“During the intermission, I took advantage of an opportunity to talk with Doc after the ones wanting to say hello and take snapshots had cleared out. We chatted briefly about our ancestry in…

“We left our Frederick-Law-Olmsted-inspired paths winding among my fern garden to move to a retirement village in Burlington. Gardening space was provided, an ungenerous plot some 10 by 12 feet, on clay soil…

Out to Pastoral By John Idol BURLINGTON North Carolina—(Weekly Hubris)—2/25/2013—It is now with a sardonic half-laugh that I channel Tim Conway imitating the walk of an old man, a butcher, doctor, sheriff or…

“A few of the older students transformed one of our favorite games, Fox and Hounds, into Get the Democrats. The game didn’t bear that name, but its object was to chase, catch, and…

“As done in my early years, harvesting hay meant labor intensive work, especially when time came to stack it. Our haying methods could have provided some 20th century artist a scene almost exactly…

“The back-breaking and knee-dirtying job of picking them brought pay in the amount picked, something in the range of 50 to 75 cents a bushel. A full day in the field for me…

“Alone in my basement study, since my wife had ordered me not to befoul the house with puffs from my pipe, I took a long draw on my favorite pipe four decades ago…

“I knew firsthand what it was like to get out on US 421 in a farm wagon. When Rufus and Lane ran short of corn meal or chop for the livestock, Rufus hitched…

“During the intermission, I took advantage of an opportunity to talk with Doc after the ones wanting to say hello and take snapshots had cleared out. We chatted briefly about our ancestry in…

“Breakfast fare was always far better. Myrtie had a knack for baking crisp biscuits, perhaps because she used a generous portion of lard. They came from her oven hot, tough, and tasty, something…