She was an avid reader and loved mystery/detective fiction, as do I. One the things I enjoyed most about the house was the collection of Miss Welty’s books that she read. Here’s a compilation of her photographs curated by the Smithsonian. She also loved New Orleans, and some of her best photographs are in the visitor’s center next door to her home. Her words dance leisurely from scene to scene until you simply know her characters.ĭid you also realize she was a photographer? While visiting, I purchased a compilation of her photographs from her work for the WPA, One Time, One Place: Mississippi in the Depression. She had a wonderful sense of humor, and our guide told us stories similar to the ones in this article from the New York Times, I wish I’d met her. At one time, churches were the center of life in small-town America.Īs we walked through Miss Welty’s house, I could feel her presence everywhere. I’m sharing the video below because I loved how Gore Vidal and Miss Welty talked about the South and churches. What would summer be without cicadas tuning up and down all day and into the night? In the country, that would be mostly birds and insects.
#Eudora welty why i live at the p o audio windows#
On cooler days, I open all of our windows to catch the breeze and the peaceful sounds of a world going about its business. I still remember her house being rather cool because of good air circulation, but I do love my a/c on a hot summer day even if I do miss some of the outdoor sounds. My grandmother used a water cooler fan instead. Our guide wondered at the lack of air conditioning, but my grandmother also never had air conditioning, and until I was a teen, my family only had window units. Because there was no air conditioning in her home, she had her windows open and listened to the music from the college across the street. She wrote her stories on a typewriter set on a table in her bedroom next to a large window that faced the street. That’s where the idea of cut and paste on computers came from. I explained that we all cut and pasted our work before there were computers.
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From the girls, there was even more amazement at how Miss Welty cut and pasted with real paper to compose her stories. I thought that was a bit odd since Miss Welty lived in the house until her death in 2001. Miss Welty donated the house to her state in 1986 so they kept everything from that time period and before. Also, she had an aluminum drip coffee pot just like one my grandmother had. The sink was a large one with a drainboard like the second one in this link. Miss Welty’s was the traditional white instead of green though. Their reactions made me chuckle because so many things were exactly like my Grandma Nita’s house and even my childhood home. Our guide was about twenty-two, and she and Claire were amazed at all of the old stuff in the house.
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I felt bad for dragging Claire around another old house because we’d already visited two plantation homes, but she said she enjoyed seeing “80s stuff.” Claire is all about the 1980s.
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The garden always figured in her stories and novels in unique ways. Other charming aspects of the garden were signs that contained passages from Miss Welty’s books. Claire noticed they use they same plant tags I do. July wasn’t the best time of the year to visit the garden. With camellias and roses being predominant features, it would be much better in February, March and April. Photos aren’t allowed inside so I had to content myself with photos of the outside and the garden.
#Eudora welty why i live at the p o audio movie#
We went through the visitor’s center, watched a lovely movie on Miss Welty, who is one of my favorite authors, and then we were set to go see the house.
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Still, I found the visitor’s center open, and another couple was there too. You’re supposed to call beforehand, but we were unable to do this on such short notice. He is cared for by the neighborhood, and he is sitting on a stone from Welty’s father’s office building. Sal, who has adopted the Welty house and visitor’s center.