Christiansen's Comment Hinds County Gazette July 14 2011

It is still hot here in mid Mississippi… record heat…Our once very stylish ,crisp linen and cotton outfits…are no longer crisp…they are crumpled, rumpled and clinging to us, like plastic wrap…. our makeup melted off weeks ago, our sweet southern smiles, has turned to more of a forced grins …but we are soldiering on …chin up and shoulders back…The PGA Viking golf classic is this week and we start Bible School next week….

Even though it blistering hot out there… Our Southern hospitality is not suffering from the heat. Inez Lee‘ has a birthday this Sunday, this will be the number 90. There will be a celebration honoring Ms Inez at the Edwards Methodist Church, family center from two until four this Sunday, July 17. If you Know Ms Inez please come….you will no doubt see folks you have not seen in a good while…..And there will be nibbles and punch!

Ms Inez and just a few of her many fans....

And our Ms Worrell will be 99 this Sunday! That is a lot of Mississippi Summers! Happy Birthday Ms Worrell!

Ms. Worrell's birthday 2004

Bolton’s St Mary’s and Raymond’s St Marks Episcopal churches have entertained us with wonderful musical programs this Summer. You all, every time I attended one of these programs, a memory would almost spark…But I could not quite grab it….I could not put a picture to what I was feeling …. I would lose it. But this Sunday, the Brick Street Barber Shop quartet came at St Mary’s and while they were performing, the memory… it came to me!

St Marks
Raymond Mississippi

St Marys
Bolton Mississippi

Back when I was growing up every city park had a band stand…it was a large white gazebo affair and Sunday afternoon bands would play. …and probably groups singing….I don’t remember. When the elusive memory finally clicked , I could see children, they were laughing…the music was way in the background…I was at the swings, merry go round and teeter totters at the park in Palisade Nebraska with lots of kids. No doubt we kids didn’t sit quietly enough to suit the adults and we were told to “go play” .



I love recapturing old forgotten memories. Memories from days past is one of Gods great gifts to old folks. …. old folks tend to live in the past and ramble…To all of you out there in Gazette Land thanks for listening. Call if you need me.

Christiansen's Comments from Hinds County Gazette June 30 2011

It is Summer and life take on a more anxious pattern in the Summer, don’t you think? Summer, well, more accurately, warm weather brings with it tornado season and has us nervously standing in the doorway watching the clouds churning and the sky change colors. Some years warm weather brings rain….so much rain we begin to wonder if it will stop long enough get the crops in the ground. Other years we are watching rivers rise flooding the fields and homes… forcing folks to abruptly change the course of their lives . Some years it is drought…no rain…..weeks without rain…the ground turns cracks and turns to dust.

This year seems we have had it all….Killer tornados, record flooding and drought….



I watched my farmer friend Russell as the days without rain wore on and on….turning into weeks of no rain….acres and acres of planted fields desperate for rain….it can’t be easy watching crops suffer….his face, not unlike the parched ground seemed to crack a bit ….

Russell and his dog Lee

But Russell is my new favorite hero….every year Russell plants a field of sweet corn and shares the corn with so many folks around Edwards and beyond…. We look forward to corn picking time at Cannada Farms….Asking , “When will the corn be ready?”



The fields of corn and soy beans, the cash crops Russell couldn’t do anything about them….but that field of sweet corn, he would be giving away to friends, family and neighbors…They hauled water from a pond to save the sweet corn….picked it, brought a pickup load to Church, sacked it and gave it away….I feel sure Russell and Scott have been delivering corn all over the county….and letting friends and neighbors pick what they wanted.



The lesson learned from Russell…Is you can’t help but worry……but give up, no. Russell did what he could do…..one thing he could do was tend to that patch of sweet corn….and by doing so brought much pleasure to so many.



Of course I think we all know that when life is a bit rocky we should have faith and do what we can do…but the lesson sinks deeper when we see someone actually doing it.



I am grateful the life lesson reminder… when times appear bleak and unpredictable ….“Do What You can Do”…. and I am also grateful for the corn.



Rain has since fallen on the fields around the county…I don’t know if it was enough…but Russell’s smile was much broader Sunday.



Love to all call if you need me