Something Else Southern?

   It is a southern thing.  You hear that often with everything from blessing folk's hearts to eating grits and fried mullet.  It is a southern thing.  While some people think we are a bit backward, we really do not care.  We do our own thing, love one another and live life to the fullest.  We are just happy to be alive and if that is confusing to you...well, kiss my grits.  Who cares?  

  One thing that I was told was pretty much a southern thing by a cousin who lives way up north, is the fact that if visitors ever comment on our garden, they have set themselves up to receive whatever caught their eye.  We give.  We almost over-give.  Armloads of vegetables or fruit are pushed on anyone who comes.  The same goes with our flowers.  Compliment a flower garden and you are bound to be the recipient of cuttings, small plants or seeds. We don't care who you are or where you came from, when you leave, you will be loaded down with something!  No one can leave empty-handed. It is a southern thing...we share...a lot.

  Pass-along plants are a thing much like hand-me-down clothes.  One of the favorites down here is the Confederate Rose.  This is not a rose at all but a member of the hibiscus family or mallow family.  It is one of those plants that is easily rooted by a snippet of stem.  Stick it in some water and a few weeks later, you have a sapling.  Then, it is not long before you have a nice sized shrub that will be covered with lovely saucer-sized blooms during the fall.  Just about everyone down here in the Deep South will tell you their story about receiving a cutting from someone's garden.  The tales are about as interesting as the shrub, itself.  We take pride in giving credit where credit is due.  It is a southern thing.

It Has Become A Tradition

  For the past few years, I have tried to slip out of the kitchen long enough to get a photograph of the sunrise on Thanksgiving morning.  Sometimes it is hard to do since cooking for the "Big Day" involves a major undertaking.  I was smart this year, however!  I did something that I have never done before and it was one of those "smack my head" moments.  Duh!! Anything to make any mealtime easier is a happy thing but when it comes to large, all inclusive, family meals, a few moments saved here and there can be a lifesaver.  This brilliant idea was such a no brainer that I cannot believe I have never done it before!  

  I am one of those folks who has a myriad of crockpots or slow cookers.  Duh!  Use the crockpots!  Yep, with Mark wanting all traditional foods, Darling Daughter being a vegan, Son and Son-in-law being big meat-eaters and me being a pescatarian the meal preps were a bit overwhelming so I solved it all by pulling out the crockpots.  Mark's traditional green bean casserole, the sweet potato pone AND the ham were all cooked in the slow cookers!  Brilliance!  That freed up the oven for the turkey and dressing (a regular giblet type and a vegan cranberry sauce filled one).  Of course, the stove top came into play for the mashed potatoes, gravy (vegan and turkey), plain green beans (for those not able or willing to eat the casserole), plain cauliflower (again for those not willing to eat roasted cauliflower soup).  Elizabeth and Robbie brought the soup, a delicious salad and some of the best yeast rolls that I have ever eaten!  We finished this all off with 3 different desserts!  But! It was those crockpots that saved hours!  Everything was in place and ready to go before sunrise!  I am thankful for so many things but added to the list this year are two more things.  I am thankful for brilliant ideas and for the invention of crockpots!

  The Thanksgiving sunrise custom came into play several years ago when I had a houseful of people all wanting a huge meal.  Well, with that many folks, a gigantic turkey had to be roasted so I was up in the wee hours of the morn.  Once the bird was in the oven, there was nothing else to do but head to the pier to collect my thoughts before the hubbub of the day started. Once everyone else was awake, it would be ridiculous to even think of escaping to the pier.  While I was there, the sun peeped up over the pines and crept into the gazebo across the way.  It appeared as if the sun was housed by the large gazebo.  When I showed Darling Daughter the photo, she dubbed it "The House of the Rising Sun" after the well-known song.  That first photo was taken nine years ago and I am still scurrying down to the pier each Thanksgiving morn to get my "House of the Rising Sun" photo.  This morning did not disappoint.  

Yaupon Berries and Memories

  While most of the country is enjoying the seasonal change with cooler weather and lots of fall foliage, here, we are just happy with the occasional northerly breeze.  That surely means fall is in the air!  In the Deep South, it is rare to get much of a colorful foliage change.  Things stay green.  The weather does not play well and our leaf change usually occurs during winter if at all.  That does not mean we do not have some bits here and there but rather that we have to search for it.  

  This afternoon, the old dog and I took a leisurely stroll about the hillside.  His walking goes along at a snail's pace so it gives me plenty of time to look at things.  Once I find something interesting, Mr. PJ is just as happy to sit for a spell as I photograph it.  This afternoon's find was the bright red berries of the yaupon.  These medium sized shrubs dot the marsh, woods and even the yard as I let them grow where they may.  I am not meticulous about how organized the yard is, so if something chooses to sprout up and it is pretty, it stays.  Simple as that.  I do think the yaupons are pretty.  This time of year, the berries turn bright red.  They stay this way until midwinter when the cedar waxwings come flying in to search for food.  Then the small trees are stripped of every berry.  This gives the migrating birds some much needed nutrition but takes away from my yard decorations!  My sights then turn from admiring the berries to admiring the birds that have come to feed.  

  Seeing the yaupon berries, this afternoon, brought a childhood memory to mind. Back in the day, Pop used to cut many branches of the yaupon berries to use for decorations.  Mom would put the long stalks in two large buckets filled with water.  These would flank the doorway on the screened porch.  Other branches would adorn the mantles for Thanksgiving and carry over into the Christmas season.  Occasionally, the berries would start to drop so Pop would simply cut more.  We used the yaupon berries far more often than holly.  The holly was saved to fill the bronze vases out at the cemetery.  When I was just a tyke, I would go with Pop to honor the folks who had passed so many years before. The grave sites of family members, longtime friends and even some forgotten folks were bedecked with the holly berries and cedar branches each holiday season.  I often wonder if the grave sites have been adorned since Pop passed.  I know I have neglected them...sad to say.  It seems as if that custom, too, has gone the wayside.

An Old Lady..A Little Blue Vase..A Lot of Love

  I got a phone call the other day from someone requesting a visit to the Little Bayou House.  This was from a little old lady who is nigh on ninety years of age.  She is my mom's first cousin but ever since I was a wee tot, I called her "aunt". Although, she refers to me as a cousin and has often said that I can call her by her first name, it just does not seem appropriate. I guess old habits do die hard.  She is still Aunt and always will be.  I am stubborn.  Anyway, she wished to come visit on "Friday morning...early".  Sounded good to me.  Sure enough, this morning around eight thirty in the morning, I heard a soft tapping at my door. She had arrived!

  I opened the door with much glee.  I had not seen her in ages, so it seemed.  There she stood grinning ear to ear holding her purse and jacket in one hand and a walking cane in the other.  "Come in!  Come in!" I exclaimed.  She told me that she was in and not to hurry her.  This is what I love about her...she is very direct, very to the point and still likable.  We get along fine.  After grasping my arm for support, she made her way into the living room.  She chose to sit at the old dining table that now inhabits the room.  After hanging the cane and jacket on the back of the chair, she gingerly laid her purse on the table in front of her.  She sat there grinning at me.  "Before we look at your crafts, I have something for you."  She opened the purse and pulled out a small blue vase.  "I like you. Here, this is for you." was all she said.   Wow!

   There was no tale behind the vase, no family history lesson attached and no further explanation.  I oohed and ahhed over the little vase.  And to be honest, I love it.  For all I know this thing might be a dime store purchase or even a regifted item but it does not matter to me.  Although it is a pretty little thing, it is not the vase that brings the happiness, it is the thought.  This little old lady ventured out of her secure home to come see me and thought to bring a little gift.  People do not do that any more. In times past, folks would never dream of dropping in on a neighbor or visiting someone across town without some token of love in hand.  She was from a different era.  She was from an era when folks held fast to old customs, when times were more about sharing and bringing happiness, when folks cared.  You are hard pressed to find folks like this anymore.  Now it is all about "me" and not about others.  A tiny blue vase sure means a lot.  An "aunt" sure means a lot.  A visit sure means a lot.  Then....we looked at crafts!