It was a long drive to Petal, Mississipp from Portland, Oregon, but we finally made it. We had not given Jane a specific day to expect us, so we sent pictures to her when we were close.
For the first several days, we hung out at home, at Jane’s, resting and relaxing. Like last year, we started right away, cooking meals for her and her family, about half of the time.
On Friday, we headed to Hattisburg for a fried catfish lunch at 4th Street. Yum!!!! Later that evening, we went to Live at Five, a free concert in the park, held on Fridays in October. We had never been to that before.
Storm clouds were brewing so we packed up our chairs and made plans to meet Joel and Lanna at Keg & Barrel for a light supper. We barely got to the restaurant when the storm hit. Apparently many people, including the band, were still in the park and got soaked.
The next day, Saturday, The Lanna Wakeland Band was performing at Sidelines. Sidelines is where we held our “wedding dance”.
Later that week, I had an appointment with Jane’s hairdresser Toni. My highlights had been slowly turning blond and I wanted to get back to my real color.
The next week was also spent at home. We have cleaning, inside and outside both the truck and trailer plus Dave has his annual “To Do” list for Jane. But the weekend was play time again. We headed to the coast, early Saturday morning with Jane and Tom for Crusin’ The Coast, a car show along the coast.
We don’t have pictures, but stopped to listen to a band called Gypsy Rose, the same name as Tom’s band.
Later we headed to Biloxi to see more cars and hear more bands. We ended up watching and listening to a group that has been around for 30+ years, Vince Vance and the Valiants who originally recorded the perennial hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You” way back in 1989. Very entertaining.
We also met Jane’s friend Veronica and later, all five of us went to the home of their friends Marci and Jeff. Even though Marci and Jeff had just moved into their home a week earlier, they put together and impromptu meal. It was great making new friends.
On Saturday, October 4, we went to Sidelines to listen to our friends, The Lanna Wakeland Band.
As usual when we are in Mississippi, Dave has a ” To Do” list for Jane. He has been working on that and we have done a lot of relaxing. But one day, we had to drop the trailer off for some repair work. We needed to fill the day so decided to visit the Black Military Museum.
This building was built as a USO club for black soldiers from Camp Shelby in 1942. It is now a museum that covers the Revolutionary War through Desert Storm. It is very well done and informative. It was awesome to see how many “firsts” came out of the Hattiesburg area, such as the first black pilot.
On Friday, we went out to Brewsky’s. Tom’s band, Gypsy Rose was opening for a Van Halen coverband, “84”. There is an awesome 16-year old guitarist in 84.
ON Sataurday, October 26, we went to our second Halloween party in Hattiesburg, hosted by Ken Pace and Maurine Bruner-Philpot. We had as much fun this year as last. This is a special party because Jane and Tom met at this party 4 years ago.
There are so many wonderful musicians in Hattiesburg and we count many of them as our friends. As great as they all are, I am making a prediction that Cole Hill will be very famous some day.
On Halloween night, LWB was performing at Blu Jazz so we went to listen. Jane came with us because Tom was performing.
Many of our friends were there. They persuaded us to enter the costume contest. Even though they were inexpensive, simple costumes, we won second place. We think our friends contributed to our win, with their enthusiasm.
One night, Jo and Jane were cooking. It had been a stressful day and Jane asked if I wanted to share a Fireball. Of course!!!!
On a Sunday night in early November, I got a call from Nate. He and Kate are getting married! I am so thrilled my son is getting married and I love Kate. I will finally have a daughter-in-law!
The next day, we packed up to head to Gulf Shores for a few days. Please see the separate post here.
After returning from Gulf Shores, we only have 10 days left in Mississippi. We miss our family in Minnesota and look forward to seeing all of them over the holidays but I’m not sure I’m ready for colder weather. It will be a busy time, catching up with everyone and also doing all of our medical appointments.
One of our traditions in Petal is to go to supper on Friday evening. We meet at 4th Street Bar and hang out until Louise gets off work. Then we pick a place for supper. The group and location changes all the time. On November 8, we ended up at Papita’s Grill for Mexican food. Dave and I had never been there at it was delicious.
Our friends Ken and Jeannene Garbee asked us to come over on Sunday to spend one of the last warm days on their patio. It was another great day.
Our niece Hannah has two large, friendly dogs. She also fosters other dogs. Last Summer, Hannah saw an abandoned puppy and worked for two weeks to capture it. One day she found it with a swollen face from a snake bite, possibly a water moccasin. She was able to get the dog into her car and get it to a vet. One of its ailments was mange.
Hannah worked hard to get Shenzi healthy and acting like the puppy she is. Dave and I had been talking about getting a dog sometime in the near future. We fell in love with this gentle dog and are working on adopting her. It looks like this will happen, right after Christmas. We will rename her Boo.
Besides adopting Boo, we’ve been busy making plans for our trip to Minnesota. We have to plan holidays, medical appointments, family visits and other special occasions. We will stay primarily with our friend Rebecca but also at family homes from time to time. Because we are leaving our “home” for 6 weeks, it takes a lot of thought about what to bring and how to pack it, to make all of this as easy as possible. Dave thought I planned well last year, but I’m getting a little overwhelmed!
I love the bluebirds in Mississippi. They are not very common in Minnesota.
It is November 16 and we are heading back to Minnesota. The trailer stays in Mississippi at the home of Bill and Louise Singer. We have family and friends to visit, Holi to celebrate and a bunch of medical appointments. We’ll be back in Mississippi a few days after Christmas and will be able to take ownership of our puppy!
After Christmas 2019
We returned to Petal on December 27, to spey a few more days with family and to retrieve our trailer. We spent most of the time at Jane’s house, laying low. We didn’t even venture out on New Years Eve!
Below are a few photos of Jane’s family.
