Song of the South

(or Why Southern Thanksgivings are the Best, the Very Best)

28 November 2009


As I drove home (to my parents') on Tuesday, I reflected that while Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday anywhere, it is absolutely wonderful in the south. Why? Because it comes during warm, gorgeous weather. Sunshine. Blue skies. Birds singing. The woods smelling wonderful and inviting. And on and on.

Of course it isn't like that 100% of the time. But it is usually. And I love it. It enables me to lay out on the yard on a blanket to read in the sunny afternoons, with cardinals flying all around. To dry my clothes on the line. To run many miles with Benson (and by many, I mean like 4 at a time, which is a record for me). And to go for hikes.


The first southern, Thanksgiving hike that I remember is the one I went on with Uncle Brent and his sons in Durham, NC. (Anyone out there remember the pack of cigarettes we found and viciously destroyed?--a whole pack!) Well, there've been many since.


This year I had a couple from my hiking books that wanted to go on that were both close to parents' home. So, we got up on Friday morning and headed out.


I wanted to find an alligator, but didn't quite have success (they're hibernating this time of year). But we did find a heron, ducks (few different varieties), deer, squirrels, an owl (dead), an abandoned beaver lodge, racoon tracks and leftover Thanksgiving dinner (that would be the humongous shells you see down there), and maybe another animal I'm forgetting. Oh, lots of kinds of birds (saw and heard). We also saw many different beautiful plants. Including several southern flora that we hadn't seen for awhile (southern Arkansas is much more "the South" that my hill-billy Ozarks are). We also saw a pretty river, overlooking it from 90-foot chalk cliffs (they make cement out of the chalk). And the longest earthen dam in Arkansas. And a large lake made from the dam.

Basically we just thoroughly enjoyed the wonders of God's creations. It was a perfect day!

These pictures do no justice, but I hope you enjoy!

(look at all the cypress knees poking up)

(dogwood seeds, my favorite!)

(palmetto--made my mother's Florida heart happy)


I tried. Really tried to find one. Here's my closest success:
(it's a log; but it is in the section the trail guide tells you to look for gators. So maybe people just think it's a log.)


(excellent condition and beautiful)



Coon tracks (above) and leftovers (below)