"TALES OF THE ISLANDER" - CAROLINE HERRING

"Reflection in a Pool" by Walter Anderson.

For many years Walter Anderson, painted scenes of wildlife and plant life on the coast of Mississippi and especially on Horn Island, off the coast. Horn Island is part of the Gulf Coast National Seashore.

Georgianne Nienaber at The Huffington Post writes of the danger from the oil gushing from the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico to the the Audubon Bird Sanctuary on Dauphin Island and to the Gulf Coast National Seashore, located in Florida and Mississippi.

Reports indicate the river of oil is moving closer, and Dauphin Island, Alabama is experiencing odor at this writing. The Audubon Bird Sanctuary is located here. Dauphin Island is the safety net used by birds as they migrate north from South America. It is a sanctuary of rest and rejuvenation for them, or it was so.
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Horn Island and Ships Island, parts of the Gulf Islands National Seashore are also in danger. Horn Island is famous for its long white beaches and is home to alligators, ospreys, pelicans, ducks, tern, herons, and other migratory birds. Reuters News Service and the Coast Guard report that booms have been placed on the east and west tips of Horn Island. Whether they will hold is anyone's guess. Booms did not hold off the Birdsfoot Delta in Louisiana's waters.

This is a very personal attempt by this writer to explain the beauty of this area. I have been around the world and have never experienced a place of such peace, beauty, and rejuvenation. I can understand why the natural world uses the Gulf Coast as a place of refuge.
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I think the best way to convey the importance of this natural area and what stands to be lost is to offer this video by roots writer Caroline Herring. The disclosure I must offer is that Caroline is a friend of mine. Her tribute to Walter Anderson is also a beautiful hymn to the endangered Gulf Coast.

The last I heard from Georgianne, she was off to Haiti again, and she requested prayers.