Deep Fried Kudzu

Losing Polaroids

2008-05-16T15:19:00.001-05:00

Polaroid is going to quit...well...quit making Polaroids. They're staying in business, but there was an article in the last issue of New York Magazine that Polaroid is getting out of the instant film business. At Polaroid's site, they even give a timetable of product discontinuance dates.

A group of people have gotten together to Save Polaroid with the hopes that Polaroid will at least consider licensing the rights to make the film to some other company.

I really hope that happens. I can think of all the wonderful events that people have been marked not with regular camera and film, but with Polaroids...like when I was little (and maybe even this is still done), when malls brought out Santa or the Easter Bunny to sit with children, the pics were always Polaroids. The club that our family always goes to for birthdays and anniversaries - the pics are always Polaroids. And there's the part that's so exciting, to me anyway - shaking and blowing on the pic while it develops to see how it really turns out.

I guess I am going to have to buy a bunch of Polaroid 600 film and take some what will soon be retro pics of Shug! He'll be telling his grandchildren, "see how old I am? People were still shooting with Polaroids!" and they'll say, "PawPaw, what's a Polaroid?"!

Update on Wade Wharton, #3

2008-05-15T09:32:00.006-05:00

Someone made this fantastic clip of Mr. Wharton's art on YouTube:

I've been talking with Mr. Wharton's very nice sister over the last few weeks, and there have been a couple of developments recently. Mr. Wharton's court date is this coming Wednesday, May 21st, and he has a lawyer who has agreed to represent him free of charge.

Also, the city of Huntsville dropped off a couple of dumpster/receptacles a few days ago and promised that they would send out some convicts to take direction from Mr. Wharton as to what to throw out. Mr. Wharton concedes that some of the material (not art, but scraps and accumulated 'stuff') can go, so this will be a good thing.

It sure does seem that the city of Huntsville has started to come around.

It started out with an old city official saying something along the lines of "if Wharton's yard is art, then the landfill is a museum", which was quoted in the Huntsville Times, and that the bottle trees had to go because "bottles are for inside use, not for outside" to them seemingly making some steps toward improvement.

One of my friends who wrote the Huntsville Times in support of Mr. Wharton got a rather terse email back from Bill Kling (who she copied on the letter so he would have it for his files), the councilman who represents Mr. Wharton's area. As the first article the Times wrote - that I linked to in my first post - Bill Kling was complimentary of Mr. Wharton's art, and has come out to help tidy the yard. He seemed terribly sensitive about the idea of Mr. Wharton's art being removed.

I'm looking forward to seeing how everything goes on May 21st (a little nervously, but hoping for the best). The public outcry about all this has undoubtedly helped the city evolve from equating Mr. Wharton's art to landfill contents, to now helping him tidy up, to what they will hopefully be doing very soon: directing fellow residents and visitors to see how creative, individualistic members of the city of Huntsville make joyful art.

---
(post #1 here, post #2 here)

The Ballad of Emmett Till

2008-05-15T09:00:00.002-05:00

Earlier this year, the Goodman Theatre in Chicago asked me if they could use my picture of the Bryant Store in Money, Mississippi in their OnStage Magazine. It's the publication they do for shows, and they're performing The Ballad of Emmett Till this year.

The Bryant store - Bryant's Grocery and Meat Market - was the place where Emmett wolf-whistled at Mrs. Bryant, setting off an awful chain of events.

I told the Goodman that since they were a non-profit that I would let them use this photograph at no charge if they would donate four tickets to a show to Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Chicago (Av and I did BB/BS for several years and it was a really wonderful experience). This week, I got a package from the Goodman in the mail with a couple of copies of OnStage along with a copy of the letter they sent their local BB/BS with tickets. Nice!

Broncos And Boudin, And Pralines

2008-05-14T12:40:00.001-05:00

Last month, the Kitchen Sisters, who have their own show on NPR, did a segment on the Angola Rodeo called 'Broncos and Boudin'. Besides mentioning the rodeo itself, they discussed the food prepared and served for the guests: cracklins, pig tails, boiled peanuts, boudin balls, etouffee...

Part of the story mentioned a previous episode they had done about Robert "King" Wilkerson, who, after 29 years in solitary at Angola, was freed upon appeal in 2001. The Kitchen Sisters told about how Mr. Wilkerson made pralines in his cell, using tin cans for a stove, with ingredients he gathered from elsewhere. Now that he has been exonerated, Mr. Wilkerson sells his pralines, which he now calls "Freelines".

The Kitchen Sisters say, "Wilkerson had made pralines two days before Hurricane Katrina hit, and gave all the candy away to the rescue workers helping trapped city residents evacuate in boats. When we met him, he just did not have the heart to make candy. But a few days before he left the Bay Area to return home to New Orleans, he made us a big batch of beautiful 'freelines'."

The recipe for Freelines is also on the Kitchen Sisters' website, here.

Well, I just had to order some (the Freelines website is here). Av loves pralines and of course I do too. About a week and a half ago, I placed my order and they came in today, along with a personalized note from Mr. Wilkerson apologizing for them taking so long and letting me know that he included an extra bag for my patience (even though I never asked him about the order or anything!):

These are *huge* pralines!

...and delicious! Av and I shared one when he came in for lunch today. My recipe makes our favorite pralines, but really, these are the best ones I have ever had from anywhere else!

Yum!

Thornton Dial Documentary

2008-05-13T11:28:00.008-05:00

Av just got an email from Celia Carey, who he went to school with and is the Director/Producer for the Thornton Dial documentary, Mr. Dial Has Something To Say. She said that the film has received five regional Emmy nominations for outstanding documentary, editing, cinematography, music, and post-production direction! Yay!

Going To Smuteye, Alabama

2008-05-13T03:33:00.000-05:00

This weekend, we went to Smuteye, Alabama. Smuteye even has a website that discusses how the town got its name as well as other uniquely-named places in the state, like Possum Trot, Frog Bottom, Eclectic, Bug Tussle, and Flea Hop.

The main reason to go to Smuteye was to see the store there. But on the way, we saw *all kinds* of things...here are some really-quick pics:

The '30s Ritz Theatre in Greenville:

The Pioneer Cemetery there has some really different sculptured monuments:

Soldier:

Lady:

...and these Victorian-era metal monuments:

This Coke mural was in Banks:

In Clayton is the only surviving antebellum octagon home in the state:

It's on North Midway Street right in the middle of town. The house was built from 1859-1861.

This old town bell was mentioned in my WPA book as having been located in the center of town for over 100 years. The book says that it was the town's official timepiece and that it was also used in antebellum days to call together the "slave patrol" if any slaves were suspected of having run away. Today it is in the Clayton Baptist Church cemetery:

...and not too far behind it is this monument in the shape of a whiskey bottle. The monument is for William T. Mullen who died in 1863 at the age of 29. He had been a heavy drinker for several years, and his wife (who the WPA book describes as a teetotaler) had told him that if he didn't stop that she would have a monument in the shape of a whiskey bottle erected if his drinking led him to pass away. Well, sure enough:

Not far from Clayton is Smuteye, Alabama, where the old Smut Eye Grocery store is:

...but what makes it really special is this handpainted sign about John Dillinger - "Get Dillinger" - a $15,000 reward:

It's the same as this printed version.

(I would have opened the right screen door more, but it was in pretty bad shape and I was afraid it would break.)

Union Springs has this bird dog monument in the middle of town:

...and lots of pretty homes:

Making Koolickles

2008-05-12T02:58:00.001-05:00

Tammy in York, Alabama and I have been talking about Koolickles.

I had my first one at a Double Quick in Clarksdale, Mississippi back in November of 2006. It's somehow become one of the most popular pics in my Flickr photostream (it's #4 with 5000+ views, behind this wedding cake with 8000+, a Katrina sign with 6500+, and the Bryant store).

They've been written about in the NY Times and USA Today, but I had never made a batch, and once Tammy and I started talking about them, I figured it was time to finally make some.

I wanted to make them the traditional way (with regular dill pickles) and I also came up with an idea to try to make them completely different - using bread and butter pickles. My thinking was that since bread & butters are already sweet, the addition of Kool-Aid would only make them sweeter and maybe even yummier. Well...

I used the same method for both batches. I drained off the pickle juice into a colander, threw away any of the big spices or garlic pieces that got caught in the colander, then added sugar and Kool-Aid to the pickle juice.

The regular dills had about 2 cups of juice inside, so I used two Kool-Aid packets of cherry flavor and added the sugar for those batches. The bread and butter pickles had only about 1 cup of pickle juice, so to that I added one packet of cherry K-A and one packet's amount of sugar that's suggested.

Is it sounding yucky yet? Pickle juice and Kool-Aid is probably not something you automatically think of tasting good together.

This is what the dills looked like on the first day:

Each day for the past week, I've taken one pickle out and tested it for taste and color, etc. I think that they are ready right at one week. A strange thing happens - after about the third or fourth day, the pickles start to look like they are shrinking. The Kool-Aid color starts getting further and further into the 'meat' of the pickle, too. At one week, you can really taste the Kool-Aid flavor and it's a Koolickle:

Now, they're really not for everybody. Some people *really* like them and there are a lot of people who really-really do not. I can go either way. I think I'm just as happy with a regular pickle (Av is a pickle snob and will only eat Claussen or Wickles, but I'm not and think best ones are served at high school football games - taken out of those huge jars with a pair of tongs and put in a pocket of foil). But anyway...

...those bread and butter pickles turned out great! They're sweet and cherry-flavored and actually very nice! The only thing is, what's the best way to serve them? They'll need to be drained pretty well because cherry Kool-Aid will stain just about anything.

Would deviled eggs with tiny cubed pieces of b&b Koolikle (like relish) taste good or not? Not sure. But just straight out of the jar - one or two of them - yum.

The Wickles pickles that I mentioned above - they were created by a couple of brothers in Dadeville, Alabama that we visited with once (they're super-nice). They started a line of pickles that are sweet and hot...sooooo good.

Sweet Pics

2008-05-11T09:43:00.002-05:00

Last week, the Oscar Mayer weinermobile was cruising through Alabama - so we stopped to show Shug what a giant hotdog on wheels looks like!

Here's Shug in his little summery madras pants!

Since Shug has been about six months old, we've gone out and done something each day of the week. We go out one day to the big botanic garden, one day to the smaller botanic garden, one day shopping all over town, one day at the museum, and one day at the zoo.

This past week when we visited the zoo, we were just in time to see the sea lion getting fed:

*and* we went to the new kangaroo exhibit - it was fantastic!! They have a very nice place with some rocking chairs to sit on, and the sitting area is under a small wooden structure open on all sides so you can sit in the shade and just watch the kangaroos hop around. I sat in one of the rocking chairs and fed Shug some of his juice, and we were there enjoying the kangaroos for a long time! We've got a weekly playdate with my friend Jenifer and her baby girl, who's just five weeks older than Shug, and I'm going to see about the four of us going kangaroo watching next time! Fun!

Proceed And Be Bold

2008-05-09T14:06:00.006-05:00

A documentary on letterpress printer Amos Paul Kennedy Jr., who has his shop in Gordo, is premiering tonight at Columbia College in Chicago. The website for the film is here, and a very short trailer is below:

He's at Kentuck every year, so we get to see him then, and usually buy at least one poster. Here are some pics from the Okra Festival in Burkville, and Kentuck, of his prints:

It's pretty interesting that the documentary's producers chose to name the film "Proceed And Be Bold" since that was one of Sambo Mockbee's catchphrases and it's been used so much in context with the Rural Studio, including a book (APK Jr. has done *several* Rural Studio posters including one I just saw for the $20k house).

I guess it sounded better/more appropriate than "If you can't take it on a plane: don't bring it in here!" or "How can you know Jesus when you can't write a thank you note?" like the ones below:

I wonder when PABB will be shown around some of the film festivals around here...I'm emailing the production company right now to see (and will update this as soon as I hear from them).

Italian Catholic Cemetery Near West Blocton, Alabama

2008-05-07T13:18:00.001-05:00

The other day when we were in West Blocton, we went to one of the places that's been listed on the Alabama Places in Peril list...the Italian - Catholic cemetery.

What makes it so interesting is that the monuments are inscribed in Italian, and some of them have stories. This first one is of Nargiso Nucci:

It very roughly translated reads: "On the land of the extinct --- the mortal remains of Nargiso Nucci of 52 years who died in Blocton, Alabama on July 7, 1908 after having suffered for 12 consecutive years on the altar of a painful disease. Death took him from those suffering, and the affection known for its kind quality leaves already his wife Adrietta and his seven children his enduring memory. Pray for his tomb."

This one is for Elizabeth Castelli:

It translated reads something like this: "Here lie the ashes of poor deceased Elizabetha Castelli born in 1864 murdered at the young age of 36 years, robbed and killed by a murderer of the black race at 8am on December 15, 1902 leaving behind her husband and son, weeping and sobbing".

This area of Alabama has coal mines all around, and this monument has the miner's tools sculpted into it:

We subscribe to Alabama Heritage magazine, and in the last issue they asked for readers to send in pics of "story" monuments, so I sent the top two in. The editor wrote me that they're putting together a web page for all of the ones they've received, so it should be interesting to see all the others!

Update On Wade Wharton's Endangered Art Environment

2008-05-06T13:04:00.005-05:00

Thanks to Kim for letting me know that the Huntsville Times had another article in the paper about Wade Wharton and his art environment.

(my original post about Mr. Wharton, with pics and video, is here)

Mr. Wharton received notice on April 25th from the city to appear in court for "unlawful storage of junk".

I've gotten emails that people are organizing to help Mr. Wharton keep his yard/garden neat and tidy. And Felder Rushing, who I think the world of, paid Mr. Wharton a visit and was quoted as saying it was a "paradise garden" and that the art should be "celebrated" - *and* that he's seen these kinds of issues between private citizens and local governments before and that "the city always loses". A video of Felder in Mr. Wharton's art garden is here.

One thing that is promising is that the director of the Department of Community Development (the dept. that started this whole business), Jerry Galloway, said that Mr. Wharton is not being summoned to court for his artwork, just his "scrap material" - which sounds a little different than what they have said in the past.

Thank you to *everyone* who has let me know that they did something - wrote a letter, sent an email, talked to someone.

Let's keep this going so that the city stops harassing Mr. Wharton and instead does like other cities with artist environments and starts promoting visitors to come see the quirky, artsy, off-beat part of town that's easy to love.

Rock Zoo

2008-05-05T05:49:00.000-05:00

This weekend, we went up to Hollywood, Alabama in Jackson county to visit the rock zoo. It's a collection of rocks that a farmer has painted to look like animals:

Shug liked sitting on the elephant:

(he loves to pull his socks off! We probably have Shug-socks in three or four states!)

Lots of other animals:

...even a slice of watermelon:

Shug riding the happy turtle:

Av's favorite was the anteater!:

...even a couple of people:

Nice!

Directions: take US 72 NE from Scottsboro, turn left onto County Road 33 (just past the Hollywood City Hall). Go over the railroad tracks, through the little downtown, and follow the road for about six miles. You will see the Harmony Missionary Baptist Church on your right, turn right onto County Road 32. That road will wind around but stay on 32 for about two miles and you'll see the rock zoo very clearly on the left.

Poke Salat

2008-05-04T09:33:00.001-05:00

We decided to go to the Poke Salat Festival this weekend in Arab, Alabama (Arab: "AY-rab"). On the way, we stopped at a U-Pick strawberry farm, but because it's been raining so hard, the ground which is usually very sandy in those fields had just turned into this super-sticky clay. It was so yucky/mucky that we decided to just come back when the ground was dry and pick then.

The state of Alabama has a PDF of U-Pick farms that can be downloaded here. I can't wait to take Shug to pick all kinds of fruit!

This is the sign for Wayne's Bar-B-Que in...I think it was around Cleveland. They had a sign for their homemade fried pies (yum!) so Av and I decided to get one and share it:

This is what a good fried pie looks like!

In Blountsville, we passed a re-enactment that they're holding all weekend:

There were *lots* of cars driving in. We drove in just to see what was going on:

The actual battle wasn't going to happen for another couple of hours, plus I was afraid that it would be too loud for Shug, who even dislikes the sound of the Dyson when I vacuum two rooms away (although he doesn't mind if I put Roomba in another room, so ha(!) that's a pretty good excuse for me letting Roomba do most of the vacuuming!). It would have been fun to see all the different campsites and horses, etc., but we decided to go on. I do wish I had run over for just a minute to this gentleman selling pottery:

The Poke Salat Festival was right in downtown Arab. I didn't see any real art/craft vendors, although one person was selling what looked like homemade candles and there was maybe one other 'nice' tent. It doesn't bill itself as an arts/crafts type of festival though - it's just a good reason for the residents of Arab to get out and visit and go shop downtown:

Now what we did get while there? Um, poke salat, of course (tastes sort-of like cooked spinach)! They were serving it at the L-Rancho Cafe, which was standing-room only!

Pontotoc, Mississippi

2008-05-04T06:21:00.001-05:00

We drove through Pontotoc on the way home and saw this old Sinclair station (there are just four in Mississippi and I think that's as far east as Sinclair goes):

Downtown was nice, and they had some advertising murals, like this one for the Pontotoc Cream Station and Oneeta Flour:

A mural for Barber's milk:

The post office had a WPA/New Deal/Section mural dated 1939 called "The Wedding of Ortez and Sa-Owana, Christmas 1540":

There's a barn under all that kudzu:

...oh, and not too far outside of town, there was a patch of kudzu with a big sign saying "Kudzu Control Demonstration" that Mississippi State is working on (along with a bunch of others). This page shows them putting a fire lane down to keep it from getting to homes. We have kudzu in our backyard - well, behind the cleared 'backyard' part of our backyard. You just have to keep a watch on it and make sure it stays cut back because it grows soooo fast.

One thing that is taking over right now is the honeysuckle! Oh it smells so good!

Going Over to Elvis'

2008-05-03T21:18:00.000-05:00

Last weekend when we were on our way to the Double Decker Art Festival in Oxford, we stopped for a little while in Tupelo so we could get Shug out of the carseat for a while and have some fun (thank goodness, he takes great car naps and doesn't mind riding in the car, ever!) at the Elvis Presley Birthplace.

We bought tickets to tour the house and the museum ($7 combined). Pictures aren't allowed in the museum (which is very small to begin with). This is the chapel with pretty windows by Laukhuff Stained Glass of Memphis - I've seen their windows in a couple of different Temples at least - their style is nice:

This statue of Elvis is 5'5" tall - Elvis' height when he was 13 and moved from Tupelo to Memphis:

This is Elvis' house with Av and Shug on the front porch. Shug knows that as a good Southerner, he was born with a special place in his heart for both Elvis and Bear Bryant!

There are two rooms in the house - the bedroom, where Elvis was born:

...and the kitchen. That's it.:

Can you imagine what Elvis' mother must have thought of Graceland, after starting out in this little two-room house in Tupelo?

We had a nice time and got to meet a couple from England who were spending a week in the US. After leaving Tupelo, they were off to Nashville to see everything about Country music. They were really nice - and I noticed that as we were leaving, of the 12 or so cars we could see in the parking lot, there was maybe one car with an in-state tag!

Shug Is Ten Months Old!

2008-05-02T09:55:00.001-05:00

Shug is ten months old now! Our precious baby!!

Visiting Mooresville, Alabama

2008-05-02T08:57:00.000-05:00

We visited Mooresville, Alabama for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It's the first town established by the newly-formed state of Alabama in 1818, but it's not the oldest town in Alabama by far - Childersburg claims itself to be America's oldest occupied city (est. 1540).

Mooresville is, though, postcard-pretty, almost like a museum setting.

The post office (still in the same building) is from 1840 and is among the oldest in the country:

So many pretty homes:

This is the 1854 Church of Christ. James Garfield preached here when he was a general, before he became president:

The 1839 Mooresville Brick Church - atop the steeple is a hand:

...with a finger pointing straight to Heaven...:

Just like First Presbyterian Church in Port Gibson!:

The church in Mooresville is older than the church in Port Gibson - I wonder how many churches in the US have this feature atop their steeples?

Liver with Hot Pepper Jelly Appetizers

2008-05-01T06:37:00.002-05:00

Tom Fitzmorris published his guide to Jazz Fest food, and one of the things on it that got three stars was a dish called 'grilled chicken livers with pepper jelly' being served by the Praline Connection.

I thought that sounded different, so I went to their website but there wasn't really any better description than that so I decided to just make up my own way. I didn't do the livers grilled - I actually made them into the simplest chopped liver, and since I wasn't sure how they were served, I decided to make it into an appetizer by cutting rounds of baguette toasted, covered with a little hot pepper jelly, and topped with chopped liver. Wow did it ever turn out great!

Ingredients - this will make 15-20 appetizers:
2-1/2 lbs chicken livers
handful of white or yellow onion, chopped (I used vidalia)
salt
olive oil
hot pepper jelly
baguette

Directions:
First, I just sauteed my onions in a little olive oil, then added the (thoroughly washed) chicken livers and cooked on medium-high until they were done (added some salt here too):

Drained off the liquid and poured the liver and onions into a bowl, then used my Braun hand mixer to chop it into a smooth consistency:

I poured a little more olive oil into the skillet that the livers cooked in (so they would pick up a little of the liver/onion flavor that was left) and let them fry just a little so they would be toasty on one side:

They came out nice:

Then I covered the toast with sweet hot pepper jelly (I used Stonewall Kitchen brand):

...and finished by topping each piece with the chopped liver:

It's not terribly photogenic but oh was it good! I'm definitely making these as appetizers for our next big supper with guests!

Chilled Avocado Soup

2008-04-30T09:06:00.001-05:00

This morning, I made chilled avocado soup - it's enough for about two servings, so I'll have it today and tomorrow for lunch. It takes all of three minutes to make and it's so delicious.

Ingredients:
2 Hass avocados - they're the bumpy blackish ones
2 cups of milk (I use 2% so it's not so heavy)
salt to taste
scattering of diced roma tomatoes and vidalias to top

Directions:
This can be made in the blender or Cuisinart - peel and pit the avocados, scoop into the bowl:

Whirl until completely smooth (use a spatula and make sure any bits sticking to the side get blended), add milk in a stream so you can check for the consistency you like, then add salt to taste:

Here it is, ready for to be covered and put in the refrigerator until lunch. I'll just dice up a roma tomato and a bit of vidalia to top it with, and it'll be perfect.

Carolina Wren Family

2008-04-30T08:48:00.001-05:00

This birdhouse gourd - I've shown this one before, a couple of years ago - we bought in Mississippi and wish I could remember the name of the artist. It's my favorite birdhouse, and every year we've been lucky enough to host a new family in it:

This year as with other years, a mommy Carolina Wren has chosen it to have her babies hatch inside. So sweet:

She's such a good mommy, too. She must make at least a hundred trips a day back and forth, always with a little goodie in her mouth to feed the babies. Precious.

Going to Tallassee

2008-04-29T10:41:00.003-05:00

A couple of weekends ago, we took a nice trip over to Tallassee. One of the first places we stopped was here at Sears Chapel Methodist Church in rural Coosa county on Highway 231, not too far from Rockford. The congregation was founded in 1860 and had first a log cabin building, but this pretty building was completed around 1895.

This sign further down the road is two miles from Rockford, just as it says. I don't think I've ever seen a marker like this before:

This is the old rock jail, circa 1842, in Rockford. It's a museum now:

...and behind it is the monument for Fred, the town dog. He was inducted into the Alabama Animal Hall of Fame and they describe him:

"Fred" the town dog lived to be about 13 years of age. He was a male, Airedale mix with a heart for all of Rockford, Alabama. He truly became Rockford's ambassador by welcoming visitors to town and he was invariably the first to welcome newcomers. He was steadfast in guarding the children at the elementary school, or guarding the bank, or local foodmart. He was adept at helping to raise funds for charity, and his likeness still sells souvenirs and other items for the city. He had served as grand marshall in numerous parades and he brought fame to the city through local newspaper and magazine articles, local television exposure and even national television coverage.

Downtown Rockford - the population is fewer than 500, but when we were there, Av remembered that Rockford had been in the news this past year because two of the football players in the Super Bowl, Adalius Thomas for the Patriots and Justin Tuck for the Giants, grew up here and played football at Coosa Central.

We decided since it was such a pretty day to just drive around and see what we could find. The more dirt roads, the better:

We stumbled upon this cemetery, Old Shiloh Cemetery, on County Road 63 in Coosa County. It was established in the late 1700s:

This monument is for Mary S., consort of A.J. Thomas:

We had to stop when we saw it just because we could tell it was so old:

We went further toward Lake Logan Martin and drove in to Camp Smile-A-Mile (oops! earlier I called it a different name here, but it it is Camp S-A-M). It is right on the banks of the lake.

Right when we got out, this mommy goose was tending to her sweet babies:

And right behind this chapel:

...there's a lighthouse!

This is the first lighthouse we've gotten to take Shug up close to:

Late that afternoon, we got to Hotel Talisi in downtown Tallassee - they serve fried chicken that's one of Av's favorites. Fried chicken, dressing, black-eyed peas, spinach, and squash casserole:

Yum!

Goodbye Miss L.V. Hull

2008-04-28T09:03:00.006-05:00

(This is a shoe we have that L.V. decorated)

On April 15th, L.V. Hull, a famous artist from Kosciusko, Mississippi passed away and was buried at Bethlehem Church Cemetery. She was 65 years old.

L.V. started creating her art in 1975 - she said she didn't know exactly why - and eventually as the art overflowed her home and into her yard, visitors came from all over to 123 Allen Street to see her and her creations. In fact, the city of Kosciusko's chamber of commerce promotes it, as does the official Natchez Trace site.

A doctor in town wrote a piece about Miss L.V. that appeared in the Star-Herald:

“Jesus is coming to Kosciusko, Ms. 39090.” This was one of her favorite sayings to put on her gaily painted wooden crosses. And, indeed, Jesus came last week to Kosciusko, MS 39090 and took home one of his truly unique creations, L.V. Hull, THE Artist of Kosciusko. Although her unusual art style was often sadly underappreciated and misunderstood, it could never be ignored!

I would like to think that L.V. considered me a friend. She loved company, and once you were allowed inside her humble house which was chocked full of the interpretations of her imagination, time seemed to stand still. Her no-holds-barred brand of homespun philosophy probably didn’t sit well with some visitors, but she certainly had an uncanny knack of telling it like it was.

Last year LV. was invited to display her art at a rather prestigious exhibit at Mississippi State University. Though some quirk of fate, it fell my responsibility to get The Artist and samples of her work there. Beth and I pulled up in front of L.V.’s house in our Ford Explorer which, as you know, does not sit low to the ground. Well, try as she might, L.V. was unable to get herself into the vehicle. I finally locked my hands like the stirrup on a saddle, leaned down and had L.V. put a foot in, then hoisted her in. “Don’t worry,” she reassured us. “If you can get me in, I can fall out!”

One of the last pieces she did for me was to be given to the president of our Mississippi State Medical Association when she spoke at our component society meeting here in Kosciusko this past December. The day of the meeting I received the following message taken by my office staff: “Your package is ready. When you come by to get it, bring me two pieces of Kentucky Fried Chicken (extra Crispy) and a biscuit.” Needless to say, we both ended up satisfied!

L.V.’s impact on our town will probably never be fully known, but suffice it to say, it has been considerable. Since her arrival in Heaven, I imagine that she’s probably already tried to personalize the Pearly Gates. I can just hear now. “St. Peter, ain’t that cobalt blue BAD?”

Stanley Hartness, M.D.

Lots of nice pics of Miss L.V.'s home and yard are here (I'm trying to find our pics of her yard, but I think the last time we were there I was still taking pics with film!).

Double Decker Arts Festival, Oxford MS

2008-04-27T11:56:00.001-05:00

We drove over to Oxford yesterday and had the *very* best time at the Double Decker Arts Festival! Ohmygoodness was it ever so great! It was right in the square, and it was as busy as game day in the Grove. Loved it.

I just wish I'd taken more pictures of everything! Besides all the great artists, we went into several of the shops and got Shug some books at Square Books Junior, which is the kids' version of our favorite bookshop anywhere, Square Books (and whether or not you get to Oxford much, Square Books puts out this great weekly email about books that are coming out, authors that are making appearances (and they can hold a signed copy & ship it) and lots more - the signup is here). Oh, and their signed first editions club is something we've thought about doing for a while and probably will soon.

Sooo...back to the festival. I'm going to start with what was really special - there were two or three artists there with bottle trees:

***But*** the most special one was this bottle tree arch by artist Stephanie Dwyer (her website is here):

Isn't that great!!?? Av's ready for us to start house-shopping again...so I think it would make a very nice addition to a new garden area...hmmm...

There were lots & lots of other great artists there - a full listing of them all is right here.

Double Decker is on our don't-miss list of festivals from now on...already can't wait for next year!

Magic City Art Connection

2008-04-26T23:32:00.000-05:00

On Friday, Shug and I picked up Daddy from the office and went over to the Magic City Art Connection in B'ham. A lot of the artists are the same from year to year - our favorites this year were:

Julia Peerson and her metal dress sculptures
Twisted Sisters and their copper lighting
Robert Taylor's metal lawn decorations
Martha Beadle's fiber art
YardBirds:

...and of course Chris Clark:

The festival ends Sunday at 6pm.

YAY!!

2008-04-25T10:26:00.002-05:00

Well, Av and I have been working on getting people together so they can help with saving Wade Wharton's endangered (thanks to the city of Huntsville) art environment - from personal friends to people we hardly know.

Av contacted Neal Boortz yesterday (he has a nationwide radio program - smaller than Rush, but still huge), and today Neal put the link to the Huntsville Times article about Mr. Wharton's art on his website! See here: http://boortz.com/nuze/index.html

"The City of Huntsville, Alabama has decided that it has the right to tell a man that the recycled art he has displayed on his private property must go."

Mwah to my terrific husband and mwah to Neal Boortz! Yay!