Faith, Folklore, and Friends

During the late spring and summer months, the Florence Parks and Recreation Department offers Music in the Park during lunch time on Wednesdays.  It is at beautiful Wilson Park in downtown Florence. It is fun, it is free, and yesterday, it was cool under the shade trees. The music is very good, but it would be worth going just to see all my friends there and chill out in such a beautiful place.

Writer Barbara Kingsolver wrote this book about her family living off the land for a year.  It is amazing.  I read it over and over. There is nothing like growing your own food.  You can control the variety you want and the amount of pesticides they receive.  Personally, I don't like to eat things from countries where farmers can use any pesticide they want, including those banned in the United States.  There is nothing, nothing like picking a tomato right off the vine, sinking your teeth in the warm flesh while the juice runs down your chin...knowing you planted the seed, transplanted it, weeded it, watered it, and watched it grow.  The best teaching is hands-on.  What better way could there be to teach a child about life?  Perhaps even some patience?  Or, the joy of watching seedlings emerge from the ground? Things like lettuce, radishes, or herbs can be grown in recycled drink containers on a windowsill. Most lib...

We were cruising the countryside near Springfield, Missouri, when this appeared on the side of the road.  I have long been an admirer of 'found art', so we turned the car around and went back to the nursery where this accumulation of scrap iron resides. The nursery owners were very gracious and we spent a while there. They told us this fellow had been on the pages of several arts and gardening magazines. It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it is okay if you don't think he's beautiful.  I do. I have a pile of old iron pieces in the garage, saved for the day when inspiration strikes! In addition to the artistic tour, we brought home some stevia and Cuban oregano.  It was a good day.

This post is a repeat of last year's Memorial Day blog.  Just wanted to honor my father-in-law's memory for his service to all of us and the difference he made in so many lives. It was a different world. The people living in North Alabama in the late thirties lived simply. Working without ceasing, they had little time or opportunity to keep up with world affairs. When they began hearing talk, sometimes weeks old, about fighting in Europe, about a crazed Nazi killing innocent people, they agreed it was awful, terrible, but it had little to do with them. When the news came that the Japanese had bombed the naval fleet at Pearl Harbor in the Pacific, a place as far removed as the moon to them, they wondered what they would hear next, wondered if this evil could reach their sleepy little river town. Roy Robertson, 28 years old, was content with his life on the small farm. He and Mary Elizabeth Sharp were married in 1939, and he and his young wife were building their futu...

After the first robin flew away, the other two settled down in the nest.  It seemed to just fit them comfortably after their sibling was gone. I'm wondering if this one is looking at the tree where is mom is and wondering if he can make it. It kept walking around on the edge of the nest.  I knew it was ready to go.  I was standing at the door watching when it spread its wings and made it to the tree. This is the third one, just minutes after its sibling left.  He has got to be thinking that the world is bigger than the nest. When I turned to go inside after taking this photo, this little one flew away. So now, I'm left with an empty nest.  Again.  Hub read that the mother and her mate would probably raise another family this year, but they seldom use the same nest. I have been an observer of nature all my life.  This is the first time that I have been able to watch this miracle from the time the nest was bui...

I had a nice surprise yesterday when I learned that my friend Patricia had given me an eclectic blogger award.  Thank you, StableGranny, for including me in such an amazing group of bloggers! Now, I get to pass out some awards myself!  Here are the rules for the five people I nominated: The rules: Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy. Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it. Next, select 5 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. Nominate those 5 bloggers for the Eclectic Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site. Finally, tell the person who nominated you 5 things about yourself 1.  Patricia's blog is one I always read.  We live in the same area and have a lot of common interests.  Sometimes, if I'm swamped at work or out of town, I don't get to read it everyday, but I always go back and 'catch up' when I have ...

Writer Gin Phillips was at the Florence Lauderdale Public Library last night.  I loved her first book, The Well and the Mine , which was set in Carbon Hill, Alabama, just down the road from me.  Sorry for the quality of the photos; they are borrowed  from Amazon. Gin's new book, Come in and Cover me , is a total departure from the depression-era coal-mining/farming book that her first one was.  I haven't finished it yet, but so far, it is just as good. I love meeting writers and listening to them....it just makes their books seem so personal.  Our library is the best; there is always something going on there!  We plan to be there on Sunday afternoon for a program about the Civil War.  Local peeps, I hope to see you there!