David P. Williams, New York Times
Saxapahaw General Store,
a local five-star gas station.
‘let these voices be heard’
This past week, Natasha Trethewey was named poet laureate for the state of Mississippi. In making the announcement, Gov. Haley Barbour said, “She has received national 
and international acclaim for her poetry that is, often, a tribute to the state of Mississippi and, more specifically, the Mississippi Gulf Coast.” We had the good fortune to meet this Pulitzer Prize-winning poet awhile back when we worked with Men Stopping Violence on its annual awards gala. Ms. Tretheway had received The Kathleen Carlin Justice Seekers Award that evening and when she took the stage to accept the honor, she read one of her works to the audience of several hundred and the room practically lit a-fire. Here’s a poem from her first collection, Domestic Work.
Flounder
Here, she said, put this on your head.
She handed me a hat.
You ’bout as white as your dad,
and you gone stay like that.
.
Aunt Sugar rolled her nylons down
around each bony ankle,
and I rolled down my white knee socks
letting my thin legs dangle,
.
circling them just above water
circling them just above water
and silver backs of minnows
flitting here then there between
the sun spots and the shadows.
.
This is how you hold the pole
This is how you hold the pole
to cast the line out straight.
Now put that worm on your hook,
throw it out and wait.
.
She sat spitting tobacco juice
She sat spitting tobacco juice
into a coffee cup.
Hunkered down when she felt the bite,
jerked the pole straight up
.
reeling and tugging hard at the fish
reeling and tugging hard at the fish
that wriggled and tried to fight back.
A flounder, she said, and you can tell
’cause one of its sides is black.
.
The other side is white, she said.
The other side is white, she said.
It landed with a thump.
I stood there watching that fish flip-flop,
switch sides with every jump.
.
.
Natasha Trethewey, “Flounder” from Domestic Work (Graywolf Press, 2000). Copyright © 2000 by Natasha Trethewey.
dreaming of spring?
As a lawyer, Catherine Dellinger Buckley didn’t mind getting her hands dirty now and then. She’s always been a hard worker. But after a career as an insurance litigator and two beautiful daughters later, she left the courtroom behind and headed back to school for a horticulture degree. No more “suits” for this gal — law…or the kind you find at Ann Taylor. Today, Catherine’s getting down in the dirt with the start of her second career, as co-owner of Pandora’s Phlox, a landscape and garden design outfit based in Atlanta.
If the winter weather has you dreaming about springtime landscaping and what you’ll plant in your next garden, feel free to get in touch with Catherine and ask her to lend a hand. Email her at catherine@pandorasphlox.com
You walked away from the law to play in the dirt. Why?
I was overcome with the desire to work outside and learn an entirely different field of knowledge. I’ve always loved science and enjoyed being an amateur gardener.
How did you come up with your company name?
It came to us when we realized that what we had to offer was a varied range of services, similar to Pandora’s box, which was filled with many different things (unfortunately those were all evil!). And phlox is a flower we like a lot, so we just put the two together and thought it sounded fun.
What do you specialize in?
We focus on landscape and seasonal color design, installing our designs, container gardens and hand pruning shrubs and small trees. We’re also knowledgeable in irrigation, grading, drainage, pest ID/management and a variety of maintenance issues.
Do you have a favorite flower?
I don’t have a favorite per se, but my favorite plants are common boxwoods and lacecap hydrangeas which have beautiful flowers on them. I also love magnolias for their fragrance.
Name your top 3 ‘landscape don’ts.’
1. Never use red mulch — it detracts from the plants and immediately draws the eye to the mulch. Leave this type of mulch for the gas stations.
2. Try not to plant something unless you know what it likes and how big it will get.
3. Don’t “butcher” your crape myrtles…just because some landscapers do it doesn’t make it right.
What are your favorite gardens?
The Atlanta Botanical Garden is really a treasure in terms of its diversity of plant materials. It’s a great place to see how something you like really grows. I also love Hills & Dales Estate in LaGrange, the Founders Memorial Garden and State Botanical Garden at UGA, and the Trial Gardens at UGA’s Griffin campus.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Gardens are lovely, but what inspires me personally are the shrubs and trees used to define an area and make it a place you want to hang out and enjoy. We have such nice weather in the South — we might as well be outside! I like to think of gardens as the icing, but landscape design is the cake.
Do your kids like to help you out?
Our daughter Abbi has discovered she likes to prune things. It’s a start.
When’s a good time to start spring landscaping?
As far as planning a landscape, you can do that any time of year. But the ideal time to plant trees and shrubs is in Fall so they have a chance to work on their root systems while the foliage/flowering is dormant. A well-developed root system will provide a good, healthy start which can weather droughts and heat better than Spring-planted trees/shrubs. Perennials can be planted in Spring or Fall. And annuals should be planted between April 21-May 21 and October 1-15.
What do you like best about being your own boss so far?
What I love most is the flexibility — getting to decide when to work and what to do. And I love doing lots of different jobs, and sometimes even deciding who I want to do them for. 🙂
a homecoming
Today, the little town of Jacksonville, Ala., pressed “pause” to welcome home Marine Sgt. Ben Tomlinson. The downtown square was decked out with American flags and banners, hundreds of people lined the streets, National Guardsmen gave salute, elementary students filled the town, high schoolers stood outside their school with a wave of welcome, and police and fire fighters turned out en masse — all to pay tribute to a brave soldier who was wounded and paralyzed in Afghanistan on May 1, 2010. Perhaps only in small town America can we still witness life coming to a halt, if only for a moment, to give thanks to one young man who risked his life for his country. Read the full story here or see a slideshow from today’s ceremony.
Photos by The Anniston Star
