The Brick - Hollings Bar...

Today I headed into Georgetown to visit with my mom and and dad and pick up Papa's laundry. Had a good visit with my parents. Papa was all excited about some family history he found and forgot he had. He was really talkative about it all. Mimi just wanted to sleep. We kept having to wake her up to get lunch down her. She ate everything and drank all her milk and water. But I bet as soon as they get her back in her bed she'll be into a great nap before dinner. On my way home from Georgetown I stopped at Fat Boys BBQ to pick up take-out for our dinner today. I got one of their take-out menus and tried to read it quickly. A server came up and asked if she could help. I told her what I was up to. I ordered the meals for Claude and me and then tried to figure out the 2 sides for each of us. For me, it didn't take a lot of thought. I knew I was having sweet potato fries and fried okra. Set my little Southern heart free!! My friends, that is goooooood eatin'. But I wasn't quite sure about Claude's side dishes. I called him quickly on my cell phone and asked him which sides he wanted. Steel yourselves...his answer...I want 'front' and 'back'!!! My poor little server was busy with a full restaurant and I just looked at her as she patiently waited for my response. I grinned and told her he said for his sides he wanted 'front' and 'back'. Fortunately, I had a server with a sense of humor and she chuckled. Then we got a real answer from Claude and she headed to the back to fill our order. I sat at a table and pulled out my Sudoku book. I don't sit still very well at all. Seems to get worse the older I get. I somehow thought age would reverse that tendency and instead it has enhance it!! So I opened my trusty Sudoku book to keep me occupied while they filled my order. After finishing the first puzzle, I looked up to check out my surroundings again. Fat Boys BBQ used to be 'The Cedar Post'. It on the outside edge of Georgetown. Georgetown has a no-smoking policy in all restaurants. Since Fat Boys is outside the city limits, they don't have that policy. This is the only reason Claude and I don't frequent them more often. I have a hard time with that burned cigarette smell and then carrying it with me on my clothes when I leave. But the food has always been good the few times we stopped there. Now that it is Fat Boys and BBQ is the specialty of the house, it deserved some more tries. Take-out will be our answer to some good food and not having to deal with the cigarette smoke. But when I raised my head and looked around, it was fun to notice the place again on the inside. The restaurant and several of the buildings in the back are all built like old log cabins where they took planks of wood and put them together and filled in with mud between the cracks in the wood. I had looked at the other buildings with their chimney's coming out of the center of each one and wondered how old they really were. I must find that bit of history some time just to satisfy my curiosity. I looked at the inside with the board walls and the wood floor. There are booths on two of the walls and the floor is chock full of tables and chairs. They now do karaoke there on the weekends so there is a wooden elevated stand on the back wall. They had two big screen TV's up on 2 of the walls. They were both on to the UK and Tennessee basketball game. If you know anything about this part of Kentucky, you need to know that they 'bleed Blue' here. EVERYBODY!!! The University of Kentucky is in Lexington and their color is blue and everybody 'bleeds Blue'. I've not ever been a follower if basketball, football, baseball, etc. I've enjoyed it enough to know what is happening and can enjoy watching a game. I've had strong feelings for some teams in places where we have lived. I enjoyed being a fan of the Atlanta Braves and Dale Murphy when Jake was a kid. I'll never forget Jake going to Pittsburgh, PA with me on a business trip. I got us tickets to a baseball game at Three Rivers Stadium between the Pittsburgh team and the Atlanta Braves. We were in the nosebleed section, but we were there. Jake was just really happy to be at a real game in which the Braves and Dale Murphy were playing. We were truly the only people cheering for the Braves. We got a few nasty glares but we had a great time. Well, I looked around me at the room and realized it was full of couples and friends watching this most important basketball game. I believe Coach Kalipari (spelling?) was the coach at Tennessee before he came to UK and I'm sure that heightened the need to see UK win this one. I realized that many of these people are regulars and they know the owners. It was just a nice warm feeling in the room. When I looked up the score was UK 59 and Tennessee 65. There was moaning by these diehard UK fans. No one was inhibited in their need to yell out encouragements to the TV screens. As I watched UK managed to tie the score at 65 - 65. All these UK fans were happy now but there was still time till the end of the game. Not much, may 2 minutes or less. So they were still encouraging those TV screens. Before the end of the game Tennessee scored a few more times and won the game. There will be moans all over this area on the news and in conversations. That is when it hit me. I was enjoying the feeling of being in this place because it was like being in Hollings Bar. One of my favorite all time TV series was 'Northern Exposure'. I enjoyed just about every episode. My hubby has purchased all the DVD's of this series for me. When our regular TV starts it's rerun season, out come the Northern Exposures and once again we are in Cecily, AK and all the personality that is truly Alaska. Hollings Bar (The Brick) was a central gathering place for a lot of the show. And this afternoon, I felt like Fat Boys BBQ was the Georgetown version of The Brick. It was a good feeling. By the way, the BBQ was a great meal enjoyed by Claude and me. We'll definitely do that again. And the family history Papa found was a cassette tape of an interview he did with his mother and one or two of his brothers helped talk and ask questions. I brought it home and will transcribe it so we have that bit of family history. That is an even better thing. Today...Life is Good!!