Penny Sanford Porcelains: Columbus Through the Windshield

We were in Columbus for a doctor's appoint -ment one day this week.

It was an overcast, humid, saturated day, usually great for moody color- drenched photos.

But we were in a hurry arriving and returning to the farm, so I only got a few hurried drive-by shots through the tinted windshield dotted with a few raindrops.

Columbus is having their Pilgrimage right now, as is Natchez and Aberdeen and other storied towns around Mississippi.

I wish I could give you the name of these venerable homes in Columbus, but we were driving too fast for me to read the discrete little signs that identify the house and date of construction.

I just don't know as much about Columbus' historic homes as I know about the famous houses of Natchez. If you can provide the names and dates of some of these beauties, please share that information in the comments.

Beautiful time of year in Mississippi. Columbus is an hour and a half south and east of the farm, so their dogwood and redbud were more developed than our dogwood and redbud here on the farm.

This past week, while Unc and I were setting out trees and pruning some trees, I should have taken the camera to capture the before, during and after of the dogwood explosion on the farm.

We will continue this year to prune underbrush, selectively "edit" the roadsides on the farm so that the dogwood and redbud trees can be seen in all their glory in the spring as well as the fall.

More on the family's tree-planting journey later.

Photo 1: unknown name/date of construction

Photo 2: unknown name/date of construction

Photo 3: unknown name/date of construction

Photo 4: This was like a refreshing party mint. It was all freshly painted mint green (a favorite color) and white trim with colorful flowers. Like a storybook. I could see myself living in this pretty house.

Do you drive through neighborhoods and evaluate houses on whether or not you can see yourself living in that house?

Photo 5: I adore Wisteria! Here it is left to run wild. Note the brick-red maple starting to bloom among the wisteria. Redbud blooms would be more fuscia in color.

We want to nurture some wild and free areas of wisteria here on the farm. We have two sites started, but nothing like this stunning wall of wisteria! The scent was heavenly.

Photo 6: Wisteria can be trained into a tree shape. I want to do this around Grandma's house here on the farm.

It takes many years and lots of attention to get a wisteria "tree" of this size.