Shellie Rushing Tomlinson
Hello everyone, welcome to my cyber porch". I've been standing
here at the screen door waiting for you. Do find a spot and get
comfortable. I'm gonna do my dead level best to settle down for
our chat but I've got to be honest, I'm so nervous and excited
about our first day on the air, I feel like a long-tail cat in
a room full of rocking chairs.~smile~
But enough of that, I'm thinking about that southern feline today. Oh,
stay with me, you might know it as the pole cat. The other evening I was on
the back side of my daily walk when I noticed two skunks rooting around
a little piece ahead of me on the opposite side of the road. Not wishing to
be formally introduced, I yelled and threw some dirt clods their way.
They ignored me. For a minute or two I considered turning
around and taking the longer way home. If you think I sound overly
cautious, I can explain.
When I was about six years old I found a beautiful black kitty cat under
my Papa's equipment shed. It was the prettiest little thing, with a nice
long fluffy tail streaked with white. I was determined to pet it--the
object of my affections wasn't in the mood. I spent the better part of
that evening in the bathroom being scrubbed and rinsed by my mama. She
applied enough elbow grease to suggest that she was trying to remove the
top layer of my skin. My sisters held their noses at supper and assured
me that she had not succeeded. I'm happy to report that my recent
encounter with Pepe Lepew and his girl ended more pleasantly, but then
I guess my behavior was considerably less aggressive than it was all
those years ago.
All right, the celebration is coming and I'm going. I hope you enjoy this
week's issue. And please--keep those letters coming. I love to hear from
the porchers. I'll be waiting here on the swing.
~Hugs,
Shellie
P.S. One of the stations I'm on, The Cross, has a great Internet connection.
http://887fmthecross.homestead.com/Index2.html. I'm waiting to hear from
them any minute with our times confirmed. As soon as I know, I'll post
those times on the home page. http://www.allthingssouthern.com. Otherwise--you
could just tune in and wait. ~smile~ When you hear a real country twang--you'll
know you're in the right place.
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~~Chuckles~~
"Devil In The Church"
One Sunday morning, everyone in a small, rural town got up early
and went to the local church.
They were sitting in their pews talking before the services, when
suddenly--Satan appeared at the front of the church! The whole
congregation started screaming and running for the front entrance,
trampling each other in a frantic effort to get away from evil
incarnate.
Soon the church was evacutated, except for one elderly gentleman who
sat calmly in his pew, seemingly oblivious to the fact that God's
ultimate enemy was in his presence. Now this bothered Satan a bit, so he
walked up to the man and said, "Don't you know who I am?"
The man replied, "Yep."
Satan asked, "Aren't you afraid of me?"
"Nope," said the man.
By this time, Satan was more than a little perturbed, "And why aren't
you afraid of me?" he growled.
The old gentleman looked him in the eye and calmly replied, "Been
married to your sister for over 48 years."
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~~A Taste of the South~~
You know there are folks that would say we're not very cultured
in the South. I hear 'ya. Those folks wouldn't know true culture
if it bit 'em on their stirring hand. Take today's recipe. It's
our version of their fancy caviar and it comes from a local
celebrity, our own Randy Prewitt of Good Morning Ark-La-Miss. New
York City, eat your heart out!
"Louisiana Caviar"
• 1 large jar hot picante sauce
• 2 cans black eyed peas (drained)
• 1 can hominy or sweet corn (drained)
• 4 green onions
• 1 white onion
• 1/2 bell pepper (diced)
• 2 fresh tomatoes (diced)
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro chopped fine
• 5 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons cracked black pepper
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
Mix all this together. Refrigerate for about 24 hours to allow
flavors to meld and serve with crispy tortilla chips. If you have
a family of cheese lovers, you might want to sprinkle some sharp
cheese across it first. We do. ~smile~ You can find this recipe in
Randy's Cookbook, "Flavors of the Ark-La-Miss"--and you can order
that cookbook from my online store: http://www.allthingssouthern.com
Now, how easy is that?
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Have you shopped at the ALL THINGS SOUTHERN ONLINE STORE? Your
patronage helps keep this emag FREE! http://www.allthingssouthern.com
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~~Spotlight on the South~~
SPOTLIGHT ON TOM T. HALL
My daddy introduced me to the music of Tom T. Hall when I was just a
little thing. Some thirty-odd years later, I might forget to stop for
milk, but I can recall every word of "Harper Valley P.T.A." and
"Sneaky Snake". Maybe it's selective memory. I prefer to say it's the
mark of a great American story teller, who also plays a mean guitar. This
is one performer who stands alone in his ability to take the simplest
melodies and stories--and combine them into extra-ordinary songs.
Tom Hall, he added the "t" for Nashville, was born on May 25, 1936 in a
log cabin behind his grandfather's house, in Olive Hill, Kentucky. The
future storyteller, poet, and philosopher sought escape from the poverty
of his childhood by spending his days wandering and daydreaming in the
surrounding mountains. He hit Nashville in 1964 with $46 dollars and a
guitar. Within months, his songs were being performed by the likes of
Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn and George Jones and by 1967 he was recording
them himself.
Since then Tom T. Hall has scored more than 50 hits, won countless Grammy
and CMA awards, become a Grand Ole Opry member and published six books.
But wait, I hope you're not thinking this is an obituary for Mr. Hall's
music. On the contrary, several years ago a new generation of country
performers, bored with the cookie cutter songs available to them,
rediscovered Mr. Hall's work. Alan Jackson scored a big hit with
"Little Bitty" and Billy Ray Cyrus released a remake of "Harper Valley
P.T.A." to a wildly receptive European audience. At one point in there
Tom T. Hall tried retirement for himself. He found it didn't fit, returning
to the studio to record, "Home Grown", a collection that proves talent
never goes out of style. Here in the south, we love our music and we love
our stories. Tom T. Hall gives us both.
Before I go, let me leave you some classic lyrics from the man they call
"the poet laureate of country music."
"I love winners when they cry
losers when they try
music when it's good
and life
And I love you too."
~Shellie
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~~It's Been Said...~~
"I've always said that next to Imperial China, the South is the best place
in the world to be an old lady."
--Florence King
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~~Southern Comfort~~
"Bouyant Faith"
I remember when we were little girls and my family would go water
skiing at a friend's house on Lake St. John. My older sister, Rhonda,
was deathly afraid of the water. I can still see her wearing a big
orange ski-vest, with a life-belt around her waist for good measure,
straddling a raft and clinging to the dock. All the while Mama would
be patiently trying to get her to come out to the floating deck where
the rest of us were laughing and playing.
Steadfastly opposed to the idea, Rhonda would be crying and pouting,
holding onto the ladder with a vise-grip. I don't know what bothered
Rhonda more, the unseen things beneath the murky water, or the extremely
remote chance of actually drowning. The reality was she was so bouyant
it would've taken a real-life sea monster to pull her under.
I'm not bringing this up just to pick on my sister, (although picking
on my sisters is always fun). No, I thought about Rhonda's irrational fear
the other day because I've been able to relate recently. I wish there were
time to get into the details, but for the sake of today's chat, let's
just say the Lord has been calling me in a new direction and it's been
one forevermore scary move.
Don't grin at me. I'm not the only camper the Lord is "calling out into
the deep" these days. The Lord asks us to walk by faith and not by sight.
He wants all of us to let go of the things we "think" are keeping our
lives afloat and trust in Him for protection and provision.
Let's see...I've got the Word, His Promises and His Spirit...now if I could
just let go of the dock.
~Shellie
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~~Southern Exchange~~
Your letters:
Hi Shellie!
My fellow porcher from Tennessee made me laugh aloud with that prune juice
communion story, and it reminded me...When my grandson, Dave, was about
3 years old, I was babysitting him and my 5-year-old niece, April,
when they decided to play church.
My niece announced that the "service" was about to begin and everyone
should kneel and pray. They both knelt at their coffee table "altar" closing
their eyes and folding their hands reverently. I was sitting across the
room reading when I noticed Dave peeking at me. With one eye open, he said,
"Grannymama, aren't you going to pray?"
Thinking this would be a great opportunity to make a point I replied,
"I can pray over here in my chair, Dave. We don't have to be at an
altar, or in a church, or anywhere else special to pray. We can talk to
God anywhere, any time."
Dave nodded and closed both eyes again before returning to his own thoughts.
After about a minute he said, "But Grannymama, if you don't come to the altar
to pray, you won't get any "snacks". Realizing that Dave was talking about
communion made it hard to maintain my composure as I knelt at their "altar"--
I sure didn't want to miss out on my "snacks"!
Janis
from "Old McDonald's Farm"
Baskin, Louisiana
(Dear Janis, I loved your story. It triggered special memories of playing
church with my own cousins years ago. Grandmaw supplied our snacks, I mean
communion, too! Thanks for writing. ~Hugs, Shellie)
___________
Dear Shellie,
I love ATS! I was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee...just 5 short
miles from Graceland. I now live in Michigan, which is a culture shock
still after 20 years.
You ask for advice from our mothers...well here goes. I remember many things
she told me, but this is one of my favorites. "Never start doing anything
that you don't want to continue for the rest of your life". This was her
advice to me on my wedding day. My, oh my, was she ever right!
Love,
Pene
Michigan
(Dear Pene, That's exactly why I never mastered ironing.~smile~ Thanks for
sending in your mom's advice. Sidenote to new porchers: You can read more
about my southern moms' advice book under the "upcoming projects" button
on my website. http://www.allthingssouthern.com/~tomtom/NewProjects.html
~Hugs, Shellie)
_____________
Dear Shellie and fellow porchers,
I'm sending y'all a picture of an 18 foot gator. This guy was caught on
one of our projects at Deer Park, Texas just southeast of Houston. Zoologists
tell us he is 175 years old!
One of my company's construction crews found him this past June. The day
before they'd been digging a trench to place a 96" water pipe in and when
they came back the next morning, they discovered our friend here. The
Houston Zoo offered $300,000.00 for him, but my company just gave it to them.
He's the biggest one I've ever seen and I can show you some big ones.
Carl Coleman
Alabama
(Dear Carl, Whoa! That's one big gator. I'd like to see that Australian
fella wrestle him, wouldn't you? I put his glamour shot here for the
others. http://www.allthingssouthern.com/weekly_exchange.html. Thanks for
thinking of us. ~Hugs, Shellie)
__________
Dear Shellie,
I might be in trouble! Are you considered a girly-girl if you take a purse
on the combine with you when cutting corn?
Linda Waller
Transylvania, Louisiana
(Dear Linda, I'll try to address this touchy subject delicately, as I can
see that you're stressed about it. This is a hard call. On the one hand, you
are driving a combine...on the other hand---you do carry a purse to the
cornfield. I'm going to have to let the porch weigh in on this one and get
back to you. Let me hear from you folks out there. Is Linda a girly-girl or
not? Oh, and if you're new to the porch, you can find the girly-girl
archives on my homepage under "Southern Definiton".
http://www.allthingssouthern.com/definition.html ~Hugs, Shellie)
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~~A Southern Definition~~
"If you never rode off into the sunset chasing wild Indians from the
back of a four-legged fuel tank...you could have been a girly-girl."
--Shellie Rushing Tomlinson
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**************
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ATS NEWS and NOTES:
Notes:
Guess what porchers? We have an accomplished writer sitting on our
porch in Athens, Georgia. Her name is Sheila S. Hudson. Click here
http://www.allthingssouthern.com/Weddings.html to read one of her
articles entitled, "Southern Fried Weddings". I loved it and Sheila
was kind enough to let me share it with the porch. You can find more
of Sheila's work at her own place, http://www.sheila-brightideas.com
Thanks, Sheila!
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