You are currently browsing the monthly archive for May, 2007.
And the rains have finally come down, leaving Villa Vegetation (what I’ve officially named my garden) looking all green and healthy.
My sunflowers are decidedly a social breed and have intermingled with the black-eyed peas which should be an interesting picture when they’ve fully matured, but for now, I’m still thinking of moving them away and putting them back in their place. Any of you ever had to discipline your sunflowers before? 
A couple of days ago, I broke down and bought a Rosemary plant and I’ve put it out in the Villa beside the squash hoping it will become motivated and do more than just give me a Christmas tree in July. Haven’t gone after any lima beans yet, but I’m still dying to try and right now, I seem to be on a sweet potato growing kick and I have to plant some of those as soon as I can.
Otherwise, the okra is positively scaring me at the rate it’s popping up and the green beans are coming in fairly evenly, but again, they’ll have to be peddled out to friends and family members.
Disappointment of the Villa so far: Oddly enough, my corn is not faring well at all. In fact, I think I’ll have to replant it. None of it, at this point, sems to be coming up which is very puzzling to me because I usually have my greatest gardening success with corn.
More news as soon as it breaks….or in this case, breaks ground.
Happy gardening!
Coming to the initial realization, in first grade, that I wasn’t born to be a really impressive talker threw a dark cloud over my entire world that continues to rear its ugly head even to this day. Sticking to my books and hiding behind the fact that my mom was a teacher and I was just expected to exhibit the characteristics of the perfect goody two shoes angel, my tears soaked tissues at night when I’d go over the day’s events in my head and count the number of times I’d been called too quiet or too shy. Even though I’d work hard and get the top grades while being the model of behavior, my wounds ran deep and pulsated with confusion and extreme sadness because I was doomed never to get attention from my teachers — the ones I strove so diligently to impress — because not only was I dead quiet, but only the little squeaky trouble makers would ever get the attention.
So, I began writing. And I wrote and wrote because I had to get the attention somehow and God knows I wasn’t getting it from being an awesome public speaker. I dove into books and they gave me an alternate world to visit whenever I so chose to turn the pages. I got through school, overachieving and being at the top, but as far as I was concerned, I was at the very bottom because over the years I somehow got it into my head that the world loved a jabber box and had trouble accepting someone who’d love to do nothing more than to listen to that person and lend a helping hand when needed.
It seemed I was growing to have a passion for something only I could appreciate, but the rest of the world seemed to overlook.
Right now, as a college graduate and a person very much in a period of transition, more and more every day, I’m finding myself stepping out of my comfort zone, communicating in ways I thought I was completely incapable of doing and finding traits inside myself I never could have dreamed were present. And what is driving me? It’s this passion that has been living in me for years. The passion I wanted to ignore because it wasn’t attractive to others. The passion not to get myself stuck in a rut, become unmotivated or forget how to listen to friends when they need me the most.
For the first time maybe ever, I’m embracing my role as a listener in life. If the world held nothing but jabber boxes, how would anything ever get accomplished? Who would just sit down and listen? If all the world voiced troubles and concerns, constantly interrupting each other for a chance to speak, would anyone be there to just help?
The road leading to the ultimate goal of passion seems to be dotted and lined with much more arduous tasks for the listener in life, but that certainly doesn’t mean that it cannot be navigated. And it doesn’t mean that just because you have become affixed to a certain path that does not bring you passion, you can’t reverse your steps, rethink your plan and follow another road. After all, as a listener, you’ve proven that you are wise beyond your years and have experience in untangling debacles, whether they be your own or the problems of your friends and confidants, so this is yet another problem with a solution. Just maybe not a clear one in the beginning.
Unfortunately, for the listener, heart break, disappointment, frustration, confusion, depression and anger are all emotions that seep in constantly because voicing a problem is different. We’re used to listening to the problems of others and, for us, this can be new territory.
The mold for the hero in life sometimes seems to have been created for the person who gives the hour-long speech on his or her plan for changing the world, but molds are made to be broken. It takes just as many guts to go up and give the person who admitted a mistake a supportive hug as it did for that person to admit to the mistake.
Back in first grade, I may have realized the kind of person I would grow to be, but no one ever told me that was an impediment. I just imagined it for myself. And most of the time, the bumps in the road to passion are merely created obstacles. Not real. But, there’s only one way to find out and hopefully, for me and for others, we’ll be traveling down that road very soon and maybe along the way, we’ll be there to help others along, if nothing else, than to serve as a strong shoulder to cry as we dodge the potholes together and one day, finally reach the goal.
This very rainy and very soggy day is providing me with the opportunity to sit down and be sedentary for hours on end while viewing one of my favorite television events of the entire year. As a true nerd, there’s just no equal for me in terms of heart-pounding, gut-wrenching, edge of the seat, closing your eyes, nervous anticipation television and it’s all live and in your face.
I’m talking about the biggest reality show of all. I’m talking about the one and only Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee!!! Okay….now that I’m hearing dead silence and attention spans turning off, let me just throw in that I had a friend who made it all the way to the big Bee once and I’ve been hooked ever since. Spelling bees are my thang….even though I had a chance to go to the big one in seventh grade and let my terrible, horrible shy nature take over….spelling the word wrong on purpose just so I wouldn’t have to stand in front of hundreds of people. Darn it! Just revealed one of my most embarrassing moments. But now, you know more about me.
Anyway, if you’re getting sick of those so-called reality shows, tune in.
Happy anniversary to Mr. Roughhouse’s large cabbage! As some of you might remember, I was summoned to Sharon this past spring to capture in photograph a 25 pound cabbage grown by the one and only Mr. Roughhouse. However, I was very disheartened to hear that this year, due to several cold spells we’ve had, the cabbages won’t be nearly as big as before. So, I scoured the county to find some equally winning news worthy of putting us on the map (or into Weekly World News) and I think I’ve found something.
So, without further ado, I’ll introduce you to my new friend, Mr. G from Gleason, and tell you a little bit about what he created in his backyard.
Last night, I had the privilege of getting a peek at Mr. G’s top secret project to escape any nasty tornadoes in the area and was completely blown away (ha) by what I think might quite possibly be the most amazing and creative storm shelter I’ve ever seen.
It’s a little dark, but do you realize what you’re looking at? Mr. G managed to take a school bus and bury it in the ground, gut it, put in comfortable seats and backup lighting AND cable television to weather all those nasty tornadoes and take every other boring storm shelter, well, to school! Amazing!!!!!
I’ve been issued a right smart challenge from Finn to come up with some of my favorite eateries to frequent in this county and as I don’t like backing down from worthy challenges, I’ve decided to give it my best shot.
And, the rules, if you please:
1. Add a direct link to your post below the name of the person who tagged you. Include the city/state and country you’re in.
Nicole (Sydney, Australia)
velverse (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
LB (San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy)
Selba (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Olivia (London, England)
ML (Utah, USA)
Lotus (Toronto, Canada)
tanabata (Saitama, Japan)
Andi (Dallas [ish], Texas, United States)
Todd (Louisville, Kentucky, United States)
miss kendra (los angeles, california, u.s.a)
Jiggs Casey (Berkeley, CA, USA! USA! USA!)
Tits McGee (New England, USA)
Joe (NE Tennessee, USA)
10K Monkeys (Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA)
Big Stupid Tommy (Athens, Tennessee, USA)
Newscoma (Weakley County, Tennessee, USA)
Finnspace (Springfield, Tennessee, USA)
Scout (Weakley County, Tennessee, USA)
2. List out your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location.
Finn, Newscoma and I are native Weakley Countians, and as it’s going to be extremely difficult not to echo some of the ’Coma’s answers, I’m going to treat this differently and maybe even go back in time for at least one of my answers. Just call it a writer’s excuse to insert a mini personal essay or two. The only problem is that any interested restaurateurs will no longer be able to visit this place(s), but you’ll get to hear their stories for sentimental purposes anyway. Because I’m nostalgic like that.
So, here they are in no particular order, for your perusal and my sincere apologies to ‘Coma if I duplicate any of her answers. It must just mean that the restaurant is doubly good and you’d be nuts not to frequent it.
1. Bdx (aka Baroque Dicks) Martin, Tenn. Wait just a pea picking minute, you say. That’s a coffee shop, not a restaurant. Well, yes. And for anyone who truly knows me, to not include a coffee shop in this list would be positively sacrilegious for me. Right now, I work in a college town and am of the school of thought that all good college towns must have a good coffee shop. And this one is very good. If you’re in Martin, drop by.
2. China King Dresden, Tenn. Located just off the court square, this place really does, in my opinion, have the best Chinese food and sushi in the county. I highly recommend coming to this little slice of chow mien heaven set smack dab in the middle of small town USA, ordering the California roll and chatting with the ultra cool owners, a Chinese couple who came down from NYC and who must have gone through some major culture shock to keep this place going.
3. Sap’s Somewhere between Greenfield, Dresden and Gleason…..um, Gredreason, Tenn. Okay. Who’s been to this place? Liars. Now no longer in existence, me, my sister and some of the little neighborhood gang of the Liberty Subdivision used to ride our bikes over to this country store to pick up Cokes, Hot Fries, M & M’s and bologna. The owner of the store, Sap, used to welcome in hunters and farmers to sit around his pot-bellied stove situated in the middle of the building and as they’d talk about the day’s catch or kill, he’d slice the thickest bologna I’d ever seen into the most precise circles and bury them between bread and mayonnaise. Never would I leave the store without Sap’s famous farewell, “Be sweet.”
4. Wimpy’s Corner Greenfield, Tenn. Remember Popeye’s sidekick who had the monstrous burger fetish? Yes, that’s the one and he’s materialized in a Greenfield restaurant who serves monstrously big burgers. The Wimpy burger is one full pound of beef and the Wimpy Jr. is a half pound and I have never managed to eat all of a Wimpy Jr. which makes me…uh, downright wimpy I guess. Also good at Wimpy’s are the Texas Toothpicks, but honestly if I see Texas Toothpicks on any menu, I must order them.
5. The Three Sisters Sharon, Tenn. This was my introduction to the Sunday afternoon buffet and to pickled okra. No longer in existence, my family and I used to go right down the road from church nearly ever Sunday to eat of its fried glory. I remember standing in line for what seemed like hours at a time as a kindergartener to dive into the chicken, but I avoided the beets because I just didn’t understand purple veggies at the time and was convinced that someone had a shrinking machine in the kitchen to create the tiny little pickled ears of corn.
And I cannot get through this without mentioning, like Newscoma…….
5. B. Cadillac’s Martin, Tenn I have heard from several people that the cheeseburgers are awesome, but because I choose not to partake of them for reasons everyone knows, I must brag on the taco salad or should I say the Mexican mountain. No one heaps up a taco salad like Cadillac’s cook Sandy and if you overindulge in the sour cream it’s a very good thing.
So, that’s my nontraditional meme and now, I believe I’d like to hear from Pshaw (about the Ole Miss/Yoknapatawpha area), Freezertroll, racknine and Lynnster (Henry County, Benton County or Shelby County). It’s your mission should you choose to accept.
The pig out in the park extravaganza known as Barbecue Fest stretches the entire length of Tom Lee Park just off the eastern bank of the mighty Missisip. Last Friday, I was invited down to the river to partake of the eating and fellowshipping and had such a highlight reel’s worth of fun that I decided to break it down into the top five 2007 barbecue fest moments.
5. Cajun ‘Cue. My friend’s tent, while containing the usual plethora of all things barbecued, housed a gigantic cooler filled to the gills with crawfish and all the trimmings. Last year, I was introduced to this marvelously interesting delicacy and almost immediately became a fan. Hence that fact, this year I ended up eating much more crawfish than barbecue. Call me a traitor.
4. Memories…. Each ‘cue tent was special in its own way, bearing of a catchy name and decorations, but one tent especially caught my eye. For an extra appeal to the children coming to the festival, one tent staff had actually taken the old pink hippopotamus whose home used to be the Memphis Zoo and perched it on top of their tent for added effect. I know it’s true because I asked.
3. Get thee some religion. All along the entrance to the festival, preachers camped out waiting to tell each and every one of us that we were headed straight to hell for even stepping foot inside the festivities. With microphones and cheap P.A. systems, they cursed each and every one of us….until one of my friends had had enough and began arguing with a particularly enthusiastic one. They went back and forth on the loud speaker and ended up having a 10-minute word battle on whether or not the wine coming from Jesus’ first miracle was alcoholic or non-alcoholic. Great fun!
2. Elvis!!!! Well…..almost….. A dead pan look alike walked into my friend’s tent and as it was my first real close encounter with one of them, I just knew I had to have a picture. I got my cell phone camera ready, walked right up to the guy and prepared to snap the picture. At the same exact time I was preparing to shoot, Elvis turned around and gave me the most wonderful pose ever…his fingers out, beckoning me to come nearer and his lips pursed into a kiss….and I got it. My best picture ever!!! Worthy of publication, I tell you. Thought I had finally finally taken a picture I could be proud of and show off to everyone….until I got so excited that I closed the phone and didn’t save the picture!!!!!!!
1. I finally got to meet her!!! We got together for chips and dip at Café Ole right before my encore performance at the BBQ fest and I must say that it went even better than I had imagined. So cool and so fun and I’m looking forward to the next get together. There was never a dull moment in the conversation. Definitely memorable!
While there were other highlights, those are my top five and I’m already looking forward to next year.
At long last, I am finally going to post a couple of pictures so that the progress of the garden can be viewed and boy, is it making progress!
Jungle of tomato plants. I went with Better Boy this year because I’ve had success with this variety before and here are the plants right before they were transplanted into the garden. In the background, there are squash and pepper plants and those were planted at the same time in a separate area for space.
Let there be beans! As you can see, the green beans are early risers and have already started coming up not even a week after their planting. The okra is also coming up, and egads, it looks as if I’ll have an overabundance of it this year. People at work, be on the lookout because I will be peddling veggies at the office before you know it.
Yesterday, Squirrel Queen brought me a package of sunflower seeds…something else I’ve yet to try….and I planted them as soon as I set foot in the garden. I’m really looking forward to how they’ll turn out and trying deciding on a couple of more surprises to plant.
Searching for ideas. Anyone have a suggestion?
Until then, happy gardening!
Way, way, way back a long time ago, my hometown used to have quite the jumping little movie theatre or so I’m told. Posters still exist today that advertise its past greatness, its vast seating and its air-conditioned auditoriums. It was positively the place to be and the crown jewel of the court square.
In the early 1940s, the theatre had the rare treat of obtaining a little known movie which was sweeping the country by storm. You might have heard of it. Its title is Gone with the Wind.
Around the time of its coming to Dresden, my grandmother was asked out on a date to see the movie at the theatre, so her date picked her up and took her to the showing only to find out that ticket prices had increased for the special occasion from 25 cents to 40 cents a ticket. Needless to say, my grandmother’s date did not have the money and they had to rush back to borrow it from her dad. But, they still saw GWTW.
Yesterday, I met her date and as soon as he found out who I was, he related this story to me with as much detail as if it had just taken place.
Ah, you never know what you’ll hear when you least expect it.
You are The Moon
Hope, expectation, Bright promises.
The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.
The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.
What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. The sun is shining brightly and my already fire engine red skin is thanking it, my new laptop will come in at the end of next week and the city I work in just dedicated a road to one of our fallen heroes. Sometimes, you just have to step away and get untangled from the complications of everyday and look to the simple things often taken for granted to get your spark back.
And speaking of sparks, my garden is finished! Can I get a Hallelujah from the crowd? Yes, everything has been securely planted in the ground and now all I have to do is just sit back and wait…and help it along a bit of course.
I was talking to a friend yesterday and compared planting and tending to my garden to raising a child. He looked at me, completely puzzled by the metaphor, and I explained. You put the seeds in the ground, feed and water them, make sure they get all the sunlight they need when they’re young, but not too much of course and while they’re young, you nurse them when they’re sick, pull out the weeds when needed and coax them back to health. Sometimes, though, things happen that are out of your control and the plants just have to deal with it…droughts, monsoons, hungry animals…. When the time comes and maturity is reached, if everything in the life cycle has been accomplished and has been done well, the plant blooms, blossoms and produces fruit for everyone to enjoy. See? It’s like raising a child I suppose. But in this case, it’s like raising a whole host of children with different wants, needs and preferences. Sheesh!
I’m having a bit of trouble posting pictures now, but perhaps later you’ll get to see some of the greenery that is taking shape.
Ah, I’m back on my feet again. Thankfully, not even a lost laptop can keep me down for long.
And even better, yesterday I successfully planted three of my major crops — tomatoes, peppers and squash. Since the squash plants tend to grow like wildfire, I reserved a bigger section of the garden for them. This year, I’ll begin the dust sprinkling a bit earlier as last year I waited too long and lost half of my harvest to worms before the vegetables had a chance to reach maturity.
Still considering those lima beans. Even though I’ve never had any luck with them, I always love a challenge and this might just be the year. Besides, I don’t think one row will hurt.
I’ll try to post pictures as soon as I can.
And now, to switch gears.. In the summer of 2000, I did something I thought I ‘d never do. I flew to New York City and spent a week at a friend’s house in Queens just taking in any and every little aspect of what I saw as an entirely different planet. Wagging around a video camera, I recorded the usual — the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, the Empire State building, etc. — but I also recorded the unusual — the inside of a subway, a Puerto Rico dance festival on Coney Island and even the crowded sidewalk. Needless to say, I gave myself away as not only a tourist, but a small-town tourist from the get go.
Scared to death initially, I almost let the idea of flying for the first time keep me from going, but as luck would have it, I got seated beside a very nice couple who treated me like one of their own. When we were heading downward to La Guardia Airport and I spied the oversized Welcome to the Big Apple sign out the window, I hugged the man beside me because I knew I’d been fearless and accomplished something I thought I’d never do.
Finn and DH headed up to NYC today for a highly anticipated visit. I’m wishing them all the excitement the big city can hold and then some.
Happy gardening, everyone!
For the third straight day the rains are coming down and preventing me from doing further work in the garden. It’s quite a muddy mess at this point, but luckily, Sabrina called up the local nursery yesterday and found out that they have a particular variety of lima bean which I am dying to try. I’m not quite giving up on the limas even though I’ve never had any luck with them. I also found out that the local nursery owner extraordinaire has trouble growing habanero peppers…..so there’s my next challenge and hopefully I can get the actual planting going very soon.
And now, if you’re just looking for a happy post, stop here because the second half gets progressively worse.
Yesterday, I had the dreaded dentist appointment to get my potential cavity filled. Before leaving the house, I got my lap top out of the car and put it on the trunk and walked back and forth a few times from my grandmother’s house to my house, getting ready and making sure things were all set for the day. I left to go to the dentist’s office and then to work, got through the day and then came home to cover an Iris Festival event at 4. Getting back home after the event, I started looking for my lap top and couldn’t find it anywhere until I realized…..most likely I had never gotten it off the trunk from earlier….. and, of course, it wasn’t going to stay put on the trunk…… The shock, anger, confusion, craziness, etc. has yet to have worn off and I don’t think it will for a very good while. Four years worth of newspaper work, personal work, school work…..gone. It was a very good thing no one was around when it initially happened because I was absolutely inconsolable. To put it mildly, I lost it and then put on my best face for a meeting and then felt tears seeping out at the meeting. It was my only source for sending in stories for work, blogging and it held all my archived work from school. It held my past and my future. I had gotten a bit of the short story I’m working on put into its memory. I once said that I was trying to live by the motto “To change everything, simply change your attitude,” but I’m really struggling with that right now. It feels as if someone has died in the family. That’s the answer I gave my grandmother when she was trying to help me calm down. Four years worth of writing. Gone. No more going to McDonald’s to blog. Posts will become more and more scarce now.
As a person who likes to be positive as much as possible, it is killing me to be so negative, but I really need a shot of hope right now as much as I need a miracle.
Step one of Garden Fest 2007 was started and completed today. We didn’t use your average Briggs and Stratton garden variety (no pun intended) tiller, but got a neighbor to work it up the ground with his full-sized tractor because it’s faster and does more work in a shorter amount of time.
This is the same sized plot of dirt I work with every year and have been working with since we moved into the house about seven years ago. The garden is flanked on two sides by field which means that unless I want to build a scarecrow or pay my sister to stand out (hee) I need to watch it carefully because when the plants are out, and namely the corn plants, the vegetables are at the mercy of the critters and this includes deer, rabbits and raccoons among other hungry wildlife.
A bit of the planting would have started today, but the nursery closed the minute I reached it so that will have to be left for tomorrow. Here’s my game plan and it rarely changes from year to year as, so far, it’s been successful. On the far right, I will plant half a row in okra and the other half in, I’m thinking, possibly red potatoes. The potatoes have been rewarding, but a bit tedious because they must be planted in mounds because they grow in the roots and need extra room to branch out. By failing to heap the dirt around the plant, the potatoes will start right off the bat breaking the ground without having time to develop and the crop will be wasted.
The next row will feature about six squash plants and right next to that will be half a row of tomato plants and half a row of mixed peppers including bell and jalapeno. Oddly enough, my jalapenos are never hot and never have been any of the times I’ve planted them which is a complete mystery to me.
Next to the peppers and ‘maters will be the three rows of Peaches and Cream corn and next to that will be three rows of purple hull peas and three rows of green beans. I have decided to set out one short row of onions and one row of sweet potatoes at the end of the garden and will also put a row of cabbages (although it’s really pushing it now because they should have been planted in March) next to that.
When this garden begins to mature, I’ll come down at the far end (the area at the bottom of the picture) and plant the late pea and bean garden with a few melon plants interspersed in the nooks and crannies.
So begins the project. Stay tuned.
Act Five, Scene four
Setting: The dentist’s office upon just finishing up a routine cleaning and checkup on a bright and sunny farewell to April day.
Stage directions: Dentist turns to patient with furrowed brow and conveys some rather bad news.
Dentist: Why don’t you come in this Thursday morning and we’ll get that back tooth filled? It’s a little sticky and looks to be a potential cavity.
Patient (Scout): Well, aren’t all teeth candidates for being potential cavities? It’s just a matter or whether or not they want to live up to their potential or not.
Dentist says nothing.
Ah, silence is golden and, in this case, my one overachieving tooth which has major cavity potential shall pay off dividends for the dentist.
What do you say?