Hill Country Living
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Hill Country Living
By Coulter Fussell
Happy Spring Break, Water Valley! All the teenagers are gone (or wishing they were gone) and all the teachers are bragging about not having to go to work. A week of not having to deal with our town’s children is certainly brag-worthy so we’ll let them have it.
My Spring Break plans involved taking my two teenage sons with me on two-day work trip to Savannah, Georgia. My kids have been beach-spoiled over the years by the undeniable glory that is the Redneck Riviera of the north Florida Panhandle and I had to explain to them that Savannah’s brown sand, brown water and Spanish moss is also “the beach.” It’s just less Club LaVela vibes and more haunted by a lost conquistador vibes.
There’s a lot to appreciate in each coastal experience and, despite what my kids argued, there are girls on the Georgia coast. Did we see any? Technically, no. But I’m not here to argue facts.
In Water Valley hometown news, we have the Casey Jones Music Fest coming up on Saturday March 22nd! Y’all, it’s gonna be great. We have a lot planned for everyone – Arts and Craft vendors, a vintage car show on Main Street, several stages with a long line-up of musical guests and, most exciting for me, a 5K Run and Walk!
Speaking of a 5k, as per usual, I was meeting my husband down at the track a couple weeks ago when he was finishing up his daily run. As I approached him on the length of the track, though, I could begin to see that his brand-new blue baseball cap seemed to have bled blue dye all down the front of his white t-shirt. It was a bizarre sight. Once I got to him I asked, “What’s all that over your shirt?! I think the color from your cap ran.”
In rare frustration, he indignantly relayed that he was running his usual route through town when some crazed children ran into the road and, in a wild fit, threw blue powder all over him. He was mystified as to why this would happen to a person.
So, I would like to publicly thank the Water Valley Junior Auxiliary for giving me the chance to explain to my husband what a 5k Color Run is! He was not ambushed by wild children as he had suspected but had, unbeknownst to himself, accidentally participated in the JA 5K Color Run for a small stretch of his regular 5K non-color run.
I appreciate all the feedback I got from various people relating to my column’s mention of the Batesville emu a couple of weeks ago. I’m hoping she will be found soon but I also feel conflicted like maybe this is a “Thelma and Louise” type situation and the emu is actually living her best life in the open wilds of Panola County. Is this whole escapade her convertible-top-down-on-the-highway, wind-in-the-hair-or-feathers-in-this-case moment?
Who knows the yearnings of a lost emu’s heart? What I do know, is that she could have given the Parchman escapee some pointers on alluding authorities but I reckon we are all glad she never encountered that guy. His allusive odyssey through Mississippi certainly would have been ended sooner, though, if we had the Water Valley Junior Auxiliary around to throw color dust on him when he ran by!
