Bama Beauty

I shouldn't be surprised at how much simple beauty I see every time I visit Alabama.  It's everywhere, from someone's sweating jar of water, forgotten and left outside...

to the keys of the piano in my grandmother's house.  Long out of tune, they still look elegant.

Gardenias perfume the air around a front porch

 ...which, in turn, has a good place or two to sit a spell.

There is ever so much beauty in old houses. They were once homes, and I long to hear their stories of summers past, Christmas Eves celebrated, and weddings in their back yards.

Although I find the symmetry of cotton fields beautiful, my mama would beg to differ, as she picked cotton as a child, and found it to be backbreaking work.

 Sometimes you'll come upon a couple of chairs placed randomly in a field

 ...or an old chair repurposed to hold flowers.

"It's comin' up a cloud," the old folks used to say, and we'd all stay close to home.  There's nothing like an Alabama thunderstorm to bring on the thunder and lightning.

Although most people would probably not put a cemetery on their list of beautiful things, little Musgrove Chapel's graveyard is striking in its simplicity.

 A bit of handwork, such as this banner on an antique washstand, is gorgeous.

 In fact, there's just something about a Southern home...welcoming, comfortable, and inviting.

Of course there is beauty in raising your own food, cooking it up, and presenting it to a grateful guest.

I was told that the corn in this field will be ready in a couple of weeks.

Sometimes I think everyone stays so busy that they take beauty for granted, but it's here in an ordinary July day in northwestern Alabama. Thanks for coming along.