Turning 33 in Mississippi!

I went to Mississippi with Mom, Cassie & Ellie for a short & sweet vacation. The girls were so good in the car, except around Birmingham, but all things considered they were great. We drove down Friday and back home on Tuesday which was also my birthday. I am a third of the way to 99, that's how I put it into perspective. When my Mom was my age she had a 4 year old Brandi and a 1 year old me! I can't imagine.
We loaded up with Ellie, Cassie, me, Mimi and Mimi C (my Mimi, the girl's great grandmother) and drove to Hillcrest; the house where Mimi & Pop lived when I was a kid. Here is the view from the front porch. Many a lizard were captured by fast hands slapping their little green bodies against the siding. We would stalk them, making rounds through all the property (which to my memory was as big and grand as the grounds at Biltmore Estate) finding them running lightening fast in & out of dark green shutters on white siding in the sweltering Mississippi heat. My big sister as always leading the way, both of us toteting Mason jars with holes punched in the lids for our captives. I studied her technique, an eager pupil!
When you see one you have to get close enough to it so you can cup your hand and slap it right on the whole lizard "SLAP!" or you run the dread risk of winding up with a freakish wriggling amputated tail in your hand. No telling how many I caught with the "tell tale" scar around mid tail where he had regenerated a replacement. So neat! They were like mini dinosaurs, and so fast. The males would square off against each other and stick out a "fin" of sorts under their throats, their skin expanding and visible between scales.
One of the coolest things I remember is seeing complete intact skeletons in thick cobwebs under the eaves of the house and outbuildings. They were too high up for me to retrieve, and you could forget enlisting an adult to help get it...
They were a special feature of Mississippi, we did not have any here back then. We do now, perhaps Bran & I populated North Carolina with Green Anoles from Mississippi!


Saturday we went to Hattiesburg to see Granddad Pearson in the retirement community where he has recently moved. Here the girls pose with their 95 year old great Granddad! I never knew either of my great grandfathers but have heard enough about them that I feel as though I did.


On a table in his apartment he has pictures of both his wives; my Grandmother Ellise Pearson and his second wife Mildred Taff-Pearson. The picture on the left is of he & Ellise as newlyweds and in the adjoining frame they strike the same pose 50 years later.
Now that my dear readers is what you call married!

I had a very nice visit with him where he shared memories of a time so long ago I almost picture them in black & white. I love hearing people tell stories, and all my family are wonderful natural story tellers, in their own unique ways; I try to be well versed in all of them.

He told about the model of Napoleon's carriage that he built and entered into a contest for the World's Fair (date?). And later of his search for a job out of college as an architect/engineer, going all the way up to Saint Louis and all over.

He is tough and fast and makes up his own words on the spot like Brandi and loves to talk. I am surprised he did not get off on a tangent about any medications; miraculous! He may have missed his calling as doctor, but the Pearson clan has enough doctors. He used to love to talk about all things medical, spare you no details but this time that was conspicuously absent.

He also talked briefly about The Bible and his extensive study of Revelations, but did not preach. This too was a blessing. He was talking about when the disciples come to the rock tomb to see if the body of Christ is still inside and said Peter or Paul (I can't remember, God help me) "went in there and looked at that old napkin they had him in, probably had stuff all over it"! This is the very same kind of thing my sister does! As an example, she once referenced the crown the Jews made Jesus wear during the Crucifixions this way "they made him wear that old crown of prickers"!

You've gotta love it!

Now back to the Caldwell side of the family. Mom & Mimi cook up home made soup, black eyed peas and Mimi's famous cornbread. I will have to eat steamed chicken breasts & broccoli for two months to off-set the food I ate down there. There is a running joke that when Mimi dies, my aunt Suzie is going to run & claim her good roast pot if she's not grieving too hard! My Aunt Suzie (like most of my family) is a hoot & a half.

As we gathered up to leave Mimi C's and go see Pop & Peggy Cassie asked Mom if Mimi C would be going with us..."no I don't believe she will" my Mom responded while trying not to laugh out loud.

That is a whole other long story...

At Pop's farm, everything is neat as a pin and beautiful, like a park, like the old house. Pop loves little kids and is happy to indulge them. Here he lets Ellie drive his "mule", farm cart thing he uses to drive around his farm. The kids LOVE it! I remember when I was their age he would let me ride on his tractor, just where ever I could fit! Ah, back in the good old days when nobody wore seat belts and kids didn't have to be safe. Pop is fun, larger than life, huge personality, very smart, very accomplished, very aggravating, he's a national treasure.

Everybody sits on the front porch and visits in the perfect November Mississippi weather. That's Peggy in the middle making the face she reserves for when Pop gets out of line, her polite "don't you talk that way around those girls" look.

I don't know how it came to be that I am 33 and the days of spending weeks at a time in Mississippi with family and friends are long passed. I swear it was not long ago I was standing under the plum trees with Brandi, Karla and Vanessa eating ripe fruit off the tree while the "hot-bugs" sang in the yard. The landscape has changed, there are pine trees where there were cows & ponies, Mimi has been in here "new house" for around 20 years now, and I'm sure I wouldn't recognise the Hodge's place either.

But there everything stands, same 'cept different...

So I spent my birthday in the car driving home with Mom & two little girls to entertain on the way. It was so fun. As with everything else, the driving there is just as much a part of the whole experience as being there. The girls reasoned that I should have whatever I wanted whenever we stopped anywhere "Because you're the birthday girl!" And every time I heard it I realized I'd forgotten! I will definitely remember my 33rd, most I forget. It was fun.

And then when I got home, I was spoiled even further when Mom bought me this Art Deco buffet I wanted so bad from the thrift store.

I confess to be a furniture junkie. I collect it the way other women collect shoes. And the Art Deco style is a favorite of mine, having grown up admiring my granparent Pearson's bedroom suit (of which I have been proud heir of for 10 years).

This piece is in decent condition, but will someday need a complete restoration down to every last veneer chip (of which there are relatively few) and trace of old lacquer. I gave it a lick & a promise with some scratch-off and for now it is fit to hold my tools, art supplies, projects, jewelry makings and various accoutrements.

Note the book matched Walnut crotch veneer and inlay workbetween top & bottom drawers! Be still my beating heart. The pulls are brass plate and bakelite, bottom left one is broken but I found the pieces is the case! (For the record, never throw away broken pieces even if you think they're too far gone) I am too excited about it but why shouldn't I be?

I am a 33 year old Southern Woman and I need a big-ass extravagant buffet to display fragrant bouquets of magnolia's and serve peas and cornbread, deviled eggs and tomato aspic from!

...or to just keep tools & weapons in, which ever...