Creative Kids Show Their Stuff

This past weekend was Birmingham's Art Walk. Artists were tucked in every nook and cranny of the downtown loft district. At Space One Eleven, I fell in love with these colorful wind socks created by students that benefit from their terrific program for Birmingham's youth.

TWO THINGS CHALLENGE: Apple/Eye

Well I think I 'm on a roll here. This is my THIRD week in a row to join the Two Things Challenge crew. This week's theme is APPLE/EYE. I had bag full of apples to try and shoot, but I stopped by the Pepper Place Market yesterday for just a few minutes. Look at this little cutie EYEING the APPLES! Oh yes!!!

To see how the rest of the gang interpreted our theme this week click here.

BLOG WORD A DAY

From Biz Stone's book Who Let the Blogs Out

Linky Love - Noun. To link to another blogger or link to another blogger because they have linked to you.

Yeah, Biz is going to be linking to my blog any day now! :)

Monsieur Soleil

Oh I know what you're thinking, "Virginia's gotten her two blogs mixed up again!" While not unheard of , this photograph today is not from Paris, but right here in English Village at the oh so European , Continental Bakery. Monsieur Soleil is a papier-mâché "puppet" for lack of a better word, that was part of the May Day festivities in the spring. I'm a little partial to la tour Eiffel in the background as well. Bon weekend everyone!!!

BLOG WORD A DAY

From Biz Stone's book Who Let the Blogs Out

Blogstipation - Noun. Writer's block for bloggers!

Bottle Tree, Another Look

We visited The Bottle Tree last July. When there's not live entertainment, they show vintage TV shows and cartoons here. ( So now TV shows that I watched growing up are considered "vintage", well that's unsettling! ) I've never stayed really late, who knows what they might be showing then!!! Located on Birmingham's southside, this is a great place to meet for drinks and dinner. Give it a try!

BLOG WORD A DAY

From Biz Stone's book Who Let the Blogs Out

BLURKER - noun. A blog reader who leaves no comments and does not have a blog; a silent reader of blogs

I for one am most grateful to all the "blurkers" out there who so faithfully read my blogs!

Birmingham Rouge III - Deux Chaises

This is a photo I've tried before. I finally got it last week on the back patio of Chez Fonfon. You know what I'm remembering.......Paris! Oh, and it fits with my Chair Series!

BLOG WORD A DAY

from Biz Stone's Who Let the Blogs Out

HITOSIS - Noun. Unable to stop oneself from checking blog stats.

( You know who you are, well maybe I'm there too! )

The Old Mill

Fondly referred to as "The Old Mill", this private home in Mountain Brook started out as a tearoom and clubhouse for social functions back in the day. Today, it still draws a lot of admirers. Since I pass it each day on my walk, I decided to finally stop and take a few photos!

BLOG WORD A DAY

Blogger Bash -Noun. A get together or party arranged and attended by bloggers.

From Biz Stone's book Who Let the Blogs Out

(What could be more fun? Maybe more blogger bashes in my future? I hope so!)

Chef Mark

Last week I ducked into Chez Fonfon before they opened, to see if I could prowl around for more photos. You know from past posts that this is a favorite haunt of mine. Who did I see, smiling at me through the window of the kitchen? Why Chef Mark! Someone for my 100 Strangers you ask?? Heavens no, I taught Mark in third grade! I know Mark's whole family and loved his sweet Momma to pieces. What a thrill to see him again, and I'm looking forward to having dinner there real soon and letting him whip up something special! You're never too old to brown nose your teacher are you??

BLOG WORD A DAY

Today begins a new feature here at BADP. I just finished reading Who Let the Blogs Out, by Biz Stone. A fascinating read that chronicles the history of blogging and gives a lot of helpful tips if you are more computer savvy than I. Biz was nice enough to include a glossary in the back. I thought I'd give you a word a day for a while. I think even the more seasoned bloggers, as well as many of my non-blogging readers will enjoy them. We'll start with the basics and work our way down.

blog

Noun. A personal website that provides updated headlines and news articles of other sites that are of interest to the user, also may include journal entries, commentaries, and recommendations compiled by the user; also written weblog, Web log. Verb. To compose and publish a blog entry.

So Long Summer - 2009

Back in the good ole days, when the kids didn't go back to school till after Labor Day (instead of the first week in August), today marked the end of summer and the beginning of fall. It was set in stone, along with the mandate that no white shoes etc were to be worn one minute past Labor Day!!!! The new school calendar around here leaves one a bit bewildered about exactly when fall begins, but I'm going with Labor Day. Now if you live in Birmingham, you won't be packing up those summer clothes for about a month or maybe two, or even thinking about whipping a pot of chili. But we do have the start of our college football, and autumn leaves are already scattered around my yard even though the AC is still chugging. So today, I offer this farewell to summer.... a cool, delicious photo from the lemonade guy at the Pepper Place Market, and Billie Holliday is even going to croon "Summertime" just for you!!!

Serenity

The Japanese Gardens at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens is a lovely serene place. The last time I posted photographs here, I made a new and very special friend. Since then we have shared a leisurely lunch and exchanged many emails. I decided to let her choose the photograph she liked best for this post. (She chose my favorite.) Quelle surprise!

I'm in Love Again!

Oh I'm so fickle. Last winter I declared my undying love for the spiffy red pickup that lives down the street. Alas, someone else has won my heart. I was leaving the Pepper Place Market last week and there was this great red hunk of burning love, all parked and ready for me to jump right in! Red convertible, white interior...... well that brought back some fond memories! So what's a girl to do?? SIGH!

Since we've gone right down Memory Lane, I offer this song by Mary MacGregor....."Torn Between Two Lovers"! here LOL!!!

Creating the Magic

The evil White Witch takes shape

OK, I've been teasing you all with my new "project" long enough. I've been asked by the Birmingham Children's Theater, actually that cute Nancy Jones who could sweet talk the horns right off a billy goat, to chronicle their fall production of C.S.Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, from start to finish! In high school I was much too shy ( oh stop the guffaws and knee slapping...I was!) to ever try out for a part in the school plays. I preferred to work behind the scenes with props etc. Well now I get to re-live the fun of watching a stage production unfold. Oh, did I mention that I read the book no less than 15 times to my third graders over the years? It was one of my most favorite read alouds. And don't fret, I'll give you peeks at the action from time to time!

Today, meet Emily Blanche. Emily hails from Fullerton, California and is here to construct the whimsical, mythical Narnia characters in puppet form. I was just fascinated with her renderings and watching her patiently hand sewing the puppets. What a talented artist she is!

Photos will be updated weekly on my Facebook here and on my Flickr set here.

Mr. Beaver will soon come to life!

Connecting People and the Community

Tuesday I had the pleasure of connecting with yet another wonderful organization here in Birmingham. The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, " established as a public charity in 1958, is dedicated to connecting people and resources with community needs and opportunities to make life better, today and tomorrow." They are celebrating 50 years with a fascinating project. Each week for 50 weeks they are highlighting one of "50 Ways to Love Your Community". I met Emily Jones Rushing, their Director of Communications, at the Birmingham Children's Theater. Emily wants to add the BCT as one of their 50 ways. I think that's a terrific idea. I had the chance to photograph these two exuberant canvases, painted by attendees at a recent Foundation gathering. I'd gladly hang these on my walls. Aren't they great??

PS More about the Birmingham Children's Theatre later. I've started my exciting photography project for them. There will be lots of photos to follow.

Left in Remembrance?

Last June I had a wonderful, if brief trip through the Cemetière du Montparnasse in Paris with my friend Mary Gilbert from Cincinnati. Mary is a devoted Francophile and docent at the Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinatti. While we were there I noticed pebbles arranged in circles on many of the grave stones. Mary explained that it is a Jewish custom to leave a stone when you visit. Yesterday I stopped by the Union Hill Cemetery for another look around. This nut atop a marker reminded me of that.

September Theme Day - BIG

DREAM BIG!

May I just say once again, how many doors Birmingham Alabama Daily Photo has opened for me? Today's post is another example of how fortunate I am to be able to go out into my community and photograph and write about the wonderful things taking place all over this city.

Saturday I was invited to visit Willow Woods Community Center in Birmingham's Woodlawn neighborhood. It was parent orientation for an exciting new program. Thanks to Church of the Highland's Dream Center outreach program, some mighty excited little girls are going to be taking ballet lessons for the very first time. Saturday the Briarwood Presbyterian's Exaltation company performed for the future ballerinas and their families. It was thrilling to watch. Their enthusiastic ballet instructor, Adair Whetstone, happens to be a dear friend, and she has offered to let me come back to class and take some more photographs as these young girls begin to live out their dreams. Lucky girls, lucky parents, lucky me!

Today, City Daily Photo Bloggers all around the world are putting their unique spin on this BIG theme.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Note: As this blog has expanded my circle of friends around the world , it has increased my personal awareness of how natural disasters ( not to mention political ones) affect them. Right now our friends in California are living through the nightmare of devastating wildfires. We worry for them, their neighbors and the heroes that fight the fires around the clock.