“A little dab’ll do ya.”
That ol’ jingle from the Brylcreem® commercials fits my column this week.
I don’t think Grandma ever called it Brylcreem® now that I think about it. I distinctly remember her calling it “A little dab’ll do ya.”
I have a little bit of this and a little dab of that and hopefully through the magic of letters, words, subject-verb agreement and word-smithing, this column will turn out good in the end. I will let you be the judge of that. Maybe it will do.
*****
I feel like we lost a friend of the family recently with the death of George Winterling, former long-time meteorologist with WJXT-TV 4 in Jacksonville, FL. Mr. Winterling was a class act, the epitome of a gentleman and a trailblazer and legendary weatherman. My house in Appling County has always been in the Savannah television market, but we were just a couple miles north of the Jacksonville television market boundary. If the weather was just right, we could pick up WJXT Ch. 4 on our aerial antenna. Any weekday we were at my Grandma Jones’ house, George told us the weather. Grandma’s television was always on Channel 4, I think. Grandma was on a first name basis with him, though she never met him. She was impressed because he was the only weatherman to accurately forecast the path of Hurricane Dora, in 1964, way back before I was born. That gave him instant credibility with Grandma. From then on, he was welcome over the airwaves in her home. She would “shush” us at supper and say “George is going to tell us the weather.” And, for almost five decades on WJXT, he did. He was the first to use humiture, the combination of humidity and temperature and Lawd if he haven’t experienced that this week. It’s now called the heat index. He had a reassuring, gentle manner and a great sense of humor and he gave us some tips to use in our garden, including a trick to help squash along. Thank you George Winterling. Hail and farewell.
*****
One of my other old friends, Wayne Morgan, is still very much alive and well. He was in Patterson last week to talk about his photography and especially his love affair with the old Pierce County town of Zirkle.
I did a story on it way back when I first became a journalist in 1995. Did I just say way back? Plans then were to possibly develop the area as a park. I’m glad it is mostly still unspoiled and the tea colored water still spills gently over the old steel dam when the water in the Big Satilla is just right. It creates Pierce County’s very own waterfall.
*****
This time of year lends itself to all kinds of fresh and home grown goodness straight from the garden.
A preacher friend of mine declared a few years back that he loved fresh cream corn when it first comes in.
He said it this way: “Bro. Jason, I love cream corn almost as good as a hog.” Amen! to that, Brother. Amen to that!
I also like fresh tomatoes right off the vine. I despise the waxy, tasteless ones that folks declare are fresh in various produce markets.
We were blessed to receive some fresh tomatoes just last week.
Sitting down to the table, we had bread, mayo, fresh, homegrown, thick-sliced tomatoes, big as the palm of your hand and crispy bacon.
In these parts, we call them “mater sandwiches”.
Ooh, it’s so good.
*****
“(Independence Day) ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations (fireworks) from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward, forevermore.”
So said John Adams (1735-1826), a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Diplomat, Vice President and President.
Thank you to all those at Emmanuel Baptist Church who sponsor our “illumninations” each year.
*****
Yes, maybe, “A little dab’ll do ya.”
• Jason Deal is a staff writer for The Blackshear Times. Reach him at [email protected].
