Zenith Mill Road

Zenith means the peak, when the sun is directly overhead, high noon, the tip. It is also an old community near me. So much of Georgia has disappeared since the end of World War II. With modern farming techniques, the population has moved to cities where there are jobs with some security, benefits and a pension.

One big problem is that people forget how things have changed for the better. Sometimes these improved lives we have make us forget that things can go backward. Back in the seventies, a senior citizen lamented Roosevelt's new deal which incidentally helped bring the United States out of the depression.

The riots in Baltimore have been sobering for everyone. Especially the African Americans who were protesting. A few rogue elements made civil protest seem something it was not. It did not show the line of African American men forming a line in front of law enforcement for their protection or the folks who spent the day cleaning up. Protesting does not mean you don't support law enforcement.

So in the peak of this turmoil, there is little the average person can do. The one thing we all have control of is how we treat one another. You don't have to agree with someone to listen to them tell their story.

When you drive the back roads of Georgia, you see old homes and farmsteads overgrown.
The change produces a wistfulness in me, but I too left the rural areas for work in an urban area.

Below are pictures of rural Georgia.

Fort Benjamin Hawkins

Gnarled pine tree

Wild Onions

Yodeling and Mouse Ears

There is not as much yodeling in Georgia as you would think. Well really, I only hear a country singer belt out you-dah-lay-hee-hoo every once in a blue moon. I have yodeled using the phrase

little lady as in li-tle-lah-dee-li-tle-lah-dee-li-tle-lah-dee-li-tle-lah-dee-hoo.

What you do see a lot of in Georgia is yellow. Mouse eared coreiopsis is blooming along the side of the road. A field of dandelions is a treat to see. Unless it is in your lawn. Living in the country, there are several varieties of dandelions.

Mouse Eared Coreiopsis

Xenia in mythology

Xenia in mythology is the concept of hospitality to the travelers.

Does Southern Hospitality exist? Maybe, people don't trust people like they did in the past.

One of the problems with Southern mythology is that it changes and is manufactured as we speak. Don't get me started with Nashville's corruption of country music and southern culture. My particular pet peeve is "Bless your heart." is a sugar-coated insinuation that you are pitifully dumb. "Bless your heart" is an endearment from me. I learned it from my father. He said "Bless your heart" and meant it.

One more corruption is the crudeness romanticized with the "redneck" schtick.

When Jeff Foxworthy broke the ice with redneck jokes, there was a piece of all of us relaxing about uncouth relatives and friends. We love them for and despite their long-winded opinions and quirks.

Then, we got all this characterization of down home folks. One peculiarity of the South is that good manners were practiced by all social classes. We do have social classes that are disappearing some. To be honest, there is a class system throughout the country despite our being a classless society.

In Fort Valley, the teenagers clerking at the gas station are friendly and will converse with you. In other parts, the clerk will ignore anything you say unless it pertains to the order. Society and people change. I'm afraid, Southern hospitality is not as vibrant as it was in the past.

How is hospitality in your area?


A more recent definition of Xenia is the change in a plant's ovum when fertilized with pollen. Talk about being friendly.

Women Writers of Georgia

Cmacauley at en.wikipedia [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], from Wikimedia Commons

Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah but lived most of her life in Milledgeville. Andalasia, the dairy farm where she lived, has been preserved as a museum to Flannery O'Connor and her work.

O'Connor was diagnosed with lupus in her early twenties. She died as from complications of lupus when she was 39. Her work is influenced by the farm in which she lived and her strong Roman Catholic faith.

Strong satire, intense characters were hallmarks of her genius.

http://andalusiafarm.org/






Bailey White





Mary Hood

V as in Victory or why are all the hard letters at the end?

Plus why do some letters have multitudes of topics and others you have to mow grass to get an epiphany.  V is hard. I'm sure there is some Volgan poetry about Georgia; but, I am not that cruel.

A list of people who lived through difficult circumstances, changed how we look at things or stood out in history would be fitting.

V is for Slave Women. Sixty percent of slaves who worked in fields were women. Slavery was not allowed in Georgia the first 50 years and it is nothing but a shame it was allowed. Originally one female slave was required for every three male slaves. The cruelest part of slavery is the fracturing of families and the sale and separation of children from their parents.

I is for William McIntosh who was half Creek Indian and half Scotch. He negotiated for the Creek with the ever encroaching white settlers. His deals were not always the best but were in the tradition of future governors of Georgia.

C is for Elijah Clarke an illiterate frontier soldier who was part of 30 guerilla Revolutionaries who defeated British and Loyalist who were in control of Georgia. His son later became Governor of Georgia.

T is for Grace Towns Hamilton who from 1965 to 1985 expanded the role of African Americans in Georgia politics.

O is for Olaudah Equiano who wrote a slave narrative describing good and bad moments of his life as well as colonial Georgia, the West Indies and seafaring adventures. His memoir was published in 1789 in London which he sold to support himself and the antislavery cause.

R is for Eugene Odom who is the father of modern ecology who first published "Fundamentals of Ecology" in 1953.

Y is for Jane Hurt Yarn who helped in the conservation of thousands of acres of wild land in Georgia.

Unusual Food

I have never eaten possum. I know it is greasy meat and you are supposed to eat it with sweet potatoes. I have heard of people eating road kill. If a deer has just been hit by a car, it is just as dead as if hit by a bullet or arrow. I've only eaten deer one time and that was by accident. I thought it was barbeque. And it was barbeque just not pork barbeque.

One of the most interesting vegetables we eat is okra. It is great boiled, fried, raw or pickled. When boiled, it puts the gum in gumbo. There is a slight, well big, slime element to okra. That is why some people only eat it fried. That takes care of the slime.

By Bill Tarpenning, USDA [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The leaves of the plant resemble marijuana. It doesn't happen often; but, a Southern transplant will plant okra and the local police will pull up the plants in area unfamiliar with okra. It is always worth a chuckle but not for the people involved.

Thanksgiving in Georgia

Most people picture a big browned turkey on the table for Thanksgiving. Normally, we have chicken and dressing. Some people eat chitterlings or "chitlins" for Thanksgiving.

The first turkey my mom cooked for our family was the year we got our dog, Bruno, in 1969. It was the year man first landed on the moon.

A miniature poodle that lived on our road had had about 13 mix breed puppies and Mrs. Albert was giving a few away before they were ready to leave their mother. The mother did not have enough milk.

My dad went to an airshow one Friday evening, and mom said, "Go get one of the puppies." My dad had already said, no. Dad came back that Sunday. Bruno loyally followed him all over the yard and won my dad over.

Thanksgiving was the next Thursday.  We begged our mom to cook a turkey for Thanksgiving. The highlight of the day was putting the turkey carcass in the backyard. Bruno crawled in. He was a growling, fighting mess. We had the most fun playing with him and laughing. To the end of his days, he liked you to crank him before he ate. His favorite food was spaghetti not turkey.

Today we eat a low fat, healthy version of Chicken and Dressing about once a month. I'll spare you the recipe and furnish a great Italian Cream cake recipe instead.

Italian Cream Cake

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2 cups sugar
• 5 large eggs, separated
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• Nutty Cream Cheese Frosting
• Garnishes: toasted pecan halves, chopped

Beat butter and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add vanilla, beating until blended.

Combine flour and soda; add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Stir in coconut.

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, and fold into batter. Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 9-inch round cakepans.

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

Spread Nutty Cream Cheese Frosting between layers and on top and sides of 

Nutty Cream Cheese

Mix 1 stick of softened butter with 8 oz pack of cream cheese. Add 1 pound box of confectioner sugar. Add water until frosting has a good spreading consistency. Add 1/2 cup of chopped pecans.

I stole the cake recipe from Southern Living.   http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/italian-cream-cake-2

When it comes to Southern Cooking, Southern Living does have great recipes.

Even thoughI have cooked and ate chitlins. I don't recommend them to the uninitiated.