Culture Shock 117

Street Names.

I lived in Atlanta for awhile.  Most of the street names were Peachtree, ending in way, street, court, lane, avenue, boulevard,  and any other form or synonym for street. I lived on Mead Street, though.

My home town of Antioch has street names such as G Street, 18th Street, and everything in between.  A lot of Spanish names too or streets named after trees.  I grew up on Springwood Way around Dogwood Way and Mahogany Way.

McComb is easy.  There is the part of town with the state named streets. There are a lot of lanes named after who's farm used to be at the end if it. And some streets named for what they are: Street street. Broadway. Magnolia/Pisgah Road.  Homesville Road, because it takes you to... Homesville. Easy. I lived on W.A. Walker Rd, named for the man who probably carved a dirt road into the land many, many years ago. He owned a diary farm and most likely had slaves.

I like learning the history of a place.  Here in the south, history matters; history shapes the family ties that we see today. History is relevant,  much like the biblical/world history I have been learning. 

In California, history is fleeting.  Families come and go. It's harder to find connections out west. I hope my boys find connections here.

Just Because

I'm opening up shop! I'm so excited to be sewing and offering homemade gifts!

Check out my fb page and hit "Like!" I need 30 likes to be able to turn on fb features for tracking my business and such.

JUST BETH JUST BECAUSE

Here is a picture of a few things in my shop.  Thanks for looking!

Culture Shock 116

Things I'm looking forward to when I get home:

TSJ for dinner.

Willie's Bagels for breakfast.

Trader Joe's so close!

Oh yeah, family!

Going swimming.

Free babysitting.

Culture Shock 114

Have I done this one?

Tall brick buildings. Many of them. Even around each other.  Apartment buildings. Old shops. Two story homes. Brick everywhere in Mississippi.

I'm not sure when brick was stopped being used so frequently and plentiful. I know a few brick buildings in the downtown area where I grew up were not fit to enter until they were retro-fitted for earthquakes. There simply are not as many buildings made of brick in California.

I guess the big bad wolf can knock most of California down!

Culture Shock 115

The ponytail: Classic hair style. Not reserved for just the young. Up do.

SIMH: Summer In Mississippi Hair. Consisting of a ponytail, often with a hat.

Even when I do my hair all nice for church or going out, it's inevitable that it will end up off my neck, up into a ponytail.  A hat also helps hide the frizzies from humidity.
This is my perpetual style for summer in Mississippi. Can't cut my hair so short as it has gotta go up when that humidity hits. Which is every. day. of. the. summer.

Culture Shock 113

Almost done.  I might start repeating myself if I continue! There are some things that are easy to get used to, like the wonderful new friends we're making and southern hospitality and no traffic. 

Other things I find still don't feel like home.  For example: tornado warnings, humidity, RAIN!

I am still amazed at the sounds of birds.  We had a few in our neighborhood back home.  A couple very talented mocking birds who copied lawn mowers and car alarms.  The mocking birds near our new home copy kittens and my son's whistle!

But there are so many birds! We have cardinals and wrens and mocking birds and robins and blue jays and buzzards and hawks and eagles. I get to watch a golden eagle perch and hunt for food every once in awhile. Amazing!

Culture Shock 112

The kids on the bus to the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans were so fun!

As we passed the airport, the kids oohed and awed over the planes taking off. We were pretty close to the airport; the planes were huge compared to our bus. It was hard not to smile as some of the kids saw a plane "up close" for the first time.

Nick thought it was pretty silly that the majority of the kids jumped out of their seats to get a better look at the 10 to 15 story buildings we passed. They had never seen such tall buildings.

Coming from California, 10 stories is nothing! The San Francisco skyline, Oakland, Alameda; they all become common place backgrounds. We also lived near a small airport and the big planes flew over consistently.

We enjoyed others experiencing a bit of culture shock instead of us for once.

Culture Shock 111

California has many signs written in both English and Spanish.

I don't even blink at this anymore.

I did pause for this sign on a bus ride to Louisiana:

"I'm not in California anymore! "

Culture Shock 110

I was standing outside in Liberty, MS the other day minding my own business. I was near an intersection that happened to have a stop light. A full logging truck and some kind of tanker were idling here. When the light turned red and the two trucks pushed on the gas pedals hard to get up the hill from a stopped position, I just about lost it!

Remember that I used to live 50 feet from a busy highway.  That was only 2.5 years ago.

No wonder I was an emotional wreck.  No wonder I couldn't sleep well. No wonder I was frazzled half the time.
The 120 seconds I had to listen to those two trucks made me crazy! They were so loud, I couldn't hear myself think!

Thank you, Lord, for the peace and quiet I have here, where I am now.  Thank you that right now, as I write this, I can hear my boys playing nicely outside the back door!