All Things Southern

Shellie Rushing Tomlinson

Hello porchers! Now, don't go checking the calendar. I'm not trying to confuse you showing up in your inbox on Wednesday instead of Thursday. It's just that I can't be here Thursday, and I couldn't bear you showing up to an empty porch! ~smile~

Most of you remember me telling you about my basketball playing son and his knee problems. Well, surgery is scheduled for Wednesday morning, (his third). I don't want to bore anyone so I won't go into it again. (If you're new in these parts and you want the whole story you can scan the "Southern Comfort" from http://www.allthingssouthern.com/issue003.html and then the "Publisher's Porch" from http://www.allthingssouthern.com/issue008.html and http://www.allthingssouthern.com/issue021.html) Anyway, that's where I'll be for a couple of days, but don't let that stop you from writing in. I'll be checking my email Friday night at the latest.

While we're on the subject, some of you might notice that the "Past Issues" page at the website is brand new. Yep! It came by way of a good suggestion from a new reader, Barbara Weemes from Delhi, Louisiana. See, I keep telling you I read all your letters. ~smile~

Now, I believe there is another state challenge being thrown down in the Southern Exchange this week. But y'all be nice now if you decide to jump in with your two cents. Krissy sounds like a really nice girl and her Texas boast is offered in a friendly way.

I better go and let you get on with this week's southern celebration; there's tons to do and most of it has my name on it.

Hugs,
Shellie

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"Chuckles"

"Young Love"

Did you hear about the farmer's son who told his father he wanted to marry the little girl across the street. The father took a long look at his six-year-old and tried to hide his smile.

"That's a serious step," he said, "have you thought it out completely?"

"Sure," the young boy answered. "We can spend one week in my room and the next in hers. It's right across the street, so I can run home if I get lonely in the night."

"How about transportation?" the father asked. "I have my wagon and we both have our tricycles," the little boy answered.

The boy had answers to every question the father raised. Finally, in exasperation, the man asked, "What about babies? When you're married, you're likely to have babies, you know."

"We've thought about that too," the little boy replied. "We're not going to have babies. Every time she lays an egg, I'm going to step on it."

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"A Taste of the South"

Okay, here is my family's favorite rice dish. They like it with pork, beef or chicken but they LOVE it with grilled fish. You can play with the recipe as long as you make sure you have one can of consomme for each cup uncooked rice. :-)

"Rice Consomme with Mushrooms"

• 1 cup uncooked rice
• 1 can beef consomme
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2-3 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 can mushrooms (pieces or whole)
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1 stick butter

Combine all ingredients in buttered casserole dish. Cover and bake at 350' for thirty to forty-five minutes are until rice is fluffy. Enjoy!

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"Spotlight on the South"

SPOTLIGHT ON THE WILD HORSES OF SHACKLEFORD BANKS

I'm just back from the most wonderful cyber trip to North Carolina, (strictly research for the emag you understand), where I met a part of our American history for the first time. By the way, can you fall in love with a national treasure?

The Shackleford Banks wild horses are a unique cultural legacy. Historic mentions of these beautiful animals date as early as the late 1400's and involve stories of famous adventurers and sinking ships. The locals are just happy to report that these special horses have made the Outer Banks of North Carolina their home ever since.

"Home" for the wild horses is an island called Shackleford Banks that is only nine miles long. It's located just east of Morehead City and Beaufort. Years ago settlers on the Outer Banks named the little horses "banker ponies" and the name stuck. Of the many oral histories and traditions about the horses handed down through generations of costal people one story continues to resurface: "The horses have always been here. They swam ashore off sinking ships".

Take a minute to listen to the words of Carolyn Mason from the Foundation that watches over the Wild Horses of Shackleford Banks and then treat yourself to the photo album at their website. You might fall in love, too.

"On an uninhabited barrier island, just off the coast of North Carolina, live wild horses. They roam the dunes and marshes and swim in the small channels between the island and the nearby tidal flats, which ebb-out on the low tides and disappear again with the next high tide. For generation after generation of the coastal people, there have been stories handed-down about the wild horses that roamed these sand banks we now call the Outer Banks. Hardy and tough, they have survived where man could not. They have endured ... through hurricanes, droughts, north-easters, so'westers, and centuries. Now they need protection to survive."

-Carolyn Mason
Foundation for Shackleford Horses, Inc.

www.shacklefordhorses.org/

~Shellie

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"It's Been Said..."

"The South is America. The South is what we started out with in this bizarre, slightly troubling, basically wonderful country--fun, danger, friendliness, energy, enthusiasm, and brave, crazy, tough people."

--P.J.O'Rourke

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Visit The Book Store/ for a FREE chapter of my memoir, "LESSONS LEARNED ON BULL RUN ROAD". (You can order online using your credit card--or you can snailmail, email or fax the printable order form.) Don't forget to browse the rest of the store!

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"Southern Comfort"

"Turning the Tables"

When I was a little girl growing up in the South I heard a lot about blue runner snakes. For those less fortunate souls that weren't raised here, , I'll let you in on what I heard.

The old people said that if you're being chased by a blue runner snake you can stop and turn on it and it will run from you. To a little country girl like myself this sounded fantastic--just like that you could go from being the chasee to the chaser. There was a part of me that always wanted to test this story, but just a small part. Unfortunately for me, (or fortunately, whichever it might be) I never got chased by a blue runner.

I know you're wondering what blue runner snakes have to do with this week's Southern Comfort. Well, I was thinking...

Did you know that the enemy of our souls--that old serpent the Devil--is a great pretender? He is! He just loves to bombard us with fears and worries and threats, or maybe reminders of something we've long since received forgiveness for.

But just like the blue runner snake, there's a way to send the Devil packing when he comes chasing at your heels. The Bible says in I Peter 5:8, "Satan, AS a roaring lion...seeks whom he may devour". I put the word "AS" in capital letters because a wise preacher once showed me this scripture and told me to remember that the Devil couldn't devour me like a roaring lion, he could only pretend to. The Bible also says in Revelations that we overcome the enemy by the word of the Lamb and the power of our testimony.

Now, we're getting somewhere! The secret is to use the word on him. Try it the next time that old snake comes slithering your way, quote him a little Bible, or sing him a little scriptural song. I can't say for sure about blue-runners but, on the authority of God's word, I can confidently say: this is one snake that will flee!

God's best to you,
Shellie

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"Southern Exchange"

Your letters:

Dear Shellie,

Well, I must say I love your site. I was searching for anything southern..and I got All Things Southern!! I live in a little town called Pearland, South of Houston Tx...Clutch City. The city's grownin' on this little town, but we still got our trailrides. I tell ya--give me a horse and a big open field and I'm all smiles.

I sure can relate to the grits too...Mom makes 'em especially for me almost everyday including her specialty-homemade buttermilk biscuits! Now I don't want to start an argument...(I read early on that Tennessee was the best southern state.) But, I'm gonna have to object to that. You come to Texas, it's like a whole 'nother country. You can do all your traveling here and never have to leave the state! Nothin' but wide open spaces and blue skies! Just like our state song goes: "The stars at night are big and bright Deep In the Heart of Texas". It's the truth!

And I might add some of the best country singers came from Texas: Willie..Waylon..David Allan Cole. The list could go on but I have to stop myself. Well, thank you for your time and thank you much for the site. I absolutely love it. Already told some friends about it!

Krissy Ward
Pearland, Texas
P.S. I sure hope some of y'all out there agrees fully with me about Texas!!

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Dear Shellie,

I love your emag! Especially the girly-girl letters. The stories are great and bring back so many childhood memories. I was always called a tom boy too. I just considered myself a normal country girl.

I remember going to church with my grandparents at Cannon Church outside of Spearsville, La. for a "Sociation Meetin'" as they called it. It's a "hard-shell" baptist church and at that time had no indoor plumbing. I was about 4 or 5 and considered old enough to go to the outhouse by myself. I always had to go at least once during the service (tired of sitting still so long).

This particular time, as always, Grandmother told me to come right back. Well, the outhouse was close to a pond, so I HAD to investigate. I was gone too long she thought, and came to find me. I was on my way back across the yard when she found me. She asked why my shoes and sock were wet. My reply..."I found somebody skipping church and had to catch them to bring them in." "Who was it?" she asked with a grin. I reached into the pockets on my dress and pulled out 2 BIG BULLFROGS.

Till her dying day she would tell everyone I told her "If I gotta hear The Word, so do they!" You can rest assured that when the meeting was over my Gramp made sure I Heard and Felt The Word. (Not about the frogs, about my new shoes & socks) He laughed about the frogs later. After that they always checked all of my pockets anytime I went to church. On occasions, I was known to successfully get kittens and a few baby rabbits to hear The Word, but those frogs didn't make it.

Keep up the good work with the emag.

Sincerely,
Lisa Patterson
West Monroe, La

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Please forward ALL THINGS SOUTHERN to your friends and family! (You can also email them the parent site by going to http://www.allthingssouthern.com and clicking on the link that says "email this site to a friend.")

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"A Southern Definition"

"If you never dissected anything before you were required to in school...you could have been a girly-girl."

--Shellie Rushing Tomlinson

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Hi Porchers,
Here's a great site for you to check out. ~Shellie

~~FREE CAJUN RECIPES!~~
From Jazzy Jambalaya, Snazzy Shrimp, Great Gumbos, to Perky Pralines, this site has a lot to offer you for free! I tried the Cajun Catfish, and UMMM GOOD! This is one place you might never want to leave! They even offer a free newsletter filled with recipes,funny cooking stories, and a little Cajun humor.! http://www.cajuncookingrecipes.com/ Aol Link

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WHAT SOUTHERN MOMS TELL THEIR DAUGHTERS...
About beauty: "Pretty is as pretty does!" Do you remember your southern mom's advice about love,marriage, relationships and life in general? Then join the fun; this project is exploding! Write me at tomtom@allthingssouthern.com to have your mom's advice memorialized in my new book: WHAT SOUTHERN MOMS TELL THEIR DAUGHTERS...

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