Bama

Yesterday I went to Tuscaloosa, which is about an hour and a half away. I didn't have a ton of time to spend there, but I got a chance to walk around the downtown area and go to the art museum. I didn't make it on to campus, in part because there was a big football celebration going on, but I hear it's beautiful.

A couple of historic buildings from downtown, including the Bama Theater from the late 30s, and Raymond's Department Store, from 1871:

I went to Tuscaloosa's art museum on a whim, and it turned out to be amazing. The museum is housed in the corporate headquarters of the Westervelt Company (paper makers), and features the collection of the company's founder, Jack Warner. The collection holds mostly American works. The buildings and grounds were influenced by Warner's frequent trips to Burma.

rosa bonheur - comanche village

john singer sargent - mme flora reyntiens

edward hopper - dawn before gettysburg

james whistler - miss dorothy menpes. only one shoe!!

didn't get the author's name, but the painting was called 'uninvited guests.'

edward hicks - peaceable kingdom, c. 1833. one of 61 versions hicks painted.

i'm still trying to figure out what's in their hands...

proof

It snows in Mississippi!

Granted, it all melted by the afternoon, and temperatures have hovered around 65 since. That's my kind of winter weather.

birthplace of kermit the frog

A couple weeks ago, I visited the Jim Henson museum in Leland, Miss, a small town in the Delta. Henson spent the first 12 years of his life in Leland, where his friend Kermit inspired the famous frog. The museum was small but packed full with Muppet paraphernalia, including an original Kermit. And the docent was clearly a huge Jim Henson fan. She was listening to Rainbow Connection on loop the entire time I was there.

new year's in oxford

We decided to make a pilgrimage to Oxford with some friends for New Year's Eve, just to check things out. In addition to housing the U. of Mississippi (aka Ole Miss, aka 'the school up north'), Oxford has a beautiful downtown area and a thriving literary scene. This is where Faulkner lived, and where the wonderful literary quarterly The Oxford American began.

It was a gloomy and rainy day, but we had fun walking around the old square, with shops and restaurants circling the giant courthouse in the middle.

Though his home, Rowan Oak, was closed for the day, we did get a glimpse of Faulkner.

My favorite place we stopped was Neilson's, which is apparently the oldest department store in Mississippi (founded in 1839). Why, yes, that is indeed a bobcat head on the wall.