Review by Anne L. Holmes for the NABBW:

The first thing that grabs your attention when you behold this  book is the gorgeous photo on the cover, which depicts two beautiful horses running across a grassy field, tails flying, against a backdrop of rolling hills and a forest of trees, starting to display their fall colors. You start to really suspect that horses are an important part of this highly readable memoir when you turn to the book’s back cover, and see that the publisher is Bold Horses Press, in Ringgold, Georgia.

Leaf through, and you’ll find yourself reading chapter titles that evoke similar experiences in your own life. Watts writes with such a low-key, chatty and fun voice you start feeling like you’re enjoying a letter from a dear old friend. Read a chapter and you’ll likely find something that reminds you  of one of your own experiences  — probably something you haven’t thought of for decades.

Take, for example the chapter titled “Days of Rock and Roll,” with a subhead indicating this story took place in Tennessee and Georgia, during the 1960s and 1970s. In the space of a mere four-pages Watts explains how she became obsessed with The Beatles during junior high, and how she contrived to win radio-station sponsored tickets to see the Fab Four in Jacksonville, Florida.  A friend, whose father was willing to drive them both, also won. So despite a forecast hurricane, the two friends were off to Florida to see the Beatles. Watts shares that the best part of the trip was after the concert.  You’ll want to read the chapter for specifics — but somehow she managed to jump across the hood of the musicians’ limo as it exited the hotel garage, and in the process, her hand brushed up against John Lennon’s shoulder. Of course, she could not believe she’d managed such a close encounter — and much like any of us Beatles fan-girls would have done, didn’t wash that hand for days!

Now that she was hooked on pop music, you won’t be surprised to read that her next musical escapade was even more wild. In 1970, a year after Woodstock, Watts shares that she and her friends began to hear promotions for an event sometimes called the Atlanta International Pop Festival, but aka The Byron Pop Festival. It promised to be a Woodstock-type music festival being held at Middle Georgia Raceway in the little town of Byron, Georgia (near Macon) in late June.

Watts was 19 — and in her eyes an adult — she and a few girlfriends dearly wanted to experience this event personally.  Against her mother’s approval she decided to attend, packed an extra pair of jeans, stuffed a few GooGoo Clusters into her pocket and hopped into a friend’s  van to join the party. Much like with Woodstock, she relates, traffic — and excitement — thickened as they approached the festival site. Once parked, they passed through a haze of pot some and topless partiers to reach the stage.

Of course, much like what famously occurred at Woodstock, Watts and friends were in the midst of what then would likely have been called a  “happening,” and it was exciting. Why wouldn’t it be? They were in the outdoors with 500,000 other Baby Boomers, listening to The Allman Brothers, Jethro Tull, B.B. King, Ravi Shankar, Richie Havens, Procol Harum and Jimi Hendrix. And like at Woodstock, pot and alcohol were easily available, as were LSD, mescaline and magic mushrooms. She observed hundreds of others, stoned and naked, making love behind bushes which hid nothing and resolved to stay away from the Kool-Aid, which she knew was laced with LSD.

The music was awesome of course, but the days and nights were also hot, with temps in the 100s, and she became badly sunburned. Worse, there was no drinking water — only Coke or beer. People were overdosing left and right. Governor Maddox flew over the festival site and declared it a disaster. Watts’ adventure, she says, was getting scarier by the hour. Finally she called her mother collect, who advised her and her friends to leave the festival, get a hotel room, shower and get some rest.  They did, and then returned to the Festival where they staked out a spot in front of the stage. Just before midnight she drifted off to sleep, only to be awakened by Jimi Hendrix playing “The Star Spangled Banner,” as fireworks exploded above. At that point, Watts says, “I knew this was a magical night, a time I felt free, a moment I would never forget.”

All of the 60+ additional chapter titles in Watts’ book, an additional handful of which I’ve summarized below, cover the wide variety o  facets in Watts life, with titles such as:

• Show Girls – Tells about her beloved mare “Peanut” and their experiences with training to ride in the Pleasure class at the local horse show.
• Gold Dust Twins – Watts shares her friendship with Ellen her longtime best friend, whom she met in 3rd grade.
• Back in the Saddle – Shares the story of Watts returning to Georgia in 2007 and introduces her new mare, named “Fancy.”
• Diesel and Grits – Begins with a quote from a gentleman farmer who was reading his tractor manual while eating a bowl of grits: “Down here in Georgia, a man runs on diesel and grits.”
• Tending Okra – Takes place in the 1950’s, a time when she learned from her grandmother about growing and cooking okra while absorbing triumphant family stories going back to the Civil War. Includes an updated family recipe for fried okra.
• Dreaming of a White Christmas – Throughout the book we learn of Watts’ desire to experience a snowy Christmas and in December 2012 she writes, she received her wish. The entertaining chapter shares how much more difficult it is to manage livestock in snowy conditions.
• Royal Poo-Pah – Dates from 2011, and begins with the slogan “Caveat emptor,” Latin for “Let the buyer beware.” and tells Watts” tale of trying to buy trees online.
• Lessons from van Gogh – In 2006, Watts traveled to the south of France on a self-guided tour titled “Ithi”  to find out more about this often misunderstood  artist during his most productive period. As she moved through the countryside, she relates that van Goch’s legacy spoke: “Listen to your inner voice. Do the work you must. Let your passion drive you.” 

One of the things I liked about this book is that the stories are not told in chronological order, so you can literally open the book anywhere, and read a story that will engage and entertain you. Further, as author Janie Dempsey Watts says  in the first chapter, “A Legacy of Telling Stories,” (Georgia 1950s-1960s), she comes from a family with a legacy of telling stories.

Watts calls this book a collection of short creative non-fiction stories. She explains the phrase “creative non-fiction this way: A dish of plain, vanilla ice cream is the equivalent of non-fiction. But when you top that plain vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup, nuts, whipped cream and a huge Maraschino cherry,  now that dish is creatively enhanced and a lot more desirable or entertaining to your mouth. That delicious ice cream sundae, says Watts, is the food equivalent of writing creative non-fiction.

Finally, as you read the book, it’s possible some of them might sound familiar. That’s because Watts has here compiled a collection of stories she wrote between the early 2000s all the way to current day. They are set in a variety of places, primarily North Georgia, California, Pennsylvania and Europe, and a time periods ranging from her youth to present day. Some were originally published in Chicken Soup for the Soul books, and others were published in her “Boomerang” column for Catoosa Life Magazine. Another few, she says, appeared in other magazines and newspapers, while several are new, never-before-published pieces.

Watts’ goal with this collection is have all her stories in one book so that she can share her version of creative non-fiction. She says she hopes readers will enjoy reading them as much as she enjoyed writing them. I know I did. And I highly recommend this book.

Anne Holmes NABBW’s “Boomer in Chief”

As "Boomer in Chief" of the National Association of Baby Boomer Women, Anne is passionate about educating, empowering and enriching the lives of Baby Boomer Women, as we now begin to age beyond our middle years and enthusiastically launch ourselves into life’s next stage – which most people call old age. We Boomers know aging doesn’t have to diminish us. We still have a lot to offer the world, and we continue to be ready and willing to enthusiastically participate.

Actively involved with a number of Boomer-focused organizations and committees, Anne keeps a steady finger on the pulse of this still-spirited generation, with the goal of helping us all to enjoy life, stay healthy and continue to live lives that are rich in every sense of the word. Beyond that, Anne is dedicated to helping facilitate the positive interaction between Baby Boomers and the hard-working younger generations who are readying themselves to “take the world’s reins” and continue our efforts to move society in a positive direction.