ART & INSPIRATION BY PAUL & KATHY BOECHER©
We live in a small town right on the Mississippi River, as it joins the Rum River at a place called Peninsula Point. The mighty Mississip cuts a path right through the middle of our great country, it receives flowage from lakes and other tributaries along the way, ending in the Gulf of Mexico.
If only the river could talk. It would tell tales we couldn’t begin to write – of determination and industry; natives lining the shores, explorers, voyageurs, lumber passing down from town to town. There are stories of river, paddle boats, kayakers, fishermen and sailors. There are the dark tales of the lowest of living creatures, lurking in the shadows, stumbling with drunken footsteps, looking to end a life. There are the tales of redemption as one is baptized in the water, or ashes of a departed loved one are tossed on its surface.
For those who love to paint, it becomes great fodder for creativity. For young and old lovers, it’s a place for a rendezvous. For children it turns into a playground, where they may learn to fish for the first time. For those without a home, it becomes a temporary refuge.
In it all, God flows with it, carrying all of men’s stories in His hands.
I didn’t grow up along the banks of the mighty Mississip, but I grew up in the state by that name, although we pronounced the state M’sippi – to distinguish it from the river. I grew up along the Pontotoc watershed. At our house, all the water drained into the Tombigbee River, but a hill or two over, all the water drained into the Mississippi. I guess we both live/lived near the “headwaters” – neighbors!
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Seems that way😃
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I had the pleasure to survey the Mississippi River a couple of years ago at the Illinois-Iowa border. This great River has fueled many stories for the ages.
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It certainly has. We’re blessed to be within a mile of two rivers, the Rum and the Mississippi. Both join together on the southern portion of our little town. Paul loves painting them.
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