(ROCKWALL, TX – Sept. 29, 2016) We ended the day around the campfire; the pops and sizzles just have a way of making a great day with my boys even better. It wasn’t a profitable hog hunt, but that didn’t matter. A hot meal and some stories would make things right. Darkness settled in, and […]
(ROCKWALL, TX – June 28, 2015) “I’m dreading summer, Coach.” A middle-schooler dreading summer, dreading the break from school—the bane of their existence? Then she described an Olympic-esque training regimen. Playing for three teams, training, traveling to tournaments every weekend, clinics, camps; I needed a three-day weekend after hearing her summer schedule. Man, times have […]
ROCKWALL, TX (March 16, 2015) I’ve had a quest: to provide more honest food for our table—food I’ve caught, killed, or grown. There’s something pure about it, wholesome, and when you’ve been involved from field to feast, a deeper appreciation brews and wasting is sacrilege. A couple of years ago, I heard of the white […]
ROCKWALL, TX (Dec. 16, 2014) While opening our Christmas envelopes from my grandparents, I noticed Uncle Harry grinning, shifting on the couch. He was up to something—a practical joke that we’d talk about for Christmases to come. We all have Christmas traditions; things we do, food we eat, places we go to celebrate the Christ […]
ROCKWALL, TX (June 22, 2014) In summer, we have movie nights nearly every evening, and sometimes the kids will join us. We’ll pop popcorn and settle in for a late night. It’s brutal on Angie and I the next morning (I teach summer school right now) but it’s fun being together. One evening we watched […]
ROCKWALL, TX (April 11, 2014) I slapped the last touches on a chicken coop the other day, having designed the thing from the ground up and pieced together every board of the poultry palace. Like all building projects, I ran into an unanticipated challenge. Basically, I needed to rip (or cut long-ways) a skinny board. There […]
ROCKWALL, TX (April 11, 2014) Spring weather has hit and I’m lovin’ it. I’ve been cleaning up fallen limbs and straightening up the deck whileIreland, my first grader, plays with her dolls in the dirt. The pastures behind us awake with crows cawing while they mob an invading hawk—the sounds and sights of nature awaking from […]
(December 8, 2013) Like most men, I avoid shopping sprees, sales, or any outing that calls for hours of store after store and rack after rack of browsing, and after 20 years of marriage, Angie and I have an understanding; I don’t go on shopping trips and she doesn’t watch ballgames (unless it’s our kids […]
(ROCKWALL – October 26, 2013) A Goliath Catfish has been spotted in Rockwall. Not a mysterious Chernobyl-grown, bottom feeder or a freakishly big Flathead, but the young adult novel penned by Rockwall teacher and coach, Scott Gill. Goliath Catfish is set in 1940’sMemphis and tells the story of Albert McClune, a big kid who longs to restore his […]
(Rockwall) October 24, 2013 – Gene looked like a Halloween costume, and when he stole that jack-o-lantern off some folk’s porch, they just stared; didn’t blink an eye. The gag must’ve seemed like part of his getup, like it made sense for someone so odd to run down the street with a flaming pumpkin. I […]