blog Followers

Showing posts with label Mississippi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mississippi. Show all posts

Friday, August 6, 2021

Rolling down the River

 

Flooding in Indiana


The meandering Mississippi River worried Jeff, just as it always does. Would it rain too much and river will flood? Would the fields dry when there was no rain? Too much, too little. One way or another, Jeff would worry.  

This winter gave Minnesota enough snow to cover the entire Midwest. The snow melt sent Mississippi rolling and charging down past town after town, filling their fields with muddy water, tearing houses from their foundations.


No longer a gently flowing river as Tom Sawyer saw from Hannibal, Mississippi now rampaged and threatened his field. His neighbors and farmers in his township watched the line of water edge up their fields.

It was hard enough to make a living in the Missouri bottom land.  Flooding water spreading across his cornfields made him think more and more about leaving.   

"Mountains. That’s where I need to go. Take a train ride to the mountains…” Jeff muttered as he continued to fill sandbags and pile them on the levee.

Floods in the Midwest are legendary. The Mississippi River meets up with Illinois River every year.  Towns, crops, fields, schools---The Rivers take care of them all.

This is a repost from 2014. The Rivers flood along rivers and corn fields every spring through the fall..  One spring flooded into our church. Men rowed up the middle aisle to see if the piano was safe. Cinder blocks were placed to raise the piano.

Bold and italicized titles were given in the Wednesday Words by Delores some years ago. She is missed.



Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Soar on Wings

Image may contain: sky, bird and tree


I have written this first paragraph so many times, each time hoping it would improve eventually.  Every time it sounded like I knew a lot about eagles, etc. which I sure don't.  The paragraphs bored me to tears.  All I can really say with any degree of confidence is what I have observed myself.


Image may contain: outdoor, water and nature
Lunch

To watch eagles soaring and catching the thermals is best described as amazing.  Seeing those magnificent birds soaring high and gliding took my breath away.  Then, to gaze at them swoop down to the River, scoop up a fish, and disappear in the trees, well, you just cannot imagine.

When waterways in Canada and Great Lakes freeze over, eagles fly down to my stretch of the country to the Mississippi where the River flows freely and fish are swimming around. Eagles will eat live or dead fish,
doesn't matter.



Image may contain: tree, bird and sky
Russ Adams
These photos used were taken near The Marina at the Illinois side of Mississippi River, my home area.  Closest city for reference is Louisiana, MO, just down the River from Hannibal, Missouri (Mark Twain's birthplace). Bird watchers estimate there are 2,000 birds each year along the River in the zone from Alton, IL, to this area, Pike County.**


Image may contain: tree, plant, sky, outdoor and nature
R.A. Nature Photography



Groups of eagles are called a "kettle", at any given spot, and Birders find it difficult to count.  With all with their feathers fluffed out for warmth or riding the chunks of river ice, this sight stays in my own memory. No photos are ever needed.

Yet those who wait for the Lord 
Will gain strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.

Isaiah 40:31






**The photos were taken by a fellow student from high school, Russ Adams. Well done, Russ.


Thursday, April 17, 2014

The Letter O---on the run in 1937


The Letter O

O...operatic, oophyte, Ottawa.....So many choices, so little time...

There are very few movies that I would personally describe as brilliant.  A film of that level depends on so many elements.  This film is one I put in the short list.

O brother where art thou ver1.jpg
Directors Joel and Ethan Coen
Today the choice  for O:

O, Brother! Where art thou?

This movie is based upon the story of Adventures of Ulysses

This movie follows Ulysses (or, Odysseus as in Homer plot), taking place in 1937, where he is a convict on the chain gangs in the deep South.  

George Clooney is the main character, Ulysses Everett McGill (who fancies himself to be a loquacious and glib con-man).  

He convinces two fellow convicts, Pete and Delmar, to escape the chain gang, proceeding on a quest to find huge treasure and a way home.


Favorite quotes from the movie:

   Ulysses:  Damn, boys!  We’re in a    tight spot! (This our is my favorite  line; my husband and I say it to each other many times. 

   Ulysses: Damn it!  I’m a Dapper Dan man.  (Dapper Dan is a pomade used by men of that period. Ulysses was so vain that he even wore a hairnet at night.)

    Delmar: Them syreens did this to Pete.  They loved him up and turned him into a horny toad.

Ulysses: I was not hit by a train. Dammit, I am the paterfamilias!


Pappy O’Donnell:  Moral fiber?  I invented moral fiber! ( Pappy was played by the late Charles Durning.)

Note:  The writers, producers and directors are Joel and Ethan Coen.
The music is pure blue-grass, memorable and superb.
  
The over-all plot lines are a loose parallel to the ancient adventures of Odysseus. Loose to very loose. Word has it that the Coen brothers never read the real Homer play, but instead read the Yellow Cliff-Notes, so beloved and used by many students.

I never ever used them.  Seriously.

Basically, try to see this film.
  
I am very picky about movies I will watch and appreciate.  My husband, on the other hand, will watch just about anything.  We have conflicts.