Montgomery AL - City Sights

NOTE:  I've been busy this past week with other projects but wanted to post SOMETHING else to end the week, so I'm adding some photos I took last summer during a downtown Montgomery photowalk.   I love the development taking place on the riverfront and am so glad to see how much and how often people are enjoying this "new" area!

Lowndesboro AL - CME Church

"The Church is not a gallery for the exhibition of eminent Christians,

but a school for the education of imperfect ones."

(Henry Ward Beecher)

NOTE:  Built in the early 1830's, the Methodist-Protestant Church (as it was originally named) is a typical end-gabled structure with a portico across the entire front, supported by four wooden columns. Inside, narrow stairs on either side at the rear of the sanctuary lead to the balcony.  The small octagonal steeple topped with a copperplated dome once adorned the first Alabama State Capitol at Cahaba.

Montgomery AL - Harriott II Riverboat

NOTE:  Nothing finer than cruising along the Alabama River aboard the Harriott II.  This 19th century riverboat is docked at the newly developed Montgomery Riverfront and offers great family entertainment including wonderful food, drinks, and music.   For more info, go here.

Prattville AL - Buena Vista

It is a well-known fact that I have a great weakness for historic homes.  

Took these photos today while visiting Buena Vista and 

waiting for my daughter's photo session to finish up.

Millbrook AL - Alabama Nature Center

The Alabama Nature Center, located at Lanark in Millbrook, Alabama, offers hands-on, outdoor-based educational programs and activities for students, educators, church and civic groups, and the general public.   Lanark and the new Alabama Nature Center contain 350 acres of striking forests, fields, streams, wetlands and ponds that are traversed by five miles of boardwalks and trails in three regions: Still Creek Run, Turkey Ridge, and Hilltop Pass.  With the completion of Phase I, they now have five miles of trails and boardwalks to explore along with a new 4,000-square-foot outdoor pavilion.   Source:  http://www.alabamawildlife.org/alabama-nature-center/

I took these photos during a nature photography workshop in May of 2008.  

Wetumpka AL - Bibb Graves Bridge/Coosa River

Wetumpka's beautiful focal point is one of only two suspended concrete reinforced bridges in the state of Alabama. It is the fourth bridge to span the Coosa River at Wetumpka, the fate of the first was unknown, the second was a covered bridge that was washed away in the "Great Flood of 1866" and the third was an iron bridge that was replaced by the current one in 1931. 

I took these photos today just before dinner at "Our Place" followed by a play presented by the Wetumpka Depot Players.  (BTW, dinner and play were both excellent!)

Montgomery AL - A Trip to the Zoo

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, 

where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike." 

(John Muir, 1838-1914)

Montgomery AL - A Trip to the Zoo

Enjoy lunch with the giraffes at the Overlook Cafe!

Montgomery AL - A Trip to the Zoo

Dignity comes not from control, but from understanding who you are 

and taking your rightful place in the world.  -- Anonymous

Montgomery AL - A Trip to the Zoo

Montgomery AL - A Trip to the Zoo

It was beautiful in Montgomery today, with bright sunshine and temperatures in the mid-60s, and an excellent opportunity for a field trip to the Montgomery Zoo.    I'll be posting more photos from this trip throughout the coming week.

Loundesboro AL - Marengo House

Marengo was originally built in 1837 in Autauga County, but in 1847, the house was dismantled and moved across the river and reconstructed in its current location in Lowndesboro, Alabama.  The house is  owned by the Lowndesboro Landmarks Foundation.  In the summer of 2007, Lesley Bailey, owner of "Silver Spoon Caterers" and "Extraordinary Event Planning"  became the proprietor to develop it as a wedding and event menu.

Montgomery AL - Blount Cultural Park

WEE TOP - Built originally as an administrative office and model for whether or not a thatched roof building would survive in Alabama, this small, two-story structure that now sits in the heart of Wynton M. Blount Cultural Park provides a meeting place for groups who want to explore the park's various sites. At the head of a new parking lot, the English-style structure with a roof thatched by workers from Ireland is surrounded by a terrace, a rock seating ledge, and landscaping. The structure and garden surrounding the building may be available as a central administrative point for groups hosting events in the park or provide a restful spot for a picnic.  (Source:  http://www.blountculturalpark.org/)

Montgomery AL - Blount Cultural Park

BRIDGE, THUNDERHOUSE, AND VIEWING DECK - Reminiscent of the English countryside, the wood and stone bridge that crosses a lake near an entrance to the park provides a romantic setting for those who drive or walk through the park.  The Thunderhouse provides a shelter during an unexpected rainstorm for walkers and runners, and it offers a viewing deck and restful spot to see the weir and lake.  (Source:  http://www.blountculturalpark.org/)

Prattville AL - Autauga Creek

Lowndesboro AL - Happy Valentine's Day

Montgomery AL - Cotton Picking Snow

(View from my front door)

There's a little snow left on the rooftops and in the shadows this morning, but the sun is shining brightly and I know it will all be gone quickly.  I like this shot because, at first glance, the snow looks like cotton waiting to be picked and is much more typical of what we would see in Alabama.

Montgomery AL - Snow Day!

(View of the city park from my backyard)

What is it about snow that can make an adult act like a kid?  

Yes, we know the little bit of snow falling across Alabama today is nothing compared

 to what other parts of the nation have been hit with this winter, but. . .

 this snow is all ours

 and it won't last long 

and we're going to enjoy it while it's here!!

Montgomery AL - Hampstead Farms

The sunflower is not one flower, but a cluster of more than 2000 tiny flowers growing together...

go and have a closer look next time you come face to face with one.

Hampstead Farms is located within the Town of Hampstead 
off Taylor Road in Montgomery, Alabama.    

Montgomery AL - Steiner & Lobman Building

You'll be glad to know that there is nothing in the casket-like container that sits on top of the Steiner-Lobman building at the east corner of Commerce Street and Tallapoosa Street in Montgomery, Alabama.  Old folklore tells the story of a man who wanted to be buried there so he could forever look out over the beautiful city of Montgomery.  Although that is only fiction,  a large number of people in surrounding communities believe the story to be true.

Montgomery AL - Berry Cold Weather

The trouble with weather forecasting is that it's right too often for us to ignore it

 and wrong too often for us to rely on it. 

(Patrick Young)

Lowndesboro AL - Marengo Morning

Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!

Look to this Day!

For it is Life, the very Life of Life.

In its brief course lie all the 

Verities and Realities of your Existence.

The Bliss of Growth,

The Glory of Action,

The Splendor of Beauty;

For Yesterday is but a Dream,

And Tomorrow is only a Vision;

But Today well lived makes 

Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,

And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.

Look well therefore to this Day!

Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!

(Kalidasa)

Montgomery AL - Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.  
Art is knowing which ones to keep.
(Scott Adams)

Founded in 1930, the MMFA is the oldest fine arts museum in Alabama.  The Museum is located on 35+ acres of land donated to the City of Montgomery by Mr. and Mrs. Winton M. Blount as part of the Wynton M. Blount Cultural Park.   The facility contains 73,000 square feet of interior space, including 30,000 square feet of exhibition space, extensive education facilities, a 240-seat state-of-the-art auditorium, a fine arts library of more than 5,000 volumes, storage and preparation areas with a sophisticated climate-controlled system, a gift shop and a cafe.  (Source:  www.mmfa.org)  Admission is free!

Lowndesboro AL - St Marks United Methodist Church

People are like stained-glass windows.
They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, 

but when the darkness sets in,

their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.

(Elizabeth K. Ross)