celebrate my Southernness

i live in NY now but my New Orleans background is following me. my friend pointed out that i managed to find the only neighborhood with a cajun restaurant in the county to move in to and now that i’m getting in to bartending, my first experience behind a bar was at a place called Burbon Street. I can’t help it, i just exude Southerninity!

(as if i needed one!)

They’re good for you.

This sickens me. Small old cultures are being completely obliterated in the wake of the “discovery” of Florida, including the swamp and marsh beauty. This photo, IMHO, should have never been. The area should have remained with a small wooden one-lane bridge, no new houses on nonexistent “land,” no brand-new docks on lots with new sod that used to be old homesteads. This photo should be of a wild marsh with natural inlets on the north Florida intracostal waterway. There should be cormorants, egrets, alligators, snakes, fiddler crabs, oysters and wild hogs… and generations-old culture.

Laws and taxes have driven out natives. Whole cultures disappear. Generations of history become nothing but mispronounced cutesy street names on new-construction subdivisions. Nouveau riche claim and desecrate what once was sacred.

First one person finds a waterfront lot, and builds something gaudy. Then another. Local businesses gain some business, then the climate changes. Suddenly the local fish camp is the touted favorite of golf pros and their caddys. The old place is different, but it’s initially good for business, for everyone. At first.

Then there’s a budding movement to get rid of “undesirable” elements, such as trailers or mobile homes, which may have been on the family property for years, unseen from the street or water and not hurting anyone. More people want to see how quaint it is out there, and wow, what a deal for waterfront… they build a new monstrosity! Communities may get together to fight the laws and save their friends’ homes. It may work for awhile; however …

Taxes go sky high. Traffic gets congested. First one strip mall, then a street widening. Then signage regulations, and Joe can’t sell his corn from the street anymore. Andy can’t afford the taxes on his property, when he used to be able to live on his homestead on what he made from selling his catch to the fish camp. The lucky ones had the view lots and may sell with profit. But they move away. Things fall apart. Unlucky ones, with perfectly good property (but without water access or a view) pay taxes with no gain or interest if they want to sell, only scorn from their new “neighbors”...

Next, the new folks seem bothered not only by the “colorful locals” but by the wildlife they thought was so beautiful. Poisonous clouds of “mosquito control” follow a slow-moving, expensive, public-owned service vehicle. Alligator control? Dangerous, of course we need that. And while we’re at it, nobody wants a nice house with snakes and cockroaches in the yard, do they? It’s all manicured and sanitized before too long, and it looks nothing like it used to. Where did Florida go?

Meanwhile, a whole heritage erodes away and dissolves generations of tradition and bonding, and local knowledge and history.

This is real tragedy to me.

have exploded. They say they won’t bloom unless you prune them…but there’s no way in hell I could prune this sucker. And look.

Unfortunately, these and the Mimosa trees are weeds around here – I must have pulled hundreds of them out of the ground today. Crazy.

The Milltop… bury me there!

Originally from the Minorcans, this pepper came to the St. Johns County area of Florida in 1777. At 60,000 to 100,000 Scoville, this pepper is HOT! When my mom can manage to grow some or get some, the sauce does not last long. It’s what I like with my fried fish!

Yankee or Dixie?

Who knew I was what I was? Anyhoo…

Check on your dialect and see if you might have crossed over to the “other side”! Simply click on the correct answer. As you go, the quiz will automatically interpret each answer to show you what your answer implies about you. When you are done, press Compute My Score. Your score will be calculated as a percentage: 0% is pure Yankee and 100% is pure Dixie.
Do not change your answer during the test as it will ruin the score. You may do this after scoring is calculated to see the other answers.
If you make a mistake, hit Clear below to restart the test!
I regret that I do not have time to entertain discussions about this test or negotiate changes. It is provided strictly as-is and for entertainment purposes only.
Be aware that television entertainment has a lot of northern dialect in it. This will have more of an influence on you than you expect.
This test is based on results from the Harvard Computer Society Dialect Survey of 30788 respondents.
http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/yankee_dixie_quiz.html

OMG the thermometer in the backyard was pegged out at 120 degrees THIS MORNING! See my avatar for an example of what it feels like here today.

Might as well celebrate.

Did you know that you can eat the heart of a palmetto? Yes, you can! Survival in Florida is not easy. I love the plants I grew up with. Here is some wonderful information about them from a scholarly source:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/UW152

antebellum architecture… and pralines!