Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. I love words. I like the way they sound. Words like tinkle, slither, clap, pop, sizzle, squeak. Did you know they are actually called something that doesn’t sound like what it is at all? Or maybe it does and I just don’t know how to pronounce it. Onomatopoeia. That’s one hard word to …
Miss Sally Counts Her Blessings
November 23, 1966 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky on the day before Thanksgiving. Don’t you just love Thanksgiving? I do. And it’s going to be especially good this year because everybody’s coming to Miss Sally’s for dinner. Miss Sally is the best cook ever. People nearly come to blows over the last pieces of her cherry pies at …
A Different Kind of Sunday Morning
A New Year’s Sunday in Hollyhill Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill. Well, Holly County, actually. I’m not in town. I’m at our house. Alone. On a Sunday morning. It feels really strange to be in the house alone, especially on a Sunday. I have a cold. A sneezing, eye-watering cold. Even Aunt Love said I shouldn’t go to church. …
The Bible, Butterflies and Babies
Jocie Brooks here reporting from Hollyhill. I know it’s been a while. You can’t believe how busy a high school girl can get. You’d think I’d have all the time in the world. At least that’s what Dad says. That at my age, I should be cherishing my days when I can do whatever I want. I’m not sure if …
Jocie Reporting from Holly County
Jocie Brooke here reporting from Holly County. Things have been pretty busy with school stuff. Those teachers love giving tests this time of the year. So I hunted up a report I wrote a while back about being out at Miss Sally’s farm again. Maybe you missed reading it the first time and will like this repeat. Reruns on television …
The Trees Are Turning
Sometime in the 1960s ~ Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Do you love autumn? I do. Almost as much as I love spring. I mean you have to love spring the most. That’s when winter is going warm and you can see summer vacation from school not that far away. That’s the spoiler with autumn. School. Every …
Why I Hate February
February 1, 1966 Jocie Brook here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. I’ll have to keep Dad from seeing that headline. He would sit me down and give me a long talk about hating any day. He’d tell me that every day was a gift from the Lord and one to be glad to face. He would say he learned how precious …
Happy Hollyhill New Year
January 1, 1967 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill on New Year’s Day. Can you believe it’s 1967? Sixty-seven!! I’m fifteen. Grown. Old enough to behave myself, Aunt Love says. Old enough to fall in love, Leigh says. Old enough to take a trip to Jupiter, Wes says. Old enough to understand a few things about life, Dad says. Tabitha …
Christmas Means Parades
December 3, 1966 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill. Wow! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I did a report. I guess it’s true that when you get in high school, you get really, really busy. Too busy, Aunt Love says. But I still do all the chores she has for me at home. That’s not as many …
Fireworks in Hollyhill
July 4, 1966 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. It’s the 4th of July! That means time for parades and fireworks and picnics and sparklers. Sparklers is all the fireworks I actually get to play with. Those booming things aren’t legal in Kentucky and even if they were, Dad would never think we could afford them. It must be …