As of Sunday, we are officially over halfway on our pilgrimage to our parish. We walked 1.9 miles Sunday for a grand total of 9.3 miles out of 15. Not much by most standards but for someone who could only walk for ten minutes at a time a couple of months ago, this is pretty good. The picture above shows our stopping point. We have now reached a U.S. highway which is in parts wider than anyplace we've been before and compared with the roads we've passed is a veritable business hub, although there's a long empty space, too. Very soon we will pass a Walmart and know that we have truly reached the big city, population 8124 as of July 2011.
I mentioned before that we pray when we pass cemeteries. This is Magnolia Cemetery, but it's hard to read because the letters are hidden in a pine tree, which doesn't seem quite right. In fact, I don't think I see any magnolias there.
Here is the railroad that was just about at the 1.5 mile mark.
Our granddaughter Tessa, she of the beautiful smoke picture and the great snake adventure, walked with us, which was really nice.
Bill wears that orange hat so people can see him. Tessa just has her hair.
This was a nice-ish sort of place we passed along the way.
Nice-ish but out of focus.
Just as Bill left us to drive the car down to the end of the road, a pack of dogs came up over the side of the road opposite us. It is always thus. These things happen during the longest possible time Bill will be away from us. I was more concerned with sneaking past them quietly than taking a picture, but they looked fairly friendly. When we drove past them on the way back, I saw that they had puppies down below, so I'm glad the mother decided we were far enough away for them to be safe.
So, there you have it. I'm really eager to get back out and continue down the road.The funny thing about fractions is that it takes forever to get halfway, but we should reach the 2/3 point on the next walk. This is exciting! We can only make our pilgrimage on weekends because by the time we get home, it's too dark, so we have to walk closer to work.
Of course, when we get to our parish, we have to turn around and walk from our parish to another church where I go to Mass occasionally, and then another, and another. But that's another story.
St. James, pray for us.
AMDG
Earlier I typed daughter instead of granddaughter when talking about Tess, but she is, of course, the latter.
This is so great, Janet. I had come in kind of in medias res and I didn't immediately figure out what your pilgrimage was. Now that I get it, I'm cheering you on!
ReplyDeleteAnd these are great pictures. I love Mississippi this time of year.
Thanks. I appreciate the cheers.
ReplyDeleteI love Mississippi in winter, too. I think I really like bleak. And there is this rusty color everywhere that I love. It's been very warm, but that is supposed to change with a big boom any time now.
AMDG
Yes, I'm really enjoying this, too. And as I've mentioned before it's so much like where I'm from.
ReplyDeleteThat's the landscape that says Christmas to me. When I was growing up, we used to go out to my grandparents' in the country around Stateline and Tchulahoma Roads (back when that was deep country) and walk for what felt like fifty miles through cotton and soybean fields to find a cedar to cut down for our Christmas tree. I just reflexively associate Christmas with mud and gray woods.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in college my mother sent me a set of cassette tapes called Home for Christmas, which were miraculous -- they had bluegrass, and an Austrian boys' choir singing "Lo, How a Rose," and all kinds of folk music, and what we now think of as "world music," though I'm not sure that term existed then. They were really cool (my roommate, who loved Lionel Richie, hated them). One of my favorite things on these tapes was a set of instrumental blues guitar music, really simple and primitive, and every time I listened to it, I saw mud and gray woods, and that was Christmastime.
When Tessa was living with us and going to school at Sacred Heart in Southaven which is on the corner of Tchulahoma and Church Road, I discovered that area. I used to drop her off and then drive up Tchulahoma to Memphis. Even now parts of it are gorgeous--two lanes with trees meeting over the road. There was one enormous field that used to fill up with migrating starlings. One day there must have been thousands and they all rose up from the ground about the time we passed. It was gorgeous. I've never seen anything like it before. Now there is a great big blocky building on the field.
ReplyDeleteAMDG
The speed limit on some of these country roads is posted 35 mph but at that speed, you will soon become the head of angry parade. The usual speed is about 60 mph or 88+feet/sec. I wear the hunter-orange hat to add to our visibility.
ReplyDeleteIts too bad we can't walk on the interstate. Those road shoulders are spacious compared to some of the county roads.