‘Round These Parts 10/9/2022

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

The cotton field near my home is very close to being ready for harvest. I know, I know. It is so achingly southern of me to be excited by this. It is probably, no, definitely even more so for me to be planning taking pictures of my daughter in said cotton field.  I am already pondering what outfit to put her in and when the lighting will be best.  I am sure she will be absolutely thrilled. And if you couldn’t read the sarcasm in that sentence then I am falling down on my craft.  In driving by this field in the early morning hours and making far more than passing note about the way the sunrise light was casting its surprisingly red glow across the bright white bolls I couldn’t help but wonder. This has to be a quintessentially southern thing to do right? I cannot fathom that other places do this. Now true, it could be that the South is where most cotton is grown, at least in this country, but I just feel like the classic and surprisingly common (in these parts anyway) portrait session in a cotton field must be something unique to the region in where I live. So, then I of course had to also wonder about what other things might we do that might not be done elsewhere. I can’t say I did a great deal of research all across the country to answer this question but I did look around my area and considered other areas I have at some point seen. Perhaps this will serve my purpose as I ponder this question.

I have done it once before and I believe it happened to fall on the last day of October last year. I dressed my child in a cute dress that I felt would be equal parts adorable, stylish and seasonally appropriate.  We had to run to my parents’ house as they had some of our relatives in town with whom we were going to visit. We planned to stop on the way and snap some shots. Ironically, there was already a family and photographer in the field where we had planned to go as we went past so we had to settle for on the way back. I was a tad frustrated by this considering these intruders had stolen the more ideal light but alas. It is a pretty easily accessible and quite attractive cotton field. I suppose I should have expected that I wouldn’t be the only one with this bright idea.  The photos turned out well other than the fact that due to my schedule having to change the sun was right in her eyes so I got more squinting than I would have preferred.  No, I cannot see someone in say, Ohio planning pictures in a cotton field. I know they probably don’t have many, if any cotton fields but, well do they all gather under buckeye trees? I don’t think they do. Though again, I am no expert.  It just feels like embracing a cotton field to this extent is treasuring symbolism in a way only we would.

Speaking of southern symbols, we as Southerners sure do love a magnolia leaf wreath. I think it may be a relatively recently thing within the last decade or so, but they are everywhere in southern décor. Actually, now that I think about it, cotton features prominently in the interior ornamentation of southern homes as well. I suppose it makes sense. You see palms frequently appearing in the decoration of a tropical locale.  If we like where we are I suppose we simply take what we have and use it.  We have cotton and magnolia so a lot of us just scatter it about for, let’s call it, ambience. And in the discussion of these pieces of adornment, we seem here to be really fond of decorating our front doors and/or porches. Now I am not saying that other places don’t decorate these particular areas but we seem to do so with quite a bit of gusto.  For instance, currently I have some artificial gourds and pampas grass on my front porch and my door holds a wreath with copper and cream-colored silk hydrangeas and other warm toned fall whatnots. Ok, if I’m being honest even my back door has an autumnal wreath with corn husks and other such seasonal materials. Oh, and I musn’t forget the pair of rust-colored mums on the back patio.  It seems around these parts that many houses will put out a full timely ensemble even if the appropriate season is still one, possibly two calendar pages away. And yes, this is for every season, tulips and daffodils in spring, shamrocks mid-March, flags and stars for early July and generic lovely flowers all summer etc. This may not be inherently Southern but, if it isn’t we sure have jumped on that bandwagon and made it our own.  I will say though that I haven’t seen much by way of front of the house decoration when religiously watching my home and garden shows when they are perusing addresses that are more northern or western.

I haven’t covered much territory in my investigation here. I feel confident that there are many more examples of small and inconspicuous or maybe even far bigger things that I find thoroughly common place yet anyone not from this region could find rather foreign. And I am well aware that someone could find it foreign in a wonderful idea type of way or more in an utterly ridiculous manner.  I can understand the reviews being mixed. I suppose me being born in Mississippi and lived my whole life in Alabama I couldn’t help but take the proverbial bull by the horns. I am a sucker for decorations of any kind and, overall, I am pretty happy with where I live. Take both of those factors and there you have see what you see on all the entrances to my home.  Perhaps I’ll look for more things and another blog will come of it. In the meantime, portrait ensembles need to be chosen and I need to check and make sure my Christmas décor is at the ready.