Ronda Rich's blog

Don’t wink at Queen

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:08:35 -0500

In Belfast, in the stunningly gorgeous building dedicated by Prince Edward in 1932 (he who abdicated), where the Northern Ireland Assembly convenes, I learned why I can never be president of the United States.

The land of my fathers

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:24:14 -0500

The dawn was barely breaking, the morning just beginning to wrestle the new day away from the black night as the train traveled with a jolting purpose from Dublin to Belfast.

Finding my people in Beverly Hills

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:19:04 -0500

There’s nothing like a trip to Hollywood to remind you of the fantasies that grow there as rapidly as kudzu grows in Southern summers. There, I often find people who are not exactly my people.

History needs historians

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:31:02 -0400

When Mama died and the remainders and reminders of her life had to be sorted, distributed and, in some rare incidences, disposed of, my sister Louise and I marveled constantly at the historian that Mama was.

Worse than death

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:41:00 -0400

Poet and I were having one of our hour-long conversations. I was driving somewhere, with a wireless piece tucked into my ear, catching up on Poet’s stories and sharing a few of mine.

Meanness of mean people

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:31:31 -0400

Optimist that I am, I have high hopes that this economic down-turn will make people kinder.

It could happen.

When folks experience set-backs, it’s humbling. Humility, in turn, makes the heart kinder and the spirit gentler. Too many people have become mean. Downright, spirit-crushing mean. It sickens my soul.

She flew the coop

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:56:56 -0400

No sooner had I proudly written the column about the young boy who had named his new pet chicken after me than Ronda the Chicken proved to be as unpredictable as Ronda the writer.

Just one of the folks

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:24:03 -0400

A dear friend of mine, bless his heart, has to work every major holiday. Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter are days on which he labors while his family celebrates without him.

My legacy: Macaroni and cheese

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:56:14 -0400

I’m still laughing about it. Well, kinda. It’s one of those situations that you have to laugh about to keep from crying.

We’re just like you

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:46:19 -0400

It’s sometimes amazing the coincidences that can bring a person into your life. How they can be plopped down into your life, just like they’ve always belonged there.

Dixieland, where I was born

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:29:07 -0400

One fall afternoon, I was lunching with a close friend of mine at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. A man from another table tentatively approached us and explained that he and his wife were fans of this column.

The power of writing it down

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:48:31 -0400

Just this morning, I turned the page of a book and was immediately and delightedly reminded of the power of words on paper.

The worry of hosting, cooking

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:41:56 -0400

Early on that Saturday morning, the phone had rung as I puzzled over the recently acquired digital camcorder, wondering why on earth I had purchased such a sophisticated one.

What has become of the drifter?

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:55:52 -0400

Not long ago, headed down Interstate 20, somewhere near Augusta, Ga., I saw a sight, not particularly unusual but thought-provoking, nonetheless. One detail caught my attention.

Some info is unnecessary

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:42:01 -0400

Not that I know everything. Not that I even know many things.

But I do know a few things.

And one of the most important things I have come to know in life is the necessity of controlling my thoughts so that destructive thoughts don’t control me. Having discovered a tried-and-true method for doing so, I decided to share it with a couple of friends who were obviously in need of my advice.