STORIES, PART 2
The memories of our lives are like tiny swatches of fabric, patchwork pieces trimmed and tucked away for a quilt. These vivid and colorful squares, triangles, rectangles, and diamonds do not always fit together into sensible patterns. Yet, all lie there just waiting to be set into a certain connection. Blessed is the person with a great quilter in one's life -- someone able to fit the pieces together beautifully so that all makes sense in the grand design with each piece complimenting and affecting the others. Such memories in our lives are fitted together meaningfully into patchwork quilts. I thank God for Mama, a beautiful product of the Knobs. Besides her many handmade quilts, she was the quilter of my life -- influencing me, making me remember, and leading me to understand relationships, causes, effects, and outcomes. She patched the pieces together for me.
Here you will find my patchwork pieces -- vignettes, anecdotes, short stories, legends, etc. Some selections are my own personal experiences; others are stories of my ancestors and relatives as told me by various kinfolks. I will always be grateful for their taking time to share these stories with me. Pull up a chair at Granny's quilting frame, and rest a spell. Hear a web of stories spun and threaded together for you.
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"Across the Unakas, Hitched to Buck and Baldy" by Sandra (Nipper) Ratledge "And Gladly Teach" by Sandra (Nipper) Ratledge "Chief's Car" by Sandra (Nipper) Ratledge "Cold Saturday" by Sandra Ratledge "The Corpse That Grew a Beard" by Shane Ratledge "Courting in a Tin Lizzie" by Sandra Ratledge "Eerie Light in the Knobs" by Sandra Jo (Nipper) Ratledge "The Ghost of Cleage House" by Sandra Ratledge "How Aunt Pet Got a Nickname and Lost an Eye" by Sandra (Nipper) Ratledge "In the Shade of Starr Mountain" by Sandra (Nipper) Ratledge "The Louis and Mary Jane (Ervin) Rhea Story" by David Stiles "My Mom and the Christmas of 1937" by Gwindolene Sevilla "Aunt Billie" Nichols Brite "The Night the Stars All Fell" by Sandra (Nipper) Ratledge "Standing My Watch" by Tommy Nipper "Summer with Granny" by Anthony Wilson "Sweet Cheerio" by Sandra (Nipper) Ratledge "The Wesley Avans Story" by Mike Avans "What an Education Means to Me" by Sandra Jo Nipper "The Wrist Watch" by Sandra (Nipper) Ratledge
Appalachian Pioneers, (stories about my husband's ancestors and relatives)
"Boots and Leghorns" by Sandra (Nipper) Ratledge
"Love Blossoms in the Knobs for Joe and Azilee Cline" by Sandra Jo (Nipper) Ratledge
"Tablespoon in the Teacher's Desk" by Sandra (Nipper) Ratledge
~ TO BE CONTINUED ~
Homespun
This site is dedicated to the memory of my mother,
Graphics
by
Sandra Ratledge
Beulah Cline Nipper, a beautiful product of the Knobs.
