2024 April 19, Visitor Center, Kennedy Douglas Art Museum, Coffee Cemetery with AVA

 Today, we rode into town to pick up Hubby's medicine at Walgreens. 

We rode to the Blue Door Thrift Store/SCOPE 310 and bought AVA a game. 

Ate lunch at Culverts. 

Hubby and I split a plate of shrimp, fries, cole Slaw, and Chocolate moose yogurt.  

We bought an AVA hamburger, fries, and chocolate yogurt.

We stopped at the nearby Walmart to pick up a few items. Then, Ava and I walked across the street to the Coffee and Slave Cemeteries. 

A  large old tree at Coffee Cemetery

Ava wanted to visit a museum, so we rode to the Kennedy-Douglass Art Center. There, we saw AROY Artistic Rendering of Youth, featuring artwork created by students from 7th through 12th grade at 15 schools. Outside, we stopped to take pictures of the statues. 

AVA and the outdoor art

We walked across the street to Wilson Park, and the mist from the fountain seemed to reach the clouds.

Overflowing Fountain at Wilson Park 

Color is the music of light. 
Frank Lloyd Wright 
(This marker is on the sidewalk at Wilson Park.)

We watched a barge go up the Tennessee River 
men fishing 

Ava enjoyed the playground area at McFarland Park. Our last stop was the Visitor Center, where they saw several displays. 

Large and small-mouth bass
Bass fishing & tournaments are significant on the Tennessee River in Florence.
Ava enjoyed the one with the big and small-mouth fish. 

WC Handy Statue in Wilson Park 
WC Handy 
Father of the Blues 
1873- 1958 
Born in Florence, Alabama 

Display of WC Handy's music at Florence-Lauderdale Visitor Center.
Handy played the Cornet (pictured here) 
Handy's first hit was "The Memphis Blues".

The W. C. Handy Music Festival is held annually in Florence, Alabama, sponsored by the Music Preservation Society, Inc., in honor of Florence native W. C. Handy, the "Father of the Blues." The non-profit Music Preservation Society was formed in 1982 with the mission to preserve, present, and promote the musical heritage of Northwest Alabama.

The 2024 Handy Festival will take place from Wednesday to Saturday, June 12-15, in Florence, Alabama. 

2023 Dec 8, Moulton on the Square Moulton, AL "CHRISTMAS"

We left Cullman, traveling on Highway 157 toward Moulton. 

We always attend Moulton on the Square, but this year, the festival was held at the Lions Club Fairgrounds due to ongoing renovations at the old courthouse. 

A large crowd was already there enjoying the festival. 

The entrance to the Christmas Festival 

We saw several displays and places to stop for photos. 

We saw Santa Claus talking to the children. 

Vendors selling their wares.

The smell of food filled the air.

We enjoyed Tiny Hiney's Petting Zoo, where we saw goats, sheep, a llama, a Kangaroo, a cow, and a pony.

Each animal was wearing Christmas attire. 

Pony dressed in Red

As we left, the snow machine began to fill the air with snow. The children enjoyed the snow falling on their faces. 

Let itSnoww! Let itSnoww!

2017 Sept 4, Labor Day at Sweet Tater Festival Smith Lake Park Cullman, Alabama

After dropping our van off at Champion Chrysler Dodge in Athens (the air-conditioner not working) @ 7:30 A.M., we stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. I ordered two pieces of bacon, one scrambled egg, two pieces of whole-wheat toast, and a bowl of fried apples. Hubby ordered the big breakfast meal.

Cockatoo Dancing 

A camel eating grass
At the Petting Zoo, we saw a camel, some sheep, a couple of pigs, a rabbit, a couple of llamas & some goats. 
I encourage a two-year-old boy to pet a white rabbit and a pig.

Alpaca waiting for food

Little boy petting the pig & Chicken

We attended the Sweet Tater Festival in Cullman. 
They are famous for their Fried Sweet Tater Pies, so we bought one.
It was awful (somebody cannot cook tater pies). 
We walked through all the vendor booths, stopping to buy a leather key chain.
Many of the people at the park were riding in Golf Carts, and babies and small children were in strollers or wagons. 

Food Vendors 

Bonji Jumping 

Fire Department 

Stage with Bands 

Light Green Cadillac 

The little helper 

Green Truck and 1973 Ford Gran Torino   

Red Mustang 

The Classic Cars were located in the shaded area of the park. This is always my favorite part of the festival. 
We left after walking around the park for a couple of hours.

In Athens, we stopped at Aldies for a few groceries.
At home, I cooked hamburgers with onions and added taco sauce to make tacos.
Hubby tackled the grass after dinner.

2017 July 22, Events of the W. C. Handy Festival Saturday

I went to the Visitor Center to listen to Tom McDonald talk about three of the books that he wrote and had for sale. 

1. Promises to Keep

2. Dirt Road Memories 

3. When Memories Come Calling

I should have bought one. 

I stopped to talk to Tom for a few minutes about growing up in East Florence. 

Tom said that he grew up on Sweetwater Avenue.

I live in East Florence, but our paths never crossed. 

Tom went to Brandon School from the first to the sixth grades.

When we moved to Florence, I had already passed the sixth grade.

Tom's family moved to the Central area around the time we moved to East Florence. 

We talked about Sweet Water Creek and walking along the old railroad tracks down by the canal on the bank of the Tennessee River. 

When we lived in East Florence, my sisters and I would walk to McFarland Park to swim in the Tennessee River.

We also swam in the canal, which was not far from our home. 

Tom once said he had tried floating down the Sweet Water Creek in a washtub, hoping to reach the Tennessee River. However, it turned over, and he never made it. 

What sweet childhood memories we both could recall.

Then I went to the Florence Library to read Watermelon Wine, the Poetry of American Music. 

I listened to Anne E. DeChant sing and play her guitar on some of her storytelling songs (she was perfect).

 I left the Library and rode to Jack's for a meal. There, I ordered a kids' Chicken Finger Meal, which consisted of two Chicken fingers, green beans, Rice, Kirby, and a Diet Coke. I also ordered an Apple Pie. 
I still had time to kill before returning to the Visitor Center, so I went back to the Library.
There was a car show library about to end, so I stopped to take a few pictures. It was going to be a long walk, so I just took several long-distance pictures. I walked back through the Library and saw Anne DeChant, a Gilard, standing at the counter. I walked up to her and told her that I loved her singing and playing, and that her music reminded me of the storyteller and singer Tom T. Hall. 
She thanked me and said she appreciated the compliment. 
They were getting directions to Legends, where they were going to eat lunch. I said they have good food. 

 Then, back to the visitors center for Swampfest Songwriter showcase series #2 to listen to Buzz Cason and Russell Medford sing and play. 
The audience sang along with Buzz in a couple of his songs. "Hank Williams Christian songs. One way I saw the light. Russell talked about meeting a couple of songwriters at Killen Diner (which has since burned down) to write a song. 
The fun show ended around 3:30 P.M.

I rode to Taco Bell to get supper, and there was a line of cars all the way to the stop sign. 
When I got up to the window, I said, You have been busy today. The girl at the window said we have been like this since 11 A.M. today because four people called in. What a bummer!!

After my busy day, all I wanted to do was eat my Taco Salad,  prop my feet up, and watch TV.

2017 June 17, Saturday, RC Moon Pie Festival Bell Buckle, Tenessee🌝🍰

Cooked waffles for breakfast, topped with walnuts and Cool Whip.
Loaded the van, programmed the GPS, and began our trip.
We traveled north on hwy 43, turning right onto hwy 64 East, traveling through Giles County, Pulaski, TN, crossing I-65
to 244 northeast, traveling through Lincoln and Marshall counties, Petersburg, & Bedford County, Shelbyville.

Town of Petersburg Library

The Town of Petersburg, located in Lincoln and Marshall Counties, has a population of 580.

Our next stop was Shelbyville, TN, in Bedford County, home to the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration.

Walking Horse National Celebration (Horse farms)
The historic Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration Grounds in Shelbyville, TN, hosts the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration each year in late summer for 11 days, concluding on the Saturday night before Labor Day.

Veterans Memorial Plaza in front of the Bedford County Courthouse

Shelbyville is the county seat of Bedford County, "Courthouse"

Arrived at Bell Buckle around 10:00 A.M.
We found a closed park, walked up to the stage, and found seats on bales of hay. We sat and listened to music, watching a group of young girls and women clog.

Cloggers (stepping high)

Milking Machine

Railroad Town (several trains came through while we were in Bell Buckle)

We walked around checking out the vendors, where we saw giant corn dogs, funnel cakes, deep-fried Oreos, Snickers, and Twinkies.
We visited Everybody's Antiques and More, Bluebirds Antiques, and the Ice Cream Parlor.
We visited the Livery Stable, now an Antique shop with many rooms of antiques.

The livery stable is now an Antique Shop. 

We saw boxes of strawberry, banana, chocolate, mint, & salted caramel moon pies.
There were Moon Pies and RC Colas for sale everywhere we looked, and prices varied.

Ice Cold RC Colas 

Boxes of Fresh Moon Pies

Uncle Sam is greeting the crowd at the  Parade.

We met a couple from North Carolina who had been to softball tournaments in Birmingham.
We met an older couple who had visited the festival many times.
There were people from everywhere who were still coming when we left.

We ate lunch at Bell Buckle Cafe, where we both ordered a barbecue sandwich and a glass of iced tea.
It was almost time for the parade, so we gobbled down our lunch.
It was the only cafe in the entire area, so the wait was long just to eat lunch.

Standing in front of the Mural of Moon Pies and RC Colas 

We came outside to watch the parade, and afterward, we started home.

Moon Pie Girl in the parade

We took a different route home, riding through Tullahoma, Lynchburg, and Pulaski.
We stopped in Lawrenceburg for gas and to-go meals from Long John Silver's.
We stopped at the fruit stand in Lawrenceburg for vegetables and were home by 5:00 P.M.
We were home for about an hour when my husband got a call from work, so we loaded into the van and headed to Huntsville.
As we were entering the gate, we were in a Jurassic Park jeep with a dinosaur in the back.
\

When the Jeep moved, so did the dinosaur
The Jurassic period relates to or denotes the second period of the Mesozoic era, between the Triassic and Cretaceous periods.

The sun was setting as we traveled home. (around 8:30 P.M.)

🚌📖 🚌📖 🚌📖 🚌📖 2017 May 18, Events leading up to the Shoals Front Porch Storytelling Festival

Two buses were waiting at the Florence Visitor Center for passengers to board. One bus takes a group of people on a Historical Tour (guide Billy Warren), and the other bus takes a Music Tour (guide Walt Aldridge).
A couple from Toronto, Canada, a couple from Louisiana, a woman from Tuscaloosa, our driver, our guide Billy Warren, and I boarded the bus for the historic tour.
We visited the Florence Indian Mound and Museum, the Rosenbaum House, rode by WC Handy's Home, and visited the Ivy Green Home of Helen Keller.

Our first stop was the newly built Indian Mound Museum. We were led into the sitting area where we listened to the curator tell the history of the museum and mound, starting with the Paleo Indians, Transitional, Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian, and ending with the Native American age.e

Late Archaic Period

Middle Archaic Period

Early Archaic Period 

Once again, we loaded onto the bus. Our next stop was the Rosenbaum House, where we were met by a curator who shared the history of the Rosenbaum Family and how FranLloydyd Wright ended up building the home for the newly married couple.

We rode by the WC  Handy Home, not stopping while Billy told the history of WC Handy.
As we crossed the O'Neal Bridge, Billy Warren mentioned that the bridge was named after two governors from Florence (father and son).
Billy was asked about the Train Bridge and why it went only halfway across the river. Billy said that the lift part of the bridge was sold to a company in St Louis, Missouri.

Our last stop was Ivy Green, the home of Helen Keller. As we approached the house, we could see a large group of schoolchildren.

Ivy Green and Several Groups of School Children 

The pump where Helen Keller said "Water" marks the beginning of her education. 

The curator came outside and gave us a little history of the Keller family.
One story the curator told us was about Annie Sullivan.
Helen locked Miss Sullivan in the key room, and she hid the Key.
Mr. Keller had to get a ladder for Miss Sullivan to climb out a window.
What had she gotten herself into?

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This young man said, "Is this the statue that is in Washington, DC?" I said, "No, it was one of Helen's, Keyding by the pump."Key

The Key used to lock Miss Sullivan in her room.

Ivy Green as we were leaving (notice no school Children)

Once again, we loaded into the bus and rode back to the Visitor Center. Since it was such a small group, we got to know a little about one another.

I grabbed a bite of lunch at Jack's (kids' chicken fingers, green beans, Rice Krispies bite-sized snack, and iced tea.
At 2  P.M., I watched the Katherine Tucker Windham Tucker Life video at the Florence Library (sitting next to my friends). The woman from Tuscaloos was on the bus tour.

From 3:30–4:15 P.M., at Florence Library, I listened to Dolores Hydock's talks about "It Could Happen! Stories of Hope and Possibility.
Funny, sweet stories of hope, possibilities, and the little things in life that make hope possible.

Stopped to talk to my writing friends before heading home.
At Rick's Barbecue, I bought some pulled pork, Cole Slaw, iced tea, and Texas toast for supper.

Had a wonderful day, made a few new friends, visited several museums, watched a video about a great storyteller, and listened to one with my friends.