deltamiss

Happy Birthday to the best brother in the world! :D

Mama was always a force to be reckoned with. In her early years, I imagine - no, I know - she created a stir wherever she went. Taken to raise by an aunt and uncle with grown and nearly grown daughters of their own, Mama probably turned that house upside down every day. She must have.

I have letters written to her by her grandfather. The envelopes are simply addressed to "Sue Baby" followed by the name of the closest town. Everyone knew Sue Baby...even the postwoman.

Mama was not the easiest person to live with, but there was never a time that my brother and I didn't know she loved us. Perhaps the issues she and I had over the years resulted from dispositions that were almost identical...quick to anger, demanding and stubborn to the core. She mellowed as she aged so there's hope for me yet.

She was a fantastic cook, had a musical ear, and loved my daddy; but her life was the church. She was there every time the doors opened and sometimes when they weren't. She opened her heart to friends and never met a stranger. She took care of her mother for years, took care of Daddy's aging aunt and uncle, and made a point to visit each member of the family in the area at least once a month. She was a regular at the hospital, visiting sick and injured.

Mama and Daddy were Maureen's caretakers when, as a single mother, I couldn't take Mo for her four-day visits to St. Jude. They even spent each weekday at the rehab in Memphis for three months so I could work during the week and Melanie and I could go to Memphis on the weekends. We used to look for each other on Friday and Sunday evenings on the road and wave in passing. They spent four years hauling my daughter back and forth. I could never repay them for that in a million years.

It's been thirteen years today since Mama died, and still a day doesn't go by that I don't think about her. I miss watching Braves baseball with her. I miss hearing her alto harmony in church. I miss her phone calls to tell me it's snowing (a rare occurrence in the Mississippi Delta) or the red plum jelly is ready. I miss her laugh, her hugs. I just miss her.

They say it's the most important meal of the day.

My mother cooked breakfast every day of her married life - every day. Cooked it from scratch. Sunday morning: pancakes and sausage or bacon; Monday-Friday: oatmeal, toast, sausage or bacon; Saturday: biscuits, gravy, eggs, grits, sausage or bacon. Sometime she'd melt a little cheddar cheese on the side or add grits to the Sunday meal, but Monday-Friday was always the same.

Food was the last thing on my mind first thing in the morning all my life. I think it's because I'd always eaten my big meal at night, but the thought of food early in the morning was revolting. Mama made me eat something, though, and drink a glass of juice. When I moved from home, I swore off breakfast. For years I would consider it on weekends because I could eat later in the day, but never during the week. Never.

Worse yet, were the cold winter nights when Daddy would request breakfast for supper. UGH! When one could have a juicy hamburger or chicken and dumplings, WHY would one even suggest such a meal? Mama usually tried to make the meal at least a little enticing for my brother and me. She would make two little biscuits that snuggled into the center of the iron skillet, squish her thumb print indention in each and say, "One for you, and one for Dwayne." When you're hungry from a long, active day, you'll eat anything put before you. Those little biscuits were surprisingly good with Uncle C.D.'s honey drizzled over them or Miss Juanita's pear preserves piled high. ;) Once in a while, she would make another treat that has become my favorite.

When the girls came along, I realized they needed to eat breakfast, even if I didn't. I was a stay-at-home mom until Melanie was six, and their dad had a grueling job on a ranch. Everyone needed breakfast. I cooked just like Mama had. Eggs, biscuits or toast, grits, oatmeal, bacon or sausage, etc. But the girls liked cereal best. In fact, Melanie learned to read by stringing letters from Alpha-Bits together. ;) Eventually, they even eschewed the morning meal. I don't think Melanie eats breakfast to this day...maybe on weekends.

A year or so ago, I began taking a breakfast bar or a bagel to school with me, and would eat it around 6:00 or 6:30. Since I'd been up since 4:00, my mind and stomach didn't rebel against the thought. I'm in the habit now, and have successfully incorporated breakfast into my life - even on weekends. Of course, I've gained close to ten pounds in the last two years, too. ACK! But it's a habit I don't want to break. I feel more energetic longer on school days, and I need all the energy I can get Monday-Friday.

My all-time favorite breakfast is what Mama called Eggs in a Basket. A slice of bread with the center cut out toasted in a skillet with an egg dropped into the hole. I've begun adding a little cheddar cheese on top for some added flavor. The cut-out is slathered in some sort of jelly or jam. Include coffee, and I'm in hog heaven.

( Saturday Morning Breakfast )

Mama always bought hard Christmas candy for the holidays and kept it in a candy dish on the coffee table in the living room. Nothing says Christmas to me as much as a bowl of hard candies...pillow, ribbon, fruit.

Photo of the Day...'Christmas Past'...

Project 366 called early today. ;)

Last week (or maybe week before last) Portraiture by Melanie earned the Lenoir County Chamber of Commerce Visual Improvement Award. What an honor! Granted, Melanie and Jeff had little to do with the outside renovations of the building, but still...

The historic building faces west, and the sun was just peeking over the tops of the tall buildings when I took this picture. I hate the reflection of the buildings across the street obscure the window display, but I forgot to recharge the battery in the camera and could only get two pictures before it went dead. :( You can at least see the difference in Melanie's studio and the ratty building next door. Basically, that's what Melanie's looked like until the redo...maybe worse.

Yep, I'm proud of Mel and Jeff. They have worked so diligently to build their business and the hard work has paid off. :D

Photo of the Day...'First Award'...I expect there'll be many more.

My father's mother died when I was barely into my senior year of high school. Mamaw was a wonder. She worked until she was nearly seventy as the head of the alteration department at a local department store and made the best coconut cake in the world.

Miss Carrie, as everyone - including her husband - called her, was an anomaly of sorts in her family. She divorced my grandfather during a time when divorce was considered a mortal sin; she worked in cotton fields all day and sewed for others all night (my dad says that the last sound he heard every night before going to sleep was the whir of the old pedal sewing machine); she wore make up (gasp); she was addicted to fabric; she raised her own vegetables and tended an orchard; she cooked huge meals for the whole family every Sunday yet never missed Sunday school or church for years; she scared a would-be burglar away by quietly telling him she had a shotgun pointed at him.

Other than the aroma of roses, the one thing that evokes memories of Mamaw is the sweet smell of honeysuckle. Honeysuckle wound itself over and around an old shed in the orchard, draped itself over the fences and captured the frame of a wide swing in the front yard. My cousin and I (and later her brother and mine) would sit in the swing and drink nectar from the blooms.

Today memories fill my mind as the aroma of the honeysuckle outside floods my house.

Photo of the day...

Every Monday is Family Day at Melanie and Jeff's house with activities centering around fun things the family can do together. For the last few weeks, they've been Geo Caching, and they agreed to take me along today. What FUN!

In case you don't know what Geo Caching is: http://www.geocaching.com/. A hand-held GPS system is required, and coordinates are downloaded from the website to the device.

So today's Project 366 photo is hidden among the large number of pictures of the day behind the cut. Feel free to skip on by if you're sick of my overly zealous new found hobby - photography - but you'll miss a great shot of me if you do. ;)

( It's an Easter Egg Hunt from a different planet... )