Spring has certainly sprung here in Mississippi. I can tell the trees have leafed out more in the three days I’ve been here. Pastures are looking green as well as lawns. The long, brown months are over.
One year I picked up a friend from Mississippi at the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport and the first words uttered after our greeting was “It’s so green down here.” He had flown in during the winter months when everything that is not evergreen is dead or hibernating in Mississippi.
Ashley Paige McKay. She’s the spitting image of our Mother.The Reverend Doctor William Watson (Billy)
These two and Carolyn were dynamos this day!
There are several plants that pop up in the spring as early indicators of the season. One is wild mustard. Another is buttercups.
This is the genus Ranunculus and I think the species is laxicaulis. You can’t see the leaves in this photo but the numerous stamens and pistils are evident.
Another is the common blue violet.
Viola sororia. I used to collect this when I was a graduate student at Ole Miss in the Flora of Mississippi course.
Very common in fields and lawns this time of year is false garlic.
Nodoscorum bivalve. In my day, this was Allium bivalve. You can dig up the bulbs and they and the entire plant give off a garlic odor. It’s considered edible.
Spring in Mississippi is beautiful. Strangely, I’ve only seen a few red buds and dogwoods in bloom. Maybe it’s a little early.
I spent the day with Archie, Tanis, my niece Ashley, my nephew Billy, Archie’s ex, Carolyn, and the health care lady, Maya. I managed to get two smoke detectors installed even though it wiped me out. I’m afraid I wasn’t much use to Ashley and Billy. I left at 4 pm and came to Jean and Rogers and immediately got into bed.
I’m not sure what is on tap for tomorrow. I get my orders from Ashley. It was good to see Archie with a good appetite.
Sand Hill, Pisgah, Gulde, Shiloh, Kalem, Forkville. More of these small community names that are coming back to me. I remember going to Gulde (we pronounced it Gooly) for a church function (yes, I once went to church). The Shiloh is not the Shiloh of the Battle of Shiloh fame. There are probably 20 Shiloh’s in the state of Mississippi
Most of these places are little holes in the road (Kalem) but several are larger communities whose school systems were consolidated with a larger system, like Morton or Forest. They are part of my memories as a kid. It helped I had a grandmother who loved to drive the back roads and visit distant relatives (genetically, not distance wise) and I learned a lot sitting in the passenger seat as she constantly speeded up and slowed down as she drove and explained the relationships.
Today was shopping day. Ashley, Archie’s daughter, came to visit and Archie, Tanis and I headed out to see about getting a land line installed. First stop was an AT&T store. We quickly found out that the stores no longer works with the company to establish/re-establish land lines. They were kind enough to get us started with the customer service phone line and after a few false starts, we got Archie and Tanis a new land line. Of course, there is not physical phone line any more, it’s through the modem/internet system.
The next problem was finding a phone for the land line. Everyone sells cell phones these days but very few stores sell land line phones. We finally found a store and I set up the system and I’m waiting for the batteries to charge to set up the phone.
Also needed this day was a new suit case for me. When I checked in at Fort Lauderdale yesterday morning, the attendant at baggage check noticed I had not zipped my bag all the way. I was lacking an inch. For a reason. The zipper, once past a certain point, would not unzip. He zipped it all the way which meant when I got to Roger and Jean’s, I spent 15 minutes trying to get my suitcase open.
We stopped at Belks and I found a Samsonite that I liked. It was 60% off and if I applied for a Belks card, it was another 25% off. I saved $331. Of course, the regular price was outrageous and it really was only worth $50 at the most but they gotta make a living somehow.
The 25% off was good all day at Belk so I bought some shoes and some cologne and two sets of shoes for Tanis that also were on sale in addition to the 25% off.
We bought so many things, we must have saved a million dollars. And spent two million.
Ashley was busy at the house while we were gone. Once back, we rested from our shopping spree and then headed to Genna Benna’s for dinner. Tanis’ son, Billy, came in from Texas and joined us at the restaurant.
Tomorrow, Tanis, Billy, Ashley and I are gonna work together on some things.
