Smokey Mountain Breakdown

Missy over at The House of Flying Monkeys gave me the E for Excellence Award on February 20th offering these very kind words:

Excellent writer, talks about upper east Tennessee with a love and respect that the people from there don’t even show. Talented, funny, and crazy, because she left my future retirement home of Hilton Head/Bluffton and moved to Del Rio/Grassy Fork. What can you say but that she’s nuts! OBTW she also introduced me to Caleb and the Newport Plain Talk Police Report… damned funny stuff!

I blush, really. And I do need to do a round-up soon of the Plain Talk Police Reports. They really are something special. I’m not sure if it’s just that Cocke county’s crimes are more interesting than the rest of the world’s or what. I’m sure people are sticking steak in their trousers and assaulting people with vacuum cleaners in other parts of the country, but they don’t have the talented punster Caleb Abramson.

1. Leslie’s Omnibus. Leslie introduced me to The Friday Ark and has a great blog that recognizes other neat blog postings and stuff. Go over there and give her a hug because her heart cat, Miss Marilyn, went on to the bridge yesterday.


2. Tossing Pebbles in the Stream. Phil blogs from the wilderness of Canada where he homesteads. He’s a Unitarian minister, liberal and an all around great guy. He’s got piglets and kittens eating together on his blog.

3. Hidden Haven Homestead. Peggy got my goat(s) and I couldn’t be happier about it! If you want to catch up on all the BossyToes crazyness—that’s where you need to be. She also makes wonderful soaps.

4. Straight White Guy. Eric is a very fine writer blogging out of somewhere south of Knoxville. I tried to get him to join me in the ellipsis 12 step program I recently graduated from, but he’s still hitting the dots pretty hard. I moved on to emdashes—ellipses are evidently a gateway punctuation.

5. Sue Doe-Nim. She’s my buddy. She writes about from LA about Mom stuff and I totally don’t have a dog in that fight but I like to live vicariously.

6. Art in the Garage. Karen has goats—and she’s a really wonderful graphic artist. Karen is a true artist and her graphic visions are thoughtful and harmonious.

7. Appalachian History. The best hard history blog out there for Appalachian issues. I owe him an article.

8. Hillbilly Savants. Wonderful stable of writers that I am unworthily grouped with. Also, owe them more posts.

9. Appalachian Writers. Another amazingly talented stable of writers I am unworthily grouped with. Wonderful stories and poetry dripping with Appalachian goodness.

10. Dew on The Kudzu. Idgie was the first editor to publish my writing. Her Ezine is like kicking back on a porch slider, enjoying a big glass of sweet tea while shelling butter beans.