Comments Are Fixed and Poking a Little Fun at Sylvia

The comments are fixed... dang little bugs. I forgot to check a box somewhere.

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I've known Sylvia Robinson most of my life, or at least my school life. We rarely moved in the same circles but she was always there at lunch or recess or whatever, and she was kinda sorta in the neighborhood like Bo and Gordo and Kerry Pulkenin used to be. They were just over the hill from where we lived. Later on, when we reached high school Sylvia had developed one of the sharpest, quickest wits I've ever seen and could verbally go toe to toe with anybody.

A year or two after graduation, when Dr. Hook recorded "Sylvia's Mother" it reminded me of the only Sylvia I had ever known, and to this day she's the first thing that pops in my mind whenever I hear the song.

It's this week's oldie.

Help

There hasn't been any comments on here since December, and that's okay because a large part of what I've posted hasn't really been comment material. But it does make me wonder if something might be mechanically wrong. Has anyone tried to post a comment and have not been able to? I assume if that were the case you would tell me, but I just want to make sure.

Sylvia's Chieftains

Sylvia Robinson had saved several Chieftains and loaned them to me to put on this site. There are 12 of them spaced out sparatically from September 1966 to March 1968. When I scanned them I used full color scan so the age would be fully appreciated. It's all there; the yellowed paper, the memeograph type, Sylvia's doodles and a few notes here and there, and a couple of the pages are faded, just like the memeograph machine was famous for.

Looking at them, I was struck by several things. Each one starts off with a devoational Bible scripture. You won't see that in a school publication anymore. Also, some of the stories are more than a little non-politcially correct, including some not so flattering things said here and there. You won't see that in a school publication anymore either. Lastly, they made me smile as I remember people I hadn't thought of in years.

They are posted along the right side of the blog.

Thanks for sharing Sylvia.

What is This?

Can anybody shed any light on this picture?? It is obviously in Loudon and it was at some point before the bridge was replaced, but the cars don't match the way the men are dressed and the buildings on each side of the picture do not match. The building on the left is older than the one on the right, which looks brand new.

Loudon Cuisine Part 2

First off, any one of you can probably make biscuits and gravy a lot better than I can, but I had to learn. A lot of places I’ve lived didn’t even offer it and you can’t always trust a restaurant to make it good enough. To me, Cracker Barrel’s gravy has no taste and Bob Evan’s looks burnt, so I do my own. Anyway, here it is.

To make the sausage gravy:
1 lb bulk or roll sausage, with a bit of fat in it. Nobody said it was healthy.
3 Tbsp oil or butter, if needed
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
Salt and pepper

Fry the sausage in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat, breaking it up into small pieces, until fully cooked. (Maybe it’s just the image of my grandma making gravy, but it has to be a cast iron skillet.) I only use about half the sausage and either freeze the rest for the next batch or make omelets or my sausage eggs with them.

After the sausage has fried, use a slotted spoon to take it out of the skillet, leaving the drippings behind. You should have about 3 Tbsps of fat, if not add enough oil or butter to make up the difference.

Stir in the flour a little at a time until you have made a roux. If it is too dry, add a touch more oil/butter. Cook the roux for 2-3 minutes.

Add the milk a bit at a time, stirring until well mixed, adding more as it thickens. When all the milk is used, turn the heat down very low and cook, stirring frequently, for a couple of minutes until thickened. If it becomes too thick, add a bit of water.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Biscuits

2 cups sifted flour
2 tsp. baking powder
4 tablespoons butter or shortening, I prefer butter.
1/2 tsp. salt
About 3/4 cup buttermilk or regular milk, I prefer buttermilk

In a large bowl sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Cut in shortening or butter. (From here on out I use my hands to make sure I get it all mixed together)

Add milk gradually, stirring until soft dough is formed.

Turn out on slightly floured board and lightly knead for a couple of minutes.30 seconds, enough to shape it.

Use a rolling pin to roll it out to about 1/2 inch thick and use a biscuit cutter or glass to cut individual biscuits. If desired, lightly brush some melted butter across the tops.

Bake on ungreased sheet in a 400 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Makes about 12 biscuits.

Right here I have a confession to make. Most of the time I buy my biscuits from the store, especially if I’m feeling lazy, but also because Pillsbury has a very good frozen biscuit… not the ones in the cardboard can… but loose, premade biscuits in a bag in the freezer section. They’re not homemade, but they’re not far from it.

Another note. With the remainder of the sausage, if it’s small enough pieces, you can make sausage eggs. Not sausage and eggs, but sausage eggs. I know, it’s a matter of semantics, but you’ll see. Before frying the eggs, put a little extra butter or oil or bacon grease in the pan and then put in crumbled sausage, not a lot but enough to taste. Make sure the crumbs are close together and then drop the eggs into the sausage. If there is enough butter/oil the egg should stay intact and cook around the crumbs, sometimes the egg totally hides the sausage. Let it cook a few extra seconds before you turn it the first time and the yolk should not break. You can also do this with small bacon bits.

Practice What You Preach

So many people have come and gone
Their faces fade as the years go by
---Boston

Last week I met up with some classmates for dinner and had a great time. By contrast, earlier that day something happened made me a bit uneasy, something I’ve done some thinking about since. That afternoon I ran into an old classmate who didn’t recognize me. That was a touch irritating at first, but the more I've thought about it, the more I could understand why.

If we all got together today and our amount of change was rated on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the ones who changed the most, I think I would probably be much closer to a ten than to a one. Now add to that the fact I wasn’t one of the more well known members of the class and that I’ve lived all my life since graduation away from Loudon, and I would think the mention of my name would send more than a few people scurrying off to find a yearbook.

So after giving it more thought, I’m okay with not being recognized. Believe me, Donna and Kathey and Brenda have all done their share of getting me up to speed in matching some names to faces.

And that brings me back full circle to something I’ve said on this blog several times. Whatever is keeping anyone from getting in touch with more of us, it doesn’t really matter. Not in the long run. Oh, initially there would be some “My how you’ve changed” or “I didn’t know that was you” type remarks thrown around, but after a few minutes that part would be over, and you would be too wrapped up in getting caught up to even think about it.

We got along okay in school when we were who we were, so now that we are older, more grey, more wrinkled, and some cases more plump, why shouldn’t we get along just as well? It didn’t matter then and it shouldn’t matter now. We had a lot of things in common way back when and we still do, they’re just different pieces of the same pie --- life.

So I don’t fault my classmate. After all, I wasn’t living up to what I have been preaching. We are who we are.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Last night I had a very delightful evening. I was lucky enough to have dinner with Brenda Nicholson, Sylvia Robinson, Kathey Guider, Donna Morgan and Pat Milsaps. There were a few extra wrinkles here and there, a little more grey hair, and our outfits were a skosh wider… or a lot wider in my case… but none of that matter. Within a couple of minutes we were laughing and reminiscing about so much.

Each time I looked across the table at Brenda and Sylvia, every time they laughed they looked just like they did 39 years ago, and Donna had everyone in stitches throughout the night, and Kathey and Pat laughed too, their eyes sparkling like new money.

Sylva brought several things -- newspaper clippings about Lynn Barger, school pictures from grade school and several copies of the Chieftain. She loaned me the Chieftains and I will scan them and make them available to everyone.

We spend three hours laughing and remembering; three hours that were over with way too soon, and the thought also occurred to me that 39 years ago I didn’t spend that much time with these ladies – no more than a class or two we may have shared – yet here we were enjoying each other's company like long, lost friends.

Expect to hear more on this in the next few weeks because we also planted the seeds for next year’s 40th reunion.

I can’t wait to do it again.