therealsnape (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
therealsnape) wrote2013-07-21 08:11 am
therealsnape) wrote2013-07-21 08:11 am
Oh Them Cotton Fields
So far, everybody who asked us where we're from, which is everybody we meet, actually knows where Holland is. Several have mentioned wooden shoes.
So what happens when wooden shoe folk hit the Deep South?
They take pics of all the wooden houses with ironwork in Nawlins and eat yambalaya.
Then they take pics of every plantation on Plantation Road and eat Gumbo.
Then they take pics of cedars growing in lakes and eat gator.
Then they drive through the Mississippi delta (if you ever get remotely close to Indianola, visit the B.B King museum!!), and while they recognize the corn, which we grow, too, they wonder about the low, leafy plants in quite a lot of fields.
The museum was educational in this as well.
Yup, that's what cotton plants actually look like at this time of the year. We only saw them in school books and then they had balls of cotton on the branches.
The flowers are seriously pretty, though. A beautiful ivory-cream, and some of them are in all gradations of pink. So yes, we did stop the car, got out, and took pictures. There were not many drivers on the road, but the mirth of those that passed us was unmistakeable. (That's another amazing thing: the emptiness of your highways!)
Well, those drivers have something to talk about on the long winter nights. And if they ever make it to Holland, we'll just smile at their reaction to windmills.
Also, we bought a lovely little Christmas tree decoration in the shape of a littke angel with a ball of cotton for a body (proper cooton, textbook cotton, cotton that the folks back home will all recognise at once).
And we spent a day in a share-cropper's shack. There is a hotel that consists of a group of them. There is airco and a fairly simple shower but the rest of the place is pretty much as it was then. We spent the day on the porch, reading, resting, and watching them cotton fields.
Current location: Heartbreak Hotel, Memphis.
So what happens when wooden shoe folk hit the Deep South?
They take pics of all the wooden houses with ironwork in Nawlins and eat yambalaya.
Then they take pics of every plantation on Plantation Road and eat Gumbo.
Then they take pics of cedars growing in lakes and eat gator.
Then they drive through the Mississippi delta (if you ever get remotely close to Indianola, visit the B.B King museum!!), and while they recognize the corn, which we grow, too, they wonder about the low, leafy plants in quite a lot of fields.
The museum was educational in this as well.
Yup, that's what cotton plants actually look like at this time of the year. We only saw them in school books and then they had balls of cotton on the branches.
The flowers are seriously pretty, though. A beautiful ivory-cream, and some of them are in all gradations of pink. So yes, we did stop the car, got out, and took pictures. There were not many drivers on the road, but the mirth of those that passed us was unmistakeable. (That's another amazing thing: the emptiness of your highways!)
Well, those drivers have something to talk about on the long winter nights. And if they ever make it to Holland, we'll just smile at their reaction to windmills.
Also, we bought a lovely little Christmas tree decoration in the shape of a littke angel with a ball of cotton for a body (proper cooton, textbook cotton, cotton that the folks back home will all recognise at once).
And we spent a day in a share-cropper's shack. There is a hotel that consists of a group of them. There is airco and a fairly simple shower but the rest of the place is pretty much as it was then. We spent the day on the porch, reading, resting, and watching them cotton fields.
Current location: Heartbreak Hotel, Memphis.
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BB King is a National Treasure.
There is a building on our land, dilapidated past redemption, that used to be slave quarters. I suppose one day we'll symbolically burn it.
Be sure to back up the pictures, my camera just ate a memory card.
Say hello to Elvis for me.
L
ps: When them cotton bolls get rotten, you can't pick very much cotton.
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B.B. King's CDs are played while we travel and a great accompaniment they are.
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Alas, you beat me to it. "Typo", right. "Freudian Slip"?
L
PS - "The thrill ain't gone." The man can deal.
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Assuming the word 'slip' has the same double meaning in English as in Dutch.
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I can't wait to see your picspam when you get home.
Travel well, be safe.
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Also I often think of your wise words re fried food. Had nacho chips with pulled pork yesterday. By way of healthy option.
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Did your botanical education make you stop at the peanut-plants and tobacco fields as well?
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How's the South of F rance?
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Since you're exploring the history, if you can, try to pick up some info about how horribly the share croppers were exploited, not to mention the bondmen and bondwomen ( slaves ) prior to and after our Civil War. According to my grandmother cotton hurts to pick.
There was a lot institutionalized raced-based violence going on in the South (Upper and Lower). It's harder to do now because of passage of the Civil Rights Acts and the Voting Rights Act ( which our supreme court may have just significantly weakened ). My great-grandfather was a sharecropper( he was born in 1871 and died in 1972) and HIS mother was a freed slave, hence born into slavery. Hence this history is still not that far away.
The South is absolutely beautiful in its flora and fauna and has wonderful food and cultural elements. And socially folks can be quite hospitable. I spent every summer in either Virginia where my grandmother was from ( my great grandfather was from North Carolina ) or Maryland ( where my mother was from ) when I was a kid. However there's a whole complex history there, like a diamond with all its flaws.
Mississippi had a particularly interesting role. Look up the death of civil rights activist Medgar Evers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medgar_Evers#Assassination) who was assassinated in 1963 and whose killer wasn't convicted until 1994. There was also the death of 3 civil rights activists in Mississippi in 1964 - Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwermer and James Earl Chaney (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_civil_rights_workers_murders). And there was the horrible death of Emmett Till (http://en.wikhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_civil_rights_workers_murdersipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till).
You'll probably see the info above as overkill and probably an intrusion on your fun so I apologize if that's the message sent. It's not meant that way.
Racial conflict and institutionalized racism has existed in EVERY part of this country from its inception. We should be justifiably proud at the progress we've made but we still have a long way to go ( especially in the wake of some reactions to having our first black president ). And the South, including Mississippi, was ground zero for much of that conflict.
Why don't always tell our whole history in this country especially to visitors, let alone ourselves, and I don't want you to miss out on knowing about that.
And yes I am African American =^)
Please enjoy the rest of your vacation and visit. We are glad to have you and we hope you come back! =^)
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But thank you for sharing the info!
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Here I had been worried when you said you were going to take a tour of the Deep South in July -- and the irony is that it's been at least 10 degrees hotter in the Northeast this last week than in Mississippi /g/. I'm glad you've had reasonable temps -- some summer heat can be welcome, but 95 degrees+ is a little much!
What did you think of gator? I tried it once -- and I'm sorry to report that I thought it tasted like what fried rubber bands would taste like.
I've been reading about Heartbreak Hotel on TripAdvisor -- sounds like a convenient location, at least. Can't wait to hear about Graceland (never been).
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The Heartbreak lobby is so over the top that it becomes fun. And we have yet another huge room. I now understand why you called the NYC. Room 'small'.
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I had it once, and that's exactly what I thought! Not worth killing the beast for, more fun watching them wrestling.
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So yes, we did stop the car, got out, and took pictures. There were not many drivers on the road, but the mirth of those that passed us was unmistakeable.
:o) Reminds me of the reaction of Swedish drivers at us photographing elk traffic signs and red houses on our first trip, or the enthusiasm of visiting friends for half-timbered houses in our region.
*raises my cup of newly-bought MF Lapsang Souchong Impérial on a continued great trip for you*
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And the food! I LOVE gumbo!
That's another amazing thing: the emptiness of your highways!
You mean like the A61 when vacation time in Holland is over? *ducks*
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I've no personal experience with the A61, and certainly not during those halcyon days when the Holes and their caravans are gone. "Obviously," drawled Professor Snape. But our A44 is never as quiet as this, not even when the last Germ has abandoned their little ditch on the Noordwijk beach.
I've bought a book of Louisiana recipes, with lots of Gumbo variations, and next time you eat at our place,I'll make you a Southern dinner. Gator-free
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