
Wit, Wisdom and Nostalgia from an Award-Winning Author
Check Out Ward's Book
The Dark Ages of My Youth
Spring Cleaning – Grandma Style
Does anybody do spring cleaning anymore? I’m talking about the old-fashioned, strip-the-house-and-scrub-everything kind that my grandmother tortured the entire family with back in the thirties and forties. Grandpa insisted that Grandma got a certain twinkle in her eye...
Remembering the Berlin Air Lift
One of the most heroic efforts of World War II happened almost two years after the war ended. The Berlin airlift operated for only 11 months, but is credited with saving the lives of nearly 3 million people in a city devastated by the war. When Germany surrendered,...
Barbara and Tim Conway
(From the "PEOPLE" section of my book, page 220) My wife’s sister has made it to the big time, sort of. At the very least she has received the fifteen minutes of fame that pop artist Andy Warhol predicted everyone on earth would get sometime during their...
Bluebirds are Back – and Baffling as Ever
It’s April and the bluebirds are back. This time every year they show up from wherever they spent the winter, and start flitting around with the finches and sparrows at the feeders. Eastern Bluebirds aren’t like the other birds that show up at our front door in the...
Anybody Remember Jazzbo Collins?
Something strange happened when the coronavirus hit. People stopped listening to the radio. I found out about this when I had to make a trip in the car the other day and heard the guy on the radio lamenting, “No one is listening anymore.” I guess that made sense....
My Car Clock is On Time
The good news is, the clock in my car is on time. The bad news is, all the clocks in my house are an hour off. There’s a button on my car dash that says, “Clock.” Actually, it says, “Clk,” but I’m sure it means clock. You would think that pushing that button would...
We Used to Play Marbles
Does anyone play marbles anymore? When I was in grade school, not only did we play marbles, it also was a school competition. I had forgotten that until a week ago, when I returned to the small town in southern Missouri where I attended the third grade. We also...
Saturday Matinees at the Princess Theater
I hadn’t seen the place since 1943, and it was still standing. Of course, it had long since been abandoned and had become all but invisible in the way empty and forgotten buildings do. A faded sign protruding from the front of the building creaked in the soft breeze...
A Tribute to Charles Krauthammer
I have admired Charles Krauthammer since I first heard him speak on a television news program years ago. He said something to the effect that both Democrats and Republicans were idiots. He believed political extremism from any source was a plague. This was noteworthy...
Something Special About Small Towns
I spent a good chunk of my youth growing up in small towns. There is something special about these places that has become lost in the city. A small town’s personality is tangible and palpable as you drive through the streets. Its history can be read on every corner,...