Back in da Delta: November 2012

Friday, November 30, 2012

Delta Band Festival Day (Greenwood)

One of the fondest memories that I have growing up in a small town in the Mississippi Delta was the annual Roy Martin Delta Band Festival and Christmas Parade. In the the 60's and 70's, I remember how big a deal it was to get a day off from school to watch the parades. There used to be a morning parade and an evening parade followed by holiday themed floats. The City of Greenwood would host marching bands from all over the state and beyond. The sights of pretty majorettes, the sounds of trumpets, drums, and other musical instruments, feeling the warmth of the diesel tractors pulling massive holiday floats, the smell of Pronto Pup corn dogs, the sweetness and stickiness of cotton candy, and the nip of cold winter air; all announce that Winter was coming and Christmastime was near! I remember one year, I worked a concession stand for my HS Art's club in front of the old Post Office (now Central Office for the Public School system). As a kid, I always looked for the carnival vendors who sell those tiny little film cameras (which never worked and there were no place to process the film) but the fun I had taking those priceless imaginary photos were priceless (which probably fueled my love of photography for when I actually got a real working camera). Band Festival Day would always end with Santa Claus and his reindeers closing the parade as he waved to the crowds as his helpers would toss candies out into the crowds of holiday-goers; and there was the big firework show at the Yazoo River.

Fast forward some 30 years later, the parade has downsized considerably, the crowds are smaller, the bands and float are fewer but the charm remains. They say that one can never go home but watching with adult eyes, I've certainly appreciate the precious gift of growing up in a small town.

Preparing the floats

Members of the MG Dance School

Parade Marshal - Dr Chawla

Girl Scout

young parade watchers

in character on a float

Miss Mississippi - Marie Wicks

Santa Claus is coming!

Fireworks show on the Yazoo River bank.

More photos here.

For more Band Festival Day memories check out Daughterofthedelta link.

My stakeout position on the corner of Howard & Market street.

-DB-

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Afternoon chores

Dad and I were just finishing up lunch today and thinking about going out to the farm earlier to get some fishing in before dark when we heard this great big "thud" on our roof! We had noticed earlier that the city tree trimming crew was out next door cutting up stuff and shredding all the cut limbs and branches. We both ran outside to see what was going on. There was a crewman in a basket right over our place. The crewman said that a loose branch had fallen on the roof but caused no damaged but Dad and I had to go up there to see for ourselves.

Dad overseeing the tree trimming by the City crew.

It was the first time in years that I had been up there. There was a lot of branches and vines overgrowing over the north part of our house that haven't been attended to in atleast a year.

The City cut away all the big stuff that was nearest the street and around the power and cable lines on the pole but there was a few major branches that Dad wanted to cut. So he climbed down and got his saw and climb back up (this is my 80 year old father).

So Dad sawed and pruned away at the branches and vines and I pulled off the branches and tossed them next to the street for the Sanitation Crew to pick. Also swept off all the leaves piles on the roof and in the gutters.

The roof afterwards, alot cleaner

It sure looked a lot nicer after we did all the cutting and cleaning! Unfortunately, a small branch whipped back to one of Dad's eye (he should have worn goggles or something). It was painful for a couple hours but better now, he claims. Yup, my Dad is pretty tough!

Went out to the farm after Dad's afternoon nap, to check up on things.

There was this big dead skunk out by the trailer, I think we'll avoid messing with this guy for alittle while until the smell goes away. We also saw four deers running across the levee road on our way out. Poor deers, probably running for their lives since hunting season for them started a couple weeks ago. On private land in Mississippi, it's permissible to shoot up to five antherless deers (and/or legal bucks with at least 12" spreads on their inside beams) during hunting season.

Well, it's was a pretty busy November afternoon today.

-DB-

Friday, November 23, 2012

Roadtrip to Vicksburg (and memory lane)!

Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, I got a text from my old college roommate who was back in the state for the holidays. He wanted to get some of the old crew together to hang out on Friday. I haven't seen my old buddy in years; he moved to Tennessee after Pharmacy school and I moved to California.

So my friend RS sends me his Halloween pix, whoa! Certainly an angry looking pharmacist!

Using my "paper" GPS via Google maps!

So Friday afternoon after lunch (a big bowl of Thanksgiving leftover turkey jook), I began the 100 plus mile drive south to Vicksburg. I figured it would take just under 2 hours to drive down the state highways on US 49 to Yazoo City and then MS highway 3.

US 49 south of Greenwood.

The large cotton warehouses of Staplcotn Corp outside of town.

It has been a few years since I've driven down this way toward Jackson, the state capitol since I usually fly into Mississippi thru Memphis, Tn. The drive wasn't too bad, it was sort of hazy with scattering of light rain showers in some places. I made some mental notes of all the nice public hunting and fishing places that were along the way as well as some of the big chemical and paper plants on the way to Vicksburg. There sure were a whole lot of wide open spaces of newly planted fields and pastures all along the way. In my hurry out the door, I only had less than a half a tank of gas and a dirty bug splatted windshield (with no washer fluid in the tank) so driving was little difficult but atleast it was in the daylight hours. Fortunately, navigation wasn't a problem since the signage was pretty good and I was able to reference both my hard copy Google map and my iPhone / map.

Met my friends at the local inn in V'burg.

So I finally rolled into Vicksburg about 2:30'ish. I think this was the first time that I've spent any time in Vicksburg since my freshman days at Ole Miss. I met some great guys at pre-college from Vicksburg's Warren Central High School and spent a couple great Ole Miss football weekends there. Back then, I went to a high school football game, enjoyed some great Southern Hospitality from my friends' parents, and got a personal tour of the Vicksburg Military Park from my friend Bruce, who was very big Civil War buff! Great memories from my college freshman days!

My friends arrived shortly (they were checking out some local museum), we caught up in the hotel lobby while the extended family were coming back from some Black Friday shopping. It was kinda of funny that I seemed to be the only one remembering stuff going on in our college days. My buddy RS kept tell me he didn't remember those incidents. His brother RS2, fortunately had a better memory. Last time I saw RS2 was at the Big Event (Chinese Reunion in Greenville in '87). RS2 was kind enough to put me up when I first moved out to LA on my sidetrip up to the Bay area. It was nice to catch up with the guys (JG, RS, RS2). In a little bit later, I got to meet RS2's family; wife Dena (who was from the Bay area) and their sons Logan, and Bryce. I also got reacquainted with FSC (RS &RS2's younger sister) and her daughter Sarah. The S's have such a nice family!

After some embarrassing college stories (which I won't share here), the whole big group went across the highway to check out the military park. Like I mentioned before, I haven't been here since my freshman days at Ole Miss (this time it seemed alot smaller).

"Vicksburg is the Key"

The Union Army taking the Southern Stronghold of Vicksburg was a major priority during the Civil War. Much resources were poured in from the north to free up the routes down the Mississippi River.

We had a two vehicle caravan for our Civil War tour this afternoon. Lot of States of both sides sent troops to fight in this critical struggle during the 1863 campaign. Many of the participating states have memorial for their troops and commanding officers. The US Park Service which maintains and run the military park charges $8 per carload.

Minnesota Memorial

Our first stop was at the Minnesota Memorial (probable because I wanted a photo of the nice structure and everyone else jumped out and started climbing around the memorial too).

view of Illinois Memorial from Battery de Golyer

Our second stop was at the Illinois Memorial. It was not only very picturesque but had cool acoustical effects with it domed ceiling (which meant the kids all yelled inside the memorial)!