At some point over the long holiday vacation we domestic engineers find ourselves deeply engrossed in our own spirituality. Across the wide spectrum of faith, every one of us whose job it is to hold together the fabric of reality for our spouses and off-spring reaches a place where we become consumed in prayer and reflection due to the nature of the holidays.

Our faiths may be different, but there is a universal...

It has been 365 days of anticipation, months of planning and weeks of hands on preparation. After all the list making, hard core full combat shopping and the seemingly endless office and neighborhood parties Thursday is the big day itself.
And come Thursday morning if you aren’t thoroughly exhausted to the point of not being able to remember if it’s Christmas 2008 or Christmas 1992 then you are either totally engrossed in your shiny new Barbie doll with a candy cane stuck to...

While no holiday gathering would be complete with out entrees, casseroles or hearty appetizers, we all know what takes center stage, and all of the glory, during the Christmas season: sweets.
Cakes, pies, cookies and confections of all sorts are produced or purchased in such quantities that it makes one wonder why half the country doesn’t slip into a diabetic coma by New Year’s Day.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking the proliferation of sweet treats. In fact,...

Then another career change, and wonder of wonders, my family was taking up residence in The City of the People itself. Demopolis is also known as The Diamond of the Black Belt. If you ever get a chance to visit, which I highly recommend, you are sure to fall in love with the place, we did. No one can help but be captivated by the white bluffs on the river that runs through Demopolis’ historic down town. And if it is Old South architecture that floats your boat, there you will find some of the most...

I am the first and only member of my family of origin that can claim to be a Mobile native. Both my parents were from a region in central Alabama called the Black Belt, a place where the air is thick with the smell of the rich dark earth that once grew King Cotton and now sprouts corn, peanuts, soy beans and peaches (up in Chilton County). Georgia might be better know for peaches, but road side stands all over the central part of the state all have giant hand painted signs heralding the arrival...