Last week, Hubby had a speaking engagement in Greenwood, Mississippi. The little town in the Mississippi Delta is home to the world-class Viking corporation, Viking’s cooking school, and the Alluvian, a boutique hotel.
Hubby and I used to think of the Alluvian as “our weekend getaway” when the kiddos were younger. It’s been more than eight years since we’ve gotten away to Greenwood, so we jumped at the opportunity to stay overnight and eat blueberry scones in the rooftop room, amongst a library stuffed with books on the Delta, with the morning light. That’s right—when we think of the Alluvian, we immediately dream of the Alluvian’s slightly warm, super moist but a little crunchy, blueberry scones. Mmmm!
Greenwood is about an hour-and-45-minute drive from our home in Ridgeland. We left home mid-afternoon and arrived with just enough time to check into our corner suite and then scout out some stores around the fabulous hotel. Nothing has changed in the hotel in eight years as far as I could tell. Lovely local artwork and bowls of shiny green apples provide a special ambiance for the chic lodgings.
The sweet Southern lady at the check-in desk made small talk with us as she tapped away at her computer, and then asked for our home address. A small pause, and then she said, “So we know where to mail anything you might leave behind.”
I quipped, “Only in Mississippi!”
Hubby and I have a rough history of leaving behind some doozies—a Jos. A. Banks sports coat (the most expensive item of clothing either of us had ever owned at the time), our child’s “Black Cat” (a can’t-live-without-it lovey), my favorite hair clips, and most recently, a brand-new over-priced Apple charge cord for an iPhone. Of course, a phone call back to housekeeping an hour or so later revealed that no one at the hotel ever saw these items! Gone forever.
After dropping off our luggage in our huge room and admiring the amazing bathroom, we decided to scope out the stores surrounding the hotel in the hour before closing time. We’d already heard that our favorite place, Turnrow Book Co., had burned down, and there seemed to be no plans to reopen it. Another sad “gone forever.”
One store owner directed us to a new boutique across the street. When we opened the door, a beautiful blond lady with sea green eyes wearing a flowing pink-and-green dress turned with a wide smile to greet us. Hubby cried out, “I know you!”
After hugs (I got one too) and a short time of re-connecting and noting extended family members of the owner that we actually know from church, the store owner gave us a tour of her products, effectively selling us on some mouth blown glass from Simon Pierce in Vermont and some subtle smelling Parisian cologne for men. Then she asked if we’d been to the Viking store yet; L.M., another of Hubby’s friends, had heard that we’d be in town and was expecting to see us.
We left as quickly as we could with our packages to troop down to the end of the block to catch L.M. before closing time. I’d just seen her a few weeks before at my chiropractor’s office. She is also a patient, and her sister is the office manager!
Do you see how small the world is in Mississippi? Yet, William Faulkner famously said (according to Willie Morris), “To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi.”
It’s a small, small world here, and I do love it. 😉
