Category: dirt roads

A Matter of Miscommunication By Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads While I was out attending the few and far between garage sales last weekend, Charlie calls and tells me he is at McPeak Orchard and do I want any over ripe strawberries for freezer jam.  You might think this is a fairly common communication, but […]

A New Place To Eat   By Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads     We have a new eat place that’s close by and very handy.  Word has been passed around that East Texas Medical Center in Pittsburg, Texas, has hired a wonderful chef.  The ETMC Cafeteria is packed on Sundays with the after church crowd.  The Texas Junkin’ […]

Springtime In Gilmer  By Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads Courtesy Photo A strange event occurred a couple of years ago with a ratt-a-tatt, ratt-a-tatt at our glass front door.  Either Charlie or I would check to see who was knocking; no one at the door.  This went on all day, maybe every ten to fifteen […]

Another Test By Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads Photo by Nikki Pelezo Charlie, my husband, wanted hamburgers for supper tonight. I handed him the package of frozen patties and he made for the grill. In no time at all I saw him standing in the middle of a cloud of smoke heavenly scented with beef. […]

Zumba  By Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads  It all started the day after New Year’s.  I looked at myself in the mirror and looking back at me was a frumpy broad wearing the only clothes I had left to wear, a baggy pair of flannel pajamas bottoms and a size XXX t-shirt.  I donned my […]

Dirt Roads: Nikki Pelezo Read Nikki’s posts – Dirt Roads Nikki Pelezo is a writer of short stories, collector of junk, an all around do-gooder and proud to be an East Texan. She has been married to Charlie for 32 years and has two daughters and a granddaughter all living in the Seattle area.  Nikki […]

The Fall of the Giants      By Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads Photo by Nikki Pelezo We bought our home just for the old oak tree.  She was mighty, broad, tall, stately and she was old.  It was always cool under her limbs and she didn’t mind the old swing tied to her lower branch.  We […]

A Different Christmas Dinner By Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads Courtesy Photo Last year we were given an invitation to have Christmas dinner with a very good friend of ours living in Louisiana.  He is Cajun through and through.  We were so excited, as we just knew he would be deep frying a turkey, and […]

Weeds?  What weeds? By Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads Photo by Nikki Pelezo Charlie and I have a love/hate relationship with vegetables.  Charlie will plow the garden in the Spring, plant the vegetables, pick the vegetables and eat the vegetables.  I will plant the vegetables, pick the vegetables, cook/process the vegetables and eat the vegetables. […]

Have-A-Heart By Nikki Pelezo Photo by Nikki Pelezo My husband, Charlie, became an animal pacifist way before it was cool.  He decided years ago to leave the creatures of the world alone.  This has proven to be a godsend, but then on the other hand……….. He believes in live trapping the many pests here in […]

Making Lye Soap By Nikki Peleezo / Dirt Roads Arts and Crafts Festival at Beaver’s Bend State Park, Broken Bow, Oklahoma. Photo by Nikki Pelezo Ever since Charlie and I went to the Arts and Crafts festival at Beaver’s Bend State Park in Oklahoma, he has been after me to learn to make lye soap.  […]

Fine Dining in Upshur County    By Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads   Photp by Nikki Pelezo Charlie, being the romantic that he is, decided to take me out for a Valentine’s Day dinner, especially since he forgot to buy chocolate.  Upshur County doesn’t have what I call a five star restaurant.  We have eateries.  Which is […]

She Waits By Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads  Photo by Nikki Pelezo She’s down an old dirt road here in Northeast Texas.  You can’t miss her.  She’s been standing in the same spot for over 150 years.  The old church is quiet now, the cemetery association took her over about twenty years ago.  She is […]

Share on Facebook Tweet on twitter Share on google+ Pin to pinterest

An East Texas Easter, 1949  By Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads Courtesy Photo The Easter of 1949, my brother, sister and I received a dyed duck in our Easter baskets. Mine was green and cute as a button. These ducks were obtained from our very dear friends that had a farm way outside of town. […]

The Senior Expo By Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads The Senior Expo was in Longview a few months ago and I thought the people in East Texas, who have never been, would like to know what goes on at these Senior Expos! “Hey, let’s go to the Senior Expo at Maud Cobb Center today.  It says […]

Mr. Fix It Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads Photo by Nikke Pelezo Charlie and I have been married 30 + years.  As we are getting older we are starting to look alike and we sound alike over the phone, but that’s where it ends.  Our minds still chug along at different speeds. Here are two […]

The Christmas Decorating Gene By Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads Courtesy Photo Every year it gets harder and harder to put up the tree, decorate the house, bake the cookies, cook the festive meals, look like a million dollars and be inventive with the appetizers you take to all the Christmas parties. This is what […]

Lost In Upshur County        By Nikki Pelezo The powers that be here in Upshur County divided the county into four distinct areas and in the Northeast quadrant the roads are named after flowers, in the Northwest quadrant the roads are named after animals, the Southeast they are named after birds and the Southwest they are […]

Open for Bids      By Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads My aunt Imogene, just this minute, left to go home after five of the most God-awful days of my life.  I know each and every one of you would love to have an adventure and a warm feeling of helping a fellow out (me).  Next Christmas […]

Highway 80 Sale By Nikki Peleezo Photo by Nikki Peleezo This weekend was the bi-annual event that is fast becoming a bonanza for the sellers as well as the buyers.  It is held on the third weekend in April and the third weekend in October.  It goes from Shreveport, Louisiana to Dallas, Texas.  It’s fun, […]

Going Green, But Beware of Garlic Goot By Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads Photo by Nikki Pelezo Well, the time has come for me to step up and be counted by those persnickety eco-people as a member of the Going Green crowd.  I’ve been at it now for about three weeks and am close to […]

In The Event Of Fire      By Nikki Peleezo This photo was taken of the Hwy 294 wildfire aftermath about a week after it started. My husband, Charlie, and I have been on pins and needles regarding the forest fires surrounding our little part of East Texas.  We have worried for several weeks, that between a flipped […]

Bad Mojo By Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads Photo By Nikki Pelezo Estate sales, garage sales, yard sales even flea markets are fun places to go, you can sometimes get the deal of a lifetime.  My only problem with getting that deal of a lifetime is the Bad Mojo that goes along with the item.  […]