awwwww

wook at dat shweepy baby!

quilt show

I went with my friend T and her niece to a quilt show over in Trussville. I just have NO patience for needlecraft but this made me wish I did :)

This chicken quilt was my favorite and the one I voted on for a Viewer's Choice award. It'dn it cute!

This was my other favorite of the show. It reminded me of Dippndots....you know, the ice cream?

Here's a shot of the pattern up close. Pink and brown are so pretty together. Great job, quilter!

star sighting

As we were on our way to Selma, we watched a DVD about Kathryn Tucker Windham (Kathryn: The Story of a Teller). After lunch, as we were taking our docents from the Selma Chamber of Commerce back to the CoC, one of them said, "Would you like to go by and see Kathryn's house?" Well, of course we all answered in the affirmative AND it turns out that she had her phone number as well. When our big, giant bus pulled up in front of KTW's house, the docent called her. "Kathryn, are you decent? You got clothes on? Well I have a bus out here with about 15 people who'd love to sing you happy birthday. Well, come on out!"

So we all file off the bus and there she is on her porch. She will turn 90 sometime this week. THEN, she says something along the lines of, "Well, since you got off the bus you might as well come in." So we got a tour of her house, saw Jeffrey's rocking chair and saw her Gee's Bend quilts. She was DeLiGhTfUl! And she was cooking squash and onions in her VERY tiny kitchen.

I thought I was taking a picture of her house, but she actually lives in the house to the right of the frame. This is her neighbor, Charlie Lucas, the famous welded sculpture artist.

We had just seen this very image on the DVD!

I took this picture when I still thought this was KTW's house and then I realized it was Charlie Lucas' house and some of his art outside as well. IMMEDIATELY after I snapped this photo, the battery in my camera went dead. AAAAAAHHHHHHHH! So this is all I got of that wonderful visit!

bus trip: selma

Brown's Chapel in Selma, site of one of the largest voting rights demonstrations in the city as you can see in the photo of the photo below, from the National Voting Rights Museum.

Getting, keeping and exercising the right to vote was a hard, deadly battle for some in this state. I consider it very much a shame that more people, especially women and minorities, don't exercise it more. It makes me feel even worse for the people who died, if they could see us now :(

One of my favorite stops on the Selma tour, the Old Live Oak Cemetary. Beautiful, just beautiful. A disturbing amount of children and entire families buried right together and within a short space of time of one another. Lots of Civil War era graves so I assume lots of war deaths and the various sicknesses that could take out an entire family so quickly. There were lots of graves with what I assume are confederate crosses on them since they also have little confederate flags stuck in the ground next to them. Assholes, I just wanted to stomp and squash every one of them. How can you have an ounce of brain in your head, or humanity in your heart and be in some way PRIDEFUL of that shameful past? I just don't understand.

We walked the Edmund Pettus Bridge, OUT of Selma but going back in, there is a little rise in the bridge that blocks the end of it from view until you are on the way down the other side. I imagined, from the comfort of our bus, WALKING there from Montgomery something like 40 miles. Tired, hot, thirsty no doubt, some or maybe most your fervor for the cause kind of flagging as you trudge over that last hump in the road before you get to Selma...then you see them. A line of frowning, scowling state troopers and mounted policemen who obviously do not have your best interests in mind. Your spirits sag even more in the face of this undeserved hate...then the police officers charge and the blood starts flying. Wake up people. We live here together. Do better than your parents and grandparents. Be better people. Life is hard enough without unfounded hate.

bus trip: monroeville

The courthouse in Monroeville was used as a model for the courthouse in the 1962 film, To Kill a Mockingbird. This is where the play is held.

The first part of the play is held outside and these three houses represent Scout and Jem's house and the whole street they lived on really.

It was eery walking in and seeing this, which I'd just seen a couple of weeks before on a movie screen and in black and white. vv cool

bus trip: montgomery

This is where our tour started...the very imposing front steps of the Alabama Judicial Building which houses the Alabama Courts of Criminal and Civil Appeals as well as the AL Supreme Court. We visited both court chambers. Lots of dark, oiled woods and somber carpeting.

The Law Librarian actually opened up the rare book room and let all us hooligans in. I think maybe KT and I were among the few who were truly goose-pumpy :)

This is the Southern Poverty Law Center Civil Rights Memorial. It lists the names and details of 40 people who lost their lives to the cause of furthering civil rights. If it looks familiar to you then it may be that you have seen the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. and the same artist designed and built this one. It's nearly impossible to see in this photo, but there is a fountain in the middle of this big round table and water flows over the entire surface of it in keeping with a famous line from one of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speeches, see the next photo below (where I did a much better job of getting the water in the picture!).

If you can't make it out or don't know the line, "...until justice rolls down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream." I gives me more goosebumps even now. They have an excellent 20 minute film showing in the Center that everyone should see.

late night visitor

I came home late one night week before last and this little feller (or lady?) was camped on my door step. I just love luna moths!

some sites

I don't know what it is in Minneapolis, but they are very fond of painting beautiful things on the sides of their buildings.

Here's another one. Also of note, I very nearly busted my @$$ on a nearly invisible patch of ice in this parking lot. Just not used to looking out for it....

The Baker & Taylor cats. When I noticed the photo op in our program, I was under the mistaken impression that it would be two real kitties so you can imagine my chagrin when this is what we got. I'm game though and so was KT. When our turn came up, the lady's polaroid camera was out so I just offered her the use of my digital (which is what I wanted anyway) and she was all officious and "no, we have to use the polaroid" but after we stood there for about five minutes and she realized that KT and I were about to bail sans photo (and possible mouth off about, which I would have done as evidenced here) she asked for my digital camera. A woman walking by said, "Oh, can I get in the picture?" and started to get in next to us. I had never seen this woman before in my life and I was just standing there with my mouth hanging open at the brashness when KT looks over and says simply, "No." Then I was snorting because the woman had the balls to look OFFENDED! Whatever. Again, my hair! eek! It's gone now though!

mall of america

This was outside of some kind of game room. I realize now, in looking at the picture, that I should have gotten some of the sign for the establishment in the frame because I now have no idea why I wanted KT and I to get a picture in front of the giant dart board. My god, look at my fuzzy, frumpy hair! Thank goodness I've had it cut off since then.

The only other thing of interest in the mall of america? The giant amusement park in the center!

We walked around the rest of the mall a bit and, eh, it's a really big mall. Lots of middle schoolers running around doing middle schooler things.

better late than never

I didn't take many pictures of the half of the Twin Cities that I saw...not enough time or material. Here is what I did take a few shots of.

A pretty decent skyline, no? Lots of tall buildings and concrete.

Here is what our glorious room looked like. We were on the 17th floor of the Graves 601 Hotel...pretty swank!

A shower to rob banks for. Previous to this trip, I'd only seen showers like this on HGTV. The body spray was nice. I took at least two showers everyday for that alone.

Yes dear readers, you see correctly. A flat screen tv AND a telephone next to the potty. I HAD to use both just so I could say that I did.

All together, Minneapolis was a very nice city. I just wish we'd had time to do some sight seeing while we were there.