Southern Things

I have spent all of my adult life in the South. We moved back to North Louisiana when I was a Junior in high school. Prior to that, I had spent my whole life on military bases both in the states and overseas. What a culture shock that was! I was born in the late 40's and did not move back to LA. until 65. This was the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. We went to an all white school (never did that before) and even the movie theater was segregrated...black in the balcony and whites down below. The clinics, hospital, funeral homes were all separate. For us, me and my sisters, all grown ups were addressed with Yes Mame or Yes Sir.....no there. Needless to say, our school years were a little difficult. That being said, I love most southern things although some of them still elude me 40+ years later.

Recently I had to go to another plant we own about an hours drive from the coast. It is a small south town where the plant is the biggest employer and no commerce. One small store (Piggly Wiggly), hardware store, feed and seed, drug store ,a couple little shops and one restaurant. Right out side of town is a shop called Rays. Apparently Ray is a butcher (think they call them meat cutters now) because he has a sign that says Rabbit Meat, Catfish and Coon..the other side also says deer. Do people actually eat Coon? How do you cook it? What do eat with it? Guess Granny and Jed did cook possum and coon in Beverly Hills. Wonder if it is fatting?

I thought people only hunted Coon, did not know they killed and and actually ate the meat!!! MAMA Thomas use to tell us kids that if you killed a Coon and skinned it , you had to leave one paw on it cause it looked like a cat skinned. We thought she was just getting us kids (we were city slickers) but maybe not.

Some Southern things still elude me 40 years later and no we do not eat coon, rabbit or deer meat. But mine at Walmart.