NIXA JOURNAL

Our journey continues - still in Alabama at Elderhostel

Wednesday, March 21, 2007
After breakfast, we boarded the bus for Ft. Conde’. We arrived with a dozen school buses full of laughing, screaming kids. I’m sure glad I toured the fort on Sunday. No photos allowed inside. I walked around the neighborhood and took pictures. Downtown Mobile has lots of boarded up buildings, but many have been restored and more are in the process.

Our next stop was the Richards-DAR House. The docents are older Southern ladies, members of DAR, I’m sure. I’m surprised they’re from the Revolution instead of Daughters of the Confederacy. They were so charming and served us tea in real china teacups and saucers from a silver tea service under the Baccarat chandelier which Tom cleans. We were also served cheese straws (a Southern thing), cookies, mints and nuts. The tea was delicious. I thought it might be orange-spice tea with a touch of lemon, but it turned out to be a concoction of instant tea and Tang, known as Russian Friendship Tea. I have that recipe. It’s in every cookbook put out by an organization. I’ve never made it, because it sounds terrible. I’ll have to try it, for sure.

I usually don't show photos of people on my blog, but these ladies seemed pleased to pose for me, and I wanted to show you the setting without beheading the group, as I've done before in other posts.

Hours and hours of work. I have so much respect for our Southern Belles.

Azaleas grow so well here, they can even be formed into hedges.

We had lunch downtown at Wintzells, a restaurant established in 1938 (just as I was and showing its age just as I am) and the walls are covered with quotes, each printed on different colors of paper. A week wouldn’t be enough time to read them all. I had deep-fried fish, shrimp and oysters, fries and Cole slaw. The servings were small, so I didn’t feel stuffed. Much better than Elderhostel food.

Our afternoon tour was the Conde’-Charlotte House. Lots of handmade bedspreads, quilts, etc. Now I’ve seen a gout stool for the first time. The garden here is beautiful and the kitchen equipment interesting. Now I’ve seen a beaten biscuit bowl – another first. Charlotte had twelve children. For a time, Ft. Conde’ was called Ft. Charlotte after her – small reward for having all those kids. She should have had the whole city named after her.

You can read about it here: Click

I didn't take a photo of the gout stool, but there's one in the Richards-DAR

House photos.

We were back by 3:00, so I had a couple of hours to sort papers, make calls, and work on my journal. We had a decent dinner – Southern fried chicken. Guess they wouldn’t dare screw that up – it’s the specialty of the South.

The Azalea Trail Maids came to visit. Each year, fifty girls from the county who are in their senior year of high school, are chosen to be Trail Maids. They wear ruffled pastel-colored antebellum dresses and hats and carry ruffled parasols. Only the queen wears pink and the rest of the girls choose their first, second and third favorite colors. Eventually, there are an equal number of blue, yellow, green, lavender and peach dresses. The designs vary, but must follow certain guidelines. Their gauntlet-mitts seemed to be standard – pointed over the back of the hand and embroidered with the initial of the girl’s given name. They were eager to show us their pantaloons, which are embroidered with designs and words of their choosing. They have patch pockets so the girls have a place to carry their combs, cell phones, etc. Cost to papa - $2,500 to $3,000 average. The Maids make appearances throughout the Azalea Festival, as well as in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and Disneyworld’s Easter Parade. They sell calendars (with pictures of Maids) and cookbooks to raise money for their trips. Most have extra-curricular activities, so sandwiching in their appearances (like at Elderhostel), along with school requires a lot of time management.

Lots more photos of the Maids when we go to the flower show.

To be continued. . . . .

I'M SO GRATEFUL TO BE AN AMERICAN

250 YEARS - PRAY FOR OUR CONTINUED SUCCESS

I HOPE YOU GOT OUT ON THE GRASS

WITH ONLY A LITTLE SUN DUE TO THE HEAT ADVISORY

PLENTY OF SUMMER LEFT FOR GOING TO THE LAKE

BUY A WATERMELON

NO MORE SEED SPITTING CONTESTS AS THEY'RE SEEDLESS NOW

WILL CANTELOUPE SEEDS WORK?

THANK YOU FOR SHARING MY LIFE

Sorry, I didn't check the first link in my last blog post, and was informed it wasn't working. It's something I know will interest you, so here it is again. Be sure to watch the last two. Click Here

I did another 5S lunch, and decided to keep the green dishes. I'm not making a lot of progress in my decluttering project.

Soup - Beef-vegetable (I like potato-corn chowder with this lunch, but I already had beef-vegetable in the pot, and I didn't want to waste it.)

Salad - Dill Pickle Salad

Sandwich - Tuna Salad

Sweet - Seasonal Dessert (Lemon)

Something Else - Deviled Eggs

DILL PICKLE SALAD

1 small package lemon gelatin
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 8-oz can crushed pineapple (3/4 cup)
1/3 cup white vinegar
1 envelope plain gelatin
1 cup finely chopped dill pickles
1 cup chopped pecans

Mix lemon gelatin, sugar, and salt in a refrigerator dish.

Drain pineapple juice from crushed pineapple into a measuring cup.

Add vinegar and enough water to make two cups.

Bring liquids to boiling and pour it over the gelatin mixture.

Soften the plain gelatin with a little cold water, and add it to the dish.

When starting to set, add pickles, pineapple, and pecans.

SEASONAL PUDDING DESSERT

First Layer
1 stick butter, softened
1-1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup chopped nuts

Second Layer
1 8-oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
8 oz. Cool Whip

Third Layer
2 small or 1 large instant pudding mix, any flavor
3 cups milk

Fourth Layer
8 oz. Cool Whip
Chopped nuts

Heat oven to 375⁰F.

Mix first layer with mixer and pat into 13” x 9” baking dish. Bake 20 minutes and cool.

Mix second layer cream cheese and powdered sugar with mixer. Fold in Cool Whip. Spread over cooled crust.

Make third layer and spread over cream cheese layer.

Spread fourth layer over pudding layer. Top with nuts just before serving.

Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Try different flavors. Lemon for summer, chocolate for fall, pistachio for winter, strawberry (no longer made by Jell-O; try Sonic brand) for spring.

Someone mentioned adding apples to tuna salad. It works. You don't really taste much apple flavor, but it enhances the tuna somehow.

Back to Mobile -

Monday, March 19, 2007

I need a good night’s sleep. I kept hearing “clunks” during the night, which woke me off and on. I didn’t identify the source until morning when I realized it was pieces of ice dropping off because I was defrosting the refrigerator. I think someone put his fishing catch in the freezer and it was very smelly.

Breakfast was better – even cheese grits. The speakers are witty and knowledgeable. I loved the Mobile History class and didn’t realize how much the area was influenced by Indians. The speaker, Dr. Michael Thomason, is a Professor of History and Director of the University of South Alabama Archives. He’s written several books, including a tricentennial history of Mobile. He has edited the Gulf South Historical Review since 1985. Easy to see that he loves his subject.

Thomas McGehee, the Museum Director for Bellingrath Gardens and Home showed beautiful slides and gave us lots of inside history about the Bellingraths. His grandfather was Mr. Bellingrath’s physician. Tom has cataloged the collection of furniture and objects d’art of the home as well as the Delchamps collection of Boehm porcelain which is housed in a separate building. He’s currently writing a history of the property and collections in time for the 75^th anniversary of its opening next year.

He has a B.A. in journalism from the University of Georgia but spent twelve years in commercial and consumer banking before joining Bellingrath. You can tell he loves history and antiques and has found his element at Bellingrath. He also did research on George Rogers, the architect of Bellingrath and other Mobile buildings, for which he won the Gould Research Award. He attended the Winter Institute in Early American Decorative Arts at Winterthur, Victorian Society Summer Schools in Newport, RI, and England, and the Parsons/Smithsonian graduate course on French Decorative Arts in Paris.

He writes a monthly column on Mobile history for the Mobile Bay Magazine, for which he won the 2006 award for the most popular monthly feature. In addition, he serves on the Mobile Historic Development Commission and writes the quarterly newsletter for the Friends of Magnolia Cemetery. Seems his classes in journalism have been put to good use. He is also chairman of the Tree Commission for Mobile and serves on the board of the Friends of the Alabama Governor’s Mansion in Montgomery. And I have it straight from the mouth of one of the docents that Tom is the only person they’ll allow to clean the crystal chandelier in the Richards-DAR House, which he does with great care twice a year.

After lunch, a lady named Macon Young came to tell us about Mardi gras. She had videos of some of the parades and some of the presentations of the royal courts. She also had a table loaded with all the goodies which are flung from the floats. I didn’t know they used Moon Pies. They even have special packaging and smaller versions known as Mardi Gras Pies. I only knew beads, not toys, Frisbees, plastic coins, candy, etc. Mobile’s Mardi Gras is the oldest in the United States and much tamer than New Orleans. Mobile’s celebrations are family affairs, rather than drunken orgies. Macon is a flamboyant, friendly lady who has been active in theater work, both on stage and behind the stage. Now she gives tours for Bay Cities Tour. She threw a string of beads to each of us as she talked, a fun touch.

We had free time from 3:00 until 5:30 but instead of running downtown, I had a lie-down (as they say in England) and even a little snooze.

After dinner (a nasty glob of hamburger and macaroni they called “baked ziti”), we had a speaker on Mobile architecture, Devereaux Bemis, a perfect name I thought. He, too, loves his subject and wants everyone else to feel the same. Devereaux is an Architectural Historian and Director of the Mobile Historic Development Commission, the one where Tom is a board member, and serves on the board of the Mobile Revolving Fund for Historic Properties and the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation.

He’s also been active in the Mobile Theatre Guild (probably knows Macon – I’m starting to see a pattern here), the Mobile Arts Council, the September Celebration Task Force, the Cathedral Square Committee, and volunteers at the historic Saenger Theatre, WHIL public radio, and the Mobile Ballet. He is past president of Historic Mobile Homes Tour and the Alabama Preservation Alliance. Devereaux received a BA in Art History and Russian Language from the University of South Alabama, as well as an MBA and was awarded a study tour of Mexico. He did his graduate work in Art History at Tulane University, where he was awarded a study tour of Western Europe.

Devereaux also had great slides and gave us a handout of architectural details and terms, plus a style timeline. I discovered that what Audell and I thought were very small duplexes are called Creole Cottages. Left to right (or reversed) window, door, door, window. No halls, the doors lead directly into a room.

We didn’t adjourn until 8:00 p.m., and I went to my room, showered, washed my hair and went to bed at 9:15. I read until 10:00 and then slept until 6:00 the next morning.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

I felt better after a good night’s sleep. I scarcely had time to go to breakfast and get to class because I picked up my book when I awoke.

Our first class section was more Mobile history with lots of vintage photos. Mobile didn’t want secession. As a shipping port, their economy would be wrecked. They didn’t grow cotton, but acted as factors. The cotton was shipped north from Mobile and then the ships returned with northern goods. The city was surrendered without a shot. They didn’t want this war. There was a battle between the Union’s Admiral Farragut and the Spanish Fort where he was supposed to have said, “Damn the torpedoes – full speed ahead.” In those days, they called floating mines “torpedoes”, which were invented in Mobile, as was the first submarine to sink a ship in a battle.

Tom McGehee was back to lecture on the Bellingraths and their architect, George Rogers, who designed the gardens, as well as the house. Rogers had been designing houses in Mobile, so Tom showed us slides of his other projects. The Bellingraths had no children, so they had lots of time to work on the house and gardens. And Mrs. B loved to collect pretty things; porcelains, dolls, dishes, silver, crystal and glassware, as well as, bottles.

After lunch, we went to Bellingrath to tour. Tom was there and let us take pictures inside the house. I also took pictures at the Boehm Porcelain Gallery, which may or may not be decipherable around the glare from the glass cases. The house is full of the pretty things Mrs. B liked to collect. Local gossip was that he made lots of money and she spent lots of money. Even in the early and mid-1900’s, I imagine the franchise for bottling coke would bring in a chunk of change.

I took picture after picture of the azaleas, and then someone told me that they’re past their prime. The daffodils and hyacinths were finished and the tulips hadn’t bloomed yet. I still found plenty of things to photograph.

Meatloaf for dinner – think it was made from dog food. Sure miss Audell’s and Gail’s cooking.

Devereaux was back with more information on architecture. Now I know that Distyle in Antis is two columns between walls. One never knows when that knowledge might come in handy, right?

Boy, these instructors make me wonder where I went wrong. All that education, all that time given to charitable organizations, all those books written, all that research undertaken – I’m a lazy critter.

Lots of photos coming up. The Boehm Porcelains are numerous, but some might like seeing them, even photos and through glass. After seeing the photos you'll want to (1) go out and buy some azaleas (2) buy some beautiful dishes (3) spruce up your yard (4) buy some porcelains (5) visit Bellingrath Gardens.