away, and back

I keep planning to do this thing on a regular basis, just for the discipline of it all.  Sometimes I think it would really help me clear up my thoughts if I could write them here, trying to be coherent, two or three times a week (ha!).  Other times I think that the kind of writing that goes into blogs, including this one, is hardly disciplined at all.  It takes time and revisions to think through an idea, and to present it well.

It would possibly be more effective to blog regularly, once a week. To begin on Monday, add to it, review it, edit it and post it on Sunday.  But hardly anyone, including me, expects that from a blog, so most blogs are read quickly, and anything that takes more than six minutes to read hardly gets read.

But, so far, I have had a tough time doing either.

My excuse this time is that I went away.  That's a good enough excuse.

We packed up and got out of the long lingering cold weather and journeyed to the far off Southland.

First we visited that stately town on the bluff, Natchez, Mississippi.  When we got there people asked us why we had come.  They seemed a bit puzzled.  Natchez turns out to be a smaller town than I expected.  But otherwise, it was more than I expected.

We went there to see the river.  And that was reason enough.  A mile wide, muddy brown, swirling in seven directions at once as it pushed itself downstream, the mighty Mississippi lived up to its reputation.  The people in the town said they respected and feared it a bit.  It was not to be taken lightly. The currents were strong and unforgiving, especially at this time of year.

The town was charming, a beautiful example of the old South.  The people were friendly, more than approachable, willing to talk, and happy to have some Yankees walk through. We saw the stately old homes. We ate some great Southern cookin', We drove a few miles up the Natchez Trace, which is something we hardly knew about.  A beautiful road, that winds by itself all the way up to Nashville.

But then we turned around and drove south, following the river, through St. Francesville, La, a town of simple pleasures and unique treasures, right on the river.  Then we drove past the oil refineries, and the tallest state capitol building in the country, which is in Baton Rouge.  We also saw where the River takes a turn, and the oil tankers come and go, under yet another huge Mississippi River Bridge.

The rest of the week was spent in and around the Big Easy.  The French Quarter, filled with tourists, music, a great deal of alcohol, better music, more alcohol, and great food.  The Garden district, with funky Magazine Street, some of the best graveyards in the country, and  some still remaining houses that were ruined in Katrina.  We saw alligators in the Bayous, and ate shrimp, oysters and grits everywhere.

Now, we have returned to New England and are again, freezing our asses off.

It's great to get away.  It's fun to talk to people who I don't have to try to help.

Again, I am left with the perception that I do not think in the manner of many of my countrymen.  I do not immediately look for a business angle of for the faster pleasures. I always seem to feel that things are more complex than what is being presented.

Often, I am left feeling that I just make my own life more difficult, but it's too late to change that, and I don't want to anyway, because, even though I say I'm open minded, I know I'm right.

But they sure do have some big boats going up and down that river.  I could sit in that warm sun, with a beer in my hand, and watch them go by all day.  Not much complex about that.