote in this column the things that I had learned in life. I read the column the other day and thought I should update what I have learned. After all, I have aged some, and what I have learned has gotten quirkier.

(Another in a series of boyhood remembrances by a resident of Point of Pines at Beech Creek.)