Peanuts, peas, goober peas

So I come to the letter P and at first it was hard to figure out something I could write about that letter and then I came upon the obvious.  I though P, is for Pea.  But regular old peas aren’t very interesting and then I thought of another sort of pea. Since I am kind of a history buff, I knew that goober peas are in actuality peanuts.

What you may ask makes goober peas different from regular old peanuts?  The answer is simple.  They are boiled peanuts.  For all you northerners who have never had boiled peanuts, you are not missing much.  Personally I think they taste awful and the texture takes some getting used to, but during the civil war when rations were short, confederate soldiers thought of them as manna from heaven. They even wrote a song about it that you may have heard but didn’t know what they were referring to. The lyrics follow:

Sitting by the Roadside on a summer’s day, chatting with my messmates passing time away,
Lying in the shadow underneath the trees, Goodness how delicious, eating goober peas!
Peas! Peas! Peas! Peas! Eating goober peas! Goodness how delicious, eating goober peas!

When a horseman passes, the soldiers have a rule,
To cry out at their loudest “Mister here’s your mule.”
But another pleasure enchantinger than these, is wearing out your Grinders, eating goober peas!
Peas! Peas! Peas! Peas! Eating goober peas! Goodness how delicious, eating goober peas!

Just before the battle the General hears a row, He says the Yanks are coming, I hear their rifles now,
He turns around in wonder, and what do you think he sees, The Georgia Militia, eating goober peas!
Peas! Peas! Peas! Peas! Eating goober peas! Goodness how delicious, eating goober peas!

I think my song has lasted almost long enough, The subject’s

interesting, but rhymes are mighty rough,
I wish this war was over when free from rags, and fleas,
We’d kiss our wives and sweethearts and gobble goober peas!
Peas! Peas! Peas! Peas! Eating goober peas! Goodness how delicious, eating goober peas!

So now you know.  Peas, goober peas, peanuts, one and the same-- and P is for peanuts.

I just got back this weekend from a wonderful vacation in Phoenix, Arizona and vicinity.  In between the ABC book posts I am going to add some posts with travel tips, that I learned the hard way.  And also some interesting facts along the way, so stay tuned.  

By the way my very creative friend Annie has started a new blog, so stop by, visit and show some comment love...Adventures with Anniscrafts

F is for Fossil

If you are into history you have probably heard of the part of Virginia where I live.  Eight presidents were born right in Virginia.  I can throw a coin across the river in almost the exact spot where George Washington famously did it. (It wasn’t as wide as they would like you to believe though) I can visit the law offices of James Monroe, although he hasn’t practiced law in years. I am able to walk the once bloody ground where civil war battles were fought.  And believe it or not if I were to drive 10 minutes from my door I can walk the bank of what used to be under much deeper water.  35-65 million years ago, right after the extinction of the dinosaurs, Crocodiles, sharks and other underwater creatures lived virtually in my back yard!

Through the years I have collected the fossilized teeth of sharks and crocodiles and other sea creatures, simply by walking the banks and picking them up.  The shark and crocodile teeth look much like modern day teeth with the difference being they are black or shades of gray and very, very hard.  Years ago I would create necklaces out of them, wrapping them with wire since they much too hard to drill through. 

What could be more natural that fossilized remains of creatures long gone?

F in my little book-- is for fossil.