primary day in north carolina

They gave these to us as we left the polling station -- ain't that America . . . Peace, Milton

shall we gather at the river?

It’s late and I’m restless. After the two deaths last week at our church here in Durham, word came that one of the dearest souls in the Marshfield church died unexpectedly. Grief, like my depression, sends me searching for songs in the middle of the night, mostly looking

note to self

In the quiver of lies called depression, the name of the sharpest arrow is You Have Nothing To Say. Forget what the flowers told you, or the gift from the little one in front of you at the drive through when she smiled. How can you give voice to the

in the garden

I went to work at five this morning so I could leave early to get to a funeral. A dear soul in our church, Bryant, who was, as his son said, both a gentle man and a gentleman died last Friday. Ginger said the family had asked for someone to

out in the eye of the storm

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been listening to Mark Heard as I’ve gone about my business here in Durham. For those of you who don’t know of him, Mark was a wonderful songwriter, thinker, and singer who died way too young and left an enduring

ella's landing

Moving into our new home here on Iredell has been different than moves to Charlestown and Marshfield for any number of reasons, but one most significantly: we didn’t have to redo the house from top to bottom to get in it. The folks we bought it from did that

coming up short

The assignment was simple: meet at the catering shop to pick up the food and then go to the site to cook dinner for eight people: The way things are supposed to work is the folks at the shop prepare as much as they can ahead of time and then

well-worn love

Eighteen April 21sts ago, Ginger and I were married in the First Baptist Church of Irondale, Alabama, surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses and a wedding party whose picture rivals the cover photograph of The King Family Christmas . We got engaged on August 12, 1989 at the Hard Rock

putting the DD in durham

Today is a significant day in the Brasher-Cunningham household, since it's the day we invented the Brasher- Cunningham household eighteen years ago (more about that later). The importance of the day is enhanced because Dunkin' Donuts opened its doors this morning at 5 a.m. -- and

satellite radio

april gave us springtime and the promise of the flowers and the feeling that we both shared and the love that we called ours but I can’t help but have my suspicions ‘cause I ain’t quite as dumb as I seem; tell me how can you stand there

chiffonade

I’ve heard tell of those who rolled cigars in Havana and how they would choose one to read each day, the others making up his share of the quota so they could hear stories that took them beyond the little rooms where they rolled leaves for the pleasure of

what's for dinner

I like to know what’s next as much as possible, so when they call and say, “We need you to work a dinner Saturday,” I wish they would tell me the occasion and the menu, just so I have an idea of how to prepare myself to prepare the