Saturday, July 6, 2013

SOUTHERNERS LOVE CHICKEN FOR BREAKFAST, LUNCH, DINNER AND SUPPER



Today is National Fried Chicken Day !

It is a day set aside to celebrate /appreciate the wonderful taste of fried chicken.
Fried chicken, often referred to as Southern Fried Chicken in the United States is the meat of the chicken dipped in a breading/batter mixture and then deep fried.
The breading/batter seals in the juices and absorbs the fat for flavor. 
























For southerners, fried chicken is a favorite anytime dish !
We love fried chicken ! From a big country breakfast to a special meal dinner for invited, guests to a fun picnic in the park, fried chicken fits the bill .















































































Southern fried chicken is historically an African -American dish. The preparation of fowl using frying was relatively unknown among Europeans settlers of the United States , but was common in West Africa . Africans who were enslaved and brought to the Americas brought this method of food preparation with them . (Wikipedia)



Enjoy more southern poems:
BOOKS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON:

http://tinyurl.com/reflections-pnd

http://tinyurl.com/magnolia-mem-pnd
 

Monday, July 1, 2013

SOUTHERN IS (Not) A COLOR !



These days, it seems as though people try to make almost everything in life a black or white issue.
It simply is not the case. 


Recently, I received a message in my Facebook message box which said :
Ms Dorsey you post many folk life photos but I have yet to see you post any of Black Folk Life in Mississippi?????


One of my first thoughts was: "You must have missed a whole lot of my posts/pictures."
I posted a response on my page which included some of the following statements:
EVERY single thing that I post has something to do with some some aspect of MY own life experiences. Many of my posts are pictures to go along with poems from my books, Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia : A Life In Poems (MY Life..the life I know about ! ) and My Magnolia Memories and Musings- In Poems (emphasis on MY)


If I am not mistaken,.,and I don't think that I am..I do qualify as :Black Folk" LOL!!!
If I don't qualify, my parents will be VERY disappointed !!! Please don't tell them !!!LOL!


Most of the pictures that I post are of southern scenes and scenery ...fields, landscapes, old buildings, barns, farm life, farm animals , front porches, ect.
Those type of pictures are certainly not a black or white thing "
They are a "southern thing".
Southern is NOT a color.


When I am posting, I am never thinking of reflecting or appealing to black or white..
It never entered my mind to categorize the type of things that I post in terms of color.
I don't know if the roosters or the cows or pigs are supposed to be black or white folk life pictures but they are what I know about my country life upbringing.
From all of the feedback that I receive, it seems, that a lot of people, both black and white had the very same upbringing .


I post a goo gob of down-home , country style food pictures !!!
I really didn't know how obsessed I was/am with food until I started reading my own poems! Almost every other one of them has something to do with food!! LOL!!!
I don't think of the food items that I post in terms of a black or white thing.
Anyone should be able to see that it's a very Southern thing!


And, I must repeat, Southern is NOT a color !


Judging from all of the requests that I get to repost so many of the food recipes and pictures, it seems that a whole lot of people, both black an white love the same kinds of food that I love to eat and grew up on.


In general, I post a whole, whole lot about loving and the South.

Is that a white folk thing or a black folk thing ???
No , it's a Southern thing !
We LOVE our South.   We love our "southern" !
Southern is NOT a color !


I received so many positive responses from Facebook friends on that initial post saying that one of the reasons that they love my posts is because I don't make them into a black or white thing.
Of course, I will continue doing just what I do ...
Always, Always....Celebrating the South and things Southern
Until Next Time..  Love, Peace...and Chicken Grease ! 





























































































Join in on the celebration !
Enjoy more southern poems:
BOOKS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON:

http://tinyurl.com/reflections-pnd

http://tinyurl.com/magnolia-mem-pnd

Monday, June 24, 2013

THERE'S NOTHING LIKE SUMMER IN THE SOUTH! !


Woopee!!!   Woo Hoo!!!

I love summer...and there is nothing like
 summer in the south!
It's time for bare feet and cold ice tea!













Summer in the south is a time 
for serious front porch 
sitting and rocking.
These two southern gems 
are the perfect addition...











  LINKS TO BOOKS ON AMAZON:

Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia-A Life in Poems


My Magnolia Memories and Musings- In Poems







Sunday, June 16, 2013

There's nothing like growing up in Mississippi with a "Southern Man" Dad !


Today is Father's Day!


I feel like I have been blessed with the most wonderful Dad in he world (for me).
Of course, as a southern girl, he has always been and always will be "Daddy".
I always joke that I didn't even know that I had a mother until I was 15 years old.
The truth of the matter is that I had and still have a more -than- fabulous, truly southern belle mother who is the hostess -with -the mostest ! Martha Stewart has nothing on her!  It's just that, until I was in my teens, my whole world absolutely revolved around my Daddy! He was my world ..and I absolutely just KNEW that he hung the moon !
My Dad has shaped so much of who I am ...and what I do!
I love my Daddy ! You can see that in SO many of my poems!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy! 





















Dr. James H. Neely received his Bachelor's degree in 1955 from Kentucky State University, formerly Kentucky State College with a major in chemistry and a minor in math and French. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Meharry Medical College (Nashville, TN) in 1960


You can find these poems and many more in my "little books of southern poems"

 




BOOKS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON: 
http://tinyurl.com/reflections-pnd
http://tinyurl.com/magnolia-mem-pnd





Monday, June 10, 2013

ONE OF MY "MISSISSIPPI" POEMS WILL BE PROUDLY "REPRESENTING" IN A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE'S OFFICE


Last week, the wife of one of Mississippi's U.S. Congressional Representative's saw my poem, "Meet My Mississippi" posted on Facebook.  She contacted me to say that she really LOVED the poem and wanted to get a print of it to put on her husband's office wall.


WOO HOO!!! HOW EXCITING!!!








































I thanked her immensely for her interest and support and directed her to a site where framed and unframed prints of many of my poems can be purchased.
I must say, framed prints of the poems make excellent gifts! 





























CHECK IT OUT HERE:
Fine Art America - Patricia Neely-Dorsey
http://patricia-neelydorsey.fineartamerica.com


She selected the poem to be framed on canvas.
I am hoping that she will send me a picture of the poem on the wall ...with the Congressman of course!
I will keep you posted!


As Always...Celebrating the South and Promoting A Positive Mississippi! 





BOOKS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON: 
http://tinyurl.com/reflections-pnd
http://tinyurl.com/magnolia-mem-pnd




Monday, June 3, 2013

CELEBRATING ELVIS IN HIS (MY) HOMETOWN

Tupelo is all is abuzz with excitement about the upcoming Elvis Festival. It is one of the most anticipated events in the city each year.  People come from all over the world to enjoy the festivities.  The festival is a musical celebration designed to honor Elvis Presley, Tupelo’s native son, and the impact that his music has on the world. In addition to all of the great music, the festival features a number of local food vendors, a carnival midway, pet parade, beauty pageant, 5k run, disc golf, movie poster exhibit, an Elvis Tribute Artist Contest and much more.


 
 
 







 
 
 
Elvis Festival Schedule:
 
Thursday, June 6th -

3 pm Elvis Driving Tour Marker Unveiling
Music Bend Nature Trail - 99 North Veterans Boulevard
Tupelo's Elvis Presley Driving Tour marks significant sites in the life of Elvis Presley while he lived in Tupelo. This event marks the
addition of a 11th site on the trail.
7 pm Concert with:
Sonny Burgess and The Pacers with DJ Fontana
Victor Trevino, Jr.
Bill Cherry
With The EAS Band
(Lyric Theatre)
Sold Out - Call 662-841-6598 for Simulcast Tickets
Late Night:
Elvis Tribute Artist Open Mic
FREE
Broadway Outdoor Stage

Friday, June 7th-
 
9:30 am Round 1 of UETA Preliminary Competition
with The EAS Band (Lyric Theatre) Sold Out
6:00 pm Gates open @ Fairpark - Get Tickets Here or buy at the Gate for $10
6:30 pm Elvis Tribute Artist Brandon Bennett
7:15 pm Kirk Chism and The Lost Highway
8:30 pm The Cadillac Three
10:00 pm Headliner - Cowboy Mouth
(Fairpark Outdoor Music Festival)
7 pm Concert with:
Kevin Mills
Brandon Bennett
with The EAS Band (Lyric Theatre)
Sold Out - Call 662-841-6598 for Simulcast Tickets
Late Night:
Big Jim and Argo Dance Party
FREE
Broadway Outdoor Stage
 
Saturday, June 8th -

7:30 am Running with the King 5K
Veteran's Park
9:00 am Pet Parade and Pageant
Onsite Registration 8:00 - 8:45 am
Broadway Outdoor Stage
10 am Conversations on The Ultimate with Tom Brown
Brandon Bennett, Ultimate 2008
Bill Cherry, Ultimate 2009
Cody Slaughter, Ultimate 2011
Sold Out
1 pm Round 2 of UETA Preliminary Competition
with The EAS Band (Lyric Theatre) Sold Out
 
6:00 pm Gates open @ Fairpark - Get Tickets Here or buy at the Gate for $20
6:30 pm Elvis Tribute Artist Cody Slaughter
7:15 pm Surviving Allison
8:30 pm Skylar Laine
10:00 pm Headliner - Montgomery Gentry
(Fairpark Outdoor Music Festival)
7 pm Concert with:
Finals of UETA Preliminary Competition
Tyler Hunter
David Lee
Cody Slaughter
with The EAS Band
(Lyric Theatre)
Sold Out - Call 662-841-6598 for Simulcast Tickets 
 
 
Sunday, June 9th -


10 am "Ultimate Gospel for the Soul" Brunch
Elvis Presley Enterprises "First Ever" UETA, Shawn Klush
The Blackwood Quartet
Joe Moscheo of The Imperials
The Landmarks
Tupelo Unity Choir
with The EAS Band
(Lyric Theatre)
Get Tickets Here or buy at the Lyric for $25

*Each Event Requires a Separate Ticket*
for more information check out the Elvis Festival website :
http://tupeloelvisfestival.com/
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                      
                       Poems found in My Magnolia Memories and Musings -In Poems 
                                             
                                                 (CLICK LINK TO AMAZON.COM)
 
 
 

Friday, May 24, 2013

WELCOME TO THE "LOVE BLOOMS" BLOG HOP! I am showing some SOUTHERN LOVE!










WELCOME TO THE  
"LOVE BLOOMS" BLOG HOP! 
I am showing some SOUTHERN LOVE! 


We love to talk about love. We love to read about love.
What is a better time than in May, when the scent of new grass and flowers are in the air? 
I write  A LOT about love !
My poetry writing started in full  bloom with a love poem. My first dozen or so poems were all love poems.  I wrote my very first poem "Our Place" February 14, 2007.
I woke up out of my sleep with that poem swirling around in my head. I, quickly, got up and scribbled it down. After that the poems just started to flow and flow . 
Actually, all of the poems that I write could be categorized as love poems, of sorts. 
Most of the poems that I write , are about my deep love for the people , culture and lifestyle of the South. One reviewer dubbed my first collection of poetry, Reflections of Mississippi Magnolia , a "love letter to the south". I, wholeheartedly,  agree with that description. In my second book, My Magnolia Memories and Musings, the love affair continues.


My Very First Poem:






 The Love Affair Continues:






Mississippi Love: 

























Monday, May 20, 2013

THE NATCHEZ TRACE...History In My Own Back Yard


This weekend Hubby, our son Henry and I attended the 75th Anniversary Celebration of the Natchez Trace.  It was held at the Tupelo Visitor Center, which is located less than a mile from our home.  There were children's activities, classic cars exhibits representing 1938-today, live music, history reenactments AND hot dogs & drinks at 1938 prices (5 cents for sodas and 10 cents for hotdogs )! Special guest speakers included US Representative Alan Nunnelee, US Senator Roger Wicker and US Senator Thad Cochran.
The opening greetings and welcome were delivered by Tupelo Mayor, Jack Reed, Jr. 























The Natchez Trace, also known as the "Old Natchez Trace", is a historical path that extends roughly 440 miles (710 km) from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee, linking the Cumberland, Tennessee and Mississippi rivers. 
It was created and used for centuries by Native Americans, and was later used by early European and American explorers, traders and emigrants in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  Native Americans used many early footpaths created by the foraging of bison, deer and other large game that could break paths through the dense undergrowth.  Bison traveled north to find salt licks in the Nashville area. 
After Native Americans first began to settle the land, they began to blaze the trail further, until it became a relatively well-worn path.   Later, The "Kaintucks", or boatmen from the Ohio River Valley, would walk approximately 500 miles from Natchez to Nashville along the Natchez Trace in about 30 days. Today, the trail is commemorated by the 444-mile (715 km) Natchez Trace Parkway, which follows the approximate path of the Trace.  Maintained and administered by the National Park Service, the Parkway is headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi. 
The Natchez Trace Parkway was seventh on the Top 10 Most Visited Places of the National Park System in 2012.


The Natchez Trace has been a close part of my life, almost all of my life.
I drive down this beautiful parkway at LEAST once a week.













































A FEW INTERESTING NATCHEZ TRACE FACTS:

-Meriwether Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was governor of the Upper Louisiana Territory when he died on the Natchez Trace in 1809, at Grinder's Stand in Tennessee. A monument was erected in his honor in 1848 and can be seen along the Natchez Trace Parkway today.

-Andrew Jackson traveled on the Trace with his troops during the War of 1812.


 
The Natchez Trace poem is found in My Magnolia Memories and Musings -In Poems book







My Magnolia Memories and Musings - In Poems           Link to Amazon




Monday, May 13, 2013

My Little Books Of Southern Poems Are Absolutely ...DREAMY!!!


I always tell the same story over and over about how my poetry writing and first poem came into existence.  On February 14, 2007, I wrote my very first poem.
I woke up out of my sleep, with this poem swirling around in my head.
I got up out of the bed and quickly scribbled it down.
After that the poems just started to flow and flow . Many of my poems have come just as I am drifting off to sleep, waking up or in the middle of the night.
Early on, after the publishing of my first collection of poems, Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia, I would often get an odd response ( I thought ) to me telling the story, in interviews. The "academic literary types" would tell me that I might not want to say that this was the way that my poems came about. They indicated that it might take away from the validity of my "craft". They said that it might somehow diminish the respect that people would have for my work. I thought it very odd because I was thinking ...What OTHER way could I or should I say that they came about ... other than the way they ACTUALLY DID come about ??!!! Were they suggesting that I make something up ??!!! To me that idea was totally absurd. I totally ignored that "marketing " advise and kept on telling my story...over and over and over again.
I am very proud to tell the story of how my poems come/came. Of course, there was/is no hiding it, anyway! 

In the foreword of Reflections I wrote: I always hesitate to call myself a poet. I feel more like a vessel or conduit through which the poems flow. I never intentionally sat down to write any of them. They all came to be fully complete and neatly packaged, title and all. I just put them down on paper. (I consider them gifts from God )
Actually, as far as "creative dreaming" goes, I think that I am in very good company !
Consider this :

On May 7, 1965, in a motel room in Clearwater, Florida, a bleary-eyed Keith Richards awoke, grabbed a tape recorder and laid down one of the greatest pop hooks of all time: The opening riff of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." He then promptly ...fell back to sleep.

"When I woke up in the morning, the tape had run out," Richards recalled many years later. "I put it back on, and there's this, maybe, 30 seconds of 'Satisfaction,' in a very drowsy sort of rendition. And then it suddenly—the guitar goes 'CLANG," and then there's like 45 minutes of snoring." It wasn't much to go on, but he played it for Mick Jagger later that same day. "He only had the first bit, and then he had the riff," Jagger recalls. "It sounded like a country sort of thing on acoustic guitar—it didn't sound like rock. But he didn't really like it, he thought it was a joke... He really didn't think it was single material, and we all said 'You're off your head.' Which he was, of course."


Yesterday was written by Paul McCartney. He says that he literally woke up out of a dream with the song in his head, and went right to the piano. The working title was "Scrambled Eggs", in G, until he came up with "Yesterday".
In 1965, Paul McCartney, famous singer/songwriter then with The Beatles, was staying at his parent’s home in London. McCartney stated:
"I woke up with a lovely tune in my head. I thought, 'That's great, I wonder what that is?' There was an upright piano next to me, to the right of the bed by the window. I got out of bed, sat at the piano, found G, found F sharp minor 7th -- and that leads you through then to B to E minor, and finally back to E. It all leads forward logically. I liked the melody a lot, but because I'd dreamed it, I couldn't believe I'd written it. I thought, 'No, I've never written anything like this before.' But I had the tune, which was the most magic thing!"
The tune McCartney was speaking about was the arrangement to the gigantic hit “Yesterday” (from The Beatles album “Help!” (1965).
In 1997, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 1999, the song was voted by BBC Radio 2 listeners as the best song of the 20th century.
In 2000, “Yesterday” was voted the number one pop song of all time by MTV and Rolling Stone Magazine.
Furthermore, The Guinness Book of Records holds that “Yesterday” is the most covered song ever with over 3000 versions recorded, and Broadcast Music Incorporated asserts the song was performed over seven million times in the 20th century alone... all from a dream.



                                      MY VERY FIRST POEM
                            Written February 14, 2007







"When the mind rests, the subconscious whispers"

Interview information and more on amazing dreams here:

Famous Dreams - Paul McCartney




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