I guess I've been a southerner for over 35 years now, but my memories of those great beans come not from the south, but from the midwest -- Indiana to be exact. My grandmother, and then my mother could make the best in the world. They were very much like y'all have said you remember except they always put some onion in there also and after all that long cooking time it was soft and sweet. Put that with some delicious sweet Indiana corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes and green onions fresh out of the garden and heaven came down!

But you know when I think about some of those other memories, things have changed. I recently went back to my grandparent's old homeplace where I spent many happy days. You know what??? Things have shrunk. The road is no wider, but for some reason the house doesn't set way back off the road as far as it used to. Also, that long stretch of back yard that used to be "nigh on to a mile or two", especially after dark when you were heading to the outhouse past that scary snowball bush and the grape arbor where all sorts of things could be lurking -- well now it is just a hop & a skip. Isn't it funny how BIG you remember the things you loved the most???