Author: Bud Hearn
A Letter From Aunt Mabel
“I am not here to think, but to be, feel, live!” Johann von Herder The other day we found a letter from Aunt Mabel. I thought I’d send it on to you. Humor will have to sit in the back of the bus today. Times are complicated now that the world is inter-connected. But it was not always so. There was a time when things were si...Read More
A Case of Wishful Thinking
Some actually believe if it weren’t for mules, men would be the dumbest creatures on the planet. Hearing and comprehension don’t equate. Yesterday proved the position of my lowly estate. ********** It was like this, see. I come home, stagger through the door, beat up from another onslaught of the details of life. I n...Read More
Moving On and Moving Mountains
It’s 2014. The dead Christmas tree is recycled, the holiday decorations are mothballed and Handel and his Messiah are tucked in. Everything moves on. Barely ten hours into the new year of 2014 and I’m already a basket case. Why? Like Janus, January’s namesake, I’m looking both ways¦a foot in the past, a foot in the fut...Read More
The Hot Breathe of Christmas
It’s happening again…the hot breath of Christmas breathes down our necks like fire. Tempers get testy. Time eats up our hours faster than a politician asking for money. The plague of not- enough cash consumes our checkbooks. Visa elves work overtime. Platoons of catalogs clog our mail boxes. So many choices¦who can decide? The hot...Read More
The Southern Art of Buying Junk
Americans love bargains! Yard sales are the place to find them. Forget trying to beat some Turkish rug merchant on a deal. You’re not in his league until you’ve cut your teeth on the art of negotiating for junk. ********** If you don’t think America has been on a buying binge, go yard shopping. Junk abounds. My bargain...Read More
Slang It To Me
Goodbye to the old trusted idioms. They’ve bit the dust. Acronyms of verbal arcana now rule, the new Esperanto. I’ve dusted off a few old ones and have cobbled them together. Perhaps they still convey a coherent message. ********** We live in a culture of idiomatic clichés. We’re comfortable with our favorite ones. Such non...Read More
Do I Know You?
How do I know you? Let me count the ways. Calling you by name and name-calling are mutually exclusive. I use both. ...Read More
The Mute Button
We have a TV remote with a magic yellow button¦the mute button. We use it often. &nbs...Read More
Shopping with Coupons…An American Addiction
Newspapers are on life support. They’d die without coupon-saving inserts. Who wants to read the news anyway? No, we’re Americans. We shop. Here’s my experience with coupons. ~~~~~~~~ It’s Saturday morning. It’s raining. Rain begets boredom. Boredom begets the urge to shop. My wife’s reading the coupon inser...Read More
The Virtuoso
It might be said I was born into a musical family¦they sang dirges the day I was delivered. It got better as I got older, but not much. The African proverb warns, Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet. I ignored this advice, cast caution aside and took the plunge. I bought a violin. So far it has not salvaged the fami...Read More
Our Flag Was Still There
“The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” Patrick Henry The card simply read, “Happy Birthday, America…for 238 years old, you’re looking pretty good.” Inside was a small scroll. On it read these words: My, how you have grown. From a few stout souls to what, over 313 million now?...Read More
Pressure Cookers…Gone with the Wind
Song, song of the South, sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth. Gone, gone with the wind, there ain’t nobody looking back again. Alabama If there’s one thing Southerners know anything about, it’s gone with the wind. Last week the passing of pressure cookers was mourned with dirges and eulogies. Living along the sweltering Georgia...Read More