2019 Shoals Front Porch Pop-up & Storytelling Festival

Shoals Front Porch Storytelling Festival 2019 

March 5, 2019, 11:30-1PM, 2019  Dolores Hydock Through the Back Door ~ The Music that Bridged the Bayou. Mardi Gras luncheon, Sheffield Public Library, Sheffield, AL

May 6, 2019, 2-3PM, 2019  Dolores Hydock Helen Keller Library 511 N Main St. Tuscumbia, Al 

Literary Treason the Writings of Bess Streeter Aldrich 

This program looks at the life and work of Bess Streeter Aldridge a Nebraska Writer of the 1930s who accomplished what a few others did:

While she raised her family as a single mother, she had a successful, self-supporting career as a female writer during the first half of the 20th century.

The program describes her early life and later career success and includes a telling of “Jundo Swans,” Aldrich’s funny touching short story that’s a reminder that there

S no disaster like an elementary school play and no friend as important as your best friend when you’re ten years old.

May 16, 2019, 10-11AM Dishing the dirt Cypress Lake Golf & Tennis Club 1311 E Sixth St. Muscle Shoals, Al Sponsored by Muscle Shoals Public Library Tickets are $5 including a light brunch before the program call 256-386-9212 

Whether you’ve got the greenest thumb since Johnny Appleseed or you managed to kill a rock garden, you’ll enjoy these stories about Mother Nature, Frederic the French Yard-Man, and people who grow philosophy as well s phlox on their little piece of earth 

May 16, 2019, 4-5PM Pop-UP Concert with Josh Goforth Florence-Lauderdale Public Library

350 N Wood Ave, Florence, AL  

 Storyteller, ballad singer, and multi-instrumentalist Josh Goforth is a native of Madison County in western North Carolina. Situated deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains, this area is known for its keeping of unbroken ballad and storytelling traditions brought by early Scots-Irish and English settlers in the mid-17th century. It was also fertile ground for the rise of American string band music played on fiddle, banjo, and guitar. Proud to share his Appalachian heritage with audiences near and far, Josh Goforth draws from each of these wellsprings. Join us for a FREE pop-up concert with Josh at 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 16 to kick off the Shoals Storytelling Festival!  

May 17, 8:45 AM – 5 PM (with lunch break) The Shoals Storytelling Festival featuring: Donald Davis, Dolores Hydock, Bil Lepp, and Josh Goforth

8:50-9:00 Welcome

9:00-9:30 Bil Lep

9:30-10:30 Josh Goforth

10:30-10:45 Break

10:45-11:30 Dolores Hydock

11:30-12:00 Donald Davis 

12:00—2:00 Lunch

2:00-2:30 Josh Goforth

2:30-3:30 Bil Lep

3:30-3:50 Break

3:50-5:00 Donald Davis (Went home at 5pm)

5:00-7:00 Dinner 

7-9 PM–Storyteller Showcase with Donald Davis, Dolores Hydock, Bil Lepp, and Josh Goforth

May 18, 9AM – 5:15 PM (with lunch break) The Shoals Storytelling Festival featuring: Donald Davis, Dolores Hydock, Bil Lepp, Eric Kirkman, and Josh Goforth

9:00-9:30 Donald Davis 

9:30-10:30 Eric Kirkman

10:30-10:45 Break

10:45-12:00 Dolores Hydock

12:00—2:00 Lunch

2:00-2:30 Bil Lep

2:30-3:00 Josh Goforth

3:00-3:50 Eric Kirkman 

3:50-4:15 Break

4:15-4:45 Dolores Hydock

4:45-5:15 5:00 Donald Davis (Went home at 5pm)

5:15-7:00 Dinner

7-9PM – Performance with Firekid, Dillon Hodges, and Heidi Feek

For the past two, days I have enjoyed spending time with my friends at the Shoals Theater Storytelling Festival.

Friday, we ate lunch at Legends(I think everyone ate lunch there) I enjoyed a plate of fried okra, fried shrimp, and Jack Danial's apples. 

Saturday, my friend and I shared a bowl of white cheese dip and chicken and steak feta for lunch. We topped it off with a cup of their complimentary ice cream.

On Friday and Saturday, we enjoyed listening to the following entertainers
Josh Goforth, Bill Lepp, Donald Davis, Dolores Hydock, and Dr. Eric Kirkman.
Josh Goforth is a multi-talented storyteller who uses a variety of stringed instruments for his ballads and stories.
His stories included friends and relatives, many about his tobacco chewing, never taking the shortcut to hard work grand-paw.
Bill Lepp's believe it or not Paul Bunyon tall tales!
Donald Davis's school days growing up and his jokester father.
Dolores's stories included a white cat, (Huck) a black cat, a speckled cat, and a one-eyed cat and the lessons she learned from them.
Audry Williams her side of the story of fame.
Dr. Eric Kirkman sings and uses musical instruments to tell the African American influence on American music.

Thursday Pop-up Shows 

Cypress Lake Golf & Tennis Club Dolores Hydock told stories about Dishing the Dirt from the Garden and we were served ham, sausage biscuits, fruit, pastries, muffins, orange juice, coffee, and water. There were door prizes.

Florence Library Josh Goforth played the guitar, a banjo, and fiddle, sang ballads, & told stories about life in Madison Couty North Carolina.

The storytelling festival has come to a bittersweet end and cannot wait until next year.

2019 Mar 2, Day Trip Wings to Soar Wheeler Wildlife Refuge & Senior Prom Pictures

I traveled across Wheeler Dam on Highway 101 heading toward Town Creek but the road was out so I turned around and traveled the road where the paper mill once stood. 

I arrived at Wheeler Wildlife Refuge a little after 10:00 a.m. I used the restroom and found a seat in the front row. 

I was there to see Wings to Soar rescued Birds of Prey.

I saw a couple of Owls, Gilbert the falcon, a couple of eagles, (Osceola 25-year-old eagle), and a pet turkey vulture named Cayce. 

Casey the Black Turkey Vulture, a human-imprinted always steals the show. 

The birds of prey are sent flying out over the audience several times. If you are close enough you can feel the wind from their wings as they fly over the audience.

The 11AM show was a packed house and after the show, you could get your picture taken with the blue Merlin and Buddy a fully grown Screech Owl.

I stopped at Aldi's in Athens and bought a few groceries.

1-2PM I stopped at the Library in Rogersville to listen to Mike Ezell talk about the many rivers and their tributary in Alabama. 

River basins of the Tennessee River, Coosa/Tallapoosa River, Sipsey/Warrior River, Tombigbee/Mobile River, Alabama/Cahaba River,  Chattahoochee River, Conecuh River, Chipola River, Yellow and Blackwater Rivers, Perdido River an Escatawpa Rivers

He also talked about the Highland Rim (where we live) the Cumberland Plateau, Piedmont Upland, and the East Gulf Coastal Plains (along the Fault line old shorelines of Alabama). 

He talked about TVA, Rogersville, Dams, the weather, climate, fish, and the game of Alabama. 

I got a call from my son asking if I would meet Charity and Nevada for prom pictures at Wilson Park at 3 p.m.

Traveled home put away my groceries and traveled into Florence stopping at Tri-Cities Memorial Gardens to take pictures of the Pink Tulip Trees in full bloom. Our upcoming weather is predicted below freezing for the next week and I knew the cold would kill all the blooms.

Made it to Wilson Park and by this time it was getting cold outside. 

I took several pictures said good-by and traveled home. Hubby was bringing me a taco pizza from Taco Bell for supper.

By this time I had a splitting sinus headache. 

Ate supper and went to bed. 

It had been a long day since I had traveled to Decatur, to Athens, back home to Florence, and back home. 

I left that morning before 9AM and did not arrive home until after 5PM. 

2019 May 8, 💐 🌷Visiting the Memphis Botanical Gardens Memphis, Tennessee

Hubby and I had a great time at the Memphis Botanical Gardens.
We did not see a lot of blooming plants, but we saw a lot of interesting plants and animals.
In the Japanese Garden, we walked across the half-moon bridge where we saw turtles and goldfish swimming in Lake Biwa and  Canadian Geese strolling along the banks

Half Moon Bridge in Japanese Gardens 

One of my favorite places was the Prehistoric Plant trail, where we saw a couple of stone dinosaurs in a sandpit where children could climb atop them.
Dotted along the path were signs about Primitive plants, Prehistoric Memphis, Stories in Stone, Flying giants, and Some things change and some things stay the same.

Dinosaur in Sandpit 

In the Urban Garden, we saw the chicken coop, that housed the Blue Buff Columbian Brahmas hens and a rooster.
Also in the Urban Garden were vegetables, blackberries on a trellis, grapevines, and Espalier Fruit Trees (the technique of controlling the growth of trees and shrubs.

Urban Garden

There were booths set up for school children to make things from the countries of  India, China, and Africa.
We saw a mother bird feeding her babies.

Mother birds and babies 

There were many fragrant plants to attract butterflies in the Butterfly Garden with not a butterfly in sight.

Butterfly Garden 

There were orange and red azaleas, blooming Camelias, and purple hydrangeas.
The daffodils were sleeping waiting for next spring.

Dogwood trees in full bloom, huge giant trees reaching for the sky, and small trees where birds could nest.

Bird hiding among leaves

There were water fountains and air-conditioned restrooms throughout the Garden.
We stopped several times just to cool off but hubby was still dripping wet when we arrived at the car.

2019 Feb 8, Celebrating George Washington's Birthday and Picking Tulips in Montevallo, Alabama

So glad hubby and I did a little traveling today because the next few days are calling for rain. 

It was cold when we left home this morning, the sun came out and it got up in the high 50s today.

But before we got home it was back in the low 40s. 

We traveled to Montevallo to help celebrate George Washington's birthday, to eat one of the beautifully decorated cupcakes placed on a table before us, and before we leave we are going to pick a basket of freshly grown tulips.

On our adventure, we stopped at Jack's in Athens for a drink and a cream cheese cherry pie.

We traveled I-65 through Birmingham taking exit 238 US 31 toward Alabaster, we turned left onto US 119 County hwy 11 reaching our destination at 3727 Hwy 119 Montevallo.

Hubby parked the car and we walked to the front entrance of the museum and paid the admission price. 

The cashier told us to head to the replica of  Mount Vernon to Celebrate George Washingtons' birthday for the party that began at 11 AM.

George Washington made his speech 

George Washington stopping for a picture 

Washington walked out onto the front porch and made a speech and when he finished the crowd sang Happy Birthday to President Washington.

Washington walked out into the crowd stopping for pictures and shaking hands with people in the crowd.

We walked inside the president's oval office where we saw on display pictures of several future presidents. 

We visited the Randall Museum with miniature dolls about many events that happened in the US in the last 200 years. 

The Randal Museum also displayed in miniature the Presidents and their wives.

We walked inside the National Chapel which was just a few yards away from the Randal Museum. 

US Presidents and wives

The National Chapel 

The last building we toured was the Veterans Memorial building. 

Veterans Building

We took the trolley out to the Garden of Tulips where we were greeted and given a basket to place our picked tulips. 

We were told the soil was soft, to gently wiggle the tulip and the bulb would release from the dirt. 

There were so many different types and colors to choose from. I picked several in full bloom and several just budding. 

We took the trolley back to the entrance paid for our tulips and began our travel home.  

Fields of Tulips

America Village Festival of The Tulips You pick your own $1.50 each

Panda Express 

We stopped at Panda Express Decatur for dinner where we ordered Honey Walnut shrimp, one egg roll, green beans, chicken, stirred wheat noodles with onions, celery cabbage, and three cream cheese Rangoons 

2019 Feb 25-26, 🚌 Adventures at Reelfoot Lake, & Paris, Tennessee

After being cooped indoors for weeks, because of the rainy weather, Hubby and I decided to take a trip.
The Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers overflowed into nearby fields, roadways, and people's homes causing people as well as animals to look for higher ground.
You could see the flooding for miles in Alabama and Tennessee.

It was the last week to take the bus tour to see Eagles nesting at the nearby Levee along the Mississippi River so I booked two tickets for the trip.
It takes over three hours to drive to Tiptonville from our home so I booked a cabin along the Reelfoot Lake at Sportsman Resort for one night.
The south area cabins of Reelfoot were flooded so we stayed in the north area cabins.

We arrived in Paris around 11:30AM stopped at Dinkins Mobile Homes and walked through several homes.
One of the mobile homes was a woman busy cleaning so we began talking. I think she was a widow, with three grown sons and several grandchildren. She told us a story about taking three of her grandchildren on a trip to Fort Myers to visit family.
She said,  the grandkids kept saying are we there yet, I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown.
She showed us where all the electrical lights were along the walkway.
We asked her about things to do in Paris she said Paris Landing, Tennessee Wildlife Refuge, and the Eiffel Tower.

First, we stopped at Effiel Tower Park to take a few pictures and use the restroom at about 12:45PM
At 1:15PM we ate lunch at a local restaurant Southside Cafe where hubby and I both ordered a catfish plate which consisted of a baked potato, white beans, fillet catfish, cornbread, and a salad.

Catfish plate 

We traveled US Highway 79 to Paris Landing Park and saw the Big Sandy River, a man fishing, and flooded roads. 2:20PM
We backtracked to Paris Landing Visitor Center where we saw four barn owls, & two bald eagles in cages outside.

While we were at Paris Landing Visitor Center two park rangers from Reelfoot Lake put a recused Bald Eagle into one of the cages outside because the eagle's cage at Reelfoot Lake was flooded.

Bald Eagle at Paris Landing Visitor Center

Inside the Visitor Center, we saw turtle shells, coyotes, big cats, raccoons, and information pamphlets.
2:30PM-3:08PM.

We arrived at Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge at 3:35PM and they closed at 4:00PM so we did not have long to visit.
We walked through the museum and walked outside but did not see any animals or birds.

The sunset we saw while traveling from Paris to Tiptonville

We arrived at Sportsman Lodge after 6 p.m.
We stayed in a one-room Fishman cabin that was just enough room for a small table, futon, countertop stove, microwave, bed(with bed springs), satellite TV, and bathroom. If you want to ruff it this is the way to go.

The neighborhood dog slept on the front porch in a chair. Not sure what kind of guard dog he was for I never heard him bark. He sure was friendly.

We did not get much sleep because we could feel every movement the other person made and the bedsprings made this screeching sound.

You could walk outside our cabin just a few feet and there was Reelfoot Lake.
The sunrise was beautiful overlooking the lake.

Sunrise over Reelfoot Lake 

We ate breakfast at Sonic in Tiptonville. I ordered Texas toast with sausage and cheese, and hubby ordered a hamburger and corndog.

We rode to historic downtown Tiptonville where we saw the schools, cemetery, churches, and several historic markers,

Carl Perking boyhood cabin 

We stopped to take pictures of Carl Perkins's boyhood home.
We rode to Reelfoot Lake State Park Visitor Center where we saw a live barn owl, rattlesnakes, copper head, and birds.  There were several displays and activities for children and outside was a flooded walkway and owl cages.

Cypress Boardwalk and Scenic Crusie all flooded 

Barn Owl at Reelfoot Lake State Park

At 10AM about 20 people loaded onto a school bus.
Our guide was a Park Ranger named Jerry Lewis not sure of his last name.
He said we are traveling along the Mississippi River levee to see bald eagles.
The levee road was above the water with floodwaters on both sides.

The bus stopped one time and we saw a couple of bald eagles nesting.
Almost everyone got off the bus to stretch their legs and view the eagles.

When the tour ended we started for home.
We stopped at Cracker Barrel in Dyersburg for lunch.
Hubby ordered a roast beef plate. I ordered a kid's pinto beans, carrots, cornbread, and an onion plate.
We split a bowl of hot peach cobbler with Vanilla Ice Cream.

Scarlet Macaw 

We stopped at the five-mile drive-thru Safari Park Zoo in Alamo. We bought a bucket of food to feed the animals. You have to be careful feeding the animals so I only feed the small deer.

When we finished the drive-thru we parked and walked thru the petting zoo.
We stopped at Mcdonald's in Savannah Tennessee hubby ordered a hamburger and fries. I ate peanut butter crackers and a banana.

Flooding on the Tennessee River at Savannah TN 

We arrived home around 8PM both worn out from all the traveling and the sleepless night before.

2019 Jan 7, Day Trip to Guntersville, Alabama State Park

Hubby and I rode to Guntersville but before we started our trip we stopped to purchase our lottery tickets for the week and to get our weekly B12 Shots. We stopped at Foodland and purchased two canned drinks and again at McDonald's in Rogersville for two apple pies. 

What a way to start the day!

We traveled US 72 E to I65 S to I565 E to US 431 SE to Guntersville. 

We arrived in Guntersville around 11:30 AM stopping at Lake Guntersville to take pictures of 100s of Cormorants and Sea Gulls that were perched on the piers. 

Gulls

Cormorants

At 12:40PM we stopped at KFC and ate from the buffet. 

I chose a chicken leg and wing, fried okra, and collard greens

After a hardy lunch, we began our adventure to Guntersville State Park.

We stopped at Guntersville State Park Birding Site #34 to take a few pictures.

Signs there said that we might see Signature Species, waterfowl, wading birds, shorebirds, and Birds of Prey sadly, we did not see a single bird at site #34.

We rode up the hill past the State Park Cabins and Lodge, and down the hill to the Campgrounds, beach, and pavilion.

On our way down we saw a doe hiding in the brush.

At the State Park Lagoon, we saw two goats, 3 Emus

Five Donkeys 

The beach was desolate but there were hundreds of American Coots and gulls. 

As we were leaving the beach we saw these two does.
They came right up to the car and stopped for a picture
They were still there as we drove away.

We left Guntersville State Park around 2:30PM and headed to Bucks Pocket.
We missed our turn and rode 8 miles too far. 
Turned on our GPS and it took us down several winding roads.

Waterfall @ Bucks Pocket State Park

We walked down to the overlook at Bucks Pocket State Park where we saw a waterfall in the distance. 
We walked back to the car and hubby plugged our home address into the GPS which led us down this winding road that crossed the bridgeless South Sauty Creek. The creek water came from the waterfall we had seen earlier. Like so many backcountry roads in Tennessee, there was no bridge. There was only a poured concrete foundation where the creek flowed over the concrete. The road to the Ranger station was closed because of all the rain. Hubby said he saw tire tracks so he felt the bridge was safe to cross. 

We stopped at Weathington Park Overlook Sections, Alabama
It overlooks the Tennessee River

The sun was setting as we entered Scottsboro and a few clouds had drifted in giving us a spot of rain.

It was getting dark when we stopped on the East side of Huntsville at McDonald's for dinner. 

We stopped at Dicks and Cabela's in Huntsville to look at Scopes.

We talked to a couple of employees at Dicks about scopes and camera lenses.

We watched an employee feed the fish at Cabela's.

We arrived home around 8:30PM. 

I was exhausted from all the traveling, took a shower put on my PJs, climbed into bed, and was asleep in no time. 

On Feb 22, three young people drove across this South Sauty Creek and their jeep was swept into the floodwaters two of the young people were rescued as of March 1, the third Koy Spears has not been found. 

Tennessee and Alabama have been flooded with rain the ranger's station at this location was closed when we crossed South Sauty Creek in my opinion the creek should have been closed. Thank God the creek was not roaring that day but the creek was up and you could not see the concrete. 

2018 Dec 4, Day trip to Nashville to see Grinch Ice, Gardens Opryland Hotel, & Opry MIlls Nashville, Tennessee

Hubby and I ate lunch at Cracker Barrel Spring Hill.

Hubby ordered a Hamburger, coleslaw, and pinto beans

I ordered a kid's shrimp tarter sauce, and fried apples with cornbread. 

Before entering Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas
The ice display includes over 2 million pounds of hand-carved ice sculptures. 

Everyone must line up to get a blue coat to wear inside because the rooms are kept at 9 degrees Fahrenheit. I wasn't going to get cold! The coat I am wearing here I wore under the blue coat, along with gloves and boots. It was still cold inside, you could not stay long inside.

The Grinch and his sleigh and I bundled up 

Me and the Grinch 

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Opryland Gaylord Hotel stopped for a quick picture in front of  Sleigh and Christmas Tree

A quick picture with Trace Adkins

bird of Paradise 

Red Poinsettia 

Purple Orchard

Lots of beautiful flowers throughout the three gardens at the Hotel.

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. 

We took our time at Grinch Ice, Three Gardens at Opryland Gaylord Hotel,  and we walked around at Opry Mills.
We ate dinner inside Opry Mill and we did not run into the work traffic on our way home.
We arrived home around 9:30PM.