Canton Community Concert Series

With my participation in the Mississippi Community Symphonic Band and the Mississippi Baptist Symphony Orchestra, my circle of fellow musicians has grown. Each member of those organizations are dedicated to producing the most professional concerts they can. It also exposes us to people in the state of Mississippi who enjoy well-played music covering a broad spectrum of music styles and composers.

Martha Morgan is the principal flute player for the community. She also participates with the MBSO and First Baptist Church orchestra in Jackson, MS.

Martha, her son, Starkey, Jr. and the pianist from Liberty Baptist were the musicians for the Canton Community Concert Series. Starkey is the professional cello player of this trio.

Together, they provided the community of Canton, MS, a wonderful concert of diverse music to enjoy.

Lincoln Co. 4-H Club

This is the third year for me to photograph the Lincoln Co. 4-H Dinner and Auction. Such a thrill to see these young men and women involved with animals in such a loving and caring way. Each one of them are mature teenagers who have a passion for the care and upbringing of their animals. You can tell from the hours they dedicate to the animals in their feed, appearance and showmanship.

The parents are so supportive of their teenagers and their work with animals. So, this really a team effort.

While some of these teens may not continue their entire lives raising animals, the ground work for maturity, reponsibility and reward are being established.

Snow in Mississippi!

The predictions came true! Middle Mississippi received over 3" of snow. Nothing like the east coast records the past two weeks, but a wonderful reminder we are in the season called winter.

A blanket of winter snow, for me at least, is like an aquarium, or a fire in the fireplace - soothing and relaxing.

As you would expect, tomorrow's high is to be in the upper 40's. So, all the 'white stuff' will melt quickly.

Due to my recovery from having the C-6 and C-7 discs removed, I was told by top management of our home that I could only go outside and stand on the porch area, as long as it wasn't wet. You might think this is cruel and unusual punishment, but if I were to fall down during this recovery process, I might earn an expensive pass back to the hospital and more surgery to correct that damage. Or worse, loss of the use of my left arm. So the porch thing isn't so bad after all.

Twins First Birthday

Every grandparent looks forward to their grand children's first birthday and all of the hoopla involved in that grand occasion. Dianne and I are no different as grandparents!

This past weekend marked the first birthday of the twins, Sterling and Mary Presley. Joel and Jennifer were gracious enough to bring the twins to our house to make it a shorter drive for Kim, Joel's mom, to drive up from Natchez to enjoy the gift opening and birthday cupcake eating. We weren't disappointed in either event.Saturday, Jan. 16th was the birthday celebration with enough toys and clothes to cover up an size Christmas tree. One toy they both loved was a plastic, rolling object they could either ride or walk behind. Since they had a similar toy at their day care center, they quickly adapted to this new toy.






As you would expect, the cupcake eating was a treat to watch. Sterling, the boy that he is, took to stuffing as much of the desert into his mouth as possible. Mary Presley, being a girl, was slow and started with a finger of icing.

Sunday was the surprise event. Jennifer held Sterling's hands and then released him to take his first steps to Joel. It was so exciting that we were able to duplicate the event which I caught on my hd camcorder. While the taping time of this new discovery by Sterling is short, you'll find it attached to this blog along with a few seconds of gift opening and cupcake eating.

What a wonderful weekend to enjoy!