Southern Adventures Continue Every Day

 
How appropriate that my introduction to Dean Faulkner Wells would come in a copy of Southern Living Magazine. 

The back issue of the all things southern periodical contained the introduction to Every Day by the Sun by Ms. Faulkner-Wells. She, as of January 2010, is the sole surviving link to the great southern novelist William Faulkner. Being on a southern adventure of my own, immediately I requested the library to order the book for the system.
 

The first chapter poignantly is also the first chapter in her young life up until her mother’s remarriage.  The book begins with the death of her father Dean Swift Faulkner, the youngest of the Faulkner brothers, who died in a plane crash in 1935. Brother William had supplied the plane and flying lessons in order to help the younger Faulkner get a job. After the fatal barnstorming crash he carried out a life-long devotion to his niece. 

Put 'Em Together and What Have You Got?

 

Ponchatoula Strawberry Cupcakes.  Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo!

You'll find this magical cupcake recipe from yesterday's post after the jump.

Good Ole Southern Comfort Foods & Cocktails

"Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage." Catherine Douzel.

Grab a copy of Screen Doors and Sweet Tea by Martha Hall Foose and head to the back porch with your favorite southern beverage. Settle in a nice shady spot to savor the good ole southern comfort foods and cocktails offered up in this book.

Still Worthy of Spotlight: West with the Night

Author: Beryl Markham
ISBN: 978-0865471184 

When Out of Africa was released in 1985, starring Meryl Strep and Robert Redford, it re-ignited an interest in Karen Blixen’s life in British East Africa after the turn of the century. The identity of Beryl Markham was disguised in the film.  She was portrayed as character Felicity Fairway, a free spirited young woman. Felicity had a small part to play in the film but Markham, born Beryl Clutterbuck, was not only a rival for the kind of independent, fearless, self sufficient woman Karen Blixen was on screen and in real life but, as the film hints, also a rival for Denys Finch Hatton’s affections.  Like Blixen, the lanky, blonde beauty also had an amazing life.

Upon more investigation into this understated character/woman’s life, West With the Night came into my hands.  Markham had moved in 1939 from Africa to California with hopes that a movie would be made about her transatlantic flight.  When it did not come to fruition, this book was written and published in 1942.   As the author points out, it is a remembrance of her life growing up in the wilds of Africa and ending with the recounting of her non-stop flight, from London to New York in 1936.

The book contains reminiscences of what shaped her formidable character.  After being abandoned on her mother’s return to England at age four, she grew-up unrestrained alongside the native boys, modeling their fearless resolve of endurance and prowess.  Groomed to be a woman living in a man’s rugged world, she also pays homage to her father, at whose elbow she learned the trade of race horse training.  She was the first licensed female horse trainer in Kenya.