I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack !

lol..that is from Vacation....I thought Vacations were supposed to be relaxing...mine wasn't and ended up in the hospital a few days after getting home .I need a vacation from the vacation !
It is Hot and more Hot in the South ! We have been under a heat Advisory today...I'm waiting till just before sundown to go out in the garden to pick Butter Beans....meanwhile I'm browsing for new recipes to try.

Welcome Back MrsJimmyP!!!!

I am so sorry to hear you had to go to the hospital, hope you are going to be OK! Tell us where did you vacation, and did you just over-do it and suffering from exhaustion wind up hospiatlized?

At any rate it is great to have you back, and sorry I did not find time to answer your post til now!

I am in North Georgia, still considered the south by all means and it's been hot here! What part of the south are you in? I have family all the way down by Mobile, Alabama; Shreveport, Louisiana; all the way up to St. Johnsbury, VT!

Hope to hear from you soon.

Cheers, Cathy

Glad your back!

Thanks for the welcome back....No my hospital stay was not from the vacation....I had the worse Migraine I have ever have...suffered from those pesky things for years but meds usually controls them...but not this time.My blood pressure also went sky high.

We went to Branson Mo with my hubby's family...his Mom n Dad...brother and sis and their famalies. 14 of us. Went to Silver Dollar City and Celebration City and took the " Ride the Ducks " Tour. We had a blast but mercy the traffic was awful !

I live in Mississippi Cathy...born and raised here.Live way out in the country with no neighbors except Gods creatures.

Hi mrsjimmyp... welcome back!

Speaking of Mississippi, I just read a wonderful cookbook written by a lady from your neck of the woods (Tchula, MS. to be exact!). "Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes & Tales from a Southern Cook" by Martha Hall Foose. It was chock-full not only of fantastic recipes and history/lore of local Delta foods, but also great food-writing and funny stories! It's one of the best cookbooks I've read this year! BTW- Ms. Foose is the Chef at 'Viking Cooking School', owns 'Bottletree Bakery' in Oxford, and owns 'Mockingbird Bakery' in Greenwood. I highly recommend her book!

Chubbyalaskagriz.......I have that book on order....can't wait to read it. Several friends have recommended it. And Tchula is about 20 miles from where I live.

Wow, mrsjimmyp... small world, huh? I expect you'll really enjoy the book- I know I did! And be'ins you and she are from the very same neck o' the woods- it'll mean even more to you, I'm sure. She writes on almost every page about people, locales, music, food, events, etc. that take place there very locally. I'm sure a lot, if not ALL of what she writes will really feel like home to you!

My Mom is a southerner- raised in Pine Bluff and Stuttgart, Arkansas... My gramma Doris was raised in Hickory Flat, MS. When Mom was 10 or so, her family moved up here to central Illinois due to economics...

So I was born and raised here in Illinois farm-country... I traveled around to Chicago, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Seattle, and lived in Alaska for 13 years. Now I'm back here near family again in IL. Lovin' bein' home again!

Wow we were practically neighbors!

MJP,

I love Missippi, it was my neighboring state! Been there many times, and I am considering moving back toward that area in the near future, but not as far south as before, I am not too fond of the heat and humidity as you get closer to the Gulf.

I am glad you're feeling better and back. Looking forward to many great SpicePlace visits with you!

Cathy

Good-Gawd, Cathy... you don't have heat and humidity in Georgia? Even Illinois is dreadful (though weirdly, this summer is oddly mild)... Sometimes I honestly don't know how/why folks ever settled in these steamy regions! (And that coming from a guy whose seen minus-60-degree winters!)

Where we live in GA is about as perfect weather as a True Deep-South born gal could ever ask for! I am a pure-bred Miami, Florida resident, lived there until age 16 then moved to one Robertsdale, Alabama and resided there for another 17 yrs, we were located about 25 miles from Gulf Shores, Alabama and it was suffocatingly hot & humid there!!! Worse than Miami believe it or not, at least in Miami you had the cross breeze from the ocean and Gulf of Mexico and that was nice. So YES I love North Georgia/North Alabama/South Tennessee area it is BEAUTIFUL and much more tolerable than where I lived in my younger days!

The only places I have lived where it was perfect was Long Beach and Monterey, California 2yrs. at each location. The weather there is so perfect!!! But the smog in Long Beach and the cost of living and over population and gangs and lots of other factors made it not home to me at all. I preferred being back in the South where courtesy and friendliness between neighbors is common and everyday.

I've never spent a lot of time living in the South, so I just incorrectly think of the South as always super hot/sticky everywhere. But you offer some great info, Cathy on just how varied it is from region to region...

We vacationed in Arkansas when I was a kid but much of that was in the northern moutainous areas of the Ozarks where the weather was entirely comfortable.

I want to spend more time in eastern North Carolina and check out the Ashville area. I've been told by many folks who know me and my "likes" and also what type of weather I most enjoy, that I would love living there. I was there as a child, but don't really remember that well. I think of it as mountainous with great forests and nature. And Ashville itself as a great college town w/ a vein of youth but also great history and tradition. Not to mention great culture, fantastic artistic influence, and an affordable cost of living. I feel really drawn to MY IDEA of what I think Ashville to be... I must check it out in person one day soon... Who among us has been there? Is my "idea" of Ashville, correct?

Ya'know... I was 30 before I knew that 90 could be nice. Growing-up I was accustomed to 90 degrees with 90% humidity here in the midwest, which meant one's body was coated in a light sticky sheen all day/night long! But when I first went west to Washington/Oregon where there's very little humidity and first felt 90 with like 7% humidity, I thought- 'Wow- now THIS is pure heaven!'

Also, it goes w/out saying but Alaskan summers are perfect to my mind... temps are a very mild 70-80, with little, if any humidity. 24 hour sunshine with light rains EVERY morning, result in gardens that you sometimes literally have to pick produce from TWICE a day! At 9:00AM you might grab all the green beans, zucchini and tomatoes that "are ready" and then again at 10:00PM as you stroll thru the garden rows again- you better have a bag or bucket with you, cause more stuff is gonna be ready yet again! It's wonderful!

Ashville On My Mind

Chubby, you're partially right about Ashville, but mostly, unfortunately, wrong.

First off, Ashville is in western North Carolina, up in the mountains. Eastern NC is in the lowlands. Extreme eastern NC is called the Atlantic Ocean.

The Ashville area is gorgeous. Mountains, cool air, scenery to die for. With a good tail wind you can spit and hit Smoky Mountain National Park. The Blue Ridge is right outside your door.

It terms of natural beauty, just think of Last of the Mohicans, which was filmed just a hoot and a holla down the road.

And all the things you claim for the city are true. Except one: Where did you get the idea that the cost of living is low? The Ashville area is one of the more expensive places to live in the south. Housing costs are ludicrous (friends of mine moved there recently---sold a home in New Jersey, in the greater Philly area, and couldn't affort to buy in Ashville). Food is about 20% higher than me or Cathy. Etc.

If I were looking to move, and given the criteria you list, I would go somewhere near Cathy, up in the Georgia Smokies. Everything that North Carolina offers except the cost and the crowds. And when you want culture and big city life, it's a short drive away---Atlanta to the south, Chattanooga to the north.

And Kev ya' gotta come quickly or I'll be gone...headed for Arkansas! Well maybe.......I'll have to see about where we decide to settle down to, this is like the FINAL move in our lives. Eddie and I are talking retirement, resting place, the likes of that so we must decide carefully on our favorite "stopping place"! I could actually go just a wee bit North East of here to Helen or even just a smidgen North of there into Tennessee and be quite happy as well! I know you can't move this soon but it never hurts to have fun dreaming does it!?!

Right, Brook... I had just woken up from a nap (this danged 3rd shift!) and my fingers typed "eastern" but my mind was thinking "north-western".

Thanks to you both regarding all the helpful info... and please keep it coming! I want to know MORE, from you both- and ALL... please keep sharing!

Cathy- as far as Arkansas... the same friends who refer me to Ashville, NC also refer me to Fayetteville, AR. Hmmm... now you have another city to think about.

I'll just be totally open with ya'll... Among all the things I'm looking for in a place to settle down, are: smaller-town southern locale with a MILD climate (to me that means NOT SUPER HOT/STICKY SUMMERS!) beautiful/bountiful nature- mountains if possible, LOW cost of living/housing, art/culture, great for retirees but also w/ a youth presence, tradition/history, trendy availabililities like a decent food scene, theater, music, shopping, etc. and lastly- and maybe this is the kicker- I need some sort of subtle gay scene... and what I mean by "subtle" is... I don't expect full-blown gay "ghettos" or sections of town where it's suitable to walk around in a leather thong and a pink boa... that ain't my style at all! But I want to be able to be my flannel-shirt-wearing, down-home, toned-down, quiet self without being picketed or having Bible tracks placed on my door-step, and I'd like to be able to go out and share a supper with a date or a partner somewhere without driving 3 hours to do so, or without having to carry pepper-spray! Ha! Any ideas?

Tough call I must say. What has me stumped is the hot/humid atmosphere that you mention detesting! I really think Fairhope, Alabama sounds just up your alley except for the summer "thang"! I love Fairhope, trendy, Southern, everything ARTS out the ear!!!

One thing about Mississippi.....it is Humid. but guess I've gotten used to it since I have lived here all my life.

Fairhope, Cathy? There's that cost of living aspect again. Fairhope is a great place to visit, but it's not cheap to live there.

Given all your criteria, Kevin, particularly the climate-comfort need, you cannot consider anywhere in the south that isn't mountainous. Even here in Kentucky, which is as far north as you can get and still be in the south, most summers are muggy. We rarely get above 90F, but that doesn't matter if you can't breath for the humidity.

In terms of subtle-gay, I would say any town with a university pretty much provides that. And it exists in many towns without the university presence. Yes, even in the solid gold buckle of the bible belt. But without a school at hand it would be pretty hard for a casual observer to find that sub-culture.

The fact is, today's south is just like the north, if the north was courteous. We wear shoes, and have indoor plumbing, and everything. And most southerners have a live-and-let-live attitude---something easily observed by anyone except a NY Times reporter.

I'm sure there are places where fundementalists come knocking on your door. But I couldn't name one, offhand. In 20 years living in the south only two kinds of prostletizers have ever called on us: Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. And they call no matter where you live, and with the same attitudes: The Mormons are polite and well dressed, the Witnesses pushy and not so well dressed.

So, basically, you're talking about any smallish city in the Appalachians whose existence is based on more than tourism. Or even some larger cities: Knoxville and Chattanooga come to mind as examples of quitely hip, urbane locations.

Kevin,

Brook is right, I had to go suddenly last night but wasn't finished. The Fairhope area has all you mention just not the mountainous region you so love. Where I do not agree with Brook is the cost of living being high there. It is average to everywhere in the area, my Dad still lives there and he is on a fixed income, and doing fine, I have a feeling you'd love Fairhope (maybe just for a vacation). As far as Alabama take it further North say Fort Payne, AL (except maybe a college)and you have it all, perhaps even as far south as Birmingham, AL as the college is not located too awful far from there.

The "live and let live" philosophy of the south is very common, and actually right where I live is all that you mentioned (colleges 3 of them), mountainous, gay community I'd say not particularly and yet there are as many gay folks as well as any other folks here in town, it's just we are all working and living together and it's like no big deal here. To echo Brook the Jeh. Wit. and Mormons are about all who go door to door these days, and it is rare to even see them anymore, except the Mormon dudes riding their bikes!

The things that I do not like about this part of GA (my town) is there is so much of the aging homes and neighborhoods becoming nothing more that rural slum areas. It's really getting to feel awful when you live on a beautiful street but 1 block over are decaying homes and 2 blocks over is the "ghetto", I do not see any upward trend to reverse this, the lackadasial attitude makes me want to move, it feels too nasty here. I want a clean neat town, where folks restore and renovate and really care about their town. I hate seeing so much of the area in decay. Artsy? We have our arts and a georgeous library, and huge theatre for plays and we have Opera and our own baseball team and fiels and alot of the old downtown area has the restaurant secne you mentioned liking!

It's a big world out there and America is equally as big, I am searching still and may just settle here, but I feel there is somewhere better, and it won't be too far from here!

Let's keep each other informed as we figure this one out!

I hate to say it, but if you add everything up there's really only one place that meets all your criteria, Kevin.

It's called Colorado.

That would work for Cathy, too, except she doesn't do winter.