July 2008 Archives

Not exactly sure what year this would be--I'm sure someone will have an idea. It is in a box with photos from 1975. Good times. Below left: Clark and Inez Watts holding grandchild (Stacy?). Below right: Margaret, Cynthia, Joe and Madeline enjoying a nice pose in the living room.

A simple Sunday night recipe of penne pasta tossed with some fresh vegetables from the farmers' market.

Penne Pasta and Garden Fresh Vegetables
1 each small peeled eggplant, yellow squash, green bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
2 cups cooked penne pasta
1/3 cup or so freshly grated Parmesan cheese
drizzle good quality extra virgin olive oil

Saute first 3 ingredients (veggies through shallot) in olive oil until tender. Add tomato and cook, over medium low heat, for 5 minutes. Add pasta, sprinkle with half of cheese and stir. Place in bowls and sprinkle with remaining cheese and drizzle with olive oil. Nothing could be simpler.

Monday already? So much to do, but so much depends on getting information from clients. I just finished a website for Aztec Construction last week (www.aztecconstructionco.com)--it is a small scale website with just a few pages and mostly photos. But one thing I have to say is that these were really nice people to work with. They knew what they wanted, made understandable changes once the initial work was done and boy did they pay fast! If they weren't commercial only construction, I'd look into having them do work on our house!

I'm working on finishing up a quick workshop/conference brochure for Alabama Communities of Excellence. I should have something finished for that this week sometime. I've made a good many additions to the Alabama's Front Porches website (www.alabamafrontporches.com)--a website I'm very excited about because I grew up in the Black Belt. Tourism is one of the answers for the black belt economy (certainly not the only answer, but it is a cost-effective way to bring in some economic development and tourism is clean, non-polluting economic development). There is still a long way to go in developing this website, but we've got almost 50 different attractions in the 11 county region listed with photos for most of the attractions. And, we've gotten some hits from interesting locations including Boeing and Northrop Grumman. Interesting evidence that tourism and a positive spin on quality of life issues makes an impact on economic development.

Much more work to do this week, including working on the Alabama Byways Wayfinding workshop to be held next month, working on a architect website and the usual work on my ongoing projects (just made several updates to my Your Town Alabama blog: www.yourtownalabama.org/blog).

WIlliam Sylvester Skinner, Joseph Gustavus Watts, William Lauren Skinner, William Skinner Watts, Annie Townsend Skinner Watts, Clark Etheldred Watts, Barvel Haddox Watts Photo  taken in 1934.

Annie Townsend Skinner was born on September 8, 1884, the third child of William S. and Amanda (Davis) Skinner in the small community of Miller, near Shiloh, Alabama. Although not as studious as her older sister Jane, she made up for that in friendliness and an ability to meet strangers readily. Townsend, called "Townie" by her brothers and sisters, knew everyone for miles around and visited often.

She married Joseph Gustavus Watts, born June 18, 1882, who was living with an uncle in the same community. They were married in the same church that her great grandfather had built in 1841.

For a short time they lived in Caledonia, Alabama, where his uncle had lived, then they moved back to the small community of Hiller where he engaged in farming. He built a home about a fourth of a mile from her father's place. After the death of William S. Skinner in 1936, Townsend and her family lived in the home place. That house is now owned by Townie's descendants.

Joseph died in July, 1949, from a heart attack. Townsend lived until Nov. 20, 1967, making her home with a son, but making a chain of visitations to her other children, going from one to another until she had made the rounds. It was on one of these visits to a daughter that she suddenly died with heart failure. She is buried in Laurel Cemetery.

[Annie Townsend Skinner Watts was my father's (Clark Watts) mother] This story is from the book A Family Called Skinner produced in 1984 by my cousin Julia McLean.

No time for family updates (well, as soon as I say that,I'm sure I'll break my word). I'm busy working on several projects this week: Alabama Communities of Excellence (ACE) has some website updates and also needs a new brochure for an upcoming event. Alabama's Front Porches (www.alabamafrontporches.com) has been languishing for the last few weeks in need of updates. I want to get more information out there for all the remaining counties represented. I still don't have all the information I need, but I've gotten some additional information and placed some of it online (most interesting is a birding trail that they have developed called the Piney Woods Birding Trail--has a lot of potential).

In addition to these projects, I've got my usual work to do, an Alzheimer's of Central Alabama patient art calendar to put together for 2009--I can't begin to imagine that 2009 is coming around so very soon!, and some work on the upcoming Bibb County tourism website. Lots to do and it is around 100 degrees here today. No desire to go outside.

Last night for dinner, we had something a bit different than our usual fare. I decided to use some of the remaining stone ground grits from Georgia that we had bought some weeks ago to make Shrimp and Grits. Grits (or polenta) cakes seemed a good idea.

For the Grits Cake:

1 cup stone ground grits
4 cups water (or use some chicken or vegetable broth to increase flavor)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt (use more if using only water/less if using canned broth)
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons olive oil
kernels from 1 large ear of corn
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 large green onions, chopped
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (use more if you want more cheese flavor)


Combine first 5 ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook on low, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. Meanwhile heat remaining oil in a skillet until hot. Add corn kernels and pepper flakes. Cook until corn begins to brown slightly (about 4 minutes).

Remove grits from heat, stir in corn, green onions and Parmesan cheese. Pour into a casserole dish, cover and place in fridge to chill. Let chill for at least 1 hour--this gives time for the grits to harden. Cut into approximately 4-6 squares. Add 2 tablespoons of butter to a hot cast iron skillet. Brown grits squares in butter until golden on each side (about 4 minutes per side). Remove to plate.

For the Alaskan Rock Fish (this would work with most any fish)

4 6-8 ounce fish fillets
freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste
juice and zest of one lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
Old Bay Seasoning to taste (I also used a Spanish Fish Rub that I found at Whole Foods)

Marinade fish for approximately 20-30 minutes. Place on very hot grill and reduce heat. Cook, covered, for about 4 minutes. Flip and cook for an additional 4-6 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillet.

For the Tomato Topping:

Roughly chop approximately 1 1/2 cups of assorted yellow and red grape or pear shaped tomatoes.

This was a really enjoyable meal made almost exclusively from vegetables from Grow Alabama and a simple package of salmon.

Honestly, this is more of a "throw it in the pot" kind of recipe. I didn't take extra care to right down exact amounts.

Okra, Corn and Tomatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 small onion, diced
about 10 pieces okra, cut into 1/3-1/2 inch pieces
2 large ears of corn, cut from the cob
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped roughly
salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste
1/4 to 1/3 cup white wine

Heat olive oil in skillet. Add garlic and onion. Saute over medium heat until softened. Add okra and corn. Cook for 2-4 minutes. Add tomato and seasoning. Cook for 3-5 minutes. Add enough white wine (or water) to keep from sticking. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5-10 minutes more.

Salmon Patties

1 package salmon (the plastic pack with skin/bone free salmon is my favorite, but drained canned salmon would work fine, too)
1 clove chopped garlic
2 green onions, chopped
1-3 tablespoons reduced-fat mayo
1 teaspoon stone ground mustard
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 -1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
garlic salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil

Mix ingredients together, adding additional mayo or breadcrumbs to reach the correct consistency (one that will form a nice patty). Form into two large patties. Coat patties with an additional breadcrumbs, patting into patties. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a cast iron skillet until hot. Add patties and cook approximately 3-4 minutes per side, until golden. Top with tarter sauce or a dollop of mayonnaise mixed with mustard and cayenne pepper.

How's that for a title? Well, that's also the name of the restaurant my friend Vance Holder and I went to for lunch today. Guess what they serve?

That's right, chicken and seafood. The restaurant actually got a "best of" from Southern Living magazine some years back for their fried chicken. They deserve it. The place is located in Centerpoint (on the Northeast side of Birmingham) across from the Serra Nissan (Ann and I found it several years ago when buying our Passat).

The chicken takes about 25 minutes, but that's because it comes to the table piping hot and fresh out of the fryer. One thing you don't need to add table side is the salt. They salt their fried chicken immediately after it comes out of the oil. My chicken (I had a wing, thigh, breast and leg) looked as if a gentle snow had fallen--but it didn't taste like too much salt at all.

Alongside the chicken was a reasonable slaw (not nearly as divine as Ezell's Catfish Place in Lavaca, Alabama), some tasty fries and three truly wonderful hush puppies. The hush puppies had a slightly crusty exterior with a soft, fluffy inside that actually had some flavor. The fries weren't anything to get excited about, but they were good.

That said, don't think anything will live up to the chicken. That's the undisputed star of the show. Golden, crispy, perfect. I'd highly suggest you take a trip out to give it a try--I wouldn't suggest doing it often, though or you just might die of a cardiac event. This was not light fare, but it is one of those places that celebrates the unique quality that restaurants strive for. They also have seafood--fried, of course, and, since Ann and I went last they've even added grilled chicken to the menu, though I can't fathom driving out to Centerpoint for a piece of their grilled chicken.

Seafood and Chicken in a Box (I love that name) is in a strip mall and from the outside looks like a dump. Once inside, it is clear that this isn't 5 star dining, but it was clean and neat. The two young men who waited on us were extremely friendly and helpful--and they even kept my tea glass full. That's a feat that doesn't happen often, and coupled with the extra salty food, I don't know how they did it. The total for the two of us: $22.00 plus tip.

Another newsletter for the Alabama Chapter of the Sierra Club. One of my favorite newsletter projects as I have the schedule for this newsletter down to a science.

Another in the list of relatives from the excellent family history "A Family Called Skinner," this documents my great grandfather's life (my dad, Clark Watts' grandfather on his mother's side). (I'll admit, I'm getting a little carried away with the genealogy stuff right now...)

William, better known as Bill or Billie, was the oldest son of Thomas Hosea and Martha Olivia (Perkins) Skinner. He was born April 26, 1854 at Shiloh, Alabama. His mother died when he was seven years old and his father married secondly, Martha' Louise Tucker. The children of his first and second wives were most agreeable, and love between them was outstanding. The older children looked upon the children of the second wife as their own brothers and sisters. There was also a wonderful relationship between the older children and their stepmother.

When William was about 16, he left home to go to a boys school, "Lower Peach Tree Academy in Alabama. There he studied the Blue Back Speller., and Bullion's Practical Grammar. William was a mischievous boy and a few quips and notations are penciled in the margins of the pages.

William married Amanda Antoinette Davis, born January 24, 1858. She was the daughter of Captain Stephen and Julia Antoinette (Scranton) Davis of Brooklyn, New York, who had moved from Brooklyn to Shiloh, Alabama, shortly after the War Between the States.

William had erected a two-room house about four miles from Shiloh where he took his bride. They went on their honeymoon to Mobile, going by boat on the Tombigbee River, which usually took from two to three days.

William set up a saw mill in Marengo County, and had a commissary to provide for the mill hands. On his farm he raised cotton which he shipped in bales to Mobile.

William loved sports, and at every opportunity he would go fishing or hunting, as well as when there was no opportune time. On some occasions when he was getting well up in years, some of the family went fishing with him but were pushed to keep up with him for none could keep up the rigorous pace and accept the accommodations that he could survive. He went to the same Presbyterian Church at Laurel that his grandfather had built in 1843, and was from time to time, a deacon or elder.

He was an avid reader, especially interested in history. He was excellent in math and often was called upon to work out an equation that some teacher had failed to get. He was a champion checkers player and played with people.

He was a faithful member of the Order of the Masons and for many years he was Worshipful Master of his lodge. He was a Justice of the Peace for many years, and his children remember him performing many marriage ceremonies at his house. If it was warm he performed the ceremony on the porch; if it was cold, he invited them into the parlor.

Yesterday, Ann and I celebrated our 11th anniversary. She took the day off and we enjoyed a nice, quiet day together topped off by a fantastic dinner out at one of Frank Stitt's restaurants: Chez Fonfon. (Chilled green tomato soup for an appetizer and swordfish over eggplant and tomatoes for Ann and a beautiful rare  ribeye steak with thin fries and salad for me. Yum!

Hard to believe it has been 11 years. This time (July 12 morning) 11 years ago, we were on a plane making our way to Vancouver, B.C. to board a cruise to Alaska. What a great trip.

UPDATE: This was posted earlier as just a really cool photo my Uncle Edward Waddell took. Now, with the help of sister Suzanne, I've got a little more information: The little boy on the car in Alaska ( I believe) was either Jimmy or Billy Skinner. They lived in Alaska until Nathan was killed while working there.  The child looks very much like a one of the Skinner boys.

Uncle Edward took this photo in 1952, from the looks of it in Alaska--or at least on a car with Alaska plates. I can't begin to imagine how he took such stellar photographs. He always loved taking photos--I'd love to find a way to do something more meaningful with all his slides.

Another in the series of stories about my relatives. My Aunt Gladys Watts Waddell, whose husband was Edward Waddell (also great and frequently mentioned as the man with the camera!) was awesome. She never had children, but she treated us like grandchildren. She and Uncle Edward were the best. At left, my aunt and uncle stand in front of their house in Linden, Alabama (sometime, I suspect in the early 1970's) after moving from Huntsville, Alabama, (correction, my sister Suzanne explained that the house shown in the picture is actually their house in Huntsville--and I was just thinking that they had aged amazingly well) where they lived from the late 1950's after moving from Alaska. One of the many, many things my Aunt Gladys did was make the most amazing chocolate chip cookies. So wonderful they were that I managed to get a story about them in one of the Southern Living Christmas cookbooks.  I only wish that the original story that went with it was still there. The basic story was that I'd hide my box of wonderful cookies and dole out one or, if they were very, very lucky, two cookies to my sisters. Then, the box would disappear in my room, hidden carefully to avoid detection.

Later, this little story of her life will certainly have to be updated, but for now, here it is:

Gladys Antoinette Watts: Received a diploma from State Normal School at Livingston, Alabama which was at that time, a two year college. She received a B.S. degree from the University of Alabama. In 1935 she went to Alaska and taught at Kodiak, a territorial school; Akiachak, an Indian Service School on the Kuskokwun River; Eklutera, a boarding school for Eskimos and Indian children; and Tanana on the Yukon River. Later she taught in the Anchorage City Schools. While in Alaska she married Edward Waddell, nephew of the Superintendent of Education in Alaska. They left Alaska in 1956 and lived in Huntsville, Alabama, where Edward worked for NASA and Gladys taught school. Upon retirement, they moved to Linden, Alabama. She lived in Linden until her death in 2003. As she aged, she broke a hip and had several other ailments, finally moving into the Linden nursing home. Several years before the move to the nursing home, she was asked if this was really hard. Her answer: "I made it through many winters in Alaska, eating frozen fish and dog sledding to my teaching job. This is nothing compared to an Alaskan winter."

Well, I don't normally add things like this to my blog, but this seems to be in the spirit of my blog--at least in the way that it is about Alabama. And hey, the Alabama Tourism Department uses the line Sweet Home Alabama as the slogan for the state (I still like Alabama the Beautiful, but Sweet Home is pretty fitting as well. Anyway, the band is called the Leningrad Cowboys and this reportedly takes place with the Red Army Symphony. Fun stuff!

Genealogy is exciting stuff. My brother-in-law Bill Till has gotten me started. He has put together an impressive collection of genealogical information on ancestry.com. I'm in the process of filling in some of the pieces, particularly as they relate to photos and stories. One of the really valuable resources is the "A Family Called Skinner" book my cousin Julia Skinner McLean produced in the 1980's--a real testament to a time when cut and paste literally meant scissors and tape. The book is filled with genealogical information, but, more important to me, it is also filled with the stories of these people. The research can come up with most of the connections that tie us to the past. What it can't do is tell us how our ancestors lived and if they were characters filled with humor and laughter or serious work. This book helps fill that void. Below is the story of my father, Clark  Watts. It is short and needs so much more information as the "War years" lasted only a short time and the many years of being raised in Miller, Alabama, the years--and I mean many years--raising a family, the time after retiring--all that is a story still not told. But this is a wonderful place to start:

Clark Ethelred Watts: saw continuous service in World War II. He was assigned to the 544th Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment. A demolition specialist and light truck driver, his basic training was on the beaches of Florida. His Company was the first to invade and liberate Luzon from the Japanese in the Philippine Islands. From there he was sent to Manila. He was among the first troops to 1and on the shore of Wakayama, Honshu, Japan. For his service he was awarded the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Ribbon, New Guinea Campaign Bronze Star, Luzon Campaign Bronze Star, Bronze Arrowhead, four Overseas Service Bars, World War II Victory Medal and the Drivers and the Mechanics Badge. His Commanding Officer cited Clark as a "conscientious soldier who, with others like him, succeeded in the war mission." After WWII, he worked for Lauren Skinner as a mechanic in Thomaston, Alabama before working for American Can in Pennington, Alabama.

His service record is attached here:
clark_watts_service3.pdf

I'm just about finished with another website, this time for someone who found me through, as usual, another client. My friend Laura Nichols at Tyler Eaton (whose website I did several years ago) suggested that the folks at Aztec Construction contact me. They did and the result, still in draft form, is below.

Here is the book "One Family Called Skinner" by Julia Skinner McLean. This covers my father's maternal side pretty well in terms of genealogy.  I've divided the book into 2 parts. The first, with most of the photos and history of the Skinner family, is pretty large (over 20 megs) so it will take a long time to download. Part 2 is a little shorter and has fewer pictures, so it is only 8 megs. If you want to download either section, just let me know and I'll send the link separately!

While there, brother-in-law Bill Till and I went to one of the family cemeteries located in Shiloh, Alabama.

Mid-1940's. No idea who the other person is. Luckily someone wrote on the back of some of these photos before putting them into a photo album. Let this be a lesson to anyone--make sure you label your photos carefully!

Not really sure who Tommy is. Anyone? Ashley Drake of Thomaston emailed to let me know that this photo is in Thomaston, in front of City Hall, though the building was once a dance hall and a library. Interesting!

Lucky my Mama wrote on this one--though I wish it had been on the back of the photo. Would be easy enough to clone out the "Sis" portion as it is on the sidewalk. Better to leave it in.

Another newsletter completed for AIA Birmingham. Originally planned as a short newsletter, it grew a bit. Still much, much, much shorter than the Design Awards special edition last month. Overall, pretty pleased. We announced the completion of the redesign of the AIA website and I've been making small edits to the site to tighten up small issues (mainly spacing issues and wording changes). www.aiabham.org.

In addition to this newsletter/website, I've been working on completing the Aztec Construction website. We're still in the design phase, but think it is pretty much complete.

I'm working with the Alabama Department of Transportation and the Scenic Byways Advisory Council to set up a workshop at the end of August for all of Alabama's scenic byways. The workshop will be held in Birmingham (well, actually in Leeds, Alabama: Home of the Stagecoach Route Scenic Byway) at the Barber Motorsports Museum. Should be a great venue and will probably help make it even more attractive to folks! The workshop will last all day and we're bringing in several trainers from the National Scenic Byways Program to conduct the workshop. The basic premise of the workshop is on way finding and way showing as they relate to the byway traveler. The workshop will be particularly helpful to byway leaders around Alabama, but should prove useful to anyone interested in tourism in Alabama.

What exactly have I been doing up since 5:30? See the photo below for the answer!

Well, honestly I wasn't up taking this photo. Ann took the photo several days ago after seeing an earlier post of mine with a less than stellar photo of Samantha, our new kitty. But Samantha is certainly the reason for my early morning awakeness. When the first ray of sun (or actually pre-dawn light) hits the room, she is up and ready for business.

Please help! This is an old slide, I suspect from the 1920's or 1930's. I'm just not sure who this is. I suspect, but don't know, that the boy in the photo is Uncle Bud. I really don't even know where this might have been taken. Perhaps at the log cabin behind the house in Octagon?

The photo was not really in the best of shape, but a little playing around and I was able to get this much at least.