Posts Tagged ‘article’
Betty Crocker raised my boys
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…
Read MoreTable napkins pull us together
The sale of paper table napkins is on the decline, due in part to people not sitting down at a table to eat a meal. Millennials in particular feel that paper towels are just as good and a faster option to dabbing the corners of their crumbly sticky mouths. When I read this breaking napkin…
Read MoreUse the good china
A version of this story can be found in my book, Exploding Hushpuppies— More Stories from Home. My brother and I were settled deep into the orange shag carpet watching The Brady Bunch, when we heard an enormous crash. My mother, who had fortunately stepped into the garage for a moment, thought an airplane had…
Read MoreThe Miss Okra Pageant
I served as a judge for the 43rd annual Miss Okra pageant, and I’ll tell you what — there are some mighty talented young ladies around here. This year’s winner, Miss Louella Rae Langenhooper grabbed my vote when she appeared on stage wearing a stunning green gown, the exact color of ripe okra. She looked…
Read MoreDon’t let the crashing waves get you down
For generations, Southerners have flocked to what we consider to be “our beaches.” Stretching along the Gulf Coast from Gulf Shores, Alabama to Panama City Beach, Florida We make the trek every year, hoping no one else has discovered our spot of paradise. We easily recognize those who drove from far away to reach…
Read MoreThe miracle of the mother
Even though there’s no maternal element mentioned, the Bible story about the loaves and fishes has always made me think of mothers. I’ve never had a problem believing the small lunch was multiplied to feed thousands, but what’s difficult to accept is that out of all the people at the gathering that day, the only…
Read MoreSweet home of perfection
Other than a lap full of puppies and dirty feet, my favorite thing to play was, “house.” An incomplete set of chipped Wedgewood dishes, an old orange rug, one small table and two little chairs were in the playhouse I loved. The house was absolutely perfect as far as I was concerned, and I knew…
Read MoreThe power of the car keys
Someone needs to have a little chat with the smarty pants engineers who are designing the self- driving cars of the very near future. These brainiacs may have solved the problem of traffic jams and the stress associated with them, but they haven’t given one thought to the new problem they’re creating for parents. Sure,…
Read MoreShow a little kindness
For the past few weeks, a story has been making the national rounds about Florida State University’s Wide-Receiver, Travis Rudolph, who visited a local middle school and in an act of kindness, sat with a student named Bo, who was all alone at the lunch table. There weren’t just a few empty seats around him,…
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