Articles by Shannon Bardwell
Possumhaw: Long lived Magnolia
Down the road I noticed a stand of magnolia trees. These magnolias looked different from the one we have in our front yard.
Possumhaw: The Parsley Worm
Last week I noticed a caterpillar was consuming my parsley, the one planted in a flowerpot outside the garage door.
Possumhaw: Going, going, gone
Nature is so mesmerizing; there are days it is hard to take it all in.
Possumhaw: Of birds and butterflies
Awh, and then came the rain after what seemed like months without a drop of rain anywhere. The fields around the Prairie had begun to look parched and withered.
Possumhaw: Another day in prairie paradise
If asked, I wouldn’t trade anything for living in the Prairie. Today, you can look out across fields and see cotton growing, dried corn stalks standing, cows grazing and tall grasses swaying.
Possumhaw: One August morning
The man of the house left at an unbelievable hour headed for one or two of Mississippi’s famous crappie fishing lakes.
Possumhaw: Fleeting of summer
Identifying with the writings of Gladys Taber in her book “Stillmeadow Daybook,” Here shares her thoughts of the August garden.
Possumhaw: Dog days of August
Another beautiful not-so-hot morning on the porch. A slow breeze swept through the oak tree causing the leaves to tremble and the Spanish moss to sway back and forth.
Possumhaw: Birds of a feather
It’s hard to say exactly what’s going on with the weather this summer. The air is steamy. Grasses and fields should be dry, dying, with deep earthen cracks.
Possumhaw: Cicadas & moths, oh my!
The morning started out warm, somewhere in the seventies, it was quite comfortable.
Possumhaw: View from the porch
Temperatures dropped, making it easy to enjoy the front porch with Wilhelmina. A quiet breeze passing by; the temperature in the mid-seventies.
Possumhaw: When it’s hot it’s hot
The dog days of August have arrived in July. Even Wilhelmina the cat seeks a shady place to lie down and do nothing.
Possumhaw: What’s your talent?
Things seemed to have calmed down some since the thunderstorm warnings. We picked up a number of limbs, leaves and sticks so that everything is back to normal.
Possumhaw: Living at the speed of lightning
Last week was unnerving with continuous severe thunderstorm warnings. The first night I did my nightly reading while unusually loud claps of thunder and lightning strikes filled the window beside the bed.
Earthing, grounding, barefooting
The feel of worn boards under my feet felt good. I went back into the house to look for my shoes where even the cool floors felt soothing to my bare feet. I decided to nix my shoes for a while.
Possumhaw: Four and twenty “cowbirds”
Wilhelmina is taking her usual cat nap in the late afternoon. A bird is singing outside the window.
Possumhaw: All in a day
Since I’m officially retired, I get asked fairly often what I do now. Somedays I wonder that myself.
Possumhaw: Chew your words
When not working in the garden I started decluttering the home’s bookshelves. Every room in the house had an overfilled bookcase.
Deputies searching for two suspects in Sunday double homicide
June 29, 2025
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