I was around age 7 when I asked my mom if she would cook me a turkey for Thanksgiving. Most years, my family enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast at my grandparent’s house on my mom’s side of the family.
        But not that year.
        Mom cooked a tasty butterball with all the fixings, which included dressing.
        I didn’t want any dressing, just turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and rolls.
        My mom made it anyway and I had to eat a big heaping spoonful of dressing.
      I sat at the kitchen table struggling to eat a spoonful of dressing. What should have taken 5 minutes or less, took more than two, maybe three hours.
        My mom was insistent that I eat the dressing, all of it. And everything else on my plate.
        I recall her saying, “You wanted a turkey meal and you are going to eat it.”
        Some 50 plus years later, I’m still not a fan of dressing.
        I loved my mom’s cooking, but I never cared for her dressing.
        It had a different taste about it. I admit it, the dressing at school lunches tasted better.
        I still don’t eat dressing, but I have enjoyed many Thanksgiving and holiday meals through the years.
       There’s nothing better than a plateful of Thanksgiving blessings, a Dallas Cowboys game on the television and time spent visiting and catching up.
       From 1987 – 1991, my brother, Tom, and I would make the trek from Tulsa to Dallas on Thanksgiving Day to watch the Cowboys play at the now former Texas Stadium. We made lots of great memories.
       I remember 1992 which was my first Thanksgiving after leaving Tulsa in August of that year to return to college at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
       Mom and Dad, along with my aunt Alice and cousin, Ronnie, from near Fayetteville, Ark., came for the Thanksgiving weekend at my duplex apartment in Ashland, Mo., a small community south of Columbia.
        I had to work some that weekend, but enjoyed having them there and eating several home cooked meals. And of course, having my folks clean my apartment for me.
         I don’t think I’ve ever missed a Thanksgiving or Christmas meal in the 64-years I have been on this earth.
         And this year is no different. I enjoyed a blessed Thanksgiving meal with Debbie and my Iowa family this week.
       I don’t know what it means to do without. I’ve always had food on the table, a bed to sleep in, family, friends and many wonderful and blessed opportunities.
         I don’t ever recall going hungry or doing without any holiday or any day ever. My folks didn’t have much, but they made sure my brother and I had all the above mixed with lots of love.
         I know that there are many who struggle to purchase food and live on limited budgets or no budgets.
       I’m thankful for our area pantries and community outreaches who do so much to meet the needs of those in our area.
         And soon, the Salvation Army Bell Ringers will be out and about collecting donations to help others. Did you know that 90 cents of every dollar donated to the Salvation Army stays in Poweshiek County?
        If you can help in any way from volunteering to making a donation at a local organization, outreach or pantry, it will be a gift that keeps on giving all year long.
         Take time this year to do something good for others and thank God for the many blessings life has given you.
         Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day. 

      I never listened to much country music as a youngster outside of Tanya Tucker’s “Delta Dawn” and Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley P.T.A.”
     Hee Haw was a regular in the Parker house on Saturday nights growing up as well as the Porter Wagoner Show with Dolly Parton.
     I once attended a Minnie Pearl show in Tulsa and while visiting Opryland in Nashville in 1974, I got to see Conway Twitty perform. And I have attended some country music shows at the Iowa State Fair such as Confederate Railroad, and set outside the grandstands and listened to a few others. And I once met the country band Sawyer Brown during a visit to the casino in Tama and got all the members autographs.
     Growing up, I was aware of other country artists, especially those from Oklahoma such as Reba, but never listened to their music.
    I was more into rock and roll in high school and beyond before making the switch to Christian rock after attending a free concert in a Tulsa park in April 1981 put on by Sweet Comfort Band, a California band that performed gospel songs with a beat. The band had performed a concert at Oral Roberts University the night before and decided to host a free concert the next day.
   Since marrying Debbie 19 years ago, I have listened to a lot more country music and I even attended a George Strait concert with the family at Wells Fargo in Des Moines in 2012. Strait puts on quite a show without fireworks and a theatrical set. It’s just George, his guitar and band, his voice and the Wrangler Jeans.
“Milk Cow Blues” was my favorite song.
     And I would be a miss not to mention that we had backstage passes to the Grand Old Opry on our honeymoon thanks to the now late country comedian, T. Bubba Bechtol, who invited us backstage after I wrote him an email before the wedding to say we were going to be at the Opry.
      While at the Opry, we got to meet and get autographs from the now late Jean Shepard, Porter Wagoner and Little Jimmy Dickens. We also met and got autographs from Ricky Skaggs and Chely Wright 
      Anyway, Debbie and I were watching the country music awards (CMAs) last week and that is when I first heard of country artist Jelly Roll.
     Jelly Roll, born Jason Bradley DeFord, has had an interesting life, a hard life of time in prison before he could drive and two kids, one which was born while he was in a jail cell.
    Since getting out of prison, Jelly Roll has made an effort to turn his life around. He credits his wife for moving him in a positive direction. 
     He’s still has some things to work on, but we all do.
    The heavily tattooed Jelly Roll started his singing career as a hip hop artist who transcended to country rap and country rock. 
    After accepting the award for new artist of the year, what Jelly Roll had to say is a message we all should take to heart.
   “There is something poetic about a 39-year-old man winning new artist of the year. I don’t know where you’re at in your life, or what you’re going through, but I want to tell you to keep going, baby,” he continued. “I want to tell you success is on the other side of it. I want to tell you it’s going to be OK. I want to tell you that the windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror for a reason.”
     Jelly Roll’s message may not be mainstream, but his message touches people. It touches people that others may not be able to reach.
     We all miss it and have done things we are not proud of, but the key in life is to forgive ourselves and others, put the plow in the ground and keep looking forward to bigger and better things in life.
       Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day. 

         I read on social media the other day that my hometown of Tulsa now has its own Monopoly board game.
Officials with Top Trumps USA, an arm of Hasbro, announced in early February that Tulsa, a city of 410,000 plus, had been chosen to have a Monopoly board game in its honor. At that time, Hasbro asked Tulsans to submit suggestions for what could be on the board.
      “I am honored to have Tulsa represented in one of the most popular games in the world,” said Tulsa Mayor GT Bynum at a board game announcement event. “To be selected for the MONOPOLY: Tulsa Edition speaks volumes about our city and the many landmarks that make Tulsa unique. I want to thank Top Trumps USA for choosing Tulsa and I’m eager for Tulsans and others to get a chance to celebrate our city in this new and exciting way.”
          The new game was unveiled on Nov. 1.
It features such popular Tulsa sites as the Golden Driller (a 75-foot-tall statue depicting an oil worker), the Gathering Place along the Arkansas River, Quick Trip (Tulsa is headquarters to the convenience store chain), Tulsa University, Tulsa Zoo, Greenwood Rising Black Wall St. History Center (near where the 1921 Tulsa Riots took place), Ida Red General Store (Tulsa gift store), Cain’s Ballroom (famous honky-tonk), Admiral Twin Drive-In, Guthrie Green, Center of the Universe, Oneok Field (home of the Tulsa Drillers baseball team), the Outsiders House Museum and Circle Cinema (a historic Tulsa movie theater).
       There are hundreds of places that didn’t make the cut such as Oral Roberts University, the Blue Dome District, Cherry Street, Philbrook Museum of Art, Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa Performing Arts Center, the Mayo Hotel, The Church Studio (a recording studio in an old church that was once owned by the late Leon Russell), Route 66 that rolls through Tulsa, Tulsa Air and Space Museum, Oklahoma Aquarium, the Cave House, many of Tulsa’s art deco buildings or anything to do with Tulsa history of oil and the Oil Capital of the World designation.
       With the town the size of Tulsa, I suggest that Top Trumps USA comes out with version two of the Tulsa Monopoly game and include other Tulsa sites.
        I’ve already started my 2023 Christmas list and I have the new Tulsa Monopoly Board Game listed as a gift idea.
        I have a lot of fond memories of growing up in Tulsa and opening gifts on Christmas morning and on my birthday. I always enjoyed my mom’s homemade decorated cakes. We always went on a vacation in August, went to church together and so much more. I will always be grateful for my folks and all they did to give my brother and me the best they could. We didn’t have a lot, but we had everything we needed.
      Anyway, I have lots of board games, including many of the Monopoly ones. I also have a host of antique board games from the 1970s such as the Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Women. And I have a long list of old board games I want to buy.
        Funny things is, I don’t play board games that often. Debbie has threatened to sell some of them if I don’t start playing them. A lot times I don’t play because some board games take most of an entire day and I would miss my nap. I do enjoy playing dominos and bingo. 
         I remember back in the day my uncles and aunts on my mom’s side of the family would gather around my grandparents’ kitchen table when they lived in north Tulsa in the late 1960s and play the game of Rook for hours on end. I have a Rook game, but never learned to play it.
       I enjoyed a homemade version of rummy called Cut Throat Rummy, a game that uses three decks of cards. Jokers and twos were wild and you had to have runs and sets starting with seven cards and going to 13 cards. It was a fun game.
         I love buying Christmas gifts and seeing the smiles and spending time with family.
        I’m already hearing of people setting up their Christmas trees. I’m sure we will be setting ours up around Thanksgiving. Our oldest nephew is a big Christmas fan. He carries our tree up from the basement and sets it up in 30-minutes or less.
        Christmas is only six-weeks away!
       If you can, make it a priority this year to spend time with friends and family during the holidays. And if you have a few extra dollars, give it the local food bank, take part in a Christmas angel tree and buy a family in need some Christmas gifts. It’s also important to check on others wellbeing. If you can, volunteer to make life better for others.
       Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day. 

       The Ax Murder House in Villisca, Iowa where Josiah B. and Sara Moore and six children were murdered on June 10, 1912. 

        Debbie and I were at a craft show in Indianola on Saturday to sell our books and photography. It is the second of five craft shows we are attending this fall to sell our goods.
We’ve been attending and selling at craft shows for more than 15-years in places such as Clarinda in Southwest Iowa, the Quad Cities, Coralville, Des Moines and even Calamus, a small town in Clinton County.
         We’ve met some of the most interesting people at craft shows.
         I recall a couple years ago during our first year at the Clarinda Craft Carnival meeting two senior ladies, possibly in the early 80s, who grew up and attended high school in Villisca, home of the Ax Murder House.
          Villisca is just more than 20-miles from Clarinda.
         They shared a story about when they graduated high school. After graduation, the two sisters left Iowa to spend the summer working at a resort in Colorado. While introducing themselves to other staff, they said they were from Villisca, Iowa.
           “That is where the Ax Murder House is,” one young fellow said.
            “Ax murder,” they asked. What ax murder?”
           Driving by the house gives me the creeps, so I can’t image growing up in Villisca and not knowing about the ax murders that took place on June 10, 1912. Somebody came into the house and killed Josiah B and Sara Moore and six children, which included the couple’s four children and two guest children. They were all brutally murdered with an ax or some type of blunt instrument.
           The murders were never solved.
           The ladies said that evening they called home and asked about the ax murders. Their parents said they didn’t talk about it because relatives of the slain still lived in town.
            “We didn’t know,” one of the ladies said.
            The other lady said, “I went to a dance there in high school and remember the ax over the door, but I never gave it any thought that it was where a murder happened.”
          We have stopped at the Ax Murder House twice, but it has limited hours for tours and we missed it both times. However, groups can spend the night in the Ax Murder House for a sum of cash.
         I wouldn’t mind taking a tour, but I have no desire to spend the night in a house where a murder happened. I don’t care if it was 111 years ago.
          Craft show attendees are a different bunch. Some of them seem lost in thought while others are friendly and love to talk. 
            I like going around visiting and checking out what others have to offer. At Indianola, I stopped to check out a cosmetic booth. I don’t wear cosmetics, but the lady was smiling and  was nice to visit with.
           We talked about hand lotions and she proceeded to give me a touch of two different kinds, one after the other. The second round of lotion was so thick it reminded me of the grease used to pack wheel bearings.
            My hands were so greasy that I made my way to the men’s room, where I promptly washed my hands. It took four rounds of soap to get the greasy goo off my hands.
             It made for a fun laugh while sharing the story with Debbie.
A few years ago, we attended a craft show in Wapello along the banks of the Mississippi River. The most popular item of the day was the cinnamon rolls sold by the band boosters or some school group. People were walking around in a daze while eating cinnamon rolls and looking off into the Heavens. We didn’t sell too many books that day. I would be surprised if many vendors sold much.
         On the flip side, last year at Clarinda, we had people buying from us as we packed up our table.
         The goal is to give our books and photography exposure while enjoying time together doing something we love.
           I encourage you to enjoy life, smile and when a bump comes along, keep on moving forward.
           Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day.