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Writer and Shoofly Magazine editor Lisa Monti reminisces about her first oyster tasting, the beginning of a lifelong fandom for the delectable bi-valves. 
- story by Lisa Monti

Detractors have trouble with the texture of oysters, or the notion of eating something raw. That must be even more off-putting to landlocked visitors than staring down at a fried soft-shell crab, with its crunchy legs shooting out from both sides of po-boy.
 
Fans of the oyster have no such worries when it comes to plump ones eaten raw or prepared in a well-turned dish. Without getting too Forrest Gump-ish, the versatile oyster can be grilled, charbroiled, scalloped, wrapped in bacon, baked, smoked, stewed, roasted, steamed and cooked into a dressing.

​Oyster cravings get stirred up this time of year by cooler weather and memories of holiday feasts. A line formed in our kitchen when the Christmas oyster patties came out of the oven. Making them was a production, led by my grandmother, that involved a gallon of oysters and green onions run through a hand-cranked grinder intended for meat.

All the ingredients came together to bubble in a big Magnalite pot before being spooned into small flaky shells from the McKenzie’s Bakery on Chef Highway. A piece of art depicting an oyster patty hangs in my kitchen as a reminder of that holiday treat.
 
Of course oysters are available any time of year, and fortunately, you can find them on loads of local menus if not in your own kitchen. (Note to self: it’s frying time again.)
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 A fried oyster po-boy is always a good option, although sometimes choosing between shrimp and oysters can make for some serious internal conflict. The humble, almost sweet, always reliable shrimp?  Or the oysters, delicate to the mouth, on the rich side (oysters Rockefeller, hello!) with a dash of extravagance. There’s a reason, don’t you suppose, that there are oyster bars and not shrimp or crab bars.

The last oysters that I ate were at C&C Farm to Fork restaurant on Main Street, listed on the menu simply as Gulf Fried Oysters, in a self-explanatory way. They were fried to a perfect crisp and served with delicious sauces, though the oysters were good enough to stand on their own.
 
There’s even a new festival celebrating the briny treats – the St. Clare’s Oyster Fest on October 13th (see details on our Upcoming Events page).  If it’s anything like the church’s annual Seafood Festival, it’s bound to grow into a local tradition. 
 
As a child on the beach trying my first raw oyster, maybe I didn’t appreciate how special that treat was at the time.  But I’m mightily grateful now for all of the fresh seafood in the Gulf. Catch it, cook it, order it and celebrate it. Aren’t we the lucky ones?
 
Below are a few of our Old Town restaurants known for their oysters.

200 North Beach
200 N Beach Blvd
Bay St Louis
(228) 467-9388
Open 7 Days
 
Trapani’s Eatery
116 N Beach Blvd
Bay St Louis
(228) 467-8570
 
C&C Farm to Fork
Creative and sustainable Southern cuisine 
111 Main Street
Bay St. Louis, MS
(228) 344-3295
 
Cuz’s Old Town Oyster Bar & Grill
108 S Beach Blvd
Bay St Louis
(228) 467- 3707
Open 7 Days

The RAW Bar
118 N. Beach Blvd.
Bay St. Louis
Closed Mon/Tues.
 
Silver Slipper Casino’s Oyster Bar
Fresh seafood appetizers and entrees
5000 S Beach Blvd 
Bay St. Louis , MS 39520 
(228) 469-2777 
Open 7 days

St. Clare Church Oyster Festival 
St. Clare Catholic Church 
236 S. Beach Blvd 
Waveland
10:00am to 10:00pm 
Free
Drawdown tickets are on sale now at the church—$50 per ticket. 

Seafood, bands, vendors, a $5,000 drawdown raffle, and more seafood! Welcome the Fall season with tasty oyster dishes and "sides" like gumbo, potato salad, fried shrimp plates and poboys, crab stuffed potatoes, cotton candy, and more! Live local entertainment including the David Mayley Band (1pm-3pm) and Monsters at Large with the Moran Brothers (6pm-9pm).  What a win/win--oysters and a drawdown!  ​

Noted Southern author Rheta Grimsley Johnson joins an annual community party in a German village, where the vineyard harvests are cause for an unusual type of celebration. 

Nobody does it better. Except maybe … little Freinsheim near Mannheim, Germany, in the Southwest region called the Palatinate.

 I recently visited relatives in the town of 4,800 just after grape harvest. Freinsheim is at the center of seven wine-making villages. How’s that for convenient geography? So it’s a big deal when the grapes are picked and the new crop sampled.
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Let me tell you about the party.

​I don’t speak a lick of German, so it was as if I’d slipped from Stage Left onto an elaborate theater set in a beautiful musical.  I didn’t know my lines but figured out the basic steps and sang and danced my way by following the others. Think Lucy Ricardo slipping into one of Ricky’s nightclub production numbers.

One Saturday afternoon on cue thousands of people wound their way through the endless grape vineyards and walked for miles into the sunset. But this was no sweaty, non-stop marathon in the name of exercise. Oh, no.

​We had only just entered the orchard when appeared the first kiosk selling tall glasses of new wine. The glasses were dimpled, the better to hold them, and the general idea was to throw back refreshment as you made your way forward to the next wine filling station.

A man sat on a stool and played a barely-recognizable “When the Saints Go Marching In” on an old accordion. People bought sandwiches made from a cow whose stripped-clean bones were still spinning on a spit. Neighbor greeted neighbor as if it had been decades since they’d met.

Thus refreshed, we tramped on for another few hundred yards and then did it all again. You could sip or chugalug, didn’t matter. You knew where your next drink was coming from.

Not everyone walked the entire course. Some cheated. A few families set up picnic tables between the vineyard rows and ate and drank at their leisure. Some lounged on cushioned chairs provided, I suppose, by the various wineries.

 Those ugly portable toilets that must be universal were the necessary evil, a scratch on a canvas that could have been painted by Monet. Men, as usual, had the advantage and simply wandered off down the rows to water the crop.
 
I kept walking and drinking, which is a lot easier than you might imagine. The new wine had about a  six percent alcohol content, roughly a beer’s worth. I’ve done the same thing getting to the far end of Ship Island while lugging a cooler.

The most amazing thing was that nobody in the wine-swilling crowd of thousands appeared drunk. There were no fistfights or loud words. The only music was the occasional accordion, yet it seemed as if our lubed conversation was orchestrated.

As the sun got lower and the crowd higher, I kept waiting for the down side of such a frolic, a sick teenager, passed out geriatric or an angry boyfriend. It never came. Now I didn’t stay into the wee hours and the scene might have changed, but somehow I doubt it.

Theirs is an old and grape-fueled civilization.

Almost before I knew it, my group had reached a vineyard hilltop that looked down on the red-roofed medieval village of Freinsheim. We rested. And drank some more.
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We didn’t so much walk as float home. I kept thinking wistfully of a similar production along the edge of the Mississippi Sound, but I don’t think it would translate.

There's little solid historical information about one of Bay St. Louis's most significant buildings, but its new owner hopes to learn more with the help of long-time locals.
- story by Lisa Monti, photographs by Ellis Anderson

Dangermond plans to share with the public any photos and memorabilia she can track down. “I want to position the hall as an interpretive center,” she said. “My goal is to show how and why it came into existence and its significance to the area."

According to the new 100 Men Hall website:

In 1894, 12 civic-minded African American residents of Bay Saint Louis drew up the bylaws for an organization called the Hundred Members Debating Benevolent Association. The group’s primary purpose was to "assist its members when sick, bury its dead in a respectable manner and knit friendship." From an organizing group sprang an open-air pavilion and then, in 1922, a cornerstone was laid and the existing Hall built. The Hall was dedicated on July 16, 1923.

The Mississippi Blues Trail marker at the entrance recognizes the 100 Men D.B.A. Hall for its significance as a music venue.  B.B. King and Etta James were among the musicians and signers who took to the stage at the hall. Money raised by the performances was used by the organization to help  members of the community get medical treatment and other services.

Saved from demolition by previous owners and guardians Kerry and Jesse Loya, the refurbished hall hosted concerts, weddings, Sunday afternoon Cajun dances and pop-up dinners over the last several years.

In the short time she’s owned the property, Dangermond has held a writer’s workshop and a Baria for Congress fundraising performance by Cedric Burnside. More events are in the works while Dangermond seeks pieces of the hall’s history.
 
“I’ve reached out to some folks to see if they have any old family photos. They might have one of their mom or an aunt standing in front of the hall. Up until Camille, if you were African American, you went to that hall. That’s where events were held. So there must be photos out there.”
​

There’s a sense of urgency to locate any photos and other keepsakes and record memories as the years go by, she said. 
 
“Any memorabilia, even if it’s story, I’m very interested,” she said.
 
To contact Dangermond, email 100menhall@gmail.comor call (415) 336-9543.

During the Second Saturday Artwalk each month in Old Town Bay St. Louis, you'll find cool deals, fresh meals and lots of art and live music!

Be sure to check out "Hot Spots" Magnolia Antiques (200 Main Street) and Trapani's Eatery (116 North Beach Blvd).  And be sure to stop in at Gallery 220 (220 Main St.) to see new work by Julie Nelson and Tommy Lewis. 

- stories by Grace Wilson, photos by Ellis Anderson 

To celebrate their "Hot Spot" status this month, on Second Saturday, Magnolia Antiques will host live music by Hadley Hill from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. with light refreshments. ​

“Grandma had it. Mom threw it out. I bought it back.” This sign hangs in Magnolia Antiques, and of all the treasures for sale, this sign is not. The smiles and laughs it brings to customers is priceless. 
 
Walking through the doors of Magnolia Antiques makes memories come flooding back. It’s truly a world of the past. There are 3,000 square feet of furniture, instruments, trinkets and more – all from another, simpler era.  
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Glenda and Jack Schornick originally opened Magnolia Antiques on Highway90 at Dunbar Avenue in January 2005. Magnolia Antiques re-opened in Picayune in late 2006, with the owners’ dream of returning to the Bay. In 2008, that dream was realized and Magnolia Antiques opened at 200 Main Street in Old Town. In 2013 Schornick’s daughter, Shay Coss, relocated from California and became part of daily operations.  
 
She now serves as the store manager, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the store and antiques generally – especially mid-century modern pieces. 

Magnolia Antiques is one of the cornerstones of the town, right on the corner of Main and Second streets, and is one of the shops that have made Bay St. Louis known for the some of the best antiques on the Gulf Coast.
 
Locals will remember their spot as Jerome’s Department Store for over 50 years.  “Everyone from the Bay shopped there at one time or another, especially for school uniforms, shoes, jeans, dancewear, and everything Boy Scouts,” said Glenda.
 
It’s still a department store of sorts. There’s the kitchenware department, the linen section, the kid’s toy area, the Depression glass display, the jewelry department and the music booth. There’s specialty items like the vintage cameras, and the quirky knick-knacks spread throughout the aisles of vintage and antique furniture.

Magnolia Antiques also features the late Betty Stechmann’s photography postcards from Bay St. Louis and the surrounding area.  Betty was a lifelong resident of the Bay and very involved in community arts and theater.  She passed away in 2013, but her spirit lives on as Magnolia has the bulk of her remaining stock.
 
The shop also boasts “the largest collection of playable ukuleles on the coast,” according to Jack, who is a bit of a ukulele expert.  With his knowledge and passion for ukuleles, he has stocked the shop with a grand selection, whether you’re looking for your first one or a prized one. The store also features lots of mid-century modern furniture thanks to Coss' keen eye.  It’s a family affair at Magnolia Antiques, which makes for a wide variety of finds stocking the shelves.
 
 “We are the epitome of recycling,” Glenda said. “We have all the things you loved in your grandmother’s, aunt’s and mom’s house, bringing the best of memories right from your heart to your home.” Indeed, there’s something for every interest from every time period.

Trapani’s is a Bay St. Louis staple. Although the beachfront is now known for food and drinks, Tony Trapani has been on Beach Boulevard since 1994.
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“Our family has been down here a long time,” Trapani said. “My grandfather started a bar across the way called Trapani’s Knock Knock. My uncle took it over and Camille moved it to the highway.” ​

Thirty-five years, later, Hurricane Katrina took Trapani’s on the beach, too, but Trapani never questioned leaving. 

 “I love it here,” he says. “Whenever I go somewhere else, I can’t wait to come back.” Like many, he had to relocate temporarily, but now the restaurant is housed in a hurricane-resistant structure on the lot where the business had previously stood. 
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Locals cheered the reopening as another sign of rebirth after the storm. Today locals and tourists alike line up for their fresh seafood and fresh innovative dishes.  And recently, Jimmy Buffet named Trapani's as one of his favorite beach bars.  

“It’s all homemade and handmade here,” said Trapani. “You won’t find pre-cooked sauces here.” Some of the house specialties include Trapani’s Spaghetti and Meatballs and the Eggplant Delacroix - both family recipes that Tony brought to the restaurant.

In addition to fresh seafood and traditional Italian fare, Trapani’s is known for Cajun favorites, steaks, and appetizers like fried green tomatoes topped with crabmeat and hollandaise, crab cakes, fried calamari, and homemade onion rings.
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There’s also a crowd favorite called Shrimp Ecstasy, which is bacon-wrapped shrimp with cream cheese and jalapenos. Asian-inspired dishes are also a hit – wasabi tuna, tuna nachos and poke salad are all fresh favorites. ​

Each day there’s a $10 lunch special and on Thursdays, locals love the oyster special featuring raw or chargrilled oysters for $10 a dozen. Tony said they don’t have a proper happy hour, but every hour is a happy one at Trapani’s. 

The Blue Marlin Bar upstairs is the perfect hideaway to have a cold drink, an appetizer (or a few!), grab a comfy chair and sit down for a nice, relaxing conversation. 

The upstairs is also perfect for hosting your next party. It features a balcony with some of the best views of the Bay and a fireplace for chilly nights. 
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Trapani’s Eatery is doing everything it can to stand heads and shoulders above the competition. It’s a slice of authentic Bay St. Louis. You never know who will be bellied up to the bar or buried in a booth behind a delicious plate of food. Jimmy Buffett often eats at Trapani’s when he’s in town.

Three artists will share the focus at Gallery 220 Main during the month of October, presenting their latest work at the cooperative art gallery located in Old Town Bay St. Louis, MS. The talent of Armand Douroux, Tommy Lewis and Julie Nelson will be featured during the Second Saturday art walk on Oct. 13 and throughout the month in the front window. Meet the artists and see how each explore their mediums with enthusiasm; Douroux’s photography, Lewis’ wood turning and Nelson’s pottery.
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Armand Douroux grew up playing among the surrounding bayous and waters of his New Orleans home. His boyhood adventures, full of family and love, created a foundation that has become the basis of his photography. In his “BayouByMe” series, the memories come alive as he captures the colors of a sunset or the cotton-like swelling of clouds. His photos depict images of the Gulf Coast surroundings that has now become Dourouxs’ playground. He now calls the bayous and beaches of Bay St. Louis, MS his home and has imbued into his images the natural beauty of his neighborhood.

Tommy Lewis spent his career as a building contractor, retiring in 2015. That’s when he started turning bowls. Using wood from trees such as Box Elder and Ash, he creates purposeful objects that reveal the natural beauty of wood. Finding the right wood is always a challenge for Lewis, but when he comes across the perfect piece, he reveals nature in all its beauty. His wife talked him into entering some art shows and behold, in the two years he’s been showing, he’s won two second place ribbons, one third place and a coveted “People’s Choice Award”.

The wife Lewis mentions above, is pottery artist Julie Nelson. The couple have been together for 17 years. Nelson asked Lewis to join her and enter a show together. Both were entering in a 3-D category and would be competing against one another. “Once Tommy started turning wood I talked him into entering some of his pieces in shows, thereby pitting us against each other. It has been great fun with a happy competition” says Nelson.

Nelson was introduced to pottery in 1998 when she took throwing lessons from gallery artist, Regan Carney. She began working in clay full time in 2010 and has won several awards for her hand-crafted raku pottery. Recently, she has been exploring hand building, experimenting with new glazes and creating more mixed-media pieces. Nelson’s work is constantly evolving, which makes her pottery so interesting.

Gallery 220 Main invites all to stop by between 4-8pm on Second Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018. There will be refreshments, creative energy and new art. Find us at the corner of 220 Main St. and Tolume St. in Bay St. Louis, MS. Call 228.466-6347 if you need more information. Visit our Facebook @Gallery220.

A local naturalist and zen explorer experiments with ways to consider the world from another living creature's perspective - and discovers a new way of seeing. 
- by James Inabinet, PhD, illustrations by Margaret Inabinet

Mouse-seeing is an innocent way of seeing that begins with an empty mind, a “beginner’s mind,” one open to anything as Zen master Suzuki describes: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.”  

To begin mouse-seeing, thinking is suspended through meditation or prayer.  A quieted mind allows the “seer” to become more mindful of what’s happening right now, right here.  With an empty mind one becomes like a hollow bone, ready to be filled with possibility.
 
Several years ago, I ritually began my first journey into mouse-seeing in the goldenrod field.  After sitting in meditation for a while, I dropped down and put my nose close to the ground like a mouse to see the field up close the way she would.  

​I could see thickets of grass and goldenrod stems. With lowered head, I crawled for a while seeking mouse roads below the grass and goldenrod “canopy” and experience being in mouse habitat as I moved mouse-like through the field.
 
After a half hour or so, I became bored and noticed that I had been thinking about home and work.  I meditated and began again.  Soon I stumbled onto what appeared to be a tiny trail.  I slid onto my belly to look closer and discovered a mouse trail, a round hole through grass “trunks.”  Opening back into the grass, the trail disappeared in shadow.  Perhaps a tiny nest was back in there but I would never know. To get close enough to gaze at it would certainly destroy it.  

I turned away and crawled towards the early sun.  It struck me that humans are upright strangers that blithely walk through woods and fields as hawks, seeing from afar, from on high.  We rarely see a mouse or even her signs and yet mice are legion, numbering in the thousands in this place alone.  There on mouse roads they run, doing the doings of mice everyday unnoticed until someone gets down on her belly and looks with mouse eyes.  Only then can mice and their way of being truly begin to exist for us.  
 
As infants, we once possessed unmitigated body-knowing, as innocent as a mouse on her mouse-road – I only have to remember how to do it.  Maybe I can return somehow to an infant’s sense of wonder, alert and curious – like a mouse.  Intimate with her world, she sees clearly only what is right in front of her feeling, smelling nose.
 
I moved closer to the stems of the grasses and goldenrods; I touched them with my face, feeling their roughness.  Nose to the ground, I smelled the dark, damp earth where it was exposed. I listened closely while simultaneously smelling, feeling, looking.  The mouse way is a doing way.  

 Energetically, I moved through the field, stopping only for brief moments. I alternately blurred my vision and then focused.  In blurring, movement can be detected, vital in a mouse world that includes hawk shadows and snakes.  With blurred images, one feels more than sees.  Blurring interdicts thinking.
 
With closed eyes I laid down and focused on feelings.  A surprisingly rough grass stem was touching my face.  I tried to move into that feeling of roughness–without thinking. Moving my face to the side, I felt the mat of dry grass that covered the bare earth, again focusing on feelings. 

Moving forward a few inches I felt a grass stem on my forehead, focusing on feelings even as an image appeared, an image of what that grass might look like.  I continued in this way for about an hour and had moved only about six feet. 
 
At the end of this experiment into mouse-seeing, I knew that particular feelings had arisen in me about the nature of the beings of the field, but I could not clearly recall them.  It occurred to me that by purposefully suspending thinking, these feelings could not easily become thought and/or words.  Something, though, was felt, something known, but I could not say exactly what it was.  

​Even so, my relationship with this place deepened.

A Louisiana artist beloved for her dynamic paintings opens a new Bay St Louis gallery and launches a new children's book. 
- story by Denise Jacobs

“If I see something in a dumpster that I need,” she says, “I will get in the dumpster and dig it out. I have no shame.” ​

Originally from Louisiana and greatly influenced by the musical culture of New Orleans, Curtis has a collection of work that includes the original artwork for three French Quarter Fest posters featuring Pete Fountain, Kermit Ruffins, and Little Freddie King.
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Also, she was commissioned to create the 20th annual Blues Masters at the Crossroads poster, the Satchmo Summer Fest poster, and two Legendary Blues Cruise official posters.

For as long as she can remember, Curtis has been creating.“My love of art has been lifelong,” she notes. “I remember drawing a duck when I was two years old—a tiny, little picture of a duck. I still remember the smell of graphite and the way the pencil felt in my hand.” 

Curtis earned her first degree in art education and her second in art design. Her father has been her lifelong mentor. “He was an outdoorsman, and as we walked the woods, my father would draw my attention to the outdoor world. He would point to a crow and ask me what color it was. I’d say black, and he would say, ‘Look again when the sun highlights the feathers.’”  ​

With a built-in appreciation of both nature and animals, she enjoys painting animals as much, if not more, than people (making her the perfect sponsor for the Shoofly Magazine's Shelter Stars column).

“Animal faces captivate me,” she says. “Some people say that if you’ve painted one golden retriever, you’ve painted them all, but that’s just not true. If you study animals, you will find that they are all different. The distinction might be as small a thing as a bump on the nose, but it is not insignificant.” 
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Painting pet portraits is rewarding for the peace they bring to clients whose pets are no longer alive. When Curtis paints the portraits of animals still living, she visits the animals and takes photographs to guide her painting. Then, for the cherry on top, clients are encouraged to bring their pets in for the final stage of the pet portrait, the addition of the pet’s paw prints. 

The artist has made her own imprint on New Orleans, where she taught art in the greater New Orleans area and implemented an art-based curriculum, Artworks, through the New Orleans Museum of Art. In 2004, Curtis went into art full time, opening a gallery on Magazine Street in 2014, which she operated for four years before falling prey to the charms of Bay St. Louis. 

“The move to Bay St. Louis, finding a home at Century Hall, and finding a house for my husband and me took three months,” Curtis says, noting that everything “fell into place for us.” 

“Bay St. Louis is the perfect fit,” she notes. “It’s art friendly, and I’ve always loved it.” Also, the Bay is a perfect middle ground for traveling to Gulf Shores, Alabama, where her husband, children’s writer Perry Guy, runs a kayak rental business, and to New Orleans, where Curtis teaches art lessons to private clients as well as to women housed at the New Orleans Family Justice Center (via her church’s prison ministry).

​It’s a lot to balance, but Curtis says that whatever she’s doing, art is on her mind. ​

“If I’m running errands,” she says, “or doing something mundane, I’m thinking through my layout, my color palette, the potential size of a project.” 

Curtis’ latest project, The Mardi Gras Boat Parade, is a collaboration between herself and Perry Guy, illustrator and writer, respectively. The children’s story reflects Curtis’ childhood love of Beatrix Potter. Guy has written a song by the same name as the book, as well. To order The Mardi Gras Boat Parade online, visit Tami Curtis's website. 

As Curtis looks to her future in the Bay-Waveland area, she would like to begin offering private art lessons here. “When you create something yourself, something with personal meaning,” she says, “you can come home at the end of a hard day, glance at it, and find peace.”  ​

Waveland Alderman Jeremy Burke reports on Hurricane Florence relief efforts, the Halloween Bash on Coleman Avenue and the Waveland budget. 

All the volunteers took leave time from their jobs for this hurricane relief effort. With monetary help from dozens of Hancock County residents, the group was able to serve thousands of meals to people in Vass and Surf City, N.C.  ​

Attention all ghosts and goblins: Waveland invites you to the annual Halloween Bash on Coleman Avenue on Wednesday, October 31, from 5:30–7:00 p.m. There will be tricks, treats, face painting, a haunted house and many other surprises! This is a family-friendly event that children of all ages will enjoy.
 
To make this an even better event, we invite residents and businesses to set up on Coleman Avenue and hand out candy. 
 
If you are interested in setting up a booth or being a part of the event, please contact Raquel LaFontaine at Raquellafontaine@gmail.com(228-493-7246) or call Waveland City Hall at 228-467-4134.

Waveland adopted the fiscal year 2019 budget during September.  Financially, Waveland is on solid ground.  The general fund budget of just over $5.5 million has line items that will allow a boost in public safety. The city budget includes an addition of a patrolman, replacing several aging police vehicles, and positioning Waveland to take on several capital improvement projects. The tax rate of 37.55 mills is the same as last year so local taxpayers will see no Waveland tax increase.  
 
Two reasons for Waveland’s current good financial position is because the city mill value increased to $62,400 and the sales tax revenue is up nearly 3% from the previous year.  It is important for Waveland residents and weekenders to continue choosing to shop in local establishments and not online so Waveland will remain on good financial footing.

A sweeping new narrative explores the Gulf of Mexico, taking readers from  its exotic pre-history to its precarious present. 
- story by Scott Naugle

Davis continues with a foreboding close to the paragraph, “The doomed megafauna struggled for survival against a common implacable predator – humans with spears and shell clubs – and against a changing climate. Lost causes both, as it turned out.”

Between his opening comments on the plate tectonics forming the Gulf of Mexico and the present day, Davis tells a rip-roaring, relevant, concise, beautifully written history of the gulf. He is a polymath covering every aspect from early twentieth-century visits by the painter Winslow Homer and poet Wallace Stevens; Spanish, French, and English exploration; the dawn of commercial fishing; the advent of tourism; and the BP oil spill.
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Jack Davis spent a lifetime preparing to write this monumental work. He recalls his childhood romping on the beaches and marshes along the coast of the Florida panhandle, studying the birds while listening to the melodious rhythm of the surf. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of South Florida and a doctorate from Brandeis University. Davis currently teaches environmental history and sustainability studies at the University of Florida.   

Davis was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for History for The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea. 

While the research is meticulous and expansive ranging from social history to wildlife and the coastal flora, it is the narrative, the people and story of the gulf, bringing this history to life like a multi-layered novel.  

“Among the most scintillating of sights were fish in schools as long as freight trains, running with the invisible gulf tide” was the scenery encountered by Winslow Homer in 1904, as he traveled with “rod and reel … and paints and brushes” as described by Davis.
​
A century later, Joseph Boudreaux, earning a meager living as a commercial fisherman, lamented over the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, erosion caused by commercialization and inland effluents, and the unnatural effects of levees and dams, “that’s when the erosion’s going.” 

Davis explicates, “If you were a fisher, every day was a day not unlike the heron that fished the marsh -  a quest to make the quota for sustenance.” The gulf, over-used and exploited, has exceeded its quota, depleted and polluted. We are modern-day versions of our ancestors with “spears and shell clubs,” employing instead rigs, nets, and chemicals against the gulf.  

The Gulf is the 2018 selection for One Book One Pass, a community reading initiative where everyone reads the same book and has the opportunity to hear the author speak.

​In 2016, the first year for the program, Erik Larson spoke about the best-selling “Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania.” Last year, National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward discussed “The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race,” a collection of essays edited by Ward.

For Larson and Ward, the community turnout was both overwhelming and enthusiastic. The Randolph Center in Pass Christian was stacked to standing room capacity to hear each author speak and answer questions about their work.

​The date for this year’s presentation by Jack Davis is Wednesday, October 17th 7:00 PM at the Randolph Center, 315 Clark Avenue in Pass Christian. It promises to be another informative and fascinating evening.          

In this new Shoofly Magazine column, veteran coast musician Pat Murphy writes about the local music scene - and kicks off by introducing the members of the Dave Mayley Band. 

David Mayley is a self-described "BUG MAN.” He is proud of the fact and will tell anyone so. As owner of Mayley's Pest Control, David has been in business in the Bay St. Louis area for well over twenty years.  Well-known for his support and involvement in community affairs, Mayley is also a longtime member and supporter of the Hancock Chamber of Commerce.
 
Mayley's also passionate about music and is the namesake and bandleader of the The Dave Mayley Band. The five-piece musical group is creating quite a big splash on the musical scene in Hancock County. Playing "Radio Rock Hits From The 1960s Forward,” the group proclaims itself to be a "true fun loving radio cover band.”

David Mayley has been dabbling in music since the age of twelve when he began playing drums in a "real garage band" named Black Granite. Later, in college, Mayley went on to play with Roger Dodger & The Darts, and he founded Kool Breeze in 2005.  Kool Breeze would morph into The Dave Mayley Band of today. 
 
The other member of Kool Breeze was Australian-born lead guitarist Richard Pohl. Pohl, another very talented multi instrumentalist, joined Mayley shortly after Hurricane Katrina and shares vocal duties with the other five members of the band.

Pohl covers  songs from The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty and beyond, while David sings rocking numbers like "Taking Care of Business" and "Wild Thing.” David and Richard also play in a Christian Rock ensemble for a weekly Sunday evening service at the Main Street United Methodist Church  (162 Main Street) in Bay St. Louis at 6:30 PM.

Leslie Henderson began playing music as a young child both for her own enjoyment as well as in church, and she is also a multi instrumentalist. She has been playing with Mayley and Pohl for about five years. Currently she is playing bass and sharing vocal duties with the other members of the band.

Leslie's vocals include tunes by John Prine, Chrissie Hynde and Tommy James and The Shondells among others. She previously played in a bluegrass duo with Walt Moskal and continues to play Christian music at the Diamondhead United Methodist Church. She and husband Mark are the principals in Hancock County's successful Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company.
 
Keyboardist David Sallis was raised in Jackson and has lived on the coast for over twenty five years. He is a software engineer at Stennis Space Center. Sallis is another multi instrumentalist playing piano, cello and drums.

David has played keyboards with The Dave Mayley Band for well over a year and sings some of the band's more soulful numbers with his covers of Bill Withers, Dobie Gray and Ray Charles songs.

Rounding out the band is rhythm guitarist and vocalist Kevin Estrade who, although born in Gulfport, has lived in Bay St. Louis his whole life. Kevin holds a degree in theatre from the University of Southern Mississippi and is the branch manager of Keesler Federal Credit Union in Waveland.

​An extremely talented musician, Kevin is on his maiden journey as a professional musician with The Dave Mayley Band. His vocal talents are utilized on songs that run the gamut from Lynyrd Skynyrd  to Van Morrison and Tom Petty.
 
This band's repertoire encompasses straight ahead cover material from the 1960s through the 1990s. It's all middle of the road (MOR) FM radio rock which is always well received by theiraudiences.

The Dave Mayley Band is working a good bit locally, playing mostly private parties, weddings and concerts in the parks. The band also continues to be in rotation with several other musical groups playing in the new Beach Bar venue at The Silver Slipper Casino at Bayou Cadet.

The group is a true fun-loving cover band whose members all get along and complement each other's styles. Collectively, the band seems to aspire to nothing more than enjoying themselves while making music and improving their sound as they continue to play dates. 
 
The members of The Dave Mayley Band all seem to stay so busy with family and business careers that they aspire only to make music whenever they are able. Their personal enjoyment along with that of their audience seems to be their main goal. This band plans on rocking Hancock County and the Mississippi Gulf Coast with their cover tunes for a long time to come.
 
The band has a Facebook page titled The Dave Mayley Band. Check the band out at one of their upcoming Silver Slipper Beach Bar gigs. David Mayley can be contacted at (228) 380-0285.
 
 
 ​

The historic charms of Bay St. Louis provide the perfect backdrop for Halloween events, like the annual Cedar Rest Cemetery Tour.  This year, a growing coven of colorful costumers takes to the streets of Old Town in a Witches Walk for charity. 
- story by Lisa Monti, photos by Ellis Anderson 

On Saturday, Oct. 27, the Fourth Annual Witches Walk will cast a fun spell over Old Town as dazzling witches explore the shops, restaurants and galleries from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. It’s a registration only event with a deadline of Oct. 19 to sign up.
 
The gathering kicks off at Mockingbird Café (110 S. Second Street) and meanders in downtown for shopping, eating and socializing. Many merchants will be participating with specials and refreshments, including Bodega (111 Court Street).  Costumers will get numbers from participating businesses to play Witches Wingo – a holiday themed Bingo game.

 
After lunch, at around 1:30 p.m., the witches will meet outside of Lulu’s on Main (126 Main Street) to start their parade to Cuz’s restaurant (108 S. Beach Blvd., led by the Bay Ratz Marching Battery.
 
 To cap off the day, there will be a dance around the cauldron at Cuz’s, where prizes donated by Old Town Merchants will be awarded for best hat, shoes and brooms and the winning Wingo card. 
 
Bay St. Louis resident and costumer extraordinaire, Karen West, is one of the event organizers.  West says it all started when she and a few friends dressed up for a Halloween birthday luncheon in 2012.  Last year, 36 women participated.  

This year, they had hoped to double those numbers.  But after 75 tickets sold out immediately and people clamored for more, the event was expanded to encompass more Old Town venues.  Registration reopened. As of October 1, West says 127 women have registered.  
 
“It’ll be a day of fun and frivolity, for sure!” West declared.

The $10 registration fee will benefit the Hancock County Food Pantry and the Bay Ratz Marching Battery. Sign up at the Social Chair, 201 Main Street, Bay St. Louis or send payment via Paypal to karenwest0307@gmail.com.  Witches will pay for their own libations and food along the way. ​

The 24th annual Cedar Rest Cemetery Tour, which traditionally was held on Halloween evening, will take place on Friday, Oct. 26. The 45-minute tours will begin every 10 minutes, starting at 5 p.m. 
 
The historic cemetery is the resting place of many interesting residents, and each year the Hancock County Historical Society members and volunteers portray some of the more notable ones. 

This year, in honor of the 100th anniversary of World War I’s end, eight “ethereal residents” will represent Doughboys and sailors, Buffalo Soldiers, nurses and others who will share their wartime experiences and contributions. Admission is free but donations to the Historical Society are encouraged. 
 
Cedar Rest is located at 200 South Second Street. For more information call 228-467-4090.

Also on Saturday, Oct. 27, McLeod Park Campground will host its annual Halloween event from 5 to 10 p.m. Kids can enjoy a costume contest, various games and trick or treating.
 
McLeod Park Campground is located at 8100 Texas Flat Road in Kiln. for more info, call  228-467-1894 or visit the Facebook page.  

Waveland is hosting its annual Halloween Bash on Coleman Avenue this year on Halloween night, Wednesday, October 31st.  From 5:30 - 7:30, there'll be tricks, treats, face-painting and a haunted house.  Residents and businesses are invited to set up for the evening on Coleman Avenue to pass out candy.   For more information, call the Waveland City Hall at 228-467-4134. 

If style and comfort married, their offspring would be the elegant clothing found in this popular Old Town boutique. 
story and photos by Denise Jacobs

Keenan has a most faithful following for good reason. While shopping for her Old Town BSL store, Keenan keeps in mind her returning customers’ taste in jewelry and color palette. You could say that Keenan carries both the basics and the flair, and her customers provide the style. 
​
“Sometimes I add a little persuasion,” Keenan says, “and coax a woman into trying on something outside her comfort zone. It’s really rewarding when that works out and a woman falls in love with a new look.” 

Thanks to Keenan’s extensive line of clothing, shoppers can choose from among the super chic, the subtle boho, classic black and white, and neutral flesh tones without sacrificing their personal style. From old standby brands like Flax and Matchpoint to Cut Loose, April Cornell, and Fridaze, Keenan carries the biggest and best line of Flax, wrinkle-resistant linen, and knits on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  
​
Between Keenan’s labels, her fashion knowledge, and her superpower buying skills, it is quite possible to build a strong foundation of timeless pieces that can be paired with almost anything in a woman’s closet. 

“People come into the store from all over the country,” Keenan says. “And they often ask my sales clerks about the store’s buyer.  ‘Who does the buying?’ they ask.  The clerks point toward me, and, of course, I always look like I just fell off the turnip truck. Regardless—I’ve always liked putting things together. When I go to market, I don’t consider the trip a success unless I can come back with one or two pieces that will knock your socks off.” 

Lots of local California Drawstrings customers wanted to get in on the action when they learned about this article. Kat Fitzpatrick, a local visual artist, modeled several jackets purchased from California Drawstrings through the years, each of them perfectly coordinated with a simple linen top and pants, also from California Drawstrings. Fitzpatrick’s jackets fall in the “knock your socks off category.”  Members of a local book club - Club Nouveau - dressed in California Drawstrings attire for their most recent gathering. 

By the time this story runs, new fall linens—a little heavier fabric in darker hues than typically worn in the summer—will have arrived. Shoppers will find a lovely linen tunic dress for sunny days, linen trousers, and linen jackets—all beautifully accessorized with Keenan’s choice of scarves and accessories. Stop by and find your bling - or your bliss! ​

For eight decades the Bay-Waveland Garden Club organization has rolled up their sleeves and worked to help educate and beautify their communities. 
- story by Denise Jacobs

“A lot of people have a misconception about garden clubs, but we really are an educational organization,” says Lana Noonan, secretary and publicity chair. “We have speakers once a month on an educational topic, from one end of the spectrum to another. 

“We also roll up our sleeves up and work.”

If it blossoms, buzzes, or breathes, it likely falls under the floral parasol of the Garden Club’s mission, which is to advance gardening of all sorts, including backyard and youth gardens, to further city beautification and the conservation of air, water, and soil quality, and the protection of native trees, shrubs, pollinators, and birds. 

Under this broad mission statement, being a member can be as simple as putting something in your backyard that provides shelter—a tree, a bird house, bird bath, or bird seed. “Our members do just that,” says Noonan. “We roll up our sleeves and work.” 

While Garden Club members can and do happily work alone, they also play well with others. The club has partnered with a bevy of organizations, from the Bay St. Louis Rotary Club to the Hancock County Historical Society (in collaborative efforts to save, document, and register aged oak trees).

The members of the Bay/Waveland Garden Club take their efforts beyond the borders of the traditional flower or vegetable plot. Historically, the club’s projects have included home and garden tours; the annual Gulf Coast Spring Pilgrimage; anti-litter campaigns; a Christmas lighting decoration contest; an annual Spring Flower Show; and Arbor Day with the planting of trees at local schools, libraries, hospitals, Stennis Airport, and the Bay/Waveland Yacht Club, among others.  

The club’s work to encourage the gardeners of tomorrow has included presentations and projects at local schools—public and private—the Boys and Girls Club, and a clean-up collaboration with local Boy Scouts.

In the 70s and 80s, Mrs. John Holmes led Girl Scout Troop #27 to win the Gulf Pines Council Certificate - twice.  In 1972, the Bay/Waveland Garden Club won the National Helen Hussey Champlin Award for outstanding service in promotion of gardening among youth.

A document commemorating the first 50 years of the Bay/Waveland Garden Club on the website of the Hancock County Historical Society identifies the organization of the Garden Club Youth Group in 1964 as “the project with the most heart.”

Mrs. Rene deMontluzin organized the first youth group with 31 girls.  It was followed by the OLG Busy Bees and Lazy Daisies, the Sunshine Gardeners, and the St. Joseph’s Academy Red Birds.

A glance at the headings of Sea Coast Echo coverage of the Bay/Waveland Garden Club tells the larger story: 

• Organization of Bay-Waveland Garden Club of Civic Interest
• Nearly 500 Visitors Tour City’s Homes and Gardens in Annual Gulf Coast Spring Pilgrimage
• National Convention Hostesses
• Bay-Waveland Garden Club Teams with Hancock Libraries
• Bay-Waveland Garden Club Donates to Community Garden
• Ready for Pilgrimage: Scouts Lead in Clean-up
• Bay-Waveland Garden Club Meets to Discuss Pageant Week Plans
• Bay-Waveland Club Wins National Award
• Bay-Rotary Club Announces 3 New Working Committees

As is apparent, even as the Bay/Waveland Garden Club turns 80, it wears work gloves as easily as white gloves.

Might you like to join?  The club welcomes seasoned gardeners and novices alike.  The meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month from September through May at the Old Town Presbyterian Church in Bay St. Louis.  A "Coffee Social" begins at 9:30 a.m., and the meeting is at 10:00 a.m.  Meetings are open to the public, and guests are always welcome.  You just have to be willing to roll up your sleeves and work!

Two young creatives are putting Bay St. Louis on the map for software development with a video game they're crafting:  StageMechanic.
- story by Lisa Monti

Two other games are in development, and Niolet and Irkalla are getting a hand from a small group of volunteers. “While Catherine and I are the main contributors to our projects, we absolutely depend on, and thank, our volunteers,” Niolet said.

Others are welcome to join in the game-developing venture which operates on a not-for-profit model. “We are extremely open to people who want to get involved, and we don’t care about their background. We’re trying to design projects for people with no experience but have a desire to learn,” Niolet said.

Recently, You’re Perfect Studio took part in a contest hosted by Game Jolt to develop an entire game in only a week. Their entry – Just for the Halibut! – is an arcade-style fishing game. In only a week they developed all the graphics, music, programming, and even AI.

Just for the Halibut! and the StageMechanic games are being developed using an open-source software model, which allows anyone to make changes to the game and build off it. “You can get under the hood and see how it works and modify it,” Niolet said.

She said the You’re Perfect Studio’s open-source games are family friendly, completely free, and do not contain ads or data collection, but users have the option of supporting further development through a pay-what-you-want model on their Game Jolt page or by subscribing to You’re Perfect Studio on Patreon.

Niolet is also in the process of developing two projects based on ancient Sumerian mythology and culture. One is an HD action/maze-navigation game that allows players to choose non-violent gameplay options and is being developed in conjunction with Sumerian language, architecture, and cultural experts, she said.

The other is being developed as a free course to be held at the Bay St. Louis Public Library. “The course will center on a 5,000-year-old Sumerian board game known as The Royal Game of Ur and will target more mature learners interested in  how modern technology can be used to preserve history using the library’s recently acquired 3D printer,” she said.

Niolet probably didn’t realize it at the time but her own career path was set early. “When I was really young - maybe 5 or 6 - my uncle started teaching me software development,” she said.

Niolet eventually settled in Houston, managing the U.S. operations of a Swedish software company, but the high pressure job took a toll. “I was traveling constantly and never home,” she said. “I got burned out and just wanted to wash dishes for a living.”

After a couple years working in local restaurants including the Mockingbird Café, she said she slowly regained the desire to enter the software industry, leading her to start working on games in her spare time and then founding You’re Perfect Studio.
 
Niolet still uses her restaurant experience, volunteering weekly at Starfish Cafe where she can “absorb” the non-profit’s emphasis on community involvement. The restaurant teaches students work and life skills, volunteers help with the operation and its customers pay what they want to support the Starfish Cafe mission.

“I’m hoping to bring some of their values of community, education, and pay-what-you-want to video game development,” she said.

Niolet looks at her new gaming venture not as a business quite yet but more like a partnership with volunteers. The grassroots approach and an open attitude means that age and experience aren’t factors. “My 7-year-old nephew is one of my testers,” she said.

Niolet said she and Irkalla are exploring the potential benefits of incorporating as a non-profit, allowing them to formalize their commitment to community involvement and education.

“I’m trying to do something different, not just trying to make a bunch of money,” she said.

Learn more about You’re Perfect Studio and help support their community involvement:
https://www.patreon.com/youreperfect

Download and follow the progress of You’re Perfect Studio games:
https://gamejolt.com/@YourePerfect

A historic cottage in Waveland is filled with family stories of the past - and home to a couple who is generating new ones.
- story and photos by Ellis Anderson

A striking photo of six young women graces the wall of a raised red cottage in Waveland.  It’s easy to guess they’re sisters, even if they weren’t wearing similar white dresses.  The full long flounces of skirts hiding the feet of the three in front.  Their long hair is arranged according to the custom of the early 1900s, back and up.  The style frames their lovely faces, all with Mona Lisa smiles.

If one looks closer, they'll see that the girl in the  lower right has a flash of mischief in her eyes.  Like she might shuck both decorum and shoes, then run barefoot down a pier in Bay St. Louis.  

Which she did.  A young man, visiting the coast from New Orleans actually witnessed this lively escapade.  The smile on Ada Richardson’s face and the tantalizing view of her ankles captivated the heart of Alfred Page.

But the couple have done their own share of adding to the home’s repertoire of interesting stories.  Like marrying on the front porch in the tailwind of a hurricane.
 
LiLi met Donald in 2010, two years after her husband George passed away.  They struck up a conversation in a coffeehouse line and he treated her to a cup of coffee.
 
“You meet quality people in Starbuck’s,” says LiLi.
 
“Well, I’m a big spender,” says Donald, smiling.  “A cup of coffee at Starbuck’s isn’t cheap.” 
 
Donald is a retired government contractor and petroleum reserve consultant.  He had moved to Slidell from New Orleans to be closer to family.  But as Donald fell in love with LiLi, he also fell for Waveland. 

LiLi’s connection to Waveland went back several generations.  Although she grew up in New Orleans, graduating from Magee school and then Newcomb College, she had spent a large part of her idyllic childhood at her family’s vacation home on Jeff Davis. 
 
After retirement, she and George had moved full-time to that home, “the Green House.”  In 1993, Lili and George also purchased the small red cottage next door that had belonged to one of LiLi’s aunts.  It had been vacant and boarded up for years.  The Stahlers renovated, put in a pool and used it as a guest house.  
 
After George’s passing, Lili decided to downsize and move into the red cottage.  However 750 square feet was too small for entertaining guests.  So she went to work planning a new addition – one that would echo the character of the historic cottage. “It’s just like the original part of the house - very plain with no moldings and no fanciness,” says LiLi. 
 
According to family history, the red cottage had been built in the countryside around Kiln.  It had been moved to Waveland in 1938 – surely a feat at the time.  While no one in the family recalled the exact origin of the cottage, the patchwork style of the woodwork suggested that a worker in the lumber mills had built it from scraps. 

The cottage was placed up on piers at its new location, becoming the only raised house north of the tracks in Waveland.  The family couldn’t have known that the elevation would keep the house from flooding 65 years later during Katrina’s unprecedented storm surge.
 
LiLi’s new addition doubled the square footage.  It included a bedroom, a bath and closet, a laundry room and a living area.  The kitchen of the original cottage – which had been an add-on – was revamped in the process. 
 
The only entrance to the red cottage had been from the back door, so the front of the house underwent a makeover too.  The front sleeping porch was mirrored on the new addition and a staircase added between the two in the middle. 

When the addition was complete in 2009, George’s daughter Liz and her family moved into the larger green house. LiLi moved next door into the red raised cottage to begin her “quiet widow’s life.”
 
Donald changed all that.  

As their relationship flourished, Donald found himself embraced by the coast community.  And LiLi didn’t want to leave Waveland.  She was serving her first term as an alderman, working ferociously for community recovery after Katrina. Donald, who had no emotional ties to Slidell, made plans to move. 
 
LiLi was 72 and Donald was 78 when the couple decided to marry in 2012. During Hurricane Gustav.  After a bit of investigation, the pair discovered that the president of the Hancock Board of Supervisors could perform the ceremony and contacted the current board president, Lisa Cowand. 

The wedding was delayed a bit because Cowand was tied up in emergency management meetings with FEMA, but she arrived on Labor Day afternoon in a white suit, picking her way through storm debris bearing a dozen red roses.  Donald and LiLi , dressed “in all our finery,” were married on the front steps of the red cottage. 

 Walking into the cottage, one faces the kitchen, running across the back of the house.  The dining room flanks it on one side, the living room on the other.  Family heirlooms mix easily with comfortable contemporary furniture.  The often whimsical artwork plays off the family antiques. 

There’s a story behind every item in the house.  LiLi knows them all. 
 
The bust of the Greek goddess Psyche on the mantle brings to mind the fact that as a child, LiLi and her grandmother used to wash the statue’s hair on occasion instead of just dusting it.  Dining chairs from her grandparents house were built in the mid-1800s by the famous French Quarter craftsman, Francois Seignouret. Each chair has subtle differences that LiLi can point out.

There’s the stately grandfather clock by the front door that graced the dining room of LiLi’s grandparents when she was a young child.
 
“It was made in 1792 by the Boston clockmaker W. Cummings,” LiLi says.  “He made it especially for my grandfather’s grandfather, Ephraim Marsh.”

LiLi opens a drawer in an antique secretary and pulls out memorabilia belonging to her mother, including a detailed list of wedding gifts they received so she would be able to write proper thank-you notes. 

But Donald’s had a hand in shaping the house as well.  The couple have continued working on the cottage together, with the help of contractor Joe Besancon.  For instance, it was Donald’s idea to glass in both screened porches on the front to make two bright interior spaces that are comfortable year around.  On one side is a reading room and its twin on the other is a breakfast area. 
 
“We call them the reading porch and the eating porch.  Those are our two main pursuits,” quips LiLi.  “The rest of the house could blow up, because we spend most of our time there.” 

The back deck was also added with Donald’s influence.  The small porch off the kitchen was too small for his grill.  And LiLi says her husband’s grilled chicken was one of the reasons she married him.
 
Both the kitchen and deck overlook an enormous screened lanai and pool, nested in a beautifully landscaped yard, that melts into woods. 

The pool is active almost every morning with a group of friends who meet for water aerobics:  the Swimmin’ Women.  It’s a very diverse group, except in age – the youngest is 65.  
 
Donald does his water aerobics before the women arrive.
 
“It’s very clear I have no business down there then,” he says.  “I do make sure the pool is clean for them.”
 
“We call him the pool boy,” LiLi says, smiling.
 
“I get no respect,” Donald says. 

But the Swimmin’ Women is more than an exercise group.  The sisterhood that’s evolved supports each other in crisis – like when LiLi was battling cancer in 2017.
 
“There were a lot of challenges last year, including losing my hair – the vanity of women,” says LiLi.  “But now I have hair again and it’s made us appreciate life even more.”   

Walking around the house with LiLi and Donald, one can almost glimpse the future. The trees in the olive grove they planted last year will be mature and full, the boughs of the live oak will be thick and dipping toward the ground.
 
Perhaps a young girl will listen to family stories by the edge of the pool.  She’ll laugh at the tales of the grandfather’s clock and Psyche’s shampoos and the Richardson sisters.  She’ll dangle her feet into the water and ask how a man could fall in love after seeing only an ankle.
 
And there will follow more stories that she’ll carry forward into her own future:  those of the Swimmin’ Women’s club, of the Starbuck’s romance, and the hurricane marriage on the porch of the red raised cottage in Waveland. 

While dealing with a serious illness, writer Scott Naugle finds his path to recovery leads down a garden path.

Mid-March, I pushed the wheelbarrow, gripping it as my makeshift walker, slowly and falteringly struggling toward the botanical patient. A few weeks out of my second surgery within two months, withered and lame, I was intent on defying the surgeon’s orders to remain in bed.   
​

From my earliest memory, gardening has always been therapy, my green recovery room, where I locate a peaceful respite, sweating the tension away with the swing of a scythe, lopping back the Hedera covering and obscuring the earth as well as ensnarling my disposition. Eschewing traditional physical therapy, I was determined to regain strength under the warming sun surrounded by azaleas, caladiums, and elephant ears.

Gardening is an experience appreciated by many whether digging in the dirt, planning the plantings, or exchanging notes about foliage follies.

In “Onward and Upward in the Garden,” a collection of Katherine White’s garden columns for “The New Yorker” magazine, husband E.B. White, author of the children’s classics “Charlotte’s Web” and “Stuart Little,” wrote of his wife’s respect for the hard labor of planting and weeding:
​
“She refused to dress down to a garden: she moved in elegantly and walked among her flowers as she walked among her friends – nicely dressed, perfectly poised. If when she arrived back indoors the Ferragamos were encased in mud, she kicked them off.”

Katherine White’s essays both criticize and applaud seed catalogs. She notes that the horticulturists and hybridizers who assemble the annual seed catalogs are “individualistic – as any Faulkner or Hemingway, and they can be just as frustrating and rewarding.”    

White highlights Atlee Burpee and Joseph Harris for what the seedsmen are doing to zinnias in their catalogs. She aims a critical thorn at Burpee for “devot[ing] its inside front cover to full-color pictures of its Giant Hybrid Zinnias, which look exactly like great, shaggy chrysanthemums. Now, I like chrysanthemums, but why should zinnias be made to look like them?” White is in a snit and having none of this genetic tinkering. I imagine she may have removed a Ferragamo and tossed it across the room. Duck, E.B.

I lowered myself to the ground at garden’s edge close enough to the Hydrangea so that I could clip and debulk the detritus with a surgeon’s precision, preserving anything green showing signs of healthy regrowth. The coarse cool sandy soil gently scraping against my knees, after weeks of starched white sheets and bleached hospital gowns, sent a rush of warming bliss through my body. I was in touch with the earth again.
​
In the collected letters between two gardening friends, “Two Gardeners: A Friendship in Letters,” Katherine White and Elizabeth Lawrence share their lives, illnesses and births, within letters framed by the latest bulb discovery or the best positioning for a cyclamen in the sun. An inquiry from one correspondent to the other may begin with, “My next question is to ask whether you happen to know the title of any recent books on flower arrangement?”

Lawrence and White are a smidge high-minded for me, graciously formal and exacting, while writing to the other on gardening. I’ve never been able to pronounce the botanically accurate names of plants that both toss about effortlessly – Cluisiana, Marjolettii, acuminata, and Oxalis bowiei. Either my tongue is too heavy or I have a mental block in verbalizing words that sound foreign for something simple and natural, a tulip bulb, or I possibly cannot conceptualize of the odd alignment of consonants and vowels.

Pseudomyxoma Peritonei is my cancer. I cannot pronounce it either.

Henry Mitchell, writing in “One Man’s Garden,” approaches the garden with much of the same jovial, yet no nonsense approach as I, “If tender folk go to pieces for fear a plant may be hurt (even before it is hurt, and it usually isn’t) then how do they cope with the death of dog or person? We are not born to a bonbon-type life, you know.” 

Mitchell was the longtime garden columnist for “The Washington Post.” His humorous articles focus on planting and growing in small spaces, the two hundred and three hundred square feet patches serving as beds, behind Capitol Hill and Georgetown brownstones.

On my hands and knees, moving slowly and gingerly, I aerate the soil surrounding the Hydrangea. The wooden handle of the small hoe is worn smooth from years of gripping, weeding, rejuvenating with it. I lay on a heavy dose of fertilizer while feeling the healing sun for the first time in months. For a moment, it is silent and still. There’s no gulf breeze.
​
I know to my core that if the Hydrangea can recover, then so too will I.         

In today's convoluted and rapidly changing tax world, it's critical to have an accountant who keeps up with the new laws.  But having one who can actually explain how the regulations affect you - in plain English - is even better. 
- story by Ellis Anderson 

​That’s the reason one of the firm’s core offerings now is small business advisory services.  If someone is starting up a new enterprise, they can make an appointment with Rigby.  During the session, they’ll discuss what type of entity to form (corporation? sole proprietorship? LLC?), decide which bookkeeping method to use, even talk about marketing strategies.  The firm can then prepare most – if not all – of the required paperwork for the entrepreneur. 
 
When a small business owner is ready to expand, Rigby can analyze and assess partnerships, legal issues and tax consequences. 
 
Small businesses can also look to the firm for Quickbooks assistance and support.
 
“The Quickbooks software has become the dominant program for bookkeeping, yet small businesses, even individuals, often need our help,” Rigby says.  “They might come to us with a one-time problem.  Or they might sign up for monthly or quarterly services.”

​Rigby notes that Quickbooks is a bookkeeping program only.  There’s a big difference between bookkeeping and accounting. Accounting is the necessary review and adjustment of your books for income tax preparation.
 
“We can teach clients to do their own bookkeeping, but we can’t teach them to do their own accounting,” says Rigby.  
 
In the past year, major changes in the tax laws have kept Rigby and his staff studying and reviewing the laws.  In the most recent tax season, he took extra time with clients who might be impacted by the new laws.  In the meeting where he delivered their returns, he discussed in detail how the new tax laws would affect their taxes going forward.  In most cases, he even worked up a projection of how their return would have looked under the new laws. 
 
Rigby asserts that the new tax law hasn’t changed much for the typical taxpayer.  The changes result in smaller savings than many expected.  In some cases, people will actually pay more.
 
For example, many entertainment expenses are no longer deductible under the new laws.  Rigby felt this single change alone would affect numerous clients, so he wrote a short article about it to post on his website blog.   He writes understandable takes on accounting and tax topics – short reads that deliver need-to-know information.  

​Rigby also offers individual financial advice, although he stresses that he’s not an investment advisor.
 
“But I’m here to listen and consult with clients about their particular financial situation, including retirement planning,” he says.  “I’m happy to help them consider different aspects they hadn’t thought of and become more confident in their financial decisions.”
 
As an example, Rigby says someone may have inherited a piece of rental property. “I’ll ask them to consider whether they want to be a property manager or a landlord.  Some people hate it and others don’t mind it at all.  I can offer insights based on my experience dealing with so many people and situations through the years.” 
 
Another core service is specialized auditing – something most small-town firms don’t offer. The CPA explains that these type of audits are called Financial Statements and Compliance audits.  All government entities (think libraries, senior citizens programs, water and sewer, etc.) are required by law to have an annual audit provided by an independent firm.  Non-profit organizations are required to have them too, although only some are audited annually.
 

“Auditing is a very specialized area and requires extended continuing education to  be able to provide these services,” Rigby says.  He’s also extremely knowledgable about non-profit organizations and routinely advises them on a pro-bono basis.  
 
Tax preparation, of course, is another major arm of the accounting firm, and Rigby has worked hard to systemize the process over the years, so customers know exactly what information they need to provide and how much they’ll be paying for the preparation – up front. 
 
Last year during tax season, Rigby opened a second office in Diamondhead.  The response was so promising, now the office is open throughout the year.  Gerald Rigby is collaborating with his brother, Quinn Rigby – who’s a CPA in Gulfport - to keep the office staffed full time. 

​The Diamondhead office offers the same full range of services as the Bay location and clients there can also meet with  Gerald to take full advantage of his financial expertise – and communications skills. 
 
“Explaining complex financial issues that clients wouldn’t normally understand is an ability that takes time to develop,” Rigby says.  “I enjoy the process - and the interaction I have with clients.

"And you have to enjoy something if you’re going to be good at it.” 

DIY Diva Holly Lemoine-Raymond gives step-by-step instructions for a weekend project that's easy - as well as uplifting! 

• Circular Saw
• Drill with a Spade Bit to drill holes approximately 6/8 of an inch in diameter
• Nails
• Hammer
• Measuring Tape
• Pencil or Marker
• Rope (Any old rope will due but I used “braided manila rope” aka “hemp rope”)
• 2x8 piece of wood. (mine is 4 feet, small enough for a child but comfortable enough for an adult…)
• 1 Fireman to climb in the tree to secure the rope and tie your knots… (Thanks John Glidden!)
• Electrical Tape 

​Cut two equal lengths of rope. The height of the limb will determine the length of the rope. You’ll want to make sure the seat hangs at least 20 inches from the ground and you have enough rope to wrap the rope around the limb two or three times. Manila rope is super durable. 

Measure and cut the seat. I used a 2x8 piece of recycled wood. I cut it at 4 feet, small enough for a child yet comfortable enough for an adult. Don't forget, measure twice and cut once. 

Once the seat has been cut, you will need to decide where your rope holes will go. Holes should be evenly spaced at each corner. I drilled the holes for my swing about 1/2 inch in. ​

​Using a drill with the Spade Bit drill four holes in the corners of the seat. The holes need to be big enough to put the rope through. 

​Wrap the ends of the rope to keep them from fraying. (You can also burn the ends but why play with fire when there are other ways to make it work?) Poke the ends of the rope  through the holes in the seat. 

​Tie the ends of the rope into an “Ashley Stopper Knot”. This knot is a bit complicated for me to explain. I had a great friend and fireman who was kind enough to lend his services to not only climbing the tree to wrap the rope around the limb, but to also tie the knots… (Thanks John Glidden!)

​Now swing! My model is my beautiful niece Kennedy Aaron. 

​Thank you all for stopping by to read my DIY, Beautiful Things. I hope this quick tree swing project brings you years of enjoyment!

Shoofly Magazine publisher Ellis Anderson looks back to the first Cruisin' the Coast event in 1996 - and her introduction to the Pat Murphy Band. 
- story and photos by Ellis Anderson 

​It’s a classic car show that takes place in Biloxi, they tried to explain.  But it’s in  Gulfport as well.  And it’s even coming to Bay St. Louis.  There’ll be live music too!  Do you have a poodle skirt I can borrow?
 
It was very confusing to me.  An event takes place in a single location, right?  And hey, even though I’d moved over from New Orleans with several costume boxes, I was sadly lacking in poodle skirts.  
 
Later, we’d all learn that Cruisin’ was sort of like a progressive dinner party, drive-thru style.  A large part of the fun for participants was, well, cruising.  Antique or vintage car owners would register in Biloxi and have their passes stamped at each of the participating coast cities. 
 
They’d all roll down the coast road in their antique cars, enjoying the scenery and getting a good gander at other collectible cars in the process. Slews of vintage automobile fans from around the region were expected to attend.  They’d have the opportunity to time-travel back to when car seats rumbled and fenders had fins.
 
Except, there weren’t that many cars to look at in 1996.  In that inaugural year, only 374 vehicles participated.  Spread out across 70 miles of coast, the showing didn’t make an enormous visual impact.  But I didn’t care – the festival was a huge success to me:  I’d gotten to hear the Pat Murphy Band for the first time.
 
My neighbors had also clued me in about the band.  I listened to them rhapsodize about Pat (you can’t help but dance!) and his wife Candy (Lord, can she belt ‘em out!), and the other musicians (those horns, the rhythm, the lead!).

I found out first hand when the Pat Murphy Band kicked into its first set on Saturday afternoon of that inaugural Cruisin’.  I was helping a customer in the gallery, when the music from the courthouse stage slid in through my open French doors.  The boogie beat beckoned. 

​I rushed the customer out, stuck a note on the doors and locked them.  Next door, a large crowd had already gathered before the stage.  With the courthouse as a backdrop, people swung and swayed and the burden of responsibilities and cares that every one of us shoulders got dropped to the ground as we danced.
 
When the first Cruisin’ was over, organizers might have been disappointed, but participants sure weren’t.  They returned home to Hattiesburg, or Baton Rouge or Mobile and told their friends.  Who told their friends.  Who started polishing up their cars for 1997. 
 
From 1996 – 2004, I watched each one of the Crusin’ events from the front porch of my Main Street gallery.  The rest of the year, I rarely looked twice at the design of a ride, but during that week, the car craze proved to be contagious and I oogled with the rest of specators.  For one whole week, Bay St. Louis, drenched in a lovely 1950s charm straight out of Mayberry, RFD, became a movie set from the past. ​

But seeing the Pat Murphy Band was always the highlight for me.  Although the stage got moved eventually so it wasn’t right next door, I was always swaying in the crowd when they played. 
 
The event's grown past anyone's expectations.  According to the official Cruisin’ the Coast website, in 2017 more than 8,300 vehicles registered.  Participants hailed from forty states.  Antique car enthusiasts flock to the coast by the thousands, to catch the chrome, the costumes and the brightly colored cars, glistening under coats of paint so rich and syrupy, you can almost taste the fruity flavors.
 
Pat’s band has morphed into “Sippiana Soul” these days.  John Bezou is still tearing up the lead, while Pat’s cranking on the keyboards and Candy’s reminding us all that while heartbreak is inevitable, music and movement and great friends make it all worthwhile.  
 
Catch “Sippiana Soul" during the 2018 Cruisin' at the Beach/Court St. stage, on Saturday, October 6, 1pm - 2pm. 

Poodle skirts not required. 

For a full Cruisin' schedule of Bay St. Louis/Hancock County events only, click here for the Shoofly Magazine's Upcoming Events page! 

Patricia Urreta took on Maggie as a foster, but the 10-year-old basset hound mix found her way back to Patricia's home and into her heart. 
- story by Denise Jacobs

Speculation turned to observation when Maggie, about ten years old, came to the Hancock Animal Shelter as a Bayside stray and to Ms. Urreta as a foster. Maggs—or Miss Maggs, as Urreta affectionately refers to her, is Urreta’s sixth and longest-staying foster.

During the foster phase, Maggie was once adopted out, but as Urreta explains, “She did not get along with the adoptive family’s other dog. It just didn’t work out, so poor Maggie had to come back. I continued to foster her, and it went on and on and on.” 

As many of us do after losing a beloved family pet, Ms. Urreta decided she would not own another dog.  “When my Jack Russell died, I said, ‘I just can’t do this again,’ but I just felt so bad for Maggie that I gave in.”

​And that’s how, in January of 2018, Maggie, with her Basset Hound body and Labrador face, found her forever home. Urreta has no regrets.  “Maggie loves people,” she says, “and she has been ‘the best dog ever.’ ” ​

Still, despite the mutual adoration, Maggie’s predisposition to chicanery is more effective than a crossword puzzle at firing Ms. Urreta’s neurons.  Urreta points to a sturdy but small steel trash bin with one of those pedals you must step on to open. Urreta explains that when she left the apartment earlier, the bin was where it belonged and, when she returned, in another place entirely. The trash can was not opened or pilfered; it had simply been moved, as if Maggie had her own ideas about home decorating.

​“Now, you tell me how she did that—because I don’t know!” 
​
Ms. Urreta has also discovered that, despite arthritis in the legs, Maggie is somehow able to reach the middle shelf of the kitchen tea trolley. In the adoptive process, the learning curve can be steep for both humans and animals, but Miss Patricia is a pro, and she solved this dilemma easily with a bit of rearranging. Edibles no longer sit on the trolley’s middle shelf.  Adoptive or not, as most dog owners learn sooner rather than later, to train a dog is to train the human. 

To have a successful relationship with a shelter animal, it can be helpful to remember that no dog is perfect from the get-go. It’s important to give a new pet time to learn the household rules of conduct.  Urreta advises patience.

She says, “Animals need time to build trust. Shelter dogs have sometimes been in a shelter for weeks and are traumatized.  They will have accidents.” Then, sadly, “Adopted dogs are sometimes too quickly returned to the shelter.” 

On the topic of shelters, Patricia Urreta praises Denise Hines, her daughter and volunteer with Friends of the Animal Shelter, a non-profit organization that supports the Hancock County animal shelter. 

​“Denise does an amazing job,” Urreta says. “She has helped so many dogs get adopted. She knows all these dogs. She writes about them and posts about them on Facebook.”

As for adopting an older dog vs. a younger dog, Ms. Urreta finds it rewarding to give love and comfort to an older animal that others might pass by.

“Besides,” she observes, “Maggie is my speed. She moves at my pace.  We both dislike the heat, and neither one of us wants to stay outside very long.”  More importantly, “It’s a blessing to be able to give older dogs comfort.”

And no photo album is required to see the love written on Patricia Urreta’s face as she sits on the steps looking down at her precious Miss Maggs.  It is, perhaps, the look of one who, while giving comfort, has found a measure of the same. No album required. ​

If you know a Hancock Shelter adoptee who would make a great Shelter Star, please let us know!  Email basic info and owner's contact info to:  editor@bslshoofly.com 

The dogs below are available at the Hancock County Animal Shelter as of September 16, 2018.  Call the shelter at (228) 466-4516 for availability.  Check out the Facebook page of the Hancock County Animal Shelter for latest adoptables! 

NUFAN is one of the sweetest, most content dogs you'll ever meet! ?This 1 yr old Border Collie/American Pit bull Terrier mix thrives on the affection of children, other dogs, and even cats! ? Nufan never meets a stranger! Lol! He's a sucker for a tummy rub, and will go belly up if he thinks you'll oblige him. He's also a fan of long walks, so we think he'd be an awesome buddy for active school aged children or older, seeking a best friend and confidant.

A home with a fenced yard would be ideal for Nufan, as he loves to romp-n-play in our exercise yard with his doggie pals at the shelter. When Nufan's previous owner moved out and abandoned this sweet boy, he was fostered by a compassionate neighbor, who discovered that he is both house and crate trained, and he loves kiddos. ❤ 

​He was the perfect house guest and playmate to her young children. Nufan would be a wonderful addition to any family, or a marvelous companion for an active single person/couple or retirees. This awesome boy deserves a second chance at unconditional love!
​
*Nufan's adoption fee is $75, which includes neutering, worming, vaccines, microchip, and a free vet check with one of our participating veterinarians.

KIWI is a 1 yr old Terrier mix, who has the most lovely chocolate brown and cream colored fur. We think she is uniquely beautiful, and we are crazy about her distinct eyebrows! ? They kinda look like fuzzy little caterpillars. ? 

Kiwi is a playful and energetic pup, and would benefit from daily walks and exercise to keep her healthy and happy. A home with a fenced backyard would be ideal for this sweet girl . She is friendly and welcoming of other dogs, so she could easily join a home with existing pets. We recommend that Kiwi join a home with children at least 12 yrs of age, as she is fearful of small, rambunctious kiddos.

It appears that she is also crate and house trained because she keeps her kennel clean, and no accidents thus far.? In addition to being a trusted family pet, Kiwi would also be a cool companion for an active single person/couple or "on-the-move" retirees. She's definitely a dog who likes to be included in the fun. ?

*Kiwi's adoption fee is $75, which includes spaying, worming, vaccines, microchip, and a free vet check with one of our participating veterinarians.

We love SPIKE'S ears and "frosted face," and the fact that he is whip smart! This 5 yr old Belgian Malinois is a favorite of our kennel techs, who spend time playing fetch with Spike as well as reinforcing his obvious training. He is great with other friendly dogs and seems open and affectionate towards all...except cats. Absolutely NO cats! ?? 

Spike walks beautifully on a leash/harness, and he is house and crate trained. He would be a loyal partner for a single person/couple or active retirees. Despite his age, Spike enjoys being active, which includes daily walks, romping-n-playing in a fenced backyard, and games of fetch, which he loves! ? He could also join a family with older children, looking for a best friend with which to exercise and share adventures. Please consider coming in to meet Spike...he is a shining star at our shelter! ?

*Spike's adoption fee is $50, which includes neutering, worming, vaccines, microchip, and a free vet check with one of our participating veterinarians. Spike is heartworm negative.
​

ZULA is a one-yr-old American Staffordshire Terrier/Labrador Retriever mix, who is super sweet, playful, and loving. ? She would be a great pal for school aged children or older, who would enjoy romping-n-playing with Zula, taking her for walks, and playing ball. An active single person/couple would also be an ideal fit for for this fun-loving dog.

MALLORY is a British Lab, surrendered to us by her breeder/trainer. She has been trained in basic commands, and was mostly used for breeding. Mallory is 3 yrs old. MALLORY likes toys and is crazy for tennis balls and playing fetch. We are seeking a loving home for Mallory, so she may experience life outside of a kennel and truly be part of a family. ? 

Mallory initially came to us quite skittish of people, but our young volunteers Sabrina and Kennedy have worked on confidence building and leash training, and now this sweet girl is wagging her tail and enjoying affection and attention. In fact, she revels in being petted and doted upon. ? She makes instant friends with other friendly dogs, and seems drawn to calm-natured older children.

With a little patience and understanding, Mallory will blossom once in a home environment, whether it be in a family with children, or as the constant companion to a single person/couple or active retirees.
​
*Our adult dog adoption fee is $75, which includes spaying, worming, vaccines, microchip, and a free vet check with one of our participating veterinarians.

This group works hard to help find dogs & cats homes at PetSmart adoption events, transports dogs out of state to save their lives and helps the local pet overpopulation problem with spay and neuter programs.  Click below to find out more, join and/or donate today!