By Donna Traywick

Mt. Olivet News

Thanks to all who called and texted me about the flower garden article in the Friday, Jan. 12 issue of The Panolian. There would not have been a story to tell had it not been for Elvage Fondren’s labored effort to tend it season after season.

It took a dedicated person to haul big barrels of water from his home a mile away when the temperatures hovered near 100 degrees. There will be more stories to come as each season progresses.

There are so many friends and neighbors who are either in the hospital or rehab. Cathy Johnson fell Christmas and sustained a nasty broken ankle. She is progressing along fine after rehab.

Elizabeth Browning, my idol of Christian faith, fell and sustained a broken wrist and a broken hip. She is progressing along after surgery and is receiving therapy.

Rebecca Anderson is progressing along fine with therapy.

JimmyBarbee is taking some complicated treatment and has been in and out of the hospital. He is a hard fighter and from one of the finest families in the Mt. Olivet Community. His late father, J.O. Barbee and my late husband, George Thomas Traywick, were the founding members of the Bit and Spur Saddle Club. It went on to be sanctioned by the Tri-Lakes Horse Show Association. Jimmy’s two boys, James Ray and Jeremy, were always winners at each event.

Dale Skipper’s mother, Katherine Skipper, is recovering from illness at home. Dale, along with wife Rhonda, are a great asset to the Mt. Olivet Church choir.

As I write this, it is in the 40s and looking like snow. The weatherman says not, but January has a way of surprising us in Mississippi. In fact on March 23, 1968, I received the only kind of birthday present I have every gotten before or since … snow.

Since the weather was so depressing, I decided to stop by the E. C. Moore grocery store on Highway 6 West, just a short distance from the Highway 315 exit. Their twice-baked potato always gives me a boost.

Monica Contini, the knowledgeable manager, was very helpful in giving me a quick lesson on meats and how to cook them. I am not a big meat eater. The last time I ate a steak, I lost half a tooth. It wasn’t that the steak was tough, it was that my filling was big and old.

Ms. Contini gave me a brief history of the store. The owners are Tyler and Trevor Moore. The brothers named the store after their great-grandfather, E. C. Moore, who had a general store in Bath, Illinois. The interesting memorabilia in a showcase showed an advertisement with the phone number as 4-2-6. I was delighted to know that almost all of the produce came from the mid-south.

Their quail is farm-raised in Arkansas, and duck farm-raised in Alabama. Alligator fillet is from Georgia and Louisiana, alligator sausage from Mississippi, and catfish from Belzoni.

I decided on alligator and alligator sausage. To top it all off, I chose Sweet Magnolia Gelato made in Clarksdale from grass-fed Brown Family Dairy in Oxford. From the Delta to the hills, you can’t get any more Mississippi than that.

Hey, kids, no school Monday. Enjoy!

Call or text (662) 563-1742 or (901) 828-8824.