More Daylight!

[Riley Smith]

DST begins on Mar 8. Lately we've had almost an hour of increased daylight from celestial mechanics. I'm loving it! The temp has gone up since North Mississippi turned into an ice sheet and it's pretty nice. I talked to some of the people that were clearing trees up there and they said it was a mess, especially out in the rural areas, but a lot of the power is back on and things are getting lined out. I had reports of the swallowtail kites heading this way from Brazil. This evening I saw a large cluster of soaring birds riding the  blustery SW wind to the north. Things are happening!

I had visions of setting the boat up and tinkering but it ran into my circadian rhythm. Which is set on 2-3 am as the time to wake up. I've given up and just go with the flow. Do chores around the house. Went fishing at first light. Made a great breakfast including grits. You have no idea what a good helping of grits does for breakfast. Cheese and bacon bits too. No silly, you don't eat grits by themselves unless you're destitute. You always have to add SOMETHING.

[Wolverine]

I love grits, but I eat them plain. No sugar, bacon, or butter. Sacrilegious to a southerner. I also eat my oatmeal plain. Toast and pancakes plain too. Yogurt? Unsweetened, unflavored, plain. Shredded wheat? Yep, plain and sometimes dry. Maybe I'm weird. Maybe I need to get out more.

[Riley Smith]

To each his own! Most people not of the South can hardly imagine what grits are. I like them with a glob of butter, S &P, bacon. But like you, I've ate them with nothing. And sometimes pass entirely, depending on what the course is. This occasion was accompanied by biscuits and blackberry jelly, and coffee. Fuel for a day. There have been thousands and thousands of biscuits done in this kitchen, starting with my mother who would make them from flour to done in 30 min. I'm not nearly so handy or organized and depend on Mrs. Bs frozen ones. They mimic her's almost to a tee though, and I sit here and think in the quiet kitchen as I've done so many mornings before. I call it my TV time.

When I'd stay in the Lagos hotel, there was a meal built into the deal and you had several good choices. The flight crews stayed there too, so it was  decent place with great service. There was a HUGE rubber tree that shaded a patio in the bar out in the back of the compound. But I never once got the breakfast, as I left too early and all I could do is look at it, all fine and on silver. and of a mind boggling variety. I'll give it to the Nigerians. THey can create the most awesome dining atmospheres I've ever seen. I don't miss that trip out the next morning to fly into the job site.

I did make an error and give us more daylight than has occurred. The actual hour total we gain is there in early March too. So  we're gaining every day. And pollen is showing up in increasing quantities. As in a yellow film on the car yesterday.

[Frank B.]

I am looking forward to the continuation of the tilt of the earth's axis to "naturally" give me more time in the light.  However, I am 100 percent against DST or more accurately the twice a year changes.  I ask that all of you do a search for the obit of Harry Weathersby Stamps, read it and take his advice to write your congressman to "put everyone back on the Lords time".  Harry, a Gulf Coast educator, had his obit go internationally viral.  I was fortunate enough to be one of his students. His obit is a hoot.

My Grandmother from Philadelphia, and my step Grandfather, from Alabama, managed to work it out.  He was fine with plain grits as along as there were two or three sunny side up eggs to mix with them.  And the leftovers were put in a baking pan, stored over night in the fridge, then cut into squares the next day to fry and have with maple syrup. My personal opinion is that grits have to have cheese and butter or they would be way to healthy.  Alternatively, they can be covered with a nice mix of shrimp, andouille sausage, bacon, and the "trilogy" in a nice roux.

And Carl, you may need help...........

[Wayne Howard]

Oh,, yeah. Connie makes cheesy grits on some mornings. But I think the ultimate is Grits Ya Ya at the Fish House in Pensacola. Gouda cheese and shrimp!

[Doug SC]

Oh yeah, Shrimp and grits are a standard on the SC coast. The best I have had is shrimp and grits and gravy with bits of sausage in it, but grits with butter and honey is also near the top of my list.

[Charles Brennan]

First off, let me say that I LIKE going on and off DST; I just think we do it BACKWARDS!! 
In the Winter, it gets dark at 6PM and in the Summer it gets dark at 8PM.
If we REVERSED the direction of DST and EST, it would get dark around 7PM, year round! 

Grits were my dramatic introduction to the South, at age 5, or 6.
Going from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to our new home in Jacksonville, Florida.
My Mom in one car with my two sisters and My dad in the lead car with me, when we stopped at a diner in Biloxi, Mississippi, for breakfast.
I innocently asked the man who served me: "Who put this Cream of Wheat, on my plate?" 
"Creamawheat!?!?        CREAMAWHEAT?!?!?" 
"You goddam blue-belly Yankee!!    Thass not creamawheat!!    Them there's GRITS!!!" 
My Dad cooly added a pat of butter, some salt and pepper, to the grits and leaned closer to me and whispered:
"You choke that down, without another word, you hear me?!?"
Yeah.
My introduction to Southern Hospitality. 

I did finally develop a fondness for grits in all Southern forms:
Grits, salt and pepper.
Grits and leftover gravy from the biscuits and gravy.
(Biscuits and gravy was also something I had never experienced before, either.)
Grits and Grunts in the Keys.
I'm indifferent to the brown gravy variations of Shrimp and Grits.
And after moving up North from south Florida, (moving North, to get to the South, is a Very Florida Thing) I have to say, that my favorite north central Florida dish, is the Shrimp N' Grits from Eaton's Beach Sand Bar and Grill restaurant, on Lake Weir, Florida.

https://eatonsbeach.com/menu/eatons-beach-sandbar-grill-15790-southeast-134th-avenue/group_03a978fc-5e77-4a99-80ce-340d257478c7/item-shrimp-n-grits_c764c6ac-4e35-4267-a0f0-e07ba6c75a53

True Story,
Charles Brennan

[Riley Smith]

Sonya always orders that when we go out. And I get to taste    Several places here do great examples. Circling back, we only have a very few places accessible by boat and one of them closed down last year. We sailed in once and had dinner there, which was nice, but that's the only time I ever managed. I kept the boat in mast up storage last summer and was able to eat there at the bar a couple of times after a sail. That's pretty nice!