It was bone cold, the wind sending chilly gusts around our legs and up loose backs of our jackets.  I pushed my muffler up to warm my nose. We were three American visitors steadily working…

This is the third and final part of the memoir of George Olsson Short, whose family love of baseball was a feature of his boyhood in the Texas of the 1920s and 1930s. After earning a…

This is the second in the series of three parts which are a compilation of the writings of George Olsson Short, whose family love of baseball was a feature of his boyhood in the Texas of…

This is Part 1 of 3.  George Short was my husband’s uncle.  This is HIS story.  This story was serialized in the online magazine, http://www.texasescapes.com Part 1:  http://www.texasescapes.com/GOS/1-My-Father-Zola.htm Part 2: http://www.texasescapes.com/GOS/2-From-Hitting-Homers-to-Hitting-the-Hun.htm                                     Part 3: http://www.texasescapes.com/GOS/3-Surviving-WWII-and-Coming-Home.htm   Baseball, Love and a Love…

The small notice in our local evening newspaper was seeking homes for exchange students.  I cut out the ad and called the phone number the next morning.  They made an appointment to meet us, check…

Years ago, G. I. Joe and his military buddies were a passion of our oldest son West. He memorized vehicles, accessories, weapons, outfits, uniforms advertised in magazines and on television and carefully collected each branch…

A large, old black dog showed up on my sister Joanne’s doorstep, thirsty and hot. The owner of eight dogs, she took pity on the old dog, who wore no collar or identifying tags.  She…

Our dad, James Tinkle West, didn’t often talk about his World War II Air Force experience.  He was like many veterans in that way.  One story, however, he did talk about with equal parts embarrassed…

Growing up in central Texas in the area known as the blackland prairie, snow was very rare. As children we measured each winter by whether there was snow, how many days it stayed and if…