Delta Memories.........

Our trip to Greenville this weekend brought back memories from my "growing up years" .....farmers, on tractors with discs trailing behind them, were stirring up the dust, as they readied their fields for another season. In some places, early planted corn had already begun to break through the dirt. The rows of freshly turned black soil stretched, it seemed, to eternity. The black dirt, termed "gumbo" because it sticks to your shoes when wet, has a smell like no other when it's freshly plowed. Even dirt can smell fresh and clean when it's newly dug, in the Spring.

In the fall, I love the rows and rows of white cotton - ready for the pickers. In years gone by, those pickers were human with cotton sacks dragging behind them .....and their hands were often scratched and bloody from the pricks of the cotton bolls.

As they bent low, over the stalks of cotton, they had their own rhythm about them as they grabbed each fluffy white ball and thrust it into their sack. If one stood quietly, you could hear them singing or chanting as they pulled the cotton from the stalk. They often sang their own music, but how wonderful to hear the strains of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" as they worked the rows. Their singing seemed to help keep them at a steady pace even as they worked in the sweltering heat of the Delta summer sun.

Once full, the sacks were weighed, the poundage recorded, and the cotton dumped into a trailer sitting at the end of the long rows. The pickers were paid, by the pound, at the end of each week. Today, people wouldn't work for the pittance they made. In today's world, they've been replaced by automation, and the rows and rows of worker shanties, at the end of the plantation rows, have been replaced by memories.....

Memories from the pages in the "Memory Book in my Mind".......

Dumplings ....the easy way!!

3 or 4 chicken breast
4 cans of refrigerator biscuits
2 cans Swanson Chicken Broth
Flour
Salt and Pepper

(1) Fill dutch oven 1/2 full of water, add chicken, salt, and pepper
(2) Boil chicken until done
(3) Remove chicken from the pot, reserving the chicken stock (broth created from boiling the chicken)
(4) Debone chicken and cut into bite size pieces
(5) Add one can of Swanson Chicken broth to the chicken stock
(6) Bring to a boil
(7) Sprinkle flour onto a cutting board
(8) Open can of biscuits, dust each biscuit with flour and roll thin with a rolling pin.
(9) Cut biscuits into strips and then into small bite sized pieces (each biscuit should make about 12 - 15 pieces)
(10) Drop pieces of biscuits into boiling chicken broth.
(11) Continually stir gently to prevent sticking and reduce heat to medium.
(12) Salt and pepper to taste
(13) When all the biscuits have been added to the broth, add chicken
(14) Turn heat to low and cook for 10 - 15 minutes longer
(15) "Taste test" for doneness - don't overcook or dumplings will become tough.

Grandpa and Granny Walker (C. L. and Annie Catherine Gibson Walker)
and four of the eight children:

L to R: Horace Lamar, (my dad), Hilma Jane, Howard I., and Thomas Ray

This picture might have been taken in 1918
or 1919. My dad appears to be about 9 or 10,
and he was born in 1909.

Smelly Feet

If you're plagued with "smelly feet" you can do one of the following:

(1) Soak your feet in Vodka (seriously)
(2) Soak your feet in Apple Cider Vinegar
(3) Brew some strong tea and soak

      Family members gathered on the steps of Granny's old house on Fellowship Road - April, 2003.
      Front Row L to R: Sydney Gary, Emma Nicholson, Jordan Gary
      Second Row L to R: Jimmy Nicholson, Pat Nicholson, Robbie Gorrell Gary, Tianni
      Nicholson Rowley holding 4 month old  Matthew, Aunt Mary Walker, Sue Hodge (sitting on
      porch)
      Third Row L to R: Patricia Walker Ashley, Sarah Walker Gorrell, Morgan Nicholson
      Fourth Row L to R: Aunt Lovell Boyd Walker, Aunt Virginia Walker Kelly, Peggy Hodge Owens
      Back Row L to R: Chris Gary, Bob Gorrell, Johnny Walker, Howard Nicholson (d),
      Adam Nicholson (hidden), James Walker Hodge, Amanda Boykin, Wanda Owens Boykin, Keith Walker