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Dear Gentle Readers,

I have to go for abit. No - nothings wrong. I'm fine. So's my family. I've just got a lot that I need to do this week and if I get on the computer, I'll spend my time writing and looking instead of getting my work done. That's the sum of it.

Anyway, while I'm gone, I thought that you might like to read a book that I just finished. The book, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, was written by Fannie Flag in the late 1980's and is about an area that I know well.  Ms. Flagg is from the south just like I am and she's captured the "music" of the language and the environment of the old south in a truthful but not hurtful way. The story is about two different times in Birmingham, Alabama and about the town folks of Whistle Stop.  It's a good story and at the end there are recipes for fried chicken and biscuits and beans and well not only will you hear the words, you can try the food too. Since there are folks reading my blog from different  parts of the world, I thought that you might like get a taste of where I'm from. Next to the book, The Secret Lives of Bees by Sue Monk Kid , there's not a more gentle book about hard times.







Yes, I know,  there's a movie adaptation of both, but read the books. Okay?

I kind of wish that I was able to swap the stories of where we each are from. Thing is I've just about given up finding out who reads what I write. But- I haven't given up on writing the words that you'll read. It's just that I'll be gone for the next week.  So get hold of the book (or books) and give it (or them) a read while I'm gone.. I imagine that you might find it online or in your local library. When I get back I'll tell you about what I've been up to.

Enjoy the puzzles,

Hugs,

AuthorAnn


Note. It's been raining and Fried Green Tomatoes... is the book I've been reading in the rain. We're in the hot season of the year. The sky gets so hot in the afternoon "she" can't stand it so she cries in her sorrow and we get rain. Can't do much outside.  I crawled into bed and read and read. I love reading while it's raining. The air gets still and then cool. A breeze comes up. The sound of single rain drops turn into a kind of white noise. If I could, I'd read all afternoon in the rain on a porch like the one my PawPaw built for my MawMaw. There I'd sit out on the glider where you could smell the Russian Olives and ozone. After a while, the sound of the rain seems to disappear into a kind of white noise and there's just the story and my imagination. This afternoon was a treat. I wish that you could have been there. :)
This last part's for Newt if she ever reads this.

And for something I'm told is old school southern -

Fa so la singing from north Alabama.  My dad tells the story of being a kid, years and years and years ago,  standing in the town square and hearing folks Fa So La singing. Also known as "shape note" singing, the notes are in geometric shapes rather than the quarter, half, and whole note notation that we use today. Each note in the Fa So La scale is given a name from the generic scale of  "do", "rae", "me", "fa", "so", "la",  "te", and "do" that are sung instead of words. (Although I noticed that in this song there was first the Fa So La singing and then the melody with lyrics. Go figure. )

I'm told it's of this place where I live.



Gotta go. Hugs 2u, Ann,

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