Birney Imes: The most important job in the world

In “Good Old Boy,” his memoir about growing up in Yazoo City, Willie Morris recounts a boyhood prank where he and two friends pretend to

Birney Imes: Music in the air

A flock of geese in flight is a skein. On the ground they are a gaggle. We were a gathering of humans at a funeral.

Birney Imes: Red Lobster and a lone crawfish

He was the last passenger to get on the plane. A tall black man in a dark pinstriped suit, elegant white shirt and expensive shoes. His eyes landed on the empty seat beside me.

We were on a 6 a.m. flight from Birmingham to Washington D.C.

Birney Imes: Trashy

My friends began to call me “Mr. Ecology.” I got the message quick.

Birney Imes: At the corner of Main and Market

Good thing no one was standing on the southwest corner of Main and Market Friday morning around 11:30. A miracle really. That was about the

Birney Imes: Radio Days in Catfish Alley

The recent effort to alter the name of Catfish Alley has generated a lot of conversation about a part of town many Columbians have cherished

Birney Imes: E.J. Stringer and Catfish Alley’s long history

Some years ago freelance writer Sylvia Higginbotham gave me a thick folder she compiled on the late E.J. Stringer. Sylvia had sought out Stringer, a

Birney Imes: The genius of Monticello

We are among the last to leave Monticello on this rainy July afternoon. For the past three hours we’ve been inside the head of Thomas

Birney Imes: Amazing collards

Imagine three couples and a film crew crowded into a garage in Clarksdale, Mississippi, during a March rainstorm. In the garage six Chinese-American cooks are tending four sizzling woks.

Birney Imes: The reluctant politico

After spending most of the day tending the business of the county, Harry Sanders is about to move on to something else, tomatoes. This particular

Partial to Home: Standing ovation

Robert Boudreau during his stay here has said a lot of nice things about Columbus. The other night the founder and director of the American Wind Symphony Orchestra called the town a Brigadoon.

It sounded complimentary, but until I went home and Googled it, I couldn’t be sure.

Birney Imes: In praise of chickens

If the nursery or nursing business ever stalls out for Debbie Lawrence and Kim Rushing, they can take their show on the road. Both are natural comedians, who share a passion for an irresistible and timeless subject: chickens.

Birney Imes: A postcard from the Upper East Side

New York City, May 31 — The park is quiet at this hour. It’s one of those brilliant Manhattan mornings — clear, cool and breezy. The world feels as though it was recreated overnight and in this city of endless possibilities, the possibilities this day seem endless.

In love with daylilies

Growing up on a cotton farm in Lamar County, Ala., Juanice Hayes made a promise to herself — she would not make her living hoeing in the dirt. She had plenty of that as a child, thank you. And while that has been the case, technically speaking — Hayes taught fifth grade at New Hope for 34 years — she has broken that promise. In a big way.

Birney Imes: The trumpets of angels

A.J. Steverson wants to set the record straight. It’s the Hitch Lot, not the Hitching Lot, as it is often called. A.J. should know. He grew up in a white clapboard house near the southwest corner of the Hitching … I mean Hitch Lot. He can remember when farmers hitched their horse-drawn wagons there and walked up the hill into town.

His playground was the clouds

Tom Hardy, a scion of a Prairie family who was also an aeronautical engineer, fighter pilot, sailor, farmer, real estate broker, glider pilot and devotee of Kipling, died Wednesday. He was 93.

Partial to Home: Highway 61 (Coffeehouse) revisited

Twice a week Harry Walker and John Jones meet here for two hours of chess. Here is the Highway 61 Coffeehouse, a hole-in-the-wall on a sloping street two blocks above the Mississippi River. Both men are retired, Walker from Entergy and Jones as IT specialist for several Fortune 500 companies.

Birney Imes: Rheta, Hank and the first hummingbird

At 3:30 a.m. the cat is asleep in the zinnias. Unable to sleep, myself, I’m taking a flashlight tour of my flower garden and eating

Birney Imes: Festival offers cornucopia of sensory delights

I got a gal in Cincinnati Got a woman in San Antone I always loved the girl next door But any place is home By

Birney Imes: Street-front gardens offer drive-by delights

Our early spring has gardeners in a feeding frenzy. Go to any garden center and see for yourself. Friday, at a local nursery, I saw a woman wearing a T-shirt that read, “Will Garden for Food.”