The graduation ceremony was very nice.  Poignant and meaningful.  There were eighteen graduating this year.  I apologize for the photo being so dark but.......there's no air conditioning in the gym and trust me, it gets mighty hot in there!  Even with the windows open and fans blowing.  So to minimize the heat, they keep the lights off during much of the ceremony.

And the reason there's only the one photo from the ceremony?  Hmmm.  Well, Terri's batteries went dead on her new camera.  Oh, but not to worry.....I had 4 others with me.  ALL dead!  So much for that.  On to the party.

The cake was so appropriate.....depicting everything important to R.  The setting outside was perfect.....huge oak trees providing so much shade that it was actually comfortable sitting out there.  And the highlight, of course, was that low country boil.

For those of you that didn't know.......a low country boil is famous in the Low Country of Georgia and South Carolina.  The boil is done best on an outdoor cooker as above.  And the ingredients?  New potatoes, sausage, fresh ears of corn (cut in thirds), shrimp and ours also had Cedar Key clams.  The large pot of water is heated outside on the cooker, the ingredients added, then the water is drained off and the contents is poured into a huge container for everybody to enjoy!

Oh, and the reason I didn't get a photo of the actual boil?  We were all too busy digging in and enjoying it and OH my, was it ever GOOD!  I absolutely loved it!  But we also had fresh mullet, deep fried and I have to say.....that was THEE best mullet I've ever had!  I was told it was caught late the night before and of course, that's what makes mullet so good.....very fresh.

Well, this convinces me even more.........I'm a Yankee girl with a southern soul.  I may have been born in the north, but I'll tell ya, I sure have soaked up the south over twenty years.  I love grits.  I love swamp cabbage and hush puppies.  Sweet tea?  There's nothing better.  I love the sense of family that still exists in small towns like Cedar Key. 

But yeah, I have to have to admit....even after twenty-two years down here.......I still pak my ca in the Havad yad.  Guess I'll never find those "r's" in my vocabulary.

See you here next time.................