November 2013

November 30, 2013November 22, 2020

Deep in Missouri’s Dixie

The fields in parts of Missouri’s Bootheel look like they are decorated for the holidays. (Click on the images to make them larger.)

Strange looking hay bales

On our way down to Hayti to meet with Bishop Benjamin Armour to talk about the New Madrid baptism project, we saw round bales in the fields. Mother thought it was odd that hay bales would have different colors down there.

When we got closer, we could see the bales were cotton, not hay.

“Loaves” of cotton

Other fields contained what hooked like “loaves” of cotton.

I read recently that cotton farming became big in the Bootheel because boll weevils ruined the crops in Alabama and Mississippi in the 1920s. It gets cold enough in Southeast Missouri to kill them off in the wintertime.

Travel update

Pulled into the driveway Saturday night after 6,393.8 miles on the road through Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and several side trips through the State of Confusion.

Please keep that DONATE button at the top right of the page in mind. The gas bills will be coming in for a long time.

November 29, 2013

Missouri Flag House Ornament

Old Town Cape is carrying on a tradition started in 1997 to produce a Christmas ornament featuring a familiar Cape Girardeau landmark. Here is information from the Old Town Cape website describing this year’s ornament.

The 2013 Oliver-Leming House Christmas ornament is available for sale at the Old Town Cape office and other various locations downtown, so get yours before they are gone! It is a limited edition, numbered piece produced by Hestia and is the seventeenth in a series.

The 100th year anniversary of the Missouri flag was celebrated earlier this year, so we chose to commemorate that by displaying it on this year’s ornament. The Missouri flag was designed in 1913 by Marie Watkins Oliver, wife of Sen. R. B. Oliver, at their home at 749 North Street. The home, now called the Oliver-Leming House, is owned by Drs. Bert and Mary Ann Kellerman.

You can purchase the ornament with a stand for $30 or without a stand for $25. They are available at Bob’s Shoe Service, C.P. McGinty Jewelers, Cape Girardeau Convention & Visitors Bureau, Hutson’s Fine Furniture, Jayson Jewelers, Knaup Floral, Pastimes Antiques, Philanthropy, Shivelbine’s Music, Renaissance, Zickfield’s Jewelers and Old Town Cape.

For more information, please contact us at 573-334-8085 or visit us at 418 Broadway.

Some earlier ornaments are available

There are some of the older ornaments available. I did ornament stories in 2010 and 2011, so if you see something you like, you could contact the nice folks at Old Town Cape to see if it is still available.

(Speaking of Hutson’s display, here are photos I made of the store in 2011)

Tis the season for shameless pitches

My kids will yell at me if I don’t include two shameless pitches:

Travel progress report

Well, I’m not back home in West Palm Beach yet. I tossed and turned last night and have been dragging all day. Part of the reason is that we’re in the flatlands now and for the rest of the trip. I REALLY hate boring Interstates. The Groundhog Day effect kicks in and you don’t feel like you’re getting anywhere.

I shot a couple of lackluster sunset pix, but it would be a waste of electrons to post them. I’m turning in early tonight so I can make the final 433-mile push home Saturday. Traffic was heavier today, and there was a curious mix of tourists wearing shorts in the southbound rest stops .

November 28, 2013November 29, 2013

Through the Mountains

I hated not being home for Thanksgiving, but I liked the empty roads the holiday presented me. I had a pleasant day’s drive through the mountains in West Virginia and Virginia.

Jan was driving last time

I pretty much missed seeing the mountains the last trip through there with Friend Jan.

A. It was at night.
B. I was asleep because I found the best way to be a passenger when Jan is driving is to have your eyes closed.

I wish I had done a better job with these. It’s hard balancing the camera on the steering wheel while you’re rocketing downhill on a twisty road. If I had been able to adjust the polarizing filter and diddle with the zoom and exposures, these would have been more interesting. As it was, I just pointed and pushed the button.

Photo Gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the sides to move through the gallery.

November 27, 2013

Altenburg Christmas Trees

I was busy shooting photos for my Last Generation project in Perry County, so I didn’t have much time to hang around the Altenburg Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum while they were putting up this year’s Christmas Tree Exhibit. In fact, the only shot I could find was of Dorothy Weinhold perched on a ladder putting the finishing touches on her tree.

[Drat! I just discovered that the Dorothy photo is on a harddrive buried in the back of the van. Sorry, Dorothy, I don’t have any way to get to it. I’ll have to sub a photo from an earlier year.]

Director Carla Jordan posted on the Heritage Center’s website, “The museum will be open every day from 10am-4pm this season (except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Years Day.) We will be open until 8pm every Thursday evening in December, and until 9pm on Dec. 19th & 20th for the Christmas Country Church Tour. Admission is always free.”

Warren Schmidt Video

Fortunately, Warren Schmidt my favorite right-wing curmudgeon and executive board president, transformed a bunch of still photos into an impressive video so you can sample the flavor of the exhibit.

Past exhibits

Travel update

If you saw Wednesday’s Athens Winter Storm Video, you might figure out why I decided to stay another day in Ohio. The West Virginia DOT website showed most of the route through the mountains as clear, but there were a few patches that were marked as slush and a couple that said “severe.”

Iffy road conditions and a gazillion cars heading for grandma’s and already late didn’t sound like fun. I’d rather drive when the roads are clear and everybody is holed up with football, parades and turkey.

I slept late, then went up to the library to research the protest movement in the late 60s and early 70s for an exhibit I’m doing in the spring. There’s a pretty good chance I’ve spent more time in the OU library in the past two days than I ever did when I was a student.

I was scurrying to get back to my car before the parking meter ran out when I spotted the iconic War Memorial statue warming his back in the last rays of the afternoon sun. He must have needed it: there’s still a patch of snow on his shoulder.

I should be Florida-bound Thursday. I hope there will be some turkey left when I pull into the driveway.