The title of this article is “Around the banks” and I have been asked by many people, most of whom don’t live in our area: “What is it about the place you live you find so great? That place should put you on a salary as an unofficial ambassador. I have been there. My word, you don’t have the conveniences we have in larger places. What is it about that place you find so special?”
I began to think about those questions and I could never sum it up in five hundred words or less, but I am going to hit some of the highlights this week and, remember, these are things I love about the place I call home “Around the banks.”
•I love that people still pull their vehicles to the side of the road and stop to let a funeral procession go past.
•I love Raleigh Brown’s fried chicken wings at the Brown Lantern in Live Oak.
•I love Christmas on the Square in Live Oak.
•I love sitting at a picnic table at Branford’s Ivey Park and watching the Suwannee River roll by.
•I love the Hal Adams Bridge that connects Suwannee and Lafayette counties.
•I love the Suwannee County Courthouse.
•I love the Hamilton County Historic Museum and I love Veteran’s Park.
•I love the cheeseburgers at Fat Belly’s in White Springs.
•I love the shrimp and grits and fried green tomatoes at All Decked Out in Live Oak.
•I love the fried chicken at the Foodway Deli in Jasper. You can’t beat it!
•I love the sounds and songs of the carillon bells at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center in White Springs.
•I love eating at the Gathering Restaurant in Branford.
•I love the Across the River brand of coffee and the iced tea at Howland’s Express in Live Oak.
•I love the grits at Dixie Grill. I do.
•I love reading and telling stories to area children. I guess I always will.
•I love visiting and laughing with friends at the Elk’s Club in Live Oak.
•I love the barbecue pork sandwich at the A and B Barbecue in Jasper.
•I love that official meetings of the governmental bodies still begin with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag.
•I love that, when we experience tragedies in our lives, we often receive phone calls, letters and visits a long time afterward expressing: “I care and I am checking on you.”
•I love the taste of fresh fried Suwannee River catfish.
•I love that first cool breath of fall which comes after a long, hot summer.
•I love that we have a good public library system in our area.
•I love that we have caring educators who don’t just teach children, but who “know” children and their families.
•I love the Riverbend News and its staff.
•I love remembering when physicians in this area were part of the fabric of the community.
•I love the strains of an old hymn being played on an upright pianist, a soloist singing a hymn with deep emotion, a sermon that might make you think twice about how perfect you consider yourself and I love a table full of food at a covered dish gathering and some dear soul who wraps a piece of pound cake for you that is blue ribbon worthy and hugs you and says, “Enjoy that with a cup of coffee later.”
Those, dear friends and gentle readers, are some of the reasons that, as always my heart is “turning ever” around the banks of the Suwannee. You didn’t ask for it, but you have it.
From the Eight Mile Still on the Woodpecker Route north of White Springs, wishing you a day filled with joy, peace and, above all, lots of love and laughter.