Air Evac

This Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter was among the exhibits during Emergency Responders weekend at the Selma mall. Our neighborhood is on the flight path of helicopters heading to and from Vaughan Regional Medical Center. When we hear the whirring of the copter overhead, we know someone will be life-flighted to Birmingham.

Buckle Up!

Oops! The dummy on the ground (bottom right) just got thrown out of this vehicle during a rollover simulation, because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt! The Alabama State Trooper, above, conducted the exhibit during Emergency Preparedness Weekend at the Selma Mall. School children visited the exhibits Friday, and today is Family Day.

Corral Repair

No, this is not Wilson Wilson Wilson of Home Improvement fame! However, he does resemble him with just the top of his head...er hat...showing above the fence. This guy is my Dear Husband, and he's repairing a corral at a pasture where he tends cattle. While this photo is not IN Selma, it is fairly close.

The River...from Your Eyes Contest

Here's the Alabama River in "my eyes" catching a train crossing the trestle just east of downtown Selma. A local photography contest is giving generous cash prizes for the best photograph of this river or the Cahaba River in YOUR eyes, but time is wasting! Deadline is October 1. The contest is sponsored by Arts Revive, and photos will be displayed at Selma's Riverfront Market Day on October 13. The Real Estate Gallery on Broad Street has the details and is collecting the entries. (Check out the contest link above.) If you can't get to Selma to take a picture of the river, come on down for Market Day and Tale-Tellin. Both events are the same weekend, and I am looking forward to all these new photo possibilities!

Mums are In!

Chrysanthemums, just about my favorite potted flower of autumn, are in! I found a gardening center employee watering them yesterday and shot a photo. Soon, Selma's porch steps will be ablaze with potted mums and pumpkins.

Viceroy Butterfly

Here's another old photo I took with my film camera. I believe this is a viceroy butterfly, and it is lighting on dried-out corn stalks in our garden. I thought the sunlight turned this butterfly's wings into a work of "stained glass."
(This one's a bit too grainy for a larger photograph.)

The Little Red Caboose

Today is the six-month anniversary of the Selma, Alabama Daily Photo Blog. So, I present the City of Selma Little Red Caboose. The caboose is a mini-museum within a museum at the Old Depot and an example of Selma's railroad heritage.

Thank you to everybody who has visited this photo blog. I appreciate your comments and encouragement, and I have loved visiting you!

This photo was taken a few years ago with my Pentax film camera.

Field of Cotton

Here's the plant where bluejeans, t-shirts, towels and bed linens begin. Cotton grows on stalks and is ready for harvest in the fall. The white fiber matures inside a green boll that gradually turns brown and woody. Eventually, it bursts out of the boll and is ready for picking.
There isn't as much cotton around here this year due to drought and a switch by some farmers to peanuts and corn.
If you want to know how much cotton it takes to produce a suit, a pair of jeans or a towel, check out this link.

Old Cahawba Church Ruins

There's not much left of the pre-Civil War Methodist Episcopal Church at Old Cahawba. The ruins are unstable, so please just look , and keep out! Old Cahawba Archeaological Park is the site of Alabama's first capital. It is located at the junction of the Cahaba and Alabama rivers.

Pure Sign

I don't know if these Pure signs are considered antiques yet, but this one in downtown Selma has been around a long, long time.

Cotton Boll

Ever picked cotton? While the fiber is soft and fluffy, the hulls are rather scratchy. This year's county cotton crop will be short due to the drought, but this week...with its cool nights and clear, breezy days... is perfect cotton picking weather.

The Downtowner Restaurant

The Downtowner Restaurant right across from the library is a good place for a meat and three veggies. It's home cooking at its closest and offers variety. But, you can order turkey and dressing every day! It's best to head to eat before noon. The staff does a great job with service, but the place is popular and hence crowded during the lunch hour. While you're there, check out the historic Selma photographs on the walls.

Hauling Hay

The summer drought has made good hay in short supply this year, but I spotted this load recently. Another cutting might be possible due to recent rains from remnants of Hurricane Humberto IF the weather doesn't get too cool.

The Store

Except for its name, The Store is really quite unique. Located at a county road intersection, the business carries common grocery items as well as breakfast, lunch and dinner. There are steak or sausage biscuits, deli meat sandwiches or hamburgers. For $4.29, you can get chicken fingers and fries. Nine dollars will buy a whole pizza, and for dessert, try 12 donut holes for $1.19. Plus, the people here really are warm and friendly just like the sign says!

Welcome to My House!

"Welcome to my house!" said the spider to its prey, or to anyone who might have knocked on my front door yesterday. This is just one of three spiders and their webs that I found outside, and it had attached its web to the front door. I didn't disturb it either, despite clipping the hollies nearby.

Not the Only Saving Place

This church sign proclaiming that "Wal-Mart is not the only saving place" caught my eye on a county road.

BiblioCat

Well...it seems our BiblioCat has selected The Moral Compass by William J. Bennett for her daily reading or perhaps moral direction! She certainly needs to learn how to mind her manners, because not a day goes by that she doesn't get into big trouble! Shortly after this photo was taken, she pushed a couple of other books out from the shelf and onto the floor. Perhaps she wanted to check those out too! This morning, I caught her on the breakfast table licking the stick of butter, and often I find one of my collectible angels in places where it doesn't belong. She has to be pilfering the curio cabinet! Finally, every time I turn on the computer printer, she rushes to the desk and pounces on the paper as it is delivered into the tray. And yes, this is the same kitten that looked so cute in that sack of corn.

Now, I am finished posting photos of the family cat...that is, until she has another photo moment!

Red Velvet Ant

Ever come across one of these critters? I did the other day when I moved a flower pot. It scurried out of a hole in the ground and then across the grass. So of course, I ran inside and grabbed my camera! Turns out it is called a Red Velvet and (or Cow Killer ant), but it is not an ant!
So, if it's not an ant, but it is called an ant, and it runs like an ant, then what is it?

Go ahead and Google it if you want to or just go to this link.

By the way, this insect does not really kill cows, although its sting hurts so much that it feels like it would kill a cow!

Kress Restored

Remember Kress? This Art Deco architecture from yesteryear's five-and-dime store is fully intact in Selma. The circa 1930 building was renovated several years ago by Butler Truax Jewelry, and about 80 percent of the original structure was able to be saved. The interior has Corinthian capitals that soar 18 feet, and Italian green marble can be found along the entrances.

Pick a Guitar

Looking in this downtown window, I at first thought Selma had its very own guitar store! But these guitars are the featured "needful things" at this pawn shop.

Pear Picking Time

Pears are dangling like sugarplums from these branches. They are just about ready to be plucked, peeled and put into canning jars for pear preserves or pear pickle. Maybe you'd just prefer a pear pie!

The Busiest Intersection

The Broad Street/Highland Avenue intersection is probably Selma's busiest. Head straight, and you will be in downtown Selma. The visitor center is just past the light. Go right, and you'll be on "the strip," where you'll find several fast-food restaurants, motels and eventually Medical Center Parkway. Turn left, and you can shop at the mall, Wal-Mart, Winn-Dixie, find more motels or head to Prattville on Highway 14. Turn onto the bypass to go on to Montgomery. Turn around, and you'll find a couple of funeral homes, car dealerships, banks, auto repair places and the community college. Keep going, and you will be in Valley Grande and from there, you might end up in Birmingham! This photo was take a few months ago during the Great Drought, and the haze you see up ahead is smoke blown our way from those fires that burned forever in south Georgia!

Weighing Cotton

How much does that bale of cotton weigh? Well, these scales at the Old Depot Museum will tell you. Soon, cotton picking season will be here, and while our area doesn't have nearly as many cotton fields as it once did, the crop of white fiber is still showy as the the stalks stretch to the horizon.

Goat's Milk Soap

Anybody ever scrub with goat's milk soap? No? Now you can. I found some locally made soap made from Blue's goat's milk, and they have a website. This little business makes goat's milk lotions as well.

Labor Day Rain

An 18-wheeler passes our vehicle as we head into rain clouds on our short Labor Day trip for a family meal. This is U.S. Highway 80 west of Selma. Notice how green the grass is now. It was brown for most of the summer.

The Colors, They are A'Changin'

After such a hot, dry summer, the dogwoods are turning color extra early! Here is one of the dogwoods in our backyard. Usually, the leaves start changing in October or even November. I thought cooler temperatures had something to do with the color change, but we haven't had those yet! Nowadays, 90 degrees seems cool in comparison with the temps of a couple weeks ago.

Mr. Roy's Car Wash

Going anywhere for the Labor Day holiday? Your car could use a bath first, so here we go on a trip through Mr. Roy's Car Wash. If you could see through the suds, the blurry building in the distance is Wachovia Bank. To all you Americans, have a great Labor Day!

Arts Revive

The Arts Revive board of directors is extra busy these days planning projects for autumn and beyond. I was over at Dallas Academy's Ceramics Arts Center one day last week when they were meeting, and they graciously posed for a photo.

First up is a Jewelry Making Workshop Sept. 15, and next is Riverfront Market Day Oct. 13. This group will have 10 booths (yep...10!) booths at Market Day. There will be art of course, and of special interest is a photography contest titled "Through My Eyes...The Riverfront."
Contestants will submit photos that include either the Alabama or Cahaba River in Selma or Dallas County, and they will be displayed at Market Day. There's cash awarded for the best photos, and you had better hurry! Deadline is Oct. 1.

This group is the same one that has sponsored the spring art show at the Harmony Club, and next year will participate even more with Spring Pilgrimage via live art and music at the venues.

Board members in the photo are: (L to R sitting.....Karen Weir, Fran Pearce, Ann Thomas, Molly Gamble; L to back...Charles Moss, Gale Bedgood, Cindy Stoudenmire)