Life in the South a.k.a. southern living

Ah, there's nothing like the hazy shimmer of sweltering, sultry summer days in North Louisiana! When I was sixteen (now mind your southern manners and don't ask how long ago that was), nothing looked better than the great escape--Dallas, New York, Los Angeles....big lights, big city, big house, big life excitement motivated me to get the heck out of Dodge. But once the impersonal reality of life in the fast lane set in, I couldn't wait to find a way back home. Well--I"M BACK!Now I live in the simple, sparse lane--a 1,000 square foot (paid for!) cottage in the country, flushed up next to wild piney woods chock full of deer, coyote, red fox, and yes, rattlesnakes and an occasional water moccasin. Oh, yes, and a panther, who loves to scream like a banshee at around midnight every night. I And I'm loving every minute of it, savoring sweet tea on the porch and watching the squirrels chase each other through the trees. And that's exactly what I've decided the theme of the second half of my life is going to be about--savoring the small things--for the small things ARE the big things. The first half of my life was about chasing dreams--some of them caught, some of them not, and some let go...some lost. I wasted (or maybe not, since I learned) so much time reaching for "largeness." I have achieved a modicum of success, some fair amount of recognition through writing and filmmaking, and a taste of that granted me a peep into the nether world of celebrity, though I'm far from being a celebrity. The taste was bittersweet and sweet-sour--sweet in the the sense of having accomplished a goal--that at times felt like pushing a B-52 down the runway with both hands to get it airborn. And bitter in the sense that too much was sacrificed of my personal life in accomplishing the goal. So now it's all about balance. And it's about my new manuscript titled COONDOGS, COLLARDS & CORNBREAD, a book that I would like to be a work-in-progress, with interactions from readers of the blog. The book will be about life's lessons learned hard, joy, pain, and that life is in the details--"it's all in the sauce." The nucleus of the book--which some may call a food memoir--is in southern cooking gone healthy. I've taken my grandmother Mammaw's recipes and the memory and "lesson" behind each dish. I'll post the recipe and story on the next blog entry. Please let me know what you think. Let's stay in touch!

Hugs,

Debi Ann