Southern Hospitality

Not only did the churches of Lumpkin County welcome me to town of Dahlonega . . .

. . . the LOCAL RESIDENTS themselves have been giving me a pretty fine welcome, as well.

You would think I was the ONLY person from west of the Mississippi to ever go to Lumpkin County!

I've been introduced to people, right and left, as "Miss Ginger, all the way from Utah."

Southern hospitality is ALIVE and WELL, let me tell you.
I've had more supper invitation since my arrival in Georgia than I'd received in the last six months at home.
Here I'm a special commondity. A foreigner!

Yesterday, I wandered up through the Appalachian Mountains in my rental car
with the sunroof open and windows down, letting in the fresh air.

Have to say, those mountains are more like rolling hills to folks who live in the Rockies.
Quite lovely in their own right.

Little family farms and ranches dot the countryside. Lots and lots of them.

Tractors which we'd call "antiques" are still in use on these little bitty family operations.


There are plenty of really old churches up in the "hollers", like the one below.
This is Cane Creek First Baptist Church,
established in 1866.


Cane Creek's cemetary was quite fascinating.

Many of the headstones were of Confederate soldiers.

Southerners still honor those grave sites with the Confederate flag.
They also fly Confederate flags in front of their homes. The Civil War isn't quite over in Georgia.

I have been entertained by the meal options here in Georgia. Different grub than I get back home:


Today I chose the crawfish with fried pickles and I wasn't disappointed.
A meal to remember. BTW, they tossed on a mess of collard greens and okra as freebies.

These Southerners are courteous people.
Even the country hillbillies - folks who can't properly conjugate verbs - have manners that would put sophisticated Californians to shame.

That includes the children.

At the motel, a six year old introduced herself as Lila and then asked my name.
"Ginger." I said as I stooped down to meet her eye to eye.
She smiled and speaking in a thick Southern drawl, she remarked,
" That's a right purty name, Miss Ginger. It fits you cuz your a right purty lady."

Georgia in Bloom

A $78 flight deal inspired me to catch a plane to the Deep South where the dogwoods are blooming.
Back home, my crocuses are covered by a blanket of snow . . . Grrrrr.

The greatest American story tellers came out of the South:

Mark Twain, Harper Lee, Margaret Mitchell, Fannie Flagg, Maya Angelou, Eudora Welty,
Flannery O'Conner, William Faulkner . . . and those are just the once at the top of my brain.

I decided that it's high time I get some real CONTEXT for this rich southern culture
which is vastly different from my Utah pioneer heritage.

Add to that lofty desire, it's WARM here. Like, no boots, coats or even sweaters.

I plan to tour those old plantation manors and three will provide me lodgings,
at a total outlay that's less than a modest hotel for one night in NYC.

Will I meet any granddaughers of Ms. Scarlett O'Hare at a debutante ball?

Probably not, seeing how Scarlett really came out of Margaret Mitchell's creative brain.

And, let's face it: if they did exist, they couldn't be any more luscious than my own daughters,

wh0 could've passed for Southern belles, headed off to a debutante ball.

Both Leah and Kelty wore the same lovely lavender dress, two years apart, for their high school proms.

And what a promenade they had!
As their names were read over the loudspeaker,
they dramatically descended the steps of the old county courthouse.

Mind you, all that took place in the Rockies.
Now theses gals have husbands and babies and Big Girl Lives.

****************************

Last night I dined on fried alligator.

It requires lots of chewing, let me tell you.

I decided it was the best thing I've eaten so far.

(Okay. It was my first meal.)

Hey, here's a SHOUT OUT to MJ and T who are keeping the home-fires burning.

More coming.

Spring ???

"Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!"

April hath put a spirit of youth in everything."
William Shakespeare

My Lovely Lassies responded to the seasonal shift with exhilarating enthusiasm.

The rediscovery of GRASS, even with the absence of green vibrancy, beckoned them out-of-doors.

They tossed balls, leaving their coats littered around my living room.

It seemed like SPRING was really on its way.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This morning I woke up and here is the scene which greeted my eyes, taken from the bedroom window:

The yard which had served as a perfectly delightful playground for my lassies looked like this:

Yep. There was snow. Then sun. Then snow once again.


Below - taken @ 2 p.m. today taken from my living room window, looking south.

"April is a promise that May is bound to keep."

Well, that particular promise was definitely broken on this the 2nd day of April.
May seems like the far distant future.

Good thing my goddaughter came home for the weekend,
two lovely friends in tow.

Their laughter cheered me greatly.

My Love Affair with Motorcycles

ABOVE you see the model and year my first motorcycle. I was 19 years old at the time of purchase.

Actually, I co-owned this baby with my little brothers, ages 9 and 11.

We earned the $$$ for this set of wheels by selling candy out of our garage.

THE STORY OF OUR ENTREPRENEURIAL ENTERPRISE: The local public school bus stopped right in front of our driveway which gave me a brilliant idea, born out of the fact I was absolutely aching for a motorcycle. My plan involved becoming a RETAILER. I would purchase 'the goods' (CANDY) from a wholesale vending machine outfit at bargain basement prices and we (my brothers + I) would sell 'the goods' at PREMIUM prices due to our prime real estate location. The boys came on board 200%.

So, I set up the store before the school bus arrived. Then, I flipped up the garage door just as I heard the bus coming 'round the bend. LOTS of ravenous kids poured out of the bus, including my brothers . . . my business partners. They set to work, helping me with sales.

Well, we made quite a fortune from this convenient retail location. Indeed, profits were sufficient to buy our motorcycle, just in the nick of time. We were forced to shut down the operation due to the howls of parental protest throughout our neighborhood. (BTW, I know that it was morally wrong to give children cavities and tummy aches. I have a more enlightened perspective which comes with age.)

To this day, my grown-up brothers have old motorcycles sitting in their garages and it all started in a GARAGE back in 1972.

************************

During my first year of marriage, 1975 - 1976, my husband and I lived in Spain and snagged . . .

a very classy MOTORCYCLE.

A BMW street bike from the World War II era.

It took us on some AMAAAAZING trips during our year abroad.

Yes. That's actually me behind that helmet.

This bike served as the back wall of our lean-to tent, created from plastic sheeting.
We were young and managed fine with bare-bones lodgings during our travels.

****************

When we returned to Utah, there was the Honda CL 175 Twin Scrambler:


My husband and brother Scott tore apart the engine and rebuilt the transmission.
It became my primary vehicle in the warmer months.

Once a cop took me for an under-aged boy and pulled me over, sirens blaring.
He showed signs of deep embarrassment when he found out there was a woman behind that helmet . . .

and she was definitely of age.

Back in those days, we women cyclists were FEW on the road. (Especially in Utah.)

**********************

It wasn't long before I was pushing strollers rather than riding motorcycles.

As a single mom, WRECK-LESS BEHAVIOR definitely out of bounds.

However, when my son was 13-ish, his best friend's father came over on a KAWASAKI 450:

He was selling it. I asked if I could take it for a spin. Oh how GLORIOUS!

Impulsively, I wrote out a $300 check for the bike and acquired it the same day.

My mother said she was waiting for that to happen.

My kids were completely genuinely appalled.
They had no idea that their dear mother was actually a Motorcycle Mama.

I rode that sweet bike for over a decade.

It helped me decompress after long days of running a child care center.

I loved to vroooooom over the scenic windy mountain passes, here in the Rockies.

*********************

In 2008, my spine was rebuilt to look like THIS:


After becoming a bionic woman, I really REALLY considered my motorcycle days to be over.

Made me awfully sad to sell that Kawasaki 450.

HOWEVER,
when I went Island Hopping with Leah in February of this year,

I threw caution to the tropical winds
and rented a fine little chariot on the island of Bonaire.

Bonaire has roads like THIS:

Look at this photo.
Who in their right minds would NOT want to go motorcycling there?

My joyride took me over every mile of asphalt on that island.

It felt sooooooo good. Oh my goodness! I had almost forgotten that inexplicable BLISS.

Of course I had to take extra pain meds that night.
My new spine didn't exactly LIKE the ride.

However, it was completely WORTH IT.

My only regret - no photos.



Wait a minute! I FOUND ONE:

St. Paddy's & Go Karts

Here's a tribute to this week's holiday -

Okay. I just plopped goofy photos of my grandkids' faces onto those animated bodies.
(The ambulatory grands, that is.)

None-the-less, two of those kids - Brinley + Avery - really CAN do Irish dancing
and they do it quite well, I must confess!

If you don't believe me, you can see them HERE.


My Chicago kids, Kelty and Duane, have told me all about their city's St. Paddy's Day celebration.
I didn't quite believe them when they said that the river is dyed GREEN.

Well, it is:


***********************

This week my nephew Matthew was here from California
while his dad was leading a conference.

I discovered the way to a 13 year-old boy's heart . . .


GO KARTS!

He was zipping around so fast that my shots were not the greatest quality.

However, I certainly caught the EXHILARATION,
with a little help from PhotoShop!

Beloved Canine Friend

My grandchildren adore Grandma Ginger's dog.

The photo above is my eldest grandchild, taken about a million years ago.

I mean, she's losing her baby teeth and soon turning eight years old!


When certain grandchildren call on the phone, they are happy to talk with me,
and even HAPPIER to have a little chat with their canine friend.

Tonight, as is often the case, I dutifully put the phone up to my dog's ear,
as the kids cooed tender, loving words to their furry friend.

My dog is a pure-bred MUTT from the pound.

She's almost ten-years-old, but she can still learn NEW TRICKS.

Recently, she learned how to hold her biscuit between her jaws until I tell her she can go eat it.

I can take a stroll around the house while she's latching onto that biscuit,
waiting for my cue.

A friend tells me this is sadistic.

Actually, my dog LOVES this game. Not just the biscuit, but the GAME.

*******************************

Here's a local sign of SPRING:

(Photo - courtesy of John Curtis.)

Ice on our lake is breaking up.

The Best Thing in My Kitchen

Have you heard of the Blendtec blender?

If not, you're missing out.

These machines are so much more than your average blender on the market.

They grind wheat or flax seed.

They make perfect soups without a stove.

They crush ice, juice, and make ice cream.

Tom Dickson, the CEO of Blendtec, took this machine of his to the limit with his YouTube videos entitled:

Four years ago, he started with boring stuff like rake handles . . .

Then he moved into the high-tech arena with iPhones:

Here's what an iPhone looks like AFTER it is blended:

In 2010, Tom moved up the high-tech ladder and blended an iPad:

YouTube Hits on the iPad blend = over TEN MILLION!

Tom Dickson is about the most FAMOUS guy I know.

When I was a kid, he was a twerpy teenager hanging around in our garage,
tinkering with my bro and calling me by the nickname of DinDin.

His tinkering - not his name-calling - paid off BIG.

Along with a gzillion other people, I'm a beneficiary of his brain child.

This machine does the healthy stuff . . .

like my daughter demonstrated on this week's blog post - HERE.


and not-so-healthy, but really TASTY STUFF.

Well, there IS fruit in the ice cream. BTW, it's really, really easy.

Did you see the fruit in that first blender in the post? That smoothie will be BOTH
terrifically tasty AND packed with good, fresh nutrients.
Think Jamba Juice made at HOME. BTW, they are the blender used by Jamba Juice.

If you own a Blendtec blender,
would you take 2 SECONDS to VOTE it as the World's Best Blender - HERE.
I already know you people think it's TOPS.
And it would be awfully nice if you voted for dear Tommy.

If you don't own one, talk to me.
I'll get you a great deal that you won't find at Costco.

All boxed up, with a super-duper warranty.