Fish Fry with the Outlaws

Jim kind of wanted to make a trip down to see his parents on Saturday night. His youngest brother, Jeff, was going to be there, along with his young son, Miles.

So, we loaded up...the ones of us who wanted to go...and headed down to have dinner with them. Jim's dad had been fishing, and he was wanting to have a fish fry.

Jeff and Miles had spent the day with Jim's parents. They went to the river because Miles wanted to gather rocks. This is the same river that my mother-in-law remembered going to as a child. After she and my father-in-law married and had their 3 boys, they would periodically take them to this river. And now they were taking Miles. It was all very nostalgic for my mother-in-law.

Nostalgic with a touch of indignation.

The area where they used to take the boys, it now has a boat ramp, a gate, fences and signs telling people what they can and cannot do.

Well, HUMPH.

My mother-in-law went on a rant about how it was a RIVER...placed there and created by GOD...and how PEOPLE shouldn't be the ones saying what other people can and cannot do in a RIVER CREATED BY GOD.

Oh my word.

She has a point, but there are also home- and land-owners who have property that runs down to the bank of the river, and some of them have had damage done to their property because of people who DON'T do the right thing or follow the rules or respect other people's property.

And to that she said, "well I guess I can see their point."

She was also afraid that the game wardens, who were patrolling the area, weren't going to allow her to take her bag o'rocks with her, and if they didn't...let me tell you...there was going to be a smack-down to end all smack-downs.

In the end, she got her rocks.

And they also went fishing and they had a great day.

When we got to the lake house, the fish had been cleaned and skinned. There were no fish decorations hanging around...guess that's just for the holidays! (wink!) They made french fries and hush puppies along with the fish, and everything was great.

We got worried at one point, because we smelled smoke. Jeff said, "Mama, what's burning?" She said, "HUH?" He said, "what's in the oven?" She said, "a paper bag."

Oh...okayyyyyy.

A PAPER BAG.

IN THE OVEN.

No big deal.

The outlaws My in-laws will fry fish, and then put them in large brown paper bags. Then, they'll TURN ON THE OVEN, and place the bags of fish there until the french fries and hush puppies are done. When the fries are done, they go in a separate bag, and are placed in the oven. Same thing for the hush puppies. Then, when it's time to eat, they unroll the tops of the paper bags and cut the excess paper down to where the food is...and they put those bags on the table.

It's a whole, big, bag thing.

The fish was sooo good last night...and the home-made french fries were the best they've been in a lonnng time!

And there was no onion tower to marvel about and discuss, so we sat there in silence.

I'M KIDDING.

I hope everyone has had a nice July 4th holiday. Our country has a lot of problems, most of them brought on by our own choices, but I am still very thankful to live here.

"...you live under the freedom of God's grace." Romans 6:14