Thanks much! I was conceived here in Texas but after the death of my father in WWII, my then-pregnant mom had to move in with relatives up yonder on the wrong side of the Mason-Dixon line in Pennsylvania. So that forever marks my birthplace on a genuine (not forged) certificate. But, since life begins at conception, I consider myself a Texan and merely a Pennsylvanian by a cruel twist of fate.
I always had an affinity for the South, its people and way of life. That was compounded by a schoolboy crush on a little classmate in elementary school. She was from Orange, Texas but her family moved north after the war since jobs used to be plentiful in that part of the world. I loved her accent and her manners -- "yes, suh" and "yes, ma'am" were rarely spoken up there in Yankee-land. That just further solidified my strong feelings about the South. And she helped me lose my Western Pennsylvanian speech habits. I used to imitate her "y'all" and dropped "yinz" from my lexicon that's characteristic of that region.
And to wrap this up, as I look at the wall just to the right of my desk where I'm typing this, there hangs a portrait of Robert E. Lee. Behind me on the other wall, is a poster reproduction from the White Star Line for RMS Titanic. So, there you have it...the story of my life. :-)
My mother loved Lee, but she also loves Washington, and that’s where our primary focus is.
So I have a gorgeous portrait of Washington (not that hideous Stuart thing on the bill/in the WH) in my LR opposite my framed/signed portrait of Man O’War...you know where else my heart lies. ;-)
My husband is from PA - I hope you dropped the horrific grammar of PA. While I’ve always lived here, I never knew until meeting him what twisted bizarre renderings of English were just 100 mi north of us! It’s like White Ebonics.
I mean, “lawn needs cut”; “leave” for “let” and vice-versa - geezie wee. Makes my skin crawl. (I was completely flumoxed when my husband asked “did you leave the dog out?” - totally confused. The dog was clearly inside. Of course I didn’t KEEP her outside. But I had ALLOWED her outside earlier.
GGGaaaaaah!