If you're looking for Arty, he's flown over to Dallas Academy from his original perch at the Carneal building.
The Arts Revive butterfly sculpture was moved once work began on the former auto service place, which will become the home of the arts organization.
The butterfly is one of dozens of sculptures that make up the Butterfly Project.
Ceramics, wire art and weaving are just a few of crafts that youth ages 8-14 will get to experience in the first of two summer art camps.
The camp is sponsored by the City of Selma Ceramics Department in the old Dallas Academy building.
Check the Alabama Weaver blog for a preview of some of the preparations.
Late evening at the beach often brings a kaleidoscope of colors in the sky. Here, condos catch the sun's glow as it paints pastels overhead.
While Selma is far from the Gulf of Mexico, the Alabama coast is a favorite vacation spot and only a 3-4 hour drive. Check out more Skywatchers' photos HERE.
Creating green spaces seems to be catching on everywhere these days, and what a surprise to find flowers and vegetables planted along this alley in Old Town.
I hear that homeowners in the area are responsible, and it sure is a day brightener!
Lantana is a popular summer bedding plant that butterflies and moths just love.
It's used in flower beds and hanging baskets and known for rapid growth and prolific blooms. Not only that, lantana is extremely hardy, both pest and drought proof. (I know. I've tried to get rid of some after it spread where it wasn't wanted!)
Thanks to Elaine Stewart for sending this bright summer photo!
"Sea Oats" is an acrylic painting by Jean Cook at last year's Summer Juried Art Exhibition at the Selma Art Guild. Doesn't it make you want to head to the beach?
With Memorial Day gone, summer unofficially begins, and among the events to look forward to is the summer art show.
This year's show begins Sunday, June 14 with a reception, and entries will be received at the art guild June 5 and 6.
Juror for this year's show is Dana Bice who teaches art history at Auburn University Montgomery.
To those American servicemen and women who made the ultimate sacrifice, we remember them on Memorial Day.
While we honor them with parades and barbecues and a federal holiday, we also thank God, because freedom isn't free.
Selmians will commemorate our war dead today with an 11 o'clock ceremony at Memorial Stadium. At 3 p.m., everything including traffic, will stop for one minute. Sirens will sound throughout the city and county, and people are asked to stop and observe a moment of silence as part of the National Moment of Remembrance.
This exhibit of military uniforms from various wars and branches of service is on display at the Vaughan-Smitherman Museum.
2300 hundred pounds of pork!
That's about how much barbecue the Elks Lodge on Highland Avenue sold Saturday at their annual Memorial Day fundraiser.
Barbecues are one way Americans gather together on this national holiday which commemorates our fallen soldiers.
Thanks to Jacque Johnson for sending this photo!
Customers at Diego's Restaurant get to enjoy a picturesque view of the Pettus Bridge and Alabama River.
The Mexican eatery is popular for lunch and weekend crowds even though it's a little hard to find. Just turn right at the end of Water Avenue in front of the Old Depot Museum, then continue around the curve, and the restaurant will be a little ways down that road on the right. Look for the sign to follow the road leading to the river.
I happened to be down by the river yesterday when the Phoenix headed upriver on a cruise.
The riverboat is new to Selma and offers short excursions on the Alabama River including dinner cruises.
Maybe I will get a chance to try it out soon!
Here are some old workhorses from back in the old days. These implements are on display in the backyard of the Old Depot Museum.
Do any look familiar to you?
Click the picture for a larger image.
I wonder if mockingbirds sing in the shower?
They are sometimes called "Nature's Greatest Mimic" and love to sing their hearts out. Extremely protective of their young, I have seen many a feline try to dodge the mockingbird's swoop and sometimes, people too!
Thanks to Elaine Stewart for sending this mockingbird photo. The bird, she says, "has been with us for several years. We recognize her from her broken wing, and she seems to manage very well."
If you want to read an in-depth description of the mockingbird and its habitat, click HERE at the Audubon website.
The City of Selma's red caboose was used as a backdrop for art at the Old Depot Museum's recent May at the Museum show and sale. You might recognize the rooster painting. The artist, Carol Henry, painted it during an acrylic painting workshop at the Performing Arts Centre. The caboose is part of the railroad exhibit behind the museum's main building.
All aboard for Train No. 20 from Selma to Birmingham!
Selma's extensive railroad history is displayed in at least a couple of local museums, and this original schedule is at the Old Depot Museum.
Now, I am not sure what is with the Divided We Slither board above it. Anybody know?
Vicky Stoudenmire demonstrated her artistic techniques at the May at the Museum arts and crafts sale recently.
Artists are so much fun to watch! You can see how they look at their canvass and add shadows and hues to make a masterpiece.
Say "Achoo!" to this "Gotcha" plant.
Privet is out of control in the woods around my house, and even when windows are closed and air conditioning on, I can still smell its fragrance. A stuffy nose and ears quickly follow. So thank you, God, for antihistamines!
HO HUM!
Clouds like this used to raise my alert level. They're just too foreboding for tornado season! However, we've had a lot of clouds like this lately, and I fear apathy is setting in.
Good thing our emergency management director has been on call at all hours keeping the citizens of Dallas County informed via the media!
Even our local newspaper live blogs severe weather on the Web these days.
Thank y'all! See more skies over HERE.
Welcome to Selma via the Pettus Bridge and U.S. Highway 80 East.
At your left is The Selma Times-Journal newspaper office. In the distance is the clock tower of First Presbyterian Church, and from beneath the bridge arches, you are now about to enter Broad Street.
Oh yes, the nice, blue sky is courtesy of Photoshop!
Arts, crafts and food lined the walking trail at the Valley Grande Park Saturday as hundreds of people turned out for Founders' Day.
This year, the town has added a pavilion, and music groups sang and played for the crowd. High School bands performed nearby under a tent.
The rural community just north of Selma was incorporated in 2003.
I'm wondering what this feline of mine is digging for now. She's the ultimate hunter... out most of the day and all night.
For Mother's Day, she or her sister left a rat on the back steps and another critter yet undetermined. We think it was a baby groundhog. Recently, one of them brought a baby beaver to the house, and before that, a baby squirrel. The babies...they don't usually kill, but the moles, the mice and the lizards are living in dangerous territory in our backyard!
Here, she's digging in a tree stump. I just hope she never gets a snake!
Those who visited May at the Museum on Saturday got to walk across Oriental carpets that were for sale. I think they look rather royal.
The arts and crafts fundraiser benefited the Old Depot Museum, which features exhibits of Selma, Dallas County and the Black Belt. Displays were stationed across the rear grounds where museum exhibits include railroad cars, a law enforcement building, firefighter museum, cotton scales, buggies and agricultural implements.
Roses, daisies and hors d'oeuvres to all you mothers and to ladies who influence our children in positive ways.
Happy Mothers' Day!
Photograph by Jacque Johnson at the recent High Tea at Sturdivant Hall.
Commencements are in full swing these days, and what could be a prouder moment than seeing your child graduate from high school or college?
Our oldest son was among several Selmians who received bachelor of science degrees Friday from Troy University, and his class was the largest ever to graduate from this institution.
Thanks to Jenna Palmore for taking his picture at the Baptist Campus Ministries. He not only grew academically in college but physically and spiritually as well.
And yes, you saw him first on the North Georgia Appalachian Trail last December!
Congratulations to all you other graduates out there!
These stained-glass works of art hang in the window of The Frame Shoppe downtown.
Which one do you like?
To see more skies in cyberspace, click HERE.
Carter Drug Co. downtown is undergoing an interior refurbishment, so for now, here's the sign.
I'm going way, way back with this photo! One hundred years ago, my Yankee born and bred grandmother lived in this house (photo from her album) in the Riverview District of Selma. (Don't you just love the white picket fence?)
Anyway, Grandma was a recent graduate of Berea College in Kentucky, and her entire family had moved here from New Burlington, Ohio (the town that was drowned in the 1970s when a reservoir was built). Her father and two brothers worked at the Schuer-Miller Lumber Company. Another brother was an engraver at a jewelry store, and she was a teacher.
Selma was something of a boomtown in those days... its population increasing more than 50 percent during the first decade of the 20th Century. Banks and hospitals were under construction. Streets were paved, and electricity introduced. Then, streetcars arrived.
All was well in Selma until influenza struck in the Spring of 1912. My great-grandfather was among the afflicted that April, and the virus progressed to pneumonia. About the time the "worst" was over and the same week the RMS Titanic sunk in the North Atlantic, his illness relapsed and he died. Well, his second wife (my grandmother lost her own mama when she was little) had never cared for Heart of Dixie humidity, so she and most of the children returned to the North...except for Grandma. She was in love with a foreman at the sawmill. He couldn't let her go, so they got married one day in May and lived happily ever after. He got a new job at another sawmill and they left Selma, but decades later, one of her granddaughters (that would be me) moved back specifically to research this story!
This little bit of family history was made possible by Grandma's memories, her photo albums, newspapers on microfilm and the 1909 Selma City Directory that is so wonderfully preserved at the Selma-Dallas County Public Library.
So, who has been a hospital patient and had dinnerware like this?
Real china and stainless steel serving pieces haven't been around (as far as I know) for a long, long time. This dinnerware is an exhibit in the Vaughan-Smitherman Museum's hospital section and was used in the mid-20th Century.
I suppose it isn't as sanitary as paper and plastic, but it sure looks nice!
Here are some of the pottery and pictures shown at last Friday's Art Walk at The Frame Shoppe. I love the colors and stripes on the vases, and some of the photography has been enhanced to look like paintings.
The first Sunday in May is known as "Jesus Day" in Selma. It's when local Christians of all denominations literally meet in the street for an evening service.
Folks bring lawn chairs and enjoy the shade along Lauderdale Street. They listen to short sermons, watch drama presentations and hear soloists, praise bands and choirs. Oh, and there's also plenty of food!
To view a photo of the 2008 event, click HERE. View more photos of this event at Selma NOW.
A young girl stood fascinated Friday evening as Allen Hamm worked his magic making pottery at the quarterly Art Walk downtown.
Hamm set up his pottery wheel in the front window of The Frame Shoppe where everyone could see, both from inside and outside.
This venue featured handmade pottery, ceramics, jewelry and photography.
It's May Theme Day for the City Daily Photo Blogs, and SHADOWS is the subject.
These shadows are found at the entrance of the former Tremont School, Selma's first high school on Tremont Street. The early 20th Century building was designed during the Progressive Era of American education and featured big windows to allow sunlight, "nature's great disinfectant," inside. It also had a gymnasium and rooms for domestic arts and manual training. The school board acted upon a recommendation to install a work of art such as "Boys Playing on Trumpets." Sure enough, that's the plaster replica that was found near its entrance.
The school has been owned by the City of Selma since 1957 and used for storage. Today, it's a proposed restoration project of the Selma-Dallas County Historic Preservation Society.
To see more photos and information on Tremont School, click HERE.
To continue your journey of shadows around the world,
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants
