- I was wandering around the historic district of Decatur, Alabama, the other day and found this gorgeous home. Couldn’t you just walk right in?
House and Garden
6
Tag Archives: Alabama
A Week of Spring — Azaleas
Welcome to day No. 5 in A Week of Spring. Here in Alabama, spring means gardening and yard work and those first wonderful blooms. I am not a gardener — the best I can do is just sort of maintain, although I am a fierce and thorough weeder (even though I spy a few I missed in these photos, drat it). However, even the non-green thumbs like me can appreciate the beauty of April’s rebirth and renewal. These azaleas are in a corner of ourback yard where nobody can see them, of course, but the lush front-yard pink extravaganza shouldn’t be too far behind. Dogwoods are blooming, irises are up and even our winter-battered hydrangeas have optimistic buds, although freezing temperatures predicted for the first of next week might wreak more havoc. I even am sort of inspired to go to the garden store and pick out some more flowers — or I could just sit back and admire what I’ve already got. Hmm … Check back tomorrow for more in A Week of Spring.
A Week of Spring — Pink and Green
It’s day No. 2 in A Week of Spring and we’re taking a look 
at those wonderfully fresh and pretty spring colors that make us smile. I spend most of winter in black turtlenecks, so as spring approaches I’m definitely ready for something different. I love finding blooming spring colors in unexpected places, like this gathering of pink, green and yellow at Harrison Brothers Hardware in Huntsville, Alabama. On the city square since 1879, Harrison’s is part museum, part antique shop and part gift boutique. These spring gotta-haves were between the massive old safe and the tempting candy aisle. Sweet! I’d take everything, from the pink and green toile trays to the mint-green glasses. But my favorite is the pink-and-blue paisley ice bucket. For some reason I cannot resist cute ice buckets. I’ve got a gazillion, including washtub-sized ones we’d need for my daughters’ high-school parties and smaller sizes like this one that are perfect for book-club night. I mean, really, how many ice buckets do you need? But that’s what spring does to you — makes you start planning parties out on the deck. With plenty of pink and green. Come back tomorrow for day No. 3 in A Week of Spring.
Spring
Here’s what I figured out yesterday while I was wandering around 
downtown and running boring errands: You can have a “spring break” anywhere. I was coming from the dry cleaners, juggling some winter clothes I’d picked up with a cappuccino and muffin from the coffee shop, when I saw this joyously fresh silk arrangement. It was brightening the corner of a florist’s and gift shop and I immediately wanted to exchange my jacket and sweaters for a beach bag and my coffee and muffin for shrimp and beer from Joe Patti’s — our favorite seafood market in Pensacola, Fla. Isn’t it amazing what a little bit of spring can do?
Shopping
After a week of spring here in north Alabama, we were hit with 
winter again. It’s been rainy and cold for a few days now and everybody’s going around coughing and sniffing and complaining. ( I know, I know. Cold weather doesn’t really cause colds. But it can’t help.) My older daughter and 
I, however, recently braved the chilly rain and went out in search of spring. We found it at Al Christopher in Huntsville, Alabama — a wonderfully warm and cheerful shop in the historic Five Points area. We were charmed as soon as we walked in the door and saw candles, table ware, baby gifts, stationery and spa products that made me immediately want to go home and take a bath — in a good way. Also, those soft and silky pajama sets demand you lounge around the house all morning with a cup of espresso and a good book. (And of course you’d be wearing makeup and have your hair combed brushed and your teeth brushed. And the dishes washed and cat boxes cleaned out. Sigh.) Al Christopher is one of those shops that just makes you happy when you go in and wander around, which we did as long as my 11-month-old grandson allowed us to. Then we ducked into the nearby Olde Town Coffee Shoppe for that espresso and found touches of spring there, too, with this delightful recycled decor in the women’s room. I am so going to steal this idea.
Five Points, an Historic Preservation District, was a working-class neighborhood near downtown Huntsville. Dedicated supporters have preserved the area and encouraged its emergence as a vibrant arts and music venue. Most shops and eateries are in restored and remodeled bungalows that add so much character to retail spaces. Go here, http://fivepointshistoricdistrict.org/, for details.
Girlfriend Getaways
My friends look so sweet and innocent, don't they? Hah!
Tam DeBolt and Kristin Staskowski star in Red Mountain Theatre's production of "The Odd Couple (Female Version)" in Birmingham, Alabama
If you ever get a chance to see “The Odd Couple (Female Version),” do it. It’s both funny and a wonderful snapshot of life in the 1980s, complete with big hair, pink velour track suits and Trivial Pursuit — remember all that???Sportswriter slob Oscar Madison becomes news-exec slob Olive, uptight obsessive-compulsive Felix becomes obsessive-compulsive super housewife Florence and the English Pigeon sisters become the Spanish Costazuela brothers. The best way to see it, of course, is with a bunch of your best friends. That’s what I did this past weekend when some of us saw “Odd Couple” at the Red Mountain Theatre in Birmingham, Alabama. But really, the comedy on stage was nothing compared to what we five created on our own. Let’s see — scenes included confusion about our scheduled meeting place, confusion about our scheduled meeting time, a dash into Banana Republic for a finally-on-sale jacket with 15 minutes remaining before curtain time, confusion about directions to where the theater was, confusion about where we actually were going, discussion about whether the parking police checked spaces on Sunday afternoons and then applause all around as we finally made into the theater as the lights were going down. Our encore? One of us dropped a ceramic tile out of her purse — after all, you never know when you’ll need to match some tile — as the intermission lights came up, causing an immense echoing clatter throughout the theater as the guilty party fled to the restroom and the rest of us, literally, fell out of our chairs laughing. I think we should audition for the next production, entitled “Golden Girls Gone Wild, or Can Our Heroines Stay Awake Past 5 p.m.?” I’m sure we’ll get rave reviews!
Alabama Beaches
When you think of Alabama, you probably don’t think of manatees, do you? Well, you should. A fourth-grade class in Mobile has proposed the gentle giant, which has been showing up lately in coastal rivers and waterways, be named Alabama’s state marine mammal. In fact, my state is going all beachy this year with its new license tag that replaces the previous “Stars Fell 
Over Alabama” design, which, ironically, I always thought looked like a T-shirt you’d buy at the beach. I love this new tag and can’t wait until it’s my turn to get one. I always have bought a “Helping Schools” tag before but I think this time I’ll go with the standard tag and simply give the school of my choice $25 directly. Some folks in non-beachy Alabama aren’t happy with this emphasis on sun and sand, but I’m all for it. Our 50 miles of Gulf coastline is some of the most beautiful anywhere, and if you get manatees thrown in as a bonus, who could resist? Not me. There are only 6 1/2 hours between me and that gorgeous white sand, but for the times I can’t get there — like, sadly, now and most times — at least I’ll be able to look at my license tag.
Photography
These photos were taken by a young woman who’s starting her photography 
business in Florence, Alabama, and I am so impressed both with her and her talent. Danielle McCann was friends with both my daughters when they were all in high school together — she and my older daughter were in the same class and she and my younger daughter shared the same goofy sense of humor. Since then, Danielle has started her professional photography business, gotten married and had a baby daughter who’s about the same age as my older daughter’s son. In fact, the two mommies have decided on an eventual arranged marriage between the kids and prepared the two families to become in-laws. Danielle snapped these shots when the babies had a play date together recently. Even though they’re just casual shots she didn’t set up, her talent and creativity show through. I’m so proud of these young people who have drive and determination and ambition, mixed with strong doses of integrity and optimism. When I look at my daughters and their friends and the stability and values they believe in, I know the future’s in good hands. Go to Danielle’s blog at http://dmccannphotography.blogspot.com/.
Snow and Paul Harvey
Breaking news! It’s snowing in Alabama!!! We don’t get winter very 
often around here, but the weather folks were right this time. It’s a soft and lazy couple inches right now but supposed to get worse as temps stay below freezing and the snow continues all morning. I took these photos on our back deck looking into the backyard where earlier this week we were sitting out on the deck enjoying a glass of wine and some wonderfully 
warm temperatures. Now we’ve got a “major winter storm.” I know, I know — for all y’all used to blizzards and snow drifts and shoveling your car out of the driveway these are 
pictures of spring-like weather, but believe me this is big-time Southern winter. And we love it! Makes me want to hunker down, bring in more firewood or, really, turn the logs on and make another pot of coffee. It does not make me want to find some snow boots and mittens and a scarf and a jacket and go out tramping around. I love snow. It’s beautiful and wonderful — and best viewed through a window. Which is why my part in ski vacations is to stay warm and dry at the bottom of the slopes and nod and applaud enthusiastically as family members shoosh on by: “Good job! Nice run! Way to go!” I’m really good at that.
If you’re stuck inside today, be sure to read about Paul Harvey, who died on Saturday. Back in the early 1980s when I was a newbie newspaper reporter, I was thrilled — absolutely thrilled — when Paul Harvey read on air a story of mine AP had picked up on this new phenomenon of Elvis Presley impersonators. I focused on a young boy — I think he was 6 or 7 — who was making a local name for himself by donning a white sparkling jumpsuit and belting out “You Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog.” Thank you for that, Mr. Harvey. You never knew what you meant to a young journalist in east Tennessee. Read more about this influential man at http://www.abcrn.com/harvey/.
Fashion
Florence, Alabama, is a small Southern town known as the home of W.C. 
Handy, Division II football powerhouse University of North Alabama and two famous and successful fashion designers. Natalie Chanin is one of those designers (see yesterday’s post for a look at her newest collection) and the other is — have you guessed it yet? — Billy Reid. Billy was born in Louisiana and grew up in Texas (Florence is his wife’s hometown), and his men’s and women’s clothes are evocative of a gently elegant and quietly genteel Southern way of life. He has stores in New York, Dallas and other cities, but the flagship store is in downtown Florence. It’s in a gorgeous 1833 house called Pickett Place that glows with family antiques and photographs — well worth the trip to Florence just to wander around and admire. Like his friend Natalie, Billy always is friendly and gracious — they both have that Southern way of making you feel they’ve waited all day just for the chance to talk to you. They each see their work not only as businesses but as connections for reaching out and reminding others of the art and food and history and craft that’s around every street corner and county road in Alabama — and your hometown, too. Check out Billy’s Web site at http://www.billyreid.com.
And if you’re like me and have to enjoy New York’s Fashion Week vicariously, check out these Web sites: Vogue’s http://www.style.com/ for photos and complete coverage of each show (don’t forget The Sartorialist for photos of off-the-runway fashion); http://www.nytimes.com/pages/fashion/index.html for intelligent discussion and background; and http://gofugyourself.celebuzz.com/ for the Fugly Girls’ signature and hilarious snarkiness. But we laugh because it’s true.
Coffee with Cathy 