Tiiiiiiiiimber...

Except it wasn't chopped down, it collapsed from the last huge rain we had a few weeks back. This is in Gordon Creek which flows through downtown Hattiesburg and floods about 6 times a year, at least.

 

The next time it decides to flood (and with it being Spring, it probably won't be long before it happens) this thing will have all of the debris backed up and the creek will be in the Hulett-Winstead Funeral home and the Town Square Park up stream. Hope they get this out in time.

There are two old homes beside this creek that have been standing empty for years, one Greek Revival and one...The Lawd Only Knows What and both are being very slowly renovated at the same time. I don't know if somebody bought both of them or it they are a part of the "Dress Up Downtown" wave that has been taking place for the last few years. The house on the corner down the street from these two, which was standing empty for years as well, is being renovated by Catholic Charities to use in times of emergency. I would love to stop and ask the workers what is going on with these houses. The two front yards are filled with oaks like these.

I have taken so many photos this weekend, my camera is smoking. We went to a crawfish boil at church on Saturday, church Sunday morning with the Children's Choir singing (precious) and then the choir's Lenten Music performance this evening. Here are a few of the best ones blossom ones:

Tomorrow, the camera will have a break and probably for the rest of the week as well, as my Dad will be getting a hip replacement tomorrow morning. Short of going into surgery with him and photographing that, hospital rooms are not typically conducive to giving fabulous photo opportunities. Talk to y'all later.

And then there were azaleas

So, it goes like this: First the daffodils, narcissus, hyacinths and tulips. Then the Bridal Wreath. Then the Azaleas, then the dogwoods. Sometimes it’s the dogwoods then the azaleas but really, it’s entirely up to them as to which one blooms first. I think they take turns. Work it out between themselves somehow. Here is the Bridal Wreath (Vanhoutt spirea):

 

All of those clusters of blooms that cover this thing are these tiny little “bouquets” that you see below. One blossom is the size of your fingernail. Tiny.

Then the Formosa Azaleas…

I have no idea what these are…if they’re Formosa or if they’re something else but I’m beginning to love the color on these even more than the hot pink of the ones we’ve had for years.

Wisteria is blooming in The Dubya’s mawmaw’s front yard and I plan to sneak over for a few shots of that before the blooms start fading. The dogwoods in the woods are blooming their hearts out but the ones in our yard have not started yet. Heck, they may be dead…who can tell without breaking a branch?

First Day of Spring

It’s been looking like Spring for a while around here but we’re always early with spring and summer and late with autumn and winter in South Mississippi.

It’s the first day of spring and I washed my car for the first time since I bought it in September last year. It was filthy. I’m still sitting outside on the patio watching hummingbirds feed from the feeder not 5 feet from me and listening to the cats fuss about something. I don’t know what because they have food and nothing is bothering them… they’re just vocal today. The bottom branches of the Formosa Azaleas are covered in hot pink tightly sealed buds which lets me know that in just a few days we will be awash in color. You’ll be seeing evidence of it in photos on here, I’m sure. I tried to get a few shots of the hummer but I’m just too close and too slow to capture them right now.

I may have inadvertently gotten some sun on these very very white girl legs today but the resulting headache from getting too hot has ran me inside in search of medication and I do believe this will have to be a short, photoless blog today. Talk to y’all later.

Hmmmmm...

"The only person who is with us our entire life is ourselves."

George Carlin didn't say it like the emailed forward endlessly circulating the internet claims but it still struck me as profound. As an almost 33 year old unmarried, childless, only child, unless I marry someone, I am destined to be alone when my parents pass away which was a previously unnamed fear of mine. To be totally alone in this very large world. No sisters or brothers, no mom or dad, no nieces or nephews, no child, no husband. It makes you feel very small and frightened. You can say, "but you have friends"... let's face it. When it comes down to the bottom line, the only person you have is you. Period.

So I searched to find somebody to fill the space of significant other so I wouldn't be totally alone. I gave up looking for him after being lied to and cheated on continuously and got comfortable in my own skin. With being alone, with the thought of being childless, with showing up dateless, with my own company, with eating and shopping alone. Then he fell in my lap a few years later while I wasn't looking for anybody. Oh well.

Now he's here and I get this email that makes me stop and say hmmmmm. He may be here until I die and he may not. I hope he will but we're not promised tomorrow. I thankfully do not know my future but there are reasons you go through things in your life. I am now comfortable with the idea of being alone because I dealt with it while I was experiencing it. "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content." - Philippians 4:11

So when I was reminded that I am the only person that will be with me my entire life, even though he has been found now and I love him dearly, I know I will be okay if I find myself alone again. Because I'm okay with just me. I complete me. He is just a very great bonus.

March Madness…not just for basketball

I love how mobile I am with a laptop. I am writing this blog from Villie’s Sandwich Shop in Hattiesburg while I’m eating my lunch special on my lunch break from work. This newfound mobility is a great thing since I’ve been home less this month than I have in a while. March Madness has taken hold and I ain’t talking about basketball. With the warm weather comes Spring, The Dubya’s birthday, Mardi Gras parades, Lent, St. Patrick’s Day parades, Hubfest, all of which must be photographed and it seems like every woman I know is birthing babies these days. Two showers this month, 2 babies born in the last two weeks and I’ve been shopping the baby sections of Target, Toys-r-Us and WalMart for more than a little while. (Okay, first bite of lunch… Get the chicken parm next time you come to Villie’s…greatness!!)

Anyway, during all of this running, there are moments for me to take a deep breath and slow down a little if I choose to see them. If I don’t choose to see them, my body gives me a wake up call in the form of a migraine or some other type of pain. Last week it was my neck, this week it’s my back with a few migraines thrown in the for good measure.

Why do we run so fast that we ignore what we’re supposed to be doing? Why do I have to hurt to be reminded, over and over, to say NO to things now and then? I do not know the answers to these questions but I do know that I mostly only have one speed, wide open, and it usually takes a 2 x 4 to the head to get my attention. Lent. Advent. I think they’re both there for a reason. During a time when the world is saying, “GO!! RUN RUN RUN!! GET STARTED ON SOMETHING!! GET THE LIST DONE!! BUY THINGS!!”, Lent and Advent are here to say, “Stop. Be still. Know that I am God.”

Some people give things up for Lent, some people take up new devotions and meditations, some people don’t observe Lent at all but it seems to me to be a bonus if you decide to set aside the time to make this period special. In whatever way you decide to do it. I know of no one who was harmed by stopping and being still for a few minutes a day. No harm comes from taking a deep breath and being silent for a moment. We may even learn something about ourselves or the people around us by doing it. Where’s the harm in that?

Not a bad day after all!

My back has not been happy since Friday morning and last night, it descended into me leaking tears and gasping when I moved. After a few hours of that and my waking up every time I moved last night, I decided that an hour of church on a wooden pew would do me more harm than good so I stayed home. Sitting is a problem if I don’t have pillows in all the right places. Standing is the best position but I can stand all the time, especially at church.

The Dubya’s birthday get together with his family was planned for today so I made my way stiffly up to Petal (and forgot the ice pack for my back).

Before leaving my house I got a few shots of the turtles sunning themselves on the tires in the pond. Look at the claws on the snapper! This was probably the baby snapper I picked up last spring while it was crossing over the dam of the pond and took it’s photo. I love the picture below of the grown turtle with the little baby one beside it. How cute is that?

So, I got to Petal and watched The Dubya and his dad cook meat. Smoked wings, smoked buffalo wings, bacon-wrapped hamburgers and hotdogs and I switched up standing and sitting at regular intervals when things got too hurty.

Dub’s cousin Danny has a twelve year old Pit Bull named Lita that thinks she is a two pound Chihuahua who helped us keep the bees from the near-by plum tree ran off. When she is outside, she greets you by slamming her substantial body against your legs and beating you to death with her three inch in diameter whip of a tail. The dog is nothing but muscle and can absolutely knock you down if you’re not firmly planted. I love this dog. Look at those feet. Huge!

She is marked like a tiger and is a holy terror to any frogs that are in the area and are moving. Or any blowing paper from the barbeque chimney starter or lizards or wasps or bees or… I think you get the idea.

Anyway, we feasted and are still sitting around just pure stuffed and have yet to get into the homemade chocolate cake with chocolate icing and chocolate ice cream. The Dubya even got five dollars from his mawmaw (grin) just like my mawmaw used to do. My back is feeling pretty dang okay right now, propped up with pillows like I am and I feel good enough to pronounce this day a good one. Dub says he’s had a good birthday weekend. All’s well that ends well. Here’s a few more photos. The women with the “bibs” are The Dubya’s mom and granny. They are as messy as I am when they eat.

A Historic Moment & A Devotion

So I shot some video of the bullfrogs in the pond night before last even though there really isn’t any video, just loud bullfrog sounds, because you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face because it was pitch black Night Time In The Country. (We have a “booger light” but it doesn’t reach all the way down to the pond. A 50 foot pine tree is in the way.) Anyway, I have never uploaded a video to YouTube. Why, you ask? Because we Live In The Country and the internet service here is not conducive to uploading any length of video. My smart phone had pretty good service last night, so I set it to uploading when I went to bed, fully expecting to find a message saying it couldn’t upload or something went wrong when I next checked it.

When I woke up this morning, it said it had uploaded!!!! I couldn’t believe it!! VIDEO IN THE STICKS!!! It’s a miracle! My first YouTube Video!!!!  A historic moment. Except… I can’t find it on YouTube now. I searched on what I named it, on my user name, on the description… nothing. My account status says “0 uploads”. My phone is a liar and the debil. That’s fine, just fine. I will live to upload another day and I will show the world my bullfrog video one way or another. I will try try again. To be continued…

On another less amphibian note, and I know I’m skipping ahead a bit in the schedule of the devotion but I liked this so I’m sharing. A devotion on Rebirth in Lent which I found on the Episcopalian Church website http://www.episcopalchurch.org/documents/Reflection_3.pdf and for the whole Lenten devotion http://www.episcopalchurch.org/109435_120988_ENG_HTM.htm The poem about halfway down, past the verse on Nicodemus, is my favorite thing about this reflection on rebirth. Love the poem.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; but if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8,9

Opening Prayer

God of wilderness and water,
your Son was baptized and tempted as we are.
Guide us through this season,
that we may not avoid struggle,
but open ourselves to blessing,
through the cleansing depths of repentance
and the heaven-rending words of the Spirit. Amen.

Psalm 121
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills; *
from where is my help to come?
2 My help comes from the LORD, *
the maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved *
and he who watches over you will not fall asleep.
4 Behold, he who keeps watch over Israel *
shall neither slumber nor sleep;
5 The LORD himself watches over you; *
the LORD is your shade at your right hand,
6 So that the sun shall not strike you by day, *
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; *
it is he who shall keep you safe.
8 The LORD shall watch over your going out and
your coming in, *
from this time forth for evermore.

Readings
John 3:1-17
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the
mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of
Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

The Wind of the Spirit
by Myra Scovel
Where does the wind come from, Nicodemus?
Rabbi, I do not know.
Nor can you tell where it will go.

Put yourself into the path of the wind, Nicodemus.
You will be borne along
by something greater than yourself.
You are proud of your position,
content in your security,
but you will perish in such stagnant air.

Put yourself into the path of the wind, Nicodemus.
Bright leaves dance before you.
You will find yourself in places
you never dreamed of going:
you will be forced into situations
you have dreaded
and find them like a coming home.

You will have a power you never had before, Nicodemus.
You will be a new man.

Put yourself into the path of the wind.

Time of reflection
What keeps you from putting yourself in the path of the wind?

Faithful God of love,
you blessed us with your servant Son
so that we might know how to serve your people
with justice and with mercy.
We gather the needs of ourselves and others,
and offer them to you in faith and love,
seeking to be strengthened to meet them.
Prayers are said either silently or aloud. Offer those thanksgivings and intercessions which are
on your heart, for yourself, your community, Haiti, the Church, or the world.
Shape us and transform us by your grace,
that we may grow in wisdom and in confidence,
never faltering until we have done all that you desire
to bring your realm of shalom to fulfillment. Amen.

Closing Prayer
We believe in God who lifts our soul heavenward
And prepares our heart to trust.
We believe in God, who shows us the way,
Who leads the way, who is the way.
We believe in God who teaches us truth,
Who does not remember our sin,
Who remembers us in loving-kindness.
We believe in God.
We believe in God.

Blessing
The almighty and merciful Lord, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
bless us and keep us. Amen.

I heart Walt Grayson

First of all, TODAY IS MY WAYLON’S BIRTHDAY!! Happy Birthday, Waylon!! Can’t say that enough. He is being very indecisive about a present this year, which is not at all like him when it comes to the gift department, and we went looking around today specifically for a birthday present. Still only came home with half of a present but anyway…

I was able to buy my anti-virus w/spy sweeper while I was out today and while wasting time waiting for it finish it’s first complete scan, I am rewatching Look Around Mississippi videos on Jackson’s WLBT television station’s website. http://www.wlbt.com/Global/category.asp?C=195965 In a video about William Faulkner’s house, Walt Grayson mentions that William is Mississippi’s only Noble Prize winner. This makes me very sad and the more videos I watch, the more I’m convinced that Walt should be Mississippi’s second Noble Prize winner. He is a State Treasure, possibly even a National Treasure and absolutely anything that man endorses, hosts, creates or writes, I inhale. I wish he was my family so I could demand stories on a regular basis from him. He is Our People and if you don’t love him as well, you obviously have not seen enough episodes of Mississippi Roads. That needs to be remedied immediately. Go here: http://www.etv.state.ms.us/television/series/roads/index.htm And go buy his books here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_12?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=walt+grayson&sprefix=walt+grayson and like him on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Walt-Grayson-Fan-Page/175555465802543

That is all.

So I took Dementia’s Advice…

Dementia is not her real name. Dementia is her online name. She doesn’t have dementia. It’s a long story. But I took her advice and I found a meme on another blog so that I could move past my blogger’s block (Marie’s blog is the one I found the meme on, to be exact…Marie is her real name. She doesn’t have dementia either. http://booksdownsouth.wordpress.com) Here’s the meme:

From MizB’s Should Be Reading Blog http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com (I do not know if MizB has dementia)

The only thing you have to do to participate is answer three questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

What am I currently reading? I am not reading one particular book at this point because I am researching Ash Wednesday and Lent. Today was my first Ash Wednesday service and I have been learning about what Episcopalians do, as a rule, for Lent since I am new to anything other than Easter Sunday and Christmas. I have learned that Episcopalians, as a rule, do not have rules about Lent. Ha! You see what I did there? Rule, as a rule?? Anyway, we can make our own minds up about what we feel like we should or should not do. Which is awful nice, lemme tell you, cause my boyfriend doesn’t eat seafood, as a rule, which would make for Hard Times On Fridays, get me? He sometimes has dementia.

What did I recently finish reading? I recently finished reading the newest issue of This Old House magazine. Does that even count?? Must it be a book? I have a backseat full of books from the library and I can’t find the time to even start one of them. This Old House magazine has articles! It’s loosely based on a bookish format. It counts.

What do I think I’ll read next? Possibly that stack of books in the backseat of my car from the library or possibly the stack of comic books on loan for the last year from my boyfriend that is gathering dust beside my bed or maybe the 3 books that are on my dresser that have also been gathering dust for the better part of a year. Maybe this meme will help me stop worrying about a blog topic long enough to focus and pick up a book that is laying around. It may also help with my dementia. 

Here’s a pretty sunset photo I took at my house this afternoon with the pond full to almost overflowing from our Noah Worthy Flood last night. The frogs are so happy about the rain that they are right now, this very instant, singing so loudly outside that the window panes are rattling.