On this Monday after torrential rains and flooding in much of the country, it seems appropriate to trot out this old gem of presumably Southern origin.  I say “presumably” because I’ve no idea where the saying comes from, but can you imagine anyone from New York, New Jersey, or Chicago saying it?  I can’t.  The phrase is generally used to emphasize an affirmative answer to a pressing question, as in “Can you be here first thing Monday morning?”  One might reply, “I’ll be right here, th’Good Lord willin’ an’ th’creek don’t rise.”  The phrase has its other uses, too; most of which in my experience have been appended to discussions of fairly grand plans, as in “Inez an’ me are goin’ t’Itly next month, th’Good Lord willin’ an’ th’creek don’t rise.”

It’s possible that “Creek,” not “creek,” was intended when the phrase first originated.  Creek Indian uprisings were certainly a factor in my part of Georgia (I actually live on Chief McIntosh’s trail), what with McIntosh’s White Stick Creeks of Georgia at increasing odds with their Red Stick Creek counterparts across the way in Alabama in the 1810s and 1820s.  Who really knows?

Uprisings of Creeks are no longer a threat, but as we’ve seen this past week, upswells of creeks are as dangerous as ever.  I have an idea the funny old saying will last as long as creeks keep rising,  but certainly no longer than the Good Lord is willing.  In the mean time, keep your feet dry.

This Thanksgiving week, it’s important to note that no Southerner with any pride of place would deign to eat something called “stuffing,” unless of course he or she happens to be visiting Yankees for Thanksgiving.  In that case, it’s far better to be polite and eat what’s set before you, even if it has been pulled straight out of a turkey’s butt, than to insist on dressing the way the Good Lord intended it to be made. 

“Stuffing,” for the uninitiated, is what goes into upholstered furniture.  “Dressing,”  on the other hand, is a Southern dish, made in many various ways, but always baked in a pan and cut into squares for serving with giblet gravy at a holiday table. 

The most common ingredients are similar amounts of cooked cornbread and biscuit (though many fine and upstanding folks use white loaf bread in place of the biscuit), to which are added liberal amounts of sage, onion, celery or celery seed, juices from a just-cooked turkey or hen, and usually an egg or two and a touch of sweetmilk.  It’s so good it might make you slap your grandma away from the table, but doing so would put a damper on the Thanksgiving festivities, so we’ll all just have to restrain ourselves.  (I’ll be happy to pass along a time-honored family recipe for dressing to anyone who might be interested.)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  Enjoy your dressing, turkey, all the other wonderful table offerings; but most of all, be safe and celebrate the time with your families.  God bless!