Rest Up, It’s Sunday

We Americans are proud of our work ethic — perhaps too proud. We tend to value our work and busyness so much that we forget how to be still enough to hear Heaven’s quiet voice. We need

Could this be the worst “dining” experience in America, or… even worse?

Does Eat Place, Greenville, Mississippi, front door

Torn between numerous thoughts, I struggled with the headline, and opening paragraph.

The headline “Public Food Establishment Not Fit For Human Consumption” would be adequate, I suppose, but I really like this lead as a headline much better: “I feel like I should’ve eaten a cucumber sandwich.”

That was actually a SMS which I’d sent a good friend of mine, who had mentioned that earlier in the day, he purchased some cucumbers at a local Farmer’s Market, was pondering how to prepare them, and was considering preparing cucumber sandwiches. Naturally, I gave him a fair amount of good-natured ribbing over the matter (suggesting perhaps that he should consider joining a ladies tea party group) particularly given that he has a penchant for sausages & “fair food,” sometimes aka “carnival food.”

How did I feel after that decidedly “ungastronomic” experience?
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Here is but one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nevertheless…

Back to the Greenville, Mississippi fiasco.

It may be best to characterize the experience with a few terms:

• Clip Joint

• Nasty

• Filthy

• Overpriced

• Nickel and Dime

• Avoid at All Costs

Having read the reviews on UrbanSpoon.com, I was somewhat prepared – with strong emphasis upon the minimal aspect.

The following video is

Booze News You Can Use: Cullman, Alabama city officials delighted with alcohol tax revenue

For many years, Cullman, Alabama – a tiny town in Central North Alabama, founded by German immigrants in 1873 – had been “dry,” which is to say that there were no legal sales of beverage alcohol in the city.

In fact, the city had been dry for nearly half its existence, having experienced “wet” and dry periods aside even, from national Prohibition.

There had been various referendums in 2004, 2002, 1992, 1990, 1986 and 1984, with the closest vote in 1984, when alcohol sales were voted down by a mere 159 votes.

Cullman had also been the butt of national jokes & mockery because it had the only dry Oktoberfest in the United States. That all changed in 2011, and for the 30th celebration of Oktoberfest that year, celebrants were able to legally sell & enjoy the consumption of beer, wine & liquor.

What is particularly fascinating about this entire ordeal – local prohibition in small-town Alabama – is that it is representative of

Small Minds Think Small Thoughts

Wilson Lock & Dam, impounding Wilson Lake, viewing North - Image via Wikipedia

In the region where I attended and graduated university, and later resided for many years, there has been an ongoing ruckus.

As a bit of background for the reader, Northwest Alabama is geographically comprised of Lauderdale and Colbert counties. The two counties are separated by the Tennessee River, with Lauderdale on the Northern side, which county also borders Tennessee.  Regardless of what anyone says otherwise, there has been a great sense of superiority, or of “looking down” the nose at Colbert county by Lauderdale countians. Lauderdale county hosts the university, while Colbert county hosts the community/junior college. Colbert county has historically been a blue-collar, labor-oriented community, while Lauderdale county has historically been a retail/white collar-oriented community. Colbert county is wet – allows beverage alcohol sales – whereas Lauderdale county is dry, and only a few select locales within it are wet.

I happened to read a recent story about the prospects that Sheffield city officials (Sheffield is in Colbert county) have suggested which would

Tornado rips severe damage through Albertville, Alabama.

!*! – UPDATED – Tuesday, 27 April 2010, with aerial pics by Eric Shultz, Photographer, Huntsville Times – UPDATED – !*!

Saturday evening, April 24, 2010, around 9:30PM CST, a F3 category tornado twisted its way through the rural north Alabama community of Albertville, Alabama in Marshall County. Ironically, it was on the centennial-second anniversary of a 1908 tornado that devastated the town, nearly wiping it from the map.

Fortunately, though no lives were lost, there were about three dozen injuries reported, some severe, with one transported to another larger hospital facility out of the area.

Damage was severe, wreaking havoc and destruction in Albertville and the smaller, nearby community of Geraldine. Damage was so severe, that Albertville schools will be closed for this week,

Please describe what you were doing when the problem happened:

I was seated at the kitchen table, listening to satellite radio  – “Give A Little Bit” by Supertramp was playing – having taken a large sip of Fighting Cock 103 proof Kentucky whiskey, followed with a swig of Yuengling Original Black & Tan beer, while reading the Sunday funny papers from the Huntsville (Alabama) Times. Outside the window, a couple was looking around the property next door. Here comes the woman now, from around the corner. Oh… the table at which I’m seated is adjacent a window. I was breathing, and my blood was circulating, and I was thinking that