The oxen were slow and didn’t seem to like being yoked together, and I could have gotten there faster if I’d walked. At last we met up with Aunt Catherine and Uncle Will, and by then, I was hot under my three layers of clothes. Aunt Catherine looked hot, too, because they had been waiting at the ...
I remember it because it was also the night Pink Varscoe kissed me for the first time. It was Miners Union Day, and a bunch of us decided to go out to Columbia Gardens. Toney had a fight there that night, and he wanted us to go and cheer for him. Even then, I think he liked Whippy Bird and wanted...
The quilt became a remembrance of loved ones left behind. Names and sometimes a sketch or sentiment were embroidered or signed in permanent ink on patchwork blocks. The blocks were assembled into the Friendship quilt, also known as a Signature, Presentation, or Album quilt. Among the most popular...
While touring Auburn, one of Natchez’s splendid mansions, I picked up a booklet entitled The Goat Castle Murder. The idea for New Mercies came from that booklet. Both the real victim and my victim, Amalia Bondurant, were reclusive women, murdered in their mansions in the 1930s, and an elderly nei...
Prairie Home. Luke has gone to Mingo, and I have gone to quilting, as I am good for little else. Came a headache last night so painful that I went outside and pressed snow against my temples in hopes the cold would drive it away. It seemed as if tiny men were inside my for...
Of course, I couldn’t say anything so silly to her. I told Rita I was there to get to know her better. It took me longer to come calling than I’d planned, what with the Massies moving in and, after that, me having to put up tomatoes and to dry peaches. Bottled tomatoes I like, but dried peaches a...