I've been saying for a while now that I ought to start a blog on my experiences as a Yankee (worse yet, a "Damn Yankee") who didn't just move to the Deep South, but began a whole new way of life in the process. I'm a native New Yorker, my family came from Brooklyn and settled in Long Island, and spent my childhood just a 30 minute train ride from NYC. Moving to a small, sleepy Southern town was not on my list of things to do, yet here we are.
Bear, my husband, has often joked that my culture shock was doled out to me in doses. From New York to a small farm in New Jersey, from there to various parts of Virginia, and finally home to South Carolina. It's been an adventure, some of it wonderful, some of it...well, not so much.
For starters, there was the language barrier. Specifically, my rapid fire, heavily accented NY (think "My Cousin Vinnie) manner of speech which left more than a few store clerks furrowing their brows and simply saying, "Ma'am?" to my inquiries. Ah, fuggedaboutit.
Driving was a wake up call. Apparently, my frequent hand gestures and horn blowing (or, overuse of the "yankee button" as Bear calls it) was not the norm further south.
Food came next...all the specific brands I knew and grew up with were...gone. My first Thanksgiving in Virginia we went to 3 different grocery stores with me having a mini meltdown in the frozen food section, "Oh Gawd! How am I supposed to make Me-maw's squash souffle if there's no caaawfee rich? Where did we moooove tooooooo????"
It wasn't all bad - in fact, it was wonderful for me. (Possibly not so much for the store clerks who couldn't understand my weird accent or the people on the other end of my car horn) It helped me learn to slow down, try something different, quietly mutter under my breath when the car in front of me comes to a full stop before making a right turn. In fact, it's opened me up to such a completely different lifestyle that I felt the need to share it all (warts and all) with you!
So join me on my journey as I share my forays into prepping, canning, shooting, and my life in general. I won't claim to be an expert on anything - I'll share the tips & tricks I learn along the way, the good, bad and the truly ugly, and hope you'll either find them helpful or humorous.
Grab yourself a Co'Cola and set a while. I'm just getting started.
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