Category Archives: Alabama

Craft Shows

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Helen Keller Festival of the Artscraft showI love craft shows! I think it goes back to when I was young in the 1960s and ’70s and my folks would take my brother and me to every arts/crafts festival within miles. That’s where I learned to value handmade — and I still have some of the pieces I bought then with my carefully saved allowance. This weekend, the Helen Keller Festival of the Arts is part of a weeklong celebration of Tuscumbia, Alabama’s most famous native daughter. It wraps up today at Spring Park, and if you’re within miles you should come over and check it out. There’s wonderful pottery, artwork and jewelry, plus food, music and fun throughout the park. Admission to the craft festival is free. Don’t forget to walk up the hill to downtown Tuscumbia and visit Cold Water Books, the local gathering spot where you can get an iced coffee, Helen Keller books you can’t find anywhere else …  and a bathroom. Find out more about the Helen Keller Festival at http://www.helenkellerfestival.com/

Grocery Stores

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Fresh bulk spicesHere’s another guess-that-store quiz. Okay, actually it’s just Nolan Thomas Behelanother excuse to squeeze in a photo of grandson Capt. Adorable, but I can’t resist. My husband John Pitts cautions against overwhelming you all with pics of the Captain but we’re all friends here and I know you forgive me and besides everybody I meet in person is tired of me waving my digital keychain in their faces. Anyway, can you identify this upscale grocery? Usually we keep Capt. Adorable in the cart but he couldn’t stand it this time so we allowed some supervised leg-stretching and he immediately headed to the produce section, where he started squeezing the fruit, eating the lettuce and checking out the fresh pistachios. Smart boy.

Manatee Mailbox

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Manatee mailbox

A manatee mailbox is not what you'd expect to find in a Huntsville, Alabama, neighborhood, but it sort of makes me smile -- and want to go to the beach.

Bridesmaids

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Rehearsal-dinner styleYounger Daughter was in town from her summer-school classes this weekend to Bridesmaid stylebe a bridesmaid in a friend’s wedding. I Bridesmaid hairlove all the hair and makeup and these-shoes-don’t-work chaos of getting ready — reminds me of  the prom and party excitement from the girls’ high-school days. For the wedding-rehearsal dinner, YD went with simple black jazzed up with purple accents, although she switched these fantastic purple heels for black sandals before she left the house because her feet already were hurting. Then Saturday morning she got her hair done in this sweet sort of loose and messy half up-do that she and the stylist came up with based on a couple of photos and magazine pictures. Both of my daughters have great hair and know what to do with it — a skill they didn’t get from me but I wish I could pick up from them. I loved how it all came together — I thought the pink bridesmaid’s dresses and the orange bouquets were stunning together. The bride had picked out some wonderful metallic heels for the bridesmaids to wear, and after the wedding YD passed hers on to another friend who admired them and is getting married next, probably thereby starting the Tradition of the Traveling Wedding Shoes. I wonder where they’ll turn up next!

Funerals

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My husband said this past week, “The two best funerals I’ve been to have been in Oneonta*, Alabama.” I went with him to the second one, and I have to agree with him. His Aunt Sally’s funeral was full of love, laughter and celebratory joy — which is exactly the type of person she was. I wrote about her funeral in my newspaper column this week at the TimesDaily, http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20090605/ARTICLES/906055001, and I’ve already had so many people tell me that’s exactly the send-off they want for themselves.

*Pronounced “On-e-on-tah.” I think.

Strange But True

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Strange but true

And yet, it's all you can think about as soon as you spot the sign, right? Extra credit if you can name the big-box crafts store that prohibits foam squeezing.

Travel

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Florence AlabamaSometimes it’s fun to play tourist in your own town. My town is Florence, Alabama, and the other day I was waiting for a doctor’s appointment (stupid high cholesterol) and instead of eavesdropping on overhearing conversations in the waiting room — “And then the nurse told me I should have taken two tablets instead and I told her, ‘Honey, I can barely swallow one!'” — I decided to wander around the block. I’d never walked here before and I was tickled to find the Cedar Nest, http://www.cedarnest.net/, a tourist apartment I’d heard about but never really knew where it was. This one-bedroom apartment is just a block away from all the action of historic and hoppin’ downtown Florence. It’s like a bed-and-breakfast without the breakfast part, although you could walk to several downtown coffee shops and bring back breakfast to eat Historic downtown Florence, Alabamaon the treehouse balconies. Historic downtown Florence, AlabamaAcross the street, I found this beautifully stately house surrounded by an intricate — and slightly menacing? — iron fence. This house makes me think of a graceful and gracious older aunt who remembers her days as a young belle of the ball before her fiance was killed in the war and she spent the rest of her life gently fading away. Or maybe I should stop reading so many Victorian novels. Anyway, I believe that this mansard roof means the house dates from around 1860-1885. Aren’t you impressed that I know that? Thank you, Mr. Google!

Crafts

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Baby shower ideasBaby-shower ideasI think this is the best baby-shower idea ever: Hand-painting onesies. I helped co-host a baby shower with friends this past weekend and early in the planning stages a couple of the gals said, “We have something you’ve never seen before and everybody is going to love it” — and they were right. At the shower, we set Painting craftsup a couple tables and offered the guests plain newborn white Baby showeronesies with a variety of paints, markers, brushes and stencils. At first there was palpable art anxiety as women who declared they had no talent or skill whatsoever were a bit apprehensive about producing a work of art, but soon everybody was designing and creating like pros. It was a great icebreaker and mixer — and of course the mom-to-be ended up with some adorable clothes and great memories. You also could turn the onesies into a baby quilt or frame the painted sections for unique and personalized wall decor. It so reminded me of birthday parties when my now-20-something-daughters were young and we’d turn them loose outside with paints and T-shirts — remember making stamps out of sponges? The baby shower, however, was a little more restrained. But no less fun.

Memorial Day

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Memorial Day and family birthdays

Capt. Adorable's other grandparents, Sharlie and Buddy Behel, of Tuscumbia, Alabama. See? I can share!!!

Hawk Pride Mountain

The back porch of the Behels' log cabin

Were you lucky like me and got some good family time this Memorial Day? I count myself lucky — and blessed — because my daughter’s in-laws consider my husband and me bona-fide family and invite us to every holiday gathering. And that’s a good thing because I would hate to miss out on all the food and fun that results whenever two or more Behels gather together. Sharlie and Buddy Behel, my daughter’s in-laws, are some of the most generous and hospitable people I know. Their home is always open to family and friends — nobody’s a stranger. They sort of adopted me when my daughter first started dating their son — I was a single mom then without family nearby and with characteristic kindness they took me in right from the start. And since I’m only a year or so older than their oldest son (my son-in-law was their surprise third baby), Sharlie and I feel more like sisters than in-laws once removed. You can see from the picture how much I care about them — I don’t share Capt. Adorable with just anybody!

Shopping

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Bridge Street Towne CentreShopping in Huntsville, Alabama, has taken an upturn ever Shopping in Huntsville, Alabamasince Bridge Street Town Centre opened almost two years ago. Billed as an outdoor mall and lifestyle center with a stylish European flair, Bridge Street definitely is a fun place to stroll and window shop and see and be seen. It’s beautifully landscaped and maintained and has plenty of Huntsville, Alabamaeasy-access parking. The retailers here are the usual suspects — Gap, Banana Republic, Victoria’s Secret, Bridge Street Town CentreAnthropologie and J. Crew are my favorites — but there’s also a Kate Spade, where I usually wander in, shake my head in disbelief at $525 handbags and walk back out again. Luckily, more in line with my budget are the classics of DSW, Old Navy and Barnes and Noble. But really the best part about Bridge Street is the food. This is where you’ll find the always-popular P.F. Chang’s and Maggie Moo plus the L.A.-based Dolce and Ketchup and a Melting Pot, making Bridge Street a dining as well as a shopping destination. The Monaco theater and the accompanying lounge Scene are hot spots, too. I mean, who could say no to enjoying wine and sushi in a leather recliner while watching the latest flick? Not me.

P.S. I’m sure you’re asking yourself, “If Bridge Street is so popular, where are all the people in these photos, Miss SmartyPants Reporter Blogger Person?” And I say, “Good question.” And here’s the answer: I took these photos about a month ago on the day that news of swine-flu cases in Huntsville was just breaking and schools were closed and everybody was supposed to stay home and wash their hands. And so of course I thought, “This is the perfect time to go shopping.” Wouldn’t you???