A Little About Harper (from 9-8-10)

Harper is a little town in southwest Mississippi. No use looking it up. It ain't on no maps. Harper is right slam on a lake, Harper Lake, that was made by stopping up Lazy Creek. We got all kinds of fish in those waters. If you travel north on Main Street you'll run right into the lake. We got over six-hundred people living here. And that's enough. Now if some of the things I tell you about how great living here, make you want to visit us, that's okay. But don't get it in you head to move here. We got all we can stand.

Tomorrow I'll tell you how Harper got its name. You ain't gonna believe it.

This picture was taken from my back porch.

Today in Harper (first post)

At the request of some viewers I am reissuing most of my previous posts.

Greetings from Harper, Mississippi

It ain't too hot today. Better than yesterday and hopefully not as good as tomorrow. I'm on my way down to the bus station. Some of us sit out on the bench and whittle. I never know what I'm going to end up with.

Sometimes it's a dog, sometimes a car, and sometimes when I get distracted I end up with just a toothpick.

But that's okay. The whittling is better than the thing that gets whittled. This is my first time to post and thanks to the help of my great-nephew Hollis I am sending out word from Harper to you. Gotta run. My friend Bart is wanting to go the the bus station with me. Don't want to make him wait. More from Harper tomorrow or the next day or maybe next week.

Uncle Harvey Lee Talks Back (2)

"No, I will be the pattern of all patience; I will say nothing." - William Shakespeare

"From the look of the books on the Harper Library shelves, I would say he said a lot." - Harvey Lee Whitmire

“I want to live my life so that my nights are not full of regrets." - D.H. Lawrence

"I want to live my life so that my days are not full of regrets. The only person I have to face at night is my wife and she has a wonderful ability to ignore my faults and build up my assets." - Harvey Lee Whitmire

“Without courage, you cannot practice any of the other virtues." - Maya Angelou

"One of life's most important lessons is learning the difference in things that are courageous, simply daring, and blatantly stupid." - Harvey Lee Whitmire

Uncle Harvey Lee Talks Back (No1)

Some people think too much. Some people don't think nearly enough. I'm shooting for the middle ground where I think hard enough to figure things out without getting confused.

Refdesk quote of the day: "And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it." - Paulo Coelho

"Or not." - Harvey Lee Whitmire

Refdesk thought of the day: "Never memorize something that you can look up." - Albert Einstein

"Be sure you have memorized all the places where you can look things up." - Harvey Lee Whitmire

Key to Discovery

The smartest fellow we got here in Harper must be said to be Quince Bewondo. Quince has had a thousand ideas on how to improve the lives of his fellow Americans. Unfortunately, the idea of how to provide a decent living for his family has not developed in his active brain.
Last week I went by Quince's place and found him sitting in a rocker on his front porch. He was sipping some green colored liquid from a mason jar.
"What's up, Quince," said I.
"Just thinkin'," said Quince.
"'Bout what?"
"Harnessing lightning."
"And...."
Quince took a sip, let out a shweew, and answered, "You know when old Benjamin Franklin flew up that kite with a key in a thunderstorm and discovered electricity."
"I remember reading about it."
"Well, I was looking at Wendell's, you know, my least son, Wendell's history book and come up on this picture of Ben and his kite, and the thing what stood out was the key. I think that's a clue. It means the key to discovery."
Quince adjusted his place in the chair and continued, "I figure it means that lightning is the key to solving all our energy problems and I'm sitting here trying to work out the details."
"Makin' any progress?"
"Some. I figure it ain't no problem catching a bolt of lightning. You know, lightning rods and stuff. The problem is the harnessing of it. When I work that out I think we got something."
"Well I don't want to stop the wheels of discovery," I said.
And with that I bid him adieu and made my way down the path to the road. I could almost feel the vibrations of his thinking as I walked along.

Using the Bible To Make Your Point

This morning down at the barbershop there was this big argument going on. Wally Witt, a fellow who has a son what married a girl from Mexico and now lives in California, was fussing about people who are fighting the children coming across the border. He quoted a Bible verse that says something like: Let the little children come unto me and do not hinder them." Bark Bedsome spoke up, "I know that verse and I always figured it was about abortion."
I reckon folks ought to leave the Bible out of political discussion, particularly when they don't really know what they are talking about.

Don't forget to look up my cousin's book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble: Tales of Harper by Malcolm L. Wilkinson.

Meadow Four

This morning Slim Bongloberg came into the barbershop ranting and raving about his wife Myrtis and her list of chores. Seems Myrtis stepped off a curb and broke a bone in her foot and has been hobbling around for about a month. Myrtis has the reputation of being a good housekeeper. I once heard Dorothy say a person could eat off her floors they were so clean. Anyway, Slim was upset because they had a woman from a house cleaning agency at their house and Myrtis had had him working all yesterday and from 5 o'clock this morning getting ready for this woman. He said, "When this woman walked in and surveyed the situation she said, 'I don't rightly know where to begin. Most places I go my work is mapped out for me. Here, looking for dirt is like looking for a needle in a haystack.'" Slim coughed up a little trail dust and stepped outside to the curb to expectorate. When he returned he continued, "Needle in a haystack. I say it's more like paying for the cable when you ain't got no television set." He continued to rant and when he left one fellow commented, "You know, I don't see why people have to reach deep in their head to come up with one of them meadow fours. They need to just say what they mean in plain terms."
I reckon he's right.