Showing posts with label story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label story. Show all posts

Friday, January 20, 2017

2017 January 20, Friday, The new Florence Indian Mound & Museum

The Florence Indian Mound Museum 
The new building is lined with stairs on either side and a wheelchair ramp all leading to the front door.

Florence Indian Mound Museum 
There are two bus parks, two wheelchair parks, two parks near the front, and about 4 or 5 parking spaces near the end of the drive. 
Once inside you will see to your left a learning center, and restrooms, and straight in front of you are Native American Artifacts with pictures of Indians who once lived in the area.

Native American Artifacts 
We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children. 
Ancient Indian Proverb
Tickets are $5 for adults and $2 for students. 
Next, you walk into a simulated cave with stalactites hanging from the ceiling, and scattered on the floor of the cave are arrowheads.

simulated cave with stalactites 
Several exhibits tell the story through the time of the early Native Indians, the Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian. 

Encased behind glass are Indian artifacts that date back thousands of years. Included are Indian dresses, ceremonial masks, tools, arrowheads, pots, and baskets.


In the forest room, you can sit down on a bench and listen to Tom Hendrix tell the history of the Native Americans that once lived in North America. 

The Trail of Tears and its history is also displayed. 

Indian artifacts
Indian artifacts
Indian artifacts
The mound itself is one of the Tennessee Valley's largest and oldest ceremonial Indian mounds.
The namesake cultural trait of the Mound Builders was the building of mounds and other earthworks. These burial and ceremonial structures were typically flat-topped pyramids or platform mounds, flat-topped or rounded cones, elongated ridges, and sometimes a variety of other forms. They were generally built as part of complex villages that arose from more dense populations, with a specialization of skills and knowledge.
Mound
The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is located at 1028 S Court St, Florence, AL 35630.


Wednesday, March 2, 2016

2009 September 5, Saturday, Native American Presentation & Birding trip

Saturday, September 5, 2009
I met several people at UNA for the Native American Presentation & Birding trip to Rock Springs, & Colbert Ferry.
We loaded into our vehicle and followed one another to the different areas. 
Mary Keller Alexandria she rode with me on this trip.
Our first stop was Tom Hendrix the Wall. Located just off the Natchez Trace is this amazing rock wall that Tom Hendrix has been in the process of building for the last thirty years. It is dedicated to his great great grandmother Te-lah-nay who was among many that were taken to Oklahoma in the Trail of Tears. It took her five years to walk back to her roots in Florence Alabama. 
Charlie Two Moons a spiritual person told Tom that the wall belongs to all the people. You are just the keeper. Some will come and some with ask, Why does it bend, why is it higher and wider in some places that others?’ Tell them it is like your great great grandmother’s journey and their journey through life… it is never straight.”
We sat in a group while he told us the story about why and how he started building the wall. 
If the Legend Fade
Tom Hendrix showing us a Basket
Walking within the walls
Wall of faces
We thanked Tom and began our journey to Rock Springs were we went in search of different species of birds. 
Tiny Jewels of the air
Rock Spring Trail 
Walking the trail

We ate lunch at Rock Springs.
Our last stop was Colbert Park on the Lauderdale County side of the Tennessee River. We were looking for water fowl. 
Colbert Ferry Bridge
Fowls of the air
When we finished here we rode back to UNA and Mary thanked me for the ride. We said good-by and departed ways.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

🎄🎄🎄🎄2012 December 8, Saturday, A Dickens of a Christmas in Franklin Tennessee


2012 Saturday, December 8, Franklin, TN
It was A Dickens of a Christmas in Franklin Tennessee?
My husband and I ate  breakfast of eggs, sausage, and toast. 
We arrive in Franklin Tennessee about 10:00 a.m. 
My husband and I walked around taking pictures of costumed characters from Dickens story “A Christmas Carol.
I rode the horse drawn carriage around the Public Square cost $2.00. 

The carriage had four  patted bench seats that would seat up to twelve people of normal size.
It was pulled by a couple of  horses, one was brown and white and the other pitch black.
We saw holiday bazaar arts and crafts throughout the public square. 
There were musicians along the streets; we saw violinists, hand bell choirs, harpists, and carolers. 
I grabbed a picture of Scrooge, the  Old “Humbug” himself. 
My husband took a picture of me next to the Grim Reaper.
I took several pictures of the Cratchit family along with Tiny Tim, The Ghost of Christmas Past, Future, and Bobbies (who are actually Franklin police officers on duty) Father and Mother Christmas.
We sampled peppermint pretzels, and we watched the Morris Dancers perform a Cornish dance with swords and sticks from the mining communities of Cornwall.

It rained the first part of the morning, we saw many people carrying umbrellas, the rain did not detain the festival.
We ate lunch at Papa Boudreaux Cajun Café & Catering Co., we spent $33.15.
The building was painted purple and trimmed in a bright yellow with iron-metal Iron tables and chairs sitting outside. 
Inside there were long wooden bench tables that could set up to eight people, and total occupancy max is 49.
On the outside of the restaurant on the purple door was a sign that read,” Restrooms are for paying customers ONLY! Sorry, we are a small establishment…….Signed Pap’s Management.


Scrooge walking the streets of Franklin
Wet Streets of Franklin
I took pictures of many historic markers: Courthouse, behind the marker was a sign that read “Franklin on foot” .
What once was the local courthouse is now the Visitors Center in Franklin.
Another sign Union Headquarters Planning for battle, John H. Eaton was located near a manger scene.
St Philip Chaotic Church Marker in was in front of the Church.
The Old Factory Store is now a bookstore where, there was several authors were singing book.
We also saw the Masonic Temple, Hiram Lodge No 7 & building and marker which was in the Civil War tour number 17.
We saw the Ewen Cameron marker, The Presbyterian church marker.
We stopped inside the Starbucks Coffee store to use the restroom before we left Franklin.
We passed many war markers as we walked back to the van. We saw the Chickasaw Treaty Council, Field Hospital caring for the wounded, Franklin Special School District, Franklin Cumberland Presbyterian Church and Hincheyville Markers.
Christmas Tree in Center of Town
Lady in Pink
Carriage Rides
Cratchit Family
We rode to Leipers Fork about 1:30 P.m. to watch the Christmas parade, but the parade was canceled because of the weather. The town was hit by lighting earlier that day. 
The participants of the Christmas Parade had gathered and dis-pursed after the storm.
So many of them had to travel down main street and we saw many.
We saw a sign that read “Possum Holler Garage Like US on Facebook.”


Radio Flayer Wagon 
Possum Holler Garage 
We saw Radio Flayer Wagon atop a Jeep full of riders full of Christmas Cheer.
We saw Possum Holler Garage Sawdust tow-truck pulling and old Plymouth car behind it.
We saw F 150 Truck pulling boat on-top of wagon with riders wearing Santa hats.
We saw Old Chevrolet Truck with the inscription Posser Holler Garage pulling an outhouse inscribed on the side was “Old NO. 7.”
There was a round hole cut in the outhouse and it  had a reindeer hanging out of the hole with 4-closed underneath. On the backside of the outhouse was a satellite dish, sign that read, “Merry Christmas.
A sign that read “Possum Holler est. 2006, “The other White Meat”, “24 Wreck Her Service”, “You Bend We Mend ’em”.
Beneith the signs was Frosty the Snowman, with a couple of reindeer and a sign that read,”STAY BACK 100 FEET EXPLOSIVE GAS.”



Riding in the  1921 Clampetts truck
STAY BACK 100 FEET EXPLOSIVE GAS.”
We saw Hillsboro United Methodist/Bank of Leiper’s Fork historic markers located at Old Hwy 96 W.
We walked through the Winters Arts located at Locke Building.
We went inside the Serenity Madison antiques, &  mercantile store.
We stopped inside the Laurel Leaf Fashion Store.
We saw the Puckett’s grocery restaurant with men sitting outside.
My husband made my picture sitting in the Clampet’s Old Ford Truck. It had a homemade wooden bench to set upon.
Inside and hanging along the old truck I saw,  a jug of moonshine, a washtub, a trunk, a five gallon bucket, a frying pan and a dead opossum lying in a wash pan, hanging under the backside of the truck, just waiting for Granny Clampet to fry.
We saw an outdoor theater that was located inside was a live Christmas tree that had  hundreds of colorful bulbs strung around it. On either side standing straight and tall were nutcrackers. 
As we were leaving we saw the Church of Christ at Leiper’s Fork Meets Here EST 1831.

We walked around the many stores and did not buy anything.
We left around 2:30 p.m. traveling down the Natchez Trace to Lawrenceburg, Tn
We stopped at Kroger’s in Lawrenceburg at Kroger’s where we bought a  baked chicken, two slices of red velvet cake, chocolate covered almonds and rolls. 


We took all that food home to have a  feast.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

The drunkard with a Gun!


Benny reached for his handgun, as he neared the quaint, dim-lit, liquor store. 
Benny had drunk every drop of his Jack Daniel’s Whiskey, as he threw the bottle at the garbage can. 
Benny lived in the dirty streets of Chicago, in a narrow alley with the other drunks. 
Benny had not a penny to his name, and was in a desperate need of another drink of whiskey, to drown out his sorrows. 
This had not always been the case with Benny, who had been disbarred from being a defense Lawyer. 
The last ten years was a blur, and Benny could hardly remember his daughter's names, whom he had not seen for five years.

The last time he went to visit his daughters, he was so drunk, that his ex-wife called the police, and he was taken to jail, where he spent the next six months.
Benny sobered up, but when he got out of jail all the old memories flooded his mind, so off he went in search of a bottle of whiskey.
Without money, he did what he had to and that was to beg for money.
He put on a pair of broken sunglasses to hide his shame and began 
sing, I am so lonesome I could cry, as tears streamed down his face.
As people passed by they felt sorry for the broken-down drunk, that sang so beautifully and they dropped coins into the tin can that sat in front of him. 
When he had enough money to buy the whiskey, he picked up the tin can and headed to the liquor store. This ritual he had done for almost a decade.
Benny had once been a very nice looking man, he was tall in a statue now bent in shame, his once dark black wavy hair had turned to gray, his dark skin pale for lack of sunshine, yet he had the voice of an angel.
He graduated from the University of Chicago and landed a job with the top attorney firms in the Chicago Area. 
He was not rich but lived high in life, he drove a Black BMW with heated red leather seats.
He had married the love of his life and college sweetheart, Peggy Sue, she was a lanky, blond, with sky blue eyes.
Peggy Sue owned a design business that was doing remarkably well called, Make it or Break it.
Peggy had been so engrossed in her business that she and Benny had drifted apart the last few years.
The couple had been married for five years when, their first daughter spunky Betty Sue, was born and five years later Linda Sue, their second daughter comes bouncing into their lives. 

Betty Sue was attending the University of Chicago where she was studying to be an architect because she wanted to design bridges.
Linda was still in high school, she wanted to help people and her dream was to become a nurse practitioner.

What had caused Benny’s downfall?
Why was Benny holding a handgun ready to rob a liquor store?
Benny was sober enough to remember the day he hired Cindy Lou, the beautiful, deceitful, twenty-five-year-old woman.
The day Cindy walked into his office, Benny was dumbfounded by her beauty, with a wiggle of her little finger Benny would come running.
What danger lurked inside this beautiful woman who controlled Benny’s life?
Cindy never left Benny’s side, every case he solved and won Cindy was there. 

Cindy was stringing Benny along, while she was stringing along with the biggest mafia leader in Chicago area, Alphonse "Scarface Al" Capone.
The Scarface was using Cindy to get to Benny because Benny was blocking his way for him to become the mayor of Chicago. 
Cindy could charm the socks off a rabbit, her long ebony hair flowed down her back, her dark eyes were out of sight, her skin was dark as night and she had lips every man wanted to kiss.
She was a woman no man could resist and this is how she came to be the lover of "Scarface", the top mafia leader in Chicago. 
Cindy had charmed the life out of nine men, and because of this she had become known as The Black Widow Spider.
Cindy had been tried nine times and nine times she was acquitted.
Cindy was never once convicted or sent to prison for her crimes.
Why could Benny not see beyond the beauty and deception of Cindy Lou?
Cindy Lou was deeply angry with her present mafia lover, for he was cheating on her with the new kid on the block named, Stella. I will show him, Cindy thought to herself as she was plotting her revenge, and Benny will help.

Cindy calls Benny from her cell phone and says, Benny met me downtown, and she gives him the address. 
Benny, what an idiot, he drops what he is doing and jumps into his BMW and drives downtown, unknowing he was going into (Scarface's), the leader of Chicago mafia, office.
Benny enters the office and where he sees Cindy standing over the body of Scarface, who is lying on the floor covered in blood.
Benny said to Cindy, what happened? 
Cindy is standing next to the body of Scarface with tears streaming down her face and she looks up at Benny and says, he tried to rape me, can you believe that?  Cindy said, without thinking, I picked the brass statue and hit him on the head.
She wept uncontrollably and kept saying, It was in self-defense.
The police were called and they arrest Cindy, charging her with the murder of Scarface.
Benny was at her side every step of the way, planning her defense.
Cindy was cleared of the crime but on a technicality.
Somehow Benny’s involvement causes him to lose his licenses as a lawyer.
Benny’s wife had watched the trial from day one and was not very happy about Benny’s involvement with Cindy.
When the trial was over Benny’s wife, Peggy Sue, files for divorce and takes everything Benny owns, he is left penniless.
Benny falls into a deep dark state of depression and this is when his drinking began.

Now, look at Benny, still standing in front of the liquor store with a gun in his hand, trying to decide whether to rob the store or turn around and leave when a Chaplin approaches Benny. 
The Chaplin says brother, why are you holding a gun in your hand looking toward that liquor store?
Suddenly, Benny comes to himself, he hears the voice of the Chaplin say, brother can I help you?
Benny drops the gun, sadness overcomes him and begun to weep and shake uncontrollably.

The Chaplin said follow me, Benny hangs his head in shame and follows the Chaplin.

Benny began to spill his guts to the Chaplin, and how the last ten years have brought total hell into his life. 
Benny looked at the Chaplin and said, I need to get myself out of this dump, that I am in but, I don’t know how. 
The Chaplin took Benny into his home and worked with him day and night.
It was an everyday struggle to overcome the last ten years of being a drunk and which months of hard work.
The Chaplin never gave up on Benny.

Finally, Benny was on the road to a new life in which liquor was not involved. 
Benny applied for his attorney license which he received the end of that year.

The bottle no longer had control of Benny life.
Benny was in control of his own life, but not without the help of someone who believes in him.
Benny was going to devote his life to helping others, who like him, had taken the road to destruction. 
Benny would never achieve the greatness that he had once hoped but the desire to help others now felt right in his bones.

One fact we cannot overlook is, that without the help of the Chaplin, that sent into Benny’s life that day, that Benny’s life would have taken a totally different turn.
Yes, Benny would still be living in the gutters of hell and yes, Benny would have robbed that liquor store and yes, maybe even killed the store clerk. 

Never give up on life, there is a high power who watches over us, and yes, he will save the day, if we believe in him.
Oh, by the way, Cindy Lou was killed in a drive-by shooting. 
Do you think Karma found her?
Karma comes in many forms, could it be she was wiped out by a member of Scarface's gang or could it have been Scarface's spirit coming back for revenge? We will never know!!


2024 Christmas Journal Activies

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