“How can you not smile here — among all these pretty things?” That’s what I heard when I was standing at the salad plate swap table. I had forgotten to bring one of my many vintage salad plates to swap, but I was checking out the selection, anyway. And the pleasant lady was right. Beautiful pieces of china, silver and crystal surrounded me, and I desperately wanted to take all of it home. And so did every other person there. Here, in this place, my impulses were not weird. I was not strange. I had, at long last, found my tribe.   Last week, I had the privilege of making ab ..read more

Sometimes you visit a place so full of good people and good things happening, you have to tell people about it. My husband, Chuck Reece, and I had the opportunity to visit Old Fort, NC, this past weekend. Our sister publication, Salvation South, is launching a new podcast in a few months and we are doing a story about how Old Fort turned itself around after some major employers shut down. If you want to know more, you can read all about here. Old Fort is a little mountain town about thirty minutes outside of Asheville. The way they turned their economic prospects around is through making it a ..read more

As most of you know, I come from a long line of farmers who hate to throw anything out. Even though I live in Atlanta, I still keep every Mason jar I can get my hands on and hoard the black plastic pots that I get from the garden center. I sometimes find a use for these things, but probably not enough to warrant all the extra energy it takes to deal with the clutter they create. I just can’t find an excuse to throw out a perfectly good manufactured item.  I inherited the agri-engineering gene that has been passed down through my family for centuries. I believe that every Southern home sho ..read more

The Pleasures of Using a Manual Mower I grew up using a riding lawn mower. It was perfect for my undiagnosed attention deficit disorder. I could ride on it and think about things and not worry about making a mistake. Just go round and round the yard until I had that tiny sliver of grass in the middle of the yard that I would attack with a great sense of satisfaction as I made it disappear under my blades. I’ve always enjoyed living in a place that required me to cut the lawn. Whatever problems I had, I could work them out while I was mowing. I felt like I accomplished something with my day if ..read more

I love this time of year. I love the humidity. I love the heat that makes you think you can’t breathe. The still, quiet moments in the afternoon when even the birds can’t sing, but the cicadas can. I love the moment when the afternoon has been so hot for so long that you think it will never end, and then the tree frogs start singing and you know relief is in sight. I love the roll of distant thunder and heat lightning. I love it when the Southern sky opens up and indiscriminately dumps millions of gallons of water on the ground, and all you can do is just watch the water run everywhere and ove ..read more

Every Southerner knows the day is coming, but it seems to take us by surprise every single year. We were happily trotting around in the cool mornings and evenings of late spring — ducking inside around lunchtime to get away from the afternoon heat. We even thought to ourselves, “Maybe we are in for a cool summer this year.” And then BAM! It’s hot as blazes, and there ain't nothing nobody can do about it. We clutch our pearls in the shock and horror of it all, but we know that we should have known all along.  We lament the loss of cooler days and repent binging on Netflix instead of enjoyi ..read more

I was having tea with my priest this week and he wanted to talk about the need for rest. What did I think we, as a church, could do less of this summer? Since I volunteer on the flower guild and the hospitality committee, he was wondering how we could make our lives easier. The pandemic was very hard for me in a lot of ways even with no one in my family or circle of friends dying of COVID. But my husband had some very serious health issues during that time and finding the right medical care has been a constant struggle. On April 8, he fell down our back steps and got a head injury. He wound up ..read more

Remember my New Year’s resolution from a few weeks ago about being kinder to myself? I said that when I start to beat myself up, I would just remind myself about something I’m really good at? Well, I think it was a stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. Now, I’m not saying that I’ve done it perfectly, but that’s okay — because I make fantastic pimento cheese. This has lightened the daily mental load tremendously. I think Southern women are raised to let an enormous amount of shame into their daily lives. Don’t leave the house without lipstick. All of your china should match. Always wear clea ..read more

I don’t know about you, but in the past, New Year’s has always been about purging myself of all my terrible defects and becoming the perfect person I think that I am supposed to be. I feel like I have to get rid of these personality defects and extra pounds, because my present state is just so god-awful that I should be ashamed of myself. I mean, who could love someone with a higher than recommended body mass index and a tendency to leave clutter around the house? Who starts projects and doesn’t finish them? Who’s not a team player and is always right? How can anybody love someone that doesn’t ..read more

First of all, thank you. Thank you for all of your love and support over the past four years. We are honored by all the likes, comments and shares you have given us as we have grown. And most of all, thank you for your purchases. Your decision to bring our products into your homes and the homes of those you love has made this next chapter of the Down South story possible. Eight years ago, my husband, Chuck Reece, launched an online publication dedicated to dismantling stereotypes about Southerners. He was recognized by the New York Times and Time Magazine as a person changing the South. His po ..read more