I am a retired teacher of British Literature, World Literature, and Creative Writing. I also taught grammar and writing skills and adult education at a local technical college and tutored for the English Department at Abraham Baldwin College. I served as the coordinator for the RESA Young Georgia Writers' Fair for several years and have judged many writing and speech competitions.

I retired early because of a disability and am going crazy sitting at home. Thank God I found Helium! I love dogs, horses, and all animals. I have 3 grown daughters and six awesome grandchildren. I also have two Great Danes, Hamlet and Grendel - great Danes, get it? My husband owns his own contracting/maintenance business.

Some of my former jobs include training bird dogs; breeding Golden Retrievers, Brittany Spaniels, English Pointers, Great Danes, and Labrador Retrievers; breeding and training Quarter Horses and Appaloosas; helping with my ex-husband's cattle and hog operation; being a secretary; packing plants; and stringing tobacco.

I am into history (especially the medieval and Renaissance periods), reading, saltwater and fresh water fishing, art, music, cooking, collecting Native American artifacts, helping with my granddaughters' pageants, the beach, the mountains, and brain games. I have a real thirst for knowledge; just about any topic interests me. Oh...I like writing, too! I would love to find a steady income writing full time. Ah, that would be a dream come true. I'm working on a novel, and maybe someday I'll finish it. I've been pretty busy on Helium.

I'm dedicated, creative, and dependable - NEVER late to work in 35 years of various jobs. Some of my greatest achievements, at least to me, are the awards I have won for teaching. I loved working with teens! I think they helped keep me young - mentally, at least.

I'm 50 years old and live in South Georgia, which truly is God's country. I've enjoyed emails from other Helium writers. Drop me a line!

My passion is ...

my family.

I know too much about ...

dogs, horses, and trivia.

My parents always told me ...

Close that door! We can't cool the back yard!

My childhood ambition ...

to be a teacher, a cowboy, and a veterinarian.

My favorite memory ...

family vacations.

Why I write ...

my head will explode if I don't.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

my granddaughter playing with my dogs.

My first job ...

packing tomato plants.

My best moment ...

when my three girls and my grandchildren were born.

My inspiration ...

God, my family, and beauty in any form: visual, sensory, music, literature.

Creative Writing > Memoirs Memoirs: My great, true, personal garden story

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My grandfather was already an old man by the time I was born. And since he died when I was six years old, many of my memories of him are sketchy, veiled in the shadows of childhood. My recollections of the time I spent with him in his beloved garden, however, are amazingly vivid.

Papa and Granny lived about twenty miles east of us, in the tiny hamlet of Irwinville, Georgia. My mom and my aunt grew up there, and they loved my grandparents' small farm and the rambling white wooden farmhouse that held their precious childhood memories. My dad and my uncle often teased them, referring to Irwin...

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