Every January I take a look back at what I’ve written during the course of the previous year. I’m always surprised by the various subjects I wrote about, many of which have completely fallen through the cracks of my mind by year end.
I’ve listed my favorite posts for each of the last 12 months below. If you’d like to visit any of them click on the colored word link.
January
Rich in Resin is my favorite post for the first month of 2024. Rich pine is handy because it makes building a fire in the woodstove much easier. I love that we are continuing the tradition and skill of collecting rich pine from the woods and using it as a fire starter just like our ancestors did.
February
It was hard to pick a favorite for the second month of 2024 so I chose two.
The first is Performers & Full Time Jobs. Folks often tell me they enjoy my videos because I remind them of their mother, their grandmother, their aunt—of their people. When I listen to the video shared in the post of the Morris Brothers I feel the same way. It’s sort of a pleasing yet longing emotion that I feel. The brothers remind me of Pap and his brother Ray as well as other Appalachian men I’ve known in my life.
The second is Scuttling Clouds. I adore the landscape of my homeland. I never tire of the towering mountains, the deep dark hollers, and the murmuring waters.
March
For March my favorite post is Appalachia Through My Eyes – The Forgotten Chair. When I wrote the post the hope of Chatter and Austin living near us wasn’t fulfilled, but the dream became a reality a few weeks later. I wrote of the girls and my niece April playing in the woods between our houses, before I know it my grandsons will be doing the same.
April
I wrote fewer posts in the month of April than I have since I started the blog in 2008. Granny’s long 19 day stay in the hospital didn’t leave time for much of anything else. There were very few posts to choose from this month, but my favorite really stood out. In How Granny is Doing I shared a short update as well as a very special moment that happened in the hospital in Gainesville. I’ll never forget how my spirits lifted when I heard the singing getting closer and closer as they moved down the long hallway.
May
I couldn’t decide on a favorite for the month of May either. There were two posts about the strong ties I have to our mountain holler that really show the sense of place I have.
Walking Home in the Dark reminds me of times spent with my extended family playing, talking, and laughing till late in the night and then heading for home on the well worn paths. It also makes me look forward to the day my grandsons will experience the same thing.
In the post Joyful Corn I discussed the tradition of growing food that has been handed down through the generations of my family and the happiness we felt at having planted Pap’s big garden full of corn once again.
June
My favorite post for the six month of the year is Miss Cindy’s Sayings. Her sayings live in my head and I continue to be strengthened and inspired by them.
July
About Dusky Dark is my favorite post for July. Even though as I type this I’m a wishing for a big snow, my heart is always stirred by dusky dark of a summer day. It’s a special time between the brightness of a day filled with jar-fly sounds and the katy-did chorus of pitch dark night.
August
30 Years Ago is my favorite post for the eighth month of 2024. All those years have went by in a flash! There’s certainly been ups and downs but I wouldn’t take nothing for all the years we’ve been together.
September
Appalachia Through My Eyes – Family Together Again is my favorite post for September. It was nice to spend time with family we don’t get to see very often, but the best part was seeing Mary and Granny together laughing and talking. They were inseparable as children and it really done them good to see each other in person instead of talking on the phone.
October
5 Things is my favorite post for this month. I didn’t manage to do as many posts in this series as I usually do in 2024, but I always enjoy them because they show a real glimpse of our daily lives.
November
Mystery Train is my favorite post for this month. Paul wrote the post as part of our last annual Train Series. We are still smiling about spending the day with Doyle and Caleb Dykes.
December
Christmas Wreaths on Vehicles is my favorite post for the last month of the year. I can’t foresee myself ever starting the tradition, but I know I will continue to enjoy the wreath Chatter puts on her vehicle every Christmas.
I hope you enjoyed looking back through 2024 with me and I hope you continue to drop back by often for my 2025 offerings.
Tipper
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I so enjoy your daily posts, and I love this stroll down memory lane. Wishing you and the family a great year!
I love reading all your posts. It was good to look back and remember these. I am looking forward to what you have in store for us in 2025, both posts and your videos. Happy New Year!
A beautiful post today filled with joys & memories that will last you a lifetime & be carried on through your family. Thank you, Tipper for all you have done for this world of noise & confusion. Your blog & videos keep me full of joy & peace.
Daily Bible readings along with your posts and a good cup of coffee make an enjoyable morning.
Everyone have a great day!
Enjoyed reading all your posts in 2024. It is my prayer that 2025 is even better than any year past. Look forward each day to read your post and watch the u-tube videos.
Love the look back at 2024! Tipper, keep on doing what you do. I think it’s wonderful to do something you love, and it shows in all of these posts. Thanks to you and all of your family for helping keep Appalachia alive!!
Oh my, it must have been hard picking out your favorites. I had a hard time just picking out a favorite from the ones you had listed. All of them bring back memories of my own childhood. The one about “dusky dark” brought back memories of when I was a child, and we’d start begging Mama to let us go spend the night with Grandma & Grandpa in the evening around dusky dark. They lived in walking distance of us and you could actually see their house up on a ridge from ours. Mama would finally relent, and we’d run fast as we could to get there before dark. It was a country dirt road and it could be quite scary when the evening shadows fell and noises of birds and animals started coming from the woods. I remember squinting my eyes and running fast as I could to get to Grandma’s house because I could just feel something ready to jump out and grab me. Thankfully, nothing ever did, but what a relief it was to get to Grandma’s house!
Betty, you brought back a memory of childhood to me. We also lived close to our grandparents. About dusty dark one night I ran ahead of my sister, hid under a shed, and jumped out on her. That was 60 years ago and she still tells me of how bad I skeered her. I don’t remember, I got so many, but I probably got the seat of my britches warmed up for doing that to her. I was not mean, just mischievous, that is my story and I am sticking to it!
Don’t dwell so much today on things of the past lest you miss the things today that would create tomorrows memories!
Anonymous
I agree with everyone here…I love your posts and your videos. I never miss a day. It’s like chatting with old friends each morning. We got several more inches of snow last night and lots of ice under it. Hubby spent 45 minutes outside shoveling paths to the mailbox and the vehicles. Even though it’s only 16 degrees with a wind chill of 4, he came in sweating after that workout. My kids made it to work safely, so that’s a relief. Everyone stay safe and warm. I intend to go back and re-read all the posts you highlighted this morning. I would be lost wirhout my blind pig fix each day.
Memories are wonderful things. Your posts often take me back to some of my own which are similar. Enjoy every post you do Tipper and your videos. Each are a ‘look forward to’ special part of my day. Blessings upon you all.
Rich pine would have been worth a fortune yesterday as I had a terrible time getting my fire started while burning a Papa John’s Pizza box. My electricity was out when I woke up and the house temperature was 64 degrees under 8-10 inches of snow and ice in this hard-hit area. Your April post stands out as the most remembered as I anxiously waited every day to hear about Granny.
Tipper, beautiful summary of the year 2024. Those memories will be cherished for many more years to come for your precious family. Tipper, I love reading your blogs every day. Thank you. They absolutely brighten up my day.
All these post where wonderful, but then all of your post are really good. Thank you for all you do to encourage, enlighten and remind us of our wonderful Appalachia roots.
I love to read your posts and all the comments! May God bless you and your family this new year!
Praying for Granny!
Ed, I read your comment late last night about having to pick up employees that couldn’t or wouldn’t come to work in the snow. Michelin tried to make our supervisors do the same. They would not let them use the company cars, but made them to use their own personal vehicles. After several of them wrecked and Michelin telling them they were on their own, the supervisors refused to do it. I worked rotating or swing sifts and would be often be driving late at night when on the second or third shift. I sorta liked it better, I didn’t have to put up with near as much traffic. Most of the idiots had already wrecked during the daytime. Looks like some is on the way for Friday and Saturday.
I grew up in the mountains in the 50s and 60s when it snowed at least once a week. I learned early how to drive on snow and was not at all intimidated by it. I drove in snow even when I didn’t have to just to keep my reflexes trained.
I jumped at the chance to get away from the same old grind and go play in the snow in the CEOs car. I will admit it got a little scary though, at times. Most of the fear was of getting lost, not the snow itself. I had to go to places I had never been before and find my way back in blinding snow when there was so much snow I couldn’t even see the ditches on the sides of the road.
Tipper, I have enjoyed reading all of your posts since joining bpata in the early spring last year. I have learned more about the language and even though I’m from Appalachia, I heard words used that I never heard before. I enjoy your recipes and most of them are the ones my mother used to cook while I was growing up and I cook a lot of them too. I enjoyed your recipe on apple stack cake. My mother made them for us while growing up and I loved them. I spoke with her the other day, and she said she used dried apples for the filling too, but used apple butter when she didn’t have the apples. I am looking forward to watching your upcoming videos this year. God bless you and your family.
I enjoyed reading every one of your posts and I’m looking forward to reading more of them in 2025.
I have so enjoyed your posts and videos! I found your blog through a casual section on YouTube. I remember it well! It was one of you vocabulary videos. I have loved the Appalachian people since childhood, when my mother supported a ministry to help families in Appalachia (this was in the 60s and 70’s). I loved your accent and the video so I subscribed and watched and then I saw those sweet girls of yours! That was three years ago and I have never missed a update since that time. Thank you so much for sharing your lives with us all! Pray for you and all those who ask for prayer on your channels. Oh and Paul! I love his videos!
Always enjoy and look forward to these posts each morning.
Hippo Gnu Deer Tipper! I love recaps and this one was wonderful. Thank you so much for all you do. Love and hugs.
Tipper,
All of your writings stir my memories and move my heart. It’s good to remember.
I appreciate you and the joy you provide to my day. Thank you for doing this every morning.
Tipper be blowing the dust off of that sled! You just might get to use it soon. If not, come on up to Indiana and we can sled, build snowmen, build snow forts for a friendly snowball fight and relax to homemade ice cream or hot chocolate when we decide to come in. It is frigid cold but stunningly beautiful.
Cathy, I, too, am in Indiana. I agree, the snow is beautiful, all 10 inches of it! The roads are still very slick today with spots still quite deep, but the main roads are good here.
I love all the posts! They bring such tear-filled joy to my heart and eyes!
Dear Tipper,
Be encouraged! I enjoy all of your posts and look forward each morning to learning something new about your life in Appalachia. God bless you and your family.
TIPPER, THE SNOW IS ON THE WAY! ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️
I remember all of these post. I think my favorite would be about the rich pine, lightered to me and my family. The memories of the joy I had as a child tagging along with my Grandaddy Kirby walking through our woods on a pretty fall day looking for rich pine. When I was hunting or cutting firewood for my Daddy, I was always on the lookout for lightered. Now all I have left of any of these things or loved ones is memories.