Author: ginger

Really enjoyed this visit to the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art in Auburn. Terrific is this Dale Chihuly Studio chandelier, Amber Luster, which was commissioned by the late John Hughes, an Auburn alum from the class of 1950 who went on to be in the furniture business. This 17-foot-tall piece from 2003 is made up of 600 individual pieces and together the sculpture weighs more than 2000 lbs.

The John Augustus Walker exhibit, Historical Panorama of Alabama Architecture, was brought about because of his works with the WPA.

Rachel Libeskind’s The Golden Hour exhibit is up through December 8 this year.

About it, the museum mentions:
(the exhibit) gathers relics of daily life, reflecting on the spaces we work in and those meanings for human existence. Her research-based and sculptural approach is driven by Alabama’s NASA connection and the space agency’s interstellar time capsule of the same name. She also includes African American folklore from Auburn’s Special Collections and Archives that researchers gathered over 100 years ago.

Separate, this panel of photographs by Andy Warhol:

Robbie Barber‘s Dreams of Flying at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art in Auburn

in 2017:

I’m all about his bottle tree sculpture.

In 2017, this was a water feature

and now, Paula Castillo‘s Demeter’s Harvest

above: Auburn’s 1890 Samford Hall. If you’ve ever wondered what’s going on at the clock, click here for pics of my visit up there from 2018

Ah, we had a great visit to Auburn! I did a little bit of a tour but it was mostly enjoying the hotel, walking around the university, going to the arboretum and museum, and I’m saving something fab in Opelika for another post. This was my fourth Graduate — we started before they were acquisitioned by Hilton — I’ve been admiring Andrew Alford’s work and his designs for Graduate properties for a while and I understand he did the first 30. Before Auburn, I’ve stayed at the one in Athens GA, Oxford MS, and Columbia SC (I’ll post pics from that one next week).

I might be wrong but this one definitely felt like something Andrew didn’t do or the heavy hand of Hilton Corporate was at work. It was still super fun, just missing some sweet design quirks.

Anyway, the hotel is literally across the street from school, so getting everywhere was good and I actually walked from the hotel one morning to the arboretum and then the Jule Collins Museum and then to a Starbucks so 1.9 miles away total, which was a fun and easy walk.

The Bo Jackson-themed coffee shop

Briefly, we stopped at the ultra-reimagined War Eagle Supper Club on the rooftop for drinks and an app, and I’ll just say what we experienced aligns with the very poor ratings it’s presently receiving. We had a good time anyway!

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The room is fun

…absolutely loved the Auburn toile in the bathroom

One G-d
Stop
Let’s Talk About Jesus
Vincent AL, 2020.

Formerly a Church, Now a Body Shop
Vinemont AL, 2020.

Just spending October at Biergarten at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville listening to German music & having German food under a rocket…

Just thinking of this bicycle yard in Chattanooga — this pic is from 2010 and it’s still partially up this year

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This one we found in northern Israel:

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The now-shuttered HeroBike project in Greensboro, Alabama — bikes made with bamboo:

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A Jimmy Lee Sudduth “Bicycle Man” at the Telfair Museums Jepson Center in Savannah from a 2023 visit

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New Orleans, 2016

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Bike and path, Seaside FL 2017

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Two-seater bike at an antique shop in Falkville AL (this was much harder for two of us than it looked somehow)

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Bicycle on the Square in Oxford, Mississippi

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Schwinn in window display, Abbeville AL

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Walter Anderson’s bicycle on display at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, from a 2023 visit. There’s a book of Anderson’s bicycle travel logs with artwork available

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Rose gold bike at Kodomo in Boston from a 2017 visit

and another at Sault New England in Boston

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at the Aria Hotel, from 2017

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Cathedral of Junk in Austin, 2017

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At Isaiah Zagar’s Philadelphia Magic Gardens, from a visit in 2023

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in Cullman, Alabama

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Howard Finster, High Museum, Atlanta, Georgia, from a 2017 visit

In running through some older pics, I think we have a Carpenter Gothic barn — from a 2010 trip (not stopping long enough to really take a good pic here, obv) to Aberdeen, Mississippi

Red White & Blue Truck
Woodville AL, 2020.

PSA that we’re running out of tomato days so I’ve made what may be the last tomato pie of the season here and I’m thinking of all things ‘mater before it’s time to give them up til next season unless they’re canned or greenhouse. Here’s a mixtape:

Jesus and Tomatoes Coming Soon! in a window in Hattiesburg MS, 2015

tomato pie recipe

These tomato & pesto tarts are excellent and just right for lunch. Same for these ultra-similar tomato and mozarella shells, pictured above.

Arrow sign, Hartselle AL:

Aspic at The Colonnade in Atlanta:

Farm stand offerings, Cullman AL:

A fried green tomato and pimento cheese biscuit at The Loveless Cafe by the Trace:

Goshamighty the tomatoes at Potchke in Knoxville:

Tomato field on Straight Mountain in Oneonta, Alabama:

Fried green tomatoes at Arnold’s Country Kitchen (which…they’re back) in Nashville:

In Geneva, Georgia:

Mural at the entrance to Bad Idea in Nashville:

The Tomato Place, Vicksburg:

Eli’s Mater Shack in Ashville AL:

Godzilla Meets Fried Green Tomatoes at Jacques-Imo’s, New Orleans

Vicksburg tomato sandwiches from The BB Club:

FGTs at The Bright Star in Bessemer:

Masaka Onodera‘s A Box of Genetically Modified Tomatoes at the Mobile Museum of Art:

Aspic at Walnut Hills in Vicksburg:

Arrow sign in Trussville AL:

FGTs at Mrs B’s in Montgomery:

Chandler Mountain tomatoes:

On the Vine by Mike Handley:

FGTs at Walton’s in Huntsville:

The braconid wasp eggs on this hornworm who’d rather be enjoying a tomato plant (note chickens watching) in the yard

Pimiento and Tomato Salad:

Tomato aspic I made:

Tomato Table by Craig Nutt, at the Columbus Museum in Columbus, Georgia: