Bill's Birthday 2015

Add caption

I passed another Birthday this week. I won't say how old I am or what day so that the identity thieves can't use the information. But, I will say that I am past the age where I can draw Social Security.

Thursday night, Sheila's niece Pam and her partner Wayne took us out to dinner at In The Raw in Brookside. In the Raw is a very fashionable (and expensive) sushi place.

My friends are about equally divided about sushi. Some call it bait and some call it a gourmet delicacy.  Raw seafood is perfectly safe to eat if it has been handled properly and the taste is quite delicate.  When paired with seasoned rice, crisp raw vegetables and fiery wasabi mustard, it is delicious.

In the Raw takes your order by bringing out a checklist where you tick off the menu items you want. I was stunned when Pam ticked off several items "for the table." When it arrived, there was enough sushi to fill the table and kill most family's entertainment budget for the month, especially if you included the saki. 

The place was dark, noisy and full of the "beautiful people" that haunt Brookside establishments. We were by far the oldest couples in the place but Wayne and Pam looked like they belonged there. The food was great and we were in good company.   It was a wonderful meal and we had a great visit.

Saturday night, we met at Michelle's house for dinner and birthday cake.  We brought dinner, chicken and steak fajitas carried out from El Burrito.  As usual, Oscar cooked us far more food than we could eat.  But, it was a wonderful meal.  Michelle cooked me a fancy, three layer, "Neopolitan" birthday cake composed of a layer of dark chocolate cake and icing followed by a layer strawberry cake and icing and topped with a layer of white cake and icing. It was incredibly good but so rich that I had to limit myself to a small slice.

Gwenda insisted that everybody sing "Happy Birthday" as we cut the cake.  After dinner, I settled in on the couch and watched Sheila play with Ben for an hour. It was quiet, enjoyable little evening.

Remembering My Great Grandfather .... Gasp ... A Confederate Soldier!

You can find some amazing things on the internet.  I just googled my great grandfather's name and found, among other things, his paybook from a short stint he apparently served with "Captain Marshall's Battery, Arkansas Light Artillery."  There is no readable date there but I know the service must have been short because he served almost the entire war in the 6th Arkansas Infantry and units that succeeded it as casualties took their toll.

The second record I found was even more interesting.  It is a summary of his prisoner of war record.  Edward was apparently captured a few days after the Confederate disaster at Nashville.  The records show he was captured on New Year's Eve, 1864, five months before the end of the war.  The fact that he had lived through the hell of places like Shiloh is a miracle.  Here is a list of the battles his unit (and by inference he himself) fought in:

Battle of Rowlett's Station, Kentucky, December 17, 1861

Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, April 6–7, 1862.[28]
Siege of Corinth, Mississippi, April–June 1862.
Kentucky Campaign, Kentucky, August–October, 1862
Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862.
Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, December 31, 1862 – January 3, 1863.[29]
Tullahoma Campaign, June 24 – July 3, 1863.
Battle of Liberty Gap, Tennessee, June 24–26, 1863.
Chickamauga Campaign, Georgia, August–September, 1863.
Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, September 19–20, 1863.[30]
Chattanooga Campaign, September to November 1863.
Battle of Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, November 25, 1863.
Battle of Ringgold Gap, Georgia, November 27, 1863.[31]
Atlanta Campaign, May to September 1864.
Battle of Rocky Face Ridge, Georgia, May 5–11, 1864.
Battle of Resaca, Georgia, May 14–15, 1864.
Battle of New Hope Church, Georgia, May 25 – June 4, 1864.
Battle of Pickett's Mill, Georgina, May 27, 1864.[3]
Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 27, 1864.
Battle of Peachtree Creek, Georgia, July 20, 1864.
Siege of Atlanta, Georgia, July 22, 1864.
Battle of Jonesboro, Georgia, August 31 – September 1, 1864.
Franklin–Nashville Campaign, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee, September 18 – December 27, 1864

Battle of Spring Hill, Tennessee, November 29, 1864.
Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864.
Battle of Nashville, Tennessee, December 15–16, 1864.

Political correctness be damned, I refuse to be ashamed of this man.  He fought with a unit known for its courage under fire.  He fought for a cause he believed in alongside his brothers, friends and neighbors.  He fought under legendary leaders like Hood and Cleburne.  He served well.  And, when the war was over, he came to Oklahoma and made a life for himself and his family on the frontier of one of the toughest places on earth at the time.  There is nothing to be ashamed of in that story.

New Year's Day, 2015

Sheila and I just finished a fabulous meal.  She got up this morning and started cooking like an army was coming to visit. When she finished there was a large pot of Hoppin John simmering on the back burner, a golden brown skillet of cornbread, a blackberry cobbler and a sweet potato pie. And, of course, there was sweet tea.

You have to understand Southerners to understand Hoppin John.  It starts with the fact that during the Civil War the (damned) Yankees tried to starve the South into submission by stealing every bit of food and livestock they could eat or transport and then burning the rest, leaving millions of Southerners with literally nothing to eat ... at least so they thought.  But, not knowing that Southerners ate blackeyed peas instead of feeding them to livestock like northerners, they left them because they had stolen all of the livestock. That winter, the South survived on blackeyed peas and we Southern types now eat them as a remembrance of our culture and to never forget the fact that for decades we were an occupied country.


Sheila's Hoppin John is made with a little big of hog jowl for "seasonin" but with mostly smoked turkey leg instead of fat back.  Her recipe includes collard greens, jalapenos, carrots and hot sauce all simmered together and served over rice.  It is actually a quite sophisticated dish with multiple layers of flavor and texture.  Everybody knows and loves blackberry cobbler but if you're not Southern you might not know sweet potato pie. Imagine the richest, creamiest, sweetest pumpkin pie you ever tasted.  That's it.  It was an amazing meal.

Last night, neither of us stayed awake to watch the ball fall in Times Square. I had no desire to see the show or the anti-police riot that was predicted. By 10:00, I was in bed watching a rerun of Evening Shade. By 11:00 I was sound asleep.  I haven't been sleeping well because of my strained back but last night the pain relented and I finally rested.  This morning, I felt like a new person ready to meet a new year.