You know you are in the South when...

* you see a  field of  cotton....

*or you see this "A"....

when Ron sees someone with this emblem on a hat, he always asks if they are Atlanta Braves fans...he knows good and well that  this is the logo for Alabama University's football team...Crimson Tide, but does it just to get a rise out of  these college football enthusiasts.

* you attend Oyster cook-offs instead of Chili cook offs....

* one syllable words become three syllable words....  it takes a few minutes to understand what they are saying, even though you are pretty sure you are both speaking English.

* anyone who doesn't know you  addresses you as "ma'am"   (this really makes me feel old especially if they are close to my age)

   or when those who do  know you call you "Miz Joan".

* life is a bit calmer and slower...

* the farmers markets sell an abundance of mustard greens, turnip greens and black eye peas....but never heard of bok-choy.

* a cashier says “have a blessed day” and you can only think  “peace be with you" because that is the only religious phrase that has stuck with you after  years of attending Catholic school/church.

* you  still  see Confederate flags flying

* they don't think their tea is sweet enough as your gagging on a sugar drink with a little tea added.

But us Yankees are really enjoying our stay here in L.A. (lower Alabama)

Hope all is well!!

Sunrise...sunset with oysters and songwriters in between

Last weekend started with a beautiful sunrise:

We spent the afternoon at the 6th annual Oyster cook-off.  It is held on the white sands of the Alabama coastline and this year was hosted by The Hangout restaurant.   There is no charge to get in and then you can purchase a book of 20 tickets for $30.00.   Beer, wine, Bloody Mary's and champagne cost 3 tickets and one oyster for one ticket. .      My favorite are the ones cooked (especially if fried...of course) with lots of extras on top...cheese, spinach, ham or bacon bits, sauces etc.   But you have to like oysters because unless you go inside to eat all you can buy are oysters and if you were lucky you found a couple of tents that offered saltine crackers!     Over 46 celebrity chefs competed for combined total prizes of $10,000.

Looks crowded, but it was well laid out  and organized.   

                                   Shucking or "sukin" oysters is an interesting process but a bit messy.


Saturday evening we had happy hour at the site of one of the owners and got to know them better,  and gave us an opportunity to ask questions about the resort from an owners prospective.

• After Mass on Sunday morning we drove to the border of Alabama and Florida to Flora-Bama, the host of the 29th Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival.   We attended when we were here last year and had it on our travel schedule to come back.    The event takes place for 10 days and is host to Grammy Award winning songwriters and up and coming stars of tomorrow.  Venues of all kinds spread along the Florida and Alabama coastline and  welcome over 200 participants.  

                                  Oops...I think we picked the day the bikers were in attendance.

                           
                               They are an interesting group to watch with their very colorful attire.

                                         they come from all over to attend...From Norway...

                                   
                                           To the Czech Republic.

                                We listened to 3 ladies who write, sing and play gospel music.

                                                 And enjoyed a trio of mail gospel musicians.

                                           
                                                    And a Rhythm and Blues group who were very good.



The Flora-bama is an interesting place in itself.   Opening in 1964 and going through several mix-matched renovations due to fires and hurricanes,  it favors unusual decor...

such as these signs:

And a ceiling full of clothing lines draped with hundreds of bras.

Here's the link to our last years post if your interested in more information about this event.

2012 Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival



And our weekend ended with this awesome sunset taken from the Gulf  State Park Pier.

Hope all is well!

We inherited a table!!

The resort we are in is a membership complex.   They are in the process of selling their last 60 sites and the site we are in is an owned spot that we rent.   There are 3 levels of rentals, gold, silver and bronze.   The owners who have chosen to enhance their site with outdoor entertainment areas, pergolas, sheds, furniture, fire pits etc. place theirs in the gold program.  The silver have a few amenities and the bronze is basic.   The level also depends on where the site is located, such as facing the lake and fountains, middle rows which are pull throughs or back in spots.    We try to choose a silver, lake front but this year the one we picked out got sold so we had to re-choose and the only lakefront available that we liked is a bronze.   The good news is it costs $50-$100.00 a month less, the bad news is we have nothing, nada, zip, zilch on the lot.   Although I prefer not to have a site with all of the elaborate upgrades I do like having a table.   At one of the evening functions I mentioned we were going to start hitting estate/garage sales for an outdoor table.   Well, the next thing I know one of the workcampers delivered one of their table for us to use while we are here.   There really are nice people in the world (sometimes you have to seek) but we have found that people in this life style are exceptionally friendly and helpful.

The table is nothing extravagant, but very functional and works perfect for us.    Now we have someplace to eat outside and set our drinks.  

The resort is just now starting to gear up for the return of the snowbirds.   We did attend a gathering  for the Monday night World Series game shown at the clubhouse big screen theatre.  Not many showed up...this is college football territory...but we brought 2 St. Louis traditions for everyone to enjoy...toasted ravioli and a cooler of Bud.    Toasted ravioli was developed in St. Louis and is a popular appetizer served at all of the great Italian restaurants.   In St. Louis you can buy them already breaded and frozen, however, apparently  not in LA (Lower Alabama).   So I had to buy ravioli and bread them myself and fry them.  For my first attempt they turned out pretty good.  Everyone tried them, liked them but never heard or had them before.

We also attended a Halloween party.    We went as "cereal killers" donned with our favorite cereal boxes hung around our neck, with switch blades coming out at all angles and "blood" running down the box..   A little hard to see in the picture, but here we are:

We are not happy about our Cardinals....but there is always next year!!

The weather, although, warmer than up North has gotten a little chilly at night, settling in the high 40's/low 50's.  But we are still enjoying it.  Even spent one afternoon walking and reading at the beach!

Hope all is well!