The last thing I read last night, sitting up late, waiting out the wind, was Larry Calloway’s account of his trip with a daughter to Mississippi. He called it “A Tale of Two Stairways.”
The superficial reason for the title was his discussion of two circular staircases. But Larry usually climbs higher. The staircases both make two complete turns, each a double helix. One staircase is in the Natchez mansion of a one-time slave owner, built before the Civil War. The other is the “Miraculous Staircase,” built after the Civil War, for the Sisters of Loretto at their chapel in Santa Fe.
My own mental wanderings this morning — a little more complicated than usual — included god, destiny and DNA. I stumbled across a double helix in an illustration of the DNA molecule. It resembles, of course, a spiral staircase.
Larry linked the two wooden staircases in a piece that seems mostly about slavery and maybe the spirals of history. I enjoyed it, as I do anything he writes. I have to note I appreciate things in an unlearned way, with no more mental discipline than my easily distracted blue heeler, Cowboy. But Larry usually sends me up another spiral staircase or two, anyway.
But go wind your way up the stairs yourself. Larry is always fun to read. You can start at http://larrycalloway.com/.
dream ranch 