2021 Sep 4, National Wildlife Hike at Joe Wheeler 10-11:30

 2021 Sep 4, National Wildlife Hike at Joe Wheeler 10-11:30

There were only three of us on the hike, including park ranger Sam Woodroof.

This was my first time hiking the Champion Trail.

Wheeler Lake 

We took the Champion trail, which begins at the West end of the Lodge parking lot. (1 mile; Elevation: 566.76 ft./628.17 ft.) We talked about vegetation, trees, & park reconstruction.

Purple Wildflowers

Purple berries 

Elvis Presley-Tupelo Miss US 78 Blues Trail South Haven, MS

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Miss US 78

Elvis and the Blues  

Elvis Presley revolutionized popular music by blending the blues he first heard as a youth in Tupelo with country, pop, and gospel. Many of the first songs Elvis recorded for the Sun label in Memphis were covers of earlier blues recordings by African Americans, and he continued to incorporate blues into his records and live performances for the remainder of his career

Elvis and the Blues

Graceland 

Elvis in Tupelo, MS 

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Elvis Presley and the Blues - Tupelo, MS 

Elvis first encountered the blues here in Tupelo, and it remained central to his music throughout his career. The Presley family lived in several homes in Tupelo that were adjacent to African American neighborhoods, and as a youngster, Elvis and his friends often heard the sounds of blues and gospel streaming out of churches, clubs, and other venues. According to Mississippi blues legend Big Joe Williams, Elvis listened in particular to Tupelo blues guitarist Lonnie Williams.

During Elvis’s teen years in Memphis, he could hear blues on Beale Street, just a mile south of his family’s home. Producer Sam Phillips had captured many of the city’s new, electrified blues sounds at his Memphis Recording Service studio, where Elvis began his recording career with Phillips's Sun label. Elvis was initially interested in recording ballads, but Phillips was more excited by the sound created by Presley and studio musicians Scotty Moore and Bill Black on July 5, 1954, when he heard them playing bluesman Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup’s 1946 recording “That’s All Right.”

That song appeared on Presley’s first single, and each of his other four singles for Sun Records also included a cover of a blues song—Arthur Gunter’s “Baby Let’s Play House,” Roy Brown’s “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” Little Junior Parker’s “Mystery Train,” and Kokomo Arnold’s “Milk Cow Blues,” recorded under the title “Milkcow Blues Boogie” by Elvis, who likely learned it from a version by western swing musician Johnnie Lee Wills. Elvis's sound inspired countless other artists, including Tupelo rockabilly musician Jumpin' Gene Simmons, whose 1964 hit “Haunted House” was first recorded by bluesman Johnny Fuller.

Elvis continued recording blues after his move to RCA Records in 1955, including “Hound Dog,” first recorded by Big Mama Thornton in 1952, Lowell Fulson’s “Reconsider Baby,” Big Joe Turner’s “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” and two more by Crudup, “My Baby Left Me” and “So Glad You’re Mine.” One of Elvis’s most important sources of material was the African American songwriter Otis Blackwell, who wrote the hits “All Shook Up,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” and “Return to Sender.” In Presley's so-called "comeback" appearance on NBC television in 1968, former bandmates Scotty Moore and D. J. Fontana rejoined him as he reprised his early Sun recordings and performed other blues, including the Jimmy Reed songs "Big Boss Man" and "Baby What You Want Me to Do." Blues remained a feature of Elvis's live performances until his death his 1977.

Mama, she done told me, 
Papa done told me to, 
Son, that gal you're foolin' with 
She ain't no good for you.
But that's all right, that's all right.
That's all right now, mama, any way you do. 
"That's all Right" Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup (1946)
recorded by Elvis Presley 1954
Elvis appeared at the WDIA Goodwill Revue an annual charity event sponsored by Memphis leading Africain America radio station in 1956 and 1957. Here he poses with BB King on Dec 7, 1956.

In 1969 bluesman Albert King recorded this collection of songs made popular by Elvis, King was one of many African American singers who bare performed Elvis material. Presley's records hit the rhythm & blues charts from 1956 to 1963l reflecting sales and airplay in the black community.

Elvis at Dec 6, 1957, WDIA Goodwill Revenue with Little Junior Parker (from left) and Bobby "Blue" Band.

Elvis recorded three blues songs that were originally recorded by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup a native of Forest, MS.
In 1956, interview Elvis said, "down in Tupelo, MS I used to hear Old Arthur Crudup bang his box the way Ida does and said If I ever got to the place I could feel all old Arthur felt, I'd be a music man like nobody ever saw."
Historians still wonder whether Presley actually saw Crudup perform, or only heard his records. Crudup claimed he never met Elvis. 

Sun Recording Company
“ That ’s All Right”
Elvis Presley
Memphis, TN 

Welcome to one of the many sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail 

Visit us online at www.MSBluesTrail.org 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/837/elvis-presley

Robert Lee Burnside and Junior Kimbrough Miss US 78 Blues Trail South Haven, MS

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Miss US 78

Hill Country Blues Holly Springs

Although Delta blues often claim the spotlight, other styles of the blues were produced in other regions of Mississippi. In the greater Holly Springs area, musicians developed a “hill country” blues style characterized by few chord changes, unconventional song structures, and an emphasis on the "groove" or a steady, driving rhythm. In the 1990s this style was popularized through the recordings of local musicians R. L. Burnside and David “Junior” Kimbrough

R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough Hill Country Blues

R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough Hill Country Blues

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R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough became unlikely heroes of the music world in the 1990s when their “hill country” style caught on in both blues and alternative rock music circles. Although Burnside (1926-2005) and Kimbrough (1930-1998) had both begun recording in the 1960s, they had mostly performed at local juke joints or house parties. Most of their early recordings had been made by field researchers and musicologists such as George Mitchell, David Evans of the University of Memphis, and Sylvester Oliver of Rust College. They developed a new, younger following after they appeared in the 1991 documentary Deep Blues and recorded for the Oxford-based Fat Possum label, and college students and foreign tourists mixed with locals at Kimbrough’s legendary juke joint in Chulahoma. Both artists toured widely and inspired musicians from Kansas to Norway to emulate their hill country sounds. Their songs were recorded by artists including the Black Keys and the North Mississippi Allstars, and remixes of Burnside tracks appeared in films, commercials, and the HBO series The Sopranos. The music of actor Samuel L. Jackson’s blues-singing character in the 2006 movie Black Snake Moan was largely inspired by Burnside.

Burnside, born in Lafayette County, was influenced by blues stars John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters but also learned directly from local guitarists Mississippi Fred McDowell and Ranie Burnette. For most of his life, Burnside worked as a farmer and fisherman. He only began to perform at festivals and in Europe in the 1970s. Burnside’s music took a more modern turn when sons Joseph, Daniel, and Duwayne Burnside and son-in-law Calvin Jackson played with him in his Sound Machine band. By the early ’90s, Burnside was performing around the world in a trio with grandson Cedric Burnside and “adopted son” Kenny Brown. Following Burnside’s death his family, including grandson Kent Burnside, continued to perform his music, as did his protege Robert Belfour, a Holly Springs native who also recorded for the Fat Possum label.

Just as Burnside’s music reflected his jovial personality, the more introspective Junior Kimbrough produced singular music with a darker approach. Born into a musical family in Hudsonville, Kimbrough formed his first band in the late 1950s and recorded a single for the Philwood label in Memphis in 1968. In the 1980s his band, the Soul Blues Boys, featured longtime bassist Little Joe Ayers. In later years he was backed by his son Kinney on drums and R.L. Burnside’s son Garry on bass. Kimbrough’s multi-instrumentalist son David Malone devoted himself to carrying on his father’s legacy as well as developing his own style on recordings for Fat Possum and other labels.

High Water Recording Company 

“Jumper Hanging Out on the Line” 

 R. L. Burnside

See my jumper, Lord, hanging out on the line
See my jumper, Lord, hanging out on the line
Know by that something on my mind

Fix my supper baby, Lord, let me go to bed.
Fix my supper baby, Lord, let me go to bed.
This white lightnin' done gone to my head.
"Jumper Hanging Out on the Line: R.L. Burnside

dancing on the blues at Junior's
Junior Kimbrough (above)hosted house parties for years and ran his own Juke joint on Highway 4 in the 1990s. RL Burnside once lived in the house next door.
high water Records at the University of Memphis released 45s in the 1980s by Ranie Burnett (right) RL Burnside Junior Kimbrough, Jessie Mae Hemphill, and others Mississippi blues artist.
a special 2007 issue of Living Blues magazine featured the "next generation" of hill country blues, including descendants of RL Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, and Otha Turner.

Relatively few hill country blues artists had recorded prior to the Burnside-Kimbrough era. The most prolific was Mississippi Fred McDowell (1904-1972) who became popular on the "blues revival" circuit in the 1960s. Afife and drum tradition was also documented in Tate and Panola Counties led by did Hemphill, Napoleon Strickland, and Othar Turner. Hemphill's granddaughter guitarist Jessie Mae Hemphill (1923-2006) was the bill country's most prominent female blues artist. 

Welcome to one of the many sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail 

Visit us online at www.MSBluesTrail.org 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11678507/r.l.-burnside

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10958703/david-kimbrough

Pops Staples -WINONA Miss US 51 South Haven, MS

Miss US 51

Pops Staples *1914-2000)

Roebuck “Pops” Staples, one of the foremost figures in American gospel music as a singer, guitarist, and patriarch of the Staple Singers family group was born on a farm near Winona on December 28, 1914. Staples began playing blues as a youngster in the Delta, but by the time he left for Chicago in 1936, he had embarked on a gospel singing career.  He and the Staple Singers later enjoyed crossover success in the rhythm & blues and pop fields. Staples died on December 19, 2000.

Roebuck “Pop” Staples 

Roebuck “Pop” Staples

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Roebuck “Pop” Staples fused old-time religion and the blues with an activist commitment to peace, equality, and brotherhood to create inspirational “message songs” that transcended the traditional boundaries of gospel music. Under his guidance, the Staple Singers not only earned the title “the first family of gospel music,” but also developed followings among blues, soul, folk, rock, and jazz audiences. Staples traced his style back to the hymns and spirituals he learned from his grandfather and the blues he heard in Mississippi. Roebuck and his older brother Sears, the last two of fourteen Staples children, were named after the Chicago mail-order company that numbered many rural African Americans among its millions of customers. Another Staples brother, David, played blues guitar before becoming a preacher, and a famous relative born years later was Oprah Winfrey, whose great-grandmother was Roebuck’s aunt, Ella Staples.  The Staples lived around Mayfield and Kilmichael until they moved to Dr. Joseph David Swinney’s plantation west of Minter City (c. 1918) and then to Will Dockery's near Drew (c. 1923). Inspired by Delta blues kingpin Charley Patton, a Dockery resident, and Howlin’ Wolf, who often performed in Drew, Staples took up a guitar and began frequenting local juke house parties, but also sang in church and at local gospel gatherings, sometimes with the Golden Trumpets in Carroll and Montgomery counties.  Although he chose to stay on the gospel path, he remained a lifelong blues fan and was a friend to many blues singers, from Wolf and Muddy Waters to Albert and B. B. King.

Staples’ children Cleotha and Pervis were born at Dockery, followed by Yvonne, Mavis, and Cynthia after the family moved to Chicago.  Staples put the guitar aside for several years while he worked as a laborer to support his brood, although he sang locally with the Trumpet Jubilees. Around 1948 he decided to put together a family group, and soon the Staple Singers were performing at area churches and gospel shows.  Their 1956 recording of “Uncloudy Day” brought them widespread attention, both within and outside the gospel world. Among their many later hits, most of them featuring Mavis Staples’ powerful lead vocals, were “I’ll Take You There,” “Respect Yourself,” and “Let’s Do It Again.” Pops Staples professed not to be a blues singer, but he did collaborate with guitarists Albert King and Steve Cropper on the Stax album Jammed Together, and he won a GRAMMY® in the Contemporary Blues category in 1994 for his final CD, Father. “It’s just my way of playing,” he explained.  “I can’t get away from it – it’s gonna have a little touch of blues.” The Rhythm & Blues Foundation honored Staples with a Pioneer Award in 1992, and in 1998 he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Staple Singers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999

Caption
The Staple Singers' "Too Close" featuring Pop's down-home guitar, was recorded live at a concert at Clarksdale's Higgins High School in 1960 by WROS deejay and gospel promoter Eary Wright. Revenant Records later included it on the Grammy-winning box set The World So Charley Patton. Staples was heard to play Patton's blues note-for-note at home or backstage, but would not perform the song onstage.
All right, rock star John Fogerty joins Staples at the Mt Zion Memorial Foundation's dedication of Patton's headstone in Holly Ridge on June 20, 1991. Both performed at a Pops Staples Park Festival in Drew later that day.

Sear, Roebuck & Co catalog from the year Pops Staple was born in 1914.
The original Staple Singers Pervisk Pops, Cleotha, and Mavis in the later (right)Yvonne Staples replaced Pervis.

Among the blues performers who have called Winona their birthplace although all were born in rural areas outside of town are from let Pianist LafayetteLeak (1916-1990), a premier studio musician and longtime member of Willie Dixon; 's Chicago Blues, all-star guitarist LC McKinley (1917-1970), who was active on the Chicago blues scene in the 1950s and '60s and harmonica player Littel Say Davis (born c1928) a well-traveled recording artist known for hi appearance son New Yori radio personality Don Imus's syndicated program Ims in the morning. McKinley and the Staples Singers were labelmates at Vee-Jay Records in Chicago. His son Rev. McArthur Mckinley, later pastored at Little Zion <B Church in Greenwood the site of blues legend Robert Johnson's grave.

Record “Too Close"
 by Staple Singers
 on
VEE JAY label 

Welcome to one of the many sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail 

Visit us online at www.MSBluesTrail.org 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6636264/roebuck-staples

Big Walter Horton-Horn Lake Miss Us 51 South Haven, MS

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Miss U. S. 51 

Big Walter Horton  - HORN LAKE (1918-1981)

Blues harmonica virtuoso Big Walter Hortonwas renowned for hi sinnovative contributions to the music of Memphis and Chicago. Horton was born in Horn Lark on april 6, 1918, and began his career as a child working for tips  on the streets of Memphis. He performed and recorded with Muddy Waters, Jimmy rogers, Willie Dixon, Fleetwood Mac, Johnny Winter and many others. His technique and tone continued to be sutdied and emulated by harmonica players around the world. 

Big Walter Horton

Big Walter Horton

Walter Horton was heralded as one of the most brilliant and creative musicians ever to play the harmonica. Born on a plantation near this site, as a child he blew into tin cans to create sounds. His birth date is usually cited as April 6, 1918, although some sources give the year as 1917 or 1921. Nicknamed “Shakey” due to nystagmus, an affliction related to eye movement that can result in involuntary head shaking and learning disabilities, Horton quit school in the first grade. He made his way doing odd jobs and playing harmonica with local veterans such as Jack Kelly, Garfield Akers, and Little Buddy Doyle as well as young friends Johnny Shines, Floyd Jones, and Honeyboy Edwards. They performed in Church Park, Handy Park, hotel lobbies, and anywhere else they could earn tips, including nearby areas of Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee.

Horton began recording for legendary Memphis producer Sam Phillips in 1951. The first record on Phillips’s Sun label in 1952 was assigned to “Jackie Boy and Little Walter” (Jack Kelly and Horton). While Sun never officially released the Kelly-Horton disc, other Horton tracks from Phillips’s studio appeared on the Modern and RPM labels under the name of “Mumbles.” On later recordings, Walter was usually billed as “Shakey Horton” or “Big Walter.”

Horton joined the Muddy Waters band in Chicago in 1953. Chicago’s foremost blues producer/ songwriter, Willie Dixon, who called Horton “the greatest harmonica player in the world,” began recording him for labels including States, Cobra, and Argo, and hired him to play harmonica on sessions by Otis Rush, Koko Taylor, Jimmy Rogers, Sunnyland Slim, and others. Horton also toured and recorded with Willie Dixon’s Chicago Blues All Stars, and played on the Fleetwood Mac album Blues Jam in Chicago. Full albums of his work appeared on several labels, including Alligator, Chess, and Blind Pig. Horton toured internationally, but in Chicago most of his work was in small clubs. He also resumed playing the streets for tips at Chicago’s Maxwell Street market.

Horton’s playing–sometimes powerful and dramatic, other times delicate and sensitive–left an influence on harmonica masters Little Walter (Jacobs) and Sonny Boy Williamson No. 2 (Rice Miller) and on the generations to follow. His shy, gentle nature, often hidden beneath a gruff or glum exterior, endeared him to many. The uplifting beauty of Horton’s music contrasted with the sorrows and tragedies of his personal life. He died of heart failure on December 8, 1981. His death certificate also cited acute alcoholism. Horton was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1982.

Captions

“Easy,” one of Walter Horton’s classic instrumentals, was recorded in 1953 with Jimmy DeBerry on guitar. Horton and DeBerry reunited in 1972 and 1973 to record for producer Steve LaVere in Memphis.

Horton performance at ChicagoFest on August 7, 1981, just a few months prior to his death 

From left: Walter Horton, Willie Nix and wife Patry, J.T. Brown and wife Katie, Muddy Waters, and Jimmy Rogers, Chicago, 1953

From left: Walter Horton, Willie Nix and wife Patty, JT Brown, and wife Katie, Muddy Waters, and Jimmy Rodgers Chicago 1953

Sun Records

 “EASY”

Jimmy & Walter 

Delta Music 

Welcome to one of the many sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail 

Visit us online at www.MSBluesTrail.org 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4160/walter-horton

Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge at Flint Creek

National Wildlife Refuge
Wheeler 
How Can You Help?

1. Dispose of fishing lines, hooks, and trash in the bins and containers provided. 

2. Pick up any trash you see. 

3. If you pack it in, you can pack it out.

4. Volunteer with the Wildlife Refuge for clean-up events. 

Reminder: artifact collecting is not permitted.

Contact Information 
Refuge Headquarters
256-353-7243
Visitor Center - 256-350-6639
In case of an emergency, call 911

Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
Refuge Lands Within Redstone Arsenal
Highways
Roads
Refuge Boundary
Visitor Center
Wildlife Observation
Boating
Flint Creek Environmental 
Area & Universally Accessible Fishing PierU. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Our History 
1838
Trail of Tears: The discovery of gold in Georgia and thirst for land expansion prompted the U.S. Government and white communities to force the Cherokee nation from their ancestral lands. During the summer and winter of 1838, the first three detachments driven west traveled by water on the Tennessee River from Ross's Landing near present-day Chattanooga. They followed the river through Alabama and West Tennessee before merging with other rivers and eventually arriving in Oklahoma.

1933
TVA ACT: In May of 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act creating the TVA. The Tennessee Valley Authority was designed to modernize the region, using experts and electricity to combat problems in the area. A primary part of the plan was to produce electricity and provide flood relief by constructing a series of dams along the Tennessee River and its tributaries.

1934
TVA COMES TO Town TVA acquired land in the middle third of the valley in 1934-35 to serve as a bed for and buffer around Wheeler Reservoir. Interested individuals and organizations urged that the government take advantage of the newly constructed reservoir to replace the waterfowl habitat.

1938 
AN EXPERIMENT: On July 7, 1938, President Franklin Roosevelt set aside the middle third of the new reservoir as an experimental national wildlife refuge to see if multi-purpose reservoirs could be made attractive to waterfowl. The reservoir and new refuge were named for General Joseph Wheeler, who lived near Decatur.

1950 
POLLUTION: Rachel Carson's 1962 classic, Silent Spring, documented the serious environmental problems caused by pesticide pollution, including those in the Flint Creek Watershed. In the late summer of 1950, farmers experiencing a very wet season reapplied pesticides to their crops multiple times because they kept washing off in the frequent rains. These high volumes of pesticides washed into Flint Creek, killing most of the fish.

Present 
HERE AND NOW, Impacted greatly by its controversial history, this section of the Tennessee River and Flint Creek is vastly different from what they were over 170 years ago when the Cherokee traveled west. Industries have sprung up, dams have been built, commercial water traffic is considerable, and recreational boating facilities have developed. Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge is one of the few areas remaining along the river that is dedicated to conserving the character of our wild and natural heritage.
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Flint Creek 
Flint Creek is a slow-flowing, meandering stream influenced by the fluctuating water levels of Wheeler Reservoir. The creek and its tributaries are comprised of 150 miles of streams that drain over 291,000 acres of land in Morgan, Lawrence, and Cullman counties. Its headwaters are in northern Cullman County, and the creek flows into Morgan County, where it converges with West Flint Creek near US Highway 31. As it confluence with the Tennessee River at mile 308.5

Fishing and Land 
the Flint Creek shoreline offers a wide variety of hardwoods, bluffs, farms, and wildlife, while the stream itself is home to crappie, bream, bass, catfish, and a few yellow perch. Much of the land surrounding the creek is within the TVA Reservation and Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, making it accessible to the public. Improved boat launching areas are available at Hickory Hills and Hwy 31 South. There is an improved launch area suitable for small boats and canoes located south of US Highway 67. This universally accessible pier was built so everyone can enjoy what the watershed has to offer.

Watershed Project 
The Flint Creek Watershed Project is a multiagency cooperative led by local leaders and watershed residents. In 1996, a Watershed Conservatory District was established, and plans were developed with the assistance of two federal agencies, five Alabama state agencies, and three local soil and water conservation districts. A variety of projects, including agricultural demonstrations, well sampling programs, on-site wastewater demonstrations, and riparian zone management efforts, have been implemented by this project. Public outreach activities include household hazardous waste days and pesticides.

2017 Christmas Letter

Christmas Letter 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Hope this letter finds your family doing okay.

I just wanted to let you know about the things that happened in 2017.

My sister lost her husband (age 68) in April to a heart attack.

He awoke from sleep, called out to my sister, and said I have a heart attack, and before she could get help, he was gone. He had been having some health issues and had seen a doctor.

He was a retired engineer for the railroad and a farmer. 

Vicki raised vegetables and sold them at the farmer's market. He was very active in farming, raised mules, and was very active in his community. 

On December 16, 2016, Dad was admitted to the Hospital. Dec 21, 2016, I took Dad to Rehab.

Dad stayed in Rehab from Dec. 21, 2016, to 11 February. Dad turned 90 this year and could no longer live alone, so he went to live with my sister. While Dad was in Rehab, a minister came by and talked to him. Dad said that man changed my life, I was saved and has been going to church with me and my sister. 

This year has flown by, and Christmas is only a few days away.

I have finished my Christmas Shopping.

I had a total knee replacement in my right knee at the end of September.

I was in the hospital for two and a half days, six days in rehab, and four weeks of physical therapy.

I still have problems walking long distances. My knee has healed nicely on the outside but will take months to heal on the inside. 

Before surgery, I had to wear a leg brace on my right knee just to walk. 

In January, we went to Wheeler Wildlife Refuge to see a flock of Sandhill Cranes before they began migrating north.

At the end of January, we toured the Guntersville Museum and rode around Guntersville Lake. We also stopped @ Buckets Pocket State Park to enjoy the sweeping view of the rugged, untouched landscape from atop a large rock. 

We celebrated Valentine’s Day @ Famous Dave’s Restaurant in Franklin, TN. We also visited the famous Bedford Falls Train Display @ Hundred Oaks in Nashville. 

We spent President’s Day in Montevallo @ the American Village, which is a series of buildings where one can journey into America’s past for her independence and self-government.

We also walked through the Festival of Tulips, stopping to pick a basket of tulips to take home. 

On March 4, I attended Cooking on the Mountain @ the Burritt Museum in Huntsville.

March 27-29: Hubby and I stay @ the Inn on the River Hotel in Pigeon Forge, TN. 

We enjoyed visiting Patriots Veterans Park, the Islands, Bush Bean Museum, the Old Mill, Applewood Farms Restaurant, Cherokees Veteran’s Park Oconaluftee Visitor Center, and Traveling across the Smokey Mountains.

On April 1, I enjoyed the Beaty Street Walking Tour in Athens, Al. 

On April 8, Hubby and I enjoyed the Houston Walking Tour Athens, Al (home of one of Alabama’s governors)

On April 14, I attended a Passover Seder Meal @ the Methodist Church in Killen.

On April 15, I enjoyed a Church Walking tour in Decatur, Al

On April 17, Hubby and I took our great-granddaughter to Cullman.

We bought fresh strawberries @ the farmer's market, and we toured the train depot and the Clarkson Covered Bridge.

On April 23, I enjoyed the Athens Cemetery Stroll, where the cemetery comes alive with characters from the past. 

On April 29, I enjoyed the walking tour of Historic Bank Street in Decatur, Al. 

May-June We enjoyed music in Wilson Park. 

On May 6, I enjoyed a day @ the Strawberry Festival in Moulton, Al 

On May 10, Hubby and I enjoyed Music in Wilson Park 

On May 15, Hubby and I enjoyed a day trip to the Huntsville Train Depot, Ditto Landing, and Rosie’s Cantina

On May 17, Hubby and I enjoyed music in Wilson Park with the Cadillacs 

May 19-20, I attended the Storytelling Festival @ the Shoals Theater. 

On May 27, I attended the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Decatur.

On May 30, Hubby and I toured the Pink Palace Museum and Bass Pro Shops (we rode the elevator to the top to see a gorgeous view of the Mississippi River and downtown Memphis).

On June 10, I attended a Family Reunion with my dad, sister, and granddaughter. 

We stopped to tour Tom Hendrix's “Rock Wall.” Tom spent thirty years building a walk dedicated to his great, great grandmother, an American Indian who walked from Oklahoma back to her home in Alabama. Trail of Tears. The wall is located near the Natchez Trace between Alabama and Tennessee.

On June 13, Hubby and I toured the Corvette Museum and the Corvette plant in Bowling Green, KY.  On our way home, we stopped in Nashville @ the grave site of the singer George Jones.

On June 17, Hubby and I attended the Moon Pie and RC Festival in Bell Buckle, TN.

July 4, Hubby and I enjoyed spending the day @ Monte Sano Park 

On July 11, Hubby and I toured the Trail of Tears Commemorative Park, Museum of Transportation, Pennyroyal Museum, and Casey Jones Distillery in Hopkinsville, Ky

On July 18, Hubby and I enjoyed a day @ Discovery America Park in Union City, TN.

On July 27, My great-granddaughter and I spent the day @ the newly remodeled Children’s Museum in Florence.

On August 1, Hubby and I toured the James K. Polk ancestral home in Columbia, TN.

On August 11, Hubby and I attended the Killen Founders Day Parade and music in Killen Park. 

On August 18, I rode south on Natchez Trace, taking pictures of new markers celebrating Alabama’s 200-year centennial.

On August 22, Hubby and I enjoyed the Wild Bird Sanctuary @ Davey Crockett State Park in Lawrenceburg, TN.

On August 29, My sister-in-law and I enjoyed watching the tagging of hummingbirds. We toured the Oakville Indian Mounds and Jessie Owens Museum in Danville. 

On September 4, Hubby and I attended the Sweet Tater Festival and Car Show. 

On September 8, I attended Oka Kapassa @ Spring Park with my daughter and grandchildren.

On September 9, I attended the Baby Shower of my great-niece.

September 14, I toured Helen Keller’s Ivy Green (birth home)

On September 18, I took my great-granddaughter to Walmart to try on Halloween heads

September 20-29, Knee Surgery and Recovery 

Spent most of October doing Physical Therapy 

On October 31, Hubby and I traveled north on Natchez Trace, stopping @ Lewis Meriwether Museum/Park, Laurel Hills Park. We ate lunch at Famous Dave’s Franklin Tn. 

On November 4, I took my granddaughter and great-granddaughter to Wild Bird Sanctuary @ Davey Crockett Park. 

November 14, Hubby and I spent the day shopping @ Opry Mills and walking through the Charlie Brown Ice display in Nashville. 

November 17, Hubby and I attended Little Women Broadway Musical @UNA

November 23, Thanksgiving Dinner with family @ Mikes 

On November 28, Hubby and I went to the Tuscumbia Christmas Parade

November 29, Hubby and I went to Babes in Toyland @ Roxy Theater in Russellville

On December 1, Hubby and I went to Light a Candle for Prayer @ Pope’s Tavern, Christmas Tree Lighting in Wilson Park, and Strolled the street of First Friday in Florence. I went to a book signing by Tom McDonald on Promises to Keep.

On December 2, I attended Sacred Way Horse Sanctuary @ the Visitor Center. 

December 3, After church, I went to see the trees-of-Christmas at the Tuscumbia Art Museum. From 2-4 p.m., I attended a Baby Shower for my granddaughter's friend.

On December 6, Hubby and I rode to Huntsville to walk the Tinsel Christmas Trail to Bridge Street and rode through the Huntsville Botanical Gardens Galaxy of Lights. 

On December 7, Hubby and I attended the Muscle Shoals Parade. 

December 9, I attended the Dickens of Christmas Yall Come in Tuscumbia and Poetry reading and music @ St John’s Episcopal Church. 

On December 10, I walked through the Christmas Tree Trail in Athens and Madison.

In Madison, I rode through, taking pictures of the Christmas Cards Display. At 6:30PM, Hubby and I went to the Maple Hill Baptist Church, where they had a replica of Bethlehem that we walked through with a group of other people. 

December 17, We celebrated my sister's 66th birthday at Cracker Barrel, including my four sisters, dad, and two great nieces. 

December 19, Today, we are planning a trip to Opryland Hotel in Nashville.     

December 23, Christmas with family (Saturday night @6pm)my sister is bringing Dad it will be lots of fun.  

We tried to get in as much as possible during the year, but this year, we had to scale back because of my knee. 

Hopefully, the coming year will bring better health. 

Have a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous and Happy New Year