More than you ever wanted to know about Alabama native Joe Watts
These are some of the photos brought home from WWII by my dad. Most include him–I’m not sure about the one where they are marching with the flag. Some of these photos have been posted before, but others, I hope are brand new. Thanks to all those who serve, now and in years past. Happy Memorial Day.
I stayed up a bit last night looking through old photos. I found these photos from tiny negatives (not sure what kind). The quality is pretty bad, but I had to share. This would have been a beach trip in the mid 1970’s with Margaret, Madeline, our parents and, of course, the star below. (Just a friendly reminder to family members: I have several boxes of photos, so before you make too much fun, imagine yourself in a swimsuit in the 1970’s!)
A wonderful email from a cousin made me want to do this post. I’ve got to do a better job of scanning in family photos. It is one of the things I enjoy most. Searching through photos and finding those gems (most of them really are gems, honestly). I just haven’t had as much time as I would like lately. The picture below is of my Uncle Bud Hinson (my mother’ brother). I’ve found several great photos of him from World War II. Just thinking about the folks of that generation gives me a shiver of pride.
What a beautiful day yesterday was. I had a meeting just outside of Fort Payne, Alabama about the Lookout Mountain Parkway corridor management plan I’m working on with the Alabama Association of Regional Councils. Left early so I’d have a little time to explore downtown Fort Payne before the meeting.
After the meeting, we all drove the 5 miles on to the Little River Canyon National Preserve to see the 23,000 square foot JSU Canyon Center building that is currently under construction. I was very impressed (it isn’t slated to open until early next year). The construction is really impressive–they are using geo-thermal heating and cooling and will have some really nice features. The construction really reminds me of some of the great National Park Service structures out west. One of the nicest things is that it was designed to really blend in with the environment around it. After that, I drove along a short section of the Little River Canyon rim. If you haven’t been, you really should.
It is ALWAYS a good idea to test anything you do on the web on several browsers. That’s why I have both a Mac and a Windows XP machine–I refuse to get Vista for now–just too much trouble.
Anyway, yesterday I posted my second Slideshow Pro for Lightroom created flash slide show. The slideshow is just below this entry–and included photos from Do Day Day. The day before, I posted a slide show of Southwest Alabama scenes that I’m also using for the Alabama’s Front Porches website. I tested this earlier slideshow under Internet Explorer and Firefox and possibly Safari for Mac. Once I posted the Do Dah Day photos, I tested the slideshow on my Mac using Firefox–that’s where I do most of the work on my blog. All was fine and I patted myself on the back for successfully including two slide shows on my blog. This morning, Ann got to work and looked at my blog using Internet Explorer. It didn’t work.
It was an easy fix (involving renaming div tags so that each one has an individual name) and all should be working fine now–as far as I can tell it is, anyway. The bottom line is to always test, test and retest.
Caldwell and Rhodes parks on Southside. Parade of pets and owners. Free, but proceeds from food, beverage and T-shirt sales go to area animal shelters.
Do Day Day has been going on for longer than we’ve lived on Highland Avenue, which is a long time. We’ve managed to make it down almost every year. Now, we just go for the parade and to get a t-shirt.
Here are a few photos: