Pop Art Pug

This pop-art acrylic painting of "Pug" by Tab Wright was among items auctioned at Saturday night's third annual PAWS Ball and Auction, sponsored by the Central Alabama Animal Shelter. Thirty-nine packages were auctioned, including three shelter dogs that went to Forever Homes.

Thanks to guest photographer Jacque Johnson for submitting this photo.

Selma from the River

Boaters view the backs of buildings along Water Avenue as they near Pettus Bridge on the Alabama River. They were the center of commerce back in the days when waterways were the interstates of commercial transportation. These days, there is little traffic on the river, but occasionally it is still the best way to get something where it needs to go!

(Skywatch Friday) Jet Trails in the Sunset

As the sun lowered on the horizon, its light illuminated the cloud and jet trail.

To see more Skywatch photos from around the world, head on over to www.skyley.blogspot.com.

Since taxes are unavoidable, then what prettier place to take your records to than an historic house office in Old Town.

Lunch at the St. James

The St. James Hotel is open for lunch, and besides being delicious, the turkey club sandwich with fries and coleslaw filled me up.

Flirting with Spring

Those brave, brave daffodils! Every February, they flirt with Spring only to have Old Man Winter come along and break their hearts!

Tonight's forecast: A mix of rain and snow. No accumulation, thank goodness!

Lincoln's Sister-in-Law Lived Here

President Abraham Lincoln's sister-in-law, Martha Todd White, lived in this Italianate cottage next door to Sturdivant Hall. A half-sister of Mary Todd Lincoln, Martha was a fierce Confederate who, according to the historic marker, is said to have "severely criticized" the Lincolns when she was accused by the northern press of using her presidential pass to smuggle medicine and other necessities "behind the lines" into the Confederacy. Another sister, Elodie, met her husband here while visiting and later led the effort to raise funds for a Confederate monument in Old Live Oak Cemetery.

This cottage and its grounds will be the site of the "box lunch" on March 19 and 20 of the Historic Selma Pilgrimage. The lunches need to be pre-ordered as only a limited number of extras will be available. More information is available HERE.

House Available

Calling all bluebirds!

We have a house available rent free and ready for spring nesting. Must see to appreciate!

The Bridge Display

Selma's new welcome center downtown features walls of history, and on one wall are pictures and paintings of the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

The bridge replaced the old swing-span structure across the Alabama River and opened in 1940 with four lanes! Most people are familiar with its name in civil rights history. Each year, the bridge is the centerpiece of the Bridge Crossing Jubilee held the first weekend in March.

The Spring House

Near Confederate Circle in Old Live Oak Cemetery is a pretty white structure known as The Spring House or The Pigeon House. Well, I much prefer the former name!

It was called The Spring House, because in days gone by citizens of Selma held band concerts and Memorial Day programs here. Now, I bet you can guess how it got the "Pigeon House" designation!

Robin on the Hay

Another robin! Surely, this coldest, wettest winter that we can ever remember is almost over.

Thanks to guest photographer Doug Gresham who snapped this photo out the window of his truck.

An Evening with the Jester

The Harmony Club will host "An Evening with the Jester" Thursday night to benefit the Selma-Dallas County Museum of History and Archives at the Old Depot.

Guests will see photographs of Selma's past from the Rosenburg Collection, and this painting of "The Jester," one of Billy Rosenburg's subjects, will be auctioned. The Harmony Club was built in 1909 as a Jewish social club. It is privately owned today, and part of the downstairs section is often used for social events.

Mardi Gras Decor

I recently noticed more and more houses around town decorating for Mardis Gras. Since today is "Fat Tuesday," which is always the day before Ash Wednesday, here's my official Mardis Gras post from Selma.

The house is an English Tudor-style cottage with lots of landscape artistry to go with it. And why not? Its owner also owns Four Seasons Garden Center. This home will be open for tours during the Historic Selma Pilgrimage in March.

A Walk in the Snow

Old Live Oak Cemetery is beautiful year-round, and here's what it looks like on a walk in the snow.

Thanks to guest photographer Christine Weerts contributed this photo.

Snow Birds

Since we refilled the bird feeders, cardinals have come out of the woods to share meals and have a big reunion.

Here, they brave the "Great Valentine's Weekend Snowstorm" which lasted off and on for several hours last Friday. We had about two inches precipitation and an inch accumulation. It was all gone by Friday evening since temperatures were kind to us and hovered just above freezing.

"Iced" Castle

Weaver Castle had a coating of white yesterday as the great "Southeast Snowstorm of 2010" was kind enough to give photographers here a little different subject for a change!

This 1868 Gothic-style home was built by the son of one of Selma's founders and is believed to have been designed from a castle on the Rhine in Germany.

Thanks to guest photographer Christine Weerts for sending this photo.

Skywatch Friday, Waiting for Snow

It's Skywatch Friday time again, and these tree branches seem ready to embrace a predicted rare snow. However, while it's snowing now, none of it is sticking. If it sticks, you'll see snow photos on this blog for the next week at least!

To view more skies around the earth, head on over to www.skyley.blogspot.com.

Sturdivant Hall at Night

It was a dark and misty night when I stopped by Sturdivant Hall last weekend. So I chanced taking a night shot without a tripod.

Sturdivant Hall is an antebellum mansion that now serves as a museum. It's always open for the Historic Selma Pilgrimage, and that event is now just weeks away!

Reclaimed Wood Cutting Boards

The sign on these cutting boards at Gordon's Antiques reads in part: "These beautiful cutting boards are made from wood salvaged from the bones of some of Selma's more unfortunate homes which are no longer with us."

To read the rest of the story about "how hard the woodworker worked" to make these, click on the photo to enlarge it.

Paintings from Belgium

Art enthusiasts were treated to a special showing of paintings from Belgium during Friday night's Art Walk at the Selma Art Guild.

The paintings were brought to America in 1947 by the granddaughter of the artist, Gernand Coenderart, and she took them off the walls of her home to share them with her fellow Selmians. Most of the paintings depict rural life in her native land.

(Please click the photo to enlarge for a better view of these paintings.)

Painting the Turret

Painter Ken Suthard, who lives in Selma's Old Town, paints the interior of the turret on the Pitts-Ellwanger-Weerts (PEW) House on Lauderdale Street. The homeowners built the octagonal structure to cover part of their wrap-a-round porch. The PEW House is one of nine that will be open for tours on Selma's Historic Pilgrimage March 18-21. You can find more information about this house at the Pilgrimage website HERE.
Check out the Pilgrimage Facebook page HERE.

Ducks in a Hay Field

How wet is it?

It's so wet that ducks have turned a hay field into a home!

This field is located across the highway from the entrance to my neighborhood, and I was so surprised to see ducks swimming here on Friday that I had to take their picture. However, they were too far away for my lens to capture well.

This field has held water most of this winter, and on Thursday/Friday we received 3.5 inches of rain to add to the already soggy earth. In summer, this place is harvested for hay. But in winter, well I guess it's become a duck pond!

February Art Walk

You've seen this front porch before, except you saw it in the daytime HERE. On Friday night, it was lit with lanterns and candles for the quarterly Art Walk.

Gordon Antiques featured works by several Selma area artists, and what a treat it was to also browse the antiques and Oriental rugs! Then, folks gathered on the porch for refreshments and conversation. Ahh yes! It was "warm" enough, despite a drizzle, to hang around outdoors.

Skywatch Friday (Fire and Ice)

Here's a sky that looks like fire on the bottom and ice on the top.

Guest photographer Christine Weerts snapped this sunset off Alabama Highway 41.

Check out other skies from around the globe at www.skyley.blogspot.com.

Open-Air Produce

L.W. Sardis parks his fruit-and-vegetable laden truck in front of this local hardware store every day, as he has for years. In the past, he raised all the items he sold ... collards, peanuts, peas, beans and more. But now he sells items he bought wholesale at a price reflecting his low overhead! Pickup trucks offering farm-fresh vegetables and fruits are common sights in the Selma summer; just a handful of truck "farmers" sell their wares year-round. Thanks to Christine Weerts for contributing today's daily photo.

First Robin

I went outside looking for daffodils but saw the first robin instead. While we have plenty of cardinals and bluejays through the winter, robins don't visit our yard that frequently.

Campus Construction

There's been a lot of construction the past couple of years at Wallace Community College Selma, including a technology building, health science building and now a Criminal Justice Training Center for state troopers and corrections officers.

A Gem in Summerfield (Theme Day - Wood)

Today is Theme Day in the City Daily Photo Blog community, and the theme is WOOD.

So here's an old, wooden building that once served as a schoolhouse around 1850 and has stood the test of time just up the road in Summerfield.


Click here to view thumbnails for all participants