"I'm gonna cloud up and rain all over you."
One of the many Fannie-isms I heard growing up. She was my maternal grandmother and her name was Fannie Bell Simpson. How much more southern can a name get? We all called her Grannie.
She was just an old mountain woman, and one of the biggest loves of my life.
She made melt in your mouth biscuits and the best iced tea in the world, both of which you could find at her house almost every day of the year. Summer or winter.
She could also make the best pot of pinto beans you ever ate cornbread with.
At least once a year she would make a batch of "tea cakes", which were basic shortbread cookies, but they were so good, and even better when you could sneak a nibble of the dough she let "set" in the fridge overnight.
She also made a terrific banana pudding which she always topped with meringue she made herself and then lightly toast in the oven.
To her there were three meals - breakfast, dinner and supper. I never heard the word lunch until I started school. And those meals were served at 6am, although she'd save you something if you wanted to sleep in til say, 7am. Dinner was at 11am and supper was 4pm.
She always looked the same. The same type dress, it just came in different colors, her hair worn back in a tight bun and a hairnet of course, and an apron. The dress was worn below the knees, but a touch closer to the ankle than the knee.
She collected salt and pepper sets. She must have had over 100 sets. Every time someone in the family would go somewhere, they got her another set.
In her entire life, she probably never got more than 50 miles away from where she was born and raised, except for a trip to Atlanta to visit her sister and once or twice to Charleston, SC to visit her son. But if anyone came by and asked her to go somewhere, she was almost always more than ready. She might have to put on a head scarf and a sweater, but she was ready.
She never shopped at a grocery store, she traded, and almost every small store in town let her run a tab. Her name was good enough for anything she wanted. They all called her Aunt Fannie.
She called a soda a "dope", and Upper 10 and Seven Up were her favorite.
She woke up each morning at the ungodly hour of 5am and she went to bed at the ungodlier hour of 8pm, and at times, when she went to bed, everybody went to bed.
She loved blue grass music and used to run me out of the house when she put on Bill Monroe or Flatt and Scruggs. Now I like blue grass.
She didn't watch too many soap operas, but she loved her "quiz shows". Jeopardy, The Price is Right, The Match Game, Password, and a bunch of others. I think she had a thing for Bob Barker.
She tried to be mad at us when she was supposed to be, you know, we did need discipline from time to time, but I don't think she ever really was. Ten minutes later she would be smiling and laughing. As she would say, her bark was much worse than her bite.
She also would play at times too. She ran me up the tree in her front yard more than once and then went in the kitchen for a dishpan full of water to try and throw at me.
She sat on her porch every day, waiting for the mailman, Tater Watts, to come by. Whether he left any mail or not, he would stop for a minute or two. I think he appreciated the break from carrying that mail bag around town. Oh, and the iced tea.
She also liked it when the Jewel Tea man would stop by. She didn't always buy something but she always looked.
We all loved her and she loved us. I think for the longest time our world centered around her, and we wouldn't have it any other way.
She died on my birthday and for a time I hated that, but have since come to view it as another connection I have with her.
One of the many Fannie-isms I heard growing up. She was my maternal grandmother and her name was Fannie Bell Simpson. How much more southern can a name get? We all called her Grannie.
She was just an old mountain woman, and one of the biggest loves of my life.
She made melt in your mouth biscuits and the best iced tea in the world, both of which you could find at her house almost every day of the year. Summer or winter.
She could also make the best pot of pinto beans you ever ate cornbread with.
At least once a year she would make a batch of "tea cakes", which were basic shortbread cookies, but they were so good, and even better when you could sneak a nibble of the dough she let "set" in the fridge overnight.
She also made a terrific banana pudding which she always topped with meringue she made herself and then lightly toast in the oven.
To her there were three meals - breakfast, dinner and supper. I never heard the word lunch until I started school. And those meals were served at 6am, although she'd save you something if you wanted to sleep in til say, 7am. Dinner was at 11am and supper was 4pm.
She always looked the same. The same type dress, it just came in different colors, her hair worn back in a tight bun and a hairnet of course, and an apron. The dress was worn below the knees, but a touch closer to the ankle than the knee.
She collected salt and pepper sets. She must have had over 100 sets. Every time someone in the family would go somewhere, they got her another set.
In her entire life, she probably never got more than 50 miles away from where she was born and raised, except for a trip to Atlanta to visit her sister and once or twice to Charleston, SC to visit her son. But if anyone came by and asked her to go somewhere, she was almost always more than ready. She might have to put on a head scarf and a sweater, but she was ready.
She never shopped at a grocery store, she traded, and almost every small store in town let her run a tab. Her name was good enough for anything she wanted. They all called her Aunt Fannie.
She called a soda a "dope", and Upper 10 and Seven Up were her favorite.
She woke up each morning at the ungodly hour of 5am and she went to bed at the ungodlier hour of 8pm, and at times, when she went to bed, everybody went to bed.
She loved blue grass music and used to run me out of the house when she put on Bill Monroe or Flatt and Scruggs. Now I like blue grass.
She didn't watch too many soap operas, but she loved her "quiz shows". Jeopardy, The Price is Right, The Match Game, Password, and a bunch of others. I think she had a thing for Bob Barker.
She tried to be mad at us when she was supposed to be, you know, we did need discipline from time to time, but I don't think she ever really was. Ten minutes later she would be smiling and laughing. As she would say, her bark was much worse than her bite.
She also would play at times too. She ran me up the tree in her front yard more than once and then went in the kitchen for a dishpan full of water to try and throw at me.
She sat on her porch every day, waiting for the mailman, Tater Watts, to come by. Whether he left any mail or not, he would stop for a minute or two. I think he appreciated the break from carrying that mail bag around town. Oh, and the iced tea.
She also liked it when the Jewel Tea man would stop by. She didn't always buy something but she always looked.
We all loved her and she loved us. I think for the longest time our world centered around her, and we wouldn't have it any other way.
She died on my birthday and for a time I hated that, but have since come to view it as another connection I have with her.
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