Ooops there goes another rubber tree plant

We have been living in zone 7 for 9 years. For those of you with green thumbs this might excite you , with all the possibilities of gardens of grandeur. But if you know Sheila and I at all, then you know that those green thumbs were not inherited from our very talented parents who have had lush gardens and plantings of their own. Only recently have I tried to start to reclaim our yard, especially the weed-infested creek that will be tackled very soon. The Bradford Pear trees (which smells like an convience store urinal) that hid our house were taken last year by the power company. The hosta's that are in front of our front porch are by far our biggest success, we could actually divide them into thirds and replant them elsewhere. But that is a task for this fall, along with planting a few leyland cypress trees. So we are trying to do what we can for now.

But this post is about a rubber tree, or so we thought. Since we have lived here the "rubber tree" has only dropped leaves the size of a "nerf" football, fortunately they disintegrate nicely once mowed. But, alas this year we were surprised to find blooms (the size of an egg) on the tree. Finally last week the blooms started popping open. What do you know, we have a magnolia tree with quite a nice fragrance that we get to smell daily.

The flowers are quite large,I am guessing probably 9 or 10 inches. We are hoping it blooms even more next year to help add to our curb appeal.

My theory is this: This one lowly Magnolia tree that we have which is about 25 feet tall was just laying in wait. Being a good tree it knew that an inferior and pungent tree like the Bradford, of which we four. We have eliminated three of those monsters, and the fourth will hopefully be leaving next year. With less competition around, "Maggie" the Magnolia decided it was her turn to shine, and grace us with a better odor than that of a litter box.

Bye Bye Bradley... Hello Maggie

Curious View

" Hey Mrs. Cardinal and Mr. Bluejay what are you doing goofing around out there, shouldn't you be playing baseball..." at least I think that is what Harley was thinking while watching two birds on our deck this morning.

Southern adoption

We have been living in the south for nearly nine years now. In this time we have certainly adopted some of the prevailent culture that defines Ole' Dixie. As much as we sounded like yankees for the first few years that we were down here, some people seem to think we have developed southern accents. " Do What!" If that is true, Sheila is a bit moreso.....I think. I certainly have learned to eat my share of BBQ, the most frequently used meat at a variety of luncheons that I attend for the newspaper. Ribs are still prefered to the mediocre pulled pork that many places serve,for those contemplating a visit, Sticky Fingers is still my local favorite for ribs and a great stop during your southern vacation.

Aside from changes in slang and diet, we have loved to do the occassional daytripping to places that would make Jack Kerouac proud. Unfortunately due to those crazy @$$ Saudi's we will be doing less of that this year. But I did have a small magazine job that took me to South Pittsburg, Tennessee. I was there to photograph one of last years state champion teams. One of the coaches was going to take part in a cooking contest, at the National Cornbread Festival held a few days later. So I made a second trip to complete the assignment, and since I happened to bring the wife along we decided to sample the entries.

For the most part, prior to this festival. we have had cornbread stuffing and the more common hunk of cornbread with butter and honey. However this festival opened our eyes to a world of cornbread possibilities. Upon paying $2.00 you would get samples from 10 different organizations that are competing for the overall winner.

There were many varieties, sweet pepper cornbread, chicken-brocolli cheese cornbread, cinnamon cornbread, double chocolate cornbread, jalapeno cornbread and a few others that I can't remember. We enjoyed the ones that were sweet or casserole based.

Deputy Bubba here creates a Pimento and Cheese Cornbread, which is surprisingly popular by locals, we passed on it though.

Before leaving South Pittsburg we of course had to purchase some cast iron pans to try and recreate some of the many recipes on the events website. "We'll fix some for ya, when ya get here."