Full Moon Flash Party and Bulldog Madness

Whoever described living in a small town as sleepy didn't live here.

It's not that we can't find anything to do, it's that most of the time we can't figure out how to do it all.

Our neighbors are named David and Sally. Honest. And we are all into cooking. I think more than once there has been a mix up over whether something was happening at David and Sally's or David and Sally's. But Thursday neighbors David and Sally were involved in a Pig Pickin and Oyster Roast at a club near our neighborhood. So we were enlisted to bring the big cooker out to help cook some ribs and q. This all happened pretty fast and I started calling it a Flash Party. Kind of like the Flash Mob songs and dances that spring up out of nowhere.

When neighbor David does anything he does it full tilt. Before we could blink our eyes he had a really nice fire pit built to roast the oysters and a whole pig. He called a local band named Calm and Collective to come play without even knowing that my nephew, Jackson, is their keyboard and saxophone player. Calm and Collective is a group of very talented musicians who play what I think they call fusion reggae. It's reggae with a sax. If that won't make you want to groove, nothing will.

So Wednesday night we were getting excited about the Thursday flash party when we realized Bulldog Madness was also Thursday night. Bulldog Madness is an opening night party and pep rally for the Gardner Webb men's and women's basketball teams. It is all for fun and there are crazy games and dance offs and short scrimmages. We didn't want to miss it so we had to get our roller skates on.

Thursday was a very full day that started with David loading up the cooker with meat and heading off to work. His work days are always full of variety and this one was no exception. Among other things, it included a quick trip to Spartanburg for business combined with a quick lunch with David IV.

I started out with work at the Round Up. I needed to do what Jethro called ciphering. Sometimes I cipher about as good as Jethro did. Daddy wanted an update which he expresses as "where do we stand at the store?". Giving a report on finances always makes me think of the NC Trucking Association meetings. The long, detailed financial report would be written out, but when the treasurer stood to present it he would always say "We took some in. We spent some. And we've got a little bit left". Everybody loved how this shortened what could be a long, dry recitation of numbers. For some reason, it doesn't work quite that way at the Round Up Store. Usually Daddy already knows where we stand long before I cipher.

But once the ciphering was done Daddy and I went to lunch. At Wendy's of course. We sat at the sunny window side and talked about everything from politics to poker. Alice T was there with her father Jim and she said it must be father daughter day at Wendy's. I'm not sure who enjoyed this more - the fathers or the daughters.

Later in the day, David took the big cooker with the meat still cooking up to the fire pit where the flash party would break out. Then we left for Bulldog Madness where we enjoyed seeing all the cute students and being a part of the fun. They turned off the lights in the gym and with a spotlight on a balloon arch, loud music and red LED pom poms flashing all over the arena the 2010-2011 GWU Basketball team was introduced. All of the players, coaches and students were having fun and we are looking forward to what adventures await as Jay experiences being a part of this young Division I team.

Then we headed back to the Flash Party. Like any true Oyster and Pig Roast this party was outside in some of the most perfect fall night weather ever. Oh yeah, and there was also a clear sky with a full moon. I leaned over to neighbor David and said, "With a beautiful sky like that - no need to worry about more decorations." Neighbor David said with a twinkle in his eye, "Someone else was in charge of that decoration."

A lot of folks came out for the flash party at the firepit under the full moon. And to groove to reggae with a sax.

It's a small town but it's anything but sleepy around here.

Sasanquas and Lattimore Fall Festival - Pear Salad 60's Style

In mid October the sasanqua camellias, that Dr. Lampley planted in the 60s, begin to bloom in the back yard. The first year we lived on Fairway Drive, I was walking around outside and smelled a sweet smell almost like honeysuckle. I knew it was too late for honeysuckle to bloom so I looked around and noticed delicate white flowers and shiny green leaves in a hedge of tall trees. I cut off a few branches and brought them inside. I was familiar with japonica camellias that bloom in the spring, but fall camellias were new to me. Since then I've learned that sasanqua camellias are native to China and Japan and they do have an asian look to them.

So every year about this time, I look for the sasanquas to bloom and then bring some into the kitchen. They smell great and are so pretty and a distinct change from the brown, burgundy and orange of typical fall flowers.

Mid October also makes me think of Fall Festivals at Lattimore School. Lattimore school was closed years ago, but when we lived in the old Hewitt House it was a thriving school in the middle of Lattimore with 1st through 12th grades. We could walk to school from the Hewitt house on Main Street. On the way, we passed Grady and Euzelia Brooks house with their exotic bamboo garden and koi fish pond. We called it the goldfish pond. The fish were huge and the bamboo always seemed unusual on Main Street in Lattimore.

We also walked by the Willis house where Daddy's first cousin, Mary Elizabeth lived. Mary Elizabeth's nickname was Chuff but she didn't like it so we always tried to remember to call her Mary Elizabeth. She never married and when she died, I went to the auction of her possessions because I wanted something to remember her by. One treasure is a small flower vase that was in a box full of odds and ends. I bid on it and won the bid for $7.50. The vase is tall in the middle with 3 smaller ones hanging from tiny chains. Most any season, most anything out of the yard - herbs, flowers or a mixture of whatever is growing - makes a cute arrangment in this vase.

Bell's Antiques - Nishie called it Bellses- was on the way to school. They had all kinds of antiques that were brought from all over the place to sell in Lattimore. Right beside Lattimore School was Horne's grocery store where Jack Horne and Annie Mae had to contend with kids before and after school.

Lattimore had some great teachers and most of them knew every family in Lattimore. Mrs. Nina Toms was my second grade teacher and she had also taught my father and all four of my sisters. Mrs. Toms was an experienced teacher; organized, intelligent, in charge and calm. I can still see her face when we sat in her classroom in November 1963 and the loud speaker came on to announce that President Kennedy had been killed. Mrs. Toms hung her head and, quietly, big tears rolled down her face. I didn't grasp the full impact of the death of Camelot at the time, but I did know that if Mrs. Toms was showing this kind of emotion it was a really sad thing.

There was an auditorium with wooden chairs and this is where we had Assembly. We assembled for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes we heard lectures or watched performances and sometimes we performed. Mrs. Lattimore was our music teacher and she taught us to play recorder and sing alot of fun songs like The Happy Wanderer, This Land is Your Land and one about cowboy life with a verse that said "there's sand in the butter and flies in the meat. Press along to the old corral". The boys had a bass part when they were supposed to sing in deep voices "Press along cowboy. Press along cowboy". Most of them didn't have deep voices but the boys and sometimes the girls tried to make our voices really deep to sing that part.

We laughed alot when we were singing. Daddy reminded me the other day that we used to ride 2 at a time on the riding lawnmower singing while we mowed the grass. We sang really loud and tried our best to sing harmony. One of my favorites went like this -- "I See the Moon the Moon sees me, Down through the leaves of the old oak tree. Please let the light that shines on me, Shine on the one I Love OH OH OH OOOVEERR the mountains OVER the Sea. Back where my heart is longing to be. Please let the light that shines on me. Shine on the one I Love" Thank heavens the lawnmower was really loud too.

Lattimore school always had a Fall Festival. It was also a fundraiser, but I didn't know that at the time. For me it was just fun. They had games like a fishing game where you would cast a fishing line over a table and curtain and behind that curtain there was an adult who would hook a surprise treasure to your fish hook. It was always fun to see what you would reel back in.

The Fall Festival usually had a cake walk. A cake walk is alot like musical chairs but as Judy pointed out, it's better because you are playing to get to take a cake home. I had to consult the experts on how that cake walk actually worked and Libby quickly got the inside scoop from Ann at the beauty shop. Numbers are placed on the floor for however many cakes have been donated. Participants pay .25 or $1.00 or whatever the going fee might be to get a chance to walk around the numbers. One at a time a cake is chosen and a number is drawn to represent that cake. There can even be a little gamesmanship in that process. The music starts and the participants walk around the numbers. Whenever the song stops whoever is on that cake's number gets that cake. This continues until all cakes are gone. Sometimes they would up the ante when they got down to the last few cakes. Like musical chairs it can get pretty competitive and pretty funny.

It may be nostalgia, but it seems like the cafeteria at Lattimore School had pretty good food. At least some of it was homemade like the vegetable soup with a grilled cheese sandwich on white bread. I remember one thing I didn't like. There must have been a surplus of ripe olives because sometimes there were big green bowls of huge black olives on the tables. Ironically I love black olives now, but in grade school they were gross.

During Fall Festival the Lattimore School cafeteria would serve homemade chicken pie. There really is no better comfort food in the Fall or anytime. When I made Chicken Pie the other night (recipe in Oct 18 post), I needed a quick side dish. I was in a 60's nostalgic mood and a pear salad that Mama used to make came to mind. Fresh pears weren't always available back then and Mama used canned pears. I don't know if she made this up, but it is vintage Mama because it is fairly healthy and very pretty.

Mama's Pear Salad

Drain one can of pears and arrange pears on a plate
Put just a tiny dab of mayo in the center of each pear
Grate a small amount of Cheddar Cheese over the pears
Top each pear with a red cherry

Getting Together and Mixing it Up

Food and Football keep bringing people together. Actually a lot of things brought people together last week.

Tuesday night at the Cabin, music and politics brought people together. David Holt came to Lattimore to show support for his former student, Jim Proctor who is a candidate for NC House. David Holt is a teacher and musician and a lover of history. He demonstrated musical styles he had learned from all kinds of southerners including a 120ish year old black woman from Bamberg, SC named Susie Brunson. Susie taught David Holt how to play a washboard. With a block of wood stuck on one side and a tin cup on the other. He used something like thimbles on his fingers to strike the washboard ridges and then tapped the block of wood or the tin cup to make different rhythms and sounds. You could watch the audience and know that everybody saw a connection to the rhythms of rap. David Holt also played bones and guitar and Jim Proctor played a washtub bass, which really is a big tin washtub turned upside down with a string and a stick to simulate an upright bass. It was a fun and interesting night.

On Wednesday, tennis brought people together for a social match between 14 women from Hickory and 14 women from home. The home team lost the match, but it was still a good day. The weather was great fall tennis weather and it was fun to socialize outside over lunch.

Wednesday night we pulled off Sister's Birthday Surprise. This event felt alot like spontaneous combustion. It was amazing because what started out in our minds as a simple supper with Sister, within 24 hours, turned into a 12 person seated dinner with surprise guests Quinn and Mary Katherine. Bobby, 4/5s of the Mabry family, Jay and David IV managed to come from various directions to celebrate. Sister was so surprised and we were a little surprised ourselves that it all went so smoothly! But it worked out great, we all had fun and we were so glad to have the opportunity to be together.

Thursday night, Jay's friend Shelby arrived from Ann Arbor, Michigan to spend fall break with us. Jay started official basketball workouts Thursday night also so their schedule is packed but we have all enjoyed the time together.

Friday, Jay was at basketball practice so we took Shelby to meet David IV for dinner. The look on David IVs face was priceless when Shelby first wanted to know what pimiento cheese was and then asked about calabash chicken. It's interesting to realize that what seems so normal to us is so foreign to someone else.

Saturday we went to Spartanburg for the Wofford-Western Carolina Game. We decided not to take the grill this week so our tailgate was deli sandwiches, chips, kit kat bars and reese's cups! Thankfully others brought several kinds of chicken, bbq sandwiches, homemade potato soup and various other munchies.

Once again we were blessed with perfect fall football weather and we came away with a big win and a lot of exciting plays to rehash with everybody. We gathered as many players as we could and took a great group picture.

After the game, it was our turn to take the low country parents to a different world so we headed up to Lake Lure. It was dark when we got there Saturday night, but Sunday morning we wanted to take a boat ride around the lake. Walking down to the dock, Jamey wanted to know where the boat was. David explained it was INSIDE the boathouse. They weren't used to boat houses or to mountains surrounding the water. They almost lost their sea legs when they realized there are no tides to factor when docking the boat.

Sunday we got home in time to go with Shelby and Jay to Sushi Dojo for dinner. We had Bento Boxes and Teriyaki Chicken and shared our favorite appetizer called the Honeymoon. It's a tempura fried jalapeno half that is stuffed with crabmeat and cream cheese with a sweet spicy sauce. Jay wanted a Bulldog roll which is kind of like southern fried sushi. Mixing of cultures was the order of the week.

Chilean Miners and Chicken Pie

Wednesday October 13th was the day the whole world became one family. At least for a little while. 33 Chilean miners and their rescue team were brought one by one from 2,000 feet below ground back to the real world. They were shuttled to the earth's surface in a barely 13 foot tall, shoulder width capsule that was called the Phoenix - a name which David IV pointed out symbolizes rising from doom. Family, friends, co-workers, rescuers were there in person. Through television, the rest of the world was there too. Literally the rest of the world because there were news crews from everywhere including the US, Europe, Iran, Japan, Russia, North Korea. The Pope delivered Hope in Spanish, President Obama said the rescue had inspired the world. The Chilean President Sebastian Pinera personally welcomed every single person from the Phoenix with a hug and a smile.

Everywhere last week everyone shared in the joy of the rescue. Daddy talked about how it could change the world because anyone watching the rescue could see that with all the differences that people have we have alot of similarities too. And for that one day people were focusing on the similarities. It was on the faces of the families and friends while they waited for the Phoenix and the faces of everybody with each arrival. The human emotions were there - fear, grief, hope, joy, relief, gratitude, love. The faces told it all. And, as Daddy pointed out, it didn't change when you saw one rescue, because the next one was just as emotional.

I remember a conversation with Daddy years ago when he said he believed that everybody had something good to offer. Daddy really meant everybody - every human being on earth. Mama believes this too. We learned it as little children in a song in Sunbeams - red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.

Daddy grinned and said sometimes you have to look really hard to find the good, but if you look hard enough you can find it. It can be hard to see the good in all humans - in our own backyard or in other countries - but last week Chile made it easy.

As Jay posted on Facebook, it was 'a testament to teamwork, patience and faith'.

Teamwork, patience and faith. Viva Chile. Viva la difference.

So what does this have to do with chicken pie? For one thing chicken pie is one of the best comfort foods in the whole world. Mama found a recipe years ago called Chicken Pie to Die For. I remember the day she showed it to me and she kind of laughed and rolled her pretty brown eyes at the recipe's name. To Die For is a phrase that just wouldn't roll easily from Mama's tongue. I never did like the name, but the recipe really is great. It is easy, it is quick, it is delicious.

When the Chilean President hugged the returning miners, he said "Welcome to Life!"

So, in honor of the day the whole world was a family, and in gratitude to Mama and Daddy for teaching us about family and about life, from now on I will think of this recipe as Chicken Pie to LIVE For.

Chicken Pie to Live For

1/4 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Chopped Onion
3 Tbsp flour
2 Cups Chicken Broth
salt, black pepper and white pepper - we like it peppery
3 Cups bite size shreds or chunks of chicken
Pie Crust

Saute onion in butter until transparent. Sprinkle flour and whisk vigorously while gradually adding broth. Continue to whisk over lower heat for 5 minutes until the gravy thickens.

Add salt, peppers and chicken. Stir together and remove to let cool. If you want a top and bottom crust, layer pie crust into pie plate and add chicken mixture. If not, just top with a crust. Usually, we do just a top crust. Sometimes we make faces or other things to decorate the pie crust. Bake 25 minutes until browned. Makes 4 servings.

Notes: Sometimes I use leftover chicken but mostly I use the bone in chicken breasts that come packaged three to a pack. I don't measure because it usually works out to about 3 cups. Susan taught me to cook chicken all day in a crockpot when I am busy. Just put it in the crockpot to cook, then remove, discard bones and shred with two forks. If you didn't plan ahead early enough for the crockpot, just put it in a pot of boiling water for 20 minutes or so. Sis Davis always cooked chicken with celery and onion for flavor so I usually do this too. The broth is always better if it comes from bone in chicken. There's just something about the bones that make the broth tastier.

Enjoying the Moments - Blue Cheese Vidalia Onions

We are enjoying the moments.

It can be really hard to balance work, play, our boys schedules, our own schedules, other people's schedules and just daily schedules in general. If we aren't careful, we could just spin around here and there and react to whatever comes our way. But, we count our blessings that we have family, friends, and opportunities to balance.

Work and play converged for a 24 hour period in Raleigh last week. We attended a quick event downtown and then Jackie, David and I went to dinner where, for the first time ever, we tasted Lime Sorbet with Jalapenos. A very intriguing mix of sensations. We also previewed Will's athletic scarf prototype, attended to a variety of work details and visited Steve and Patty's homestead-in-progress at Deep River.

Wofford played Georgia Southern so we headed down to Beaufort, SC to congregate with a few other parents on the way to the game. Captain Jamey and Theresa were ready for the crew to arrive and had us moving all weekend in a laid back kind of way. They have a well designed home on the water surrounded by live oaks with spanish moss dangling from the tree limbs. I had that feeling of being in a foreign country again. I joked that we might have landed on Avatar's Pandora and I had an uncontrollable urge to hook up my hair to the spanish moss.

Then football pretty much took over. UNC-CH played Clemson in Chapel Hill, USC played Alabama in Columbia and Wofford played Georgia Southern in Statesboro. We had family and friends at all games and tried our best to keep up with it all.

It was a beautiful weekend for football everywhere, and Statesboro, Georgia was no exception. The game was amazing. Georgia Southern has a huge football tradition and this year both they and Wofford were 3-1. Georgia Southern has about 20,000 students while Wofford has about 1400. There were over 21,000 people in the stands and about 250 of us were Wofford fans. The excitement in the air was only matched by the fact that every single play on every single down was amazing. There was so much on the line for both teams. This was one of the best football games I have ever watched. The game became kind of a math problem when both teams missed extra points and then there was a safety and then a two point conversion that was missed and - well - you get the idea. Throughout the game I was trying to do the math to think whether we would go for first downs, or field goals or whatever.

Every single down was fun to watch. Both teams played their hearts out, made some mistakes, made some amazing plays, and when it was all said and done in the last minute Wofford won 33-31. It was a game for both teams and for everyone in the stands to remember.

On the ride home, I was reading game recaps on the Ipad. One Wofford defensive player had a quote that is still sticking in my mind. He was talking about the last few minutes when the defense really needed to contain Georgia Southern's offense for four full downs because if they got into field goal territory, Wofford would lose by one point. He said that everyone on defense was "just in the moment. We weren't thinking about which down it was. We were just going after the quarterback on every play."

I know how hard these college players work. And after you have worked and prepared and practiced, there comes a time when you just have to get in the moment and play. It's a great life lesson.

So this week, we worked and we played and we enjoyed the moments.

The trick is to keep it all in balance. This week brings more as we plan for a birthday dinner for Sister, an event at the cabin, several tennis matches, general work issues, another fun Wofford weekend and the official beginning of Jay's basketball season. Counting our blessings for every moment.

Blue Cheese Vidalia Onions

For Sister's birthday, I was struggling with a menu when Carol mentioned Blue Cheese Vidalia Onions. This is a recipe from the Fresh Market and Friends Cookbook. I love anything Fresh Market and everything that I have ever cooked from this cookbook is fairly easy and wonderful. I typically make this in the spring when Vidalia onions are coming in, but it is so good as a side dish with beef or pork and, besides, Sister loves blue cheese. It is ridiculously quick and easy and fairly inexpensive to make.

2 very large Vidalia Onions
6-8 oz blue cheese, crumbled (I buy it and crumble myself. You can also use Feta)
2 Tbsp butter, softened
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp dill weed (sometimes I have left this out)
freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Slice onions into 1/4-1/2" slices and place in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Combine blue cheese, butter, Worcestershire, dill weed and pepper. Spread over onions. Bake for 20 minutes or until brown and bubbly.

Chill in the Air - Cowboy Soup

October brought a little chill in the air. Having been to the fair and eaten my share of fair food, I was feeling some guilt about the scales and my arteries. The combination of the cool weather and a need to eat something wholesome and healthy led me to make Mama's Homemade Vegetable Soup (Cowboy Soup).

We have been on the go so much that I also wanted a day to regroup. There was a chance of rain in Monday's forecast so I planned to spend all day Monday regrouping at home and making vegetable soup. Actually this soup doesn't take all day. Once you cut up the vegetables and cook for 20 minutes, you just add the rest of the ingredients and it can simmer for a while.

Turns out it didn't rain, but I followed thru with the rest of my plan.

Back in the day, Nishie used to make soup for us at the old house in Lattimore. We didn't love the idea of vegetable soup back then, so Nishie called it Cowboy Soup. Nishie was such a good salesman. She made everything fun.

Miraculously Cowboy Soup was one of our favorite things from then on. I'm pretty sure Nishie didn't have a recipe, but used whatever was leftover from Sunday lunch. It was tomato based and had all kinds of vegetables and always okra.

Mama didn't have a recipe either, but she has made soup so many times that she and Daddy have written down a framework for how she does it. She tweaks it alot with different spices and alternative vegetables and occasionally with beef.

As always, cutting up the vegetables uniformly is a big deal. This is for two reasons - they cook more evenly and they meet Mama's pretty requirement.

This recipe makes a big pot of soup. This week, David and I had it for dinner, then Sister and Mrs. Sarazen and I had it for lunch, and then I put the rest in a quart mason jar to take to Chris for his birthday. I'm sure Daddy has figured out the cost per serving, but I don't have that info at my fingertips. No doubt it is a really inexpensive way to eat something wonderful and healthy.


Mama's Homemade Vegetable Soup (Cowboy Soup)

3 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 onions, peeled and chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
3 cans beef broth
2 Cans diced tomatoes
1 package of frozen corn (for Mom this means 1 pint ziplock bag of homegrown frozen corn but you can use grocery store corn if you don't have your own)

In large soup pot, put carrots, potatoes and onions and some water and 1 can of beef broth to cover. Cook for about 20 minutes.

Remove half of the vegetables and puree, then return to the pot. This makes the soup thicker. I don't do this step sometimes and just go with thinner soup. I like thin soup with cornbread!

Cook 1 package of frozen corn. This is a good time to use corn from years past if you have it. This time, I used 2006 corn and it was great.

Add the corn, rest of the beef broth and 2 Cans of diced tomatoes. Mom's recipe says 1 regular and 1 Italian style tomatoes.

Season with a few drops of Tabasco, oregano leaves, basil leaves, salt, pepper.

For alternatives, she also might add thyme leaves, frozen baby limas, frozen chopped okra. She always cooks her frozen vegetables first then adds to the soup pot. If she wants vegetable beef soup, she adds leftover roast beef or she might cook some stew beef especially for soup.

Simmer the soup and serve with Mama's Cornbread. Soup and Cornbread - all the elements.

Where did September go? - Hot Artichoke Dip

September blew by. The fall transition month barely gave me time to do the transitioning.

I keep hearing words of wisdom that my cousin's husband said last summer. He was talking about what to do when you don't really know what to do next when he said, "You know, you've just got to get out." Mama says it another way - "just put one foot in front of the other one".

So, during the last week of September we put one foot in front of the other and got out.

The official opening of the Cleveland County Fair is still exciting for me. The Fairgrounds look great with spruced up new paint, new sign, new landscaping, but the old feel of the fair is definitely still there. It's a real credit to everyone who has worked over 86 years in alot of different ways to keep the Fair going. There is a little rain in the forecast but most of the fair week forecast is for 0% chance of rain which is good news for everybody.

It seems like the past week was about getting out with all kinds of people in all kinds of ways. Probably the weather had alot to do with that because when it's not 100 degrees and humid it is more fun to be out and about. Sister and I had lunch one day and then I introduced her to the wonderful world of social networking. She enjoyed seeing pictures of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Libby and I took Mama to lunch and through the wonderful world of text messaging, David IV and Devin joined us at the last minute. Daddy wanted to take ham biscuits to a 7 am event so he and Mama and I met at the Roundup early Friday morning to cook and deliver hot biscuits. The Round Up Store Fiscal year ended on Sept 30th, so there was a little extra paperwork to be done in the office this week also.

Gardner-Webb held a Weekend Festival to honor my favorite writer, Ron Rash, and Southern Appalachian Culture in general. Mrs. Sarazen and Mrs. Archer are Ron Rash fans so on Friday night the three of us went to a Ron Rash Dinner which really was a Ron Rash Roast. It was a great time and hilarious to hear his brother and sister talk about growing up Rash. They are a brilliant and amazing family which his sister compared to the Munsters. Ron graduated from GWU and Clemson and is a professor at Western Carolina. He has published poetry, short stories and novels. His latest novel Serena is an international best seller and will be a movie one day. He continues to recieve literary awards and continues to write. Once he told me there were "always characters walking around in his head". His brother and sister showed him no mercy at the roast. His sister noted that she had taken her studies seriously, worked hard, followed all the rules, earned good grades and a degree in ceramic engineering. Her brother, she noted, had broken alot of the rules, floundered for a time as far as grades and now he had a festival named after him. Ron's brother wanted to know how many ways critics could describe Ron's work as bleak. He also wondered whether Ron actually wrote one piece since during the first two paragraphs no one close to a body of water had drowned.

After all the roasting and ribbing was done, Ron's brother took a moment to thank the communities of Gardner-Webb and Boiling Springs for being a good place to grow up - even for a Munster. And both brother and sister took a moment to let Ron know how proud they are of him. I think the entire community is proud.

Saturday morning we loaded up the grill to take to the Wofford-Furman game. This is a huge rivalry and last year Furman crushed Wofford. I can't remember the final score, but the Furman horse which comes out after each touchdown probably needed extra grooming after that workout.

Our tailgate plan was to take the grill and then anyone could bring hamburgers and hot dogs for their own crowd for after the game. The weather was perfect football weather and the tailgating area at Wofford is so convenient and so pretty with grass and shade trees. Wofford won 38-17 which made the already beautiful day even more beautiful. The grill was loaded with burgers and dogs with various grillmasters after the game. I made a hot artichoke dip that is loaded with fat and calories so of course everyone loves it. We munched on this and other goodies that folks had brought while the burgers and dogs were cooking. This was a great tailgate plan and a fun day.

We invited the low country parents back to our house after the tailgate and decided to wind up the night enjoying the Summer House. Theresa said she thought summer was over and she wanted to call it the Fall House.

Sunday we had bacon, coffee, and some great cinnamon rolls that Linda had brought before everybody headed in different directions. I met David and Jay for a quick lunch, then left for a tennis match. We were hosts to a traveling team and just as the match was to start, the rains came. We searched for dry courts in the area and ended up at Peachtree Racquet club to get the match played. We were playing the number one team in our divison. Our team is hanging on to last place. This tennis season has been - let me say umm - a season of growth and development. We wanted to play up to challenge ourselves and we really got what we wanted! But, I am happy to say, you really do learn alot by losing. We are improving our games and we put it in perspective with our motto - After all we're not pros. We're just a bunch of middle aged women playing mediocre tennis.

The most important thing is that we put one foot in front of the other and got out.

Hot Artichoke Dip

This recipe has been around forever. It is easy and quick and everyone loves it. It stays hot for a long time and is even good when it cools down. The calorie count is awful, but it is a crowd pleaser. You can also add jalapenos, onions or other things to it, but I think it is good the simple way.

1 Can of Artichoke Hearts, with juice
Put these into a baking dish and then cut them up into bite sized pieces
1 Cup of Mayo - I am a Hellman's girl
1 Cup of Parmesan Cheese - I use real grated cheese sometimes and sometimes a mixture of that with the ground type.

Bake this at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Serve with crackers. I think it's best with crackers that aren't too buttery.

Cleveland County Fair

This week will bring the opening of the 86th Cleveland County Fair. In 1924, the Shelby Kiwanis Club under the leadership of O. Max Gardner and Dr. J. S. Dorton faciliated merging several local fairs together to open the first Cleveland County Fair. Many families including mine and David's were early supporters of the new merged fair. I can remember my grandmother, Alma Hunt, still going to the fair well into her 90's. She loved to go to the exhibit hall to see how all the school booths were decorated and she loved to see the animals.

Over these 86 years, there's no telling how many memories have been made. From entering livestock, vegetables and other competitions to seeing wild shows to riding crazy rides to eating fair food, there are probably as many fair memories as there are people who say meet me at the waterwheel.

Libby reminded me that this picture of my sisters and I was taken when we were practicing for a hula hoop contest at the 1958 Cleveland County Fair. They teased me because I was only 2 years old but wanted to enter with my sisters. All of my sisters won in one category or another and I won the youngest person to enter category. I'm pretty sure we can all still hula hoop.

Mama Crowder and Granddaddy worked at the fair in concession stands with Uncle Ab and Aunt Mittie Spangler and later with Ed Wilson. I can still see Ed Wilson sitting in a little booth in the front of the concession stand. Mama Crowder would be making biscuits for the ham right there in the back of the stand while Granddaddy and others took food orders. Those were the best ham biscuits. Libby remembers working in the concession stand and how cold it was to pull the bottled drinks out of the icy cooler. They never would let me work back there. In those days the midway was not paved and when you came home from the fair, blowing your nose was a memorable experience.

In junior high school, my friend Lynn and I made plans to go to the fair. We walked home from school and stopped by the Handy Pantry for a Slurpee before fair time. As soon as we got to the midway I wanted to ride the Spyder. Lynn said she didn't think she could ride it without getting sick, but I talked her into it. Let's just say that I never did care about having another Slurpee from the Handy Pantry after that ride. Lynn and I remember a lot of details and we still laugh about this even after all of these years.

I loved to see the animals and ride the rides, but one of my favorite things was the fun house - especially when it had one of those revolving circles on the way out. The Haunted House never was my thing.

Going to the fair remained a tradition with our boys. When they were in elementary school, we had a couple of volunteer pumpkins growing in our yard. I'm pretty sure this was due to the Halloween jack-o-lantern from the year before being kicked off the porch, but regardless of how it got there, we had several large pumpkins. The boys entered the pumpkins into the fair and we still have their light blue participation ribbon. For years, Daddy entered cows into the fair and last year when David IV helped out with canning green beans, Daddy suggested that David enter his canned beans into the fair. These beans didn't win, but it is always fun to visit your entries in the exhibit halls.

Fair food is a wonder. The smells and the sounds and the craziness of the midway send me in a beeline to French Fries with vinegar. And we all love to go to Deanna's because we have watched this cute family of six grow up. Each year it seems one of the children is in a new booth with something like ice cream or lemonade to add to their original booth with ribs on a stick and gyros.

So this Thursday the 86th Cleveland County Fair will open and we are praying for good fair weather. See ya at the waterwheel!

Sunday Morning - Shrimp and Grits

Sunday morning after the big family wedding was a good time to rest and reflect on the weekend.

After most any event, we have what Daddy calls a debriefing. This is a term from his service in the army during WWII and the Korean War. Daddy was stationed as a dental surgeon at Ft. Bragg and wound up with the rank of Major. I mentioned this to the boys the other day and someone suggested they call him The Honorable Major Doctor Hunt. I think they will just stick with Grandpa.

So we took this past Sunday morning easy, having coffee, reading the newspaper, then reading all the other news online and debriefing about the weekend events. In a Hunt party debriefing we discuss what worked and what we might want to change for next time. We have all learned a lot about hosting a party from this process over the years.

One benefit after a party is that the yard, decorations and flowers still make the house feel festive. It was relaxing to look through the window and watch the rain falling on the grass. After the drought and heat we have had, I could almost hear the grass giggling in the rain. I checked the roses that Libby arranged for the dining room and they have opened more and will still be pretty for a while.

On the morning after a big event, we will most likely want to ease into a late breakfast or early lunch. So, after the Friday night rehearsal party, I had saved a little of the shrimp knowing that Sunday morning I could make a quick and easy Shrimp and Grits. I have several recipes for Shrimp and Grits and it is good alot of different ways, but on a rainy Sunday morning after a big weekend, I love to do it the easy way.

While David and the boys caught up on ESPN news, it only took about 20 minutes to get this meal ready. I start with making grits according to the package but I do add a little bit of garlic powder. In another pan, I fix the shrimp mixture and then I have a plate of grated cheese. When it is all done, I let everybody make their own plate layering grits, shrimp mixture and cheese. Sometimes we put a little bacon, country ham or sausage into the shrimp mixture and sometimes we have it on the side so everyone can fix it just like they want it. It can work with most any kind of grits and most any kind of cheese. So make it easy on yourself and use whatever you have on hand.

Easy Shrimp and Grits

Grits:

Cook Grits according to package.
For the four of us, I use 4 cups of water to one cup of grits. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Shrimp Sauce:

In a saucepan, put a little olive oil. Add garlic powder and leftover cooked shrimp, tails removed. (you can do this with uncooked shrimp if you aren't using leftovers)
Sprinkle a little red cayenne pepper over the shrimp. This always make me think of the funny scene in Mrs. Doubtfire when Robin Williams pours on the red pepper and says "Hot Jambalaya!" I try not to use a lethal amount of red pepper.

Add the following and since everything is already cooked just stir till heated:
1 can of Rotel (the wonder ingredient)
1 can of Petite Diced Tomatoes
Add a little chicken broth

If you have bacon, sausage or country ham, you can add this in now. On this Sunday morning, I fried a little sausage and let everyone crumble it on their own if they wanted it.

Cheese:

Grate cheese. On Sunday morning, I used two kinds of cheddar, but use whatever you have and it will be good.

Big Family Wedding Weekend

Wofford had a bye this weekend and it was a good thing, because we had a big Hunt family wedding. Actually it was a McKee-Martin Wedding between Phase II Hunt grandchild Jim Martin and his sweet bride, Kacie McKee.

The Hunt grandchildren were born in two distinct phases with about ten years age difference between them. Judy, Penny and Libby are mothers of the Phase I grandchildren - Hunter, Paul, Annie, Jackie, Elizabeth and Will. Cindy and I are mothers of Phase II - Jackson, John, Jim, David and Jay.

All of the cousins are close, but Phase II are sometimes more like brothers than cousins. This is partially because they are all so close in age, partially because Cindy and I run together as Nishie would say. We were college roommates at UNC-CH. We play tennis together fairly regularly and spend alot of time with our families at Lake Lure. We have taken road trips to the West Coast and up and down the East Coast and once we spent New Years Eve in Central Park. In the 70's. Before the Mayor cleaned up Gotham City. Cindy and I have always been a little on the wild and crazy, tomboy, mischievious side. Daddy likes to say that everything was going along fine until the blue-eyed girls were born. That would be Cindy and me.

So, Phase II grandchildren have spent alot of time together. Jim was born exactly 12 days before David IV and this was the weekend to celebrate Jim's wedding.

The rehearsal dinner was to be held at our house and while we have done a lot of entertaining over the years, a rehearsal dinner was a new challenge. You can imagine our joy when the weather report was 0% chance of rain. We wanted to seat everyone together outside so we gathered tables, chairs and tablecloths from here and there and thought about the decor. Cindy wanted to include tractors and cotton into the festivities to honor Jim's personality. Annette mentioned using burlap over white tablecloths which sounded like a winner so things started to come together. Libby came over to make a pretty arrangement of roses on the dining room table and then help devise a plan for the tables outside. Libby is a magician at these things. I loved the way it came together.

The bride and groom requested David's Grilled Tenderloin (pork and beef) and a Salad with Carol's French dressing. Naturally, no Hunt party menu is complete without Ruby's Ham biscuits, Jack's pimiento cheese sandwiches and Jack's Cream Cheese and Olives. We added a Shrimp Cocktail, a fruit salad, and a spicy horseradish sauce for the meat. Libby made her special Chocolate Marshmallow brownies and also Wedding Cookies.

Before the meal, I asked the minister, whom I had just met, to ask a blessing. When introducing him, I suddenly couldn't remember his name. He helped by joking, "Its Billy. Billy Graham." For the rest of the weekend, Minister Andy and wife Kim were Billy and Ruth.

Sweet toasts were made to the bride and groom and we were so happy that we were able to seat everyone together outside under a harvest moon.

The wedding was held at the Hunt Cabin on my parents farm in Lattimore and it was a beautiful evening. Tents, white chairs, fall flowers and little white lights helped illuminate the already fantastic setting. Just as the outdoor ceremony was to begin, a sprinkle of rain also began. The ceremony went on and minister Billy Graham quoted an unlikely source Wet Willie. He talked about knowing Jim and Kacie when they were small children and how they both had such sweet smiles. He told them and the wedding guests as the misty rain fell that no matter what happens in life, we should do like Wet Willie said and keep on smiling.

The sprinkles of rain stopped and a pretty sunbeam started shining on the wedding party as the unity ceremony continued. Jim's brothers, Jackson and John, peeled off from the groomsmen. Jackson went to the piano and John picked up his guitar. They nailed Keith Urban's "Only You Can Love Me This Way". Tears and not rain were streaming down a lot of our faces about this time.

Kacie's grandfather, Harry is a BBQ expert and provided BBQ with all the trimmings for the guests. Music played and everyone celebrated with Jim and Kacie. About that time, Miles and Jay appeared with 2 Clydesdales pulling a pretty white carriage to take the happy couple away. I thought it was sweet that Jim had planned this part as a surprise for Kacie. I couldn't see them as they rode away, but no doubt they kept on smiling.

September 19, 1988

September 19, 1988 was a game changer. I have read that for some of us it's hard to know the love of a parent until we become a parent ourselves.

I did not realize how true this was for me until September 19, 1988 when at 11:30 pm the doctor said "It's a boy!" Groggy with anesthesia I looked up at David III and said, "I think it must be David." He nodded and said "Yes, I think so". We hadn't really made a decision about a boy name until then, but as soon as he was born, David was who he was. He has been who he is ever since.

Parenting comes with joy, hopes, dreams, sometimes fear, sometimes pure terror, but with a love that is hard to describe.

Like most parents, there are many proud parent stories I could tell about both our boys, but will limit myself to just a little bit about David on the anniversary of his birthday.

David is a a very logical person with an engineering mind. He has a great sense of humor, but generally sees things as they are and cuts to the chase.

One morning, when he was sixteen and just had his driver's license, he came downstairs and told me about a dream. In the dream he was driving and tried to put on the brakes but his car wouldn't stop. He said the dream went on and on and he kept trying to apply the brakes. It was scary until finally the car stopped.

Perhaps a little over analytical, as I can sometimes be, I suggested that maybe this meant his life was moving too fast with turning sixteen and being able to drive and all and that maybe he just needed to slow down a little bit. He looked at me and said "Really? I thought it meant my brakes were bad!"

Maybe it meant my life was moving too fast.

When David was at Shelby High School he played football, wrestled and ran track. In his senior year, he was running hurdles in a state qualifier. He was close to taking first place when he hit the hurdle and he turned a complete flip in the air and landed on the track. In one fluid motion he rolled, got up, kept running and still placed third overall. The fans cheered his effort with a standing ovation. He did qualify for states and went on to place third in North Carolina in 2A 300 meter hurdles. We were proud of his record but more proud that he did not give up.

This weekend we celebrated David's 22nd birthday at a home Wofford Football game. The weather was beautiful and Wofford won 48-10 over Union, Ky. David was cleared to play after his recent health issue and we knew how much dressing out for the game meant to him. We were happy for him but really thankful that throughout the game he was running up and down the field in 100% healthy condition.

We had a big, fun tailgate with everyone adding something to the menu. At one time there were at least four dads cooking different things on the grill. Players, friends and families celebrated the big win and the big variety of tailgating food. When the cooking and eating slowed down, I looked around and thought it was sweet that the players had migrated into small groups to spend a little time with their own parents and families.

Later on, we packed up and took leftovers to David and roommates, Martin, Nate and Mike. Senior Housing at Wofford is like living in a really nice apartment complex in a beautiful setting. David loves it because he can walk out of the door in any direction and be close to so many friends he has made over the last three years. Some of those friends started coming in to celebrate David's birthday. Jay arrived from GWU and we were happy that these two brothers enjoy being together. Then some more friends poured in.

We stayed a little while longer and then headed home knowing the love of a parent.

Fall Garden Shape Up - Fried Green Tomatoes

It's been so hot and dry up till now that after I picked a few things and watered a few things I was wilted myself. This week, the temperature cooled down enough to give me the urge to work outside. With September being a transition month, it was time to pick some things, deadhead other things, pull out a few things and plant some new things. So, I had a sweet helper for a couple of days and we went out to Lattimore to pick the last of the crowder peas. We froze eight more pint bags so I have 16 pints in my freezor. Daddy and I laughed because it made us think of the Little Red Hen in the children's story Mama used to read to us. The moral of the story (Mama's stories almost always had a moral) was to have a good work ethic. Mama could be pretty animated when she read stories to us. She remembered a line from Little Red Hen at lunch the other day and recited it with enthusiasm and a head's up attitude and sounded just like when she read it to us. "And so I did!"

Back in my own yard, we pulled out the cucumber plants and my one little squash plant and generally weeded everywhere. I got out the pruning clippers and cut a lot of dead wood from the azaleas. Our house was owned for many years by Dr. and Mrs. Lampley. Carol says that in Shelby, your house isn't known as your house until you move out of it. So even though we have lived here for nearly 15 years, sometimes people still call it the Lampley's house. In the 1960's, Dr. Lampley propagated his own azaleas and camellias and we are lucky to have quite a few still in the yard.

We pruned alot of other vines and bushes and kept on weeding and it is amazing how fast you can fill up a wheelbarrow with stuff that needs to be cleared away. Then I went to Lowe's to buy a few bags of pine bark mulch. As the saying around here goes, "one trip to Lowes is two more trips to Lowes". So true. I bought a few bags of mulch and while I was there they had some very fallish mums in yellow and burgundy so I picked up a couple for my front porch. When I got home, I moved the geraniums to the back yard and put the mums on the porch. We spread the mulch and decided we needed more, so back to Lowes where I bought a few more bags of mulch and a couple of other fallish plants. So we planted those and I keep thinking of a few other perennials that were at Lowes. We still have mulch to spread. Mulch is amazing because it instantly makes everything look so much neater. As Dr. Gebel at Shagreen Nursery told me, "Mulch can cover up a ton of errors".

Arugula started springing back up from seeds I planted last spring and some pretty zinnias came back too. I could hear Mama Crowder calling these volunteers and I always liked that. Volunteers should be appreciated so we mulched around them and they look really pretty.

The tomato plants had pretty much quit in the heat of the summer, but little yellow flowers are sprouting again, so I can't bear to take them out yet. I am still getting tons of cherry tomatoes but fewer romas and better boys now. What few better boys are growing are smallish and ripen slowly so they are perfect for fried green tomatoes. Green tomatoes are sliced and fried alot like squash. You don't put them in ice water and I like them sliced a little thicker than squash, but from there on you fry them just like you would squash. They have a tangier taste to them than squash and are a good appetizer with a horseradish sauce or on a BLT. (Fried Squash recipe on July 7, 2010 blog)

Fried Green Tomatoes is also a great movie and I listen to the soundtrack a lot. All of the songs put you straight into a southern, nostalgic mood with Cool Down Yonder and I'll Remember you and What Becomes of the Broken Hearted. They do two versions of Cherish and Patti LaBelle does a really sultry version of a song called Barbeque Bess that I played the other night when we had BBQ in the Big Cooker. The songs emotions swing from nostalgia to sultry to gospel with one called If I Can Help Somebody and then the very soulful A Charge to Keep I Have. It's a great soundtrack. I may need to fry some green tomatoes.

Cotton, Crepe Myrtles and the Creek House

September in the south is always fun. It's a transition month when summer is winding down and fall is winding up. Crepe Myrtles are showing their colors and it's the first time I have really taken notice of how many different colors there are. Mama told me her favorite Crepe Myrtle color is watermelon. She described the color to me as "the one that looks most like the inside of a watermelon when it is ready to eat". Dad helped by saying "go look at the ones in the Wendy's parking lot". He does love Wendy's. There are two schools of thought about how to prune crepe myrtles. Some prune from the ground high up the branch showing more branch than flowers while others leave a lot more of the flowers and greenery from the ground up. Daddy told me that Phil calls the first way crepe murder.

While the crepe myrtles blaze with color, cotton is starting to show little white dots sprinkled in green fields all over the county. It almost looks like snow out there and kind of reminds me of the Wizard of Oz.

Daddy was talking the other day about how cotton was king in Cleveland County from the turn of the century until the 1950's. It was planted in the spring, hoed by hand and plowed with mules to keep the weeds out. After the weeds are cleared away they wait until fall to pick the cotton. Daddy said this was referred to as laying it by.

For some reason, Cleveland County always had alot of acres in cotton and competed with bigger Eastern NC farm counties for the most acres of cotton in North Carolina. There was a local cotton competition in Cleveland County too. The competition was to be the first farmer to get a bale of cotton to the Cleveland County Courtsquare in the fall. That bale would be auctioned off and then left on the courtsquare as kind of an advertisment for the buyer and bragging rights for the farmer. Cleveland County cotton farms started dying out in the 1950s, but in the last few years there are cotton fields popping up again. Cotton is really a beautiful and unusual plant to see and to touch.

September weekends are full of fun following the Wofford football team. Last weekend, the game was at Charleston Southern University which is a very hot place on a Saturday afternoon. People were literally falling out from the heat and searching for shade to cool off. Wofford won the game which was a cause for celebration. As if the Wofford crowd really needs a cause.

Since we live several hours away from the low country, Dale and Linda invited us to their creekhouse on John's Island. Being from the foothills of North Carolina, my mental image of a creekhouse would be a small house by a rocky stream. I have spent a fair amount of time in the Charleston area over the years, but I haven't spent alot of it staying on a creek. Dale and Linda's creekhouse is beautiful and spacious with an inviting low country style entrance and two porches to catch the southern breeze. There are windows everywhere so you can see spectacular views of the creek all around the house. The marsh is really beautiful and made me think of the movie Prince of Tides. The marsh view is constantly changing with the tides and we all thought the high tides are especially pretty. I was amazed at how fast the water moved in and out of the creek.

As the weekend went on, I kept having the feeling that I was in a foreign country. Part of the reason was the difference in the landscape with tides and marshes, and the difference in the critters. It is strange to walk across the yard ducking under the pretty spanish moss and trying to avoid stepping on tiny crabs. I saw a porpoise swimming in the creek early one morning. Trust me when I say I don't see a porpoise swim by the house in a creek very often.

There were other things that seemed kind of foreign to me. Dale and Linda grew up in this area and Jamey and Teresa live in Beaufort, SC. It's hard to believe we only live a 4 hour drive away and have such different surroundings. Jamey loves boats and fishes competitively with SKA - the Southern Kingfish Association. I knew I was in uncharted waters when I asked if he used the big cooler on the porch to keep the fish in. He explained that they use bigger coolers than that one for the bait. The fish they catch are like 6 feet long. Jamey said that once while deep sea fishing he saw a whale. Actually he said he just saw the whale's tail, but that it was wider than his fishing boat. I can't imagine being in a boat and seeing a fish that big. He also told stories about how smart and playful porpoises are far out in the ocean. Then Teresa started talking about being a little girl and falling into the Pluff Mud. I had no idea what that was until Dale told me. When I got home, I googled pluff mud and learned that rice plantations had sprung up in the low country because the pluff mud is especially fertile and the marshes are perfect for growing rice.

Some things may have seemed exotic in the creek, but there is one thing for certain. We all laugh in the same language. We laugh so much with this group that sometimes my face hurts.

Cotton, crepe myrtles, creek houses. I love September.

Crowder Peas

Crowder peas with the juice soaking on hot homemade cornbread is just about the best thing you can ever eat. Seriously, it is satisfying and is pretty good for you. Peas are a lean protein and you don't really need meat because they are very filling. You can have a complete meal with just crowder peas, cornbread and slaw. For color and a kick, I add a little rotel or homemade salsa. If you have crowder peas in the freezor, you can put this meal together in an easy 25 minutes.

When I was a little girl, I thought Mama Crowder and Granddaddy invented Crowder Peas. Crowder peas are in the same family as black-eyed peas but are alot bigger, don't have a big black eye and I think they taste better. They usually have one side that is kind of flat because there are so many peas in one pod. I have read that that is really how they got the name crowder - because they are crowded into the pea pod. I still always think of Mama Crowder and Granddaddy and so crowder peas feel like part of the family.

Mama and Daddy like to plant Hercules Crowder peas, but for some reason the seeds for these have become scarce. This year they planted Colossus Crowder peas which are as close to Hercules as they could find. They planted peas twice this year so they had a big crop early in the summer and have another crop coming in now. They planted this second crop about the same time we froze corn in early July. Mama and Daddy have frozen all they want so Wednesday morning I got a call from Dad that if I wanted to freeze some peas, he had a bucket for me. I have been a helper at their house in years past, but have never frozen peas at my house. I liked the idea of having my own peas in my own freezor. So I met Mom and Dad at Wendy's in Shelby for lunch and to pickup the peas. Daddy loves to eat lunch at Wendy's. Mom wasn't so keen on it at first, but she likes it now too. They always want to sit at a table on the sunny window side and they like to visit with the other lunchtime regulars. Daddy especially loves to calculate how they can eat a satisfying lunch for about $2.50. Together. From the dollar menu with senior drink. Daddy can make a game out of just about anything.

So, we met at Wendy's and as I was leaving with my huge bucket of crowder peas, I realized I wasn't really sure what to do with them. They must have realized this too because on my way home, Daddy called my cell and said he and Mom could come by to help shell if I wanted them to. Thank heavens. Shelling can be tedious work, but I was more concerned about not really knowing how to freeze peas to Hunt specification. As my friend Gardner pointed out, we don't really hold peas to the same royalty as corn, but we probably should because they are alot better for us.

Mom and Dad arrived at my house and we spread newspaper out on the kitchen counter and dumped the peas onto the paper. We each had a bowl to put the shelled peas into and we each had a place to put our empty shells. Mom and Dad look the peas while they are shelling so they don't put bad ones into their bowls. Daddy says that Mama doesn't like any little ugly ones. These were beautiful peas, but did have a couple of worms. Daddy tried to tease Mama that he always put a worm or two in for seasoning, but Mama didn't bite. When the shelling was done, we all three had a pretty good bowl full of pretty peas, but of course Daddy pointed out he had the most. He looked the peas again before I was to wash them two times. I was instructed to put two big pots of water on to boil and to fill up both sides of my sink with cold water. While the pots were coming to a boil, I put the peas in one side of the sink and looked 'em one more time to make sure they are all pretty peas.

At this point, Mama and Daddy needed to leave, so here are the instructions I was given. Daddy said, "Just put them in the boiling water to blanche like corn. Not sure how long, but they turn a color that we like - kinda grey. You can tell. Cool them in one side of the sink to knock the real hot off, then cool in the other side with ice. They chill pretty fast. Not a big deal. Then bag and freeze. Looks like you might have about 8 pint packs when you're done."

I'm trying not to panic as they walk toward the door, when Mama says, "it's better if you don't try to put too many in each bag." And Daddy says, "do you have a strainer? That works pretty good." The door closed behind them.

So, there were what looked like thousands of peas in my sink and I needed to get them to the stove where the water was boiling. Good thing Dad mentioned the strainer, because it would take forever to corral all those peas any other way.

Checking for the grey color was interesting. I am familiar with how they are supposed to look, but had no idea how long it took. I can't say exactly how long it is because I forgot to check the time that I put them in until they had blanched for a while, but it is definitely longer than 20 minutes.

When the magic grey color is reached, pour the peas into a colander and then into the cold sink water. Transfer them to the other side of the sink with the ice water. You can do this with your hands at first and then you will definitely want the strainer. They do chill really fast so this is a quick process.

Use a slotted spoon to put into the bags and, no surprise, Mama was right. Don't put too many in there or it is hard to close the bag without mashing the peas.

I wasn't surprised when the yield was exactly eight pint bags. Just like Daddy said.

So, crowder peas are in the freezor and one day this winter it will be so easy to drop the peas into some boiling water with salt and wesson oil for seasoning. Crowder Peas, slaw and a cake of cornbread are food for the soul.

Fall Sports and all that goes with it

Cooking and Gardening have taken a back seat to Sports. Sports seasons never really start and stop at our house, but fall means tennis and football swing in to high gear.

I was the only one in the house who let my sport go for the summer, but playing tennis in 100+ heat and humidity just ain't my thing anymore. Fall tennis season is now underway with USTA league tennis and several local events and I am trying to get back into tennis shape - mentally and physically. My sister, Cindy, and I defended our Cleveland County 3.5 doubles title last weekend and managed to hold on to it. I might say Cindy managed to hold on to it. During parts of the matches, I had the feeling that I was standing on the court holding a racquet while Cindy was running around making the shots. Cindy doesn't mind playing in the heat and she has kept up play all summer. Her mixed doubles team heads to state championships in a few weeks. This fall, we are playing with 6 women on a 7.5 women's doubles team. Our first match was in Boone NC which is nearly two hours away. We lost the match, but stopped at a great Thai restaurant on the way home which made us all feel better. No way to get away from food, even in a sports blog! Our new tennis team is going to struggle, but we will improve over the season and we have alot of fun together.

David III is just getting back into golf after a couple of years and played several times over the summer here and there. The local course he typically plays has been under greens renovation so that gave him a reason to strike out and play a few other courses when he could find the time.

David IV and Jay worked out all summer to stay in shape before heading back to college where the pace steps up dramatically in Division I athletics. Jay is settling in at Gardner-Webb with classes starting and with pre-season basketball workouts. Pre-season workouts include running certain distances in certain times, working out with weights, shooting practice and playing pick up games. Basketball season will get underway in November.

So, right now it's Football season. We follow high school, college, and pro football, but our hearts are with David IV and the Wofford Terriers. After a long, hard, and very hot pre-season camp in August, the Wofford Football season began Labor Day weekend playing Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.

David IV had enjoyed a great pre-season camp and was looking forward to his senior year of college football. Unfortunately, in the last few days of camp he developed an infection which had to be surgically removed - called I and D in medical speak. He also took high powered antibiotics. Fortunately, he is doing well and we are once again grateful for the doctors who helped guide us through a very scary time. Staff infections are common in contact sports, but have become more troublesome because some strains are very strong, dangerous and resistant to antibiotics. This is also true in the general population so learning the facts and taking precautions is a good idea for all of us. Good hand washing sounds so simple, but is the number one thing that helps. Most of us don't wash our hands long enough, so the suggestion is to wash with warm soapy water while singing three verses of Happy Birthday to You or Row Row Row your Boat! I'm trying my best not to go germ crazy, so if you see me singing while washing my hands you'll understand. Enough about germs. Just remember that your skin is your first line of defense so take good care of it.

There are alot of fun things about Wofford Football - 1) we love football in general and the whole chess match strategy that comes with it 2) we love going to places we would never have a reason to visit (like Athens, Ohio) 3) we love being with David and all of the players, parents and fans we have met through football.

Since David was on the injured list, he rode with us to Ohio for the first game. I guess this was bittersweet for him, but for me it was fun. Usually we don't see him until after a game on a game weekend, so we enjoyed having extra time with him. He had his ipod and did a great job of picking out songs to match the mood of the drive. Driving through the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia, we heard Hootie and the Blowfish, Jason Aldean, the Eagles, Eric Clapton, and alot of other familiar and unfamiliar music. Picking out music to match the moment was hilarious at one point when David III needed to make a hairpin U-Turn that required perfect timing. We cracked up when David said, "Dad you can do it" and then his ipod started blaring Bad to the Bone!

Athens, Ohio is a pretty college town that reminded me of a cross between Chapel Hill and Boone. It is all about the old university there and has a hilly downtown area full of interesting shops, bars and restaurants. We found a neat restaurant downtown called Casa Nueva that featured mexican style food but with all locally grown ingredients. They were a part of the slow foods/local foods movement and the menu listed about 50 farms from the area where the restaurant bought all the vegetables and meats for their dishes. They made homemade tortillas and chips which were wonderful. They had eight or ten different salsas and the best pico de gallo ever. They also had several kinds of beer from Ohio micro breweries.

The weather was perfect for football and before the game we met up with a fun crowd of Wofford parents and fans for a tailgate. Teresa and Jamey brought their rocking RV up from Beaufort, SC and they were the homebase for the tailgate. When, we arrived, they already had a nice spread of food and were shagging to Carolina beach music. It was great to be together again after not seeing this crowd since last fall.

The game was fun and Wofford played pretty well. A few less turnovers could have meant the difference in the game, but Wofford made a decent showing for a non-conference game against a much larger school.

So, football season 2010 is underway and every weekend through November, we know where we will be and what we will be doing. Go Terriers!