Today is Easter Sunday.  For me it has never been a big holiday. Growing up my family would go to church and visit relatives.  But for me personally it never had the special significance that Christmas or Thanksgiving do.  About the only tradition I personally have is eating Cadbury cream eggs every year around this time because … well just because. When I went to college we only got one day off and being that it was near the end of the semester it didn’t seem worth the effort to travel all the way back from Buffalo for just one day.  Thus you can imagine that the concept of flying back from the Delta is not attractive.

Mississippians seem to see things differently.  First of all Good Friday is a holiday around here.  Delta State was closed then instead of Monday as SUNY Albany and SUNY Buffalo where when I attended.  And people where talking about Easter and making plans.  Several coworkers asked if I was going home and were surprised to find that I was not.  Around town folks were making plans to travel, see family, and go to church (at dawn apparently).    Even the local froyo shop is closed.

For me this weekend has been uneventful.  A planned work day at the community garden on Friday was cancelled when the organizer realized there wasn’t much to do.  So I’ve been catching up on work and relaxing.  With most of that done today is a lazy day of sleeping in and cooking.

Holidays in general are boring with out something to do.  At least on the 4th of July there are fireworks, but some such as Labor Day can be downright dull.  Still it is good to unwind every so often and holidays are the perfect excuse to do just that since businesses (and DSU) tend to be closed.  However that gets old eventually.  But there may be hope for the next holiday!  Stay tuned to find out what that is and where the Rambling New Yorker will travel to next.

Along with Octoberfest, Crossties is one of two big festivals in Cleveland.  They basically bookend the festival season around here.  Unlike Octoberfest there was no barbecue competition.  Instead the main feature was a Jazz concert featuring various artists, some local others not.  I recognized a few of the names. The event was closed out by the Delta State Steel Drum band.  They are very good and it’s always a treat to see them play.

Additionally there were also arts and crafts vendors with several departments and student groups from the University also having booths.  The local arts scene in Mississippi is one of the thing I like about living here. Most people don’t really think of art when they think of Mississippi or the Delta.  But Crossties had a lot of unique stuff. For example a friend of mine who teaches at DSU, was selling various types of woodwork such as stools and cutting boards.  But there are also people who travel around between festivals in the summertime and make their wares in the winter.  While walking about I saw people selling pottery, picture frames, paintings, clothing, and jewelry.  My personal favorite was a fellow named Dell Clark who was selling rings made from Victorian Era cuff links.  You can see some of his stuff in the pictures below. Unfortunately the website on his flyer, www.cufflinkrings.com does not work at the moment, however you can find more information at the website for his antique shop.  Art truly knows no boundaries.

Of course there was food.  This being the South there was a barbecue stand front and center.  It was very good and this time I took a picture.  Another truck was selling crawfish.  There was also your standard festival fare.  Sadly I did not have any funnel cake.  Perhaps next time.

All in all it was a fun afternoon.  The only downside was that it ended at 4 although there are only so many arts and crafts one can sell, especially when you have to talk over a band.  But there will be more festivals and with them, more blog posts.

This pulled pork was excellent.

A crawfish boiler

Cufflink Rings

More Cufflink Rings

One of the perks of living in the South is that the weather warms up quickly.  This week it was in the 80s and while cooler weather is here such things don’t last this time of year.  But there is a downside as you may have guessed by the picture to the left. The weather around here can get a bit crazy in the Spring. That means thunderstorms, hail, and even the occasional tornado.

You can probably guess where this is going.  Last night I had my very first tornado warning.  At around 2 AM an alert on my phone woke me up.  The storm which has been making its way across the Midwest was about to arrive.  15 minutes later the Accuweather app served up the notification.  Having read up on what to do I quickly gathered up my keys, cell phone, and wallet and headed into the bathroom (the only room with no windows) with a flashlight and a couch cushion to hide in the tub.  There I stayed for about 45 minutes, curled up with the faucet dripping water on my head.  Meanwhile the storm raged outside, rain pounding on the windows as the power flickered (but did not fail).  By 3 AM it was all over.  After reading on Facebook that the damage seemed to be minimal I went back to bed.

Tornadoes are one of the things that are feared by people who aren’t used to them.  It’s really the randomness which is scary.  Last night wasn’t that bad.  There wasn’t any hail and the power never went out. The Holiday Inn Express had its sign blown down (onto some poor soul’s car no less) and an 18 wheeler went off the road around Alligator, Mississippi, but not much else happened.  By comparison, these pictures show that other areas were not as lucky.  It could have been a lot worse and for all I know next time it will be.

So you really have to treat every incident like an emergency.  Tornadoes often can’t be seen, especially at night, so it won’t be obvious until after the fact how bad the situation is.  Having had one experience I know what to do next time which makes me feel better.  That my apartment is on the first floor of a brick building certainly helps.  However there is no escaping the weather.  One can only prepare for it.