Jaime Lauren Photography | Fine Art Film Wedding Photographer | Okanagan, Sonoma, Carmel, Big Sur

My husband Will caught in a candid moment, pondering something deep I’m sure.  Like catfish or copperheads or something of the sort.

Rather than bore you with some unending dissertation about my observations on the Deep South, (which is where I’m writing from at the moment) I figured I’d provide you with a few jot notes highlighting some of my favourite moments from our visit:

• Fishing ‘back yonder’ in the pond behind Will’s childhood home.  We used–get this–cane poles and live crickets.  I felt like I needed to don a straw hat and overalls and chew on a piece of hayseed.  Every time I return to the South I learn something new…and it usually has to do with something old!  Oh and we did come back with a nice little haul which Will cooked up for lunch the following day.
• Our visit with friends Dusty + Shanna and their three GORGEOUS little girls (all under 5!).  Shanna and I got an extra-long, very overdue visit in and caught up on the past two years.  Despite the fact that she and I come from totally different cultures, we are alike in so many ways and share a great love for beautiful things and open conversation.  Miss you already girl!
• Touring a couple of the illustrious antebellum (meaning pre-Civil war era) homes in Natchez on the Fourth of July.  Natchez is a city located on the Mississippi river and is famed for its large number of antebellum structures that survived the Civil War.  Half of America’s millionaires lived there before the war broke out and their grand homes-turned museums are open for tours and events.
• THE most spectacular lunch at an old home in Wesson that now serves as a restaurant and features country cookin’ with a twist.  And prides itself on cooking most everything from scratch, avoiding processed ingredients, and making use of whole, fresh foods–RIGHT up my alley.  For nine bucks, I had Shrimp and Eggplant Crostini served with sides of salad, baked potato casserole, broccoli and cheese casserole, (full yet?) and finished off with a portion of bread pudding.  Needless to say, I walked out with their cookbook.
• A colourful and lively conversation with some of Will’s family members who grew up in the country during the Civil Rights Movement.  Both sides of Will’s family were quite active in standing up for their black friends and neighbours during a time when even Christians were turning their back on what was right, and as a result, faced threats from the KKK, church members, and other locals.  But these folks I’m now related to are no spineless men and women and did not waver in their beliefs nor in their actions.
• And of course, spending time in the woods with Will.  Every time we go down south we head back into the woods to hunt, check on a deer stand, take photos of the swamp, etc.  This morning I joined Will and his dad to check on fishing lines that they and Will’s cousin Scott had set out on the creek the day before.  No catfish like they’d hoped, and no snakes either, which was actually what I was hoping for.  The evening before, Will, Billy, and Scott came back with stories of multiple copperheads they’d encountered.  I was hoping for a piece of that action this morning but no dice.  No worries though, as I was more than happy to tromp around in the bush, whacking at the underbrush with a large piece of bamboo and checking the treetops for snakes.

We’ve still got one more day here and I’m sure there’ll be more highlights to come, but if I could seek out just one, it’d be a fresh mint julep–cocktail of the south–which I can’t seem to order, no matter where I go.  Perhaps I’ll just have to fix one after I get back home and am longing for the richness of the Deep South.  If anyone has a favourite mint julep recipe, I’d love to get my hands on it!

Jaime

PS Y’all come back now y’hear!