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Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)
Do you remember when you were about 5 or 6 years old and sometimes, when the TV was acting up, not producing a good picture, a TV repair man would be called to come to your house, and he would fiddle with a bunch of innards inside the TV, then produce a TV TUBE that had gone on the fritz? A tube that looked similar to a burned out light bulb, only shaped like a fat hotdog weiner, sort-of. He would say, "OK ma'am, I found the bad tube, so everthing should be fine now. Then your Mom would pay him some money for his expertise and time, and he would leave with his bag of TV tools & stuff, with a smile on his face.
Do you remember watching your Grandmother prepare breakfast at her little country house, as you watched and took notes, at age 5 or 6? I remember seeing my sweet little ladylove Grammy, light her stovetop burner with a match, taken from her matches-holder on the wall next to her stove, then blow out the flame, hold the match under the sink's faucet for a seond or two until the burnt tip was wet, then she would drop the match into her garbage can, next to the stove.
She would fill the metal percolator with water, put the tall cylinder part into the pot, put the coffee grinds into the top tub that was held up high on the cylinder. Then she would pop the lid with the glass see-thru bubble right onto the percolator, ready to begin its bubbly melody and begin its glass bubble showtime delight, as it got hot on the burner.
Next, she would pull out her big black iron skillet, plop in some big thick slices of bacon that she had bought from the butcher, since she didn't like skinny bacon slices from the dairy case. After the bacon was finished sizzling and bubbling, she would take the golden, crispy slices out of the pan with a fork, laying them on paper towels atop a plate. Then it was time for the eggshell cracking against the kitchen sink ... She could get a nice long crack on the shell with one whallop, and not let a single drip of yolk fall anywhere, until it fell into the skillet of bacon grease. The best 'cook of all cooks,' could have 'sunny-side-up eggs' ready in a quick minute, perfectly round and pretty! Then she would push some breadslices buttered with REAL BUTTER(!) through the big door of the oven below the top burners of the stove, properly spaced on a cookie sheet. They would be ready and toasty in a minute and a half.
Finally, she would pour some orange juice in her small juice glasses, and a little milk in another juice glass for me. I enjoyed two glasses of beverage each day, at breakfast time.
She, of course, had a coffee cup and saucer by her plate, and another cup and saucer by my Granddad's plate, with a little sugar bowl and a small pitcher of milk, ready to go (for the coffee).
My job was to get the two jars of jelly out of the frig; strawberry and grape. Sometimes she had orange marmalade, which I didn't like, also.
Those days I can remember as if they happened yesterday. HA!
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