I saw a beautiful thing today. On the side of highway 98 by McLain there's a cypress swamp. Lush green grass grows around the swamp. The dark water is covered with water lilies. Someone's cow, sleek and tawny, with hide the color or a doe, had gotten out of its pasture and was taking a drink.

The feathery green leafed cypress with their gray limbs and knobby knees and drapery of Spanish moss; that tawny cow mirrored in the black water festooned with white water lilies and her dainty demeanor as as she bent her head to take a drink--there was something primordial, unspoiled; pure and wonderful about it.

Then by the side of Highway 15 going up to Richton there was a herd of white Brahma cattle grazing in a field. Those cattle originated in India; they are distinctive looking, with a hump on their shoulders and long floppy ears. White cattle egrets stalked along with them, under them and around them waiting for them to stir up insects as they grazed. That was a beautiful sight too.

You never know what you're gonna see if you leave the house--I should do it more often. susil