trip to Macon

Macon is about 40 minutes southeast of Starkville. The city served as Mississippi's capital during the Civil War, so it has tons of beautiful old churches and houses. Yes, that is indeed a tractor going down Main Street.

On the way down there, I stopped in a famous Mennonite bakery in Brooksville and got some bread and pecan pie. The BBQ place next door unfortunately wasn't open, or I definitely would have partaken in some fried green tomatoes.

southern cemeteries, part I: friendship cemetery

The Friendship Cemetery in Columbus has to be one of the more beautiful cemeteries in the U.S. It's filled with giant magnolia trees, beautiful/terrifying stone angels, and tons of unknown Confederate (and some Union) soldier graves. It's also humongous (65 acres) and was completely empty when I visited, save for the very unsettling sound of magnolia pods crashing onto the ground every 20 seconds.

The story is that the women of Columbus were some of the first in the South to decorate the graves of both Confederate and Union soldiers, thus the name of the cemetery.

The Weeping Angel is by far the most photographed grave in the cemetery. She's the grave marker for the Reverend Thomas Teasdale, who was the pastor for the First Baptist Church and died in 1891.

I also came upon a beautiful swamp in the back of the cemetery. I definitely heard alligator noises while I was taking these photos. Definitely.

Stephen D. Lee is buried here. He was the youngest Confederate Lieutenant General during the Civil War and was the first president of MSU.

Some more shots... The one below with the hand says 'home' underneath.

msu science buildings

I still haven't completely figured out what poultry science is, but there's an entire building dedicated to it here on campus. There are also buildings for animal, plant, and, of course, agriculture science.

weekend loot

Eggplant and red kuri squash (now in soup form), with a vintage green pyrex bowl I picked up in West Point, and a free Audubon Juniors The Story of Birds booklet from a shop in Aberdeen. I love how someone (Jim?) pasted all of the Audubon prints onto each page.

aberdeen

Aberdeen is a tiny town 45 minutes northeast of Starkville. It has lots of pretty houses and a park with a river next to it. I wandered around the 2-block downtown area, where they pipe in music from the 20s and 30s from outdoor loudspeakers.

homecoming

This year's homecoming court was just announced last night. Over 6,000 students voted to elect a Queen, Mr. and Miss MSU, and Maids for all four classes. Sorority houses have been displaying large and colorful campaign banners in the weeks leading up to the election:

 

dirt cheap, indeed

Dirt Cheap vies with Piggly Wiggly for best store name and mascot. I finally checked it out today, and was not let down. Things were indeed dirt cheap. I contained myself and bought only a very discounted bathroom scale, though the plaid pillow with arms was enticing, too.