Early Post - Bad News

Well, well, well. So now I know. This is only 11 minutes. The revelation is number 2, but they're all fun to watch. Click Here. Note to Linda: We were right; they are "listening."

This is such a fun channel, I think I'll share one of his videos each week.

Attention all gardeners: I found this wonderful website with lists of flowers and vegetables with photos and information. It's a grower in Sedan, Kansas; near enough for me to visit, but they only sell wholesale. Boo! Save the link for information; the best I've seen on the web. Sedan Floral.

I had several comments from readers who liked the Alaska journal and photos, so I decided to share my trip to Mississippi-Alabama-Georgia-Tennessee. Old, but still relevant.

Remember Audell and Gail from the train trip from Denali to Anchorage? I went to visit.

Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee

(March 13-27, 2007) (2,037 miles)

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

I drove straight through to Audell’s, just outside Jackson, MS.  I ate the salad and boiled eggs I took along at a rest area and got there before dark.  I love Audell’s complex.  It’s patio homes on winding roads through steams, garden areas, lakes and waterfalls.  There are no sidewalks or curbs, so it flows nicely and feels cozy.  I’d be happy living there.  

We went to a nearby little café and had some of the best fried chicken strips I’ve ever eaten.  Audell thought I was nuts when I dipped mine in cream gravy, but it was yummy.

Then we had a piece of cheesecake, which Audell made from the Lindy’s recipe, and I thought maybe I’d died and gone to heaven.  It really is heavenly.  So light and creamy.  Don’t know when I’ll ever make this recipe – it makes a BIG cheesecake. 

We spent the evening looking at recipes (of course) and watching TV.  I love her floor plan.  One bedroom and bath are on the left and the other two bedrooms and bath are on the right.  The living room is spacious and comfortable and the kitchen has an eating bar, as well as a good-sized dining area.  The sunroom is where I’d spend all my time.  I have such a kinship with the “Train ladies from Mississippi”, that I felt as if I were visiting someone I’d known all my life.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Audell’s house is so quiet, I slept like a baby.  We had a quick breakfast and started jabbering some more. 

She invited Peggy from across the street and Myra from down the street to lunch.  We had her chicken-almond casserole (yum) with peas, sliced tomatoes, hot rolls, iced tea and some more of that wonderful Lindy’s cheesecake.  Her table was set with a sunny yellow tablecloth and napkins and we used the good china, white and silver.  She had a new centerpiece of yellow, orange and gold silk flowers, which complemented the yellow linens beautifully.  Her neighbors are so sweet, and we had a good laugh because our conversation soon turned to food and recipes, of course.

Audell had a hair appointment at 3:00, so I stayed back and read my book and spent $5,000 looking at Audell’s Lilian Vernon Catalog.  After she returned, we went to Peggy’s to see her house.  Each home has a patio and small yard, but somehow Peggy ended up with an oversized one, which is wonderful because she loves her flowers, loves to garden and loves to show them off.  Her home is immaculate and expensively furnished, but I sure would hate to do the dusting.  She collects elephants, crosses and angels and you can find lots of those to buy.  

We had leftovers for dinner (goody, I wanted more) and watched a little TV.  It took all evening to go through Audell’s recipes.  She gave me some which were duplicates and is going to copy and send me a big stack we set aside.  Grandniece, Loren, with her fiancé Joey came by to show Audell her new car.  They helped out with the cheesecake.  Such delightful young people – handsome and wholesome. 

Another quiet restful night but I stayed up until midnight and finished Natchez, by Pamela Jekyl so I could leave it for Audell.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

We had a bagel and some coffee and hit the road.  A stop at the drugstore and we were on our way.  I didn’t have any trouble following Audell and soon we were sailing along on our way to Pinola.   We went through the tiny town where Gail and Audell grew up and saw the school they attended when they were little girls, presently in the process of being restored.  It’s made of red brick with white wood trim – very attractive.  The area here is sparsely settled with some logging, some cattle and chicken farms.  I didn’t see chickens, so they must be inside the buildings all the time. 

The country is beautiful with lots of pines and flowering trees.  The Southern ladies love their flowers, so most houses are surrounded by color.  I missed most of the daffodils, but the camellias were bursting with blossoms. 

We got to Gail’s a little after 10:00 and she was up to her elbows in dishwater.  She was so busy all week getting another person added to the cruise that she and Kathryn are taking at the end of April, she was still washing up from all the food she cooked for us. 

We had chicken salad, pineapple-cheese salad, cherry tomatoes, Bistro crackers with veggie cheese spread, and sock-it-to-me cake.  More talk of food and recipes.  Women just never change. 

Gail and Audell both have ceramics classes, and they are both extremely talented.  Gail gave me a trivet she made.  The edges look like a cogwheel and the top resembles mosaic.  The center figure is a dragonfly and the colors are green, yellow and purple – a great combination.  She also gave me a stack of Ideal magazines, which I love, and a WWF black stocking cap and scarf, since I live where it gets cold.  Boy, does it! 

Mildred came over and we piled into Gail’s car and then picked up Dot on the way to Cowboy Jim’s. The restaurant is by a river, or maybe I should say, an “experience” by a river.  There are several buildings, building add-ons, docks and decks which are all unpainted wood, weathered to a nice gray-brown.  Chickens, geese and guineas roam the grounds, and a dog patrols the property from the roof.  He has a door out to the roof from the second story of the main building and he keeps watch from there.  All sorts of cages, birdhouses, pots, flowers, plants, signs and other items (such as yellow toy dump trucks) are spread around.  Bright multi-colored umbrellas adorn the decks.  Inside is rustic as well, and country music fills the air.  The place was already beginning to fill up even though we were fairly early and it was Thursday – a sure sign of good food.  We had to drive about thirty miles to get there.  Our appetizers were hush puppies (made with scallions) and bowls of turnip greens with green pepper sauce. I had a hamburger steak, cooked to perfection, a baked potato and Texas toast.  Everything was fantastic.  When we got back to Gail’s we stayed up and talked until midnight (probably about food) and watched a video of the National Parks. 

 This is the bathroom

Gail has a very sweet kitty named Sammy.  She closed her bedroom door so that he’d come sleep with me.  Not a chance.  He wanted to get into the closets and explore.  When I shut the closets tightly, he left.  I thought I felt him jump up on my bed in the night, but when I sat up and looked, no kitty.  The next morning I found him stretched out in the crib at the foot of my bed and he looked up at me and stretched, so proud of himself, because he had his very own bed.

Friday, March 16, 2007

We had sausage-egg-cheese muffins and orange juice for breakfast.  I added a boiled egg and cherry tomatoes to mine.  More food talk (of course) and I copied recipes while Gail made a beautiful salad of baby spinach, strawberries, walnuts and feta cheese for our lunch.  Then she made the topping for our pork loin roast.  She had eggplant parmesan, asparagus casserole and Cherry-Banana Yum-Yum all prepared and waiting in the refrigerator.  She made the cornbread at the last minute so it would be fresh and hot.  We also cooked some fresh-frozen Mississippi pink-eyed, purple hull peas.  Fun to say and fun to eat.  Mildred and Scarlett were joining us for lunch and the table was gorgeous.  Gail used her white tablecloth, which showcased her new brightly colored floral plates.  The napkins were yellow with little pink ruffled edges, and ceramic magnolia napkin rings, which she had made.  The centerpiece was a potted yellow Gerber daisy.  The preceding day, new plates arrived by mail – square yellow stoneware - which we used as serving dishes.  Plus we used the good silver.  Everything looked as if Martha Stewart had been there to advise us.

After meeting all these Southern Belles, I’m sorry I’m 70% Yankee.  They’re so loving and kind to one another, as well as to everyone else, and it’s one hundred percent genuine.  I’m looking forward to a time when they’ll come visit me.
 
The food was excellent, of course, and we had great fun discussing all the latest gossip and (naturally) food.  Scarlett jumped up and washed dishes.  With everyone helping, the table was cleared and the dishes washed and put away.  Mildred had to leave for a hair appointment, and Scarlett had a house full of grandchildren, so she had to go. 
 
We just relaxed after lunch.  Audell had a nap, Gail dozed in her chair, and I went to the porch with Sammy.  I meant to look at a book of Mississippi from Gail’s bookshelf, but kept nodding off, so I put it aside and enjoyed the breeze, the flowers, the few cars going by and Sammy chasing the sun so he could snooze in the warmth.  Life is good in Mississippi.
 
We went to Scarlett’s later so we could see her new addition.  She has a wonderful property with long decks overlooking a natural waterfall and a little lake and stream.  The house has a genteel-rustic feel, with terra-cotta brick tile floors, dark woods, a huge brick fireplace with a wall-to-wall hearth and shelves on either side which she decorates for the holidays (currently Easter).  The new addition is of pine and very spacious.  There’s a big comfy wrap-around sectional with built-in leg rests so you can really sink in, and a large-screen TV so everyone in the room has a view.  The house is set back in the pine woods, but has a spacious cultivated lawn with a carousel horse and four Canada geese (which look very real).  Her husband came home and stopped to chat a little, a very intelligent man, I believe, and her grandson came riding in on his ATV to pick up his pole to go to a neighbor’s for an afternoon of fishing.  No wonder they like to visit their grandmother.
 
The children are all so sweet and polite.  And anyone younger than you says, “Yes, ma’am” and “No, ma’am” and calls you Miss Patsy (or whatever).
 
Note: Scarlett gets up each morning and does her chores, then heads out to check on the older ladies. She fixes their hair, runs errands, whatever she can do to help them. 

After we left Scarlett’s, we toured the Strong River area. Gail knows everyone and their entire history, and Audell knows a lot of it.  She spent years in Florida and then came back and slipped right back into her slot in the community.  This is beautiful country and sparsely populated.  How nice if it could stay this way forever.  Life here is very similar to books I’ve read about the South as it was years ago.  We saw all the houses and heard all the history.  We even saw two beautiful does crossing the road.  I was sorry to see the day end. 

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Gail had a delicious sausage strata prepared for our breakfast.  We ate it with pineapple and cherry tomatoes.  I had seconds.
 
I really hated to leave, but finally pulled myself away at noon.  I was sailing along just fine.  Jim had left me a voice mail, so I returned his call when I could get a signal.  He wanted to know about something which happened in 1995, and I can’t remember yesterday without some serious pondering.
 
Suddenly my brakes went almost to the floor and scared me half out of my wits.  I tried pumping them.  They got better but still not right.  I was just past Hattiesburg, so I called AAA and got the name and address of a repair shop which was open.  I went to a Firestone, and they took perfect care of me and called me Miss Patsy the entire time.  My wheel cylinder had a leak and probably leaking brake fluid.  Total cost - $325.04.  Someone once told me that the magic number for car repairs is $300 and change.  Always more than $300 but seldom above $400.  I always say that if you drive a car, you’re sure to have repairs.  The best you can hope for is that you break down in a convenient place and hopefully a time which won’t cause you to miss a plane.  If I had run into this problem on the way down, I’d have been stuck in Memphis, or thereabouts, for the afternoon and I couldn’t have gone on to Jackson that day.  I’d have had only one day with Audell.  And if I’d left for Mobile on Sunday instead of Saturday, nothing would have been open, and I’d have missed a day of the Elderhostel.  I sat in the waiting area and ate my sandwich Gail sent with me and read.
 
I found the Elderhostel location just before dark.  In the 1960’s when Johnson took office, he closed the Air Force base at Mobile because they didn’t vote for him, and the government sold it to the university for $1.  They use it for Elderhostels and other functions.  There’s a golf course and restaurant and a gorgeous view of the water (Mobile Bay?).  I have a suite.  There’s a living room with a couch and a stuffed chair, a desk and chair, two end tables with lamps, a dining room table with two chairs, TV, sink with dressing area and lots of shelves.  The hall between the two rooms has a refrigerator and microwave and a door to the bathroom which has a toilet stool and shower.  The bedroom has a double bed, a twin bed, another sink and dressing area, two closets and more shelves.  Very peaceful and quiet.  Our housing used to be the bachelor officers quarters.  My view is of the swimming pool and the golf course.

I unpacked the car and got semi-organized, then listened to Celtic Women on TV while I got my journal partially up to date.  I ate the rest of my hamburger steak and baked potato from Cowboy Jim’s for dinner.  My bed was very springy, but I was very tired, so it felt wonderful.

Sunday, March 18, 2007
I stayed in bed and read until 9:00.  What a treat!  I didn’t know where to go first as I’m not sure where the Elderhostel will take us.  I had some peaches and cream instant oatmeal and a cup of tea in my room.  No food service on campus on the weekends.
 
I decided to go to the Welcome Center at Fort Conde’ first.  It’s a cute little building done in period style and neat as a pin.  I toured the fort and discovered lots of photos from the past of the local events plus an array of photos of Mardi gras queens and their escorts.  There are also pieces of china, combs etc. which have been excavated, but most items in the museum are replicas.  The top of the fort, which is lined with cannons, has a nice view of downtown.  Their government offices are housed in a building which is supposed to resemble a sailing ship, but I thought it looked like a bunch of pipes and curved roofs.

 
The couple in charge of the Welcome Center gave me a menu and directed me to A Spot of Tea for lunch.  It was several blocks away, but I decided to take the time.  I walked several blocks down Dauphin Street and found the most unique little shops, not open since it was Sunday.  The restaurant must be very good, because it was packed and a twenty-minute wait.  I decided I didn’t want to waste precious time and backtracked to a Subway for a sandwich.  Easter was yet to come; hats and Easter baskets in the windows.

Notice the Azalea Maid dolls.

I had time to hustle over to the Explorium for the Pompeii exhibit.  This is the third one I’ve seen and each as been different from the others.  This one had several little dogs carved from bone, which people carried in their pockets.  They carried tiny items for taking to the afterlife, so presumably these were their pets.  There were also sculptures of dogs, and there was a mold of a dog (as well as humans), who died in the volcanic gases and ash.  When I visited Pompeii, there were lots of dogs at the entry – all sizes, breeds and colors, all mongrels.  As each group left for the tour, two or three dogs would get up and accompany them.  They seemed to know whose turn was next, and there were no squabbles.  They’d escort the tour about half way and then return to the entrance.  No one seems to know where the dogs came from or where they go at night.  The local restaurants use their leftovers to feed them.  When I read about Pompeii, the author mentioned that the people there loved their dogs and many lived there.  One wonders if dog genes carry memories as human genes (speculatively) do, and they’ve just found their ways home. Sadly, no photos in the museum.
 
The same building where the Pompeii exhibit was held also houses the IMAX Theater, which was showing a movie about Ancient Greece.  Wonderful.  A quick cup of coffee and a piece of pound cake was a welcome pick-me-up between the exhibit and the movie.   Walking to my car, I was surprised to see lots of beads hanging from the trees where some misjudged their flings from the floats. Mardi Gras started in Mobile, they predate New Orleans.
 
Time to go to orientation.  I headed back by a different route.  The houses and yards are fun because they’re old and alike but with individual personalities. Most are beautifully maintained.

 

We picked up our packets and went to dinner in the Bayside Café Cafeteria.  Our classroom is in a building next to the cafeteria, about a block from our lodging.  I had a dry chicken breast, which was a preview of more bad food to come.
 
Julie, the coordinator, is humorous and jolly, and no wonder.  She’s retiring next week.  Her assistant, Harry, is friendly and helpful, and I feel much more intelligent than he looks.
 
We got our overview and headed to our rooms.   I washed some lingerie, popped some corn and watched TV a little before bed.

To be continued. . . . . 

 

We'll continue this journal next week. I need some down time. I just took Pepper to the vet because he wasn't eating. He has a big cancer in his throat, far back where it's even blocking a portion of his airway. To treat it would mean referring it out to a specialist who could operate, and might get all of the cancer, probably radiation, and a feeding tube. I can't do that to him. He's been through enough medical problems in his life. I can't let him suffer through more trauma, when there's only a slight chance of a good outcome. I gave them the go ahead to let him go to Kitty Heaven. 

Pepper RIP 6-26-26