Thursday, July 9, 2015

And That's What I Like About The South

I feel extremely southern today. And after watching a video of Representative Jenny Horne in South Carolina address the House there concerning the taking down of the Confederate flag, I am damn proud to be one.

Julia Sugarbaker was not a real person but goddam trust me on this- she sure was based on a lot of them.

So what contributed to these feelings of southerness in me today?


Well, I sat and shelled peas for about an hour and there they are with some yard-longs, snapped up, and one tiny squash and a bunch of onions. While I was shelling peas, I watched a movie, a documentary, called Larry Kramer In Love and Anger and I cried and if history doesn't remember him as one of the bravest, most dedicated humans ever to live, then we don't deserve to have a history.
I sat there on the couch, my big plastic bowl of peas in my lap, my thumbs working, and I remembered those horrible times when gay men were dying in the hundreds of thousands and Ronald Reagan and the FDA were sitting on their asses and it took the people, the people, y'all, to get shit done and it did get done and because of the work Kramer and others did, millions are still alive who would not have been.
Reminds me of our Elizabeth and all the parents and the Stanley brothers, trying to get this hemp oil legalized for the thousands and thousands of children and adults who might well die without it.
Phew.
Okay.

Now look here:


A beautiful basket of figs.

Every good southern woman does not have a fig tree and grow tomatoes and peas and gets so excited about them but this southern woman does and does and does and does.
And then of course there's the chickens scratching in the magnolia leaves and the clothes I hung on the line and the late afternoon thunderstorm threatening to come in with great deep rolls of thunder and sweet breezes of cooler air.

So to top everything off this evening, I'd like to post this video James McMurtry made about the Forgotten Coast, as we call it. I know every place in this video and yep, that's where we plan to retire.



Some of you may even recognize some of these scenes from my posts about going down to the coast.

Anything else I should talk about?
Ah, probably not.

I'm going to go peel some shrimp to put in a salad to go with the peas and rice. Our neighbor's coming over for supper. Maybe he'll bring some more of those boiled peanuts he made last week. They were the best.

Say what you will about the south, sometimes it's a damn fine place to live.

Love...Ms. Moon

P.S. He did not bring boiled peanuts. He brought me a beautiful bowl he made out of downed pecan wood.
See what I mean?
Yeah.



19 comments:

  1. I miss the south, particularly the south that is made up of yous. Thank you for the shout-out, Ms. Moon -- and thank you for the link to that wonderful woman yelling about the flag. You neglected to say that she was a Republican, which makes it even more powerful.

    And that vegetable saute! It looks so good!

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  2. Thanks for the link, gives me hope when the right thing is done. Still amazed about the Supreme court doing it two days in a row! I love me some James McMurtry!
    Barbara

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  3. My husband said he watched a cooking show (called The Hairy Bikers) with the presenters visiting Mississipi, last night. Biscuits and sausage gravy, and pulled pork on bread with coleslaw. I think he was close to passing out from that particular food lust you get from watching it on tv. And he loved all the people's stories they included. I think he's about to go to Mississipi and buy himself some sort of guitar and sandwich club.

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  4. Elizabeth- Two days in a row now, I have linked Republicans doing the right thing. Perhaps it is the end-times? And woman- you know- you are one of my heroes.

    Barbara- And of course, he's my favorite American author's son. Lonesome Dove. The great American novel. In my opinion, of course.

    Jo- Mississippi is sort of holy ground for the blues, you know. They cook good there too. I understand your husband's lust.

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  5. As I've told you before, you've shown me a Florida I would never have known existed, The Yearling notwithstanding.(My sixth grade math teacher spent several weeks reading it aloud to us, and yes, bless his heart. He was an environmentalist sixty years ahead of his time.)

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  6. Those figs made me die. Literally. I am dead writing from my idea of Jesus Heaven. When I was a kid we poured salted peanuts into the top of a cold bottle of Pepsi the kind of bottle that slid sideways out of a big cooler sort of contraption. Then we'd sit in the backyard and drink the Pepsipeanuts. The weird thing is I think this was a southern thing but I don't know which of my relatives brought it to us. The neighborhood kids thought we were crazy but joke's on them cause we were.

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  7. You live in paradise, for sure. I'm so glad you write about its beauty, its weirdness, its weather, its critters, and all the lovely people you know. Keep up the good work.

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  8. A- I love that teacher of yours. Bless his heart! And I mean that truly.

    Rebecca- That's another southern thing that I had no experience with. Sometimes I wonder if I"m really southern at all. But I'm pretty sure I am. It's like I said the other day- there's a hell of a lot of south and maybe I got turnip greens and roots and mangoes and guavas and someone else got peanuts in Pepsis. It's okay. I'm so glad you got to enjoy that. Plenty for us all.

    Denise- Well, there isn't really any true paradise here unless it's someplace I haven't visited yet and I'm sort of glad for that because if I did, I would never want to leave. But it's interesting. And it sure does smell and feel and taste and look good sometimes. Not always. But sometimes.

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  9. What beautiful figs! Jealous.
    having a fig tree is a dream of mine.

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  10. The figs, shelling peas, shrimp and boiled peanuts all remind me of my childhood. I haven't been feeling very southern lately with all that is going on in the world. Thanks for writing about some good southern things. Gail

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  11. Bethany- Can you grow figs up there?

    Gail- I think we all need to stop being ashamed of being southern and just try to represent that which is good about it. There are ignorant bigots everywhere. Ours are just really vocal. Or at least, that's what I'm telling myself.

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  12. Some of the people I grew up with break my heart a little. I don't engage them in debate, that would be a waste of time. I just try to steer any communication with them to neutral things. Gail

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  13. I think every place has its beauty and its not-so-much. I love seeing and hearing about other places - like your home place - and the wonderfulness of the internet and the generosity of bloggers allows me to do that. I see Florida differently than I did before finding your blog, and it's not better or worse, just more detailed.

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  14. Jenny Horne, republican, made me very proud, too.

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  15. I jsut watched the video of the removal of that awful flag. It gave me chills! What a wonderful moment!

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  16. Gail- I hear you.

    jenny_o- It surely is an honor for me to be able to share this part of my world. It's an interesting place with a lot of beauty.

    Angella- Me too!!

    Birdie- Amen, sister!

    Ellen Abbott- There truly is. And it's generally not boring.

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  17. I agree with you about the South, though there are sure a lot of troublemakers there too. (I grew up with a lot of them!)

    The peas and the figs look amazing. And yes, Larry Kramer is a hero, though I'm sure he is also an incredibly difficult human being. He gets shit done. I'm glad he's out there but I'm also glad I'm not his friend or relative.

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  18. Jenny Horne was magnificent. And even if she is a Republican, I have to say that she is a warrior and one who stood for the right thing regarding the flag and all the heritage BS. I have only lived in the South but I must say that SC has an enormous amount of issues to overcome. Racism is a huge issue here still.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.