October 18, 2026- Hana is starting to mimic sounds. When her mother made a mooing sound, after putting a pair of cow-print pants on her, Hana made her own mooing sound. This afternoon, on our neighbourhood walk to find Halloween displays, we passed a front yard with six witch figures. I let out a cackle and Hana made her own cackling sound. She laughs heartily, when someone mimics her babbling.
My granddaughter continues to show interest in the framed photos in my common area. She was delighted to see one of her parents at their civil wedding of November, 2018. That ceremony, in Guam, was what made it easier for Yunhee to get her Green Card, as it was performed on U.S. soil. Hana is thankfully very careful, when handling the pictures.
HANA’S NOTE- Papa takes me on some pretty long walks in the stroller. We are finding new connections between our neighbourhood and some others that seem far away. I usually fall asleep on the way back.
EXPANDING CIRCLES: Mississippi- The Magnolia State shares its namesake’s final course towards the Gulf of Mexico, with Louisiana, until their border takes a sharp right-hand turn, just south of Point Breeze. Louisiana then has the Father of Waters all to itself, the rest of the way.
I have made seven visits to “the Sip”, as the home folks sometimes call it. I first passed through in 1987, on a bus between Atlanta and New Orleans. Our stops at Meridian, Jackson, Hattiesburg and Biloxi were fairly short. In 2000, Aram and I stopped for lunch in Jackson, and toured Vicksburg National Military Park. My solo road trips took me along the coast in 2015 and 2022, and to various spots in the interior on other cross country jaunts. I’ve found nothing but heartfelt hospitality here, from both Black and White folks. Paying homage to Emmitt Till, Fannie Lou Hamer and the three Civil Rights workers who were killed in Philadelphia, MS (1964) did not make me suspicious to anyone. People mostly are trying to rise above the limitations of the past.
The turf- Most of the Magnolia State is flat riparian plain. The northeast is a region of rolling hills, and piney woods. Mississippi is drained by the Mississippi, Pearl, Tombigbee, Pascagoula, Leaf, Tallahatchee and Yazoo Rivers, as well as their tributaries.
First Nations- Mississippi is the ancestral home of the Choctaw, Quapaw, Chickasaw, Natchez, Houma, Tunica, Biloxi and Ofo peoples. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw, descended from those who refused to leave their homeland during the Trail of Tears, in 1830-32, is the only Federally-recognized Native American entity in the state. All others were relocated, in the Jacksonian Era. (Prior to Andrew Jackson’s campaign of relocation, the Choctaw sold 4.5 million acres of land to the U. S. Government, under the terms of the Treaty of Mount Dexter {1805}.) The Natchez have returned since, and have a significant community at Grand Village.
Where I most feel at home- Ocean Springs, Waveland, Tupelo, Ruleville, Vicksburg, Corinth
Where I most feel at peace- Corinth, Ruleville, Natchez Trace
NEXT: We head back up to the states of the Central Great Lakes region- starting with Indiana.
