Let Me Introduce Myself

By Dee Dee Parker

Based entirely on the mental musings of Dee Dee Parker

Hi folks. 

My name is Ruby Lee Brown and I've lived in Thistledown Hollow almost all of my life. Except for when I went off to school. Missing my mountains was too hard on a body. I found my way back home before the ink on my diploma  had dried.

Since I know pretty much everyone here and have written a column or two, and seeing as how Sallie Mae Julie Justice has decided that her 19 grands and great grands need a might bit more of her attention these days, she has asked me to oversee the writing and editing of The Thistledown Hollow Gazette. Coy Washburn will keep doing the printing and delivery. But Sallie Mae said I could add my flair and flavor to it, if I thought a spot of it needed sprucing up. That was mighty kind of her. 

So I want to give you a sample of what's to come. I'm adding a recipe section. Sometimes, I'll have a guest writer or two. We'll still have announcements of weddings, babies and funerals. Hollow Happenings will grace the pages along with gardening tips. Of course our local businesses will keep advertising and I have decided to add book reviews and get input from the local book club. There will be a column about Fishing and Fixing Cars, mostly for the men folk. But I do know of a couple of ladies who could give them a run for their money. 

Here's what I have to offer for now! 

Thistledown Hollow Gazette

May 2020

Vol.23

Marcella Caney’s beauty shop, Hair Do’s and Makeup Don’ts, is running a special. I’m guessing Marcella dropped off a little flyer touting the wash and dry special because she, and everybody here 'bouts, knows I’ll be writing for the local paper with this community news column on page six every week. She told me yesterday that if you buy one item off the middle shelf, you’d get a coupon for half off your next wash and set. Marcella probably wants me to reference the makeup deal because she told me she ordered a might heavy on the day-glamour eye shadow.

Pritchell Grasty’s been down in his back lately. He told me his mind hadn’t caught up with his body, concerning age. Pritchell’s wife ordered him one of those contraptions that you hang on your door to pull your spine into line and to help ease the pain. Pritchell mentioned, a little sheepishly, that the only results he’s had since using the dang thing, is he thinks he’s grown an inch taller.

Pearline Purdy is scheduled to sing a solo at church this coming Sunday. Some folks say they wish she wouldn’t always string three or four songs together…a medley, she calls it. Tate Gibson likes to hear songs pure and unto themselves. The choir director, Jim Edney, mentioned to all of us to be patient and kind. "If you aren't partial to the music this Sunday, don't worry, cause the kind you prefer will come around another week." Smart man that Brother Jim. 

Everybody’s got his or her own taste, I reckon. 

Speaking of taste, I’ve got my mouth set for some kilt lettuce. If you’re new to these parts, the recipe is below. 

Ligon Hightower’s momma, Myrtis, made the best kilt lettuce on the hollow. Mattie Mayapple said Myrtis was always willing to give out her recipe, but Mattie thinks she left out an ingredient so as nobody else’s would be as good as hers was. We women can be finagling sometimes when it comes to our recipe.

Mattie Mayapple's Kilt Lettuce

Kilt lettuce gets its name because the hot dressing kills, or wilts the lettuce.

Ingredients for salad:

6 cups of shredded lettuce

2-3 chopped green onions (to taste)

salt and pepper(to taste)

Ingredients for dressing:

2 Tablespoons bacon drippings

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 Tablespoon sugar

Combine lettuce and chopped onions. Add salt and pepper.  Pour hot dressing over lettuce mixture. Toss and serve immediately.

* Can add crumbled bacon pieces.

* Can add boiled egg slices as a garnish. Mattie says the slice egg gives the kilt lettuce another pop of color. She also adds the crumbled pieces of bacon as well as the drippings.

Have you tried kilt lettuce? I've heard some fancy restaurants use spinach instead.

Photo Credit: Maureen Miller    

We've hit a little cool and rainy patch the last couple of days. I guess our early gardens are happy for it. Myself, I’m ready for what I call, porch tending weather…you know, good weather for tending your flowers and for sharing visits with neighbors.

The rhododendron and mountain laurel in my yard are beautiful this year. The big rose-colored “rhodo” by my springhouse is showing out with dinner-plate sized blossoms. The delicate flowers I picked from my mountain laurel looks so pretty in a tin pitcher. I hope your flowers are flourishing this spring. 

Beryl Moody said she saves her coffee grounds and eggshells to feed her plants. She vows that sprinkling them around the plant roots makes for the best fertilizer.

Thistledown Hollow's very own bluegrass band, the Mason Jar Relics, will be playing at a fundraiser to help buy 25 rose bushes to help beautify the community center's front entrance. Any reason to the hear the band works for me, but the center could use a touchup after Mace Cutshaw took out a whole row of jasmine after his brakes went out a month ago.  Mace's pickup truck has patches-on-top-of-patches on both interior and exterior parts, with the whole thing being older than dirt. Mace said the truck, named Trixie, still has a few years left in her. 

If you see Mace coming your way, I'd advise you to give him a wide berth.



I’ll leave you dear readers with a good thought. Preacher Amos Edwards told me that the dirtier your Bible gets from marking scripture that touched your soul, the cleaner you’ll be. Now, that’s truth with my hand up.

Come go home with me next week, dear readers. 

You are loved and welcomed here.

If you have any thoughts on the Gazette, with me being new to running it, please leave me comments below. I'd love to hear your ideas for columns.