While I've been in the south I've been seeing old friends I won't see in Wisconsin until April.
All up and down Highway 49 the turkey buzzards were circling, looking for whatever the traffic managed to run down, mostly skunks and raccoons. At times there were flocks of a dozen or more. They are nature's cleanup crew, so I appreciate them.
The motel in Hattiesburg was surrounded by killdeer. They went berserk whenever I came out the door of my room so there are must have been eggs in the gravel drive. Nearby, red-winged blackbirds were flocking, and I suppose they will be working there way north in another month or so. We'll see them in April.
There were the birds that will never come north, like the brown pelicans and a sandpiper I couldn't identify because I forgot my binoculars.
All of this avian life will be with us up north in a little over two months. They remind me that though I am driving toward snow and cold, I will soon be reunited with those friends.
*****
On my way south, I didn't have time to stop at Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, but this day I wanted to take time. Not to see the state's capital but to see this house.
This is the house where Eudora Welty lived, a Pulitzer prize winner for her novel The Optimist's Daughter but also one of the greatest authors of short stories. I first read one of her stories when I was in high school. Now that I am writing short stories myself I can admire her expertise even more.
The house is now a Mississippi landmark. It was closed on Sunday of course, but I could peer over barriers at her garden. She and her mother planted most of the flowers here. I especially liked the paper narcissus, which won't bloom in my garden until May.
On the west side of the house is a shaded porch. I pictured Miss Welty sitting with her mother at sunset. I wonder if her neighbors appreciated her genius or thought her an odd spinster. Did they realize that her stories were her children, the gifts she sent out to the world?
On Monday, I will stop in Oxford to see if I can find William Faulkner's ghost. I may visit Old Miss, too, to pay homage to James Meredith and the civil rights struggles.
All up and down Highway 49 the turkey buzzards were circling, looking for whatever the traffic managed to run down, mostly skunks and raccoons. At times there were flocks of a dozen or more. They are nature's cleanup crew, so I appreciate them.
The motel in Hattiesburg was surrounded by killdeer. They went berserk whenever I came out the door of my room so there are must have been eggs in the gravel drive. Nearby, red-winged blackbirds were flocking, and I suppose they will be working there way north in another month or so. We'll see them in April.
There were the birds that will never come north, like the brown pelicans and a sandpiper I couldn't identify because I forgot my binoculars.
All of this avian life will be with us up north in a little over two months. They remind me that though I am driving toward snow and cold, I will soon be reunited with those friends.
*****
On my way south, I didn't have time to stop at Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, but this day I wanted to take time. Not to see the state's capital but to see this house.
The house is now a Mississippi landmark. It was closed on Sunday of course, but I could peer over barriers at her garden. She and her mother planted most of the flowers here. I especially liked the paper narcissus, which won't bloom in my garden until May.
On the west side of the house is a shaded porch. I pictured Miss Welty sitting with her mother at sunset. I wonder if her neighbors appreciated her genius or thought her an odd spinster. Did they realize that her stories were her children, the gifts she sent out to the world?
On Monday, I will stop in Oxford to see if I can find William Faulkner's ghost. I may visit Old Miss, too, to pay homage to James Meredith and the civil rights struggles.
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