The house was filled with a lot of people on this particular day, however I assume that this was nothing out of the ordinary. Georgia's husband Hack, was the youngest of thirteen children. Can you imagine? Their family gatherings were always loud and filled with people. In the beginning of their married life, Georgia was always extremely intimidated by going to see Hack's family. Being the youngest bride in the bunch, the brothers found her to be an easy target for teasing and joking. The teasing was nothing mean of course, but all in a brotherly fashion. Needless to say, it was all a bit much to take in at first.
On this day you can imagine Georgia's alarm when after she and Hack
arrived, Hack's mother made the grand announcement that Georgia could make the peach cobbler. "Peach cobbler?" she thought. She had never made a peach cobbler! Her mother -in-law was set on the idea, Georgia would make the peach cobbler.
Georgia entered the large kitchen which was filled with all of the women of the family. The men were in and out joking around loudly, which made her feel even less at ease in approaching her new task. Eventually the men left the kitchen. Some shifted to the living room to play dominoes and some to the local coffee shop as they waited for the dinner that was being prepared. Georgia shuffled up to the large flour barrel, which held a hundred pounds of flour along with a sifter and other utensils for measuring out the white powder. Her heart was beating quickly. As she took a scoop of flour she could hear laughter from the living room along with the sound of two football games, one on the tv and one on the old radio. Sprinkling the flour over the large table in front of her, she closed her eyes. She pictured watching her mother as a little girl making peach cobbler. What did her mother do? She pictured each step in her mind and began to follow each one carefully. As she worked, she hoped and prayed her cobbler would turn out. Before she knew it, she was done. She laid the strips of dough across the top, sprinkled it with sugar, and placed it in the oven. When the time was up she could barely breathe. She slowly opened the oven door and removed the cobbler. It was beautiful, a slight golden brown and it looked just perfect! She was filled with excitement! Everyone ranted and raved over how wonderful the cobbler tasted. Hack swelled with pride at how wonderful his new bride had done. He stopped on the way home to buy more peaches because of course he needed one baked just for him! Georgia cannot remember to this day how she pulled off the pie baking so wonderfully. She told me she had to work very carefully and remember every step her mother used. In my opinion, that takes a pretty smart woman to bake a cobbler off of memories of sitting and watching your mom as a child. I've asked Georgia for the cobbler recipe. She is sitting at home at this moment trying to remember the steps. If she does, I will share the wealth of an Arkansas mountain girl!
Charming story! Do you have any early pics of Georgia, as a child, as a young bride, etc.?
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It is definitely in my plans to include pictures of young Georgia with future stories!!
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