Faith, Folklore, and Friends

Natural Bridge is only 58 miles from where we live, but we had never stopped there until a few days ago.  It was very interesting. Indian Head rock. Read more about the town of Natural Bridge here. There is a large picnic area and some gardens not pictured here.  I'm glad we stopped.

We had such high hopes for our sweet potato crop this year.  Last year, we only had one bed full, and this year we planted two. We just ate all of last year's crop a few weeks ago. The sweet potatoes started out so well this year; the vines quickly spilling out of the bed. We pulled off the vines, and Hub started digging. (That is turnip greens in the upper right corner.) Our granddaughter, Adrienne, and her fiance, Nicholas, came to help us. Remember how well they started?  Here in Northwest Alabama, it stopped raining about mid-July.  We  had very little rainfall in August and September, and it is dry as a bone here.  Although we watered the sweet potatoes regularly, they suffered from lack of rain. There were many potatoes, but most of them were small.  The wheelbarrow below is our total crop this year.  Disappointing, but still enough to enjoy for a while.   We will try again next year.

Saturday was a perfect day for a festival.  We were exhausted from a busy week, so we went to one in Rogersville, Alabama, not too far from home. Hub loves these car shows.  They are nice, but I prefer new cars. The whole town was beautifully decorated. The East Lauderdale Quilters had a small but impressive quilt show as part of the festival. October is the chosen month for festivals, apparently, and there are so many that it is impossible to attend all of them. There are several more festivals in our area during October, so you still have many opportunities to check them out. 

How blessed is the person,      who does not take the advice of the wicked, who does not stand on the path with sinners,      and who does not sit in the seat of mockers. 2  But he delights in the  Lord ’s instruction,      and meditates in his instruction day and night. 3  He will be like a tree planted by streams of water,      yielding its fruit in its season,          and whose leaf does not wither. He will prosper in everything he does. ~Psalm 1:1-3

Pretty sure I don't get out enough.  This is just not something I'm used to seeing when I go to town.

I have lived a long time and I have learned a few things. One of them is this: keep your eyes open when you leave the house, because you never know what you may encounter. We were driving south on Highway 43 when this fellow came into view.  He is huge, so he was the first thing we saw.  Compare his size with the utility poles in the background. Hub never misses an opportunity to drive the Jeep off-road, so we were in the field getting close-up views in no time. Loved the broken mirror pieces in several of the pieces.  Who knew broken mirrors were recyclable? There was no one around, no information about the artist, not even a tip bucket. You can find this collection on Highway 43 South between Tuscaloosa and Demopolis, Alabama.