The Simple Life

I've just had a bite of homemade pound cake. My neighbor, here in this apartment complex, brought me some earlier today when she stopped by on a visit. She also brought me some Southern Living magazines, which I enjoyed. Even when I lived "up north" I always bought Southern Living, Southern Christmas... any books and magazines that profiled the genuine hospitality of the south. Anyway, the pound cake is great. She uses a lot of genuine butter and shortening, just as it should be. When you have a bite and swallow, it takes a few seconds and then there is the glow of the richness of natural dairy and oil.

Anyway, we chatted about families and the news. She's a widow in her 80's and her sons are having a house built for her to replace one lost in Katrina. She'll be moving in there soon. I can tell that she's glad to be having a house again, but she's genteel and low key enough to not rub it in! I miss having my own house and she shudders when I tell her that I have to put my rent payments on my credit cards. We both shudder as we share the week's roach story. She nailed a few as did I. They grow to nearly two inches here and have shells harder than what we supply our troops with in Iraq. I had two in my bathroom this past week, and one I had to kill by slamming it with my iron. They withstand direct hits, even with "Reading the Old Testament" book, so I've had to resort to using my clothes iron.