Vacation, Day 7, 10/27/2009, Part 1

The day has dawned! The day I join Milton and Kay again, along with their grandson Ian, for our trip to Talladega. So here we have photos of goings on at Aunt Baker and Uncle JL's before we got in her car for the ride to meet them at the Pelahatchie exit on I-20 East.

On the left, Raphael. On the right, Squirt, the turtle who joined the family when "Finding Nemo" had come out. See the Squirt toy in Raphael's box? That's where I got the name for him.


Ginger in her favorite spot on the back porch. My Daddy made that seat, and two more like it, from VW bucket seats attached to plastic milk crates.


Isn't their home lovely?


On the way out of town, we passed Puckett's hamburger joint--it wasn't open that early in the day.


Pretty countryside, from Aunt Baker's car.


My lunch, while we waited for their arrival in the parking lot of the truck stop.


Here they are! Kay's truck pulls the "toy hauler." You will not believe what is inside that we will eventually unload outside, then move a day later!

Vacation, Day 6, 10/26/2009, Part 2

On this particular Monday Mama and I planned to head for Puckett, to visit Aunt Baker and Uncle JL. After that good lunch and spending some time with those good friends, I stopped to take a few photos on the way south.

My absolute, all-time favorite independent bookstore in the whole, entire world is Lemuria Books upstairs in Banner Hall on I-55 North in Jackson. If you've been to Lemuria, you'll realize that I have not overdone the hyperbole.

I vividly remember my first time inside those shelf-lined walls that you can see through the doors and windows. At first content to merely stand in awe of their numbers, I slowly toured each nook and cranny, thinking, "Oh, my. look at all of these books I could get my hands on!"

Here, in fact, is a close-up of the hand holding an open book, the massive sculpture above the upstairs main door.

If you're looking for a specific book, be sure to contact Lemuria by phone or go click on the link I provided--at that link be sure to take a look at About and the FAQ for some great insight into the store, the staff, and the man behind it all, John. Back to your search for a particular book, the hey'll try really hard to find it for you and then will ship it to you, beautifully wrapped in brown paper. For me, it's a totally special way to get a desired book.

This is not a giant igloo. It's Jerry’s Catfish House on Highway 49 South near Florence, Mississippi. We didn't get to stop this time, but in the past we've enjoyed ourselves there.


Also near Florence, the white fences of The Piney Woods School.


We're getting close to Aunt Baker's and Uncle JL's!

The only "snow" I've seen, so far.

Taken standing in line on the 4th floor of Pioneer Place, waiting to go to a free screening of "Valkyrie," the new Tom Cruise movie.

Looking down toward the 3rd floor where the two "snow" machines stood, spraying something out into the air which floated towards Santa's chair and tree, situated down on the floor below street level. We couldn't see Santa from where we stood, but we'd been down there earlier, on our way to the Food Court, and recognized the portion of the tree that we could see.

By the way, we in this case meant Leland and me. Also, by the way, when they wouldn't let us into the theater with my rolling black bag which held my Nikon D50 and my CoolPix, we left. I mean, I'm not about to leave my cameras inside the ticket booth while I watch a movie! No sirree buddy bobtail.

One more by the way, the weather persons on all three local national affiliates predict that we should have from one to three inches of real snow on the valley floor by some time tomorrow. We'll see. TriMet believes them--the entire fleet of buses is being "chained up" today and tonight, so they will run tomorrow, not necessarily on time, but frequently. "Chained up" or "chaining up" is local nomenclature for the process I've heretofore known as "putting chains on" the vehicle. What's even more astounding is that we are predicted to be below freezing, mostly in the 20s and teens for seven days in a row. Wow!

And another by the way, my aunt and them down in Puckett, Mississippi, got 6 inches of snow on Thursday! It was slush by Friday and a mess by Saturday.

The final by the way, inches and inches and inches of snow arrived on Mt. Hood, enough of it to open two lower trails or whatever you call them. Of course, the road up to the fun is one awful mess--folks are having to pull off at designated spots to "chain up." They can do it themselves, or use the services of a man we saw on the news who had "Private Chain Installer" on the back of his reflective safety vest. (At least I think I remember that correctly. Mama and I played The Beatles Monopoly for about six hours today, so I'm feeling a bit light-headed. And we're not even finished! Leland and Kailey gave me the game for my 61st birthday which was on Friday.)