I’m sorry to say that my experience on Amtrak just isn’t the same as the B&O and the Frisco trains were when I used to take them in the late l940s and early ‘50s. Part of my pleasure of being…

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Just beyond my patio garden there is an abelia bush that is bursting with pale pink blossoms. This year it is especially eye-catching because of a host of yellow and black swallowtail butterflies that flutter, dip for a moment into…

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In appearance, Clarence Hickey in no way resembles the historic personage he reenacts — the legendary 19th century physician Dr. Edward E. Stonestreet of Rockville, Md. The famous doctor had mutton chop whiskers, a receding hairline and a serious gaze.…

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It was July 4, 1935, in southwestern Missouri. The restaurant/nightclub my parents owned, called Half-A-Hill, was five miles south of Springfield, “the heart of the Ozarks.” Motorists heading toward Branson, Mo., (in those days, it was a tiny center for…

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I became intrigued the moment I heard about small dresses made from pillowcases, sent as gifts for little girls in Third World countries. I obtained a few color photos of the dresses from Jessica Disney, a volunteer for this church-sponsored…

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I’ve only met a few “living legends” during my life. William T. Fauntroy Jr., one of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen and a Congressional Gold Medal of Honor recipient, is one of them. Consequently, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to hear…

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Each April I’m reminded of three events: Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and two family birthdays — my second grandson’s and my mother’s. Though I think of Walt Whitman’s “When lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed …” and the sorrow that poem…

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Until mid-November, I was afraid to see the film “Lincoln.” Even though I’d heard advance favorable reviews, I reserved judgment until I arrived at the annual Lincoln Forum symposium in Gettysburg, Pa. I’d missed the private viewing of the film…

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My best friend B. is 96 years old, very deaf and almost blind. She lives with her daughter in Germantown. Each Friday I visit her, taking winding, rural Brink Road from Laytonsville almost all the way to Germantown. B. and…

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There are actually some advantages of getting older. I can finally not lay a burden on myself about Christmas. I can do as much or as little now as I feel like doing. The most important thing to me is…

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