Bay St. Louis, Waveland and Pass Christian – Pristine coastline

This past weekend I traveled to Waveland with Phil.  While he was in meetings all day Saturday, I took the opportunity to drive the coastline from Bay St. Louis west to the Silver Slipper Casino.  While it is very sad, it is also very beautiful!  Of course, most of you know this was ground zero of Hurricane Katrina.  When you are driving along, you have the white sandy beach on one side and the vacant slabs on the other side.  A few large houses have been rebuilt and a few Katrina cottages have been constructed, and there are lots of old oak trees with their beautiful branches.  The devastation  has for the most part been cleared.  There are lots of for-sale signs, too.  It was a very misty day where you could not see too far past the sand or past the first few lots.  It appeared ghostly.  Some people were enjoying the beach.

I also attended Art in the Pass at Pass Christian where local artists were selling paintings, ceramics, stained glass, drawings, jewelry and other crafts.  A Shakespearean play was being presented on the lawn.  Food vendors provided local cuisine.  Live local music was being performed.  It was very well attended.  The Pass has many of its large coastal homes still standing among the oaks, but there is a section on scenic boulevard where there are only slabs.  I took some photos and will be posting them soon.

Everyone should see the Mississippi coast as it is now.  I’m sure the people who used to live there miss it terribly.  I hope they will be able to move back soon.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Spring!

March 12, 2008 - Mississippians did indeed “spring forward” this past weekend by going to daylight savings time, and as if on cue, flowers and birds are everywhere.   

Monday morning a small tree and the birdbath in my backyard were inhabited by a vacationing flock of cedar waxwings with their jaunty crests, masked eyes and tails with yellow tips. 

Then today, I had to leave Jackson before dawn to make it to Moss Point by 10:00 a.m. Sunrises are almost foreign to me as I am not an early riser, so I enjoyed this one like a fresh experience.  It was absolutely beautiful riding down Highway 49.  Small creeks and other usually hidden water features were announced ahead of time by the patches of fog hanging over each of them.  It reminded me of riding through the clouds on the Blue Ridge Parkway except that my hands were not sweating, I wasn’t gripping the steering wheel and my heart was not racing.  As the fog lifted, I drove just under the haze, feeling rather protected by it.   

Later this afternoon, driving back to Jackson, the sun was shining brightly and the weather was warm.  Blossoming fruit trees and redbuds were abundant.  It’s so good to live in the South and have an occasion to get out of the office and drive the highways and back roads of Mississippi, especially on a day like today.