Since retiring from the floral business several years ago, Robbie Boyd now has time to devote to her real talent—painting. She specializes in portraits and landscapes. After being commissioned to do a Delta cotton scene, she looked through her cotton photographs and didn't find one that captures the Delta "lay of the land." So today we searched for cotton houses, old pole barns, and of course, cotton fields.
You can read more about Robbie and see examples of her work at her website: rpattersonboyd.com
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| Robbie shooting a picture of a giant irrigation arm in the Delta. Before lunch we drove around Clarksdale and strolled around the grounds of the Shack Up Inn. If you are from somewhere other than the Mississippi Delta, this might be a really unique experience. |
Old cotton houses and tenant shacks have been turned into lodging. Old cars and trucks are strategically placed near each shack. My favorite yard art was the use of bottle trees.
You can read more about this one-of-a-kind hotel at shackupinn.com
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| Bottle trees "grow" in the grounds of Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale. |
After touring the town, we selected the Yazoo Pass (http://yazoopass.com/) restaurant on the recommendation of a friend. The store front could have been a hardware store, but inside we found wonderfully-fresh salads with homemade dressings, deli sandwiches on your bread of choice and much more. Very refreshing on a day when temperatures neared 100.
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| More scenes at Shack Up iInn. |
Today we only had a small sampling of Delta culture. You can see more of the Delta nightlife in a beautifully-photographed book, Blues, Booze & BBQ (http://www.michaelloydyoung.com/gallery.html?folio=&gallery=Blues%2C%20Booze%2C%20%26%20BBQ by Senatobia native Michael Loyd Young. Proceeds from this book benefit the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale.
You can also see a preview of his latest book, Changes in Latitude. which benefits the Historical Museum of South Padre Islands.
