Watch Tipper's YouTube channel - her story about me

Watch this video to see my friend, Tipper, and her stories about beloved items in her kitchen. One of them was mine. It comes near the end.

https://youtu.be/1S3ckkCX6Yk

Tipper's really good cornbread

Tonight I watched a video by Tipper Pressley, owner and administrator of the blog, Blind Pig and the Acorn. Tipper lives in the southern Appalachians in North Caroliona. Her blog and her You Tube channel celebrates Appalachia and the people who live here. I have followed her blog for twenty years or more and now she has begun making videos for her You Tube channel.

She and I cook in much the same way. She learned from her mother and I learned from my mother. Tipper taught us the secret to good cornbread in this video, She has a special cast iron pan she keeps only for cooking cornbread. In the south, our cornbread is that important. I, too, have a cornbread pan. Mine once belonged to my mother-in-law, Helen Beall. 

I learned something new from Tipper tonight. She coats the pan with lard or Crisco and puts it into the oven where it heats as the oven heats to 475 degrees. Mother usually put some lard or vegetable shortening in the pan and let it melt. But Tipper spread it thickly over the bottom, sides and rim of the pan. That makes for a crisp crust on the bread. And like Tipper, I like that crust and I, too, have to cut a small piece when it comes out of the oven, slather it with butter and eat it. Delicious!

Tipper is helping to revive or restore the old ways of living here in our beautiful mountains. She and her family grow a garden every summer. She cans and freezes vegetables. She teaches cooking classes at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC close to her home.

Her family is also keeping the music of Appalachia alive. She, her brother and her twin daughters sing and play traditional music together. If you want to know more about this part of the world, check out The Blind Pig and the Acorn. Get to know her family and the many friends who leave comments every day after reading her words. 

Photos of Life Around Here

Here I am on my deck with Lexie who will not pose for a photo. Corie Pressley took some photos of me recently. My deck is so bare and I long to go to the plant nursery and buy flowers like I would normally do if it were a normal time. But I enjoyed Corie's visit anyway.

It was a beautiful day at my house, but it has turned cold again. Tipper says it is Blackberry Winter. Do you know what Blackberry Winter is?

This is mask I wear almost any time I go out in public. This is because I am  highly sensitive to perfume and chemicals in the air. Not so cute as Corie in her mask, but mine has a charcoal lining. In fact, I now have a pretty pink one that goes with many of my clothes. Like DJan, I might try to get more to match my outfits, but since I am home in the same old things almost every day, I guess it doesn't matter much what I look like.

Learn more about MCS at the link below.

https://www.abilitymaine.org/DisabilityResources/Multiple-Chemical-Sensitivity

Gay, my sister, in a hoodie with a mask to keep warm. She is not wearing it now, but it would be good for cold weather. Oh, I hope we won't need it by the time winter comes here.

Is it Time to Reinvent Me, Again?

Today I made the decision to cancel my upcoming writing classes for this summer. After much soul-searching, I realized that all my time lately is spent at physical therapy, water exercises and other methods of improving my health. For the time being, I must give myself the attention I need. 

Making commitments while dealing with chronic pain and fatigue is difficult. I can still write from home when I feel like it and I can attend a few events when it is convenient, but I don't want others depending on me to be at my best when they pay for classes if I can't be sure I will be at my best.

So, this will free me up for the summer. Mary Mike and I want to go on a genealogy research trip or two when my PT is done. I also plan to spend a week at my sister's in Roswell, GA. I call her house my "town house" and she says my house is her "mountain house." It is fun to visit the city for a few days where I get to eat at some of my favorite restaurants and shop at some stores I enjoy.

Also, when I am away from this house, I don't worry about what needs to be done here. I am even thinking about what it might be like to move to a 55+ community where someone else takes care of the maintenance. I am not sure what is available in my area. But, I am thinking of checking it out.

I am still not able to move things back into my storage room which was flooded recently. When I have time at home, I try to go through boxes I took out of that room. That is quite a job, but I make such neat discoveries. You know how it is, you find things you forgot you had or that you thought had been lost. 

My dear friend, Tipper, put me in contact with her lovely daughter who is between jobs right now and the smart, strong young woman came over one afternoon to help me. She was my legs, up and down the stairs, in and out to the garage, and in just two hours we accomplished so much! 

I have known Tipper's twins since they were little kids and I love seeing how they have matured and become charming young women. My spirits lifted and even the pain faded while working with this Pressley Girl. The twins sing and play instruments and are very popular throughout western NC and north Georgia. I needed someone who could work flexible hours and that is just what Corie wants -- flexible hours. Next week, she will come over again. I look forward to seeing her. 

I have reinvented myself several times over the years, and I feel I am on the verge of a new invention of Me.  How about you? Have you reinvented yourself at different times in your life?

Tipper teaches mountain cooking at JCCFS

In a little town nearby, Brasstown, NC, resides the John C. Campbell Folk School where adults come from all over the world to participate in "camp for grownups" where every day is filled with fun. I spent many, many happy hours on this campus learning from the excellent staff of writers who have been coming here for fifteen years or more.

I have never taken one of the cooking classes they offer, but I am sure this class 

RELISHING MOUNTAIN FLAVOR (INTERGENERATIONAL)

will be fun because my good friend, Tipper Pressley, the knowledgeable author of her Appalachian blog, The Blind Pig and the Acorn, will be teaching. 
This class is for 12-17 year olds to attend with a parent, grandparent, or guardian -- 1 youth per 1 adult. Youths will receive a $100 discount on tuition.

Tipper Pressley

The folk school has been a fixture in this area since the 1920s and if you don't live in this area, I recommend you plan to take a vacation here and spend a week that will change your life. Take one of the many, many classes offered in music, crafts, writing, jewelry making and other interesting arts. 

a view from Folk School campus

You never know who you might meet because guests from all over the world have found JCCFS and come back again and again. Tipper's class on cooking mountain style is bound to be a good one. 

Have you been to the folk school and if so, what did you like best about it?

Blackberry Time Here in the Mountains

I read Tipper Pressley's blog, The Blind Pig and the Acorn every day. I subscribe and it is delivered right to my Inbox. She is a friend but also, I enjoy her posts. Today she reminded me of my childhood on the farm where blackberries grew wild and where my sister and I were often sent to pick them. Mother made blackberry pie or cobbler and she also made blackberry jelly. I can still taste that jelly on one of her soft delicious biscuits. I have never found any jelly in a store as good as that my mother made. Tipper has generously given me some of her jelly at times and it is delicious as well. Now if I just had Mother's good biscuits.

Mother and Daddy in front of the farm house where I grew up.

I am sharing a poem from my book, Now Might as Well be Then, about my blackberry picking.

Blackberry Patch

Mother's voice rises above my bawling.

"Stop pitching a fit and get your bucket."

I plant myself on the top step

bare feet refusing to move.

My dread lies coiled deep in the brambles.

He slithered out when I thrust my hand

in to grab a plump one.

Fear-prickled, I danced in terror

then streaked home screaming.

An ominous cloud shadows the sky.

Fat raindrops plop in the yard dust.

Reprieve. Blessed reprieve.

           -- Glenda C. Beall

Locally Made Movie showing in Asheville June 7th

For readers who live in Asheville or nearby, check out this award-winning movie filmed right here in Brasstown, NC with my friends, Tipper Pressley and her twin daughters. “Earlier this year the film won first place at an Appalachian Film Festival held in West Virginia. I hope it’s received as well in Asheville and beyond!” Tipper said on The Blind Pig and the Acorn.

If I Had Wings to Fly “is about a young man from a small mountain town in western north carolina who, through his singular desire to play music, ends up learning some things about community, culture, place, love and loneliness. It is a chapter of Felix's life that is frenetic and challenging, both joyful and thoughtful, in which he dances up and down the staircase that he is told leads up to maturity. It's a story about how saying "yes" to things (because you aren't afraid to, or because you have no other choice) isn't always easy but usually leads to enriching and meaningful experiences.”

There are none better than Applachian Folklore Blogger, Tipper Pressley and her musical daughters to enrich this movie with their talent and knowledge of mountain music.

What: The official premiere of Kazoo Films’ If I Had Wings to Fly

Where: The Fine Arts Theater in downtown Asheville, NC

When: Thursday, June 7th at 7pm (6:30 for music)

How Much: $8.75

Who: Directors Bruno Seraphin and Harrison Topp, Tipper Pressley, Chatter Pressley, Chitter Pressley, Tim Ryan, and live old-time musical guests, you!

Read more interesting accounts about the making of this film and see photos of some Folk School employees at  http://kazoofilms.org/