MY FIRST VACATION!!!

Can you believe it? We're going on a trip--a short vacation, of sorts. I've never been on a vacation, never been outside of the state of Texas in all my nine years of life. And now I'm going to walk on the beach, play in the waves, fish from something they call a jettie, and sleep in a place they call a bed and breakfast looking out over the warm Gulf of Mexico. And I won't miss but two days of school because we're doing this on Easter break.

At first, when Miguel said he'd made all the arrangements for us to go to this beach in Mississippi, MM was mad. She doesn't like anyone to make plans for her life, as she says. I do know she hates surprises but I think she's beginnin' to get over that. Miguel is always full of surprises and he does silly things and some mushy things, too, that soon has her either laughin'  with him or kissin' him like sweethearts do. This time it took her a little longer to forgive him, especially when he told her he had made all the arrangements for her employees to run the Blue Moon Cafe for her while she was off havin' fun. Whew! That was not a good thing to do--no one takes care of her business but her. It took a lot of apologizin' and makin' nice before the smile was back on MM's face. I knew everythin' was gonna be okay though when we went shoppin' for new clothes. Both of us got bathingsuits, sandals, shorts and cool tops. We need to go on vacations more often, don't you think?

I'm still tryin' to figure out what all I can get in my one suitcase. MM says I have more fun stuff, you know, like games, books, writin' tablet, than I have clothes. But she's wrong on that one. My suitcase will hold all my clothes and shoes. It's my new Hawaiian print duffle bag that Miguel gave me that's the problem. I'm tryin' to get all the fun stuff in that thing. I've packed and unpacked, taken out and put in, and now it's all out on the floor again. There are some things a girl just has to have and there's others that she thinks she can't live without--that's the hard part.

I know, it's still almost a month away. But I'm so excited, I have to make sure I have all my stuff together and don't miss a thing. Miguel says we'll be staying in a small town north of Pass Christian and he's not lookin' for a store at any time on this trip, so we gals better have all we need with us.

My friends say these bed and breakfast places are for honeymooners but MM and Miguel are not one of those so I guess they felt it was okay to take a kid--me. I think it's goin' be the neatest thing for MM to not have to cook, to eat someone else's cookin', and it will be wonderful for me not to have to do the dishes. There may be a big dishwasher at the Blue Moon now but at home, these hands are it. And Mrs. Lowery, that's my teacher this year, says I don't have to make up any homework for those two days--but she expects me to keep a diary of what I do on my vacation and share some of it with my classmates. No homework. Isn't that a miracle?

So you won't be hearin' from us for awhile. Well, there'll be nothing new for longer than that week we'll be off on the beach. It seems that Miz Barbara thought this was a perfect time to do some travelin' herself with her sweetie, as she calls Mr. Ray. They're not going to a bed and breakfast place though so I don't know if they will have as much fun as I will. Anyway, we'll be back real soon with tales of our vacations.

This is Bethy Rose Wheeler-Butler-Kinkaid signin' off. (How do you like my new last names?)

If Wishes Were Horses, etc.

You haven't heard from me before but I have been keepin' up with this blog via the library computers. It's hard to think that it will be a long time before I'm able to walk the streets of Harts Corner again but I'm behavin' myself so I can do just that. My name's Tillie Treadwell. I used to have a little band that played at honky-tonks in East Texas and once even played for an admirer in a little town in England--those pubs are downright receptive to that old timey country music. The band is disbanded now and my home sits vacant waitin' for my return. But that's my own darned fault, which I am not goin' to get in here.

What I really wanted to talk about is Valentine's Day. Nah, I'm not going to give you the history of that guy who was executed and they named a holiday to be celebrated on the day he died. Nor that weird story of Cupid and his mother Venus and his girlfriend Psyche (what kind of romantic name is that, for gosh sakes?) I'm talkin' about all the hoopla MM does to make this day of love special for everyone.

I guess it started when Bethy Rose needed cookies for Valentine's Day and MM found that the poor child was pretty short on the receiving end of cards the year before. She managed to get folks to give Bethy Rose so many Valentine's the child could hardly tote them home. And, along with residents of our fair town and Bethy Rose doing the spy work, no child in any grade of school ever missed having a super Valentine's Day from then on. Everyone got into this love-day feeling and visited the shut-ins and anyone who needed a visit, with cards and those decorated sugar cookies Bethy Rose claimed to be her very own speciality.

Last year MM put on this neat party for everyone with great food and a special red punch. I don't know how that gal paid for all the stuff, much less found the time to make all the good things to eat, but she was right pleased with the turnout. I heard the people in town were so grateful to have somewhere to go other than the Grange or church, they dropped donations into one of the cake covers. She probably got enough to cover her expenses and then some.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against MM--other than the fact she is too nosey for her own good, ratted out some of her friends when the troubles started, and captured the most handsome, best men in the county for her very own. I'd like to see her fall off that high horse she seems to be sittin' high on but...well, I'm not supposed to have such thoughts, certainly wouldn't let the authorities here know I have moments when I feel that way, and can only hope they don't read this blog.

But, grudgingly I will admit, I must say I'd give anything for a slice of her strawberry pie. I can close my eyes and smell it, and my mouth waters when I think of the ingredients. Sure I have them memorized--it's really not a hard pie to make. Will I share the recipe? Can you hear me laugh? I'll gladly do it and just to rile MM up a bit, I'll call it:

 "Tillie's Remembrance Strawberry Pie"

1 cup sugar
3 tbsp. cornstarch
1 cup water
3 tbsp. strawberry gelatin
1 to 2 pt. containers strawberries, stemmed
1 baked 8-inch pie crust
Whipping Cream whipped stiff (or Cool Whip)

Mix sugar and cornstarch in saucepan; stir in water. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in gelatin. Pour into pie shell; refrigerate until set. Spread whipped cream or Cool Whip over top when ready to serve.

You'll have an extra slice for me, okay?