Summer/Fall 2000

Hot Off the Press
with David Watts and Mary Dayle McCormick

Wildflowers of the Natchez Trace
by Stephen L. Timme and Caleb C.K. Timme
Reviewed by David Watts

Mississippi probably has been needing a book like Wildflowers of the Natchez Trace for some time. The year-round beauty spanning the Trace's 450 miles is no stranger to the many thousands of tourists that drive its length annually. Now, anyone driving the Trace can identify with reasonable certainty the more showy plants growing along the Parkway and its woodland fringe.

Make no mistake about Wildflowers of the Natchez Trace. This is not an exhaustive treatise documenting the many hundreds of plant species growing along the Natchez Trace Parkway. Maybe this is one reason this work is so user friendly and almost compels one to pursue it.

Too, it would be unfair to conclude that the species depicted in Pittsburg State University's professor of botany Dr. Stephen L. Timme's work is the most important of the Trace's flora. Timme and his co-author son admit that "The purpose of the book is to provide those interested in wildflowers the opportunity to identify some of the more common species found along the (Trace)." Anyone wanting a more detailed description of Mississippi's flora should consult Wildflowers of Mississippi, Timme's previous work for the University Press of Mississippi.

Since the Natchez Trace extends through a portion of two states within the Deep South, where the growing season for flowering plants is so long, anyone driving the Parkway in almost any month can see some of the area's more beautiful herbaceous flora. What Wildflowers of the Natchez Trace gives us is 100 of the most frequently seen and showy flowering species along the Trace, its pull-offs, Old Trace segments and hiking trails. If you drive the Trace frequently, you will appreciate the handy checklist of flowers in the back of Wildflowers of the Natchez Trace.

The consummate wildflower enthusiasts is cautioned that the wildflower picture identified on page 8 as "Doll's Eye, Baneberry, White Baneberry" is not. The 128 page Wildflowers of the Natchez Trace is available for $16 through local booksellers, or by contacting University Press of Mississippi at (601) 432-6205.

Louisiana Lures and Legends
by Dave Hall and Brian Cheramie
Reviewed by James L. Cummins, Jr.

To some the carving of decoys is a hobby. To many of the people in Louisiana Lures and Legends, it is a way of life. Dave Hall and Brian Cheramie have joined together to publish an account of this way of life that is almost forgotten.

Cheramie grew upon the banks of Bayou Lafourche in Louisiana. Hall is a native of Jackson, Mississippi and a former Refuge Manager on Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge. Recently, however, he has retired as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service undercover agent. Hall specialized in covert waterfowl violations in Louisiana and the illegal ivory (walrus) in Alaska. Dave is a former Professor of mine at Mississippi State University too.

Louisiana Lures and Legends is a nicely bound book that goes beyond the typical book on the subject of duck decoys. Hall and Cheramie have written a tremendous accolade to this way of life. They treat the reader with a Louisiana blend of photographs of decoys, old pictures of carvers, and fantastic hunting scenes from the turn of the century.

This is not just a coffee table book. It is one you will not put down until you have finished. As Cheramie states, "Each bayou had its own distinct culture -- the Acadians, the Germans, the Houmas Indians, the Canary Islanders -- each put their talents to making the decoys unique."

The research by both of these gentlemen, combined with their insight and backgrounds, has made this book well worth reading. Dave, even though he arrested some of the people described in the book, has much respect for them. "I valued the way they lived...they wasted little...they cared about the resource, it was just a matter of perspective. Once I explained the reasons for conservation, they understood. Acceptance was an evolution on both sides," said Hall.

Louisiana Lures and Legends includes many accounts about the effect of natural events on decoy carving, including hurricanes, floods and drought. As Cheramie states, "This is my heritage -- I'm not into this project to make money. I want to focus on the talent of the carvers." And so they have, in the best tradition. Contact the REM Corporation, Post Office Box 608, Golden Meadow, Louisiana 70357, or call 1-800-256-2238.


To Catch the Wind: A Photographer's Journey
by Stephen Kirkpatrick
Reviewed by David Watts

In his search to capture the perfect photograph of a bird rising to meet the sun or an insect landing upon a wildflower, Stephen Kirkpatrick of Jackson waits countless hours on misty shores, in rainy swamps, on snowy mountains. Much of that time he spends reflecting upon the Creator's plan for him and recording those thoughts in journals. Kirpatrick shares his musings and wisdom in his latest book, To Catch the Wind.

His often eloquent words confiding pain and passion, comfort and grief, doubt and hope are not new. Thoreau Emerson and John Muir, among many others, have written similar in often quoted essays and poetry. However, To Catch the Wind is unique. Kirkpatrick, a master of nature photography, has coordinated his inner journeys questions and epiphanies with images captured from magnificent moments in the wild. The result is a profound affirmation of faith rooted in reality.

Snippets of journal entries are arranged chronologically over a three year period. It was a time of profound changes in Kirkpatrick's personal life. To illustrate this spiritual and emotional probing, one hundred photos were selected from portfolios as early as 1984, and as recently as Spring 1997. Thirty-four of the shots are from Mississippi locations. The rest are from across North America -- from Alaska and Canada to Florida.

Part of the success of To Catch the Wind is certainly due to editing by Marlo Carter Sibley of Madison. Jackson designer Heidi Flynn Allen's graphic talent pulls words and images into a satisfyingly cohesive book. K&W Prepress deserves credit for impeccable technical production.

A timeless pleasure to read and view, Stephen Kirkpatrick's To Catch the Wind: A Photographer's Journey is a treasure to give or to receive. P.S. The book has a surprise "ending."