Southern Lit

I remember my Mom taking us to Fairhope when we were kids. My cousin used to take her kids, our god children, but Dauphin Island is a lot closer to them now.

My Mom would load us into whichever car someone in the family had given us and she would take us “over the bay”. We would swim from the “beach” at the foot of the very large “Cement Pier”. I remember lots of time spent at the “Cement Pier”

Then when I was in High School I remember taking dates to eat at a restaurant on the pier. So I have a history with Fairhope. Swimming at the pier. Eating at the pier. I remember a guy catching a Sheep-head fish at the end of the pier. My little brother and I watched as this guy reeled in this very angry fish. My wife, what’s her name, went to Fairhope High. So did her twin brother, what’s his name.

I think the last time I was in Fairhope was about 7 or 8 years ago and I was hanging out with a chef friend of mine. We were just loafing, checking out antique stores and stuff. I remember how we thought the guys who ran one of the shops thought we were gay, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Well now days Fairhope is an artist colony. Lots of writers. Probably lots of other artist as well, but I only know of the writers. Sonny Brewer comes to mind first. Then I think of Frank Hollon, some folks think he’s the funniest writer in the world.

We were there the day after Thanksgiving looking for another meal. We were actually visiting with Staceys’ brother and his family. Man did they feed us. We had pork roast, we had black-eyed peas, we had greens and cornbread and best of all we had gumbo. My sister in law made it and I think it was her first time. She went to her Paw Paw to learn how to cook it the way he did and man did he learn her. To top it off, she added the left over turkey, that along with sausage made for a very good gumbo. It was an excellent second Thanksgiving