ANOTHER SATURDAY NIGHT

...and I ain't got nobody. I got some money cause I just got paid."

I feel safe in admitting that I am home alone except for the 2 cats, because I don't think there is anyone left of the RangerReaders except Susie and Crystal and me. I need some comments. I feel like I'm talking to myself.

I cooked some rattlesnake beans (a kind of green bean) that I got at the farmer's market with some new potatoes, bacon and onion. I had this and a beefsteak tomato for supper. I think this was a better meal than anything I've had in a long time. Daddy used to grow this kind of green beans, and Mom would can them and we would have them all year. Best things in the world.

I've been eating out of the farmer's market for the past few weeks. Especially tomatoes. A good tomato sandwich will beat anything in the world--just Hellman's mayo and bread. I used to use Duke's mayo but I can't find it anymore.

Sometimes I vary my tomato sandwich. I add an onion or bacon or both. But most of the time it's just tomato. I make the slice of tomato as thick as the bread and I only use one piece of bread. I don't want anything to overwhelm the tomato.

I like the acidy tomatoes like Better Boys and Beefsteaks, not the sweet ones. I used to plant my own, but I had to quit when I messed up my back.

I'm watching TCM as usual. "3:10 to Yuma" is on, which I have seen many times, but there is always something new to notice. Van Heflin's hair look's funny. I think they have it all curled up to hide his receding hairline. I haven't seen Glenn Ford's hair, yet. He has had on a hat every minute of this movie. I didn't realize they got this story from an Elmore Leonard book. It looks like a John Ford movie, but much more dialogue than Ford.

I like dialogue in my movies. and acid in my tomatoes. Two things that I know on this Saturday night.

Filet Mignon and Premarin

Since I read my first 4 southern books, I have read 2 books that are definitely not Southern. The author of both is Martha Grimes who is normally a mystery writer, but these two are more thrillers. The first is Biting the Moon and the second is Dakota.

Grimes is better than the average mystery writer. Her mysteries were also above average. I used to read mysteries all the time, but I have sworn off. The only thrillers that i usually read are Ken Follett and of course, John Grisham, since we went to school together.

If you can't take cruelty to animals, do not read these books. A lot of it was very hard for me to read. Of course, it is all to teach us about what is happening to animals in the world and to raise our conciousness about it, but it is very hard to know about. Especially when you are at Madidi's eating an 8 oz filet. Apparently, I eat all the wrong things. There is no such thing as too much bacon. I also take premarin. You don't even want to hear about that.

I just read the article on the inside cover of Southern Living, which I always enjoy. I have always looked at the author's name at the about, namely to see where they are from, but i've always thought someday I will know the author. Well, it finally happened. Kara Givens, who i've known since she was a wee thing, was the author. Congratulations to all those Givens' out there. I wish I had known this before I went to church this morning.

My first four Books

Mudbound
All the King's Men
Raney
From the Mississippi Delta

Those are my first four books. I don't think I could have picked four more different books. But I loved all four. The only thing they have in common is the south.

Two are set in Mississippi.
Two are about politics.
One is comedy
One is the author's memoirs.

My first four Books

Mudbound

DO NOT READ AND COOK AT THE SAME TIME

I had to finish my book, From the Mississippi Delta, by Endesha Ida Mae Holland. So I left my spaghetti sauce on the stove to simmer, turned it down low and sat down in the breakfast room so I could keep an eye on it. You can probably finish this story.

I just threw away 1 lb. of ground chuck, 2 cans of tomatoes, 1 can of canellini beans, onions, peppers, and celery, spices, pesto. All burned. I had a tuna fish sandwich for supper.

Anais Nin and Speech Class

Two more weeks and I'm out of summer school. I have really liked my students this semester, with one exception. I even have some who read. I think my favorite moment so far is when Marlena Jarjoura used a quotation from Anais Nin in her self-intro speech. At first, I thought oh she has just found that in Creative Quotations.com or something, but, no, she says she has actually read Anais Nin's diaries! The first student I have ever had who has even heard of Anais.

I, of course, am on a first-name basis with Anais because I wrote a play about her in graduate school. "Anais and Cocteau", about her relationship with Jean Cocteau. There were only two characters in the play. We performed it during a night of one-acts at Circuit Playhouse. Of course that was a long time ago. But Marlena reminded me of college. Discovering new writers and books and ideas. Sitting in bars discussing George Sand and Albert Camus. We really thought we were the intelligentsia of Memphis State.