Central Florida’s Largest Selection of Art
ORIGINALS • CANVAS GICLEES • REPRODUCTIONS
Butler obert ” by R D A O R DOW “SHA
“COWS” by Tripp Harriso n
“OAK HA MOCK” by Aletha BM utler
K” “JACK’S SHAC by Stephen WIlcox
Also Art by Jacque Lyn Palomaki, Bill Snyder, Thomas Brooks and other Florida artists
The other day I was walking down the sidewalk in downtown Plant City and a bug tried to fly up my nose. Of course it made me sneeze, and immediately the person walking in back of me said, “God Bless You.” I said, “Thank you,” and went in to the Chamber of Commerce. I thought, why do they say, “God Bless You,” when you sneeze? I asked Marion, Amy, Jane, Susan and Al at the Chamber if they knew, and they all said they had no idea. Later that day I ran into Dean Snyder and asked him if he knew. He said, “Yes Al, as a matter of fact I do know why they say ‘God Bless You’. When I was going to Harvard I wrote a thesis paper on this very subject. To sum it up, the Romans apparently routinely greeted sneezing with a salutation, most often, “May the Sun be with you!” The writers back then referred back to the legend of Prometheus, who made a clay model of a man, then brought him to life by applying a heavenly celestial-fire-filled reed in the clay man’s nostrils.” Wishes for good health appeared to have been born out of a number of epidemics beginning the Middle Ages. There was a legend that the habit of sneezing dates back before Christianity, even before the time of Jacob. Back then the shock of sneezing was fatal. Buford, the right hand man for Cyrus the Great, bargained with the Gods, exchanging the fatality a of sneeze for the promise that a prayer would be said every time one sneezed. Thus, from that we get today’s “God Bless You,” so says Dean. Why I spend time on the subject of sneezing I’ll never know, but one thing I did learn is that there are numerous superstitions about sneezing. When you sneeze you do it with your eyes closed, and your bodily functions completely are beyond your control. Have someone take your picture when you sneeze and you’ll see what I mean. Your face contorts, you might turn pink and the threatened
24 INTHEFIELD MAGAZINE
February 2011
explosion comes whether we are at home, attending a funeral or behind the wheel of our car. ‘Nuff of that, let’s move on to another subject. I have two questions. One, if man evolved from monkeys and apes why do we still have monkeys and apes? Two, what do you do if you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant? I’ll let you work on those. Have you ever heard of “Coon Dog Cemetery?” I have and
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I have been there. It’s located in northwest Alabama in a small, grassy meadow, deep in the rich, thick wilderness of Freedom Hills. The coon dog graveyard was established in 1937 on a popular hunting camp where coon hunters from miles around would gather to plot their coon hunting trips and compare coon hounds. The first coon hound buried there was old “Troop.” It was said he was “cold nosed,” meaning he could follow cold coon tracks until they grew fresh and he never left the trail until he had treed the coon. The only dogs that are allowed to be buried there are coon dogs. Key Underwood who established the graveyard said, “there is no way we would contaminate this burial place with poodles and lap dogs.” The official name is now “Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard,” which has over the years become a popular tourist attraction and is the only cemetery of this kind in the world. More than 200 coon dogs have been laid to rest here, and all have met the three requirements for internment. 1 - The owner must claim their pet is an authentic coon dog. 2 - A witness must declare the deceased is a coon dog. 3 - A member of the local coon hunters’ organization must be allowed to view the coonhound and declare it as such. You can find the “Coon Dog Cemetery” 7 miles west of Tuscumbia on U.S. Highway 27. Turn left on Alabama Highway 247, travel about 12 miles. Turn right, and follow the signs. For more information contact the Colbert County Tourism and Convention Bureau. Put this place on your next vacation, and watch the expression on your friends faces when you tell them where you went. Some people make profound statements, and I have collected a few of my favorites;
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mpbell bby Ca o H y S” b “PAIR
• Will Rogers - We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress. • Billy Crystal - By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he’s too old to go anywhere. • Joe Namath - Until I was thirteen, I thought my name was SHUT UP! • Rodney Dangerfield - My luck is so bad that if I bought a cemetery, people would stop dying. • Lillian Carter - (mother of Jimmy Carter) Sometimes when I look at my children, I say to myself, “Lillian, you should have remained a virgin.” • Victor Borge - Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people only once a year. Have you noticed how many people are using their cell phone while driving? Stranger things have happened on the interstate highways. When Lamar Maxwell of Lithia was with the Florida Highway Patrol he pulled over a car that was being driven by a chimpanzee on I-4 between Plant City and Lakeland. Recently I heard the story of a highway patrolman that pulled alongside a speeding car on the freeway in California. Glancing at the car, he was astounded to see that the blonde behind the wheel was knitting! Realizing that she was oblivious to his flashing lights and siren, the trooper lowed his window, turned on his bullhorn and yelled, “PULL OVER!” “NO” the blonde yelled back, “IT’S A SCARF!” Till next month I leave you with this to ponder. Why is it that when you’re driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio?
February 2011
INTHEFIELD MAGAZINE 25