Entries by Nan Shiverdecker

,

Coronavirus: Preparing for the dragon

  New Albany, MS – When I was eight, my six year old brother, Phil, was one of the many US polio fatalities in 1954, the very year that field trials began for Salk’s vaccine. Phil fell ill on a family visit to my grandparents in Pontotoc.  A physician assured my parents that, while he […]

Indoors, Outdoors: a catty tale of winter in New Albany

Once upon a time there was a house in New Albany, where Indoor (Lilly & Busty) and Outdoor (Jackie & Whitey) cousins lived lives of mutual, periodic dissatisfaction. The Indoor cousins never missed a chance to attempt escaping to the freedom of the outdoors, where adventure awaited them. The Outdoor cousins, bored with their lives […]

Summer road trip, girl style

My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them ~ Jack Kerouac   You would have thought someone was dying or going overseas to fight a battle in hostile territory, but that was not the case. Not even close. Lilli, my six year old daughter, […]

Cremation diamonds: straw into gold; ashes into diamonds

New Albany’s Van Atkins Jewelers, famous far and wide for beautiful creations, proves every day that the love of beauty added to the desire to commemorate a special occasion can equal the creation of something worthy of passing down through generations. The merchant’s integrity ensures value received for money spent.  But what happens when the […]

Being in Greece: the upside of travel

Several weeks ago, shortly after returning from a trip to Greece, I wrote about what is more and more becoming the mantra of travelers:  travel by commercial airline is horrible. Thankfully, there are still good experiences to be had “out there.” Greece is a troubled country these days, with crushing debt and 26% unemployment (50% […]

New Albany customers hearing nothing now from Verizon

UPDATE: At about 3:45 AM Saturday morning June 27th our phones appeared to be working correctly and we got a notice at 4:30 AM from our PR contact that she had just been notified that the issue was resolved. We have not used the phones enough to be sure of their function; that will come as […]

New Albany to Greece: Murder, she wrote

The historical perspective I’ll begin by confessing that, even under the best of circumstances, I am not a good flyer. I’ve lost count of the flights I’ve made over the years, many of them troubled. I was in one airplane (Northwest Airlines) that slid off a runway-overheads flying open, passengers and crew not remaining too […]

You can go home again; but you may not like it

It had been so long since the three of us were together that we could not exactly pinpoint the last time…but it was over 35 years ago, I’m sure. Carolyn and I had kept in touch over the years, having dinner from time to time, attending a couple of reunions, exchanging annual birthday cards and […]

“Not Far Enough South”

After missing the forecasts for the past several days, the weather prognosticators finally hit the nail on the head. With the temperature hovering around 30 degrees, New Albany and the surrounding area saw its first real snowfall of the season, beginning around 1:30 PM on February 25th, 2015. Treacherous though it may be in the […]