Hurricanes need Southern names

By Leslie Anne Tarabella / May 26, 2021 /

The World Meteorological Association has announced a list of names for this year’s storms. When we ran out of names last year, they supplemented with Greek letters like Eta and Iota. This year, they’ve decided to go ahead and create a second list of regular names — like the JV squad.  Since most hurricanes blast…

Betty Crocker raised my boys

By Leslie Anne Tarabella / May 21, 2021 /

When my house would rumble with skinny, sweaty, screaming teenage boys, I learned that all I needed to calm them was my 13-inch cast iron skillet and a $1 box of Betty Crocker Cake Mix.  Sure, I can bake from scratch and have produced beautiful Hummingbird, Red Velvet and Lemon Curd layer cakes — regionally…

Pants on Fire, Don’t tell Mom

By Leslie Anne Tarabella / May 7, 2021 /

My son just told me a story about the time he was a little boy and attempted to construct a circuit using a few batteries, paper clips, tin foil and other thing-a-ma-jigs he found around the house. The experiment was unsuccessful, so he shoved the items into his pocket along with a few pieces of…

Grand Ole Opry and other great things

By Leslie Anne Tarabella / April 30, 2021 /

Busy days have taken me to The Grand Ole Opry and beyond. Here’s what’s going on.

Sundog Books

By Leslie Anne Tarabella / April 7, 2021 /

This was my view from the socially-distanced open-air front porch of the charming Sundog Books in Seaside, Florida. Not a bad day at the “office!” Have any of you been to Seaside? It was truly one of the best book signings I’ve had. Not only did I sell out of the hardback copies of Exploding…

Garden District Book Shop

By Leslie Anne Tarabella / March 19, 2021 /

I made a quick dash over to New Orleans to visit The Garden District Book Shop. Any excuse to go to New Orleans is great, but a visit to this well-known book loving shop was incredible. I’m so happy they will be carrying “Exploding Hushpuppies, More Stories from Home.” I’ve been to The Garden District…

“Helping” with the name

By Leslie Anne Tarabella / March 5, 2021 /

Before the day comes when I get a daughter-in-law of my very own, I think it’s wise to go ahead and make a list of all the suitable baby names available for our family. Don’t you think that’s a thoughtful way for me to “help?” This list was created by the guidelines of the Committee…

A perfectly timed love

By Leslie Anne Tarabella / February 12, 2021 /

by Leslie Anne Tarabella with Linda Higbee Smith Karl and Erika Pellinat in their adopted city of Fairhope, AL It isn’t a lack of words that makes this story difficult to tell. Instead, it’s because there is so much to tell, it’s hard to know where to begin. Karl and Erika Pellinat’s love story is…

A Valentine’s Day video

By Leslie Anne Tarabella / February 11, 2021 /

Valentine’s Day 2020 was one of the last big flings we had before the world shut down with COVID-19. If we had only known how strange things would get the next month, I think we would have all celebrated on an even larger scale. Here are the cookies I baked and decorated in 2020. And…

1964 Sears Catalog

By Leslie Anne Tarabella / January 11, 2021 /

My mother gave me the coolest thing ever —  the 1964 Spring and Summer edition of the Sears Catalog. No one comes to my house and sees it without gasping and wanting to flip through the pages to see what’s inside. Some almost shout while others whisper, “Oh! Look at this!” “they have a little…