Thank you , Jill. We are a blessed family, indeed.

Eden,

I edited the recipe to add 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1 cup chopped pecans as optional ingredients. Thank you!

Michelle,

I edited the recipe to include 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1 cup chopped pecans as optional ingredients.

Cindy,

Was the title of the book the same title as my blog post? I googled it and I found my blog post but I wasn’t able to find a book title. What a sweet story. Thank you for sharing your personal story with us.

Thank you! Let me know what you think about the cake.

Thanks for reading, Syndi!

Julia,

Feel free to contact me at jgsg3434@aol.com. I’ve had the little wild blueberries before and they do pack a wallop of flavor but I haven’t seen them in a long time, either.

I look forward to hearing from you!

That entire area has of course all been built into sub-divisions and tall condos just as most of Florida
has done. I can’t imagine finding a wild huckleberry bush today or being able to go and dig up enough
clean white sand that we’d get to set our Christmas tree in every year. We’d drive up around Dade City, take along a Number 2 washtub, fill it with sand and cut down a pine or cedar tree to serve as our Christmas tree more times than I can remember. Things change, but good memories linger.

I think I mentioned that my Mother was from Alabama, and Alabama cooking was all I ever knew. My
Father’s family were 4th generation native Floridians, so in many ways, I feel that I got the best of both
worlds.

I enjoy everything you write about, all your recipes and would love to share a few of the things I’ve learned
over the years with you. I can write to you at your personal email address if you’d rather I use it, or
please feel free to contact me at mine. Kitcat22791@wmconnect.com.

Basically, I do make iced tea the same way you do except I’ve had to cut back on the sugar since being
diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. I’m not terribly restricted, but did have to make a few changes. We
have loads of company every week, so I make gallons of iced tea, sometime going through 2-3 gallons
a day. It is our drink of choice all year long. I wash and cut fresh lemons to go in the glasses for those
who want that wonderful fresh flavor as I do.

I like that you are in Tampa now, and hope you’ll find time to get to Ebor City and try the Columbia’s
Deviled Crab Rolls. We used to buy sackfuls of them from the street vendors back in the 1940’s.
While you’re there, go ahead and try their Spanish Bean Soup too. I just know you’ll love it.

Bye for now.
Julia

Ann,

I will keep writing as long as you keep reading! Thanks so much for your support. It means the world to me.

Keri,

I can’t wait until you and Amy are neighbors!

Ginger,

I’m am thrilled to know that you are enjoying the videos. I will be posting a new one each week. I hope you do try this cake. It is simply fabulous in every way! Just like you!

Julia,
Little did I know that we had so much in common! Thank you for sharing YOUR family with me. I feel like I know you and Melonee.

I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed the Blackberry Cobbler. I make the second one from our backyard vines yesterday for Amy’s birthday. The babies just couldn’t get enough of it. On the other hand, I don’t believe anyone in my lineage couldn’t love Blackberry Cobbler. I do believe it’s in our DNA. The recipe makes wonderful Peach Cobblers, too. I’ve also tried blueberry but I can’t seem to get the proportions worked out just right so the texture turns out the way I want. Blueberries have a lot more pectin than do blackberries and peaches. The cobbler tends to “gel”. It doesn’t affect the flavor at all but it’s not perfect like the blackberry and peaches cobblers turn out.

What a wonderful homecoming for your son and daughter-in-law to be welcome by this grand cake. I would love to see a picture!

Thank you, again, for all your support and encouragement. It means more to me than you will ever know.

Another little bit of information you offered in the story was your family’s willingness to not put too much
emphasis on the exact day of a celebration. We’ve always followed the same rule, and have often ended
up with multiple celebrations or what we fondly call “Week-Long Birthdays” or Double Mother’s or Father’s Days.

If a birthday card doesn’t arrive on that special one day, it’s OK. It’ll be there the next day, or a week later.
These small “extentions” have added so much to the most important days in our years that we do it on purpose
now. Small gifts and funny cards might be mixed in with days of larger gifts and more serious and mushy
cards, poems or letters. It’s always a nice surprise every day for a week or more sometimes.

Although I’ve often seen and read the recipe for a Hummingbird Cake in my best cookbooks, I’ve never
made one. I think it’s time, and you made it look much more simple than some recipes I’ve seen. I can
almost smell the aroma and see that beautiful 3-layer cake sitting in the middle of our table right now.
I’ll do the shopping for it today, and plan to have it ready by June 25th when my son and his wife return
from their Alaskan Adventure.

Thank you for sharing your family and that delicious cake with us. Also wanted to let you know that I tried
your Blackberry Cobbler with vanilla ice-cream yesterday. It turned out perfectly and I’m going to try it
next time with my canned Raggedy Ann peaches with just a tiny bit of tweaking. Your video narrations
are just wonderful and as smooth as silk. I’m looking forward to the next one now. I’m betting you make
sweetened iced tea the same way I do too.
Have a super good week.
Julia in Boca Raton, FL