I had been working in the workshop after supper, and when I came up the back deck stairs, I was struck by all the colors in the screen room.
I catch a lot of shit because my clothes palette is limited, but I love a colorful environment. No greige for me, thank you!
It’s fuzzy and out of focus, but while on the walk today I saw this slider turtle in the creek. It was unseasonably warm today, and this guy was taking advantage of the sunshine to catch some heat on his favorite rock.
Normally, they sense the vibrations of your walking and swim away to escape, but this one didn’t -I stood and watched him for 3 or 4 minutes. I actually though he was ill, he was so still, but then he decided to slide into the water and get away right after I took this photo.
When I go on my daily(ish) walks, I end up on Crane Boulevard. It has a creek that runs along it, and when Willie Morris lived here, he called it Purple Crane Creek. That name appears on no map – just in his heart.
The time change and the political chaos and all of it has been so damned heavy, and I haven’t walked this week and so today I said “To hell with it, I’m going for a walk!” and I’m so glad I did.
It’s November – deep into fall now, and there is still so much green and yellow and various hues, and I loved the way they all reflected in the water here.
This is an American beautyberry bush (Callicarpa americana) which lives in my front yard. It spends most of the year being a somewhat boring shrub with insignificant tiny flowers. But the fruit in the fall is this brilliant purple/magenta, which really stands out.
The berries are edible, but not very good. Some people do make jelly from them, which proves that if you add enough sugar to things, they eventually taste better. Also notice that some critter is eating the leaves on this plant – that is NOT a bad thing. It’s a native plant, that has coevolved with the bug life in this region for many thousands of years. I want the bugs to eat my plants, because I want the birds that eat the bugs.
People think of berries when planting for birds, but berries only last a few weeks – bugs are year round. Plant for bugs if you want birds. No bugs, no birds. It’s that simple. If your plants are not being eaten, they are not part of the ecosystem.
My friend Amy Yoder McGloughlin is a Conference Minister in Pennsylvania for Mennonite Church USA, and was in Jackson this weekend for some denominational meetings Saturday. Then she preached this morning at Jubilee Mennonite Church in Meridian.
Amy is one of my favorite people – we’ve been friends more than a decade. She used to be pastor of Germantown Mennonite Church – the oldest Mennonite church in the US, and because of her, I preached there back in 2014 or so.
We have 4 permanent cats in out house, and at any given time, between 2-6 kittens. Of all the cats, Puss is our oldest.
She’s 11 years old, and we rescued her when she was still nursing. She’s always got a look of anxiety on her face, but she’s very affectionate (as long as it’s on her terms). When it thunders outside, she opens a kitchen cabinet and hides inside.
There is a surprising number of Chinese people who live in Mississippi, most descended from people who came here as laborers in the “after slavery” years.
Mr. Chen’s is a Chinese restaurant/ Chinese food market/ Chinese restaurant supply store here in Jackson. It gives off street bazaar vibes (that is a good thing) and the food is excellent. It manages a good blend of authenticity but also throws enough American Chinese Food fan service into the mix that your Aunt Edna who loves General Tso’s Chicken can order off the menu.
These are pitcher plants – they’re carnivorous, like Venus Flytraps are, and they’re native to the southeast. I have a container of them growing on our back deck
When I get my ducks in a row, I want to build a carnivorous garden bed in the backyard. I love them.
Like most horrible things, they’re beautiful. I see the flies hovering around them and wish I could warn the flies away, but instead I sit and watch them fly into the trap, doomed.
I am 100% convinced that sandwiches taste better when sliced corner to corner.
I will not be taking advice to the contrary at this time.
It’s 8PM and 62 degrees in late October, and I’m in my front yard, because I forgot to bring the trash cans up after trash pickup today.
My neighborhood is 3/4 of a century old, and the tall pines and live oaks and southern magnolias that fill our neighborhood mean that it’s mostly green year round. They reach for the sky, these trees do, and hold you, letting you know that you are protected, safe, loved.
I understand that there are people who live where there are not trees. It’s important to learn early in life that not everyone has the advantages you do.
As I was standing on the edge of the road in my quiet, verdant street, I looked up toward the sky and just felt gratitude. I love it here, and wouldn’t care to live anywhere else.
