My dear sister/friend Jackie Chappell New has been telling me about
the renovations of her bedroom and bathroom suite, I finally got to
see it on my recent visit and it is truly as beautiful as she
described. I spent the afternoon and night with Jackie and her
husband Reid and Jackie and I attended a matinee showing of the movie
“Downton Abbey” and then the three of us dined at a Mexican restaurant
and shared stories and laughed into the night.
Jackie and I grew up in Richland and are friends and classmates;
Richland was a great place to grow up and I am proud to call it my
hometown; it was a village full of friendly people who helped one
another. The time we share is always enjoyable; Jackie is the
ultimate hostess, I hated to leave but I was expected in Richland the
next afternoon.
My drive to Webster County and Richland was filled with enjoying
studying the farm land; I enjoy seeing the fields and the tending and
harvesting of crops. I guess it comes from growing up around farm
acres and having friends and family who earn a living working the
land. My paternal grandfather was a proud Terrell County farmer and
instilled a love of the land in my soul.
Marcia was house and pet sitting while her daughter-in-love Candice
had back surgery and Nick Todd accompanied his wife during her stay at
the hospital. Once I unpacked my car, we drove to Columbus to give
Nick Todd time to go rest while we stayed with Candice. Later that
afternoon Marcia and I decided to visit a few establishments in
Columbus and then ate at one of my favorite restaurants, Country’s
Barbecue, at the original location near the old Columbus Square Mall.
We spent our youth driving back and forth from Richland to Columbus;
Columbus was where we went to the movies, ate fast food and enjoyed
fine dining, and had appointments with doctors, dentists and used the
various medical facilities.
One afternoon we drove to nearby Shellman and ate one of the best
grilled steaks we have ever eaten at the “Back Porch”, I highly
recommend this local restaurant. We drove the scenic route back to
Richland and Marcia laughed when I described a huge planting of cotton
ready for harvesting as southern snow but it looks like it to me. For
a while we followed a group of guys on farm equipment driving similar
to a parade on the highway, it is something that brought back great
memories of our younger days living in rural Georgia.
Thanks to my dear friends Sonny and Paula Stapleton, I was able to
bring home several buckets of green-peanuts to share and boil for the
freezer. There is no treat quite like fresh boiled peanuts, clean
them up some, soak in brine for a while and then boil them until done
to your taste. Gosh those Webster County peanuts truly are the best
in the world.
Brenda S. Brown
