2009-10 Winter Tana Tour, Fairhope, The Last Visit

Fairhope Alabama became one of our favorite places to visit while we were in Baldwin County.  It is charming, they are a single tax colony/corporation city.  Google it, Fairhope Alabama single tax.  Fascinating.  There are interesting stores, and flowers. LOTS of flowers.  They change the flower beds frequently, I have been told they do it overnight, all the beds in one night.  They had the first tulips and daffodils we saw in the spring. 

So, our last day trip before we headed home included the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and Fairhope.  We had a little lunch, and then just wandered around town.  And, Carol took photos, again, mostly flowers, and some architecture.  And here are the best of the best.

Above: Tulip magnolia,  young specimen, tucked in the garden in the "French Quarter" of Fairhope.   The French Quarter is built around an old courtyard that reminds you of New Orleans. 

This bench did not photograph well with the bright son, much of the detail is hard to see with the glare.  Hard to take, neat benches and glaring sun!  LOL

Above, there is that bench again, and wisteria.  Somewhere below the wisteria is a sign that announces the French Quarter. 

Wrought iron on the balcony, the rounded front of the building, both drew my interest.

Fairhope has flower beds full of flowers, and they also have pots of flowers, flowers everywhere, oh, heaven!  This was in a pot, believe it is a geranium.

Not New Orleans, Fairhope Alabama.

And, because I cannot resist, another azalea.  A wonderful end to our stay in Baldwin County, Alabama. 

Copyright 2010, CABS for Reflections From the Fence
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Tombstone Tuesday, Fairhope Colony Cemetery, Fairhope, Baldwin County, Alabama

Our last day trip during our stay in Gulf Shores, Alabama was to include as it's very last stop, the Fairhope Colony Cemetery.   We happened upon it, not really looking, but rather driving around looking at flowers.  Of course, once I spied the gate, I had Man turn around and drive in.  I jumped out of Big Butt and spent just a short time walking around the cemetery.  I managed to take about 40 photos.  Say what??  Here are some of what I thought were the best.

Above:  Front gate and stone walls. 

 

Above: More fencing and stone work.  Detail on the fencing delights.

Above:  It was only AFTER I took this photo of this

peaceful place to rest and contemplate that I realized

sitting would be a bit "interesting", ok, difficult!

Statuary always attracts and fascinates.

Above:  I have NO clue.  Do you??

Not many of these raised burial plots in Michigan

where we live, so, I always find myself drawn to them.

At this time there are a limited number of interments for Fairhope Colony Cemetery recorded at Find A Grave.

Fairhope Colony Cemetery, a very nice place to end our visit to the Gulf Shores and Baldwin County Alabama area.

Copyright 2010, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

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2009-10 Winter Tana Tour, The Flowers of the Fairhope Art Fair

The flowers and art of the Fairhope Art Fair, Fairhope, Alabama.  (As far as I know, this artwork was not for sale, or I would not have photographed it.)

(Do you see the dog on the bench?)

Copyright 2010, CABS for Reflections From the Fence.

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2009-10 Winter Tana Tour, Fairhope Art Fesitval

As all good festivals go, this one had people, dogs, puppies, and babies, some sleeping in their wagons as their parents shopped.  There was, art, art and more art.  This is a juried show, so, it is the best of the best.  It is a large show, Man and I did not manage to see it all, every street corner we turned there were more vendor tents.  There were food vendors, the chicken quesadillas were excellent!  The weather was outstanding on Friday, probably the best weather day we have had in our months here in Baldwin County Alabama.  (Left, Man enjoying a cup of coffee at an OUTSIDE cafe table, it was that warm and wonderful!)

Notes on the art, there was a decided flavor of "edgy" art, no matter what the medium.  Interesting to me was the obvious turn away from framed oils, frame-less is in!  Another trend I noted was the number of booths that centered around pets, dogs and cats, and more dogs than cats.  Again, edgy presentations of your favorite pooch was the norm at this art fair.  I use the word edgy as I don't know the proper descriptive term, lets just say, there was little traditional art shown.

Represented were decorative art , functional art, graphics & drawing, jewelry, painting, photography, pottery & ceramics, sculpture, watercolors and woodworking.  As a matter of respect, I did not take any photographs of the art for sale.  I did find these interesting pieces hanging outside one of the local businesses, not for sale, so, shoot away Carol!

There was, of course, entertainment, the local high school band jazz band was performing, talented kids.  Man and I discovered and we instantly fell in love with another local group, Roman Street.

Man and I did splurge and purchased one piece, wood, the artists live less than 100 miles from our home in Michigan.  We found that humorous, travel 1000 miles, and our purchase was from fellow Michiganders, Al Freund & Deb Keese, of Woodstuff.  They call this Madonna, photo is of the one we purchased. It truly is a piece of art.

It was a fair day at the Fairhope Art Festival, long to be remembered by Man and Moi.

*Yes, I took a few photos of flowers, stay tuned, they will show up in a future post here at Reflections.

Copyright 2010, CABS for Reflections From the Fence.
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2009-10 Winter Tana Tour, Spring Sprung in Fairhope Alabama

Forced bulbs, hundreds and hundreds of them found in Fairhope Alabama yesterday.  So what if they were forced, they were just what the doctor ordered for the winter blahs. These in the first photo smelled like heaven!

Copyright 2010, CABS for Reflections From the Fence.

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2009-10 Winter Tana Tour, Fairhope Alabama and Beyond

Good friends John and Donna gave us a ring early this AM, suggesting we get together.  So, we did.

What a day it was, 126 photos worth of a day:  Cotton fields, lunch at Big Daddy's Grill on Ferry Road.  Big Daddy's has a HUGE sand pile for the kids to play in and dogs are welcome, even provided with a bowl of drinking water, thank you.  You know Man had some kind of seafood, yepper. This time it was soft shell crab poboy, see:

After a great lunch, we went to check out a campground nearby, Wales West, which is owned by railroad enthusiasts who have built a 2 foot gauge steam railroad like are found in Wales (yep, near England). 

One of my personal goals in life is to meet "Characters", people who are interesting, a little bold and "out there", who have experiences so different than my own. Well, today, I met few. These people LOVE trains! There are not enough photos to show the Christmas decorations. EVERY THING in the campground is decorated, yes, I mean EVERYTHING! Even the old farm equipment in the back 40 have Christmas lights strung all over them. I cannot imagine what their electric bill must be for the month of December! It is over the top but before long, you can feel your inner child coming out and you are smiling and laughing and enjoying! Yes we rode the train, a coal burning steam engine. Yes, it spurts out embers and ash, you can see the black ash in my hair.

After several hours of visiting Wales West, we climbed back in the truck, patting John and Donna on the back for such a unexpected delightful afternoon. We headed to Fairhope, eventually stopping at their public pier where there is a very nice rose garden. Donna and I had a grand time taking photos, it was late in the day and the lighting was great.

We walked out on the pier watching the sun set.

A great blue heron landed on a roof of part of the pier and we again started taking lots of photos.

Isn't it breath taking??

We had a wonderful day, spent with good friends, made extra special because it was not planned, it just happened.  It could not have been any nicer, even if we had micro-planned it.

Thanks John and Donna!

Now I need to go wash my hair!

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