Month: October 2014

It was rainy and dark which somehow made these pics from our drive through Cherokee, North Carolina earlier this year even more…

You decide.

If this sign hasn’t made it onto an album cover somewhere, it’s overdue.

There’s this weird part of me that loved having a couple of bare spots on walls for a few months because we had art on loan to a museum.  Which I know, ridiculous.  The fun part is that our Picassos, Cezannes, and Renoirs — I mean, oh wait.  You know us.  When the Vulcan Park and Museum in Birmingham put a call out for people who have any kind of Vulcan memorabilia and art to bring it in for possible inclusion for their ‘Vulcan Keepsakes: Iron Man Memorabilia from the Birmingham Community’ — well, we answered.  They displayed the painting I commissioned with Melissa Gay, of Vulcan holding a menorah (a gift for Av a few years ago):

The commemorative Vulcan figure that was created for the first LEGO store grand opening in B’ham (Av and I had to stand in line with our double stroller the first day to get it, as it was only available for the first 300 customers, and we knew we had a couple of block-loving boys on our hands):

And these super-fun pieces by Peyton Glanton, that I got here:

When the Vulcan memorabilia exhibit ended and we went by the museum to get our pieces, we got to see the new exhibit, ‘La Storia: Birmingham’s Italian Community’:

In the exhibit was this item, and I think this was the first time I’ve seen one of these — a ballot box with the black and white rounds, from which the term ‘blackballed’ came about.  I have this terrific friend who’s a Mason and explained this back when I was in college when I used to ask him a thousand different Mason questions, some of which he wouldn’t/couldn’t answer (which I totally respect and find fascinating).  How many hopes and dreams were made or dashed via this box?  

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Excited about these upcoming exhibits:

The Red Clay Survey at the Huntsville Museum of Art, through October 26 (the pic above is the studio at Lowe’s Mill in H’ville of my friend Conor O’Brien, who is included in this show)

Leaving Mississippi: Reflections on Heroes and Folklore at the Columbus Museum, through January 4, 2015

Mi Casa, Your Casa at the High, through November 2

WELL SUITED: The Costumes of Alonzo V. Wilson for HBO’s® Treme at the Mobile Museum of Art, beginning November 8

Accalia and the Swamp Monster: Works by Kelli Scott Kelley at the LSU Museum of Art

American Ballads: the Photography of Marty Stuart at the Frist, through November 2

William Edmondson and Friends: Breaking the Mold at Cheekwood, through January 4, 2015

Prospect.3 all over New Orleans beginning late this month

‘

There was an article this week about a church in Houston that offers drive-thru prayer.  From Christianity Today:
The prayer drive-thru is especially ideal for busy people and those who many never step inside a church or pray on their own.

“It’s so unique in this fast world that we live in today,” El Alfarero Pastor John Lopez told ABC13. “Look at your drive-through restaurants. Their windows are packed every day.”

Drivers and their passengers simply wind down their windows to receive prayer about their given topic from church volunteers.

“If you need prayer, no matter what background you are, we all need a prayer, we all need someone to pray with us, and that’s what it’s for,” said co-pastor Danny Quintanilla.

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I’m the lone Jew in a group that meets each week, which is at its core, a church group.  I think it started non-denominational at a private school (and I was invited by a good friend who is a mom at that school) but now affiliates with a local church.  The girls who make up the group are so terrific and we enjoy each other’s company while we do crazy-fun things like hiking, horseback riding, stand-up paddleboarding…  I pray for them in my (Jewish) way, and they pray for me and everyone else in their way.  I pray all the time: at my kitchen sink, in the shower, in the car, at my synagogue, in little spaces between thoughts fifty times a day.  It is immensely fulfilling to pray for and be prayed for.

Now, this is the place in my hometown where I get dressed up to pray with a group:

But would I do a drive-thru prayer?  Oh Yes.

Here’s one I found three years ago in Decatur, at what looked like a tire shop:

Peace be with us all, friends.