Flooding in the Southland

The TV, online, and print media are flooded (pardon the pun) with photos of the natural disaster now moving southward through the heart of our country.  This link shows some of the most dramatic and telling pictures that I have seen.  I appreciate that the photographers have taken the time to add detailed captions.  Their explanations make these more than just ‘pictures’ — they bring us down into struggle of real people and real wildlife – and help us understand the severity of their ongoing disaster.

Through the years, we have lived in a number of southern cities and towns along Ole Man River, and so these pictures really pull at my heart-strings!  Many, many of our friends live in these areas.  A lot of the scenes pictured here are places familiar to my family — and are now inundated with the muddy waters of the Mighty Mississippi and its tributaries.

As you look through the photos, I hope you’ll join me in offering a prayer for all of the people displaced and traumatically affected by this disaster.  Some of them are personal friends of ours.  Most of them I will never know.  I pray for God’s protection and provision for all of them — as well as all those still struggling to overcome the losses caused by tornadoes and other disasters!

MISSISSIPPI FLOOD WATERS ROLL SOUTH

God is our refuge and strength, 
an ever-present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1

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NOLA in the Springtime

Springtime is the land awakening.
Lewis Grizzard

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.
Anne Bradstreet

April prepares her green traffic light,
and the world thinks Go.
Christopher Morley

Science has never drummed up quite as effective a tranquilizing agent
as a sunny spring day.
W. Earl Hall

Spring is nature’s way of saying, “Let’s party!”
Robin Williams

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One of the blogs I have enjoyed following lately is

“Watching NOLA Nature”
“Explorations in the urban oasis of New Orleans“

She is posting every day.
If you go there, be sure to look at her post for yesterday (April 6).
It’s a spectacular photo of an orchid tree!

I highly recommend you take time to visit –
You may be like me and want to subscribe to the feed
so you can keep up with her future posts.

I hope spring’s traffic light has turned green where you live…
and that you are taking time to enjoy all the ‘little things’ that are beginning to bloom!

 

“DIXIE DIVISION” Memorial Highway

 

If you had friends or family members from AL, FL, LA, or MS who served in the U.S. Military at any time from World War I through the Korean War, there is a good chance that a section of Interstate highway is dedicated to their memory —

The U.S. Army 31st Infantry Division served during World War I and was demobilized in 1919.

The division was reorganized in 1923 as a National Guard Division, made up of men from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Since most of these soldiers were from the deep south, they acquired the nickname of “Dixie Division.”

During World War II they were mobilized to active service in the Army and deployed to serve in the Pacific Theater of Operations.

This division was deactivated in December 1945 and returned to National Guard status.

Then from 1951 to 1954 it was once again mobilized to serve in the Korean War.

Many of the soldiers from these four southern states were members of this Dixie Division, and the section of Interstate 20 from the Alabama/Mississippi state line to the Mississippi River is dedicated to their memory.

The signs pictured below are located at the Mississippi Welcome Center in Lauderdale County, serving I-20 and I-59 westbound travelers.