Ray Spitzenberger

1966 was the year I moved to Wharton and began teaching at Wharton County Junior College, the college located a few blocks from my newly rented apartment. My first memories of the picturesque small city of Wharton were the Teepee Motel and magnolia trees in full bloom. I think all newcomers notice the teepees, but […]

God has placed some of His creatures in specific places, — you’re not likely to find a kangaroo in East Bernard.  And you will have to travel to Southeast Asia to find Macaque monkeys, and South America to see Capuchin monkeys. Here in Wharton County and also in Lee County where I grew up, folks

I have a pretty good memory for an eighty-nine year old. What seems odd to me is that my most vivid memories are of my childhood, growing up in Dime Box.  Later years, especially unhappy years, seem to have disappeared from my memory bank, which is good because I don’t have to relive them. I

In the no-air-conditioning days of the 1940’s, my brother and I spent most of our time in the backyard, which was cooler than in the house, and not as hot as the front yard. We practically lived under and in the mulberry tree, a huge tree with lots of shade. Our mulberry tree was on

There it lies, on the window sill, proud and beautiful, flashing its colors in the sun, splashes of ancient dark pink, a bright silver, hints of forest green.  It is lying on its side, but it is two balls of glass (?) with a long, tall, narrow silver cone on top, the entire object exactly

The switch to the New Year never failed to annoy my mother.  She hated the changes,  — new calendars needed on the walls, a new year to record on your checks, start-over IRS file box, as church organist, new liturgical cycles for the new church year (which began in December), etc.  Change! Happens whether you

2024.  It’s Monday morning.  So what?!  Yesterday was 2023.  So what?! Nobody asked me whether I was ready for 2024.  I didn’t have time to finish up everything in 2023.  How did 2023 go by so fast considering how bad it was?  It went by so fast I didn’t have time to completely assess it? 

Unique ethnic traditions are often responsible for our New Year’s Eve cuisine.  I know this is true of my own, and I did a quick research about other cultures, and found that fact to be true fairly widely. Numerous references showed me that in general. Many ethnic groups and nationalities eat fish of some kind

Sunday, December 24, 2023, is not only Christmas Eve, but also it is the Fourth and Last Sunday of Advent (this year the last Sunday of Advent falls on Christmas Eve). In our Lutheran tradition, the candle for the Fourth Sunday of Advent is purple or blue, and it symbolizes “love.”  Other traditions call it

Those of you who lived in the 1930’s and 1940’s, as I did, may remember your parents’ furniture.  I don’t know about the chairs your family sat on, but ours were so uncomfortable we didn’t sit on them very much.  Perhaps in those days, more affluent families had more comfortable furniture, but, in the style