Back in 2000, my friend Dave Satterfield and I walked into City Cafe in Northport at about 4am for breakfast. It had been five years or so since I had eaten there, and several years for Dave. Both of us had eaten breakfast there several times a week when we were in college; me in the late 80's and Dave in the mid 90's.
As we walked in the door of the restaurant, Ms. Mamie looked at us, put her hands on her hips and exclaimed "where have you two been?" We sat down in a booth and she walked up with her pad in her hand and her huge smile.
She looked at Dave and said "two cheeseburgers, double fries." Dave just nodded in astonishment.
She looked at me and thought about it for a few seconds. "Three egg western omelet with extra biscuits."
At this point, both of us probably had our jaws open in amazement. This is not a sleepy little restaurant we're talking about. They probably feed a thousand people or more every day, so the fact that she remembered us from so long ago and what we liked to eat was just amazing. Ms. Mamie is just one of the many reasons that City Cafe will always be a special place for myself and many of my friends. I honestly don't think there's better Southern Food served anywhere else, and I judge all Meat and Threes by the City Cafe standard. So far none have made the grade.
Ms. Mamie left City Cafe several years ago, and now I've heard this week that she's retiring. I wish I could make it down there to help send her off, but life as usual is too busy for me to get away.
I was surprised to hear about the great sadness in her life that brought her to Northport and City Cafe just before I started attending the University and eating there. She never let it show or told us about it. She's one of those great Southern ladies that just carry on and don't let things get them down and never complain about anything. I love you Ms. Mamie and hope the rest of your life is filled with happiness and success.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Truth in Humor
How sad is it that the most sane and honest commentary on the financial situation is coming from a comedy show on a comedy network. Here's the latest example.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Hatch Follies
So earlier this week, I wake up and groggily make my way towards the basement to weigh myself on the Wii Fit. I've been watching what I eat and exercising a lot this month, and part of my daily habit has been to weigh myself every morning on the Wii instead of doing a D.B.A.N.
So I hit the basement steps, which have recently been re-carpeted. We have a bad habit of leaving items laying on the steps, so about 3 steps down my left foot slips on something and I went down like a ton of bricks. My left hip hit right on the edge of a step, right on the butt crease. My left elbow also hit about the same time, and then I slid down about 4 steps, coming to rest about half way down.
I let out a really loud groan and just lay there for a minute in a good bit of pain. Marissa comes running up to the top of the steps and looks at me through the curtain at the top.
"Are you dead?"
"Nooooo. Groan."
"Are you hurt bad?"
"Noooo. I don't think so."
"Oh good! I can start laughing now!" She then proceeded to do so.
I got up and hobbled over to the basement couch for a few minutes to let everything stop hurting. As I was weighing myself, Tori came out of her room in the basement.
"What was that loud thud?"
"Me."
Then she started laughing since Marissa had made her way partly down the steps to continue talking about it. At this point they noticed that my left ass cheek was rug-burned from the hip down to about halfway to the knee. This produced even more laughter. My left elbow was similarly marked.
The final insult to the injury was when I asked Jackson, "you don't think it's funny do you?"
"No Daddy, me think it's funny too!"
So I hit the basement steps, which have recently been re-carpeted. We have a bad habit of leaving items laying on the steps, so about 3 steps down my left foot slips on something and I went down like a ton of bricks. My left hip hit right on the edge of a step, right on the butt crease. My left elbow also hit about the same time, and then I slid down about 4 steps, coming to rest about half way down.
I let out a really loud groan and just lay there for a minute in a good bit of pain. Marissa comes running up to the top of the steps and looks at me through the curtain at the top.
"Are you dead?"
"Nooooo. Groan."
"Are you hurt bad?"
"Noooo. I don't think so."
"Oh good! I can start laughing now!" She then proceeded to do so.
I got up and hobbled over to the basement couch for a few minutes to let everything stop hurting. As I was weighing myself, Tori came out of her room in the basement.
"What was that loud thud?"
"Me."
Then she started laughing since Marissa had made her way partly down the steps to continue talking about it. At this point they noticed that my left ass cheek was rug-burned from the hip down to about halfway to the knee. This produced even more laughter. My left elbow was similarly marked.
The final insult to the injury was when I asked Jackson, "you don't think it's funny do you?"
"No Daddy, me think it's funny too!"
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Saturday So Far
Marissa took Jack to work with her this morning at the YMCA, so I slept late. I've been waking up earlier during the week now, so it was nice to sleep in, even though it was noisy enough outside that I didn't get too much real sleep.
Marissa called to wake me up about 10:15 and I drove down to the Y to pick up Jack. He hadn't eaten too much that morning, so we stopped at McDonald's and got him a Happy Meal and then headed for the library. Jack was pretty excited and kept saying "Me get new books!" He knows how to drive to the library from our house, so when we came in from a different direction he was a little worried about it. He cheered up pretty quick when he saw the building though.
Once we got there we went directly to the kid's department. First Jack wanted to put some puzzles together and we did about three of those. Then we picked out about three books and checked them out and headed back to the car. I was feeling like getting some exercise, so we then drove to the Greenway at the dam. We walked about half a mile down the river then turned back around and walked down toward the dam to watch some people fishing.
All four of the floodgates were open today, so it was pretty noisy down there. Jack was very interested in the fishing, even though no one seemed to be catching anything. Every time someone would cast he would yell out "Cool!" or "Awesome!" I'm going to have to get some fishing gear soon and take him back out there.
Now we're waiting on Mommy to get home and we're going over to Uncle Paul's house to watch Alabama play LSU.
"Jack, what's the elephant say?"
"Roll Tide!"
Marissa called to wake me up about 10:15 and I drove down to the Y to pick up Jack. He hadn't eaten too much that morning, so we stopped at McDonald's and got him a Happy Meal and then headed for the library. Jack was pretty excited and kept saying "Me get new books!" He knows how to drive to the library from our house, so when we came in from a different direction he was a little worried about it. He cheered up pretty quick when he saw the building though.
Once we got there we went directly to the kid's department. First Jack wanted to put some puzzles together and we did about three of those. Then we picked out about three books and checked them out and headed back to the car. I was feeling like getting some exercise, so we then drove to the Greenway at the dam. We walked about half a mile down the river then turned back around and walked down toward the dam to watch some people fishing.
All four of the floodgates were open today, so it was pretty noisy down there. Jack was very interested in the fishing, even though no one seemed to be catching anything. Every time someone would cast he would yell out "Cool!" or "Awesome!" I'm going to have to get some fishing gear soon and take him back out there.
Now we're waiting on Mommy to get home and we're going over to Uncle Paul's house to watch Alabama play LSU.
"Jack, what's the elephant say?"
"Roll Tide!"
Monday, October 27, 2008
R.I.P. Prissie Sue
My Mom's dachshund Prissie Sue died this morning. She was 15 or 16 years old and had been in poor health lately. She was a chocolate miniature dachshund that my step-father Ray bought a year or two after he married my Mom.
I remember when they brought her home for the first time. I was living at home again after a few years in college, and the first few nights she slept in the bed with me. She was so small that she fit in the palm of my hand, and a lot of times she'd end up rolling off the mattress and sleeping in a loop of the sheet that was hanging off the bed. She also had a crooked tail and was the runt of the litter, so they got her for a bargain.
She loved to howl along with anyone that would start it for her. Back then we also had three outside dogs in the carport, and usually if I got her started howling the chows out there would all start howling along as well. Prissie was also the alpha dog. The chows would all roll over when she came out because she was always aggressive with them.
Prissie was dachshund #4 in my life. The first two were Lady and Heidi, who were full size dachshunds that my parents bought before I was born. Heidi was actually Lady's puppy. The third one was Turkey, who was old when we got him after someone dumped him out on our road. Our Annie dog in Nashville is #5. I loved them all and Prissie Sue will definitely be missed.
I remember when they brought her home for the first time. I was living at home again after a few years in college, and the first few nights she slept in the bed with me. She was so small that she fit in the palm of my hand, and a lot of times she'd end up rolling off the mattress and sleeping in a loop of the sheet that was hanging off the bed. She also had a crooked tail and was the runt of the litter, so they got her for a bargain.
She loved to howl along with anyone that would start it for her. Back then we also had three outside dogs in the carport, and usually if I got her started howling the chows out there would all start howling along as well. Prissie was also the alpha dog. The chows would all roll over when she came out because she was always aggressive with them.
Prissie was dachshund #4 in my life. The first two were Lady and Heidi, who were full size dachshunds that my parents bought before I was born. Heidi was actually Lady's puppy. The third one was Turkey, who was old when we got him after someone dumped him out on our road. Our Annie dog in Nashville is #5. I loved them all and Prissie Sue will definitely be missed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
