college church :: oxford, ms

Since it's wholly new to me, I'm trying to see as much of the surrounding northern Mississippi area as my schedule allows. So just for grins, this morning I got in my car and drove the opposite way I normally drive on the street at the end of my block (pretty daring, huh?).

Lo and behold, this little guy--College Church--is located down the road, less than one mile from my house. I don't have the words to describe how much I love old churches and graveyards (did you know that graveyards are adjacent to churches, while cemeteries are plots of land where the deceased are buried?). 

"Events of interest include the encampment of these ground by Union troops of General Grant and General Sherman, and the marriage of author William Faulkner. The church is thought to be the model for some settings in Faulkner's novels. The church cemetery contains a number of unmarked Union soldiers' burial sites. The Session's original minutes, dating back to the 1835 organizations meeting, are safeguarded in a local bank."

mississippi yard bling

I've just relocated from one college town to another; so I'm very used to maroon adornments and paraphernalia that represent my beloved Texas Aggies.

My new zip code, however, offers a certain je ne sais quoithat is difficult to describe. Much different than the "less is more" approach to which I've grown accustomed, people in Oxford take a "let's make the front of our house look like a birthday package" approach to curb appeal.

(something tells me any self-respecting(?) guys who live in these houses don't have much say with regard to outdoor decor)

Here are some pictures I shot--literally, in about a 3 min time span--on two different streets in my neighborhood.

My little house--bare of curls, Qs, zigs, and zags--sticks out like a sore thumb.

critters. i haz em.

So the move to Mississippi has been interesting. Something very "new" every day. Can't remember if I've said it here before, but it's insanely nuts how different two states that are so geographically close (e.g., Texas and Mississippi) can be.

Take, for instance, critters.

In College Station, TX, I had snakes, rabbits, butterflies, deer, armadillos, and wasps. That's pretty much it. Mississippi, however, has already shown me chickens with rats in their mouths, fireflies (LOVE these cuties), snakes (different than my TX snakes), more roaches than any human should ever have to observe, birds I haven't yet ID'd, a very random & ugly lizard, and ... Phil.

Phil is a groundhog.

He lives in my backyard. And he's cray. I love him. He doesn't love me.

Edited: OH MY GOODNESS. I just realized these two photos don't look like the same creature. I think I have two Phils.

a new {mississippi} attitude

Ohhhh, Patti.
She is me (minus the 80s hair, 80s pumps, and serious-as-shit 80s dancing).
No words for how happy this vid makes me.

I've longed to blog about the story of how I arrived here, in this what the heck am I doing? place, Oxford, MS. But when "it" first started happening, I didn't have the stomach to put coherent thoughts to my terror. And then "it" was a done deal, and I didn't have the heart to acknowledge "it" (I must have cried myself to sleep every night for a month). And once I finally hit the road, I found myself computer-less (when the state of Texas owns your MacBook and you have to return it to its rightful owner, blogging on the iPhone and/or iPad just doesn't provide enough appeal to bang out the words you're feelin'). 

I'm thinking today is as good a place to start as any.

Over the past year, I began to process what love is. I have also learned what love is not. Some people are mean. And they let you down. But many, many others are special. Those are the blessings that make life a hoot--the people (and critters) who hug you, bring you cakes, drive you 'cross country to move into a house you've never laid eyes on, pray with (and for) you, press their pink noses & furry paws against your cheek, eat good Mexican food with you "one last time," send you sweet things in the mail (just because), allow you to love on their babies, sit in emergency clinics by your side, put a beer in the freezer for you so it'll be extra icy, take roadies to see you, send you heart-warming texts ... the angels who remind you that you're loved, and that "every little thing is going to be alright" (to borrow a phrase from a text I received today).

I wasn't sure what I was going to say in this blog entry. What I've ended up with certainly wasn't it. I thought about chronicling some of the highlights (e.g., the Jim Beam display at a gas station in Louisiana) of my trip over from Texas (ahh, my beloved). I thought about making a top 10 list of the things in my neighborhood that make me laugh. I even considered a discussion of my shower that turned on this morning (without me in it). 

But those can wait for another day. Today Patti gets the final word ....

Somehow the wires uncrossed, the tables were turned

Never knew I had such a lesson to learn

I'm feelin' good from my head to my shoes

Know where I'm goin' and I know what to do

I tidied up my point of view

I got a new attitude.