He was a kind, stately man who carried a dark secret. One would never suspect it. He appeared at ease with himself and others. However, the secret would occasionally reveal itself in the place where for the sincere, few secrets can hide, the church. I would never have seen the secret except one Sunday I peeked.

Cosby Mae Anderson declares that there’s nothing she would change about her life. Faith in God and her family’s love, she says, supplied grace sufficient for a happy existence.

Thanks a lot scientists of the year 2006.
Before you rode in on Rocinante, penning some new definition of the word “planet,” life was easy. Back then there were nine planets. Even if we didn’t exactly, precisely and for sure and certain know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what we all meant when we said planet, we knew there were nine of them. Now we aren’t so sure. Worse, we don’t know what to say when our 6-year-old sons ask if there are eight planets in the solar system.

My friend Bill Shermer, a source of wit and wisdom, described the tirade a distraught woman poured out upon the circulation manager of the local newspaper. After the onslaught, her question was quite simple, “Why have you not delivered my Sunday paper?”

As a warning to readers, it’s important to acknowledge that animals were harmed in the gathering of material for this column. A crustacean met an untimely end, and a black lab, I hope, learned a valuable lesson. Well, that last part is more wishful than realistic. Despite multiple encounters, the 3-year-old hasn’t even learned that skunks have the power to make him and his owners miserable for days.

This Saturday afternoon, for a while at least, the sun will shine bright, as many Americans will be native sons and daughters of Kentucky regardless of their place of birth. Men will be Kentucky colonels, women will be Kentucky ladies and the air will fill with strains of “My Old Kentucky Home,” played by the University of Louisville Marching Band (singing accompaniment by most of the fans both in the stands and the TV audience) when for the 133rd time, the Kentucky Derby will take place.

We live in paradise. I noticed it on May Day, songbirds and creekbirds flitting through my little woods, butterflies floating over the flowers, fat bumblebees bumping clumsily into each other through the blooming bushes.

Fans of country music in general and the Carter Family in particular will want to see Barter Theatre’s “Keep on the Sunny Side” during the month of May.  Written by Doug Pote, it is the most-requested Barter show.

Just over a week ago, Passover began, and there has been a war in Israel ever since. The conflict has not been over land; enough blood has been spilled over that. As strange as it may sound, the war in Israel this week has been over bread.

One thing about writing for the Smyth County News & Messenger, you never know what’s coming next. I was sitting at home here near South Holston Lake when the telephone rang. It was Stephanie, my boss at the SCN&M, who told me to get off my lazy, well you can probably guess what, and hunt down the producer who filmed a movie in this area back in the late fall of 2006. Seems the movie has finally been finished and released, the Hollywood premier having just taken place and the local one coming this weekend in Abingdon.