Cornbread cooking and Bubba...

Well, I've got the cornbread cooking. I'm trying to decide whether to have sweet (English) peas, or black-eyed peas. Oh-Casserole will be the main dish for supper. I realize that doesn't tell you much. The casserole I am referring to is one that my mother fixed at least once a week when she was fixin' for four children and two adults, and any strays we brought with us. The casserole,  in some cookbook,  once had the name of a football player. We just called it ground-beef casserole. It is very simple. It is mac-n-cheese, tomatoes, green peppers, onion, cream of celery (or any cream of soup you prefer), extra cheese and already cooked ground beef; about a pound or so. The reason for the name change? Well, my husband did not care for casserole's much when we first married. But, he is a good sport and thanked the Lord for whatever we had on our table. He would come in from visiting parishioners' homes, or hospital visits or studying and ask what was for supper. When I said, "Ground-beef casserole," he would reply, "Oh, casserole." Somewhere along the years our daughter picked up on what her daddy was saying and she began calling it Oh-Casserole.
I love to hear family lore. How things or people got there/their name in people's family when another family might call it something else.
Usually, the name change, comes to the new name by a child. Living in Alabama, I know a lot of men who go by the name of Bubba. That is not because of a lack of names; usually a younger child could not say "brother." The same goes for a lot of girls who go by the name of Sissy. My husband was an only child and his parents where "older" when he came along. He didn't marry until he was 30. (He was waiting for me to grow up lol.) Well,  my mother-in-law, bless her heart, wanted our daughter to call her Mamma Sue. When Rebekah started talking everything was, item me. As in, bunny me. Or, daddy me. So, Mamma Sue, became Sue-me, we spelled it Sumie. Rebekah loved her Sumie and still refers to fond memories of Sumie and Pa. On my side of the family, I was the baby of four and Rebekah was the tenth grandchild so she had to make do with MawMaw and Pop already being named.
So many family members are no longer with us, but isn't it great that their memories are?

Gail, The Reading Lady
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The Twins Are Growing

Molly and Mickey
September, 2011

Books Read in August and September

Forgot to list my August and September 2011 Reads!

August:
61) Justice - Karen Robards - B
62) Quinn - Iris Johansen - B
63) Hotwire - Alex Kava - B
64) The Poachers Son - Paul Doiron - B
65) Darkness: My Old Friend - Lisa Ungar - A
66) A Fatal Thaw - Dana Stabenow - A
67) The Ideal Man - Julie Garwood - D
68) Coming Up For Air - Patti Callahan Henry - A
69) Faith - Jennifer Haigh - A
70) All She Ever Wanted - Barbara Freethy - B

September:
71) Flash and Bones - Kathy Reichs - A
72) A Trick of The Light - Louise Penny - A
73) New York to Dallas - J.D. Robb - A
74) The homecoming of Samuel Lake - Jenny Wingfield - A
75) The Sixes - Kate White - B
76) Forbidden Falls (Virgin River) - Robyn Carr - A
77) Wicked Autumn - G.M. Malliet - A
78) Dead in the Water - Dana Stabenow - A

I discovered a couple of new authors and a new series or two. Great reading!

Gail - The Reading Lady

Look!

Look! Look! Not there. Over there, on the right-hand side of this blog. Finally, someone is following my blog!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you to @wordrunner! She is one of my favorite authors. (Yes, you will find a theme in my blog posts.) It is the fantastic Beth Hoffman. She is the author of the wonderful book Saving CeeCee Honeycutt. If you have not read it you should be ashamed of yourself. It is fantastic. I wish I could find a word that really could "show" you how much I loved that book. There are many reasons: she is an excellent writer, that book practically took a picture of my childhood, it will make you cry and it will make you laugh hysterically. I have purchased several copies of this book and made...uh, gave them as gifts to friends and relatives to read. They will, too, because they know I will ask them. I will badger them. Then I will test them. You know how, just say something like..."did you like the part where such and such happened?"  They will reply, "Yes, I loved that part." This is where I will shout, "That is not even in this book! You didn't read it! Snap to it!" ("So let it be written, so let it be done." You know, Yul Brenner, the Pharaoh in the movie "The Ten Commandments.") Well, anyway, thank you Beth for joining me. I don't feel so alone now.

Well I Never...

Well, I never... would have believed that I retired from school teaching after my first lifetime and STILL have not written the first word of the book I have been planning to write since I was 11 years old. How's that for a run on sentence!!!!! My goal is to become an "eccentric character" in my golden years. My family has been so kind as to not tell me what they already think. I will quote from one of my favorite author's book, In The Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming, "Oh, don't mind me , Reverend. I never felt I could speak my mind when I was teaching, so now that I'm retired, I'm making up for lost time."
(spoken by Miss Bristol) Of course, in my neck of the Alabama woods, we usually just call folks...peculiar. One whole side of my family is just a 'mite peculiar. Including me.
Back to my beginning. I'm sure you are wondering what that would be. I want to be an author when I grow up. I am a writer, because I write. I know I will be a published writer, if the good Lord gives me enough warning, because I plan to write my own obituary. But, I would like to write articles, poems, mysteries, suspense, thrillers - all of it - and be around to hear what is said about it; good, bad, or ugly. Like I said, I AM A WRITER, because I wrote this blog post and hopefully you read it!

Books read in July

Books I read in July:

53) On Folly Beach - Karen White - B

54) The Silent Girl - Tess Gerritsen - B

55) Escape - Barbara Delinsky - B

56) Then Came You - Jennifer Weiner - A

57) A Cold Day for Murder - Dana Stabenow - A

58) The Bird Sisters - Rebecca Rasmussen - C

59) Summer Secrets - Barbara Freethy (new author for me) A

60) Don't Say A Word - Barbara Freethy - A

What I Didn't Do This Week

What I Didn't Do This Week:

• I didn't buy school supplies.
• I didn't go to the school and worry that my room won't be ready.
• I didn't buy any new shoes or clothes.
• I didn't plan what to say and or do on Meet Your Teacher Night.
• I didn't look over my list of students and wonder what they will need the most from me.
• I didn't lay awake at night with plans, procedures, and room arrangements  refusing to let my brain shut down.
• I didn't get to catch up on what my coworkers have been up to.
• I didn't meet any brand new teachers who make me remember what it was like to start my career.

I didn't do a lot of things. I will miss much of what I just mentioned. I won't miss some of what I mentioned. I don't feel "retired."
I am looking forward to what I will be doing. Changes in life are what keeps it interesting.

To all of you starting a new school year; I hope it will be your best year ever!