Every year our pumpkin carving becomes a bit more elaborate, and as it turns out, the dark orange pumpkins are best for carving. The lighter varieties do not project light well. I wanted to share our Halloween pumpkins with you.
All pictures are from www.sweeticedtea.wordpress.com.
Mmm… there’s nothing better than baking up a nice fresh batch of [insert your favorite baked goodie here]. But most of those [favorite goodies] aren’t usually that low in fat.
You can cut down, or entirely omit the inevitable butter in your recipe by substituting applesauce. Play around with the proportions in your [favorite Southern recipe], but a good rule of thumb is no more than one tablespoon per cup of flour.
This weekend I witnessed the joy of birds migrate south. The experience was short, but nonetheless beautiful. The first flock was extremely high in the air and from my vantage point, I could not differentiate their species, however, the second group was a flock of geese. It was beautiful. Both flocks flew in the V formation and it reminded me that while south may be warmer, the rest of the world is quickly cooling. Everyone seems to head south (latitudinally speaking), where things are just, well, better.
Happy November!
Picture from www.kaichang.net/photos/page/2/.
Image via FFFFound!
(And no, I am not procrastinating on Novel already; Husband is having to install Microsoft Office on my laptop which I thought we already had done. Whoops!)
No, I’m not speaking in tongues. And no, it’s not a new technology that you have to keep up with. (Though I wouldn’t blame you if you thought that. I did too the first time I heard of such a thing.) Quite the opposite. NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth is a month long writing “contest” focused on getting us all to do that thing we all always mean to get around to, you know, someday, when we have the time, when we’re not so busy, or when we go on vacation, or when the mood or the story or the words strike us just right. You know? Get around to writing that Great American (Southern) Novel. But they rarely do, do they?
I first heard of NaNoWriMo in 2007. Newly married, living in a new city, knowing no one, and a little overwhelmed, to be honest, this mission was just what I needed. I heard of the project, beginning November 1st, in late October, so with not much time to worry, or anticipate just how difficult this might be, I embarked. Armed with only an 8-year old laptop (perfect, by the way… as there was zero temptation to browse the internet when I was supposed to be writing my 2,000 words a day), I began the project with a goal of writing a 50,000 word novel in the span of only 30 days.
Remember that part where we were talking about how we’ll all get around to writing that novel, someday? Well, see, as we all know, even as Southerners who take it slow, that someday rarely comes. And even if it does, we stress ourselves out to much about quality to get out more than the first few pages.
So NaNoWriMo’s mission is simple. Just do it. And do it fast. Quick. Jump right in like that freezing cold lake the first of spring and just swim. For 30 days. Sure, when you get out, your numb, can barely think straight. And hey, yes, your fingers can barely move (wow, didn’t realize how well that metaphor was gonna work out), but you have something. And no, that thing is not usually the Great American Novel (though if you’re lucky, you’ve got the makings of the beginnings of a thought of one). No, you’ve got… the perfect cocktail party anecdote. Just try not impressing your friends when you casually mention, “In my first novel, I explored the character named Joy.”
And even if you’re too shy to tell anyone, you have written a novel. How many people can say that? Well, I’ll tell you how many more people can say that as of November 30th. About 15,000 of them. And you can be one of them.
So, I tell you all this to say, that this year, I’ll embark again. To be honest, the first year, I bored even myself by about the third chapter. Last year, I actually really related to my characters. And this year, I hope to be the next Dostoevsky (albeit, a Southern Mr. Fyodor).
So, in these high hopes, I’m giving fair warning to you, all our dear SIT readers (and to you, my dear friend, Becky, to whom I shall be indebted through all of Christmas season), that I will be a slacker this month when it comes to cooking, cleaning, sleeping — anything but writing will take a hit. Waking up early, staying up late, all but ignoring my dear in-laws as they travel far to risk their lives as I prepare Thanksgiving dinner while distracted on the final twist of the deeply dimensional, yet not overly contrived characters. Yes, dear friends, while someday I hope to share with you, and the world (excuse me, Random House, are you listening??) my Great American Novel, for this month, I pray you’ll forgive me while I ignore you, dear cyber friends, in pursuit of this goal. And in exchange, you can berate me, mock me, chastise me for the rest of time if I don’t finish (how’s that for motivation come November 27th when I’m certain I can’t write another word?). That is, unless you’d like to join me?
P.S. – For those of you who are not crazy, I’ve “banked” a few articles to automatically post thanks to our beloved WordPress publishing feature, so you won’t be totally left devoid of all Ginger POV (that’s point of view, for those of you non-writers — look at me being all cocky so far) this month. You can look forward to some savory doughnuts, a little Athens love (of course), a tribute to one of my inspirations, Flannery O’Connor, and of course, a few Tuesday Tips. Cheers!
Happy Halloween! Don’t you just love this old building? We found it along our fall Road Trip in Chattanooga. It even had broken windows to add to the effect.
You know how sometimes when you look back on something you did as a kid, it’s always warmer, more colorful, exciting, and spectacular than the real thing?
If you get the fortune to go back and experience a beloved memory as an adult, it often isn’t as fun as your memory pedestal has made it. This was the worry I had when pulling up to the Chattanooga Choo-Choo on the first night of my second annual road trip with Becky. Here I had dragged her all this way out of the way to head to Tennessee, feeling responsible for the state, as I spent a good part of my teen years growing up in good ol’ TN. So I felt obligated to give disclaimers all along the way. “I hope it’s what I remember. You never know how something might change in 10 years…”
You see, I remembered the Chattanooga Choo-Choo as this bright, colorful place, full of action and laughter. But then again, I hadn’t been there since a silly 8th grader, fresh off a musty bus full of other junior highers, bursting with energy from a long ride. Bright-eyed, young, surely crushing on some boy, with my best girlfriends around me, we had tumbled out, and been let free to roam around, chaperone-free until the technical guys had set up our equipment and stage and the time had come for us to give our show.
So this is what the experience had to live up to.
And it did.
Ah, sigh of relief and delight to my dear Chattanooga. We arrived after dark, so while the bright memories of my trip looked instead warm and dark, and just straight like something from a 1940’s, it was still, just as I had remembered it. Maybe better.
The gardens were still just as immaculately kept, fountains sprinkling. The shops just as quaint and charming. The trains just as brightly painted.
We had a grand old time just walking among the trains and exploring the train station (now a gorgeous hotel). So grand, in fact, that we had to go back early the next morning before we snuck out of town for one last look.
So now I know. The memory is just as good as the reality. That’s the South for you. Always surprising, never disappointing. I should have known.
What childhood places would you like to go revisit?
Hi, Friends!
We try and keep this blog solely about the South that we all know and love. But what’s more Southern than Sweet Iced Tea?? So from time to time, we’ll have to let you in on a couple of “housekeeping” memos, just between us friends. Then we’ll get right back to the good stuff.
I’m sure most of you have noticed our “Pages” over there to the right. We’ve got a little About Us, our page of “Southern Sayin’s,” and a whole lot more coming.
So you might have noticed our “What in Tarnation?” page has changed to “Odds ‘n’ Ends.” This is just a little about technology. We’re no spring chickens, but we try to stay up on all the latest technologies you readers might be using. That way, we can all stay in touch! And, let’s just face it… nothing is more fun than to glance at your cellular and realize you’ve got a Twitter (especially if it’s from SIT)!
One of our favorite recommendations we’ve added for you “readers” out there is Google Reader. If you already use a Goggle account for anything – email, news, maps, and other applications – you should really check out the Google Reader feature. For instance, instead of typing in www.sweeticedtea.wordpress.com everyday into your web browser’s address space, you can just go and check Google Reader, and this uploads any new content we’ve posted since the last time you checked. The genius of this feature is that it keeps you from typing in all those fun sites you check most often. As you know, we’re big fans of other blogs and shops and such too, so instead bookmarking and directing your browser to each individual site every day, it’s all in one place.
Go ahead, give it a try. We won’t mind! Just make sure you “subscribe” to Sweet Iced Tea. Now, we can talk every day! (Psst, just a hint for the rest of you just figuring out this newfangled technology stuff… you might of heard of an RSS feed (that pesky orange box with the three arches popping up everywhere)… turns out that’s what this is. See, you learned something new!)
While I’m at it, just a reminder that if y’all ever have any questions, suggestions, hopes, complaints (oops!), or just thoughts you might like to share, feel free to email us at beckyandginger@gmail.com. We’d love to hear from you!
