Appalachian Blog

There are a lot of good things about working at a college. I love my co-workers and I love love watching and hopefully helping the students achieve their educational goals.

I have a great office it even has a window. Not that I ever look out the window because it’s directly behind me! Anyway the best part of my office is that it’s in the building that holds the library. I like knowing all those books are just down the hallway from me. The library ladies are wonderful and are always helpful and encouraging to every person who visits.

As with most libraries every once in a while the books have to be cleaned out to make room for more. As an avid book reader I keep an eye out for books that are being sold as discards and sometimes they even have books for free!!

Way back in the summer with the hot sun beating down I found several Christmas books among the college library’s discards. I grabbed them up thinking I would read them later in the year as my favorite holiday approached. The book in the photo, Esther’s Gift, was one of the discards.

The short book tells a sweet Christmas story. Since it has a phrase I’ve shared on the blog: “Before you could say Jack Robinson” I decided to give it away as part of my Thankful November. If you missed the post about the phrase go here.

Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win the book along with a crocheted Christmas stocking and star ornament made by Granny. Giveaway ends on *Thursday November 30.

Winners from the last two giveaways:

More Than Moonshine – Appalachian Recipes and Recollections by Sidney Saylor Farr – the winner is…Jim Keller who said: Tipper, Farr’s statement about it being a social occasion, was most definitely true here in East TN. I remember the anticipation the day before everyone trying to have everything prepared for hog killing day. There was one group of men that helped every year from a local community named “Bear town ” that were very skilled helping in hog processing that you only saw for that event. I think it did bring the family and community closer together.

Allison Britt’s beautiful Christmas cards: – the winner is…Sue Crane who said: Such a talent. Beautiful cards. Where did November go????

Sue and Jim if you’ll email me your mailing address at blindpigandtheacorn@gmail.com I’ll get the goodies sent right too you!

Tipper

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26 Comments

  1. I’m late for the giveaway, but i just want to mention that the Mitford books are all available as audiobooks, too! I’ve gradually borrowed them all through inter-library loan 🙂

  2. Sounds like Jan Karon’s a good writer to get to know – hope I can make it happen soon – and winning the book just might speed things along.

  3. Please put my name in the draw. I love the Jan Karon books, and would truly love to put Granny’s hand crafted star up for Christmas. Hand made is the best.

  4. I have yet to read any of Jan Karon’s books, but I know a lot of folks who love them. This would be a great opportunity for me to experience her writing style.

  5. My grandkids love books. They make it easy to shop for. Always 2 or 3 books are on their list. Working at a college would be a great job. Happy Holidays to you and your family, Tipper.

  6. Oh, how I would love to win this book and Granny’s crocheted items. I have never read Jan Karon, buy I can’t wait to start. I love Christmas stories, Appalachian stories, stories about small town innocence. What an honor to win Granny’s treasures, and I hope I am blessed someday.
    I have watched Chitter and Chatter grow up to be beautiful, talented, and gracious young ladies. I can’t wait to see what is in store for their careers.

  7. Tipper,
    A good friend and Neighbor, James McLean brought me about two or three pounds of ground-up Deer Meat today. His son Adam got a 4-pointer and James spent a lot of time grinding up the meat as hamburger. He recently butchered his hog and saved the Fat to add to Deer Meat, so it would be about 20-80, like Ground Chuck at the Gro. Store. He said you couldn’t tell it from regular ground Chuck. …Ken

  8. Tipper,
    I’m not much of a reader, I have the Blind Pig and all my e-mails and I’m Thankful for that. I love reading all the comments on the Blind Pig. And I heard Pap and Ray singing on our Christian Radio Station this morning. Donna Lynn also played my favorite Christmas Song, “Oh, Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” by Chitter and Chatter. …Ken

  9. Tipper,
    Love the post today as usual. I am not your average book lover! I don’t always search out great books by great authors or lost ancient titles! Although I love a good book. Handheld books I especially love are cookbooks written as novels, Appalachian stories, etc. I love animal, bird, great art and artist books, poets, etc. are also favorites storing on the cloud in my Kindle!
    I search out the dirty, ratty book, cover or back missing, worn board corners, broken spines, sewn pages, faded and foxed, water damped n’ stained, wormy holed pages and covers. Old marbled and book tags are another favorite…If the pages start to fall out and the chapters begin a sentence with a unusual, ornate capital letter…I float love clouds right up into the sky as my heart beats with wreck less anticipation…Old books with odd pictures of days gone past, old boilers, mechanics, tools. autos are favorites. Old hand drawn pictures or photos of plants, flowers, trees, mountains, etc. with different style type. I think I can use these pages in some way, saving pieces and parts, collaged
    to another piece for artistic effect…Ha Old children’s books and the art just baffles my mind and what uncolored pages can or should be used!
    Out of here, gone book hunting…
    However, I’ve been rock painting for weeks now…
    Thanks Tipper,
    PS…Yes, I would like a chance at this book…I promise not to take it apart!

  10. The Mitford Books have been a beautiful part of my life ever since my sister left her collection to me when she died. She loved them, and I do, too. Also, I have a hard-working, multi-tasking accountant nephew who told me that when he arrives home after a particularly stressful day at his office, he sits down with something refreshing to drink and reads one of Jan Karon’s books for half an hour. After that, he says, he is calm, relaxed, contented, and ready for a pleasant evening.

  11. I really love the all of Jan Karon’s books….the Mitford series are such great reads. I even have her cookbook, which reads like a book, with recipes from food mentioned in her Mitford series books….
    Brenda

  12. Jim Keller’s mention of life in Bear Town at hog killing time sets me to wondering: I went to school in a little community school called, of course, Bear Town School; a community off Howard Hill on the west side of Kingsport, overlooking the Holston River. I remember hog killing time there just as he and Farr describe it. I was a student at Bear Town in 1948 when the presidential election contest between Thomas Dewey and Harry Truman went down. I wonder: Is Jim’s Bear Town the same as mine?
    Also, Ron Stevens describes the same East Tennessee people we have always loved and admired. Caryville is not far up the road from us and we take that side road quite often up Highway 25 (the old Dixie Highway) so we can take in that place.
    Thank you, Tipper, for Blind pig and the Acorn. I’m sure there was a time when you thought about stopping your blog site. Now look at it: Your readership is growing by leaps and bounds and people all over love you and your bunch.

  13. As quick as Jack Roberson, after reading your post, I went to Amazon to see if there was a preview of the book. There was! And right there in the first sentence was a name that caught my eye. Bolick. Esther Bolick. Now Bolick is an uncommon name in this country but quite familar to me. I worked with several people named Bolick and if you remember The Blue Sky Boys were Earl and Bill Bolick. In researching The Blue Sky Boys family tree a few years ago I found that a majority of the Bolicks in this country are found in North Carolina in the western foothills of the Appalachians. Right around here.
    Knowing that, I figured if the author used that particular name for the main character, there was a good chance she would live or would have lived right around here. So, off I got to Wikipedia and lo and behold Jan Karon was born Janice Meredith WILSON, in Caldwell County, NC. I don’t live in Caldwell County but I can see it from here.
    I don’t ginnly read that type of books and if I win it I can’t promise you I could. Some books get a grip on me that I can’t break loose and some books I can’t seem to get a grip on. From the bits I could see this book seems to be the latter. So the story might not seem interesting to me but, this morning, the story behind the story certainly was.

  14. Tipper,
    I’m in love with books too, I can hardly pass a book store without going in. I love our
    regional books and authors. What a wonderful author, Ms. Jan.
    I love Christmas stories too, sign me up.
    Jeanette

  15. I got rid of all my books. The bookcases are next to go. I have over 2000 titles in the Kindle cloud which I can access on any one of six different computers or handheld devices. Love my e-reader!

  16. It is not safe for me to get near a library sale. We have too many books now but that won’t stop me, maybe just slow me down a little. I enjoy finding old books in the library, say pre-1960, that are still being kept. I always wonder if they use the checkout history to decide what goes or stays. I like to think they do.
    I think we have read all the Jan Karon books up through “Return to Holly Springs”. Her town of Mitford is like Mayberry. She makes one want to move there.
    By the way, hats off from me to east Tennesseans. On Tuesday, Nov. 21 we traveled to Rocky Top (Lake City). We got close about 4PM but traffic was backed up for miles on I-75 because of construction on the hill above Caryville. Then it spilled off onto all the other roads. People were trying to get home from work, intersections were jamming up and stores and stations were also jammed. We stopped at a Weigels on the corner of 441 and 25W and I kinda expected folks would be ill as a hornet. Not so. Smiles, holding the door and not one snarly word. The way adults ought to act.

  17. Every time we move we get rid of a large number of books. We keep the bookcases though, because we know we’ll find more to fill them again. Both of us have always been avid readers.

  18. The book looks wonderful, and Granny’s crocheted goodies sound even better! Thanks for the opportunity to win! I hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and may God bless you all with a blessed and healthy Christmas season!

  19. We love it when our local library has their twice-yearly sales. There’s always several boxes that have books with free stickers on them. Always come away with several treasures!

  20. I love her books. I havent read this one so would love to add it to my collection. Growing up in Lenoir , I feel like that I have gone back home when I read these books.

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