Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Fresh and Local

The Good Ole' Days are here again with markets buying local
 so that we can eat fresh!

While we plant a few vegetables around the yard each spring,
 we don't have room for great big, fresh-out-of-the-ground  greens
 like these. The Orrville Farmers' Market has them though! 

Linking to Our World Tuesday

Monday, February 27, 2017

Old Cahawba Collage


Visitors aren't just visitors at Old Cahawba. 

They're explorers!

The archaeological park located at the confluence of the Cahaba and Alabama 
rivers was best known as Alabama's first state capital (1819-1826),
 but in the 16th Century, it served as an Indian village. Then, in the 1800s,
 Cahawba became a wealthy town with some 3,000 residents.
 During the War Between the States, a federal prison housed Union soldiers,
 and after the war, emancipated slaves took refuge there. 

Now a ghost town, St. Luke's Episcopal Church (recently moved back
 to Old Cahawba) greets guests as they enter the park.
  At right above stand brick pillars that are all that remain of the Crocheron home
 and store that overlooked the rivers. Below at right sits the Perine
 artesian well which furnished air conditioning to the Perine mansion.  

Linking to Mosaic Monday

Friday, February 24, 2017

The Designers Behind the Exhibits

Thursday's grand opening of the Selma Interpretive Center's second
 and third-floor exhibits included the hospitality of exhibit designers
 John Wood and Linda Byers.
 As employees of the National Park Service's regional office in Atlanta,
 the pair designed, built and installed the new exhibits
 depicting the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March
 and the Courageous Eight activists. 

"We wanted to recognize not only the Courageous Eight
 but other individuals as well," Byers said.
 Woods built the background for the second-floor exhibit (shown in photo),
 and Byers designed the Courageous Eight banners that hang
 in the third-floor meeting room. 
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Thursday, February 23, 2017

An Alabama Natural Wonder

Here is where the Cahaba flows into the Alabama River, ending its long journey
 from near Springville, winding its way into environmental science
 as an Alabama Natural Wonder.

The free-flowing waterway is considered the most biologically diverse
 in America and is home to 125 species of fish and rare plants
 such as the Cahaba lily.

The two rivers' banks once supported a Mississippian Indian village
 followed later by Alabama's first state capital. Today, it's a ghost town
 known as the Old Cahawba Archaeological Park. 

Linking to Signs, Signs   

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

GONE too Soon


Addie, aged 6 months and 5 days
John, aged 4 months and 5 days
Maggie, aged 7 days

GONE too soon!

The  GRAVE markers in Old Live Oak Cemetery tell the heartbreaks
 of yesteryear. They were the children of John and Julia A. Moran. 

Linking to ABC Wednesday where the letter is G


Tuesday, February 21, 2017

On the Walls at Charlie's Place

The decor at Charlie's Place is as good as the food!

Housed in The Harmony Club on Water Avenue, the exposed interior brick
 displays old signs form current and former businesses, historic photos
 and documents plus a splash of colorful art by local artist Julian Helms. 

Linking to Our World Tuesday

Monday, February 20, 2017

The Welcome Barrel

Proprieter Judy McKinney planted daffodils, pansies, cabbages and strawberries
 in a barrel to welcome folks to the Orrville Farmers' Market.
 The business sells seeds and plants, produce and gifts.
 Her future plans include a kitchen/cannery for classes in canning,
 breadmaking, soapmaking and more. 

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Orrville Farmers Market

If you haven't experienced the Orrville Farmers Market yet,
 well, head on down Highway 22!
This brand-new business between Selma and Safford
 is far more than a produce market where folks can purchase
 giant ripe tomatoes, huge homegrown cabbages
 and Mississippi sweet potatoes.
 But those things alone drew me in! 

It's a hot-breakfast stop at 6 a.m. and a meat-and-three restaurant at noon.
 It's where you go for seeds and plants and all things local or close-to-local
 as in Alabama.  Try the goat's milk lotion and soaps
 and the Marion Junction honey. There's a barrel of raw peanuts and pecans,
 shelves stocked with jellies and jams and Rachel's Cinnamon Rolls.
 There are T-shirts and cotton kitchen towels, country signs
 and sacks of biscuit mix. And just a whole lot more! 

Linking to Signs, Signs
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Friday, February 10, 2017

Lunch at the Library with Thom Gossom Jr.


Who knew of the social isolation and great cultural divide
 experienced by Auburn University's first black athletes?

Heroes on the field but loners on the campus?

Certainly not me! But I was there during some of those years 
and discovered Thursday that I even graduated Auburn on the same day
 as Thom Gossom Jr. At AU, he was a walk-on football player 
who achieved scholarship status and made first string.
 And he became the first black athlete to graduate that university,
 a feat he attributes to his parents' insistence for a solid undergraduate education.
 
As February's featured author at Selma's Lunch at the Library series, Gossom
 reminisced about his days as a reluctant pioneer of integration in the New South.
 He went on to a brief career in the NFL followed by public relations, acting
  and writing. The Birmingham native appeared in such television shows
 as "Boston Legal," "In the Heat of the Night" and "NYPD Blue." 
There were also a few films. 

But yesterday, his amiable personality connected with a full house
 as he mostly focused on football and how he finally made amends
 with the emotions that threatened to throw him off course during his his younger
 years. Gossom signed copies of  his autobiography,
 "Walk-On" along with his "Slice of Life" short story collections. 

    
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Thursday, February 9, 2017

Sign for the Times

New Hope Apostolic Church in Selma offers some advice
 for the contentious change in U.S. administration. 

Linking to Signs, Signs

 

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Epithet

"Budded on Earth to Bloom in Heaven" reads the epithet for little Margaret Nell.
 The many graves of children in Old Live Oak Cemetery reminds us how fragile life
 is and certainly once was for the very young. 


Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Season for Mardis Gras


Fat Tuesday isn't until Feb. 28, but the Mardis Gras celebrations down south
 in Mobile begin this weekend. And while Selma isn't particularly known
 for this event, there are a few places around here that decorate.
 These homeowners have quite the colorful touch!

Linking to Our World Tuesday



Monday, February 6, 2017

Dance of the Daffodils

In the words of William Wordsworth, I do believe these daffodils
 are "tossing their heads in sprightly dance!"

No matter how bare the branches or how gray the sky,
 we can always count on February daffodils to remind us
 that the groundhog was wrong!

Friday, February 3, 2017

At the Top

Selma has enjoyed blue skies, flowering Japanese Magnolia
 and spring temperatures this past week, and here is a peek
 at the top of Sturdivant Hall. What a magnificent view 
that must be looking down! The antebellum Greek Revival house
 museum is located in Old Town Selma. 

Linking to Skywatch Friday

Thursday, February 2, 2017

The Doctor's Office

This 1800's McKinnon-Riggs doctor's office in Heritage Village preserves
 not only the building but medical equipment and furnishings.
 It will be open during Selma's Historic Pilgrimage March 17-18.
 The office was moved in 1981 from Pleasant Hill to property 
owned by the Selma-Dallas County Historic Preservation Society
 and is located near Sturdivant Hall.

 The light in front was an original on the Edmund Pettus Bridge 
and used from 1940 until about 1960.  


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Wednesday, February 1, 2017

City Daily Photo Theme Day (LOVING LIFE)

The tractor parade at the Orrville Tractor Show always attracts a crowd,
 and this driver and the onlookers are loving it! The tractor show is held
 in November, but I held this photo over for the "LOVING LIFE" Theme Day 
at City Daily Photo blogs. 

Linking to City Daily Photo Blogs February Theme Day