The Crab Chronicles

And the Winners Are...

OK, here are the winners of this week's fabulous prizes!

SUCKLEBUSTERS PRIZE: Kikilia

SILVER JEWELRY PRIZE:  Colleen

Next week there will be more great prizes so come back!

Two Days Left to Win!

It just occurred to me that it's Wednesday and there are only two more days for you to leave a comment and be eligible to win a fabulous prize! Leave a comment before 7 p.m. Friday - one entry per person, please!

Andree over at The Silver Workshop creates jewelry that is truly unique, and would make an awesome gift. I love hearing artists talk about their work, and she was kind enough to tell me more about her process:

"I used to work with polymer clay making small sculptures. Because I enjoyed sculpting in small scale, I thought I'd make a few pendants. They went over pretty well so I kept making them. I then learned of fine silver clay. The idea of a durable medium like silver really appealed to me so I decided to give it a try. I enjoyed it so much, I ordered myself a kiln and started making small silver sculptures for pendants, a little like charms. That was about five years ago.

I then decided to broaden my horizons and started taking a local silver jewellery class. Through it I  learned how to solder, make ring shanks, set stones and give silver pieces different finishes. From there, I continued learning through books and by taking more classes."


What sorts of things inspire you to create?

"For figurative work, I think books, especially science fiction and fantasy really inspire me. I used to sculpt small figurines and I especially enjoyed sculpting gargoyles. I like to make up characters and determine what kind of personalities they'll have. From there, I'll make a figurative piece. It might have lots of details or it might have smooth contours with only a suggestion of features. Whatever style it has, I like to think that its personality can shine through."

SUCKLEBUSTERS!!                    

As I've mentioned before, I am so excited to be giving away Salsa Fixins and fantastic barbeque sauce. I am so intrigued with these tasty products. If you have a husband, dad, brother, or boyfriend who likes to barbeque, try one of these gift combinations. Your guy will thank you once he tastes the amazing products.

Sucklebusters products are all natural, not a pile of chemicals. They are also award-winning - here's more on their story:

"In the early 2000's we became more health conscious and searched for healthier foods. We noticed that all the seasoning we found had; MSG, artificial fillers, dyes, preservatives or ingredients with names you can't pronounce and this was in the healthy foods section! We decided then and there to produce high quality seasonings that taste great and are healthy too! So in 2006 SuckleBusters Inc. was born. 

SuckleBusters means Bustin' with Flavor. It's the WOW factor when you first taste our products. We use simple recipes with few ingredients to make the best products we can make, each and every time with the best All-Natural ingredients we can find. There are no chemicals, preservatives or artificial ingredients in our products. We focus on wholesome products with a keen eye on quality. One lesson we learned early on is that when you use the best ingredients - he products are better for you, they taste better too! Look for our No Bad Stuff! logo on every bottle.

SuckleBusters philosophy is a proven winner! Much to our delight, our products immediately began winning contests and we have never looked back. We have been blessed with recognition from major contests all across the country; Scovie Awards, the Fiery Food Challenge, the National BBQ Association, the Best of the Best BBQ Sauce Contest and the Hot Pepper Awards. Additionally, SuckleBusters products are used at BBQ Cookoffs and Chile Contests every weekend. Not only do these contestants use our products, but they also help test and develop our award winning recipes."    

 SO LEAVE A COMMENT AND WIN THE BEAUTIFUL NECKLACE

AND/OR

THE SAVORY SUCKLEBUSTERS PRODUCTS!!

Tell me in your comment what you want to win. I will draw a prizewinner [for each prize] Friday night, so get your entries in by 7 p.m. Friday, EST!

Old Men

I've had a very busy day and I am worn out, so I am just going to share a funny:

 

An old prospector shuffled into town leading a tired old pack mule.  The old man headed straight for the only saloon to clear his parched throat.

He walked up and tied his old mule to the hitching rail.  As he stood there brushing some of the dust from his face and clothes, a young gunslinger stepped out of the saloon with a gun in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other.

The young gunslinger looked at the old man and laughed, saying, "Hey old man, have you ever danced?"

The old man looked up at the gunslinger and said, "No, I never did dance . . . never really wanted to."

A crowd had gathered as the gunslinger grinned and said, "Well you old fool, you're gonna dance now," and started shooting at the old man's feet.

The old prospector, not wanting to get a toe blown off, started hopping around like a flea on a hot skillet.  Everybody was laughing, fit to be tied.

When the last bullet had been fired, the young gunslinger, still laughing, holstered his gun and turned around to go back into the saloon.

The old man turned to his pack mule, pulled out a double-barreled shotgun, and cocked both hammers. The loud clicks carried clearly through the desert air.

The crowd stopped laughing immediately.

The young gunslinger heard the sounds too and he turned around very slowly.  The silence was almost deafening.  The crowd watched as the young gunman stared at the old timer and the large gaping holes of those twin barrels.

The barrels of the shotgun never wavered in the old man's hands, as he quietly said, "Son, have you ever licked a mule's ass?" 

The gunslinger swallowed hard and said, "No sir . . . but . . . I've always wanted to."

There are a few lessons for us all here:

Never be arrogant.

Don't waste ammunition.

Whiskey makes you think you're smarter than you are.

Don't mess with old men . . . they didn't get old by being stupid!

I just love a story with a happy ending, don't you?

News of My World April 19

It was a really quiet day at work today, so there's not much to share. So this is the News of My World for April 19, 2011.

• Another classmate I went to school with all through elementary and middle school has died of cancer at age 49. It's so hard to believe he is gone. Last year I lost another classmate. They lived too briefly. It's hard for me to accept they are gone.
• The two ladies who sit on either side of my cubicle are both singers with professional choirs. I have sung with choirs many times, although I don't currently. What are the odds of that?!
• The kids are doing things around the house without always being told. Alesia cleaned her bathroom the other day. Mike washed his bed linens. Either they are maturing or it's a sign of the apocalypse...
• There is a youngish African American man in my new office whose first name is Barney. I have known many many African America people in my time, but never one named Barney. I am tempted to ask him if his parents were huge fans of the Andy Griffith Show...
• I had to go to the post office today, and I went to a newer one near the office. The clerks were friendly and the line moved quickly. The closer into town you get, the more obnoxious the postal clerks...
• I am become adept at texting. Alesia said to me the other day in awed tones "You are really texting fast now, Mom!" Like, I cdnt b4? IDK why she said that...
• Mike had a baseball game tonight so I took 4 chicken filets, washed them, put a lot of salt and pepper on each side, and baked them at 250 for about 3 hours in the oven, covered with foil. I used Sucklebuster's Spicy Peach BBQ sauce over the filets - wow, that was some good chicken. Yum!
• Mike got struck out in his baseball game tonight and he was mad at the umpire. He didn't know that word yet, so he said "the big guy beahind home plate." I told him that guy is called the umpire. When we got home he said to Granny "I did NOT like that EMPIRE!" Mom and I laughed.
• Mother got in bed last night and Coco had hidden a Milk Bone way under the covers. Ah, the joys of a tiny dog who runs the entire house...

Rocky Horror Day 1 At Work

Mondays are always hard, but Mondays starting a new job are the worst. Add to that the fact that Alesia worked Sunday night until late, so I couldn't get to bed until late, and you have me trying to look bright eyed and bushy tailed on very little sleep, which was a total stress-fest.

The new job is in an area of law I am totally unfamiliar with [real estate law] so there's a real learning curve there. I also have to learn two new computer programs. I always have to learn computer programs at any new job, but it never gets easier. Old brain + new teachnology = cranky me

I also am classified Temp to Perm, so unless I do super well they won't hire me as a regular employee.

It helps a little that they keep in the kitchen the exact brand of tea I love [Constant comment].

I came home and Mother and Mike had started dinner, so that was nice. There were meatballs on the stove. I made a pot of rice, and threw some asparagus in the oven to roast, and went outside to water my plants.

After hanging out in a cubicle all day I feel the need to be outside a bit. I now understand why my dad always changed clothes and went outside for a while every day when he got home from work.

The kids and I started watching Rocky Horror Picture Show last night after dinner. I tried to explain how it was always a fun event to go to Rocky Horror at the midnight movie when I was in high school and college but they gave me blank stares. I watched the movie and tried to remember the lines everyone shouted at the screen, and the props, but it was useless. My brain did not retain that very important information, alas.

The kids were enjoying it.

I have a lot of fond memories associated with watching that movie. One of the most fun times I saw it was here in Atlanta at an old theater in the Toco Hills shopping center. There were lots of folks in full costume, re-enacting the movie down front. We all did the Time Warp in the aisles.

The most inept, uncoordinated among us could still do the Time Warp. I couldn't find a good clip of it on You Tube. Oh well.

What struck me as almost funny was that when it came out, Rocky Horror was considered pretty subversive and daring, at least to middle class kids in the suburbs. Dr. Frankenfurter is wearing women's clothes! He has a tattoo! Brad and Janet run around in their underwear! Now it's far more tame than the average music video.

Yes, it's most obvious when you see the difference in Tim Curry:

He now does a lot of voiceover work for children's cartoons.

To me, he will always be Frankenfurter....

Let's all go and do the Time Warp, shall we?!

Workday Monday

Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity. So much to do. I got most of it done, not all. I got all the important things done, such as buying groceries and cleaning my room.

I start a temp job today, which might work into a permanent job. It's for a firm in Norcross, which is just "up the road" - about a 20-25 minute commute. We drove over there  late yesterday afternoon so I could find the building. It's located in a very nice area. There's a lot of traffic there, despite its suburban location, but I think my commute will mostly be in the opposite direction of everyone else. Most folks still work in either Buckhead, midtown, or downtown.

Cleaning my room was the biggest chore. There were dust bunnies having huge family reunions under my bedside table. I found two old 45 rpm records in their original sleeves. Just out of curiosity, I looked on eBay and I could sell them both and make a tidy profit of about $15.

So it's back to the full-time work routine today. I am not 100% because I had to pick up Alesia from work last night at 11 and didn't get to bed until much later. Hope they don't notice that. Maybe an extra shot of caffeine will do the trick.

More later...

Giveaways: Week Three!

I am so excited about this week's prize giveaways, because we have two fantastic prizes to give away!

As I have already mentioned, the Sucklebusters family of products is just amazing. I have already tried their Hog Waller Por and Rib Rub and it has transformed my pork roasts into delectable entrees my kids LOVE. Seriously, it's THE easiest meat ever - rub it onto a pork loin roast and put it in a 250 degree oven for about 8 hours, and you have a fantastic dinner underway. I'm also loving their Spicy Peach BBQ Sauce - wow, is all I can say. If you are unsure how to use all the products, Sucklebusters has a recipe page that has some terrific-sounding recipes.

Leave a comment related to BBQ and you will be registered to win the Sucklebusters prize package! [It consists of several bottles of BBQ sauce and salsa fixins!

My second item is a gorgeous handmade necklace by Andree over at The Silver Workshop. The Turquoise and Silver Acorn Necklace is so beautifully made, I wish I could keep it! Andree started off as a sculptor and her pieces show such artistry and imagination.

Leave me a comment telling me about your taste in jewelry and you will be registered to win this beautiful pendant necklace!

Those Left Behind

Stress can take many forms and it can do terrible things to people. That was brought home to me yesterday in several different important ways.

I learned just after dinner last night that one of my second cousins lost her son to suicide a few days ago. I was so shocked and saddened. I didn't know the young man well, but his mother has been a friend for many years. In a huge extended family like mine, some cousins are just faces we see at family reunions and gatherings, and others are actually friends. "L" was actually a friend. She sent me periodic emails asking about the kids, Mother, my job, etc. and she was always a friendly face I sought out at family get-togethers. My heart breaks for her and her husband. "J" was their only son.

He was an incredibly smart boy, a talented musician, and a churchgoing, good kid. He was raised in a loving home by two fine parents who adored him. I cannot imagine what drove him to such a tragic act. This quote kept flashing through my head - "Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem."

I kept seeing the faces of two of my high school classmates who died before their 22nd birthdays, unable to cope with their troubles. I wasn't close to either one of them but I had known them for years, and their deaths left me reeling. One had made a bad marriage, but she was divorced and had a toddler. The other was simply unable to find a job - he ended his life kneeling over a railroad track. I had danced with him at a wedding just a year or so before his death. I was so upset I wrote a poem about it which was published in the UT Literary magazine, "The Lost Boy and The Train."

Michael had an older brother, Sasha, who committed suicide. So I watched him closesly as we were talking about the family tragedy last night.He was quiet, but seemed OK. He didn't ever meet "J" but Alesia had - she was shocked.

Michael got to play in yesterday's tennis tournament, which was great for him as he played doubles, so all the pressure wasn't on him. The weather was a bit cool, but lovely. Then at 6 he went to a schoolmate's birthday party and had a good time. He had grumbled about going, worrying there wouldn't be any other boys there. When I went to pick him up I had been crying, but I held it together long enough to chat with the ladies supervising the party. They said Michael danced! It was a disco party, which was a cute idea. I had shown him some disco dance moves and he had scoffed at them, but he admitted he used them. When he came out he was wearing a disco ball on a necklace [likely from Party City but he liked it] and was in a happy mood.

The recent issues with Alesia have been stressing me out to such an extent that I could feel my heart pounding like a hammer at times, so I went to see the therapist yesterday morning. She listened, and since she has treated Alesia in the past she offered some great advice. Living with a grown child in your home who is intellectually smart but emotionally challenged takes a toll. Alesia wants to get her own car and her own place and be independent, but it's going to take her a while to get there, financially.

We had to get a new battery for Mother's car yesterday. It seems like the car issues never end. And if its not the car, it's something going wrong in the house, or with Coco. I spend my life taking care of maintenance issues for 1 house, 1 dog, 1 mama, 2 cars, 2 kids, and myself.

I have ten things on my To Do list today and all of them will take more than an hour. Yikes.

Y'all, please pray for my dear cousin and her husband. I know they are in such pain, grieving for their boy. I believe he is in heaven, because only terrible pain causes someone to take their own life. It's up to the ones left to grieve, though, as we contemplate what might have been.

The Secret to Great Fried Chicken

An old friend of mine and I correspond about cooking and I recently offered him my recipe for fried chicken. After I typed it all out I thought, this would make a good blog post. Just because I'm southern born and bred and my people have been here since the Revolution I didn't become a good fried chicken cook overnight. I had to improvise.

Here's what I told Gene:

I only recently mastered the art of good fried chicken myself, entirely by accident! It's not really a traditional way to do it, but it's tasty.

Get chicken filets or tenders, and wash them off, then pat dry with paper towels and lay them on the towels. Take regular table salt and pepper, and generously salt and pepper both sides. Let them sit for at least 30 minutes to absorb the salt. When that's done, take a shallow pan or dish and fill the bottom with regular Hidden Valley ranch dressing [not low fat or lite, regular] dip each chicken piece in there and cover it with the ranch dressing. Put the dish in the fridge for at least an hour, preferably overnight.

When you're ready to fry, use Crisco, plain kind. put at least enough to come halfway up the sides of each piece of chicken. Put it on high and get it good and hot. Gently coat the chicken pieces in breadcrumbs or panko crumbs. These are very cheap in the grocery store, usually with the baking supplies. Coat the pieces really well, patting in the breadcrumbs if necessary. Gently put each piece of chicken in the piping hot oil. Leave about 5 minutes on medium high, then turn over. Leave on high another five minutes. Turn heat to low and cover the pan and wait 10-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of your meat.

Here's a neat way to eat it. Take your ranch dressing and some good grated parmesan cheese [DiGiorno or another good brand, not the crap in the green can] and mix up a dipping sauce of 1 teaspoon parmesan and 1 tablespoon of ranch dressing. Dip the chicken and take a big ol' bite - man is that good! That's slap yo mama good!

Give that a try and let me know what you think. My kids love this recipe.

When my mom was young, she couldn't cook when she got married. Her mother and her aunts would describe on the phone how to cook good fried chicken, and she would try it and it would look great and taste awful. She would take it to pot luck suppers and church events and Dad would avoid it like the plague, it was so awful. Finally, Mother was talking to Mamaw on the phone one night, lamenting her inability to get it right, and Mamaw said "Wait a minute, you do SALT the chicken, right?!" Mother said no, nobody had ever mentioned that step. That was the key, the salt.

Mamaw's way of cooking it was to soak it in the salt, then put some plain flour, salt and pepper in a paper bag, then shake each chicken piece in the bag until it was well coated, then pop it into the hot crisco and fry it that way. You can also soak the pieces in buttermilk after you salt them, then dredge them in flour.

Now, can you modify the basic recipe to be low fat or low salt? I guess so. Do it at your own risk, though...

LOL

When I go to heaven, my first meal will be Mamaw's fried chicken, bisquits, gravy, green beans with fatback, rice, and jello salad. Amen.

Thompson Memories

It's funny how announcing the winners of a giveaway will cause a surge in hits on your blog. Wow. I guess the words "Win Chocolate" should be included in every blog post I do from now on. Duly noted.

I am excited about next week's giveaway items. I am sending out a package of products from the folks over at Sucklebusters. Check out the awesome products on their site. I have tried several of them myself and they are YUMMY.

I am working on another giveaway for next week and hopefully will have details over the weekend.

 

My buddy Elizabeth over at Gifts of the Journey has been posting a lot of old photos recently and I thought it would be fun to post some of my own, and tell a few stories about my dad's side of the family. I tend to tell too many stories about the Hastys and Butlers, and it's not quite fair.

Of course, I actually remember my mother's parents and spent a lot of time with them when I was a child. Dad's parents died before I was born, so all I know are stories. My dad loved to tell stories about his folks.

My grandfather Algernon Thompson was born in South Georgia in 1888, and had a number of siblings, but that's all I know about his family. His dad died when Grandaddy was 12, so he had to quit school and go to work to support his mom and the younger siblings. He held a lot of different jobs, including postal worker and sign painter, and finally joined the army.

Everyone called him "Thompson" or "Slick." Even my grandmother reportedly referred to him as "Thompson." His buddies called him Slick. I went to Thompson family reunions years ago and always put on my nametag Slick's Granddaughter.

In 1916 Grandaddy fought Pancho Villa on the Mexican border. Shortly after that he was sent to France to fight in World War I. He told Dad he fought in the battle of Verdun. If you know your military history you know that WWI was the first war fought with modern weapons like tanks and chemicals. Poison Gas was used for the first time. I have always wondered if the emphysema that claimed Grandaddy's life was caused by exposure to that gas, but he was not officially exposed. He never smoked, though.

By the early 1920's Thompson was in and around Augusta, Georgia, where he met my grandmother, Cordelia Henderson. She came from a large and prosperous farming family out in Hepzibah, Georgia, a tiny town near Augusta. Cordelia was an "old maid schoolteacher" as Dad liked to call her, with great affection. She had attended Bessie Tift College and loved to read. She was inordinately tall for her day [5'8] and had curly light brown hair and a high forehead [like me]. Thompson was maybe an inch taller. They were opposites, for sure, but they had a strong marriage.

This is a photo of Thompson made around 1921 or '22, when he and Granmother were "courting." I am not sure who the woman is [not Cordelia] but Dad said the man was Cordelia's brother, Claude. Claude was a character. He once got drunk and rode his horse into a local school and up on stage.

What strikes me about this photo is how much Thompson looks like my dad.

Cordelia was tall, as I've mentioned, and Mother says she was really pretty but photos never do her justice. I think what she's holding here is a camera, a Brownie box camera. Dad said she would often say "Go get the Brownie and take a picture!"

This is Cordelia and Thompson with my uncle Bobby, outside the house in Hepzibah where my dad grew up.

I used to try and get Dad to write down all his "Hepzibah stories." The town was populated with eccentric small-town characters with names like "Big Boy McGhee" and "Meat Hardin." [Hopefully those were nicknames!]

Thompson had a foul temper, I am told. He didn't suffer disobedience from his boys. He was a "spare the rod" kind of dad, which I don't condone, but he was a product of his place and time. His temper was sometimes funny, though. One day he went out to get in the car and go to work and there was a chicken sitting on the hood of the car. He couldn't shoo it off or coax it off. Finally, not wanting to be late, he simply took a pistol and shot it off the car.

Thompson was also, for a brief time in his youth, a professional gambler in south Georgia. His cousin told us stories at a family reunion almost 100 years after Thompson was born [1988]. Gambling didn't last long, however, before Thompson returned to lawful ways to make a living. My dad's older brothers were born in small Georgia towns because Thompson was working for the mail service and was on mail trains all the time. Dad was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1930, as that's where Thompson could find work.

Cordelia got married in 1923 and gave up teaching to have three children. In those days, once a woman got married she usually quit working. When World War II came around, however, there was a shortage of teachers. All the male teachers went into the army. So she went back to teaching. Unfortunately, she actually taught my dad, since it was a tiny town and a tiny school. (I bet he never missed doing his homework that year!) He said it was no fun whatsoever having his mother as his teacher, although he generally adored her.

Around the time Dad was 12 years old, WWII was raging, and Thompson finally decided to build a real bathroom, to replace the outhouse. He needed a septic tank dug but he couldn't afford to pay for the job. So he told Dad and his buddies to dig a trench, so they could play like they were in WWI and fighting the Huns. All summer Dad and his friends dug the trench. That fall, they finally had indoor plumbing.

When the Depression hit, Thompson returned to Augusta to work for Cordelia's brother in law, one of the Dyes. Her sister had married a guy named Dye who was fairly wealthy. Sometime after that, Thompson moved the family out to Hepzibah, into a house owned by the Henderson siblings, and he opened a small store in town.

There are many stories about dad and his brothers working in the tiny general store during the Depression. They never lacked for food, unlike some families. Grandaddy also extended credit to black families, which was unusual in the south in those days. There was sometimes no money for extras like shoes for the boys, though. Dad said sometimes when money was really tight, and they needed things they just couldn't afford, Thompson would go into the nearest big town [Augusta] and go to a pool hall and hustle pool games. He would act like a rube and lose a few games, then run the table. Cordelia was a very proper, very Baptist lady, but Dad said she didn't question where the money came from. Times were hard.

Cordelia came from a family with twelve children, and here she is pictured with two of her sisters, Annie and Ceph. Ceph liked to stick her tongue out, even though she was in every other way very ladylike. She and Cordelia were close, and like all the ladies in the Henderson family she adored my dad, but she had not use for Mother or me or Bruce. When we went to visit her, she would give Dad a homemade cookie and me and Bruce a stale Saltine cracker! It was obvious who she loved most.

This was made in 1957, the night before Mother and Dad got married. It was Dad's bachelor party, at the home of Doug Embry [the bald man], Annie's son. Doug and his sons are still close to our family to this day. Seated left to right on the sofa are Bobby, Stuart Capers [Dad's best friend], Dad [holding a glass] and Dad's brother Lewis.

Mom and Dad's unofficial engagement photo, taken by Doug, the family photographer at all important events.

Towards the end of his life, Thompson spent a lot of time in his bed.This bed was bought when he got married. The same bed frame is still in use. Michael sleeps on it now. [We have a new mattress, though.]

Ceph is holding my cousin Frann, who is now a grandmother. Wow, time flies.Below, a photo of Frann and Cordelia. She is the only one of us grandkids who remembers Cordelia at all, alas.

Between Dad, Bobby, and Lewis, there are 7 Thompson cousins. We are all smart, funny, sarcastic, and yet a close-knit bunch. All my cousins came to see my Dad after he was diagnosed with cancer in 1996, despite great hardship and expense.

This photo, below, was made around 1973 or 1974 and is one of the very few I know about with all the Thompson cousins. We had gotten together in Atlanta for the day. Dad and his brothers reminisced and told stories all afternoon.

 

I am on the front row, leaning in, wearing glasses. Frann is next to me, also leaning. it was a windy day.

This is my dad and his brothers in the late 1980's at a family wedding. They are all gone now, and they are sorely missed.

Their spirits live on, though.

ADDENDUM

Dad's cousin Doug Embry is over 80 but has a lot of fond memories of visiting Dad and his brothers in Hepzibah, and he shared some with me. Doug's reminiscence is below. DOug's mother Annie and her family lived in Atlanta, so they were the "city folks" who visited the country with the Wild Thompson Boys.

I  really enjoyed reading your blog on the Thompsons.

My fondest memories of my youth were of our visits to Hephzibah where I stayed with Cordelia and Algernon. My mother and I took the  Georgia Railroad train to some stop where we got off near Hephzibah.

Needless to say, I remember the outhouse, the tub on the back porch and the slopjar under the bed at night. Uncle Claude was across the street  and Aunt Ceph and Uncle Grady Adkins were in nearby Keysville.

Lewis, Bobby and Tony and I had a lot of fun swiming in Briar Creek and elsewhere. We climbed trees, went to church,  fished and played ball under the hot sunny days.

Cordelia served great meals to give us the energy to play harder.

I remember going on a coon hunt with Uncle Grady [Ceph's husband] one moonlit night -- egad!, what a thrill, but I was tuckered out when we got home.

Other memories include hanging around Thompson's store and begging treats. He also worked at the Augusta arsenal.

I went to parties near there where I got a taste of courting country girls. "We liked to climb a chinaberry tree and there was a girl named Blanche who lived near there who was quite large and unattractive. On another visit about two years later, I noticed a very pretty girl in church and it was the same girl, Blanche!"

Other memories abound: pumping water from the pump in the back yard, climbing a chinaberry tree, picking blackberries, fighting the gnats, visitiing Uncle Claude's farm, watching the cows being milked by mechanical milking machines, seeing a bull mount a cow (briefly), trying my hand at picking cotton. Well, you get the idea of what it was like in the early thirties.

Oh, I cannot let this story go untold: I always pestered Uncle Ben Henderson [Cordelia's brother who was mentally handicapped] to let me ride his horse, a white stallion. Instead he put me on a sloop-backed mule  and we rode all day . I only fell off once and was almost trampled when we were crossing a creek. I could hardly walk for two weeks afterward since he didn't provide me with a saddle.

We went along on a wagon full to watermelons to Augusta where they were getting 25 cents  a melon. As a city boy, I really got an education thanks to the Thompsons, Atkins fmaily, and their rural existence. Doug