We Never Were Great at Math...

Friday the 13th of March was selected as the date for a reunion... the first, in fact... of Dianne's high school peers, the class of 1968. Since the graduation occurred between the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, it's no wonder the event was lost in the cosmic shuffle and the classmates neglected to reunite for so long. Indeed, the "40th" reunion was held 41 years after graduation.

While in southwest Alabama's heartland, we made our first visit to Moccasin Lane. This mysterious alley along Dunbar Creek was peppered with skeletal parts of various animals. Were they victims of the moccasins that live along the creek?
We weren't sure, and frankly we were happy not to encounter any of the serpents who could resolve this quandary.
In addition to the osteologic evidence, there were signs that some botanical oddities were in play on Moccasin Lane. The tree in the center had thorny protrusions from each of its warts, and the one on the right appeared to have been fossilized. We decided it best to flee from this avenue of abnormalities before we were affected.
On our flight from Moccasin Lane, we encountered this friendly burro beauty. In this part of Alabama, donkeys have become popular residents due to their ability to keep coyotes away from livestock. In keeping with the spooky theme, we later chanced upon a flock of black vultures. We had discovered a communal roost for these creatures. According to Cornell's Birds of North America, the communal roost is an important focus of the social life of black vultures., serving as a meeting place for adults and their young and as an assembly point for foraging groups.

Shrugging off the spooky feeling, we made a trip to the local bank where we revisited the beautiful mural of Healing Springs painted by Vernice Brown Lassiter. Healing Springs was a self-styled "health resort" operated by Dianne's grandparents from the 1920's to the 1960's. Of course, the mural inspired a visit to Healing Springs, where we saw many examples of what Dianne calls the "naked swamp lily." The only places we have seen this odd plant is at Healing Springs and at the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. We have googled and searched and not been able to identify it.
What a treat it was when Dianne's sister Jeanne and her husband Don came from north Alabama for a simultaneous visit. And from south Mississippi came their son David and his family, including these three precious little ones: (L to R) Lizzy (<1), Carson(5), and Andrew (8). Oh, yes, we did attend Dianne's class reunion, along with 23 others from the class of 33. What an event! It was great to see these old friends and reconnect. They're thinking of having their 50th reunion in maybe 15 or 20 more years.