I’m a big fan of Southern Living Magazine. Let’s be honest, I’m a fan of
most everything the media power house publishes, designs, or distributes. I
have numerous cookbooks and Southern Living home products sold
exclusively through Dillards.
The SL plant collection is
also one of my favorites. I’ve had incredible results
with this collection and by following the advice of The Grumpy Gardner, SL’s in house green thumb, master gardener and all around smart aleck.
The SL plant collection is carefully curated to include species that thrive in
the southeastern US. Take a look at these tips for
getting the best growth from hydrangeas.
My flower garden is strictly for clipping. I
love making fresh arrangements for our home. Here’s a few pictures of small
arrangements I did for our house in Beaufort, SC.
I always had great luck with flowers in that little yard.
Gorgeous hydrangeas
from my clipping garden in blue and purple.
Hydrangeas are my
favorite flower. I was so pleased with how vibrant they were.
Fragrant Gardenias loosely
arranged in a vase added that little something on our bedside table.
Back to the topic at hand; Mr. Rick Bragg.
Before Rick began writing articles for SL, he was a journalist and author
in his own right. He has published six
non-fiction novels and is now a professor with the University of Alabama (Roll Tide!).
I have several of Rick’s books in my own
personal library and my favorite is My Southern
Journey: True Stories from the Heart of the South.
Enjoy an excerpt from the book below.
It suits me, here. My people tell their
stories of vast red fields and bitter turnip greens and harsh white whiskey
like they are rocking in some invisible chair, smooth and easy even in the
terrible parts, because the past has already done its worst. The joys of
this Southern life, we polish like old silver. We are good at
stories. We hoard them, like an old woman in a room full of boxes, but now and
then we pull out our best, and spread them out like dinner on the ground. We
talk of the bad year the cotton didn’t open, and the day my cousin Wanda was
Washed in the Blood. We cherish the past. We buff our beloved ancestors till
they are smooth of sin, and give our scoundrels a hard shake, though sometimes
we cannot remember exactly which is who.
I wonder if, north of here, they might even
run out of stories someday. It may seem silly, but it is cold up there, too
cold to mosey, to piddle, to loafer, and summer only lasts a week and a half.
The people spit the words out so fast when they talk, like they are trying to
discard them somehow, banish them, rather than relish the sound and the story.
We will not run out of them here. We talk like we are tasting something.
I do it for a living, which is stealing,
really. Li’l Abner, another not-too-bright Southern boy, had a job
once, testing mattresses.
This is much like that, this book.*****
I am always transported to another place when I Rick’s work and
I follow him on social media to keep up-to-date on what he’s writing next or
where he will be doing a book signing.
If you haven’t read his work, do yourself a
favor and start today. Start with his latest article from the February issue of
Southern Living. He discusses, in detail the contents of his
mother’s cookbook.
Rick Bragg and his mother, Margaret Bragg. Picture is property
and courtesy of Terry Manier for Southern Living Magazine.
With warmth and love,
Wendy
CEO- The House of Q’s
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