My immigrated-from-Britain people, settled in Hattiesburg, MS though I know very little about their lives there...except that a branch of the family, with a much cooler name founded a successful piano manufacturing plant that took up a city block.

That is a detail I think belongs in a novel.

I do, due to the influence of one particular family member, have certain Southern idioms in my speech patterns.

It strikes me as odd that, despite traveling a LOT, I have so little direct experience of the South. Business trips to NoLA, adjacent LA and Kentucky, notwithstanding. Oh, and I met my mother in Arkansas, but even then, I don't remember much about the place.

Huh. A real gap in my experience.

Steph, I'm working toward veganism (gently) and am wondering how you like the coconut snowballs. They sound pretty yummy to me.

Born and bred in NC, and had the sort of idyllic childhood GC described, until I became more aware as a teen, and had that painful but inevitable break with my family and culture, which only widened as I got older. Winston-Salem was definitely Old Money plus pre-Revolutionary privilege, a firm, broad line which divided the socio-cultural haves from the have-nots, no matter what church you belonged to (as long as it was Protestant). There were more liberal areas, but "home" was consistently more stifling than nurturing, and it wears on one, body and soul.

Escape was delayed, but all the more appreciated for that. I do miss the assumption of certain things, like a literary culture I was part of, the family members I can actually stand, a nostalgic and practical familiarity with the area that takes years to achieve, and which I'm still working on, here. A tie to the land--but then developers were destroying that while I was still there, so in practice, me leaving was less painful than watching it be destroyed.

I carry the wonderful things about growing up in the south with me--the bad things, too, but they are easier to shed, here.

Ugh. I woke up with some very mild vertigo today. It has mostly passed but it has just made my whole day a bit off. The two hour commute to the film set wasn't that much fun, I will say that.

Steph, I'm working toward veganism (gently) and am wondering how you like the coconut snowballs. They sound pretty yummy to me.

The taste is good, if rich, but I could NOT get them to a proper consistency to form balls, so I just pressed the whole concoction into a small pan. I thought to cut it into bars, but it didn't really firm up well in the freezer -- it's still kind of the consistency of moosh, even after the freezer. So: taste good, consistency FAIL.

There are similar recipes floating around the Internet, so I'm going to see if I can tweak it so they actually firm up. I suspect more coconut oil is called for, since it hardens when it's cold.

I still have that tie to the land of my section of Southwest Pennsylvania. I was shocked at how little has changed, but in another 10 years it could start to become a bedroom community for the greater Pittsburgh area. I'd forgotten how much I love the hills I grew up in. It's like a landscape I could snuggle into and pull over myself, all nooks and crannies and dark woods. Much of my current desert mountain landscape is gorgeous and impressive, but it's a bigger beauty than the ancient hills my people settled in.

What's amusing is how twitchy I get in the flatlands. I need massive earthworks to put my mental back against. But I do love big sky.

I need to pick up a Tennessee accent (neither the text nor the news give me any sort of idea of which one)

Dinah Shore had a classic Middle Tennessee accent, and there are a fair number of clips of The Dinah Shore Show online.

Oh gods yes, Connie. My usual description of being in flat country is, "exposed as a seal on an ice floe," or "a bug on a plate." One of my supervisors decided my desk and I should be marooned in the center of a large reception area in our new offices--and then expected me to spread out thousands of dollars in cash and coin to count, or to concentrate on nitpicky records. Right, while my head is on a swivel searching for oncoming predators? Yeah, no. We quickly relocated me to a wall at my back, and I arranged desk, return, guest chair, bookcase and filing cabinet as barricades against the oncoming horde. Much cozier--and more productive!

So: taste good, consistency FAIL.

I'm fairly tolerant of consistency, so I might try them anyway, but I'll stay tuned for future outcomes.

I've watched a passel of pro-vegan documentaries lately...thank you netflicks...and have reflected on the last 6 years of non-vegetarianism as my least healthy. Now, a lot of that is no doubt due to middle age, etc. but what I cram into my face feels like the one thing, over which I have much control these days. So, yeah.

The tricky bit for me now is also wanting to avoid wheat, corn, sugar and soy. I think something is going to have to give in that formula.

Heh, Beverly, I think I might be similarly 'predator wary', though my twitch manifests in needing to live above the first floor. No basements or first floors for me. Perhaps I was an unsuccessful warren-dweller in another life.

The tricky bit for me now is also wanting to avoid wheat, corn, sugar and soy. I think something is going to have to give in that formula.

There are a lot more recipe blogs out there than you might think that address limited diets (whether it's for food allergies or by choice or whatever) -- I'm sure there are vegetarian gluten-free recipe blogs. I see a lot of gluten-free recipes avoiding corn (or all grains) and soy and refined sugar.