by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Nov 26, 2020 | Family, holidays, Memories
Oh for those Thanksgivings gone by! The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade would be on TV, mom would be filling the house with the aroma of butter, sage, and turkey. I’d be watching out the window counting down the minutes until the cousins came . . . The...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Nov 9, 2020 | Family, History, holidays
Wednesday is Veterans Day. Which got me to thinking about the veterans in my family. And I’m not talking about Vietnam or Korea or even World War II. I’m reaching back to the days before West Virginia was even a state! It was during the Civil War that West...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Oct 26, 2020 | Family, Food, holidays, Memories
Seems like I just can’t keep track of time this year. The seasons, the holidays, the day of the week–it’s all a weird 2020-induced blur. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to think hard to remember what month it is! But I do know...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Jul 6, 2020 | bears, holidays, Nature
We weren’t the only ones meandering the rain-fresh trails this weekend! Perhaps whoever was going “bear”foot ahead of us was also enjoying the gorgeous rhododendron reaching full bloom over the Fourth of July weekend. We certainly did! How did you...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Jan 2, 2020 | Appalachian, History, holidays
We’ve rung in the new year and Christmas is over . . . or is it? I’ve written before about Old Christmas–the mountain tradition of celebrating the holiday on January 6 due to some calendar confusion dating back hundreds of years. But there’s...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Dec 30, 2019 | Appalachian, holidays, superstition
I’ve written in previous posts about new year’s traditions like first-footing and eating lucky foods. But do you know about blowing out the old for the new year? The idea is to throw open all the doors and windows in the house just before midnight so that...
