Friday, December 31, 2010

Live, Love, Laugh...

No one does it better than Nancy, my niece--as well as the little sister & daughter
I never had-- and dear friend!
Here she is in Asheville, NC on Christmas Day!
May your New Year be filled with health, happiness,
wisdom, and wonder!

Monday, December 20, 2010

All I Want for Christmas...

.

..is a good old fashioned department store and the Santa Claus to go with it. There is nothing like Christmas to send us back in time. More and more, I long for the excitement of the annual drive to downtown Birmingham, Alabama. My mother would make sure that my two older sisters and I were warmly dressed for the great ooohhhh and aaaah stroll outside Loveman's and Pizitz's enchanted windows. What we beheld were the most detailed interiors with busy kitchens, Christmas trees, dining tables all populated with moving figures dressed in intiricately designed Victorian costumes. Then there were exteriors of villages with horses and carriages or early automobiles and trains. Some years there were ballet dancers and nutcrackers. I wish I could find a book about these displays. Hum....Google start your engines!My last trip there was probably in the mid seventies when my older son was about four years old. The malls were on the prowl all over the surrounding suburbs, gobbling up one great tradition after another. The mall versions were never like the downtown namesakes. They never had the charm and personality, never had the Christmas windows, toy departments, or Santa Clauses. Once those flagships sank, a very special Christmas magic disappeared from the Magic City. Fortunately, my mother was one to embrace the experience which has been so endearingly celebrated in the classic film A CHRISTMAS STORY, and I have these pictures to spark some wondrous winter memories.Sisters Sue (left) & Anita (top)
and Marnie on Santa's lap.
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Sunday, December 5, 2010

The Heisman Touch

Behold, the 1899 Auburn University football squad. This portrait was taken on the steps of Samford Hall when the school was known as Alabama Polytechnic Institute (API). Zoom in on the football and you can see the date inscribed there. (Click once and then again on the photo to enlarge.) Study the face, third row in the top left corner. He has the mustache:
You are looking at Coach John W. Heisman, and I must say we are feeling his legacy here in Auburn. I just wanted to say, " Good luck, Cameron Newton in the quest to become
Auburn's FOURTH Heisman! "
Coach John Heisman 1895-99
Pat Sullivan 1971
Bo Jackson 1985
UPDATE: December 12, 21010
Cameron Newton 2010
YES we Cam!!!
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Click here for more Sepia Saturday Posts! These are always fascinating!

About Me

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Recreational scholar, former high school and junior college English teacher. Animal lover (especially horses, dogs, and people), lives in the South, sometimes poet and essayist... "Ireland, Scotland, Britain, and Wales...I can hear those ancient voices calling..." Van Morrison from Celtic Heartbeat