Some Musical Choices...

that I'm enjoying this fall:
DM Stith
Glass Ghost
Django Reinhardt
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
The Love Language
Gringo Star

Accompanied by these listens are:
AutoCAD
Hot Toddies
Chili
Vegetable Soups
Pumpkin & Chocolate Bread Pudding
Cracking Pecans
Coffee
Conversation
Day Dreaming
Writing Landscape Maintenance Plans
Being Curious
...

Road Trip

Last week Sarah and I took a road trip to her hometown of Minneapolis, MN. On our way there and back we saw things and landscapes. Here are a few of my favorites:

THINGS:
Mechanical Horse - Hannibal, MO
Putt-Putt - Fort Madison, IA
Sensory Exhibit @ Walker Arts Center - Minneapolis, MN
Thorncrown Chapel - Carroll, AR
Joy Motel - Eureka Springs, AR
St. Louis Arch - St. Louis, MO

LANDSCAPES:
Corn Field - Burlington, IA
Roaring River N.F. - Seligman, MO
Minnehaha Falls - Minneapolis, MN
Cotton Field - Tallulah, LA
Buffalo River - Gilbert, AR
Lake Providence - Lake Providence, LA

In the somewhere around 3,000 miles traveled we saw and did countless other things that made for an amazing trip. We're hoping our next road trip will be to the southwest.

Sunday Horse Ride

Sunday was a lazy day for us all. Slowly, we gathered over at Sarah's house to start the last event of the birthday celebrations. We loaded up in our cars and drove out to a horse farm for an afternoon of horseback riding. The farm was beautiful... grassy pastures, live oak trees, ponds, forest and creeks. Mary, who owns the farm gave us a crash course in horseback riding (most of had ridin before). The first group of us (Sarah, myself, Sam and Molly) hopped on our horses and headed down the trail with Mary leading us. The horses were great, all having a mind of their own at times, but they were good listeners. When we came back we switched up. Nadene, Ivan, Stephen and Sara got on the horses and rode around for a bit while we picniced, played bocce and layed beneath the oak trees. As the sun began to set we headed home but not before stopping for ice cream. I have a feeling we'll be returning. It won't suprise me if Sarah and Nadene have purchased their own horses in the near future.

Saturday Evening Shuffle

Sarah's Birthday was on Tuesday which isn't the best night for a party but we still managed to have some cake, ice cream, scotch and a game of bocce ball with a small group of friends. On Saturday however, it turned into quite an event. Ivan, who DJed for us came over early Saturday morning while Sarah and Nadene went to yoga class. Ivan and I had to go find a big set of speakers... the Salvation Army Thrift Store came through for us. Fast forward --- people started trickling into my house around 8:30; everybody was wearing their dancing shoes. By 10:00 old standards by The Supremes, Buddy Holly, The Isley Brothers and their comprables had the house shaken'. Around 2:00 people were pretty tired and started to head home. Somehow shoes were lost so I had to let people borrow shoes so they could walk/bike home. It was a swell time.

A Quick Sunday Hike

This past weekend it rained all but for a few hours on Sunday morning. That's when we took the opportunity to go explore part of DeSoto National Forest just a few miles north of Biloxi. A friend had shown me, on an aerial, the place to pull of Hwy 15 where a trail head is. The first quarter mile of the walk is through a pine savanna that was burned last year. From the forest floor were a number of wildflowers, grasses and shrubs trying to reclaim themselves. The elevation started to drop. The forest quickly changed from airy pine trees to a dense canopy of magnolias, american holly and swamp titi; in the distance you could hear rushing water. Soon, the trail made an abrupt turn to the right (north) just atop a fifteen foot tall sandy bluff held together by a massive network of tree roots and moss. The trail took us another half mile north, winding through and around a number of small streams and forest ponds until we found a great little sandy beach. The sands are bright and the water is like iced tea. The tea color comes from tannin, a natural dye produced by the large number of oak trees. I fly fished a little but the storms started rolling in so we headed out. I'm looking forward to going back.

Wet Pine Savanna

I've generally been drawn to landscapes of hilly terrain, like in north Alabama where I grew up, or vast open spaces of the desert where my fondest memories are from family camping trips there when I was a kid.

I've recently become more and more drawn to the depths of the flat south Mississippi wet pine savannas, marshes and bayous. These landscapes, generally seen in passing while speeding down the straight and narrow roads, appear so flat; they seem to lack depth. It's once you pull off the side of the road and walk through the initial growth along the roadside that these landscapes open up.

A few weeks ago some friends and I went exploring through a wet pine savanna that a local ecologist had told us about. Three different types of pitcher plants grow there. That was one of our main reasons for going. The wet pine savannas of this area are generally knee height grasses dotted with pitcher plants, a native sunflower and a few other smaller, unassuming wildflowers. Then above it all are the dark green patches of wax myrtles, swamp bay magnolias and longleaf pine. Each having a distinct smell, wax myrtles smell like lemons, swamp bays smell spicy and sweet and pines don't smell like Pine Sol. Mingled amongst it all are saw palmetto who's colors within the plant change throughout the year.

The day we went through the above savanna a huge storm rolled through that forced us back to truck.

NoLa29

This weekend to celebrate my 29th we went to New Orleans. Well, on Friday night we stayed in Biloxi and had swanky evening at the Project Lounge. On Saturday we went to New Orleans, taking Hwy 90 instead of the interstate. It was much more scenic. We saw things such as a giant rocking chair (actually on a different road), turkey vultures in a tree, Fort Pike, some amazing clouds, and then we got to New Orleans, had dinner and met up with some friends for a night of dancing. The music was a close comparison to Philly's renowned Crmp Yr Hr DJs (thank you for the mix CDs Rick). On Sunday there was time for brunch, a little bit of shopping, a stop by some friends house and taking pictures in some old industrial areas of NO. We got back to Biloxi and was welcomed with a birthday dinner at some friends house and some time for sittin' on the porch.