I did a quick booklet about Eco-Tourism opportunities in Alabama's Black Belt last weekend. I got to use a good number of photos I've taken over the years, some photos taken by Billy Milstead, the hardest working brother-in-law to date on Black Belt GPS coordinates and photos, and a few from elsewhere. The booklet turned out pretty good. I think I'll be able to use it for some other venues as well.
Here's the cover:
Here's the cover:
What a wonderful thing. So much sadness in the world and in our family these last few years, it is a good thing to have a beautiful baby girl to come in and brighten the world.
My niece, Dawn, just had a baby girl!
Marcella Renee Dailey
Date of Birth: June 21, 2009
Time of Birth: 5:04 p.m.
Weight: 8 pounds 5 ounces
Length: 20 1/4"
Top picture: new Mom Dawn with Marcella (that, by the way, was my mother's first name, though she was always called Inez, or more frequently, Mama!).
Bottom picture: Morgan, my very first great niece (and yes, she is great) with Marcee.
My niece, Dawn, just had a baby girl!
Marcella Renee Dailey
Date of Birth: June 21, 2009
Time of Birth: 5:04 p.m.
Weight: 8 pounds 5 ounces
Length: 20 1/4"
Top picture: new Mom Dawn with Marcella (that, by the way, was my mother's first name, though she was always called Inez, or more frequently, Mama!).
Bottom picture: Morgan, my very first great niece (and yes, she is great) with Marcee.
We had a tasty dinner Saturday night as a bit of a reward for cleaning up the house much of the day. I seared a tuna steak and grilled Ann a piece of Copper River Salmon. A bit of arugula tossed with a rice wine vinegar based citrus dressing, and a few panko crusted fried green tomatoes and the first of season fried okra were, to my mind, perfect!
Well, I didn't go. I was here working the whole time.
But sisters Julia and Madeline went with my adorable grand niece Morgan. Here they are not looking at all worse for the travels after stopping by to pick up a car.
But sisters Julia and Madeline went with my adorable grand niece Morgan. Here they are not looking at all worse for the travels after stopping by to pick up a car.
Had a great workshop at Camp McDowell earlier this week. Your Town Alabama's 10th year of workshops. Met some great folks and reconnected with lots more.
Not much to say, but did make several tasty dishes last weekend. Here are two (Shrimp and Grits with Fried Green Tomatoes and Copper River Salmon with Fried Corn Salsa)
Not much to say, but did make several tasty dishes last weekend. Here are two (Shrimp and Grits with Fried Green Tomatoes and Copper River Salmon with Fried Corn Salsa)
Well, May was a crazy month, both work and home wise. Our home renovations are hopefully rounding the corner to completion and I've got loads of work left to do.
Just found a photo of mine taken back in 2003 used on the National Scenic Byways website: http://byways.org/explore/activities/fishing/stories/80422
Not one of my best, but it sure is a pretty view up there on Cheaha Mountain.
Just found a photo of mine taken back in 2003 used on the National Scenic Byways website: http://byways.org/explore/activities/fishing/stories/80422
Not one of my best, but it sure is a pretty view up there on Cheaha Mountain.
Another monthly newsletter for the Alabama Chapter of the Sierra Club done. We've been doing these for over 3 years now. This year, we started printing every other month and putting the alternate month online as a pdf before sending out an email. Last month, we discovered that the mailing company we'd been using was closing (immediately) due to the economic downturn. We're reevaluating exactly what to do--possibly electronic only every month. If that's the case, I'll be redesigning the newsletter. Have to see.
Just wrapping up a project for the Moore/Webb/Holmes Plantation near Marion, Alabama: http://www.holmesteadcompany.com. Done entirely in Wordpress using a template and making a few modifications. I like some of Wordpress. I think if I could get a little more time spent, I might have a better understanding of it than Movable Type, but I still have to admit I like this blogging program better--mainly because I've been using it for a good while.
The site is small, but I'm hoping that we'll add to it as time passes!
The site is small, but I'm hoping that we'll add to it as time passes!
Working on several projects this week: Bibb County, Alabama's Front Porches, scenic byways, Alabama Communities of Excellence (I foolishly did their program manual in QuarkXpress just before I made the switch to the MUCH BETTER Adobe InDesign) and a couple of other projects, including a little work for my friends at Brombergs. Thought I would add the latest ad for American Mining Insurance Company just to have something new on my blog. Happy Wednesday.
| Really pleased that Ann's great uncle (Lacy Weston, the last veteran interviewed in this short clip) was able to make this trip to the WWII memorial. My father would have LOVED to have gone on one of these trips. Wish he could have. Any veterans who can should go now. Tennessee Valley Honor Flight marks seventh trip to Washington, D.C. |
Well, I've been quite a bit less than diligent about updating my blog lately. It isn't for lack of activity--it is for lack of time!
I just finished a newsletter for the American Mining Insurance Group, I have been working on a website blog (using wordpress) for Holmestead Farms outside of Marion, Alabama, I've been doing some routine updates for Brombergs, Underwoods and Alabama Communities of Excellence as well as my usual Your Town Alabama work.
Discovered that the mailing company that has been handling the Sierra Club's bi-monthly newsletter is shutting their doors for good (we've been planning to go to an all digital newsletter anyway, so this may simply speed up that process).
I've been playing around of flickr a bit more and trying to get a handle on twitter (I now have several accounts). The biggest thing though, is our home renovations. Cousin Kevin "Chunk" Mitchell brought a beautiful armoire to our house on Friday night. Beautiful but EXTREMELY HEAVY! It weighs 750 pounds and will house our television soon. For now it is living in our dining room. We're done with painting the dining room and we have our new Bear Creek Glass Chandelier hung (see below for a full room view and a closeup of the hand blown globe!). But the biggest news of all, I think, is that we've decided to go with the Marvin windows. Casement all-wood windows in our living and dining rooms. Very excited!
I just finished a newsletter for the American Mining Insurance Group, I have been working on a website blog (using wordpress) for Holmestead Farms outside of Marion, Alabama, I've been doing some routine updates for Brombergs, Underwoods and Alabama Communities of Excellence as well as my usual Your Town Alabama work.
Discovered that the mailing company that has been handling the Sierra Club's bi-monthly newsletter is shutting their doors for good (we've been planning to go to an all digital newsletter anyway, so this may simply speed up that process).
I've been playing around of flickr a bit more and trying to get a handle on twitter (I now have several accounts). The biggest thing though, is our home renovations. Cousin Kevin "Chunk" Mitchell brought a beautiful armoire to our house on Friday night. Beautiful but EXTREMELY HEAVY! It weighs 750 pounds and will house our television soon. For now it is living in our dining room. We're done with painting the dining room and we have our new Bear Creek Glass Chandelier hung (see below for a full room view and a closeup of the hand blown globe!). But the biggest news of all, I think, is that we've decided to go with the Marvin windows. Casement all-wood windows in our living and dining rooms. Very excited!
Friend Ben Burford and I took another fun trip into the Black Belt: this time to Selma, Old Cahaba (Cahawba), Marion and Greensboro, Alabama. Check out my flickr page for more photos or read about our first adventure on Ben's blog.
This week promises to be about as busy as the previous weeks have been. I'm happy to say that, at least for the next week or so, our house is free of workers and renovation dust! The sunroom is completed, the dining room requires only a little paint, the back hall is completed and the living room is still a complete wreck--but is put back together in such a way that we can comfortably function for the next little bit as we wait for windows (which we have yet to decide on).
Ann's been sick today, so I haven't been as productive as I might otherwise be, but have gotten a few good things accomplished. I started work on a great little website for the Moore/Webb/Holmes Plantation and Farm in Folsom, Alabama (near Marion). I'm developing it as a WordPress website and that has been pretty interesting to start to tinker with. Nothing like Movable Type, but pretty slick and simple at the same time. I am liking what I'm seeing so far. Wrapping up an invitation/poster for Alzheimer's of Central Alabama for their spring Garden Art Party. We got some great deals on beautiful art there last year and hope to do so again--and the money made goes to help Alzheimer's of Central Alabama provide services for Alzheimer's patients and those that care for them! I'll post the invite later.
FInished up an initial redeisgn for my friends at Tyler Eaton Court Reporters last week. We haven't quite gone live with the redesign yet (waiting on some additional copy and photos), but I created a Tyler Eaton blog site for them that Laura Nichols is now using to generate more interest. These guys are among the nicest folks I do work for--always friendly, always honest. If I needed a court reporter, I'd sure turn to them. Though it isn't complete yet, here's what the site looks like so far:
Ann's been sick today, so I haven't been as productive as I might otherwise be, but have gotten a few good things accomplished. I started work on a great little website for the Moore/Webb/Holmes Plantation and Farm in Folsom, Alabama (near Marion). I'm developing it as a WordPress website and that has been pretty interesting to start to tinker with. Nothing like Movable Type, but pretty slick and simple at the same time. I am liking what I'm seeing so far. Wrapping up an invitation/poster for Alzheimer's of Central Alabama for their spring Garden Art Party. We got some great deals on beautiful art there last year and hope to do so again--and the money made goes to help Alzheimer's of Central Alabama provide services for Alzheimer's patients and those that care for them! I'll post the invite later.
FInished up an initial redeisgn for my friends at Tyler Eaton Court Reporters last week. We haven't quite gone live with the redesign yet (waiting on some additional copy and photos), but I created a Tyler Eaton blog site for them that Laura Nichols is now using to generate more interest. These guys are among the nicest folks I do work for--always friendly, always honest. If I needed a court reporter, I'd sure turn to them. Though it isn't complete yet, here's what the site looks like so far:
Update: Obituary found here>>>
Someone who meant the world to me growing up died unexpectedly yesterday: Dave Nelson. He retired from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources about a year ago. I'd like to write something a bit more about this later, but really just wanted to say something now:
I first met Dave Nelson when I was probably 5 years old. I may have been a little older or a little younger, but let's just call it 5. My Uncle Bill Watts lived in Florence, Alabama and had a cabin in Waterloo. My father loved to go there and visit and would go for several nights at a time. I don't know the full story, but Dave was working nearby, in Cherokee, Alabama, I think, with the Fish and Game Dept. or perhaps the Dept. of Natural Resources even then. He was an expert on wild turkeys and was using radio collars to track them and learn more about their behavior. My Uncle Bill was also involved with Fish and Game and I guess that's how they met. My father and Dave met sometime after that and, I guess, hit it off immediately.
Dave started coming to Octagon to visit soon after that. He LOVED to hunt turkeys and one thing Octagon had in abundance at that time was turkeys. He would come for several days, perhaps even a week, staying with us and eating breakfast. My sister Madeline was once asked how well she knew Dave. Her reply: "He's seen me in my night gown." That apparently always got odd looks!
Though Dave loved to hunt turkeys, he would always find the time to take little squirmy, twitchy, can't be still me out in the woods with him. He taught me a lot: how to build a blind, how to shoot, and so much more. He had a nifty wicker backpack that he kept filled with woodsman supplies like an axe, a little shovel, matches, etc. I thought he was the coolest thing in the whole world. And I'm pretty sure that, in a wilderness setting, Dave would have taken Daniel Boone and shown him a thing or two. I think that for a little while, I sort of suspected he was Davy Crockett.
I remember visiting his trailer in Cherokee (he was I guess just out of college a few years before--though to me he seemed like an elder statesman) and he showed me some of the many things he was proud of. I recall having burgers there--though I'm not sure. There is another story that I've always loved about Dave feeding Connie, his soon to be wife, burgers made out of beaver. He knew she was the one for him when she didn't stop eating!
Dave loved Marengo County and the Black Belt so much that, when he had the chance, he moved to Forkland, Alabama (just north of Demopolis and right on the river) and put a trailer for his new family to live in. He built a beautiful house on the lot, mostly, if I recall, himself. In addition to being an amazing outdoorsman, he was quite the woodworker as well.
Dave and Connie had two boys, I grew up and moved away to college, but I always had and will always have a special place in my heart for the man who taught me so much about the outdoors and about life. Goodbye good friend. You'll be missed more than you could ever know.
Someone who meant the world to me growing up died unexpectedly yesterday: Dave Nelson. He retired from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources about a year ago. I'd like to write something a bit more about this later, but really just wanted to say something now:
I first met Dave Nelson when I was probably 5 years old. I may have been a little older or a little younger, but let's just call it 5. My Uncle Bill Watts lived in Florence, Alabama and had a cabin in Waterloo. My father loved to go there and visit and would go for several nights at a time. I don't know the full story, but Dave was working nearby, in Cherokee, Alabama, I think, with the Fish and Game Dept. or perhaps the Dept. of Natural Resources even then. He was an expert on wild turkeys and was using radio collars to track them and learn more about their behavior. My Uncle Bill was also involved with Fish and Game and I guess that's how they met. My father and Dave met sometime after that and, I guess, hit it off immediately.
Dave started coming to Octagon to visit soon after that. He LOVED to hunt turkeys and one thing Octagon had in abundance at that time was turkeys. He would come for several days, perhaps even a week, staying with us and eating breakfast. My sister Madeline was once asked how well she knew Dave. Her reply: "He's seen me in my night gown." That apparently always got odd looks!
Though Dave loved to hunt turkeys, he would always find the time to take little squirmy, twitchy, can't be still me out in the woods with him. He taught me a lot: how to build a blind, how to shoot, and so much more. He had a nifty wicker backpack that he kept filled with woodsman supplies like an axe, a little shovel, matches, etc. I thought he was the coolest thing in the whole world. And I'm pretty sure that, in a wilderness setting, Dave would have taken Daniel Boone and shown him a thing or two. I think that for a little while, I sort of suspected he was Davy Crockett.
I remember visiting his trailer in Cherokee (he was I guess just out of college a few years before--though to me he seemed like an elder statesman) and he showed me some of the many things he was proud of. I recall having burgers there--though I'm not sure. There is another story that I've always loved about Dave feeding Connie, his soon to be wife, burgers made out of beaver. He knew she was the one for him when she didn't stop eating!
Dave loved Marengo County and the Black Belt so much that, when he had the chance, he moved to Forkland, Alabama (just north of Demopolis and right on the river) and put a trailer for his new family to live in. He built a beautiful house on the lot, mostly, if I recall, himself. In addition to being an amazing outdoorsman, he was quite the woodworker as well.
Dave and Connie had two boys, I grew up and moved away to college, but I always had and will always have a special place in my heart for the man who taught me so much about the outdoors and about life. Goodbye good friend. You'll be missed more than you could ever know.
