Happy Fourth of July Newsletter

Happy July 4, 2014!
Growing up, fried chicken and blackberry cobbler were the mainstays of our July 4th celebration. The chicken was finger-lickin’ good, and often there was homemade vanilla ice cream as a topping for the cobbler. Mother cooked the chicken in a large black skillet with Crisco, and there were always plenty of crunchies left in the pan for making gravy, if desired.
We went to pick the wild blackberries on Highway 29; they grew up the shoulder. I have no snake stories, but there were always scratches from the stickers. Filling the buckets took quite a while, because Critt and I tended to eat three or four, before one hit the bucket.
There were no laws to keep us from shooting off fireworks. Rockets, firecrackers, and sparklers were our favorites. The sparklers fascinated me, and I was amazed at the lighted stars. There were never enough of them, in my opinion, no matter how many were bought.
So minus the fireworks, I will serve fried chicken, probably bought from either Publix or KFC, on Friday. I bought the blackberries and will make the crust especially for our guests that need gluten-free dishes.
The ice cream is another story entirely; I will use Mother’s recipe that calls for Eagle Brand milk and whole milk. At least there is an electric churn, rather than the hand crank we used to use. We all put our time in turning the crank, so we earned our big scoops.
Since we haven’t made any ice cream since last year, I might just have dessert first!
There is something about the tastes, sounds, sights, and smells of yesterday that never leave us, and that is a blessing in my book.
This newsletter will be posted on my blog this month. In fact, I am thinking that I will include it as one of my blog posts. If you haven’t visited my web page, I believe you might enjoy some of the posts.
One of you readers has a chance to win a free signed copy of my latest book, Brave Elizabeth. It is the biography of Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson, the mother of President Andrew Jackson. I will mail it to someone who makes a legitimate post about your remembrances of July 4.
Book Signing:
July 19-24 – National Sons of the American Revolution Convention at Hyatt in Greenville, SC