Relatives and the Deep South

Well, I have been off visiting my dearest relatives and neglected to tell my two favorite ladies that I was leaving. I took off on a whim with an invitation to see one of my south Georgia cousins.

We always have so much fun! Living in Fayette County we are a bit more cosmopolitan than in some of the more rural areas, although not so much as we'd like to think sometimes. With the advent of television, the computer, the Internet, cell phones, cable, and all kinds of other things that connect us all there's not much of a difference from one area to the next anymore.

Which reminds me! Aren't you so tired of seeing the same old stores and restaurants no matter where you go? It is so difficult for locally owned restaurants and mom-and-pop stores to make it these days. You can't turn a corner without seeing a Rite Aid, a CVS, a Starbucks, a Wal-Mart, a McDonalds, a Ruby Tuesdays, a Macys and the list goes one and on.

I'm happy these stores are doing so well and lord knows they wouldn't be if we didn't shop and eat in them. And I surely know they are usually owned by local folks and our local folks work in them. But goodness I love the spice of a new store or a restaurant with a chef who doesn't cook by the book.

I use Jones Pharmacy in Fayetteville for my prescriptions. They are so wonderful in there - and so, so busy! It's a locally owned drug store and they treat you just like you were their best friend. Ralph Balchin (who owns the pharmacy) will even come in on his day off to get your medicine if the store is closed. Since we have insurance and have a co-pay there isn't any difference for us whether we go to one of the chains or a local place. I'm not sure if it would really matter even without insurance though. Thank goodness we have such good insurance!

Let's see, there are some other locally owned unique places I like to visit. One is my favorite reastaurant, The Village Cafe. I won't talk about it today though because I know I've mentioned it before. Is that Sundried Tomato a chain? I don't think so, I think it's another local place. I know it's good!

I had every intention to talk about my relatives a bit more but I have to run. It's Sunday morning and you know where all good Southern girls go on this day of worship. Unfortunately, I'm not always a good Southern girl on Sundays, but today I need to repent a bit so I am going to take my butt to church and talk a bit with God.

See you ladies in the journal later! Maybe I'll have a moment to write later and share some about my relatives and, yes, I'll share why I need to do a bit of communing with God, too.

Miss Faye