Chris Hardie

The older I become the more I appreciate the little things about Christmas and cherish memories of Christmases past.

A lot of time and money has been spent in our country coming up with increased security and contingency plans for the possibility of a terrorist or cyber-attack on our electrical grid.

Thanksgiving has come and gone but perhaps this can be the year that we turn a day of thankfulness into a holiday season of gratitude.

Life is measured by the passage of time and the season of deer hunting gives me plenty of moments to reflect on past memories.

The rhythms of nature may change their tune slightly every year based on the weather, but the songs remain the same.

It was a quiet afternoon with gray skies that threatened rain when I stepped into the Jackson County Poor Farm Cemetery.

It’s as certain as the trees changing colors and the inevitable decline towards winter – the annual invasion of the Asian lady beetles.

I learned a long time ago that we don’t live in a black-and-white world and the choices between right and wrong or good and evil are often veiled in shades of gray – no matter what the political ads say.

I am generally an optimistic fella who sees the H2O in the vessel as half-full most days.

In the middle of one of my ridgetop clearings stands a large shagbark hickory tree that’s nearly 100 feet tall.