By Nellie Curtiss … A new family has landed in the Valley. I spotted them out the window –while pushing onward, in a 40 miles per gallon Chevy. I was flying down the highway on a mission to find some broccoli and sunflower seeds when my eyes caught their movements. Two regal parents are watchingContinue reading “Spotted out the window”
Author Archives: columnsbynellie
Mr. Saint Peter taught with a yardstick
By Nellie Curtiss … At five foot ten inches and 200 pounds, he stood like a drill sergeant in the 1964 Gomer Pyle USMC tv series or like in the 1995 movie Major Payne or any number of comedic and realistic military film fauna. We were fifth graders at the Lindsey Air Force Base elementaryContinue reading “Mr. Saint Peter taught with a yardstick”
Is it slothfulness or fibromyalgia?
By Nellie Curtiss … Sometimes the hair follicles “Eek!” with soreness and running fingers through hair fires pain from scalp to hair tip. Showering is like standing naked while fine sand or BB pellets spray. Pulling socks up from ankles pitches muscle aches into the mix, too. Dressing is grueling as every metal harbinger thatContinue reading “Is it slothfulness or fibromyalgia?”
“We are here to take care of you”
By Nellie Curtiss … As the anesthetist Eric wheeled me through the secret passage of operating rooms and over to Radiology’s high powered magnet room, I thought, I am thankful for good care. Just minutes earlier, Colleen, the outpatient surgery RN, asked me sundry questions about my medicines and allergies. She double checked the recordsContinue reading ““We are here to take care of you””
Childhood resolutions resound in 2023
By Nellie Curtiss … There’s a bracelet created by Steel by Design named “Mama Says.” It includes encouragements, resolutions, if you will, from most every mom on the planet like: eat your vegetables, brush your teeth, and say your prayers. Comedians, Facebook sages, and Star Trek fans have 2023 resolutions. Here are some floating resolutionsContinue reading “Childhood resolutions resound in 2023”
Of Christmas past from Rio Grande to Pleiku, Vietnam
By Nellie Curtiss … Christmas Eve 1967 in small town Texas, where water was a big deal, was markedly cold as temperature dropped to 36 degrees on the weather gauge. It was bittersweet though because the children’s stepdaddy stationed at Pleiku AFB, a US Air Force base in South Vietnam couldn’t get leave to comeContinue reading “Of Christmas past from Rio Grande to Pleiku, Vietnam”
Songs of joy and a Sangre de Cristo Christmas
By Nellie Curtiss … I turned on AMC and I heard songs like the Griswolds singing “Deck the Halls” in the station wagon before they were nearly run over by that semi-truck. The parents were hardly able to get their kiddos to sing along and thus play along with the family quality time. Later, CBSContinue reading “Songs of joy and a Sangre de Cristo Christmas”
Counting congregating crocodiles
By Nellie Curtiss … The moon bustled about the barren cottonwoods, but it was a full moon and could hardly hide in between the skinny trunk bark anymore. Its light reverberated across the street, onto the broken sidewalks, to the very tippy top of the metal bus barn and down onto the asphalt parking lot,Continue reading “Counting congregating crocodiles”
Counting smiles along the way
By Nellie Curtiss … (for my son) So many years and counting smiles along the way bring a wreath of memories and snares. Each of us, your soul included, navigate man-made hurdles out of the city, the Texas Gulf or Colorado valleys, then hidden traps lay wait for even a tippy toe test of metalContinue reading “Counting smiles along the way”
Did you shop ‘til you dropped?
By Nellie Curtiss … Did you shop until you dropped yesterday? Some of CBS News was dedicated to play-by-play deals with big box store shopping straits. I prefer hearing what the weather has going on as I tune to weather segments with flashy show-and-tell media. We’ve had serious cold snaps here in the Valley andContinue reading “Did you shop ‘til you dropped?”
Columns by nellie 