Month: September 2011

Inside Smith Hall on campus at the UofA is the Alabama Museum of Natural History, and it is *gorgeous*:

Columns like this just ask for husband-leaning:

There were a ton of fossils and other artifacts, but one of the better-known items on display here is the Hodges meteorite, the only meteorite ever known to actually hit a person.  It crashed through Ann Hodges’ roof…

…bounced off her radio…

…and then struck her on her hip, which left, as you can imagine, a bruise.  She deserved to have it named after her, right?

From Time Magazine:
Suddenly, across the noonday sky from west to east, swept a brilliant fireball. It left a long trail of white (some observers said black) smoke, and it flew so high that it was seen almost simultaneously in Greenville, Miss., Montgomery, Ala. and Atlanta. Over Sylacauga it exploded with a boom like thunder (some said a series of booms). A schoolboy in Montgomery, 50 miles away, insisted that the blast almost knocked him off his bicycle.

People thought the smoke might have come from an airplane crash, and Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery sent out 40 planes to look for wreckage (Mrs. Hodges’ home was in Oak Grove, in Talladega County).  When the Air Force found out that what fell from the sky was at Ann Hodges’ home, they sent a helicopter to pick it up, and left with it — all before Mr. Hodges came home from work that day.

Now, in honor of the event, sculptor Don Lawler installed a piece he called ‘Falling Star‘ in front of the Sylacauga City Hall.

After we found the sculpted Lion of Judah, we drove past East Lake United Methodist Church:

…with this terrific bas relief above the doors:

Newsweek ranked Ole Miss as ‘Most Beautiful’ and gave Alabama #3 on the list.

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Nice article here on Isaiah Zabar’s Magic Garden in Philadelphia. “Art should not be segregated in museums; it needs to live free among us,” said mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar, creator of the Philadelphia folk art environment.


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The Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo is being built at a new location, opening in spring of 2012, and is being billed as cat-5 proof and LEED Platinum certified, using solar panels, wind turbines and geothermal energy.

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Thanks to my friend Larry Harris for telling me about the new documentary on the Toynbee Tiles:

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This isn’t the greatest picture of it (although I love that painted sign about its European Plan, and that it is fireproof…), but the plan is to have the old Meridian Hotel building demolished completely, to make way for the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center Museum.  Nice pics of the interior of the Meridian Hotel (which is really in terribly rough shape, apparently) here.

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This was interesting.

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The Norman Rockwell painting, “The Problem We All Live With,” showing little Ruby Bridges integrating William Frantz Elementary in New Orleans is now hanging just outside the Oval Office.

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The Germantown Performing Arts Centre in Memphis is going to host 25 folk art subjects as part of an exhibit that will beginning September 11 thru October 22.

“The individuals highlighted in this project include diverse artists such as Charlie Acuff, who stayed in his home tarea and kept traditional music alive; old time musician Roy Harper in his bright red suit and his additional talent as painter of railroad scenes; Mary Prater’s joy of life woven in her baskets and infectious smile; buckdancer Thomas Maupin skipping across a shallow stream at dusk; the classic tradition of Bob Kounlavong’s Laotian musician and dancers; Minnie Bell and her Choctaw sisters preparing food over an open fire; Eda Rodriguez preparing Salvadorian food; Billy Tripp’s “Mind Field,” a tribute to his Methodist parents and many more unique subjects.”


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Meat and three love from Eagle’s in B’ham:

…and the refrigerated case at the beginning of the cafeteria line at Victoria’s in Jasper (which isn’t among my favorites, but) they are still doing those lovely little gelatin and tiny marshmallow-studded salads:

In 2006, Av and Leslie and I went to spend a few days in New Orleans. On the way, we stopped in Laurel, Mississippi when we saw this.

So *of course* we went through it.

Last month, on my way through Decatur, there was this:

Next time, I am stopping (you know me.).  I wonder how many people stop here each day.  Who doesn’t need to pray, even if we are different religions?!  I love this.