Page 87 - From the Outhouse 4 -21

87 | P A T R I C I A R A E M E R R I T T W H A T L E Y

Her black-eyed peas, sweet potato pone, perlo rice with chicken, and the fruitcake that she served the preacher and his wife every New
Year’s Eve after church service, were always a hit. My favorite was her cast-iron-skillet, stove-top cornbread with syrup. Close seconds

were her blueberry doobie and her peach doobie with dumplings that could be eaten with canned cream milk or ice cream on top.

Along with the doobie would be a homemade, thick vegetable soup and that stovetop cornbread. Lawdy! Lawdy! How good was that!
Really, whatever she cooked, I would wash my hands and sit down at the table to tear into it.

My grandmother Daisy also sold dinners and desserts. She was good at cooking chitlins, fried chicken, greens, potato salad, cornbread,
rice, and sweet potato pies. It was her chitterlings and candied apples that made me the sure winner of many community pageants and

fundraisers!

Grandmother Daisy was strong, wise, and humorous. She was one woman who loved the Lord with all of her heart. As I write this

passage, I wish I could tell her how much I’ve appreciated her teachings over the years. I never told her how much I loved her. I
remember her putting a warm blanket or coat on my bed to cover me as I slept in my cold bedroom. She would sometimes heat an

iron, wrap it in a towel, and put it in my bed to warm my feet. She would also rub my chest with warm lard or vapor rub to rid me of

a cold. I also remember her giving me a special tea to keep me from coughing. All of her home remedies worked each time − even
taking castor oil, which I hated.

I believed my grandmother could save me from lightning and thunder. Whenever it rained, I would follow her all over the house.

Wherever she sat, I sat very close to her. If she lay down, I lay beside her. It was always foot to foot. I was terrified of thunder and

lightning as a child. To this day, when there’s a thunder storm, I sit still, pull plugs, turn off the television, stop cooking, take no bath
or shower, and use no phone.