Our Photo Journey

Day nineteen of our photo journey … 

With the temperature hovering in the upper nineties all day, it was definitely a sweaty start to our 38th Annual Watermelon Carnival.

You cannot help but spend the entire day smiling and eating!

Can it be? Is it possible? Is Elvis alive at the Watermelon Carnival?

This scene of a man and his boy watching one of the concerts looked so heartwarming that I had to grab a quick picture of it.

The most valued commodity of the Watermelon Carnival so far has been the tubs of ice hiding under some of the vendors tables.

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Princess Haley and Shona!

The performance of the Derek Stone band out of Tupelo, Mississippi was a hit with everyone! Haley had the band sign the back of her new Derek Stone t-shirt and also bought the band’s outstanding CD.

You can hear their music on the Derek Stone Band MySpace page.

Oh wait! I almost forgot!

You can’t have a watermelon carnival without a ton of watermelons.

This man is very proud of his 122 pound watermelon. Yummy!

Since there is still a few hours left of the street dance tonight, I am headed back there to make sure the kids are staying out of trouble.

If I am busy keeping them out of trouble, I wonder who is going to keep me out of trouble?

Never mind, there is still another full day of this tomorrow. I am more worried if I will survive it all. 🙂

Day eighteen of our photo journey … 

Our tiny town is in the middle of a whirlwind of activities as everyone prepares for the 38th annual Watermelon Carnival this weekend.

I wasn’t real eager to get out in the middle of all the masses people and traffic to escape long enough to take a few pictures.

Okay, I realize that with a population of less than 4,000 people, it doesn’t sound like there would be that much of a commotion, but let me tell you, I think every single one of them was on main street today!

As I stood on the edge of the main street park looking at all the activity, I glanced over at the building across the street. Once again, my mind saw things as they may have been 100 years ago.

Doesn’t this picture remind you of a scene that you might see in an old western movie? Do you remember the TV show called Gunsmoke?

For no reason whatsoever, I suddenly find myself wanting to learn more about what this community was like back in the early 1900s.

Just what I need, another project, huh?

Day seventeen of our photo journey …

We are without a doubt right smack in the middle of the dog days of summer here in Mississippi, with our hottest and most sultry days.

Even though the sky was blue today there was a steamy haze everywhere we looked.

The weeds along the fence caught my attention. The flowers were so tiny and so perfect, but it took me about 6 tries to get a clear shot because sweat kept running into my eyes and burning like the dickens.

Yeah, I realize that southern ladies do not sweat, they perspire.

At this point though, my language about the heat wasn’t very ladylike so I figured the moisture running into my eyes was just plain sweat.

It wasn’t long after that, driving around in our old beater without air conditioning, we figured out that if even the cows were soaking in their watering hole, it was time to head back to the house and call it a day.

Day sixteen of our photo journey …

I have always been fascinated by the history behind small towns. When I was walking downtown today, I realized that in my mind, I tend to picture our town in black and white, almost as if I am imagining old time photographs from 100 years ago. 

 
But, when I look up at the top of our town pavilion, I always see the eagle in living color, almost as if it were a United States flag flying proudly in the sky.

Day fifteen of our photo journey …

It was a slow lazy day here in Small Town, USA so we decided to invite you along for our trip to McDonalds.

Trips to McDonald’s are a special treat for us, mostly because we have to drive anywhere from 30 – 45 minutes to get to one.

“I can’t bear to look. Someone PLEASE tell me that Mom isn’t taking pictures in the middle of McDonalds!”

“Mom” can we pleeeeeeease eat the fries now?”

There are more carbohydrates in a supersized order of McDonalds fries than any sane person should consider eating in a month.

But, they are so dang good! 🙂

We spent half the meal fussing with each other over which dip is best for fries. Haley likes good old fashioned catsup. My son Nick swears by the Big Mac Sauce. I on the other hand, dip them only in tarter sauce.

Who in their right mind orders healthy stuff in Macdonald’s?

My son’s sweetie (Shona) bypassed all the good stuff on the menu and ordered the fruit, yogurt, and walnuts plate.

Isn’t that unpatriotic, or sacrilegious, or something?

 Day fourteen of our photo journey …

As I stood on the front porch today, wondering if the weather would ever clear up long enough to take a few pictures, I looked over and noticed my daughter’s bike. It’s a retro style bicycle, and for some reason it brought back memories of my childhood.
 
As a child, I would spend hours riding my stingray (with a banana seat) style bike with all the kids in the neighborhood.

All of us had playing cards clipped to the spokes of the tires so we could hear the loud clicking sound it made. Remember that?

We loved pretending they were dirt bikes while we raced through all the trails and jumps we spent months making throughout the woods.
 
It has been many years now since I have been on a bicycle. They say that you never forget how to ride. Ya think that’s true?

Maybe I will start riding again, just for the heck of it. If nothing else, it might give my daughter a good laugh.