Art at Artichoke

The results of our art project at our club meeting tonight - each of us painting our initial. We all agreed the most marketable was Carol's seashell-encrusted C. Carmen said it would sell like hotcakes. From left, pictured are Gail, Carol, Caron, me. Susan is seated.

Art at Artichoke

Gail had the inspiration for all of us to do an art project tonight at Artichoke, and she bought an initial for each of us to paint. Here she is with her eggplant G.

Art at Artichoke

Tonight Gail hosted our girls supper club at local art and gift shop ARTichoke, owned by Carmen and several colleagues. Pictured are Gail, Carmen, Carol, Caron and Susan.

Heart of the Delta

On my Indianola, Mississippi, trip, I toured downtown. In about a year, this will be the main attraction. It's the under-construction B.B. King Museum, expected to open in Fall 2008. Right now it's just a gravel lot, but they have big plans for it. Before I went to Indianola, I had been to the museum web site (see above) and from looking at it, I thought the museum was already open...but they have a ways to go.

Heart of the Delta

Indianola, Mississippi, has some great old businesses and homes. What a great small town! (pop 11,000) It's one of those downtowns that is still vital, with plenty of houses close enough to walk downtown. This is Planters Bank right in the center of downtown. Indianola itself doesn't have a CVB; instead there is one for the entire Delta region.

Heart of the Delta

My trip to Indianola, Mississippi, last week took me right downtown, and this is the downtown post office. I also ate at the delicious downtown Crown Restaurant, which specializes in catfish dishes. Their Catfish Allison is the best lunch I've ever eaten.

Heart of the Delta

Last week I took a work-related trip to Indianola and took some shots of local flavor. First of all, it's flat. This is I believe a soybean field, one of dozens I passed on Highway 49. Correct me if someone knows I'm wrong, but it doesn't look like corn or cotton, so it must be soybeans.

Stacy Coleman, a Good Man

Stacy Coleman died this weekend way too early. He was only 44. I have known Stacy as a great father, tidy housekeeper and gourmet chef. I have known his wife since college and we have played bunko together for many years. Each of those years, Stacy has cooked a terrific meal for all of us. He served in Afghanistan all of 2006 and his wife served in Iraq all of 2005. Their two sons were lucky enough to have had their dad home for about six months, but his death is truly tragic. He will be missed. Update - Photos of Stacy's Military Funeral

Great Expectations

We're expecting a baby in November! I guess it's finally time to announce it here. Today we had a sonogram and here is our first profile photo of her. That's right, Arrested Development fans, HER!

Doctor Dirt's House

A photo of Doctor Dirt's Edwards house, circa 1895. See the previous two posts for more details...

Doctor Dirt's Bottle Tree

Sunday, we were treated to an hour-long tour of Doctor Dirt's massive garden in Edwards, which includes lots of unconventional yard art. This is a great bottle tree in which the bottles are tied to the tree instead of hung on the branches. Dirt was also generous with the pass-along plants, giving us a few onions to root in our yard, plus a cacti. He also picked a few tomatoes off the vine and gave them to us. To top it off, he gave us water and snacks - keep in mind we just dropped by unannounced. He was very friendly and the tour was the highlight of our trip! (Click on the photo for a closer view of the bottle tree.)

Meeting Doctor Dirt

On our way back from Vicksburg we stopped in Edwards to see how hard it would be to find Dr. Dirt, the co-host of the Gestalt Gardener radio show on Mississippi public radio. We're avid listeners and Dr. Dirt issues an open invitation on his show to anyone passing through Edwards to stop by and tour his gardens. (He accepts donations for the tours.) Here's how to get there. Take the Edwards exit, go south, go straight through the first stop sign and turn left at the next 3-way stop. His house is the third on the right, just before the railroad tracks. I should mention the weekly radio show is available by podcast on itunes - just search for Gestalt Gardener.

Train

While staying in Vicksburg, we were within walking distance of the train tracks, so we walked down to watch a train pass. We were right in a historic area with lots of other beds and breakfasts so there were a lot of beautiful houses to see. Everything in that area is "post bellum" because everything in Vicksburg was burned during the Siege of 1863.

Belle of the Bends

For my birthday Todd took me to Vicksburg bed and breakfast Belle of the Bends - circa 1870s. It was very enjoyable with porch swings, a full home cooked breakfast and great hospitality from Dan and Mary. We enjoyed meeting the other couples there - one of whom had gotten married on Saturday and were enjoying their honeymoon.

Obedience School

Now that Rufus is healthy and neutered we decided to go to obedience classes, so we went to the local Petsmart. The instructor worked with Rufus and despite my protestations called him 'smart.' Of course she had just taken our money! We used hot dogs as rewards, so we had Rufus's full attention during the class!

Unusual Visitor

This beautiful moth, which is bigger than my hand, lit on our kitchen screen for most of a day. I just thought it was beautiful.

Cool Al's Burgers

Saturday for my birthday we all went to Cool Al's Burgers in Jackson - the absolute best burgers in Jackson made by a vegetarian - Al himself. I had the turkey burger and Todd had the jamaican pineapple veggie burger. It was Laura's first time at Cool Al's and she is a new convert!

North Toward Home

I've been working on Willie Morris' 'North Toward Home' for a while and I am halfway through it. He is a Mississippi native and lived in Jackson at the time of his death. I picked it back up last week and have been making steady progress. It's an interesting insight into Mississippi (and later Texas and New York) in the 1950s and 1960s. I have to tell a bit about Willie Morris. First of all I wish I had gone to view his casket when he was laid in state in the Old Capitol rotunda back in 1999, but he died in August - remember it was August in Mississippi - and the line was so long I did not want to spend my lunch hour standing in the sun to see a closed casket. I regret not going though. At the time I had read Good Old Boy, My Dog Skip and My Cat Spit McGee, which are 'Morris-lite' books (I say that because they're significantly skinnier than his other works and written in an easier-to-read vocabulary). Later in 1999, when his wife had a book launch party at their home near Jackson's Fondren neighborhood, Todd and I were lucky enough to be invited. We also met the famed Spit McGee at the party - a friendly cat who let strangers stroke him. He died later that year if I have my time line right. At any rate, North Toward Home (the first half which I've finished) is a wonderful glimpse into small town Mississippi in the pre-TV era.

Neptune Noir

Other fans of the TV show Veronica Mars will be familar with the town 'Neptune' where it takes place. I just finished a fun book - a literary analysis of sorts - of the show called 'Neptune Noir.' Edited by the show's creator, Rob Thomas, contributors break down themes like 'vengeance and retribution in Veronica Mars' to 'the father/daughter relationships in Veronica Mars.' I enjoyed it.

Templar Legacy

I have a good time reading Steve Berry's books because they always weave history in with the fictional narrative. I recently finished The Templar Legacy, which is a fast moving story with likable characters. I have a friend reading this right now and I warned her about the 'shocking' ending, but it's a fun entertaining read that's not easy to forget.

Conspiracy Club

Todd's mother has gotten me hooked on author Jonathan Kellerman, and I recommend The Conspiracy Club as an entree to the author's work. I bought The Conspiracy Club at a garage sale in my neighborhood last month for $1.00. Most of his books deal with one protagonist, a psychologist, but this is one of JK's ventures into another character. This is a stand-alone book - no sequels - and is a fascinating read.

Rufus Chews

Our dog Rufus had never had toys before coming to live at our house. We started giving him chewy bones when he came here and he immediately took to them. His teeth immediately got whiter as a bonus. So anyway in the past two weeks Rufus has refused to play frisbee or fetch with us in favor of the chewy bone. So Todd threw it away about a week ago. So Sunday morning I went in the back yard and Rufus had gathered some 'bite size' rocks and brought them to his favorite spot in the yard. I even saw him chewing on one. (We put the rocks elsewhere in the yard.) Then this morning when we got up he had gone into the burn pile and dug out a small log and brought it to his spot to chew on. I said enough's enough and I went and got him this big bone (pictured) today. He was very happy to get it as you can imagine, and I feel better that he's not chewing on rocks.

Daylilies in Bloom

The daylilies in our back yard finally began to bloom Sunday. These were transplanted in March 06 from my mother's house to mine, but they did not bloom last summer at all. So I'm thrilled to see that they are a beautiful orange and yellow.

Stars in Dixie

I saw a cute play in Brandon Thursday night called 'Stars in Dixie,' which takes place in Natchez, Mississippi. It's a local theater company with local cast and crew. Thursday was opening night and there were a couple of timing issues, but again, it was cute. I went with Rebekah and several of her buddies, and we had a great time.

Arrested Development Marathon

Todd and I have been having a marathon of one of our favorite shows, Arrested Development, which we have on DVD - seasons 1-3. We've been rewatching a few episodes per night and we should hit the end of the series this weekend.