David Creel: Consider the seasons
I welcome fall. Each new season brings with it the obvious pause to reflect on last year or the year before, and perhaps the future as well. But do we ever really sit still to breathe in the cooler breezes at sunset or marvel at the many shades of joy that can be gathered from a pile of fallen leaves?
September Table Talks begin Wednesday
The Friends of the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library will launch the September Table Talk series on Wednesday, Sept. 7, at noon in the library meeting room, 314 7th St. N., with a presentation on Tennessee Williams’ Family in Columbus.
From crypt keepers to desire: TWT scholars offer insight
Just as they have for the past nine years, scholars’ presentations during the Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour of Victorian Homes in Columbus Sept. 6-11 will explore inspirations and internal demons that propel some of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright’s work.
Betty Stone: From the Y to teaching, and back again
Nancy Hendrix is a delightful young woman who sandwiches conducting our senior aquatic exercises at the YMCA in two classes there, three classes at Mississippi University for Women and an after-school program in Caledonia.
More than wee fun: Fuchsia Band to showcase Irish music
Máirtin de Cógáin is a singing, dancing, storytelling bodhrán player who pledges plenty of Gaelic ceoil agus craic (music and fun) when the Fuchsia Band of Ireland performs in Cromwell Theatre Monday, Sept. 12. The Columbus Arts Council and Mississippi University for Women Department of Music and Theatre presentation on the university campus begins at 7 p.m.
Adele Elliott: Caffeine queen
Let’s face it — we all have some sort of addiction. Most of us would never put our hobbies or (dare I say) obsessions in that category. However, such things as Facebook, online games, soap operas, sports, religious fanaticism, and almost anything that eats up precious time might be classified as an addiction, even if not against the law.
Life on canvas: From portraits to possums, Columbus artist is inspired by it all
“You can’t look at eyes as eyes and just draw them,” mused Renée Sheridan in her soft, sing-song cadence. “You can’t think, ‘I know how eyes are — they’re oval and have a circle in the middle.’ You look at eyes as light and dark. You’re always looking at where the light is meeting the dark … and you draw what you see.”
Rufus Ward: Sharks in your backyard
Many young people — and old ones too — enjoy collecting fossil shark’s teeth. The Tombigee River Valley is full of chalk and sand outcroppings that contain many different kinds of fossils. In the Golden Triangle area, these deposits are mostly from the Cretaceous Period of geologic history and range from about 70 to 82 million years old. Throughout the area are found the teeth of sharks, giant fish, sea going reptiles and even an occasional dinosaur.
PHOTO GALLERY: High on the hog: Roast n’ Boast 2011 (link)
Fine eatin’ and hot competition were all part of the 2011 Roast n’ Boast barbecue cooking competition at Columbus Fairgrounds Aug. 26-27.
Town plans for Caledonia Days
CALEDONIA — The eighth annual Caledonia Days festival is still a month and a half away, but plans are swiftly falling into place.
Shannon Bardwell: Save the cans
I looked like a life-size Barbie standing in the middle of Tonka Town amid groaning machines, dust whirling and noise sounding like jets crashing together.
Cello, violin showcased in Tuesday recital
The Columbus Arts Council and the Suzuki String Program will host a free duo recital performance of cello and violin at the Rosenzweig Arts Center, 501 Main St., Columbus, Tuesday, Aug. 30, from 7-8 p.m.
David Creel: My sweet mama
My mama is dying, not “dying” for a new Jaguar or another slice of chocolate cake, mind you. Those things have been on her want list before, but not now. Heck, she even got the green Jaguar from my daddy and some chocolate cake on her 65th birthday.
Howlin’ Wolf Blues Fest to host multiple award-winners
Blues festival fans are an intrepid bunch, used to putting up with muggy temperatures, dust or mud to get their live fix. But the annual Howlin’ Wolf Memorial Blues Festival every Labor Day weekend in West Point offers a welcome break.
Community Counseling’s new shops in West Point: Retail with real purpose
When Elizabeth Schaffenburg unlocks the doors of The Shops at Community Commons in West Point each morning, she knows the day is going to be about much more than selling an antique armoire or a gently-read copy of a New York Times best-seller.
Adele Elliott: The write stuff
Once upon a time we all learned penmanship. Grammar school children had big tablets with solid and dotted lines. We were taught to stretch our capital letters between the straight lines, and hit the dotted ones with the tops of small letters. It all looked like rows of boxes, some open and others closed.
Plenty of roastin’ and boastin’ to go around at barbecue fest today
Give Billy Sims a hot grill, a fine piece of meat and a barbecue contest, and he’s rarin’ to go. Today he and the rest of the River Rat Pig Porkers join dozens of other competitive teams at the annual Roast n’ Boast, the Mississippi state barbecue cooking contest at Columbus Fairgrounds that will benefit the American Cancer Society.
Cruisers rev up for Saturday’s 20th anniversary car show
The roadsters, hot rods, muscle cars and Model A’s will all strut their stuff at the East Bank of the John C. Stennis Lock and Dam Saturday in Columbus.
Shannon Bardwell: Neighbors’ bounty
On a regular basis I find fresh brown eggs waiting for me at the end of the driveway. Two egg crates will be balanced precariously on the gate posts. The eggs are gifts from the Wiygul’s chickens, and fine eggs they are.