The Mayberry Diner

We stepped back into the 1950’s the other day when we climbed the steps to the cottage-style restaurant in Albany, Georgia called “The Mayberry Diner.” I’d heard about the diner from my Albany sister-in-law, Reggie. So when her sister, Sally, and I went up from Cairo for a visit, Reggie said lunch would be with Andy, Barney, and, of course, Aunt Bea.

I really looked forward to the occasion and was not disappointed. I could hardly pay attention to the small, humble menu for gazing at all the pictures in the two rooms. Sally ordered chicken livers, Reggie a fried pork chop, and I salmon croquettes. At least two of us asked also for the fried green tomatoes. And then I began enjoying more memorabilia while we waited.

I had my picture made between Andy with his sly grin and Barney trying to use his one silver bullet–probably on his own big toe.

There were pictures of Aunt Bea (sometimes spelled Bee) as if she’d just set biscuits on the table. There was Goober all clean from oil and grease but otherwise authentic, and Gomer with his super happy smile, as if he’d just won a million dollars. Opie had that mixed look of innocence and mischief in several pictures, particularly the one posed with Andy, Aunt Bea, and even Helen Crump. Every wall was covered with pictures. Restaurant owners had to hang the television (showing, of course an Andy Griffith episode in black and white) up in one corner.

There were oohs and aahs from the three of us when our entrees arrived. Our waitress was efficient and fun to interact with. The prices were reasonable. And the food was delicious!

I hadn’t had salmon croquettes in a very long time and never deep fried to a golden brown crisp like those. The fried green tomatoes were crisp too and not greasy, made you feel as if fried was healthy! Reggie’s pork chop invited her to pick it up and eat with fingers and the whole restaurant felt like home so why not pick up with your fingers? I think Sally ate every one of her chicken livers, enjoying remembering how much her brother likes them too.

We sat around our table and visited for about an hour and, though there was a brisk business, we never felt as if we were in the way.

There is an authentic Mayberry, a whole town maybe, in North Carolina where it’s supposed to be just a few miles from Mt. Pilot, I guess. But that’s “a fur piece from here” so it’s very nice to find this charming restaurant nearby.

And, by the way, if you don’t want fried foods they have some luscious sounding salads and some desserts to make you “swallow your tongue.”

During our early years of marriage Charles and I looked forward each week to the Andy Griffith show. Later, we enjoyed it with our children. All ages could get a laugh over the “loaded goat” or Barney trying to catch a convict and getting locked up by the convict instead. The show was aired first in 1960 and was carried by CBS until 1971. But the re-runs are still going! In recent years we have laughed our sides sore with our grandson Charles D who particularly enjoys the old fashioned “Andy” humor. Recently he, his granddaddy and I sat around the supper table listening to Andy telling his old stories about football, Shakespeare, and such. Charles D had found them on his smart phone and we laughed uproariously.

You can tell I’m thankful for Andy Taylor (Griffith) and Barney Fife (Don Knotts) who gave us so much good humor, humor that lives on after they are gone.

Laughter is so good. Loosens up right muscles, makes your face relax, gives you a wholesome feeling throughout. And then when I hear Andy singing “How Great Thou Art” it’s like listening to a dear old friend.

Which leads me back to the diner. I snapped pictures of Reggie and Sally relaxing on the charming porch of The Mayberry Diner. I hope to take my two Charleses there soon. A treasure of a place!

 

Home From the Picnic

You know how it is at a South Georgia picnic/cookout to which everyone’s brought their pot, pan or bowl brimming with good vittles. You eat until you can’t and then you take a few more bites and nibbles. Saturday night’s potluck supper was no exception. There were fresh vegetables, hamburgers grilled by Hubert DeSercy, salads, casseroles, plates of this and that, and unending desserts, decadent wonderful desserts. When we left Johnny and Joanne’s farm (a treat to visit anytime, turtles and all!) we were fully blessed with good food, but also brimming with stories we’d heard from one and another, enough to pack a Guideposts magazine. Being with Christian friends, giving and receiving hugs, catching up on news, worrying a little bit about our country, and sharing some of the latest jokes…hobnobbing some call it…is so good for us all. Whether hobnobbing, sharing prayer needs, fellowshipping, or simply “getting together,” whatever we call it, it’s very important. And swapping stories is a very big part of a good ole picnic.

About some of those stories…

I’d already been aware of one of the stories, the one about the traveling watermelon. Sue had told me the day before when we were talking about what each of us would contribute to the dinner, that she would take her traveling watermelon. She explained that for two weeks she and her husband have been hauling this watermelon in their car. When they went to see their children in North Carolina they put the watermelon in the car, but there was never an appropriate time for a melon cutting. They trucked it back home. A call came that Sue’s 94-year-old dad is nearing the gates of heaven. She and Cecil hurried down to Florida to sit with him. Why not take the watermelon? Could come in handy. But it didn’t. Her dad rallied some and they came home–with their watermelon. One or two other shorter ventures came up but still the wonderful, very large, long watermelon remained uncut. They began to call it the traveling watermelon. When cutting it finally for the picnic, Cecil’s knife slipped somehow and all of one half of the red juicy thing flew through the air and splattered on their kitchen floor. Sue said that spot is now the cleanest in the house after her vigorous scrubbing. We enjoyed the other half at the party and were thankful that God gives us humor when we so desperately need it. We’re still praying for Sue’s dad to have a peaceful flight to heaven and to have a joyful reunion with Sue’s and Cecil’s little seven-year-old granddaughter who died in January.

Dennis and Barbara had just returned from a glorious trip to Grand Canyon and other wondrous places. It was fun to hear their descriptions and identify with them as we remembered our own experiences viewing the Canyon in different lights and moods.

Jesse and Gloria had had a most unfortunate meeting with a deer on the way to the party. Jesse was driving and both of them enjoying the evening sights of north Grady County along Pope Store Road when Gloria yelled “Deer!” But it was too late. The deer lay crumpled and still for a minute but by the time they could get out of the car it gathered itself together and ran off. The car would still run too, but will require extensive repairs to the front end. But Jesse and Gloria are fine and thankful for it.

I loved hearing Billy and Juanita’s tale of his restoring an old solid oak medicine cabinet. Their daughter had found it at a flea market and bought it for $10, a happy find for her since her father takes great joy in turning something ugly, covered in layers of sticky paint, into a lovely valuable object.

Faith told me with eyes sparkling that her son who lives in New Zealand visited home this week. I remember Maxie when he was in the four-year-old nursery school class I taught. He was already an adventurous boy then, one who could turn his teacher’s lesson plans upside down. Now he is a world traveler settled down with wife and son in New Zealand.

As Charles and I were about to leave we got into a conversation with Angie and her family. We’ve known her for years and never realized that when she was nineteen and her son fifteen months she had an accident which almost took her life and put one leg into trauma from which it has never totally recovered. This week was the anniversary (30th?) of that accident so was especially on her mind. But she smiled as she finished her story and showed by her sweet attitude that she’s grateful for so much–her parents’ and son’s support and especially to God for pulling her through.

As we drove home we chatted about various conversations we’d enjoyed together or separately and Charles enthused about a certain piece of pie that was more than scrumptious. I got out of the car at our house, thankful that my plate of stuffed eggs had all been eaten so I didn’t have to worry about putting anything away. In our yard the fireflies were beginning to blink as they made their evening rounds. The cats greeted us, rising with a stretch from the sun-warmed flagstones. They were ready for supper.