tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post7490959013224054789..comments2024-03-27T16:40:21.941-07:00Comments on A Country Boy Can Surmise: Writing StoresSilas Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08720545904650129484noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post-19493534864023553272010-09-12T00:11:38.914-07:002010-09-12T00:11:38.914-07:00Just listened to some of your music. Love Sexton ...Just listened to some of your music. Love Sexton Street. and Old Before your time. New to your site- will be looking for your books. It's late, but I'll be back!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post-65357400323673106722010-08-27T05:11:10.756-07:002010-08-27T05:11:10.756-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Teresahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05497353883350419184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post-54908398322778880852010-08-27T05:09:47.020-07:002010-08-27T05:09:47.020-07:00To the tune of "Turkey in the Straw", ri...To the tune of "Turkey in the Straw", right? I sing that ditty to my little nieces/nephews when we go out to check for eggs. They giggle and dance with glee and argue over who will carry the warm treasures, gold wrapped in brown chests.<br /><br />I just read "Coal Tattoo" b/c I caught you on KET recently. I wonder if "Peyton Place" is the inspiration for your descriptive love scenes? (idk what I'm talking about b/c I haven't read it.) I about dropped the book when I read the first scene and by the 3rd I was blushing. I wondered to myself, "Does his wife read those paperback romance novels and he sneaks a peek?"<br /><br />Just started reading your blog via FB link. I find it worth my time to read. There's a compliment if ever I gave one.Teresahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05497353883350419184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post-63289003439896112032008-10-08T14:56:00.000-07:002008-10-08T14:56:00.000-07:00Boy, did you remind this little Pentecostal raised...Boy, did you remind this little Pentecostal raised gal of some harrowing moments in church. I used to wake up every morning to a silent house and worry that the rapture had taken place. The lights went out in a very ordinary church service once and everyone started to shout! The girl next to me reached out for an older lady in front of her since she knew that the older lady would be gone if the rapture had taken place. Geez, I can't believe she didn't reach for me thinking I'd have been gone;)Marshahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05271341261842592936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post-88196532120146459402008-03-28T21:00:00.000-07:002008-03-28T21:00:00.000-07:00I envy your experiences you had as a child, with f...I envy your experiences you had as a child, with family that we have in common. (Dot was my Grandmother) Being raised up in Ohio, we only came down ever so often, and that's not enough time to really be able to study people. And most people who came to Ohio from Kentucky just wanted to leave it all behind, they very rarely ever spoke about the many things that you write about. I enjoy reading your blog.Janehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01669814756882023651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post-26155694314487645572008-01-11T06:54:00.000-08:002008-01-11T06:54:00.000-08:00Silas, Parchment of Leaves is such a great book! ...Silas, Parchment of Leaves is such a great book! I have it for my book group this month, and reading again.<BR/>Love your prose and the beauty of the countryside and nature. Also noted that there are not explicit details of each person, facial characteristics, hair etc - Just general body types. Would this be because your characters could be anyone the reader sees, or that those individual traits are not as important as what they feel/do?<BR/><BR/>Maybe you could say Hi to our Beach Bookers, and I can extend it to the members on 1/23 as we delve into the story on Vine. Saul, Esme and Aaron. Continued good writing!<BR/>JerseyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post-56798268522827521542008-01-08T08:27:00.000-08:002008-01-08T08:27:00.000-08:00Silas, your writing is absolutely amazing. I grew...Silas, your writing is absolutely amazing. I grew up with grandparents who moved to Ohio during the depression. They never stopped talking about "down home". I spent many summers in McKee, Kentucky. There was a grocery store there that sounds very similar to the one you write about. Norris Grocery was a treasureland for me. Aunt Maggie Norris (my grandmother's aunt) was the mother of the store owner. Maggie's husband Ben owned the store until he died. Maggie would sit in a rocking chair by the pot bellied stove and visit all who came to buy groceries. I love memories of Kentucky, and now I talk about going "down home". Keep writing, Silas. You make me smile.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post-63412303816436735072008-01-08T08:19:00.000-08:002008-01-08T08:19:00.000-08:00Silas, your writing is amazing. You write exactly...Silas, your writing is amazing. You write exactly what I wish I had the talent to write. I was raised by grandparents who moved to Ohio during the depression. They never called Hamilton, Ohio home. McKee, Kentucky was always home. They always talked about going "down home". I spent most of my summers in Kentucky, and now I too talk about going "down home" smile I grew up visiting Norris Grocery store in McKee. There was a pot bellied stove that sat near the check-out area, and the owner's mother, Maggie Norris, would sit in a big old rocking chair. She would visit with all the folks who came to do their Saturday grocery shopping. My grandmother would pull out her crocheting and sit with Maggie. After I had explored all the grocery store I was free to roam around McKee. I was safe to do that in those days. There was nothing like visiting Bishop's 5 and 10. When I read your writing I'm back in Norris Grocery, or I'm at a holiness church listening to first one and then another singing, or testifying. Keep doing what you are doing.Annehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16895254338942829229noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post-86402095387424974142007-11-27T09:45:00.000-08:002007-11-27T09:45:00.000-08:00I just read your October blog and laughed so hard....I just read your October blog and laughed so hard. I also come from a very large family of story tellers . <BR/>I live in Harrison County and we still have a couple of places like you speak of. Shadynook still has a little country store where folks gather to loaf and eat a hot lunch. My friends Hattie and Burnie Rankin own it and she prepares a hot lunch and a great sandwich and lots of old tales and new gossip daily.<BR/>A good group joins nightly at our local McDonalds for stories and friendship. You can find my mother and I there every night from about 9-12 laughing and enjoy stories.<BR/>I am usually the youngest in the group (40) but I love going ,it reminds me of my grandmothers kitchen where everyone was welcomed and everyone was loved. <BR/>It really is a shame how our children will never experience the old ways, but occasionally I can persuade one of my kids to join me.<BR/>Keep up the grat work. Love everything you write, you feel like kin.<BR/><BR/>gena arnoldgenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16855102341998519185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post-2397703633192795632007-11-16T09:42:00.000-08:002007-11-16T09:42:00.000-08:00Goodness Silas, that was wonderful.~MarcieGoodness Silas, that was wonderful.<BR/><BR/>~MarcieWaltzing Foolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09990219835480439351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post-70812390030400114962007-11-12T13:21:00.000-08:002007-11-12T13:21:00.000-08:00Silas,Lately stores have been extra-present in my ...Silas,<BR/><BR/>Lately stores have been extra-present in my consciousness. When I was 6, my grandma used to send me to Elsie's on the corner with grocery lists scribbled on the yellow slips of paper my grandpa brought home from his teller job at the bank. She never gave me money for those trips, so I guess I was headed for a "jottemdown" and didn't even know it.<BR/><BR/>Then, when I was a teenager interested in playing folk music with two neighbor boys--we really wanted to be the next Peter, Paul and Mary--we practiced in Ed Yelton's store. Since Mark Yelton was trying hard to be Paul Stookey, his dad, Ed, let us practice in the can goods aisle after the store closed each Wednesday night. Sometimes on weekends we'd drive down to Grant's Lick in Gary Baker's car and practice on the store porch of his grandpa's store, Baker and Hulley. Gary was studying to be Peter Yarrow by way of the Smothers Brothers. We even named our fledgling folk band after the first store as we called ourselves "Yelton's Friendly Service."<BR/><BR/>Last week all my memories of stores and store porches came flooding back when my current folk band, Raison D'Etre played the Richard Young Benefit at Rabbit Hash General Store in Rabbit Hash, KY. That store and community is a shrine to all of us who remember and celebrate the kind of store you describe. Can't wait for your next book.Roberta Schultzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03548902732886239653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post-52577924033255451842007-11-10T18:53:00.000-08:002007-11-10T18:53:00.000-08:00Slias, so glad to see you here in the blog world, ...Slias, so glad to see you here in the blog world, I just stared a few months ago and find it very addicting. I am a great fan of your work and was troubled to have to miss your appearance at Pikeville College last month. I couldn't escape from the metropolis of Catlettsburg to journey up the Levisa midweek.<BR/>Clay's Quilt will forever hold a special place on my shelf!Granthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09313144199312348070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post-77737712690661570852007-11-10T05:21:00.000-08:002007-11-10T05:21:00.000-08:00Hi Silas, I'm glad you have a blog now. I wish you...Hi Silas, I'm glad you have a blog now. I wish you'd tell us when we'll see that next book!Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02344830052162669994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post-37940722113113493832007-10-26T12:53:00.000-07:002007-10-26T12:53:00.000-07:00Silas, I enjoyed reading about your stores. I als...Silas, I enjoyed reading about your stores. I also grew up around a jottemdown country store and gas station. My aunt and uncle owned and ran it. In addition to the cigarettes and coke cooler, they sold lunch meat and made sandwiches every day for local farmers and their workers. I grew up on cold bottles of Pepsi with salted nuts poured inside, ham and cheese loaf sandwiches, fudge bullets, orange pushups and all the penny candy I could eat. Since I lived way out in the country, my only socialization was at that store where the local folks would come in and just sit and talk. I wish I could go back and listen again now that I might actually care about what somebody has to say. After a few years, my grandparents left the farm and moved to town. I would stay ANYWHERE except at home (where I was an only child and lived with my other grandparents a half mile from nowhere). Would anybody now believe the highlight of a child's day could be to see a car coming up the lane? That dry dust roiling and you KNEW you were about to have company--because nobody else lived on that road!Rick Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03164933177224269401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post-58972140369976269362007-10-25T18:30:00.000-07:002007-10-25T18:30:00.000-07:00I, too, was raised around a "jottemdown" store. M...I, too, was raised around a "jottemdown" store. My mother ran one from 1988 until 2001 on US 25 between Renfro Valley and Berea in the little community of Snyder. She got out of it at such time when the grocery business had migrated the few miles north to the new Super Wal-Mart in Berea, taking the food stamp and WIC voucher business with it. (I could, by the way, very much relate to the brawl in the country convienence store that took place in CLAY'S QUILT. Both the WIC vouchers and the occasionally Bubba-scorned fight were known to have taken place at the store.)<BR/><BR/>While the store you remember was around a few years before my Mom's, they sound very similiar. But, then things always have ran 10 or 20 years behind here in Rockcastle County, I suppose. <BR/><BR/>But the stores definitely sound like they were similiar (right down to those dollar store notebooks, filled with credit bills that might, or often times more likely might not, have gotten paid.)<BR/><BR/>The country store thing was a second-generation thing for Mom though, really. My great Aunt Mattie ran a real crossroads country store in the Green Hill community here in Rockcastle County from the 1920s clear up through the 1970s.<BR/><BR/>I always enjoy your books so much, all of which I've read more than once. Whether a country store or whatever other little nuance of Southern and Eastern Kentucky, you always seem to get such important little details just right.<BR/><BR/>And too, after all, I'm glad I'm not the only one under 40 who enjoyed at least a fleeting glimpse of a simpler time, when we all were not compelled by necessity and budget to insure the economic prosperity of Sam Walton's great-great-great-great-great grandchildren.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post-49978911821714917312007-10-25T15:35:00.000-07:002007-10-25T15:35:00.000-07:00Silas, you never cease to amaze me with your gift ...Silas, you never cease to amaze me with your gift of capturing such beautiful truths and bringing to life the vivid memories of the past. I also remember these stores that you recall in your blog; I'm only sorry to see them die off one at a time to the big chains like Wal-Mart, as you mentioned. The South is slowly becoming homogenized and these little nuances we cherish would all but be obliterated if it weren't for stories like yours. Your stories are truly a treasure and a gift. I look forward to reading more from your blog. God bless.Shannon Whitfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18161128891519666630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-736523594228656794.post-47201866205912543742007-10-25T13:09:00.000-07:002007-10-25T13:09:00.000-07:00It is so true how social centers like community st...It is so true how social centers like community stores, churches, and homesteads are such rich "stores" for storytelling and experience. I can remember when my grandmother ran the cash register of a little gas station in Woodlawn, virginia, and how I jumped, head first, into a Coca-Cola cooler to pull out a glass bottle of Mountain Dew because I liked the gun-toting hillbilly and outhouse logo on the front. And the older men that sat around the counter and talked! I hope you will continue to post when you get the chance. I'm sure you keep yourself busy as a writer. I enjoyed reading A Parchment of Leaves. Keep up the good writing!David Hampton:https://www.blogger.com/profile/05309607344932135648noreply@blogger.com