http://www.celiamiles.comSarranda's Heart: A Love Story of Place is now available in regional independent bookstores and on Kindle, soon on Amazon.

The "Nailed" Book Club meets the 1st Friday every month at G-n-G Bakery & Cafe, Hwy 515, Blairsville, GA at 10:30 A.M. until Noon. This mystery/thriller genre club usually reads 2 books per month and discusses them at the next month's meeting. Included in this genre are many marvelous avenues…

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Asheville-based author, pianist and singer-songwriter Dave Turner has just published his new eBook Billy Ray's Chevrolet And Other Writings And Photographs From A Southern Appalachian Valley. It's a collection of writings and photographs inspired by growing up and living in a Southern Appalachian Valley…

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My name is Cora Lee Mease. I was born and raised in the Little Cataloochee Valley. But just cause I was born in the mountains didn't mean that's where I was bound to stay.…

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Over the past few months, I've been dwelling on the ever shrinking remnant of the the rich Appalachian Culture. Honestly-the traditions that are still held onto-are fading fast.



As I tried to think on the positive side of the issue-I begin to think of folks from my generation-folks like me who are living their lives with the same traditions their parents and their grandparents upheld. Folks who are melding the old ways into today's… Continue

This time of the year I start listening-hoping to hear the first Whippoorwill of the season. I grew up hearing Pap tell a story about the Whippoorwill.



In days gone by, the story was quite popular in our area-so popular a man once came to record the story-straight from the source as they say. Pap was lucky to hear the story from both-the source and the recording.

Old Man… Continue

"Waste Not Want Not" was a saying past generations used and lived by-because they had too. Wasting for past generations was considered shameful. Hard times caused folks to use what they had-to make do.

Miss Bonnie, my husband's Grandmother was born in 1914. She was a typist for Champion International, then after having children, a stay at home mom.

At the age of 55 Miss… Continue

I'd like to introduce you to Hubert Kirkland. Hubert is a native Appalachian-born and raised in the mountains of Western North Carolina. I recently interviewed Hubert about his life in Appalachia.

What was life like when you were a child?



There was lots of work to be done and everybody had to help. Having a garden was a major chore-the whole family helped with it cause you… Continue

Some laughter by way of Pap and an old friend Ollie.

Horace was well known for being a prankster-never one to pass up a chance to poke some fun at someone. He had a new tool in is arsenal-a dog whistle. One afternoon Horace went up the road to visit Ollie. After arriving on the porch to sit a spell, Horace told Ollie to call his dogs-he wanted to see if they were any good. Ollie called to his dogs and one came bounding up the steps just… Continue

The Green Girls by Nancy Simpson

A young woman with pale lips



sulks under a Mimosa tree



holding knees close to her breast.



She does not wave at me today



as I drive past. I know why



or think I know, having seen



her sister walking on the road,



head down, tears on her face.



Why have they quarreled?



One is not lovelier than the… Continue

Glenda Barrett is both a native of Appalachia and a phenomenal writer and artist. Today I am honored to share one of her poems with you.



Echoes

I cannot silence



the talk of war,



a rising drug market



or the cries of the homeless.

Yet, sheltered in the Appalachians,



I can be grateful for simple pleasures:



the surprise of the first… Continue

Sylvia Lou Palmer Lee was born in 1940 in the Pleasant Valley area of Cherokee County NC. She weighed 1lb 4oz and her twin sister weighed 2lb 6oz. Her sister was born blue and died 4 days later. Seems little Sylvia, although the smallest, was a fighter. Her father, an electrician, fashioned a homemade incubator from a wooden radio box and a string of Christmas lights to aid in Sylvia's survival. They fed her with an eye… Continue