Category Archives: South

How I Came To Big River And Other Lies

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Terry Taylor

The story has many versions. One of them has me showing up at Big River ten years ago with hair down to my ass, driving a red convertible with a six-pack and two strippers. That’s not true, no matter how … Continue reading →

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Murder Creek, Alabama

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Terry Taylor

I heard his story as a young boy growing up in South Alabama. The names were different, except for Murder Creek, which despite its name, is a good place to canoe. Long before he got killed, Lemuel Pitsimons was a … Continue reading →

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Under A Big Old Bay Tree

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Terry Taylor

I am standing under a Magnolia tree (or bay tree as my grandmother called it) in humidity so thick I can taste it. Its trunk – thicker than a 50-gallon drum – pushes up into twisted, low branches holding hand-sized … Continue reading →

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Son Of A Beach

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Terry Taylor

Beaches do to me what chocolate does to some people. Months can pass before I need chocolate. I went a year once. I cannot, however, do without a beach for that long. The smell of coconut oil and spawning fish in … Continue reading →

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The Horns of Texas are Upon You

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Terry Taylor

When you go to Texas, you begin to notice things. Like horns, for instance. Longhorns are the first set of horns you’ll see. Big, husky cows carry them around on their heads, as do burnt orange-clad football players in Austin. … Continue reading →

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The Stains Of July

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Terry Taylor

Alabama summer harvest: Covington County tomatoes, Chilton County peaches and plums. Tweet This Post

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Cue Coma On The Street in Winter Park

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Terry Taylor

Barbecue is the most popular subject in Southern literature after drinking, Jesus and football. You cannot click on a Southern website, flip through a Southern magazine or unfold a Southern newspaper without a “Top 10” list of barbecue joints being … Continue reading →

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Notes From A 2,500 Mile Drive Across The South

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Terry Taylor

Over the next several posts, I will tell a few tales from a trip Susan and I recently took across Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee – most of the South as I know it. We also … Continue reading →

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BBQ, Rain, Mud, Wrecks and Rednecks (Part 2)

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Terry Taylor

The dirt track hugs wooden bleachers angling up about 25 feet into the damp Shenandoah wind. A man in a camo gimme cap with a belly big enough to have swallowed a small child chugs by wearing a painted-on-tight t-shirt, … Continue reading →

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BBQ, Rain, Mud, Wrecks and Rednecks (Part 1)

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Terry Taylor

I’ll get this out of the way right up front: I grew up in LA (meaning Lower Alabama). So when I speak of rednecks, it is not with disdain, but affection. I have changed a lot over the years since … Continue reading →

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Late For Class

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Terry Taylor

Gridlocked traffic snakes through downtown Richmond. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s dual guitars rip into “Saturday Night Special.” It’s 8 A.M. and already 90 degrees with humidity thick enough to choke a 12-pound bass. The sky is cooked milky white. This is the … Continue reading →

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It’s Hot as Hell and I Am Not In Key West Anymore

Posted on June 10, 2011 by Terry Taylor

Humidity chokes me as if a hot towel is wrapped around my head. It is too hot to write. Once the temperature pops 100º, my keyboard begins to reject my fingers, or perhaps it is the other way around. Above … Continue reading →

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Key West Conversations: Haint Blue

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Terry Taylor

The porch straining across the front of the old house on Elizabeth Street in Key West was painted Haint Blue. My aunt’s house had a large porch with a ceiling painted Haint Blue as well. My grandfather talked about haints … Continue reading →

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Key West Conversations: Damned Good Liars

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Terry Taylor

It took less than fifteen minutes to realize I had found a place that fit a part of me that I have kept prisoner under the guise of corporate bullshit for 30 years. I was still in the cab when … Continue reading →

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Conversations from Key West

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Terry Taylor

Scribbled on an AirTran barf bag are these words: “Below me, the Atlantic meats the Gulf of Mexico, blending in shades of Galaxie 500 peacock blue, luminescent aqua and deep cobalt surrounding the last island in the Florida Keys. Scabs … Continue reading →

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