Newspaper Page Text
Houston
SATURDAY,
DECEMBER 30, 2006
Happy
New Year
from mile
marker 23
The keys leading to Key
West are identified by
how many miles they
are from Key West; thus,
Cudjoe Key is 23 miles (mm
23) from Key West. My
husband
and I dis
covered
this spot
several
years ago
and spent
many a
Christmas
here
among
good
friends
mmmm
u
Jane Winston
The Left Rail
and that is what brought me
here this year. That, plus
this crazy notion of driving
from the upper Peninsula
of Michigan to Key West,
Florida during one year!
If you have never visited
Key West, you might want to
add it to that list of “things
I want to do before I die.” I
have always said that Key
West reminds me of a high
class, third world country,
and I base that remark on
my observations:
Yesterday we had break
fast at Pepe’s - along with
two large dogs that weren’t
dining but were certainly
under foot.
Feral cats were “cat nap
ping” everywhere, many of
them being six-toed (poly
dactyl) cats made famous
by Ernest Hemingway who
spent a great deal of time in
the Keys.
Handsome roosters and
their pretty hen friends
were sighted in grocery
store parking lots and open
air restaurants.
Unkempt homeless folks
were on the streets along
with others who prefer an
alternate lifestyle, and folks
from other countries wear
ing clothing that does not
cover them as well as I think
it should. Music wafted from
the open air restaurants; the
conch train snaked through
the city offering tourists the
full view of the area; mopeds
zipped in and out of traffic;
a large cruise ship hovered
over the Key West Port and
private boats sporting cre
ative Christmas trim crowd
ed the marina.
Flea markets are really
big in Florida, and as you
sit reading this, I am most
likely in the middle of the
one at Big Pine Key (mm
30). Vendors from all over
the area come pedaling their
wares: clothing, sweat shirts,
vitamins, jewelry, produce,
tools, pottery, sun glasses,
shoes, perfumes, sun-tan
lotions, funnel cakes; you
name it, it is being offered
up at the flea market.
Interestingly enough, there
are equally as many men
as women at these events.
A touch of humor. My friend
and I were grocery shop
ping when she inadvertently
took out a large wine display
breaking three bottles! I
took a ladies’ purse, thinking
it had been left unattended,
and turned it into the Winn
Dixie desk only to discover I
had taken the purse of a non-
English speaking lady who,
when asked if it were her
purse, only smiled the smile
of one who did not under
stand what I was asking!
We worked it all out, but I
was embarrassed, and in the
end she was very grateful
that a “nice American” had
taken care of her. A Florida
policeman pulled me over for
crossing on a double yellow
line; fortunately, he believed
the two of us, apologized for
stopping us and sent us on
our way.
Till next week
“A New Year’s resolution
is something that goes in
one Year and out the other.”
- Unknown
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Journal Charlotte Perkins
Brittany Mack and Lily Greenberg, members of the Warner Robins High School
Student Council, sort out some of the formal dresses donated to the Demon Dress
Drive. They tried on a few, too.
Warner Robins High
holds formal wear drive
By CHARLOTTE
PERKINS
Journal Lifestyle Editor
Cinderella’s fairy god
mother would approve.
There are skimpy little
shifts with spaghetti straps,
basic blacks, demure pas
tel organdy dresses and
short sequined dresses that
would have scandalized an
earlier generation.
Prom and pageant dress
es of every size and style
are being donated for the
big sale at Warner Robins
High School, and just now
they’re filling an upstairs
bedroom at Barbara
Hilliard’s home.
Hilliard, who is the facul
ty sponsor for the student
The cast iron skillet: A southern frying pan
Is there anything
more essential to true
Southern womanhood
than a cast iron skillet?
One that has been perfectly
seasoned and whose weight
feels just right in a woman’s
hand?
I think not.
For generations, Southern
women have used cast iron
pans for everything from
stirring up cornbread to
making gravy to holding the
kitchen door open to keep
ing a wayward husband in
line.
My great aunt Sadie Belle
was legendary for her skill
with the skillet. Not neces
sarily for cooking, though
she did make delicious sau
sage gravy, but rather for
the way she kept Uncle
Clarence in line with it. After
too many nights out with
the boys, sipping too much
‘shine, Sadie Belle walloped
him one night with the iron
pan and 12 stitches later,
he was a changed man. For
Lifestyle
council says that the basic
idea was to give students
a way to buy formalwear
without stressing their fam
ilies’ budgets. The dresses
have all been donated in
beautiful condition, mostly
in dry-cleaning bags. Some
are elegant designs of the
kind most often worn at
beauty pageants. Others
are glittery party dresses
that might get worn many
more times.-
Girls who need larger
sizes will find some dream
come-true choices, and
anybody with a wedding
coming up in the family
might want to take a look,
because there’s a limited
selection of Mother-of-the-
Bride dresses right along
the rest of their lives, she
knew where her power lay
- in the cupboard - and she
never
hes i -
tated to
threaten
its use.
On his
death
bed, my
cousin
asked
Uncle
Clarence
if he
Ronda Rich
Columnist
feared death. “Nope,” he
replied solemnly. “I’ve spent
52 years fearing Sadie Belle
and that dang iron skillet.
Death, after that, will be a
welcomed reprieve.”
I have two iron skillets.
One is large and perfect for
gravy, fried green tomatoes
and, well, anything else I
want to fry. The smaller one
is used for scrambling eggs
and frying bologna or, well,
anything else I want to fry
in smaller amounts. Either
with the party wear for
young people.
If you have any formal
wear in your closet, dona
tions are still welcome, and
the planners would love to
have some tuxes for sale
as well. Dressy shoes and
handbags are also needed.
Donations may be brought
to Warner Robins High
School when classes resume
Jan. 5, 2007.
The sale will be on Jan.
13 at the school, with all
proceeds going to benefit
the women and children of
Gateway Cottage.
For more infor
mation, e-mail
demonsdressdrive(a>yahoo.
com or see any WRHS
Student Council member.
is used for cornbread, both
cornbread that is made with
sugar and that which isn’t.
But isn’t that what a sea
soned iron skillet is made
for - cornbread cooking?
Because my iron skil
lets are used so regularly, I
don’t bother to put them in
the cabinet.
I store both of them in the
lower oven. I like to keep
them handy.
During a recent shop
ping trip with Mama, I was
admiring a cast iron pot.
“Do you have to season
cast iron pots like pans?”
I asked her, remembering
how she seasoned my first
pan by oiling it and let it
bake on a lower rack for
weeks while she did her
normal baking.
Mama shrugged. “I don’t
know.”
“You don’t know?” My
eyes bugged out. Now,
that’s a first. Usually, if
Mama doesn’t know, she
just makes it up and sticks
Library friends
announce new
donation boxes
Special to the Journal
If you have more books
than you’re ever going to
read, murder mysteries in
stacks, westerns piled up in
corners or romances stuffed
into a box in the closet,
now’s the time to clear the
book clutter and remember
that others might enjoy the
books you’ve already read.
The Houston County
Friends of the Library have
three new bright red book
donation boxes which will
be placed in front of each
of the three branch librar
Ice cubes and
flying Barbies
Twenty-three years
ago, my husband and
I thought it would
be a good idea to have
children. So we had one.
Unfortunately, it took five
more years to decide that
we could manage another
one.
After that we apparently
needed nine more years to
get over that experience
and then we had two of
them within 16 months
of each other so that we
wouldn’t have time to come
to our senses, I guess. The
last one made an appear
ance three years after that
through an unnatural chain
of events.
Despite the age differ
ences between my children,
somehow they have man
Happy New Year
- Mk£gfloM9BHfe
Contributed
Maya Lightner is ready to welcome in the New Year.
Happy 2007, everybody!
to it as if it were the law
and gospel sent down from
the Mount. If you need any
advice on tax shelters, doc
toring or legal matters, be
sure to call Mama. She can
help you cut.
But back to cast iron skil
lets. I’ve been doing a lot of
studying up on our favor
ite frying pans. We need to
know all the hot points of
these Southern necessities.
Here’s what I found out:
■l. Don’t scrub with
scouring pad. (There has
never been a time when I
didn’t scrub mine with a
wire brush or Brillo pad.
How else do you get crusted
pork chop droppings out of
it?)
■2. After cleaning,
lightly rub oil into it and
dry it on a heated stove eye.
(Never once have I done
this, either.)
One of mine developed
some rust, which happens
when the seasoning has
been rubbed off with a wire
SECTION
B
ies in Centerville, Warner
Robins and Perry to be
sold to others for fund
raising purposes at the
Old Book Sale May 3, 4
an 5, 2007 at the McGill
Building, Georgia National
Fairgrounds. Pam Yates,
FOL President, said, “In
2006, we had about 45,000
books in our sale and raised
$17,500 for the libraries.
We would like to do even
better in 2007.”
Christine Hoskins of the
FOL said “People can bring
their donations for
See BOXES, page iB
aged to carve out satisfy
ing relationships with their
siblings. It is interesting to
note, however, the peculiar
’MaWF •*
'"l x
l nj
Laura Snyder
Laura on
Life
employ ice cubes to express
his affection for his young
er brother. Every chance
he got, he’d sneak up on
his brother and slip an ice
See SNYDER, page yB
brush and then it has not
been oiled and dried on the
stove eye. Some folks claim
when it has rusted, its life is
over. Not true.
Cut a lemon in half, dip it
in salt then rub the rusted
areas until the juice is out
of the lemon. Repeat with
the other half. The rust will
disappear. Oil the pan thor
oughly and dry it out on the
stove. Good as new.
“What do you do if your
cast iron rusts?” I had asked
Mama.
“Nothin’ you can do.
Gotta throw ‘em out.”
So, when you call Mama
to get advice on tax shelters
or doctoring, don’t bother
to ask her about cast iron
skillets.
A woman can’t know
everything.
Ronda Rich is the best
selling author of What
Southern Women Know
(That Every Woman Should)
and The Town That Came
A-Courtin’.
medium
that
they
use to
express
their
affec
tion
for one
another.
The
old
est one
used to