End of Autumn

Here's another end-of-autumn tree. I am assuming it's a red maple. We don't have many of those, but this one is really brilliant. This photo is taken outside the Selma-Dallas County Public Library.

Kingston's Ginkgo Tree

Hope y'all don't mind one more ginkgo tree! This one is the most beautiful that I've seen yet, and it stands majestically in front of this post-Civil War, Italianate home. So, I just had to stop and take its picture! The home, Kingston, once was owned by former Confederate Capt. Joseph F. Johnston, who later became governor of Alabama and a U.S. senator. Later, it was owned by a prominent Selma physician. This showplace was featured a few years ago on HGTV's "If Walls Could Talk." Now, HGTV will soon be returning to Selma and is actively seeking homes with interesting histories and artifacts.

Pecan Harvest

Got pecans? You can get them cracked at Holley's Farm and Garden Center in downtown Selma. Here is my batch...loaded in cardboard boxes and an onion sack. The pecans weighed 76 pounds minus a bit for box weight. I paid 25 cents per pound for the cracking and could have sold them to the store for 30 cents per pound. The machines they use crack a pound of pecans per minute.
During these days of the pecan harvest, the place is crowded with folks bringing in and taking out these tasty nuts, which I will finish shelling with the help of my family and freeze for future pecan pies, orange pecan pralines, toasted nuts and as ingredients in sweet potato cake and brownies. Some just might become Christmas gifts.

Zaxby's

Zaxby's is Selma's newest fast-food restaurant, scheduled to open Dec. 3. The chain has been around the Southeast about 15 years and specializes in fried chicken tenders, wings, sandwiches and salads. I already like the looks of this place...neat, appealing and minus wild color combinations.

Must be Mistletoe

"From the centre of the ceiling of this kitchen, old Wardle had just suspended with his own hands a huge branch of mistletoe, and this same branch of mistletoe instantaneously gave rise to a scene of general and most delightful struggling and confusion; in the midst of which, Mr. Pickwick, with a gallantry that would have done honour to a descendant of Lady Tollimglower herself, took the old lady by the hand, led her beneath the mystic branch, and saluted her in all courtesy and decorum."
--The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

After the leaves fell from our maple tree, a clump was left near the top. I have decided it must be mistletoe.

Mistletoe, a parasitic plant that is toxic to humans but provides nutrition for birds, butterflies and some mammals, is traditionally used at Christmas above a doorway so that anyone caught standing under it might get kissed.

Going, Going, Almost Gone

The ginkgo leaves are going, going...almost gone! Rain tonight could finish their fall.

The Iron Bowl

This is Iron Bowl Day in Alabama when the Auburn University Tigers meet the University of Alabama Crimson Tide in the annual college football rivalry. The winner claims "braggin' rights" for the next year, and Auburn has claimed 'em for the past five years. Selma is a traditional stronghold for Auburn fans since the late Coach Ralph "Shug" Jordan was a Selma native. The town also has agricultural roots, and AU was founded as a land-grant institution. Alabama has the law school. Both of our state's major universities are about 90 minute drives from Selma.
So which school do I think will win the game tonight?

Well, I predict that A.......... is gonna beat A............!

Oh, the game is known as "the Iron Bowl" because for years it was played on "neutral turf" in Birmingham where a statue of Vulcan stands and where the iron and steel industry caused the town to grow like magic, hence "the Magic City."

Fall Highlights

The trees in our backyard are about as colorful now as they will get. Here is a dogwood with the yellow ginkgo leaves in front. Our ginkgo tree kind of had two autumns this year with half the leaves turning a while ago and falling and the rest turning now.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Thankgiving in the USA when we celebrate the feast held by the Pilgrims and Indians in 1621. We finished our feast with this pumpkin cake, topped with pumpkin frosting and craisins. My sister-in-law brought it and added real leaves and cedar around the base for embellishment.

On that first Thanksgiving, historians tell us that Chief Massasoit and his braves brought five dressed deer and more than a dozen wild turkey. They probably also had smoked fish. The colonists of Patuxet made a pudding out of cornmeal and maple syrup and learned how to roast popcorn . The Indians had shown them how to dry fruit, so they might have eaten blueberry and apple pies. For three days, they feasted and competed in shooting contests with guns and bows. They had foot races and drills, and the festivities all began with a prayer of thanksgiving offered by William Brewster, thanking God especially for their friendship with the Indians who literally had saved their lives by showing them how to survive in the new land.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall in Fairoaks Square

Some of the best variety of autumn color around Selma can be found in Fairoaks Square. The combination of maples and dogwoods really spins the color wheel. While many of our leaves around Selma are gold, green or brown, Fairoaks really ups the beauty of fall. Fairoaks Square is a neighborhood of renovated Victorian homes that were built between 1870 and 1920. A dozen homes, most in disrepair, were purchased by a local industry in the 1980s and returned to elegance.