Beautiful spring weather sandwiched between April showers & storms here in northwest Georgia & church, "dinners on the ground"

By Olivene Godfrey

We're having beautiful weather sandwiched between April showers and storms here in northwest Georgia. Some of the showers and storms have brought torrential rains. (One night, it rained three inches at our house.) Son Barry has been doing yard work and he brought out all the plants from the garage. With the new impatiens and marigolds, he bought a pot of purple petunias that attract hummingbirds and add to the beauty of the other flowers and plants. Last week, I called the landscapers we use for various yard jobs and ordered white marble chips to cover the space between the patio concrete floor and the rock wall.
Now when the sun shines on the white marble chips its almost blinding. When all the plants have grown, it will be a pretty sight. Barry and I have allergies and we are using our nasal sprays while we enjoy spring time.

---------------------------------------------

In the summer months, some local churches have what used to be called, "dinners on the ground". Now the dinners, served after the morning church service, consists of Southern cooked foods prepared by church members on long tables covered with white cloths. This has been a custom since before I was born 83 years ago.

Barry brought a package of boiled ham home with the groceries recently and my mind went back to a story my late husband, Ralph, used to talk about during summer months. I told the story to Barry which he had probably heard when he was a child. When Ralph and his late brother, Ray, were youngsters, they enjoyed the dinners on the ground because someone, probably a wealthy church member, always brought a platter of "store bought boiled ham". While their mother was a good cook, she and his Methodist preacher daddy, didn't have much money and couldn't afford "store bought boiled ham". So, Ralph and Ray would pass on the home cooked foods and load their plates with the boiled ham. Ralph never forgot those days.

See you next time.