Hinds County News  for October 2015
Life as I see it....

   As I am writing this, Sunday, September 20, 2015 the pups and I have been in Nebraska one year and two days.  We arrived in the late afternoon of, Thursday the 18^th, we were supposed to close on the house at 4 o’clock, we missed that, due to a detour in Kansas, I got lost and went way west to Dodge City Kansas.

   There was no option but to close that day, on this house, that I bought sight unseen, we had to have a place to sleep.  It all worked out we closed late that evening….And we all slept on the floor….Slept on floor several night waiting on our furniture to arrive.

   I just love the location of our house (“our” being me and the pups, Miss Shelby and Emma) the library, bank, court house, post office, the farmers market and city hall, are within three blocks.   Within 5 blocks there are four restaurants and a coffee shop. There are various other business in the downtown area, sporting goods, dress shops, furniture stores, second hand stores…seems to be lots of beauty shops….Oh!! Oh!!And a movie theater!

   And across the street is the beautiful Bethel Lutheran church,  lots of activity over there, they have a preschool, funerals, weddings,…lots to see from my white wicker chair on the front porch...and every Thursday this summer the lawn was mowed…. I am easily entertained.  And!! at dusk they light up one of the beautiful stained glass windows….When my Mississippi friends Jacqueline and Lindsey came in June, we sat on the porch every evening waiting for the window to be lite 9ish….stayed on the porch until it went out…10:17 If I remember correctly….Jacqueline and Lindsey are also easily entertained.

    We (We being the pups and I) are adjusting to the move, it is taking a bit longer then I had expected.  Actually Shelby adjusted straight away, the first night was a bit rough for the dogs.   At the time I did not have a fence and when I let them out … they just ran to the car and sat there looking at it expectantly….My guess is they were ready to get on back to Mississippi.

    But by the next morning when Shelby was breathing much better in this dry climate she was happy!   Emma found this yard too confining for her taste, and walking on a leash, that took some getting used to, Bless her, she had been a free range dog most of her life, but she is now fully acclimated to her new home on the plains, and enjoys her long walks tethered to the leash.

Emma checking out the neighborhood 

Shelby in her hidey hole...she thinks I can't see her
 Shelby hides when the leash comes out her..
I do not make her go.

  However, I am still adjusting…I have not  fully adapted to living in a 654 Square feet….and the tiny yard. , However I adjusted real quick to the less maintenance! 

     So anyway back to making adjustments....I grew up in Nebraska, I do not remember Nebraskans being so serious….these folks are far more serious than my experience with southerners.   Mid-west folks are hardworking, community spirited, lots of service organizations. Holdrege has a beautifully maintained parks, a very nice museum, a senior Center that serves tasty meals, city government seems to work very efficiently.

I said all of that to say this......If there is such a thing as a normal person, he/she will be discovered somewhere in the mid-west. 

 All of my Mississippi friends and acquaintances, to put it in the gentlest sort of way, were leaning rather heavily toward eccentric, A few even bordering on quite peculiar.  But every one of them were exceptional, original and creative…with big personalities. Characters really…not unlike those in plays and novels set in the south. Southern writers are talented, and I believe it is due in part, by the fact they were exposed to so many Characters. In fact there is a saying, “Here in the south, we don’t hide crazy, we parade it on the porch and give it a cocktail.”  Over the years, there were many many crazies, being served cocktails on my front porch.

The delightful thing about Southerners...They are convinced they were the only one normal...because everyone they know are at least a bit crazy. Early on I it tumbled to me that in the South our own crazy is normal. 

   I will adjust…But will these folks adjust to me?

     Speaking of Southern writers, Topher Payne, a Mississippi boy and playwright,  has a play opening in New York! New York! In October! Perfect Arrangement”

Topher Payne
Playwright 

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  Topher’s mom and dad. Cleve and Sheryl Payne live between Edwards and Bolton.    Topher calls Atlanta Georgia home…where has been involved with the theater, and has been won many awards.

    I know for sure Topher was inspired for at least one of his plays by people he knows…Because he wrote a hilarious play, inspired by the delightful, sometimes scatter brained, Henderson sisters, his mother and aunts. 

Miss you all, if you are ever this way please stop by!
Pictures added for blog