come have a mess of greens!

hey friends....
i'm working on a new blog as a shrine to southern food and hospitality and wanted to share it with you... i'd love to know your favorite recipes or southern eateries so i can keep exploring, trying, and sharing!

it's still VERY MUCH in the works, and when work starts back things will be wild again, but the two things i do every single day is cook and eat, so i have a feeling this one might get updated more regularly...

xoxoxo

books on wheels...

I've been thinking a ton lately about ways to work around the transportation issue that after school programs in the Delta face. a whole new fleet of awesome book mobiles could be just the kind of solution kids and families need to help them stay connected...

anyway, i thought it might be fun to look at the book mobiles have evolved and where they are now. who wants to help me make this happen

 

 

capturing the delta...

So, this year I get to work with NINE art, music, and dance teachers around the Delta (plus a host of other kinds of teachers)... but as a former art teacher, and as a super duper advocate for arts in schools this is a particularly heavenly assignment. see, when people think of my home, people IMMEDIATELY can conjure our musical and literary legacy, but rarely can they name even ONE visual artist. since both my mom is fantastically creative and talented with the oil paint, the ink pen, the potter's wheel, and the pencil, i hate that people don't look to MS for burgeoning artistic talent.

I'm not going to bore you with gory details, but here are four of my favorite visual artists who live, (or have lived) work, or create in the Delta. (and by favorite i mean, "would be INCREDIBLY excited to have a piece in my home" Two are pretty well known, two are smaller-time, but all are fantastic. PS: I don't mention my mom here-Holland Wilson- because her art already graces our walls. but she's probably my most favorite.)

Here we go...

Maude Schuler Clay: Sumner, MS

Alison Furr-Lawyer: Jackson, MS (ok, not technically Delta)

William Dunlap, Tupelo, MS (also NOT the Delta, but he paints the Delta A LOT)

Bradley Gordon: Clarksdale and Oxford, MS

 

has your appetite been whetted sufficiently? Go here to learn more about MS artists of all stripes

the hog coming down the snake...

it's been a really busy few weeks,  folks. we went up to NC to see boone's family for Easter, Boone started his new job (!), i've been wrapping up the year with my teachers, and then we went BACK to NC for a wedding last weekend. on top of these things we adopted a stray kitten and have been wringing our hands about the mississippi river and all it's tributaries that have been and will be flooding for the next month or two.

on the news this morning the today show talked about the flooding in cairo, talked a little about memphis, then jumped straight down to baton rouge and new orleans, completely skipping over tunica, greenville/lake village, and vicksburg, all of which will likely be hit hard by the flooding. just like in 1927 and 1937.

we're going to be safe, i think...although IF (big if) the yazoo river levee's breached, we may be in some trouble. like, serious trouble. maybe i'm putting too much faith in the levee board, but i believe them when they say that things are looking ok on the eastern side of the delta. the cassidy bayou in front of our house looks full, but not it's flooding, so i don't think we need to evacuate. 

but what about all the people with homes and jobs and lives even closer to the river? they're DEFINITELY going to be affected...plus the economic impact of this flood will likely further cripple mississippi, and none of the national news people are even talking about it.... none but NPR and the NYT. bless you for taking the threat to the mississippi delta seriously, public radio and hoity toity newspapers.

 

how are things actually going for the delta? 

The most accurate and up to date information i could find was at the delta council's website. friends, as of yesterday it didn't look good. memphis is cresting, but even that amount of water is more than will reach greenville and vicksburg. Our eloquent governor called the waters, "the hog coming down the snake" which, although oddly worded, is a pretty accurate piece of imagery. what about rosedale? friar's point? rolling fork? and the other teeny little towns that touch the levee?

if you love the delta like i do, cross your fingers, say your prayers, and get ready to support the Red Cross as the waters rise over the next few weeks. i think we'll ultimately still have a mississippi delta at the end of all of this, but lots of families close to the river are in trouble, and they'll need lots of help.

i thought you might want to see some photos from the 1927 flood in the delta, just to help you picture the worst case scenario. we're hoping for the BEST case scenario, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared.

all my love... and please keep the delta in your thoughts. and if you want to know more about the earlier floods, read rising tide.

mardi gras! (a little early)

 my WHOLE life (well..my whole adolescent life) i had mardi gras themed birthday parties. last year, i went all out and made a king-cake from scratch, and so this year i thought i'd bring back the old b-day tradition JUST SO i could make a kind cake. ridiculous? yes. fun for me? yes. with this in mind, THIS WEEKEND we're throwing a big b-day mardi gras soiree at our house, complete with king cake, beads, gumbo, red beans and rice, and hurricanes (plus wii karaoke and a bonfire) jealous? well, don't be! you're invited! as long as you dress like this:

 

we're starting to cook tommorrow...and i decorated monday night. when was the last time you had a themed party? what kind of party would you have?

images from imgspark.

a little koolickle...

i told you i'd share more about my folks' visit last weekend but it's been so crazy i've hardly had time to breathe, much less blog...
anyway, probably the highlight of the weekend was when we went fun driving around these teeny delta towns looking for local potter's studios, antique stores, and delicious regional delicacies.

all the pottery studios were closed, but we did find a delicious new restaurant by the ms river and i introduced everyone to the "koolickle." it's a pickle steeped in kool-aid until it turns a bright color and tastes like a combination of dill and grape (or dill and cherry). when i first moved to the delta as a teacher 5 years ago, my friends and i were welcomed with little sandwich bags of koolickles... and then a year later, john edge wrote a story about them in the NYT. anyway, it seemed only fitting that while on a delta adventure everyone try a famous delta treat. so they did...

boone HATED it..but he also thinks dill pickles are the most disgusting things in the world, so i should have expected it. my parents said they were "interesting" and "really unique." i don't think that means they want another one anytime soon, but at least now they can say they tried one!

i took the photos above of my dad in the Great River Road state park, but here's a photo from the professionals...

getting carded....

hey darlings!
all my teachers have the holidays off, so things slowed down for me a bit friday which gave boone and me enough time to wrap presents, make peanut butter balls (his mom's special Christmas treat) and mail Christmas cards. i designed/ordered them ages ago and i've been dying to show them off, but felt like i couldn't before we mailed them out. now that they're in the hands of the U.S. Postal service i'm ready to share them (of course i accidentally deleted the final image, but this is pretty much* what they look like).... what do you think?

ridiculous? totally joyful? silly? a slice of the delta? i hope so! what do your holiday cards look like this year?

*the cards actually ended up saying "wishing you the joy of a mississippi snowball fight" :) 

mantra...

ran across this wonderful workspace on imagespark... love the desk, love the chair and I really LOVE the poster and would love to have a copy of it since:
1) it's printed on kraft paper. my fave.
2) and it's sort of the KIPP charter school network's motto. I'm not hardcore enough to make it as a teacher at KIPP, but I sure do love what they do
3) plus, I just believe that the phrase is a great mantra to live by.

it's especially fun that i found the poster this week since tonight i'm meeting up with my KIPPster friend, shapiro. she and another wonderful friend are visiting the 'sip (their old stomping grounds) and we're meeting up in oxford. katie's been an all-star teacher since day one and it always inspires me to be around her and listen to her talk about her kids. :) I CAN'T WAIT.

what are YOU doing this weekend?

driving rain...

it's been raining this week...and the delta needed it so badly. thank goodness driving to my schools looks nothing like this commute!


photo from imgspark

creative energy..

really and truly, we live in one of the most lovely spots in the delta...and the whole country, in my opinion. i felt inspired today to take a few hours to paint something. it's been so long that I didn't really do anything serious, but i've really been inspired by the cassidy bayou that floats by our front porch. i'm thinking that one day soon when i have another burst of creative energy i'll start working on something like this since it's what i see every day.

 

see what you're missing by not coming to visit? ;)

dog in fog by maude schuler clay (actually taken at our cassidy bayou), an oil painting by american artist alexander john drysdale, two images from pixdaus, and a sara norris original print.

delta delight...

had a GREAT time with the "ins" this weekend...we ate our way around the delta (tamales, doughnuts, catfish, lusco's, mennonite bakery chess pie...we really did eat everything) and shopping all the antique stores we could find. SO FUN. plus toured the great river road state park and ran into morgan freeman around lunchtime at ground zero. I thought boone's mom was going to faint--she was that excited.
if you've never been to lusco's or you don't know what joy eating a delta tamale can be...and if you were pretty sure that the only Ground Zero was in NYC,  then here's something for you...

ground zero...and one of the owners:

lusco's..yes, those are curtain rooms where you have dinner in utter privacy!

and some delta tamales...this isn't you're ordinary southwestern/mexican dish...oh no. it's MUCH better. (i.e. greasier)

all that is to say...we had an excellent time together, want tem to come back soon, and hope YOU'LL come visit us too!

photos from  ground zero website, southern foodways alliance, and southern living.

not much to report

well, it's official...i've been using my organization-issued pc notebook so much that my sweet, lovely black mac is angry with me. she keeps freezing, and--i swear-- is moving the keys so i can't type at my regular speed. (or it may have something to do with the fact that the pc has keys that are much, much closer together. it's almost like typing on a blackberry. yep. they gave me one of those, too)

anyway, i want to thank all of my friends who've stayed loyal and have continued to check back for updates week after week even though NOTHING new has been posted in ages. trust me, things are crazy here. boone's been posting though... really great things about life in rural america, and when i can, i'm going to chime in. here's that link: http://godknowswhereblog.blogspot.com

all i really have to tell you (beyond that my fingers have stopped recognizing mac keys and that my work life is insane and completely fulfilling) is that when you think of where we live, i DO NOT want you to imagine this place:

nope. although it IS the technical Mississippi River Delta, it's not THE Mississippi Delta. just so you know. ;) that is all.

oxford in the rearview...

so today we're putting the precious town of oxford in our rearview mirror for awhile and we're moving to the delta. we've had a great time here this month and will definitely be back to eat at big bad breakfast for home cured bacon and sausage, the taylor farmer's market to see our yokna bottoms farm friends, and hit parrishes' again until the wee hours...but now this greyhound is delta bound (and full of our stuff...lots of stuff). wish us luck!

photo here