the morning toast

a reference to the refuse and offal that flowed in the gutters of London on eighteenth century mornings

emancipation day

it's sort of like the day they announced that the sodomy laws had been struck down in texas.  i was  sitting on the patio of the corral bar on hemphill street in fort worth.  i spoke up and said, "now, i suppose we will all have to eat watermelon".   i think it was the  middle of july.

why swisher sweets always make me think of sir walter raleigh

once when sir walter was at table with his son at a banquet, his son spoke up and told this story:

sir walter was walking in the queen's gardens when he spied a lady in waiting sitting underneath a tree.  as he approached her, she said, what, sir walter, will you undo me!  shortly thereafter she was up against the tree and exclaimed, o sweet sir walter.  o sweet sir walter.  the last thing she was heard to utter was "o swisher swatter!  swisher swatter!"  that's why swisher sweets always make me think of sir walter raleigh.

from a book of conversations published in seventeenth century