Recently in personal Category

Had to search through some old boxes for a book I needed to complete a project this afternoon. No luck with the book, of course, but did manage to come across a nice letter. Really reminded me of Mama. People do not send letters like this anymore. She managed to share a tidbit that might help me with our backyard, tell a cute story about racoons, remind me about Ms. Florence Mooring, inform me that my shoes (hastily forgotten on my previous visit) would arrive with my sister and that my niece had found a job. Oh, and she shared information about my dad. Oh, how I miss her.

Here is the letter:

Dear Joe,

Just today I went through a stock of papers and this backyard with fountain just happened to be among them. I thought you might get some ideas.

Guess what? Today I noticed some movement of the trumpet vine that remains on the side porch. Slowly, very slowly, there emerged three very small raccoons--getting off the roof onto the downspout. The mother was very patient. The coons were very cautious. I decided to call Florence and see if she could bring Ashley to see them. While I waited for them, I watched them climb down to the porch, explore everything on it, and then disappear before Ashley got here. How sad! I did fix her some cookies to take with her.

Did you hear more movement than usual when you were here? I don't know how, but I believe they've been in the attic.

Julia will bring your shoes when she comes for her doctor's appointment. I'm sure Stacy will be with her. She, too, has an appointment, I think. I understand that she has been accepted as Special Education instructor at the high school in Thomasville. She also interviewed in Grove Hill, but this will be easier for her--no travel.

I plan to go see Papa tomorrow. I went yesterday and things are about the same.

July 27

I love you,

Mama

Wow! 2009 has been a pretty great year, overall. I've gotten to work on some fun projects, meet some interesting new people, reconnect with others and basically have a lot of fun.

Some of the projects I've spent a great deal of time on in the last few years are finally starting to show some real progress: notably the Alabama Scenic Byways Program. The 10 year anniversary of the creation of the program is this spring and we now have 10 scenic byways in our state, including the brand new nationally recognized Coastal Connection, named a National Scenic Byway in October of this year. I'm really proud to have played a small part in seeing that project move forward! (Even got interviewed on the radio about it--not a big fan of hearing my own voice, much to the shock of anyone who has been in a car with me--but it turned out to be less painful than I thought.)

Other projects include the following:

Some fun work on the Lower Cahaba River. We've installed signs in several locations pointing out the many attractions in a four county region (Bibb, Dallas, Hale and Perry Counties). A website  has been developed to highlight the attractions and to bring the many resources together into one location--www.lowercahaba.com.


I continued to work on the Alabamafrontporches.com website and some brochures to go along with it. The most exciting part of this in 2009 has been the great Ghost Stories work done by Linda Vice and some filmmakers. (I did a brochure to go along with the videos.)

And, of course, the fun trips friend Ben Burford and I went on down into the Black Belt to take photos, eat the food and see the area from the eyes of a tourist.

Christmas 2009 in Octagon. Got to see my very photogenic great niece along with my sister and her grandmother Julia.

Thanks to one of my sisters for sending this photo of Mama (front row second from left). Linden High School, Linden, Alabama.

Ann and I have been on the go the last couple of weeks. Two weeks ago, we went to San Destin for a work-related trip and then headed to Santa Rosa the following weekend with Ann's mom for a short vacation planned well before we knew we were heading to Paris or to San Destin just the week before (the last trip was actually one of the items we "won" at a silent auction for Alzheimer's of Central Alabama). Anyway, it was a great trip and very relaxing. Here's one of the photos I took. I'm trying to use the photo I uploaded onto Flickr earlier, so we'll see how that works:

Friend Ben Burford's hilarious--and painstakingly detailed--new book about Chevy 6--and a two disc music cd with loads of classics.

http://blog.al.com/aharvey/2009/10/chevy_6.html

By Alec Harvey -- The Birmingham News

Where were you the night of April 27, 1974? How about Jan. 7, 1989? Or Oct. 3, 2008?

Ben Burford can tell you where he was on those dates, plus about 2,655 others.

It's all chronicled in "Chevy 6 - 35rpm," a year-by-year look at the first 35 years of one of Birmingham's most popular party bands.

Made a surprisingly quick and tasty dinner last night.

Had a green tomato that I soaked in buttermilk before coating with a combination of Italian breadcrumbs, cornmeal and flour. I then re-dipped in buttermilk lightly and added a crust of panko breadcrumbs.

I chopped and seeded a fresh tomato (really beautiful one, at that) and combined it with a handful of chopped fresh basil, a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of kosher salt. (I let this sit for about an hour to develop flavor)

I added a handful of fresh arugula to a plate and drizzled it with sherry vinegar and the extraordinary Italian olive oil that our Parisian friends shared with us on our recent trip. I sliced some fresh mozzarella and added one slice to the top of the arugula.

Heated about an inch of canola oil (olive oil would be great, but didn't have any) to high and added the green tomato slices. Cooked until nice and brown, about 8 minutes or so (turning a time or two).

Pulled out, drained briefly and immediately placed on top of the cheese. Another slice of cheese and then a final tomato slice. Topped with the chopped fresh tomatoes and basil. Very, very good!

What a great time! More on the trip in the coming week, but I've posted some photos to flickr. Just visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/joewatts/. I really need to add a link to flickr on my blog.

We saw lots, ate lots, walked LOTS and LOTS and took lots of photos. Between the two of us, we took 1200 photos (don't worry, I won't post them all!).

So very good. More photos to follow later!

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.

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.

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)

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!

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.