How High's The Water Mama?

Before and After the Rain

After a day full of tornado warnings and torrential rain here in Plantersville Alabama. We are now under a flood warning.Weather Reports say that there is a 40% chance of snow tonight and 60% tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Johnny Cash/Skywatch Friday

"Ring Of Fire"

How fitting ......the sunset came with the title "Ring Of Fire" on his birthday!

This photo was taken two days ago and I just had to use it for Johnny Cash

Click Above for more Skywatch

Alan Messer

I had the privilege to photograph Alan Messer in Starkville Mississippi last year .

You will be amazed to know who he has had the honor to photograph!!!

His work is just amazing!!!!
For his Bio Click HERE

Take a tour through Alan's world of Photography ......HERE

Happy Birthday Kimberly

Happy Birthday Kimberly!

I juat want to thank you for being a part of our family, making my son walk two inches above the ground and being the best Mommy in the world to Aubrey.

Much Love To You Darlin!!!

Counting The Days

Enough Cold Weather

This photo was taken last spring.
Now I will just dream for a for more weeks till my Gladiola's make their 2009 debut!

Her Daddy Makes Her Laugh

After spending a few hours with my son and his baby girl, I have come to realize what an awesome Daddy he is .He sure can make her happy!

Foxy

My latest painting was inspired by the fox that I have been looking at for the past month out in the field behind my house.

All Is Clear/Skywatch Friday

After bad storms in our area yesterday ........ all is clear!

For more Skywatch click here!

A Happy Meal Please!

A Giant Ronald McDonald!

While in Tuscaloosa, Alabama I just had to stop and take a shot at McDonald's.

Times sure have changed from the original fast food buildings!

Make sure you stop Here to see what else is happening in Tuscaloosa.

Rosemary

I cook with many herbs but one of my favorites here lately is "Rosemary."
Not only is it great to cook with it is also nice in a vase or in a simmer pot.The fragrance is soothing.I have also been told that adding a little Lavender with the Rosemary is just wonderful.

My Rosemary Baked Potato Recipe
(for one potato)
1 Large Potato
1 Pinch Rosemary
Dash of Ground Black Pepper
Dash of Garlic Powder
1 Slice Of Yellow Onion

Slice raw potato in half, and add all above.Wrap in foil and bake till done.
I use the squeeze test with a pot holder to check.Make sure it gives and not still firm.

Roxy's Making Her Debut

While sitting in the grass with my Roxy this past Sunday I just had to take a photo of her.The weather was in the low 70's and our Monster Grill was going as Roxy was trying to say,"All is well with my world."

See Rock City

Growing up in the 60's and 70's many family trips to areas where "See Rock City" was on just about every barn we passed.
I just loved the story behind those barns and wanted to share it with you

Since 1935, they have stood as genuine highway Americana, their bold white-on-black signs compelling motorists to a spot near Chattanooga, Tennessee, where they could "See Rock City."But the Rock City barns that once dotted the map from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico are disappearing, bowing to time's decay or being replaced by other marketing mediums.

In 2000, Rock City marked the 65th anniversary since the barns first appeared as advertising icons, fewer than 100 remain out of a rural network that once numbered near 900. Clark Byers painted the barns for three decades and became a legend in his own right by braving bulls, slippery roofs and lightning bolts. When he retired in 1969, he had painted some 900 barns in 19 states. He died in 2004. His successor, Jerry Cannon, has handled the brushwork on the barns Rock City still maintains.

Today, spotting one of these ever-recognizable structures not only gives tourists a look at a historic landmark, but takes them on a nostalgic jaunt back to a time when motorists drove blacktop lanes in search of family fun. But as you travel through with your car or RV, keep your eyes out: a few of the famous barns remain.

DEPRESSION-WEARY AMERICANS were just rekindling their love affair with the automobile when a marketing brainstorm by Garnet Carter turned some country barns into billboards that spread the word on Rock City's come-hither charms.Carter was a promotional genius who invented Tom Thumb miniature golf, developed a sprawling warren of wealthy men's mountaintop homes and, in 1932, opened his wife's lushly landscaped gardens to the public.A 10-acre preserve of panoramic views and millenniums-old geologic formations, the site the Carter's christened "Rock City Gardens" had had its ancient marvels further enhanced by Frieda Carter. She had transplanted 400 species of wildflowers and shrubs along trails she'd marked out and strewn with pine needles--a botanical bounty that earned Rock City a coveted award from the Garden Club of America."Beautiful Beyond Belief," is how some of the barn signs billed Rock City, "The Eighth Wonder Of The World," according to others. "Bring Your Camera," urged many of the messages because, "When You See Rock City, You See The Best."The man behind both the slogans and the signs was 22-year-old Clark Byers, a self-taught painter who worked for a Chattanooga advertising firm. "When I started, Mr. Carter told me what barns to paint from the ones he'd made notes on while driving up and down U.S. 41," he said.Later, Clark himself made the contacts with farmers whose barns flanked the sides of the old "Snowbird's Route to Florida."The usual arrangement was that the property-owner received free passes to the attraction and an armload of promotional wares (like Rock City thermometers), along with the free painting for the use of his barn as an advertising aid. Those who needed no thermometers might be paid a modest sum of $3, as well."In the beginning, we mixed up our own paint using lampblack and linseed oil," said Clark Byers. "There were no such things as rollers; we used a 4-inch brush, never had to measure letters and always worked freehand.""Once that paint got on, there was no getting it off."The eye-catching signs were as abundant as they were enduring, too. Trekking by pickup truck loaded with ladders, ropes and plenty of paint, Clark and his crews painted or touched up as many as three barns a day in 19 states.Metal, flat-sided buildings were easiest. But the majority of Rock City barns were wooden, pitched-roof affairs. Hardest of all to paint were the shingled variety, according to Clark, who once painted a barn sign backwards to pique the curiosity of passersby.

At their heyday in the late 1950's the barns were such beloved landmarks that onlookers often asked Clark Byers for his autograph. Their "See Rock City" slogan was so universally familiar that it was even found on an army PX in Vietnam, along with the whimsical notation, "Only 13,400 miles to Lookout Mountain."But the highway beautification movement of Lyndon Johnson's mid-'60s presidency saw roadside signs as more of an eyesore than an icon. The "Ladybird Act," as the billboard-banning legislation was nicknamed, meant that many of Rock City's rooftop messages had to be removed.Some of Clark Byers' most clever catch phrases were buried under new, plain coats of paint and after nearly being electrocuted during a thunderstorm while on a repainting job, he retired to his home in Falling Water, Georgia in 1968 where he continued farming until his death in 2004.


HIS SUCCESSORS STILL PAINT Rock City barns, with most found in communities with colorful names like Stamps, Arkansas or Sunflower, Alabama. Home to most, however, is Tennessee, where several of the nostalgic structures have been named historic landmarks.Today, Rock City's charms are touted, not on the guest checks of country cafes, but in glossy print, television or radio campaigns. Rainbows and Rocky the Elf appear on contemporary advertising materials.But, much like the perennial allure of the gorgeous gardens themselves, the new mediums' message is unchanged, just the same as it was when rural barns beckoned vacationing motorists with the enticement: "SEE ROCK CITY."

My First Apple Pie

I love to cook but this is one thing that I have never done till last week.It oozed a little on the sides but all and all it was a "Keeper" as my hubby stated.

Here is the recipe I followed

1 box (15 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box Filling*
6 cups thinly sliced, peeled apples (6 medium)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon lemon juice

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 425°F. Place 1 pie crust in ungreased 9-inch glass pie plate. Press firmly against side and bottom.
2. In large bowl, gently mix filling ingredients; spoon into crust-lined pie plate. Top with second crust. Wrap excess top crust under bottom crust edge, pressing edges together to seal; flute. Cut slits or shapes in several places in top crust.
3. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until apples are tender and crust is golden brown. Cover edge of crust with 2- to 3-inch wide strips of foil after first 15 to 20 minutes of baking to prevent excessive browning. Cool on cooling rack at least 2 hours before serving.

*Note: I also put my own touch in the recipe by adding 2 tablespoons of real butter cut small to the top of the mixture before putting on the top crust.

Happy Valentines...

..............from my house to yours!

Pink Sky At Night.../Skywatch Friday

“Pink sky at night, sailors delight, pink sky in morning, sailors take warning”

For more Skywatch Friday click HERE

Marshall Grant

Bass player Marshall Grant was born in May 1928. He and Luther Perkins were the Tennessee Two, the band which backed Johnny Cash. Marshall Grant was an important part of the boom-chicka-boom sound of Johnny Cash that changed country music. Before his band was signed by Sun Records, Grant was a mechanic in Memphis. In addition to playing bass, Grant also served as road manager, stage manager, and driver for Johnny Cash. Raised in Bessemer City, North Carolina, Marshall Grant currently lives in Hernando, Mississippi, with his wife Etta.

The photo of Mr Grant and myself was taken in Starkville Mississippi at the yearly Pardon Johnny Cash Flower Pickin Festival Oct.17-19, 2008

Country singer Johnny Cash performs on stage with his band, the Tennessee Two, in White Plains, New York. (L-R): Bassist Marshall Grant, Johnny Cash, and electric guitarist Luther Perkins.

For more info on Johnny Cash Flower Pickin’ Festival

2009 click HERE

Onion's Are Good For You

Health Benefits of Onion

I cook with onions all the time and they are so good for you!

Onion is Benenificial in the following conditions:
Athsma
Influenza
Colds
Tuberculosis
Insomnia
Pneumonia
Antiallergy Obesity

Reduce inflammation
Slightly laxative
High Blood Presure
Lowers cholesterol
Prolong longevity
Helps destroy worms and other parasites.
Bronchitis (inflammation of the bronchial tube)
Neuritis (inflammation of the nerves)
Vertigo (inflammation of nerves)
Diuretic (increases the secretion of urine)
Diabetes mellitus - lowers blood sugar.
Valuable for the hair, nails of the fingers and toes, and for the eyes.
Sinus conditions - helps to drain mucus from the cavities

and loosen phlegm.
Whether fresh or cooked onions have antiplatelet, adhesiveness, thus preventing thrombosis.

50!

This is what your cake looks like when you turn 50

Happy Birthday to our friend
BARRY!!

After All These Years

Being born in Indiana and moving to Florida when I was nine ,I lost contact with so many of my family members.Thanks to the Internet, facebook and myspace helped link me to five members in this photo.We have spent hours going through photos and making silly comments back and forth about our youth.
This photo was taken in the late 1960's and I happen to be the little girl with the scarf on under the party hat.
If any of my family members are looking....I Love You All and Thank God for the INTERNET!

Cold in Carolina/Skywatch Friday

The photo above was taken a few years ago while we stayed at the Maggie Valley Club. As they are having a "Snow Day" today I had to dig up this photo.

Keep in mind about this months moon from the Farmers Almanac

This month’s Full Moon occurs on February 9. Native Americans called it the Full Snow Moon because the heaviest snows usually fall in February.
Some gardeners put their full faith and trust in the idea of gardening by the Moon—that is, setting out plants either in the dark of the Moon or in the light of the Moon. They swear by the outcome: bigger harvests and bigger blooms.
If you’ve never tried gardening by the Moon, why not try it this season? Oh, in case you’re wondering: Gardening by the Moon does not involve gardening at night in the dark (although you can certainly try it . . .)!

For More Skywatch Friday ......... click HERE

Motorcross in the Heart of Dixie

For locals in this area we all know that there are two tracks north of Dallas County Alabama.Perry Mountain Motorcycle Club and Noah Motor Park.If the wind is blowing just right, on any given weekend you can hear the buzz of the engines off in the distance.

I had to do a little bragging once again on one of my favorite riders that is a permanent fixture on the track and wish him a Happy 18th Birthday

"Happy Birthday Nick Campbell"

Local Artist Appreciation

It was a very hot summer day when I found this painting.As many of you know I love to go Junkin.I came across this painting in the back of the shed and asked if this was for sale.The woman told me that all the things in the yard sale were her mothers and she had passed away.The woman said,"It is $1.00."My heart at that moment sank.I was thinking about the time the woman had put into this painting & why her daughter would sell her mothers art? Then a thought came to my head while looking at her signature.... "Peggy Nelson, your painting is safe with me and will be hanging in my home for all to see." Each day as I pass "Peggy's Cat" I ask her to give me inspiration for my next painting.

Baby It's Cold Outside

My Little Raskel had the right idea ....Baby It's Cold Outside!!!