Possumhaw: A basket full of blessings to boot

It had been 10 days and Sam was sick and tired of being sick and tired. He had only been out of the house for a trip to Robert's Apothecary for vitamins, nasal spray and a B-12 shot. He pinned his hopes on Robert's elixirs, supplemented with Dayquil and Nyquil.

Birney Imes: 50 years on the campaign trail

Friday afternoon Adrine Younger welcomed me into her tidy kitchen and offered me a glass of tea and a piece of Italian cream cake. The grandmother and widowed mother of five lives in a pleasant one-story farmhouse about a mile down a gravel road that bears the family name. I had come to talk politics.

Lynn Spruill: Thanksgiving for every day

This Thanksgiving marks an anniversary for a particularly difficult time, probably one of my most traumatic days. I have the gift of not remembering the bad things so when something stands out, it is for a reason.

Slimantics: My favorite Egg Bowl: 'Rebels Get Turkey Day Stuffing'

In the 1960s, Tupelo was an Ole Miss town. This was especially true in east Tupelo, my part of town, and Lawhon Elementary school, where I attended first through eighth grade.

Ask Rufus: Oysters, steamboats and Thanksgiving

Next week brings the American Thanksgiving holiday and for most of us a wonderful feast.

Birney Imes: Coffee run evokes memories of days past

Friday morning started out with a small crisis. We were out of coffee and I had a gathering to attend before 7. The downtown shop I frequent doesn't open until 7:30, so I headed out 45 for a national coffee chain that takes its name from a character in Moby Dick. (The company, I learned on the Internet, was almost named for the whaling ship in the story, Pequod.)

Lynn Spruill: Another way of thinking about dogs and cemeteries

There are differing ideas about the recently proposed ban on allowing dogs in public cemeteries in Starkville.

Slimantics: Possibly the best Egg Bowl ever

The Egg Bowl was played Wednesday on the Mississippi State campus and for time first time ever, it didn't matter who won or lost.

Slimantics: Public hearing fails to 'Inspire'

The public hearing had just ended. As Tommie Cardin was packing up for his drive back to Jackson, Darren Leach approached him and made what seemed to me a curious comment.

Possumhaw: Havoc in the boat shed

Shirley, my walking partner turned house sitter, reported all went well at the Prairie house while we were away. She had only one scare when she feared Jack, the cat, had expired on the sofa.

Ask Rufus: Choctaw baskets

"Since time memorial the Choctaw Indians have lived in Mississippi, and have made baskets of the reed cane which grows in the swamps of the south." So begins a ca. 1920 letter from Mrs. J.E. Arnold, a Baptist missionary to the Choctaw in Union.

Birney Imes: Trees from acorns

In 1953 the French writer Jean Giono published a thin volume, titled, "The Man Who Planted Trees." The story's narrator, hiking alone in the south of France, comes upon a desolate, treeless valley covered in wild lavender. The year is 1910.

Slimantics: 1980 win over Tide was coronation of the King of the County Line

On Nov. 1, 1980, John Bond became a king and I became one of his subjects.

Possumhaw: Fear of thresholds

From the front porch I studied the lake and the fields and deer grazing along the tree line.

Ask Rufus: The mystery of Mrs. Canant

It is a simple marble military headstone in a sea of more than a thousand white marble military headstones. It is not a soldier, though, who is buried there.

Lynn Spruill: Winning halo

There are the obvious, direct and immediate benefits of having a strong national standing for your football team. And there are some indirect benefits.

Slimantics: An American music true to its roots

I despise country music and I'm not too keen about the music you generally hear in church, either. This was not always the case.

Best of the Triangle 2017

Best Area Professionals 2017

2018 Dining Guide