photo of the day - may 2

You know you are in the south when you can choose your toy rifle OR hand gun in pink.

splendid

southern culture trivia quiz

Check out the southern culture trivia quiz over at Maud Newton's blog. I got more right than wrong, but am still disappointed that I didn't score higher. Let me know how you fare.

in memory

Jimmy P. Clifford
September 8, 1938 - March 8, 2008

We buried my Daddy on Tuesday. It still doesn't seem real. Saturday night I received a phone call from my brother that I'll not soon forget. It was a shock to all of us. Twelve hours later I was at the airport, on my way to Tennessee.

We've done this drill enough times that I planned the funeral on the plane and had a list of pastors, pallbearers, and songs by the time I was on southern soil. Folks in our hometown were super gracious, providing us with places to stay, childcare, and plenty of fried chicken and sweet tea.

While it was sad, and I still feel like I've been punched in the stomach, there were some funny and some surreal moments. Maybe I'll write about some of them in detail in the days to come. But, oh, the stories I could tell.

Like the lady who apologized for missing the funeral due to a monthly dog grooming appointment. And the dog wears little girl baby clothes. But he is a boy dog.

Or the close-talking man who I don't really know who asked to be a pall bearer not long before the service. I had to delicately turn down his request - because he had asked one of my brothers, who told him to talk to me because I was making those decisions. Yeah, thanks.

Or the cousin who had his camera at the cemetery and wanted family pictures.

Can't really top the preacher who mentioned (and not just in passing) my parent's separation in the course of the eulogy, though. Coulda gone all day with airing that, I think. Maybe I'll send him a therapy bill, cuz that's just bringing up too much old baggage.

We're 0 for 2 in the parent department now.

what's up

- just back from a belated birthday beach trip. yeah, i milked this one for all it was worth. squeezed two more birthday celebrations out of the big 4-0.
- got to catch up with my birmingham buddies.
- played a lot of boggle.
- ate a lot of firecracker shrimp (this involves the best remoulade sauce in the world).
- slept a lot.
- sat on the beach a lot.
- watched the sun set and the moon rise.
- had some great conversations.
- did a lot of nothing.
- read Bless Your Heart, Tramp. and random magazines. deep, deep reading, in case you can't tell.
- did read a bit of Breath for the Bones, by Luci Shaw, so all was not mindless.
- enjoying the new foo fighters album - echos, silence, patience & grace. isn't that a great title?
- found the perfect music for the treadmill - florida state's marching band doing the best of college football fight songs.
- drove up to the mountains today so i could catch the aspens in all of their fall glory.
- just spruced up my porch with a pumpkin/mum display to officially welcome fall.
- trying to plan my week now so that i can ease back into work and maybe even a daily routine that doesn't feel like chaos.
- have a huge need for great amounts of creative energy to come bursting forth in the next week or so.

kindred spirits

That's my girl! My niece shares my love of music and I recently turned her on to the iPod....Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band doing Old Dan Tucker. Peter, Paul, and Mary's Go Tell it on the Mountain, and Eva Cassidy's Over the Rainbow.

mrs. beasley rides again

Remember Mrs. Beasley? She was one of my favorite childhood toys. Early in her life, she talked. Then I barfed on her, and when you pulled her cord, she spoke in tongues. Then she quit that, and all you get now is a whirring noise when you pull the cord.

Where the hell did Mrs. Beasley surface from, you ask? I'm just back from a 10-day road trip to Tennessee for the express purpose of retrieving some family heirlooms that were in storage. My mom's china and silver, a couple of globes for my vintage globe collection, a rocking chair, a side table, and some other random things had been stored at a friend's house since my dad moved to Nashville last year.

Besides the china and silver, the other item I am most proud to have is the clock that my grandfather purchased in 1927 and hung in my grandmother's one-room schoolhouse. It hung in her classroom for most of the 47 years that she taught school. I'll post a picture once I get it on the wall here.

Back to Mrs. Beasley...she was among the boxes of stuff I sorted through and brought back with me. You should also know that she was baptized on July 4th by my niece. I know many of you will have a problem with the fact that a) she was baptized by a female; b) that same female is only two years old; c) she was not fully immersed.

Mrs. Beasley thoroughly enjoyed her road trip to Denver, and looked out the window the entire trip. Not sure how long she will be around, but she deserves a photo shoot. And she's currently contemplating a retirement option in Richmond, where she could live with her childhood friend, Cookie Maness.

one helluva hog

Check out this ginormous hog killed earlier this month by a sixth grader in Alabama. With a pistol.

serenity now

all fun things must come to an end. tomorrow i go back to work. had a glorious time away from the funhouse. sat on the beach for 8 straight days. read a ton. laughed a lot. enjoyed the company of good friends. ate boatloads of shrimp. caught up on my sleep. detoxed from sugar-free red bull. totally de-stressed.

would that i could prolong this serene state.

ahh.....

corn on the cob

Somehow I have managed to wrangle 8 days away from the funhouse, and have therefore gone away to rest my weary brain and body. The Gulf Coast is always a no-fail elixir for what ails me.

Tonight I picked up shrimp for dinner at a local hole-in-the-wall that advertised the Mother's Day Special as "All You Can Eat Corn-on-the-Cob for $4.95." Only in The South.

vacation planning

Compiling my booklist for my upcoming holiday:

What is the What, Dave Eggers
Easter Everywhere: A Memoir Darcy Steinke
Through a Screen Darkly, Jeffrey Overstreet
They Like Jesus But Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations, Dan Kimball
Boomsday, Christopher Buckley
The Path: Creating Your Mission Statement for Work and Life, Laurie Beth Jones
Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading, Eugene Peterson

Yes, this is optimistic. But I need choices, ya know?

Mama Louise's Banana Nut Bread

In response to the bread of life post below, my life-long friend, Carla, asked for Mama Louise's Banana Nut Bread recipe. Many a 4-H bread baking contest has been won with this recipe. Here it is.

Mama Louise's Banana Nut Bread

3 bananas
1 t. soda
1 C. sugar
1/2 C. shortening
3 eggs
2 C. flour
1/2 C. nuts
1/2 t. salt

Mix bananas with soda, let stand. Cream sugar, shortening, eggs. Add banana mixture and flour alternately. Add nuts. Grease pan slightly. Bake at 325 degrees for one hour in a loaf pan. Can also make in 3 mini loaves - adjust time to 45 minutes.

High altitude: I'm still trying to perfect this, but reduce the sugar by 2 T. Reduce the soda by a pinch. Increase the oven temp to 340.

little aunt amy

Introducing Little Aunt Amy. Yes, that makes me Big Aunt Amy. But when such a sweet little person names you, how can you complain? Just back from spending some family time, and having a Fisher Price Little People person named after me was the best take-a-way I could have.

blessed are the cake makers

Blessed are the cake makers at Savage's Bakery in Homewood.

it's a good day

- I left Denver last evening, or I would be snowed in.
- Started off the day by seeing my niece, who was just as excited to see me as I was her.
- Nice little roadtrip by myself to Birmingham. Just me and some Starbucks and some Sufjan Stevens. Which I highly recommend - the Sufjan Stevens. Nothing against Starbucks, but they are just common nowadays.
- Went to a luncheon at my old Bible study. Was good to see some familiar faces and to be around so many people who were excited that I was there. Haven't laughed that hard in a long time.
- Then a visit to a couple of favorite neighborhood stores.
- Now I am enjoying an Americano at O'Henry's, my favorite Bham coffee house, and writing from my favorite perch - a high table in the front of the shop, that is kind of hidden by a bunch of shelves with gifts.
- Will follow this up with dinner with 2 close friends. Likely more coffee.
- Will spend the night in what I refer to as The Cave. Bedroom in a friend's basement that is cool and dark, and has the most comfy huge bed. This will somewhat counter-balance my night last night at my Dad's, which was akin to sleeping in a sweat lodge.
- Tomorrow will catch up with a couple of old (I should probably say former, lest they think I am calling them old) mentors. Probably throw in some BBQ, another special place or two, and then back to Music City.
- Overall, a nice little side trip to feed my soul.