Spring is near in Mississippi (continued)

This is a follow up post from my previous one about Spring in Mississippi. I had talked about Magnolias being the state flower. One of the sites I linked states that Mississippians pride their Magnolias. I truly believe that's an understatement!

A while back, I had offered to pick up my friend from her house. She gave me her address and proceeded to give me directions to her house. They were easy directions, turn left and turn right, 5 houses in... "Can't miss it. My house is the one with two big Magnolias out front!" ... *giggle* I haven't bothered counting the Maggies on that street, but hers are exactly as she said and they are magnificant :).

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I know I have at least one follower on my blog, Ms. Jenny. I know this because I learned about putting the "sign up for email" button at her request. And I know it works because she told me when she received her first email when I added a new blog post. And I also know I have "comments" set up right because she has commented on some of my posts. 

Ms. Jenny is my first Mississippi friend. I surprised her when I walked into the Starkville Hoopers Thursday morning meeting unannounced. She was quick to welcome me and explain to me the Hoopers is an informal quilt guild. Informal in the way that there are no officers and the weekly meetings are "sit and sews" rather than formal business meetings. She encouraged me to come back and also sent an introductory e-mail to a member of the Possum Town Quilter's guild which is in my home town, Columbus, MS. Hehe, I received an e-mail from the PTQ member the next day which led me to believe that Ms. Jenny sent the e-mail immediately after meeting me! So sweet and considerate, and I was awe struck by that well known Southern hospitality.

Ms. Jenny has a calm demeanor, talks quietly, listens attentively, and I can feel her joy for life, her delight in small miracles(and big ones too) most of us take for granted. And for me, having just moved here and EVERYthing seemed brand new to me, I instantly felt she was a kindred spirit. 

And so, when Ms. Jenny read my previous blog post, she sent me this picture of the Magnolia next to her mom's house. As you can see it is huge! 

This is what she said about it: "Naomi,,, I wanted to show you this Southern Magnolia in front of my mother's house (now mine and my sister's). It was perfectly shaped until the big storm of 2011(?) took a limb or two."

I asked her, "Do you think it was struck by lightning or broken by winds?"

Ms. Jenny: "the branches were broken by the wind from the big storm that went through in 2011. One tree hit the upstairs corner of the house and 20+ big oak trees were just laid over..."

Me: "It looks much taller than the 25 ft which is suggested growth height in all the info pages I found. Do you know how old it is?"

Ms. Jenny: "Wish it was blooming in this picture. It has to be between 50 and 60 years old.. I remember when there was another tree there when I was little.

They let it grow like you are supposed to - no trimming of lower limbs so you can mow under them!"

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At the mention of being able to mow under the tree. I remembered our last visit to one of my favorite historical sites around here, the Waveryly Mansion. And I got a picture of my MIL with my kids under the possibly oldest Magnolia in Mississippi. The trunk is wider than the three of them standing side by side!! And I'm sure the branch's spread must be at least 30 feet across. I know I couldn't get a good picture of the whole tree with my phone camera :). (Of course, I didn't catch it in bloom either, maybe this year.)

Looking at the trunk here, it's not the same tree my family is standing by. But it is a magnolia tree at the Waverly Mansion, and quite interesting to me :).

According to Town and Gown magazine,  "Waverly is also the site of the state's oldest Magnolia tree, estimated to be 250-300 years old..." It's just amazing! If you're ever visiting Mississippi, I recommend taking the tour of Waverly Mansion and her fantastic Magnolia! 

Spring is near in Mississippi! Birds and Blooms.

(some how the original post got copied over :(. I will try to rewrite as much as I can.)

I love Springtime!

I love the first blooms.

I love the critters that are coming out to enjoy the nice weather. The birds are just as colorful as the new bloom. Some come help me greet the morning at my kitchen window when I'm preparing my cup of coffee. I can easily identify the bright red Cardinals, Bluebirds, and red-breasted Robins. I have tried getting a quick snapshot of my beautiful visitors, but by the time I run for my phone and put it in camera mode, they are long gone. One of these days I will be prepared and wait patiently with my camera and coffee.

I used to try to identify what kind of birds were around by their calls. Soon after moving here, I learned the joke is on me when I learned that the Mississippi state bird is the Mockingbird. According to State Symbols USA "Mockingbirds have extraordinary vocal abilities - they can sing up to 200 songs, including the songs of other birds, insect and amphibian sounds, even an occasional mechanical noise."  To look up any state symbols you might be curious about go to www.statesymbolsusa.org.

The birds are very vocal all day long. As the afternoon fades into the evening, the singsong lyrics fade and soon the owls start their conversations. Actually, if you take a moment to sit and listen, you would find Mississippi is very noisy at night... cicadas, crickets, frogs, owls, and oh so many night time sounds!

All this talk about birds and critters and I don't have a single picture. But I do have a picture of my neighbors blooming Magnolia. And I had to find out what variety of Magnolia. 

 I believe this particular variety is the Saucer Magnolia. It blooms in early spring, even before the leaves form. 

 I first started researching Magnolia's three weeks after moving here when the Possum Town Quilters invited me to participate in their Ultimate Guild Challenge 2016. The theme was "Magnolia", which happens to be the Mississippi State flower. Lucky for me they had just started forming buds and I got many snapshots of the different stages. I can't share with you all my pictures though, because they were taken with my previous phone, except for these two that I pulled from my FB account :).

 

There are many facts about Maggies that I found extra interesting.

• There are 200+ varieties
• Fossils were found with identified Magnolia plant dated over 20 million years old
• Magnolia evolved before bees showed up and therefore are pollinated by beetles instead of bees.

And this is the quilt wallhanging that was inspired by my research. I wanted to include every stage of the Magnolia cycle, from bud to flower to seed pod and even the dropping of the seeds are shown in the heart-shaped swirls. My quilt is hand appliqued and hand quilted with only the binding attached by machine. 

"Faith of a Seed....
                   Beauty of the South"
completed Fed 2015

I will leave you with a photo of a beautiful Mississippi sunset. Wishing you many beautiful sunsets too.