A day away

~Rowan Oak, Wm. Faulkner's home

Drove down to Oxford, Mississippi (home of the Ole Miss Rebels) with oldest daughter this morning, and even last night before bed, Gary asked if there was a football game going on.  Uh.  Didn't know.  Looked it up online, and yes, a game was scheduled for 6pm today.  Figured we'd go anyway.

Got just outside of Oxford---after driving about an hour and 20 minutes from here, and stopped at a market for something to snack on before driving into town.  The traffic was backed up, but we were only slightly concerned.  The woman who checked us out said it was Homecoming weekend.  And for any Southerners out there, Ole Miss was playing UT (Univ. of TN).  Lots and lots of folks.

I've never seen so many high maintenance Southern women in my life.  And I'm not kidding.  These folks dressed to kill, all Suzanne Sugarbaker-types.  I was amazed.  Oldest daughter and I were way out of our league.

~tiny house on Faulkner property

~lovely bookstore

But we had fun.  Had a heck of a time finding a parking place, but finally got a meter.  Went into a charming 3-level bookstore and walked around the square.  Very lovely town.  And went to Rowan Oak, William Faulkner's home, but didn't tour.  Just didn't work out.  But walking on the grounds of his house was the best part of the trip.  So restful.  The house is very modest, and the website on the house makes it appear upscale.  It's dated 1848, I think, or thereabouts, and needs some slight work, so it was charming.  Not pretentious, but very homely.  

Anyway, we had a nice time that had been tempered by a phone call from middle daughter about an hour into our trip.  She was crying and said that our dog, Opal the German Shepherd, had just died.  She'd not been sick, but had been playing with Romeo out back after we left, and Gary was sitting out there with them and the Pugs.  Opal romped around, got a drink of water, laid down and appeared to have a seizure.  In a couple of minutes she went from playing and then onto her eternal reward.  So strange.  Needless to say we're all a bit gobsmacked.

~Opal

Boring and uneventful would be a nice change, but we had a sweet day, nonetheless. We really did.