When you lived in the country, shopping in town was an all day affair. You would plan to eat lunch there. For me, it was the highlight of the trip. I planned my route and time to take me to my favorite spot for lunch. Isn't that a deliciously sounding word - “lunch”? I made a list of my shopping needs. I knew which store sold what at the price I could afford. I always planned to afford lunch.

Glenn Campbell had a song a while back called, “A Lineman for the County.” My dad was a lineman during the twenties and, again, just before World War ll. Dad worked out of an AFL union hall in Grand Rapids, Michigan. That was how you got that job in those days. Dad worked at various sites in the Midwest. He didn't work for any county.

Back in 1960 there were three ways to get to California, the same as now: automobile, train or plane. My stepfather's son lived in a suburb of Sacramento. He hadn't seen his son since Jimmy discharged from the Navy. Jimmy had married and was the father of a five year old daughter. My stepfather was anxious to visit them.

The Union County Memoir Class has three sessions under its belt. We have a good mix of Union County people and there is room for more. The first class had six participants and the last two had eight. Their stories reflect Union County living.

Shirley Temple was born April 23, 1928. I was born January 11, 1928. That makes me older than that pint-sized movie star. Hold onto that thought and backtrack a bit. Popular names come and go. Shirley was a popular name for girls and boys, too, at the time. I went to school in Joliet, Illinois with four other Shirley's in my class. I even dated a guy named Shirley. He preferred to be called Bill.

Nowadays a man can get a haircut in a beauty salon. There was a time a man wouldn't have been caught dead in one. My, how times have changed. I got to thinking about a very special haircut when I was getting my hair cut at the the Cutting Crew salon in Maynardville the other day.

The incident I want to tell you about happened in the early 70's. There was a small barbershop on the road into town, like a number of one room barber shops in those years. This one went out of business shortly after our visit.

There was an old song that went like this: “B-I-N-G-O! B-I-N-G-O! And Bingo was his name-o!” But our dog was named B-A-N-J-O. Banjo was his name-o. Dad had a dog named Banjo when he was a boy and wanted us to have one, too. I was only five when Dad brought home the beagle puppy in 1934.

The first automobile I remember was our 1920-something Essex. I remember it as a big car. I guess when you are five years old all cars looked big. It had four doors. Doesn't that make it a big car? I thought it was in league with the Cadillac. I was wrong. According to my research the Essex was considered “a small car and affordably priced.” It boasted piano-hinged doors which were exceptionally strong. By 1929, the Essex was third in sales behind Ford and Chevrolet. Wow! And I thought it was a gunboat of a car. Our Essex was black in color. Weren't all cars black back then?

Do you like pancakes in the wintertime? I like pancakes anytime. But I am particular about my pancakes. Do I have a pancake story for you? You betcha!

When I was first married, pancakes for breakfast was the usual fare. I didn't use a mix. My pancakes were the real thing – from scratch. I thought they were pretty good. My husband thought so, too, but to spoil the complement he would add, “I sure do miss Mother's pancakes and milk gravy.” I heard about her fabulous pancakes and milk gravy over and over and over again.

Do you save seeds? From the time of Noah and before, people have saved seeds. They saved seeds, swapped seeds, inherited seeds, sold seeds and, yes, maybe even stole seeds. We still do. The rage today is over heritage tomatoes. Those seeds had to be kept year after year for them to still be around today.

I remember when we saved tomato and cucumber seeds. We avoided the hybrid ones They wouldn't reproduce true to form. It was like saving hollyhock or petunia flower seeds. After a couple of years, their flowers turned to a washed out pink shade.