Delta Dreamin'

Last weekend, my parents came home from visiting my father's hometown of Anguilla, Mississippi. It is found in the cotton rich lands of the Delta. If you don't know what that means, those are flat lands that used to be flooded regularly and those floods deposited rich nutrients that are ideal for farming. In my mother's hands was a book of the art of a Mississippi artist named Gary Walters. This book is entitled 'Delta Dreamin'. The pages found in this book beautifully capture memories from my childhood. Memories from days spent visiting my paternal grandmother's home on the Sunflower River in Anguilla, Mississippi. Flat lands where the crickets sang me to sleep. Where my brother & I would bury things we found in the garage and would dig for the buried 'treasure' on the next visit. Where my sister I would sleep together in a room that my grandfather built. Where the bath water was so soft, I never needed lotion. Where my uncle would nail sheets of plastic to the windows to keep the cold winter wind out. Where fans would reside in those windows all summer long in attempt to cool the house. Where I first learned about 'party line' phones. Where I would always ride home with flowers in my lap, stems wrapped with wet paper towels, placed in old coffee cans. Where the TV was always too loud and my grandmother would call my grandfather, "Old man." Where my father was the baby.

Check out Mr. Walters' website http://www.garywalters55.com/ Take a visit with me to the Mississippi Delta.