Possumhaw: Murmurs of murmurations

Stepping outside at twilight, a whishing and whirling of hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of blackbirds could be heard as the birds were twirling across the sky. For a moment they may rest in the treetops or light on the ground, nosing under dry leaves.

Ask Rufus: The Passing of the Tombigbee Steamboats

The first steamboat arrived at Columbus in 1823. For almost 100 years they were the principal means of shipping and passenger service along the Upper Tombigbee River.

Home Base: On a public health matter, the South fails to rise ... again

Mississippi claims the No. 1 ranking in a statistical category that might surprise you. No, it's not public education funding, vocational training skills or even the number of 4- or 5-star football recruits per capita.

Possumhaw: The Victorian art of salmon fly-tying.

Why would anyone want to steal dead birds? It was the hook that grabbed author Kirk Wallace Johnson's attention. It was the hook that grabbed mine. Johnson's book "The Feather Thief" introduced a world I knew nothing about.

Ask Rufus: A Forgotten Aviation Milestone

The centennial of an aviation milestone that was connected to our area passed unnoticed 11 days ago. It was the first transcontinental round-trip airplane flight and only the fourth transcontinental flight.

Ask Rufus: The 'Bold Feat' of Simon, a Free Black French Captain

In the 1730s, conflict in Europe between England and France spread to the Tombigbee River Valley between the Choctaw-French alliance and the Chickasaw-English alliance. It was a North American extension of a European conflict with a local twist.

Possumhaw: Bring your own bodock ball

There we were standing in the woods, surrounded by half-eaten and mostly-eaten bodock (bois d'arc) balls. Something had a party.

Possumhaw: Warm within and cold without

Sometimes the house feels like it's holding a chill. I add layer upon layer until I think I could hardly bend over, but still there's a chill.

Partial to Home: Moon river

It was a scene straight out of Huck Finn. Two guys standing around a campfire on a remote island in a wide river, bright moon and stars overhead.

Ask Rufus: Columbus Water/Ways

A Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit on waterways has opened at the Agnes Zaiontz Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Transportation Museum on Seventh Street North here in Columbus.

Home Base: Perhaps we've forgotten how to treat each other as human

One day when I was 15, I was sitting at my dining room table along with about five of my high school track teammates, all of us male. We were laughing about another boy from our school when my mom walked by and heard us.

Partial to Home: Area paddlers enjoy rich offering of natural wonders

Having spent a healthy slice of time in my formative years on the Tombigbee in a ski-boat dodging stumps, blue rock and gravel shoals, it seems like a fitting destiny to be quietly paddling a kayak through those same waters half a century later.

Ask Rufus: Ancient Medicine

The winter edition of American Archaeology has a fascinating article titled "Physical and Spiritual Health." It is about general health care and medical care among Indians in prehistoric and historic period America.

Possumhaw: Here kitty, kitty

There's the Bobcat "One tough animal"- advertised as a compact, hardworking construction machine. There's the Sebastopol basketball team's bobcat mascot; then there's the bobcat that was spotted across the road from my driveway.

Best of the Triangle 2018

Best Area Professionals 2018

2019 Dining Guide