A Hankering for Cornbread Dressing

                                    

I have a 'hankering' for some good ole southern cornbread dressing this morning. With mashed potatoes and gravy. Forget the turkey! 

My Mama made the best cornbread dressing ever! 

Oh, that makes me remember the time I tried making dressing for the first time. It was 1957 and we were living in an apartment on Castle Street in Honolulu. There were 8 apartments and our landlord was Mr. Ching. He was a quiet man but I can still, in my mind's ear, hear him shuffling around the property wearing those leather flip-flops of his. 

picture taken from internet

He was kind, a good landlord. Once a month he'd host a luau out in the parking lot in front of our building. Those were always fun. 

Shirley entertaining everyone at one of our luaus. 

One day he came up to me  and asked, 'you from the south, right? How 'bout you making some of that yellow pudding for our next luau?'

Yellow pudding? Maybe he meant banana pudding. It's yellow. Or maybe a lemon pie, or just plan vanilla pudding. I had no clue what he was asking me to make. 

I asked Alice who lived next door. What the heck is Mr. Ching talking about? 

" Oh, he loved cornbread dressing that a previous resident used to make."

Cornbread Dressing!!

picture taken from AllRecipes online

Lordy mercy on me. I'd never made that dish in my life. And, this was decades before Google and it was too expensive to call my Mama for advice. In fact, we didn't even have a telephone!  So, I just winged it.

Luau night came, the group was in fine spirits and I nervously sat my dish of cornbread dressing among all the other yummy food on the table. The salads, the veggies, the poi, the lomi-lomi salmon.

My dressing was a disaster! Dry, not enough seasoning, just awful.

Guess you know Mr. Ching never asked me to make yellow pudding again. 

Poor Mr. Ching. Well, I tried. I really did. I can make cornbread dressing now but it never measures up to my Mama's. 

Mountain Majesty

 I do love me some mountains. I love the rise and fall of the landscape, the palette of colors in both spring and fall, the excitement of riding along and seeing 'way over yonder'. (That was my Mom's old saying). I love the way mist drifts down and nestles around a mountain like a blanket around a child. I love mountains in any season, in any weather. They are God's magic created just for us to enjoy. 

I hope you enjoy these photos I have taken over time of one of my favorite places to be - the mountains. 

Have a wonderful weekend.. Hugs to all of you! 

                                                                            Latane

The Signs of Fall

                           The Signs of Fall I Love the Best

Doesn't it make you want to get out and enjoy the brisk air, the sound of falling leaves, the hint of chimney smoke?

What are your favorite signs of Fall?

Monday Memory - Strollers

 Things change! Boy, do they! 

I wonder if any of you remember the strollers we used for our babies? Of course, they probably are all different depending on the time we had those little ones. 

I first stroller I had was of course for my first child, Marie. We were living in San Diego, California and here is Marie in her stroller in front of our row of apartments. It looks so darn strange now, doesn't it? 

That weird push handle... my word and that half enclosed seating area. That couldn't have been comfortable. And, oh my gosh... the wheels had covers! Uptown, for sure. Year... 1952

Susan came along in 1963. No pics of the transportation for the two in between.

The push handle looks more sturdy. And, the seating is actually cloth which had to be better than sitting for hours on metal! A nice comfortable place to rest those sweet feet and a tray to hold toys. To heck with the wheel covers!! 

In 11 years the manufactors had made a huge improvement. 

Then the grandbabies came along. Still more changes made in their care.

A trip to the zoo with Christopher and Yvonne. Strollers were totally minamilized. 

But, Grandmother to the rescue. Now, this is the way to travel. I had such fun pushing those grandbabies around the yard in our wheelbarrow. Better than a stroller any day of the week. 

Welcome Fall

                            Happy 1st Day of Autumn!

Let's enjoy these glorious day of fall. 

Much love to you all. 

Latane

A Bug and a Flood

 

yep, an old tummy bug hit me Tuesday morning and it has laid me low ever since. But, it did, however, give me a chance to catch up on some streaming. Dau. Susan said I should watch a series 'Perfect Couple' on Netflix. 

So, I got started and before I fell asleep last night I had finished the thing. Talk about keeping you guessing. See, there was a wedding going on in Nantucket but the night before the ceremony one of the bridesmaids comes up dead in the Ocean. And, you just keep wondering which one of those nutty people did it! 

I am not going to tell.. you gotta read the book or watch the series to find out. 

It has been raining so much here but we didn't get as much as a lot of places. Son Michael used to live in Southport, N. C. He posted some pictures from there on facebook. I am so thankful that he isn't living there in that mess now. 

They will have a lot of rebuilding of roads it looks like. 

Hope you all stay dry, safe and happy.

Hugs 

Bears and Snakes OH MY

 

It was 1951, I was a new bride living far from home, just waiting for my sailor husband's ship to pull out of port for Korea. 

I was only there for about 3 weeks so we rented a room upstairs over some sort of business. The young Navy wife in the room next to us and I struck up a friendship and we spent lots of time together. 

Me and Millie having a big laugh on our apartment rooftop

One day we hopped a bus and rode over to the San Diego Zoo. That zoo is top-notch and we spent all afternoon looking at bears sun-bathing, monkeys jumping from tree to tree, birds preening in wire cages. We'd about done it all when Millie, that's my new friend, wanted to go in the Snake House. I do not like snakes! But, to please her I suffered through looking at all those slimey, slithering things.

It was late when we got back, the guys had duty. I'm not fond of spending the night alone but I'd crawled into bed, trying to fall asleep, when there is a banging on my door. It's Millie. 

"I'm scared. There's something in my apartment. Can I sleep with you?" Of course, we both have visions of those huge snakes in our heads. Imagination can be a wonderful thing... or it can scare you half to death! 

So, I slid over and gave her a spot next to me.  

Next morning, she cautiously opened her door. I would have been leery of going in there myself. So, being the 'friend' that I was, I went back into my room and left her to face the THING all by herself. Wasn't that just sweet of me!! 

A few minutes later she's banging on my door again. 

"I found it," she said. The picture hanging over her bed had fallen and scared her half to death. Well, at least we had each other. We agreed, no more visiting Snake Houses at the zoo!! 

I am Bored!

 I am just bored 'outta my gourd'. 

It's Sunday. There's nothing to watch on tv. The phone doesn't ring. Noone drops by. And, I don't want to tackle a big project. I do need one day of rest, right?

Yesterday I set up a painting station in my office/guest bedroom. I've been needing to do this for a long time. It was such a chore trying to drag my art supplies out from every nook and cranny. Now, I can just sit down and paint. Which is what I did! Here's what I cranked out yesterday. 

I'd painted onions before. I think maybe I like this one the best. What do you think?

Here's the ones I'd already done?

Not in the mood to paint today. Just may go in the kitchen and cook me up something to eat. A gal can eat when she can't do anything else! 

I do cook ... 

Sometimes

I made some corn chowder the other day for lunch. 

It was yummy

We Must Never Forget

 

Oftentimes we move on, get busy with life...

but there is one day in our lives that we will remember forever! 

                                                                         Sept 11, 2001

As that morning evolved, we all stopped in our tracks and stared at the television. Surely this was not happening. Not in OUR country. 

But, it was. 

How it affected each of us is different but it left it's indelibile mark on our lives, nontheless. That scar will never heal. 

                                                                        Do Not Ever Forget

The Intruder

 I often get what my grandmother called 'wild hairs'.. 

That means that it's a completely ridiculous idea.

I think I tried this once before but my 'wild hair' died and I moved on.

It's back!!

                    I want to do Memory Monday again.

Some have told me they enjoy my stories. I hope you will enjoy these Monday tales.

So, here goes............

After my husband retired from his Navy career he moved the family to Alabama, out in the country, at the end of a dirt road. We could see one neighbor! 

The kids all grew up, moved out, and I became an empty-nester at the end of this road. Oh, BTW, it had been paved by then.

My husband loved to foxhunt, spending all night in the woods, spinning yarns with other hunters, listening to the hounds chasing a fox. And, that left me alone.

We had enclosed the carport and was using it as a bedroom. The head of the bed was under a high-up on the wall window at the front of the house. 

I was alone... dreading to go to bed. I don't do nighttime well. I see and hear buggers everywhere and if I screamed no one would hear me. 

Finally I crawl into bed and fall asleep. Awhile later, I am jolted out of my sleep by the sound of someone walking on the other side of that wall. I am petrified. I just know that somebody is about to break in. I lay there trembling, scared outta my wits but eventally get up enough courage to stand up on the bed and peer out the window. 

The moonlight wasn't bright, a quarter or half one I guess, but there was enough light for me to make out my 'intruder'. One of our cows had gotten out of the pasture. She was busy walking around just outside my bedroom, having herself a feast in my flower bed. 

           Some of our cows... I wonder which one was 'the intruder'? 

My Day! VZ/ZXX?XUGH

 Yesterday was a Wednesday... the 4th to be exact. 

But, in my apartment, it felt like Friday the 13th! At my first peek at the internet I only saw the sign that I had none. I did the usual. You know, turning the computer off for a bit and then turning it on again. NOTHING! 

                                   I tried later. NOTHING!

Finally I get a text message from my provider saying there were problems that they were working on. Okay. So, I'll find something else to do. 

Then my cell phone started giving me notification signals.... every few minutes. Each time I'd open it up, look.. NOTHING. No new emails, calls, messages. What the heck! 

After awhile that beeping was getting under my skin! 

Then I get a text saying my network service had been restored. Yippee!

I log on, open up Facebook. look at a couple of friends posts, then I open up what I thought was a very innocent post about what celebrities had worn to a red carpet event. I like pretty clothes. 

But, pretty clothes was not what it showed me. My monitor screen was covered in over a dozen very explicit photos of porn and I could not get rid of it. I tried everything. It was telling me that my computer had been shut down and I was to call this number. Folks,  don't ever fall for that crap! It's a hoax. 

Instead I called my wonderful tech savy son-in-law, John. Over the phone he walked me through what to do to get back online. Lordy, I don't know what I'd do without that guy! 

But, the notification beep was still annoying the heck outta me. I went to settings, then notification and discovered I had a voice mail. I am one of those stupid nuts that almost never checks her voice mail. So, because I don't... I paid for it. Beep, Beep, Beep!! 

I recently ordered a book called "How To Drag a Body .... etc." In it was a chapter on computer hacking. I made notes. I'll do another post on that at a later date. But, this world of social media and life in general is getting darn scary. We all need to protect ourselves and each other. 

I think I'll never forget those porn images as long as I live. I won't be opening any more posts I don't know who posted it. 

Nothing Stops Miss P

 I just have to tell you about one of my neighbors here at the 55+ apartment complex! 

                                        We call her Miss P

                                         It fits her to a tee! 

She is 92 years old and I have never seen that woman when she wasn't dressed to the hilt. There's the dangly earrings, chunky necklaces and her signature eyeglasses and lordy, she is never without her high, high heels. How that woman walks in those things is  beyond me. 

When the Kentucky Derby was on, we had this fun-filled party going on, thanks to my Shirley who headed it up. There were mock-mint juleps and lots of food. There were guessing games and we even had our own race.  The horses were really stick horses attached to walkers and rollators. 

Now, you lookout for Miss P! She won once out of three races. And, in those red high heels. 

                    Gotta love her attitude. Gotta love that woman!