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The Old Pocket Watch
By Mark Morgan I got to thinking the other day about something you don't see much anymore. An old pocket watch. Seems like when I was growing up, every older fellow had one. Some carried them in their overalls. Some kept them in their Sunday coat. Most of them had a chain hanging from them that looked fancier than the watch itself. I can still see an old-timer reach into his pocket, pull that watch out, flip open the cover, nod his head, and snap it shut like he'd just settle
Mark Morgan
Jul 152 min read
The Cup That Keeps Ice for Two Days
By Mark Morgan I bought one of those fancy cups the other day. You know the kind. The ones that promise to keep ice for two days. Two days! When I was growing up, we had plastic tumblers that couldn't keep ice for two minutes. You'd pour yourself a glass of sweet tea, sit down on the porch, swat a mosquito, and by the third sip, all you had left was cool tea and one lonely ice cube floating around the bottom. And we thought that was just fine. It got me to thinking about some
Mark Morgan
Jul 102 min read
The Front Porch Weather Station
By Mark Morgan Before weather apps, radar maps, and phones buzzing every ten minutes with alerts, we had something even better. We had old folks. You could walk outside and hear things like: "Cows are laying down. Gonna rain." "That ring around the moon means weather's coming." "Listen to those crickets. Something's changing." Or my favorite: "Smell that air? We're fixing to get a storm." Nobody knew exactly where those sayings came from, but somehow those old-timers were rig
Mark Morgan
Jul 72 min read
The Boot Scraper and the Old Hunting Dog
By Mark Morgan I got to thinking the other day about two things you don't see much anymore. An old boot scraper and an old hunting dog. Most country porches used to have both. The boot scraper was usually nothing fancy. Most of the time it was a rusty piece of iron stuck beside the steps. Before you came into the house, you planted a boot on it and scraped off the mud. On a rainy Arkansas day, you could hear that scrape-scrape-scrape clear across the porch. The old hunting do
Mark Morgan
Jun 272 min read
The Coffee Can Full of Nails
By Mark Morgan There was a time in Scott County when nobody thought much about being rich. Mostly because nobody was. We didn't have two nickels to rub together to make music, but we had an endless supply of things that would plumb confuse modern folks. For example, every farm had a coffee can full of nails. Not new nails, mind you. They were bent, rusty, and crooked—nails that looked like they'd already served two wars and lost both of them. That can usually sat on a shelf i
Mark Morgan
Jun 223 min read
THE GOSPEL OF THE BICYCLE PILE
By Mark Morgan www.markmorganbooks.com There was a time in Scott County when a kid needed only three things to survive a summer day: A bicycle. A payphone dime. And a church bell. That was the whole system. Nowadays, kids carry enough technology in their pockets to locate a lost dog, order a pizza, and tell them how many steps they've taken before breakfast. They've got GPS, smart watches, tracking apps, and enough electronics to launch a small moon mission. We had handlebars
Mark Morgan
Jun 133 min read
THE GOSPEL OF THE BICYCLE PILE
By Mark Morgan www.markmorganbooks.com There was a time in Scott County when a kid needed only three things to survive a summer day: A bicycle. A payphone dime. And a church bell. That was the whole system. Nowadays, kids carry enough technology in their pockets to locate a lost dog, order a pizza, and tell them how many steps they've taken before breakfast. They've got GPS, smart watches, tracking apps, and enough electronics to launch a small moon mission. We had handlebars
Mark Morgan
Jun 53 min read
The Last Generation That Fixed Stuff
By Mark Morgan There was a time around Waldron when folks fixed things so often they barely noticed they were doing it. Nowadays, if something quits working, the first question is usually, “Where can I buy another one?” Back then, the first question was, “Where’s the duct tape?” I got to thinking about that the other day after watching somebody throw away something that probably only needed a five-minute repair. It reminded me how different things used to be. If a radiator ho
Mark Morgan
May 293 min read
THE DAY WATERMELON, POTATO SALAD, AND OLD FLAGS SHOWED UP TOGETHER
By Mark Morgan Funny thing about Memorial Day around Waldron years ago—it always arrived carryin’ three things. A watermelon. A bowl of potato salad. And an old flag. Now somebody’s liable to say, “Mark, that don’t make a lick of sense.” Maybe not. But that’s exactly how summer always announced itself around here. Memorial Day didn’t come knockin’. It just eased in through the screen door like family. Soon as it rolled around, school was out, kids quit wearin’ shoes unless Mo
Mark Morgan
May 243 min read
The Waldron Wayfarer: Barefoot Summers, Bubble Gum, and Mailboxes Full of Life
By Mark Morgan I got to thinkin’ the other day—which is always a dangerous activity without trained medical supervision—and my mind drifted back to Waldron in the 1970s and 80s. Back when life moved slower than a three-legged hound dog climbin’ Tickle Belly Hill in July. These days folks live at the speed of Wi-Fi. Everybody’s rushin’ somewhere, starin’ at screens, tappin’ buttons, and wearin’ watches that tell ‘em their heartbeat, the weather, and probably whether their bisc
Mark Morgan
May 224 min read
The Waldron Wayfarer: Barefoot Summers, Bubble Gum, and Mailboxes Full of Life
By Mark Morgan I got to thinkin’ the other day—which is always a dangerous activity without trained medical supervision—and my mind drifted back to Waldron in the 1970s and 80s. Back when life moved slower than a three-legged hound dog climbin’ Tickle Belly Hill in July. These days folks live at the speed of Wi-Fi. Everybody’s rushin’ somewhere, starin’ at screens, tappin’ buttons, and wearin’ watches that tell ‘em their heartbeat, the weather, and probably whether their bisc
Mark Morgan
May 224 min read
The Days When Everything Had a Sound (and Half of It Was Dangerous)
By Mark Morgan www.markmorganbooks.com I got to thinkin’ the other day—which is always a risky activity without adult supervision—and it hit me just how quiet the world’s gotten. Now I ain’t sayin’ folks don’t make noise. We’ve got more buzzin’, dingin’, and beepin’ than a broken slot machine. But I’m talkin’ about the kind of noise—the kind that meant somethin’. Back when every gadget had a personality, and half of ‘em was one bad decision away from injurin’ you. Take them o
Mark Morgan
May 153 min read
The Days When Everything Had a Sound (and Half of It Was Dangerous)
By Mark Morgan www.markmorganbooks.com I got to thinkin’ the other day—which is always a risky activity without adult supervision—and it hit me just how quiet the world’s gotten. Now I ain’t sayin’ folks don’t make noise. We’ve got more buzzin’, dingin’, and beepin’ than a broken slot machine. But I’m talkin’ about the kind of noise—the kind that meant somethin’. Back when every gadget had a personality, and half of ‘em was one bad decision away from injurin’ you. Take them o
Mark Morgan
May 153 min read
The Days When Everything Had a Sound (and Half of It Was Dangerous)
By Mark Morgan www.markmorganbooks.com I got to thinkin’ the other day—which is always a risky activity without adult supervision—and it hit me just how quiet the world’s gotten. Now I ain’t sayin’ folks don’t make noise. We’ve got more buzzin’, dingin’, and beepin’ than a broken slot machine. But I’m talkin’ about the kind of noise—the kind that meant somethin’. Back when every gadget had a personality, and half of ‘em was one bad decision away from injurin’ you. Take them o
Mark Morgan
May 83 min read
The Days When Everything Had a Sound (and Half of It Was Dangerous)
By Mark Morgan www.markmorganbooks.com I got to thinkin’ the other day—which is always a risky activity without adult supervision—and it hit me just how quiet the world’s gotten. Now I ain’t sayin’ folks don’t make noise. We’ve got more buzzin’, dingin’, and beepin’ than a broken slot machine. But I’m talkin’ about the kind of noise—the kind that meant somethin’. Back when every gadget had a personality, and half of ‘em was one bad decision away from injurin’ you. Take them o
Mark Morgan
May 83 min read
The Days We Were Plugged In… and Didn’t Even Know It
By Mark Morgan www.markmorganbooks.com I got to thinkin’ the other day about how folks talk about bein’ “connected” now, like it’s some brand-new invention. But I remember a time when you couldn’t get more connected if you tried… mainly because you was physically tied to the wall. I’m talkin’ about that old telephone cord. Back when privacy meant stretchin’ a curly yellow cord clear down the hallway, duckin’ behind a door, and whisperin’ like you was tradin’ state secrets. Th
Mark Morgan
May 43 min read
The Days We Were Plugged In… and Didn’t Even Know It
By Mark Morgan www.markmorganbooks.com I got to thinkin’ the other day about how folks talk about bein’ “connected” now, like it’s some brand-new invention. But I remember a time when you couldn’t get more connected if you tried… mainly because you was physically tied to the wall. I’m talkin’ about that old telephone cord. Back when privacy meant stretchin’ a curly yellow cord clear down the hallway, duckin’ behind a door, and whisperin’ like you was tradin’ state secrets. Th
Mark Morgan
May 43 min read
When a Simple Trip to the Store Turned Into a Full-Blown Expedition
By Mark Morgan www.markmorganbooks.com I walked into the grocery store the other day planning to buy one simple thing. Potato chips. That was the whole mission. Not a cart-full situation. Not a “better stock up for winter” kind of trip. Just a bag of chips so I could sit on the porch later and watch the evening roll. Now when I was a kid, buying potato chips was about as complicated as tying your boots. You walked in, grabbed a bag, and went home. There were two choices. Plai
Mark Morgan
Apr 274 min read
When a Simple Trip to the Store Turned Into a Full-Blown Expedition
By Mark Morgan www.markmorganbooks.com I walked into the grocery store the other day planning to buy one simple thing. Potato chips. That was the whole mission. Not a cart-full situation. Not a “better stock up for winter” kind of trip. Just a bag of chips so I could sit on the porch later and watch the evening roll. Now when I was a kid, buying potato chips was about as complicated as tying your boots. You walked in, grabbed a bag, and went home. There were two choices. Plai
Mark Morgan
Apr 274 min read
The Sound of Gravel and Other Things You Don’t Fool With
By Mark Morgan www.markmorganbooks.com There’s a sound a man don’t forget, even if his memory’s gotten so thin it couldn’t hold water in a washtub. I’m talkin’ about the sound of gravel crunchin’ in a driveway. Now I don’t care if you was dead asleep, laid out like a coon in August—you heard that sound, your eyes popped open like biscuits in a hot oven. You didn’t need a doorbell. You didn’t need a phone. That gravel told you everything you needed to know and half of what you
Mark Morgan
Apr 274 min read
New Book & Website Launch Post
🎉 BIG NEWS! 🎉
My brand-new children’s book, The Web We Weave, is officially released today — AND I have a brand-new website where you can check it out!
🕸️ The Web We Weave is a delightful, rhyming story about two mischievous little spiders, teamwork, and learning the importance of telling the truth. Bright illustrations, fuzzy fun characters, and a moral that will stick with kids (and grownups) long after the last page.
✨ And now you can find all my books, free coloring books, and even fun kids’ recipes at
👉 www.MarkMorganBooks.com 👈
📚 Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or just love heartfelt children’s stories, you’ll find something special on the site.
✅ Free downloads
✅ Meet the Author
✅ New books coming soon!
✅ Perfect for classrooms, bedtime, and gifts!
Please take a peek, share with friends, and help spread the word. Thank you for supporting independent authors like me! 💛
#NewBookRelease #TheWebWeWeave #ChildrensBooks #MarkMorganBooks #StorytimeMagic #NewWebsiteLaunch #ReadTogether #SupportIndieAuthors
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