It’s HOT.
Really HOT.
“Its rising is from one end of the heavens, and its circuit to the other end of them; and there is nothing hidden from its heat.” – Psalm 19:6
Hello, friends:) I hope this post finds you well as we melt into the latter days of summer (at least on the calendar).
My last news included an update on my knee rehab, and I’m pleased to say that all is going well a little over four months into the process. Having access to a pool this summer has made workouts enjoyable, and I hope to be back on my bicycle once the weather cools a bit. Thanks for your good thoughts and prayers of support.
School is starting this week for local elementary and high schools, and Delta State University will begin its fall semester in two weeks. I’m looking forward to seeing school busses roll down my street and hearing the cheers of the crowd and the high school band playing on Friday nights…small town pleasures.
For Delta State, changes are in the works that will shape the next chapter for the ‘ole school that we love best.’ Change is often hard and uncomfortable, but necessary for good health and growth. I found a Latin phrase that seemed to me to capture the essence of the work being done now: Succisa Virescit____”pruned, it grows green.” Sending good vibes to President Daniel Ennis and his team as they guide DSU in the days and months ahead.
I don’t ‘fan girl’ over too many folks, but I do over Mississippi legend-hero-all around great human Archie Manning, who was the guest speaker at a recent fundraiser for DSU Athletics. What an amazing and positive impact Archie and his family have had on not only Mississippi, but in places all over the country. A simple country boy from Drew, Mississippi, who learned the value of giving back…HERO.
Our second annual Mississippi Songwriters Festival – Delta Edition was a big success…Clay Mills, Tom Kimmel, and Kate Campbell were our guest songwriters and our local ‘tribe’ of regional songwriters, performing their original works, were a joy to listen to. 
I was honored to represent my church, St. Luke United Methodist, at this year’s Mississippi Annual Conference at Millsaps College in Jackson. I learned a lot about the strength of the Methodist ‘connection,’ and even with the bitter residue of disaffiliation still settling, I left the conference feeling hopeful that our denomination, though smaller in number, is ready to continue our mission. 
Do you know one of the things that makes Cleveland, Mississippi, such a wonderful town? Our mayor, Billy Nowell! He was voted in as president of the Mississippi Municipal League this year, and I was honored to sing the National Anthem at the MML conference this year. He and his team do SO much for our fair city…thank you, Mr. Mayor!
Always a fun time when Women in the Round come back to the Delta for a program at GRAMMY Museum® Mississippi! Also, I just returned from the Mississippi Songwriters Festival – Pines Edition in Meridian, where I had the pleasure of performing in the ‘grand finale’ round with Eden Brent, Alanna Mosley, and Emily White at the Mississippi Arts & Entertainment Experience museum. If you haven’t visited the MAEX, I hope you’ll add that to your ‘to do’ list…fantastic museum celebrating the BEST of Mississippi in all the arts and entertainment fields….astounding how much Mississippians have contributed to the world:)
Deep Roots continues to roll, presenting live local music five nights a week in Cleveland. Hopefully, a Deep Roots compilation project will be in the works this quarter, showcasing original works from our local musicians.
And I’m (hopefully) getting near the end of gathering and digitizing assets from 40 years of ‘stuff’ so that I can begin producing a ‘music memoir’ of sorts for your viewing pleasure…stay tuned…
When I put together the next newsletter, I hope the temperature will have dropped enough so that I’ll be wearing my favorite sweatshirt…and long pants…and shoes. It’s been a barefoot kind of summer, which leads me to leave you with this Mary Oliver poem:
The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean —
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
+Mary Oliver
Peace,
Tricia