Straight From The Hart

  FIRST DAFFODIL BUD OF SPRING Midst broken twigs and dried up grass The browns and grays of winter A ray of sunshine caught my eye For right there in the center A sign of spring broke through the ground All covered by seasonal clutter A single bud of daffodil As bright as fresh churned butter Poking its head above the rest Of earth’s decaying matter Surveying its environment Of torn leaves and tatter As if to say it may be a while But my promise to you today Is simply this, the time will come When clouds no longer gray Will let the sunshine come right through Dispelling fears and doubt And faith that spring is coming That’s what hope is all about. Written by Joan Rowden Hart on 01.24.13 at 10:15 am

  . Have you seen the insurance commercial on television where the actor says “Did you know that words can really hurt you?” Then a western “loner” rides off into the sunset leaving his lady at the ranch when suddenly the words “The End” appear on the screen and the “loner” rides into the words which apparently knock him off his horse to the ground. Silly, right? But not nearly as silly as some of the words, phrases and statements we hear uttered on the television screen every day by supposedly sophisticated and educated people. I have collected politicians’ words and phrases for years now. Marie Harf, spokeswoman for the State Department, who is always good for a few laughs, outdid herself this week. When asked how many ISIS terrorists we were killing, she admitted we were killing some but went on to say we can’t “kill ourselves out of this war”. Her solution was to provide jobs for them. She said any 17 year old ISIS warrior would probably be much more interested in starti

  (These families were well known in Lebanon and Windyville and Bennett Spring (Brice) and Flatwoods, all over that area so I thought a lot of you might locate a relative’s name.  I wrote this column for the Lebanon paper several years ago.) How many of you remember in grade school in the 40s and 50s we all made valentine boxes and took to school and exchanged valentines?  Boys to boys, girls to girls, made no difference in gender, we all were friends and we loved to take and receive valentines, homemade or "boughten" .  This was even more true back in the 20s and 30s.  It was like families sending Christmas cards to other families like we do nowadays.      The picture I used for the cover picture are just a few of the Valentines my Uncle Loran Dame received in the 30s when he was a teenage boy .  Uncle Loran saved these all those years in a box where we found them after he died in 2008.  The valentines and the friends were most precious to him all those years.       First th

  Featured Add Joan Hart S o s p e t n d r o h 1 a r 5 5 i 1 0 7 d 5 9 A 1 e a i e y t m t 6 1 6 2 M c f   u c t 0 5 a 8 1 u   0 Y g   : 1 1 s l    ·  This is a note about my historical posts or original poetry on this group. I usually sign them off with a "copyright" notation, even those I wrote for the newspaper. That does not mean you cannot share them freely. It's to protect my poetry and essays as best I can, but I like to see the history columns (like the one I just posted about Jess Easley) shared on this group and you don't have to have my permission to do so. 2 Like Comment Joan Hart S o s p e t n d r o h   a r 5 5 i 1 0 7 d 5 9 A 1 e   i e g a m t 6 5 6 2 M c f t u c t 0 5 a 8 8 u y 9 Y g   : 1 1 s l    ·  If you have lived in Lebanon long enough to remember Jess Easley, you are fortunate indeed. And if you ever got your hands on a copy of the transcript of the tapes he dicated about downtown Lebanon, you are doubly fortunate. Milan and I fall into both cate