Tag Archives: west Kentucky

Berry Pickin’

Posted on May 14, 2025 by Doc Arnett

In spite of very strict rules forbidding such, my mom used to wear pants when she’d go blackberry picking back in the Fifties and Sixties. It was, I think, a wonderful application of the concept Jesus taught when he said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

But she did wear a dress over the pants! Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Devotions, Christian Living, Family, Farming, food, Gardening, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged berry picking, blackberries, family, farm life, Fifties, grace, judgment, Kentucky, mercy, religious rules, Sixties, tradition, west Kentucky, women wearing men's clothing | Comments Off

The Brother We Never Knew

Posted on April 22, 2025 by Doc Arnett

My oldest brother lived only a few hours. For fifty years, he was un-named and lay in a tiny grave marked only by a small metal marker that said, “Arnett-Infant Son.” Continue reading →

Posted in Aging, Christian Devotions, Death & Dying, Family, Poetic Contemplations, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged anniversary of death, Arnett, baby grave, Charlie Arnett, family, grief, infant death, life, loss, love, marker, Reuben Arnett, Ruby Arnett, siblings, sorrow, west Kentucky | Comments Off

The Two-Legged Turtle

Posted on April 2, 2025 by Doc Arnett

A little farm kid finds something unusual in a tiny pond and learns that good intentions don’t always lead to good results. Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Devotions, Christian Living, Death & Dying, Farming, Nature, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation, suffering | Tagged caring, motivation, motives, nature, painted turtle, pond, racoon, red-eared turtle, travel, turtle, turtles, west Kentucky, wildlife | Comments Off

The Shadow of Abe Lincoln & Jeff Davis

Posted on March 28, 2025 by Doc Arnett

Sorting through our own history should involve careful judgment and deliberate appreciation. Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Devotions, Family, Farming, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, Confederacy, grace, Jefferson Davis, judgment, Kentucky, legacy, mercy, personal history, South, southern, west Kentucky, writing | Comments Off

Remembering West Kentucky, 1960

Posted on March 13, 2025 by Doc Arnett

Love moved in the toil and duty of callused hands that worked the land, fed families, mended clothes… Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Devotions, Christian Living, Family, Farming, food, Gardening, Poetic Contemplations, Poetry, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation, Work | Tagged caring, devotion, farming, gardening, Kentucky, love, Sixties, west Kentucky, work | Comments Off

Everything That Breathes

Posted on January 4, 2024 by Doc Arnett

If we have breath, we have both reason and capacity to praise the Lord. Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Devotions, Music, Spiritual Contemplation, Worship | Tagged a capella, praise and worship, praise God, private worship, singing, west Kentucky | Comments Off

Mighty Fine Stuff

Posted on October 11, 2023 by Doc Arnett

I’m not sure exactly what it is that so draws me to making apple cider… it’s several things, I reckon. Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Devotions, Family, food, Gardening, Metaphysical Reflection, Nature, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged apple cider, Charlie Arnett, cider, cider mill, cider press, Kelvie Nicholson, making apple cider, Paul Arnett, west Kentucky, western Kentucky | Comments Off

Almost Cut My Hair

Posted on September 29, 2023 by Doc Arnett

An ultimatum for a hair cut sends a Sixties teenager to the barber shop… but with a twist. Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Devotions, Family, Humor, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged conversion, dads, farm life, hair cut, hair styles, Sixties, sons, west Kentucky | Comments Off

Election Results

Posted on November 10, 2022 by Doc Arnett

I was not yet seven years old but the memory is still keen sixty-two years later. We lived in western Kentucky in a two-story brick house built before the Civil War. The only indoor plumbing we had was cold water … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Devotions, Christian Living, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged election, love not the world, response to election, this world is not my home, west Kentucky | Comments Off

Smoky Mornings

Posted on September 7, 2022 by Doc Arnett

On a misty morning like this, With the low hills of northeast Kansas Caressed by fog and covered with dew, And the fresh new of a September morning Muted by such clouds as this, It is hard not to miss … Continue reading →

Posted in Farming, Metaphysical Reflection, Poetic Contemplations, Poetry | Tagged dark-fired tobacco, firing tobacco, fog, foggy morning, Kentucky, smoke, tobacco, west Kentucky, western Kentucky | Comments Off