O Brother, Where Art Thou

Here is the radio tower that was featured in the George Clooney movie, "O Brother, Where Art Thou". The radio station building has been torn down, but the tower still looms at a crossroads deep in the Delta west of Valley Park. Neat, huh?

Double-barrel shotgun house

My good friends Robert Walker and Jerry Rushing and I ventured into the Mississippi Delta this past Saturday and had a very productive photo-shooting safari. Above is a rarity I don't stumble across very often, hence the rarity — a double-barrel shotgun house. The two sides of the house are exact duplicates and if you shot a gun through either front door it would go straight out a back door. This structure is located in the middle of a corn field along with several other farm buildings, which you will see at some point in the near future.
It was a great day to be with friends out wandering across this great state of ours. That alone was worth going. I appreciate Robert's and Jerry's friendship and if we stumble across some good photos, then that is what my blogging friend Janie would call lagniappe! You can go to Janie's and Robert's photography blogs through the links on the right. It would be well worth it, my friends.

Delta Shack

This ol' shack is located right in the middle of a cotton field up near Rolling Fork. Haven't been back that way in a while, so I don't know if it is still standing.

Driving in the Delta

I drove up 61 into the Mississippi Delta on July 15. My mission was to see the annual butterfly invasion in Delta National Wildlife Area. There is a service road that enters the area from up around Valley Park and Cary and I figured that would give me a good idea if they had arrived yet. They had. But it was not as I expected. I have never seen that many small butterflies in all my life. They look like dust rising in the road ahead of your vehicle. Every once in a while there would be clumps of bigger butterflies. Getting photos of those clumps is hard, let me tell you. I shot a few photos of some of the bigger butterflies, including the fellow at the top, but finally gave up on taking photos and just enjoyed walking among the butterflies. I did not drive too far down the service road, because it felt like I would be killing hundreds of the little fellas as I drove. The guilt would not let me go any further, because I hate to kill a butterfly, much less scores of them.

The second photo is a storm I watched go over me near Onward on the way to Delta National. It was real low to the ground and was awesome to watch pass over. I could hear some rumblings of thunder, but never saw any lightning.

I decided to explore some side roads near Cary and found Mr. Turtle crossing the road. I got a blanket out of the truck, threw it on the ground in front of Mr. Turtle and saw how close I could get to him with a 100mm macro lens. Mr. Turtle did not appreciate this. I am just so glad that no one came down the road while I was lying in the middle of the road on a blanket with my camera in the face of Mr. Turtle. That would have been awkward to explain. I could not get Mr. Turtle to smile for the picture.

The Big Red Barn

I took a loop up through Rolling Fork this past weekend and I can't go through there without stopping and updating my photos of the Big Red Barn. These itty-bitty photos don't do justice to this big, big barn, however. It is quite an impressive structure. I have read about the history of this place and it must have been an even more impressive sight in its heyday. The landscape has also changed since I shot it a couple of years ago. The corral and fence that ran along the highway is gone, replaced by soybeans planted right up to the barn. I love the old gas pump out in the field near the barn and wonder how many families lived in the small home that is located on the farmplace. I am surprised that the silos are still standing. They make a person feel mighty small when you stand between them.

I hope this place can be preserved. It is such an important part of Rolling Fork's heritage.