52 ODES TO JOY: ZEST FOR ZZZ
ODE TO ZZZ
ZZZ are A-okay methinks,
Each regarded with great esteem.
A long sleep or just 40 winks,
To doze, perchance to dream.
There is some irony in the fact I started a luxury brand which sold many thousands of silver-topped casters of...
Colony holds Black History Month celebration
COLONY, Ala. - The town of Colony on Saturday, Feb. 27 concluded Black History Month with a celebration at its educational complex, inviting members of the community to bring photos and other artifacts to create a temporary museum, tell their families’ stories and commemorate...
Strawberry Festival Senior Day makes triumphant return Friday
CULLMAN, Ala. - “I’m just happy to be anywhere these days,” laughed Ben Kerny as he walked into Friday’s celebration of the Strawberry Festival Senior Day.
He and hundreds of Cullman seniors descended on the Active Adult Center in Cullman, celebrating their triumphant return after...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: Betty, Bette and The Boys Birthday Party
You might have anticipated the setting for the “Betty, Bette and The Boys Birthday Party” would be one of Hugh Hefner’s swanky mansions or the even more cinematic Sonoma Valley winery owned by Francis Ford Coppola. Instead, we opted for “a place where even...
Summertime fun hits Hanceville
HANCEVILLE, Ala. - The City of Hanceville is getting ready for summer with a calendar full of events for everyone’s enjoyment.
Kicking off the entertainment was a bluegrass concert featuring Cotton Pickin’ Kids and Bama Blu-Grace this past Saturday night at the Hanceville Civic Center....
Cullman County Public Library hosts 2nd Annual Harry Potter Birthday Parade
CULLMAN, Ala. - The Cullman County Public Library on Friday, held their 2nd Annual Harry Potter Birthday Parade. Though the first parade event was held in 2019, last year was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The library has been incredibly excited about being...
52 ODES TO JOY: SPELLBINDING
ODE TO SPELLBINDING
Hocus pocus, fully focus.
Cast off the spell of the phone,
And fully succumb to the joy zone.
Presto, change-o, feel the glow.
Find your mojo in the flow.
A dictionary definition for SPELLBINDING is “holding one’s attention completely, rapturously, as though...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Giant Steps Birthday Party
“Destination Moon” is our destination for “The Giant Steps Birthday Party.” We are being given a preview of this exhibition which promises to be a major blockbuster coming to the National Air and Space Museum in 2022.
Building on the Washington, D.C. museum’s unrivaled collection...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The O Happy Day Birthday Party
“Oh Mickey, you so fine.” At “The O Happy Day Birthday Party,” we’ll see ya round like a doughnut with Mickey Mouse, Georgia O’Keeffe, P.J. O’Rourke and Whoopi Goldberg as Sister Deloris sings, ‘O Happy Day.’”
Our party destination is the “Concrete Donut.” That’s what...
Mythology comes alive at East Elementary School’s ‘Gallery Walk’
CULLMAN, Ala. - A recent art project reached across history — and grade levels — at East Elementary School, as sixth graders brought their study of The Odyssey to life with a “Gallery Walk” which fourth graders were able to explore.
Sixth grade teacher Laura...
52 ODES TO JOY: SIMPLICITY POSITIVITY
When I get the urge to purge,
I first put on some music.
A little more punk and a little less dirge,
Then I’m trashin’, smashin’, thrashin’ like a lunatic.
“STUFF OWNS YOU…Wash it, dry it, fold it, iron it, have it cleaned, repair...
52 ODES TO JOY: A JOYFUL LONG LIFE
Too Young to Be Seventy—by Judith Viorst*
Deep in my heart I believe I’m
Too young to be seventy.
There are times when I’m wearing my baseball cap and my jeans
That I even can imagine that, glimpsed from the rear, I might be mistaken
For someone who...
Sweet Success: Strawberry baking competition now accepting entries
CULLMAN, Ala. - Strawberry pie. Strawberry cobbler. Strawberry cake. The 83rd Annual Strawberry Festival will see the return of the strawberry baking competition spanning three categories.
“Our Strawberry Festival Baking Competition is always a sweet part of festival day! The competition includes three different categories...
Dance returns to Cullman County stages starting this week
ULLMAN and HANCEVILLE, Ala. - As the world reopens from a year of disappointing COVID shutdowns, Cullman County is seeing live arts and entertainment events return to local stages. Dance productions will open this Wednesday, April 7, with a show by Wallace State Community...
‘A community arts event unlike any you’ve ever attended’: Cullman playwright to release interactive new work May 9
CULLMAN, Ala. - Mother's Day 2021 will be the online debut of a new "community arts event" from the mind of Cullman-based playwright Ben South. Titled "HOUSEBOUND & GARDEN: The Pandemic Letters Dramedy," the show tells the story of grandmother and granddaughter through letters...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Bossypants Birthday Party
This week, our “BOSSYPANTS Birthday Party” is in a factory in Queens, New York City. Hey now, don’t be so bossy about it, this is a very posh factory, the one created by German American Heinrich Engelhard Steinwag (later known as Henry E. Steinway)—Steinway...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Tonight Show Birthday Party
(Announcer): “From ‘Television City’ in beautiful Burbank, California—It’s ‘The Tonight Show Birthday Party’ with Johnny Carson and this week’s special, joy-giving guests: singer/songwriter Katy Perry, Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Moss Hart, New York comedy icons Fanny Brice and Fran Lebowitz, that ‘Family...
Cullman County Public Library to hold a Strawberry Festival book Sale May 7
CULLMAN, Ala. - The Cullman County Public Library is holding a Strawberry Festival Book Sale on Saturday, May 7 from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. The sale will take place inside the library and books will be 50 cents each. Most of the books...
52 ODES TO JOY: BEGIN AGAIN & AGAIN
ODE TO REINVENTING
Any given day can be a time to start over,
It just takes hard work, luck and good intention.
So, let’s go look for a four-leaf clover
And joyfully welcome our next reinvention.
“I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate,...
Friends of the Library to host Author’s Night on April 21
CULLMAN, Ala. - The Friends of the Public Libraries of Cullman County are hosting an Author’s Night on April 21 from 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. at the Traditions Bank Processing Building at 107 3rd Ave NW. 15 different local authors will have tables...
52 ODES TO JOY: S.U.N.S. SUMMER
ODE TO SUMMER
My longtime favorite season is summer.
Though fall, spring nor winter is a bummer.
At 70, this thought’s not a newcomer;
It came decades ago with my first frozen rummer.
“Summer afternoon” according to American-born British writer, Henry James, are the...
52 ODES TO JOY in 2022
Ode to AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS
My country ‘tis a sunny land of joy-giving heroines and heroes,
Like Don Ho, Quentin Tarantino, Edgar Allen Poe and Rudolph Valentino.
And, lest we forget, Henry David Thoreau also Bill, James and Marilyn, the Monroes.
We’ve got mounds of joy-giving jesters and clowns
In...
A bag full of books for $3 at the Cullman County Public Library
CULLMAN, Ala. - The Cullman County Public Library has an absolute abundance of books and this week, they have begun selling them to the public by the bag. Often, the library acquires so many books that it ends up with duplicates, or the book’s...
52 ODES TO JOY: YOU & JOY BIRDS
ODE TO JOY BIRDS
The singing kind are such joy birds,
One rarely hears a whiner.
Chirping, tweeting, hummingbirds
Make a fine day even finer.
My family’s Alabama farm was a certified Audubon Sanctuary. We didn’t just love birds and protect their habitats; birding...
52 ODES TO JOY: THE 1-HOUR S.U.N.S. JOY LIFT
NEVER TRUST A GERONTOLOGIST UNDER 70! Please hear me saying that playfully. However, I’ve done my 70 years and spent much of it studying and practicing “joyful aging,” so you can totally trust me on this next thing which could seem an absurd assertion.
Can...
Welti’s Preston Cook receives $500 scholarship in NASP National Virtual Archery Tournament
WELTI, Ala. - Welti Elementary School’s Preston Cook was selected to receive a $500 scholarship this week following his participation in the National Archery in Schools Program National Virtual Archery Tournament.
Of 15,683 archers who participated in the virtual shoot, 100 were randomly...
365 JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Yankee Doodle Birthday Party
This week, we are in Manhattan’s famed Duffy Square between Broadway and Seventh Avenue for “The Yankee Doodle Birthday Party.” The décor centerpiece is the bronze statue of George M. Cohan dancing with top hat and cane created by sculptor, Georg John Lober, and...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Whatcha’ Got Cookin’ Birthday Party
We cruise through acres and acres of red dirt, northern Alabama cottonfields to our destination for “The Whatcha’ Got Cookin’ Birthday Party.” In the 1936 Olympic games hosted by Adolf Hitler in Berlin, Germany, a single man gave great joy to Americans, winning four...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Elements of Style Birthday Party
The most famous “kettle hole” in America is the setting for “The Elements of Style Birthday Party.” It was formed by retreating glaciers 10,000-12,000 years ago near present-day Concord, Massachusetts. This “kettle hole” is Walden Pond where Henry David Thoreau lived in an intentionally...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Carnegie Hall Birthday Party
How do you get to Carnegie Hall? PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. Only the most-accomplished performers play Carnegie Hall. Built in 1891 by the philanthropist visionary Andrew Carnegie and originally called the “Music Hall,” it was first a venue for the Oratorio Society of New York...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Trick or Treat Birthday Party
The invitation for “The Trick or Treat Birthday Party” this Halloween weekend suggested fun costumes inspired by the American West—“YEEHAW, y’all come as your favorite singing cowboy or cowgirl.” This was “come as you are” for Roy Rogers, Will Rogers and Kinky Friedman but...
52 ODES TO JOY: FOUR, JOYFUL SEASONS
ODE TO FOUR, JOYFUL SEASONS
Spring is joyful, then there is also this,
Summer is such sunny bliss.
Autumn is a sweet molasses kiss, and
Winter is time to joyfully reminisce.
THE FOUR SEASONS: spring, summer, fall and winter were mostly named for “planting...
Picking the perfect Valentine’s Day roses
AUBURN UNIVERSITY, Ala. – Roses and Valentine’s Day go together like bread and butter. Unfortunately, some roses can begin to droop and wilt after only a few days. Make the love last this year by choosing long-lasting roses, or even growing bushes full of...
Exquisite Miniatures by Wes and Rachelle Siegrist at Wallace State’s Burrow Museum
HANCEVILLE, Ala. — The Evelyn Burrow Museum at Wallace State Community College welcomes EXQUISITE MINIATURES, an exhibition of miniature paintings by Wes and Rachelle Siegrest, to campus this spring from February - April. Admission is free.
EXQUISITE MINIATURES consists of 50 signature paintings including landscapes, portraits,...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Creating Joy Birthday Party
“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.” These words, spoken by U.S. First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, inspire all to create joy and cultivate optimism across America. It is the triumphant, joy-creating message of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas where we...
52 ODES TO JOY: FLANEUR JOY
ODE TO WANDERLUST
I long to walk there, maybe there and then there.
More joy-filled I’ll return, you may surely trust.
In my lifetime, I shall flaneur everywhere,
Just my feet, my daydreams and wanderlust.
“I love to go a-flaneuring” just doesn’t have quite...
Sacred Heart Church holds annual Turkey Bazaar
CULLMAN, Ala. - The Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church Knights of Columbus held their annual Turkey Bazaar Saturday evening, awarding parishioner Andy Gravemen the special prize, a five-foot hanging porch swing donated by Nathaniel Lynn, owner of Lynn's Woodworks.
The long-standing bazaar featured frenzied...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Stars and Stripes Forever Birthday Party
Royal Princess Grace Kelly grew up in a charming two-and-half-story American Colonial-style house at 3901 Henry Avenue, Philadelphia, PA. This is our destination for “The Stars and Stripes Forever Birthday Party.”
The house was built in 1928 by Grace Kelly’s dad, John B. Kelly, a...
Watch next Space Station crew launch live on NASA TV, NASA app
HOUSTON, Texas – Three space travelers, including NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, are poised to launch Friday, April 9, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station. NASA Television, the agency’s website and the NASA app will provide comprehensive prelaunch and...
52 ODES TO JOY: S.U.N.S.
ODE TO S.U.N.S.*
Smile-making is thinking and doing, all positively done.
Uniting is connecting with someone and with everyone.
Neighboring is sharing and often making others Number One.
Spellbinding is being “all in” and star-stunned for the joy run.
*There are billions of...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: ‘The Nanu-Nanu Birthday Party’
This week, we’re in San Francisco at a luxurious, Victorian residence located at 2640 Steiner St. for “The Nanu-Nanu Birthday Party.” This was the film location for “Mrs. Doubtfire” starring Robin Williams as the titular character, Euphegina Doubtfire, a Scottish nanny for the fictional-but-adored...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021—The April Shower of Stars Birthday Party
The lush, verdant setting for our “April Shower of Stars Birthday Party” is in Kentucky. Loretta Lynn proudly hails from this state, but instead of her old stomping grounds in Butcher Holler, we are picnicking on a beautiful, finely laid, closely mown stretch of...
Hanceville emergency personnel give demonstrations at the Library’s Summer Reading Program
HANCEVILLE, Ala. - The Hanceville Fire and Police Department’s with the Cullman Air Evac team visited the Hanceville Library on Wednesday during their Summer Reading Program to tell them about some of the services they provide and show them their equipment and emergency vehicles.
Firefighter...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The God Bless America Birthday Party
We’re partying at 167 West 12th Street in New York City, in the cookbook-lined library of The James Beard House. Mr. B was “The Dean of American Cooking.” Across one wall is a giant version of Keith Haring’s graffiti poster, “America’s Music Festival—NYC Ballet,”...
365 JOY-GIVING AMERICANS for 2021: The Playin’ With Fire Birthday Party
When fire-hot lightning strikes sandy beaches, naturally occurring glass sculptures are often created below the melted sand. Sandy beaches surround all sides of Seattle, so it is a perfect place to locate the most comprehensive collection of works by northwest glass sculptor, Dale Chihuly.
“The...
Arley Senior Center Christmas party taking place Dec. 6
ARLEY, Ala. - The Arley Senior Center will be holding a bingo, potluck and silent auction Christmas party at the Arley Fire Department on Dec. 6 from 5-8:30 p.m. There will be prizes for bingo, as well as desserts provided by the center. This...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The West Less Traveled Birthday Party
John Wayne’s last movie, “The Shootist,” was scheduled for filming in El Paso, Texas but “The Duke,” changed the script to move production near Carson City, Nevada just east of Lake Tahoe.
All the exterior vistas of vast, golden prairie with mountain ranges in the...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The JOY to the Max Birthday Party
The Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, NC is our destination for “The Joy to the Max Birthday Party.” Completed in 1917, this 34,000-square-foot historic home was created for Katherine Smith and R.J. Reynolds, founder of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Reynolda is...
52 ODES TO JOY: LAUGHTER
LAFF EVRY DAY!
Laff, laff for your brain and your heart.
Laffing makes you strong.
Laffing makes you smart.
Laffter is good for us in evry way.
Laff evry nite and laff evry day!
“Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.”—Lord Byron
“He...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Accent on Fun Birthday Party
When we arrive at “The Accent on Fun Birthday Party,” we hear women speaking in the next room. Judging by all the accents, it could be a Danish baroness talking about her farm in Africa; a posh, Prada-wearing, devilish fashionista; and perhaps, Prime Minister...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Bon, Bon, Bon Appetit Birthday Party
We are inspired to greater heights by each of the 365 American joy-givers celebrated in this series, but for “The Bon, Bon, Bon Appetit Birthday Party” we’re taking the tram 630 feet to the top of the tallest monument in the United States.
Gaze into...
Launching the Alabama Arts Recovery Program
MONTGOMERY, Ala.— Alabama State Council on the Arts announces a special grant application opening on Thursday, July 1. The Alabama Arts Recovery Program is supported by recent American Rescue Plan stimulus funding for arts organizations.
$814,100 in funding from the National Endowment for the Arts...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021—The Funny Papers Birthday Party
We’ll see ya in the funny papers collection of the National Museum of American History for our next fun, birthday party. Located on Constitution Avenue between 12th and 14th streets, this popular D.C. tourist experience is home to more than 1.8 million treasured, American...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The I Can Do Anything Better Birthday Party
“Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than you…No, you can’t…Yes, I can. No, you can’t. Yes, I can. No, you can’t! YES, I CAN! YES, I CAN!”
“Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)” is a show...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Holiday Island Birthday Party
“Let’s get away from sleigh bells. Let’s get away from snow.
Let’s make a break this holiday, dear, I know the place to go.
How’d ya like to spend the holidays on Holiday Island?
How’d ya like to spend the holidays away across the sea?
How’d ya like...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Wonders of America Birthday Party
America has many natural wonders: our national parks and forests, majestic mountains, giant Redwoods and Sequoias, Louisiana bayous and the Florida Everglades. And, thanks to American ingenuity, we have many man-made wonders like: the Statue of Liberty (okay, that was French ingenuity), the Washington...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The I Love Saturday Night Birthday Party
We are in Bedford, New York about an hour north of Manhattan for “The I Love Saturday Night Birthday Party.” Set amid 250 acres of rolling lawn and woods, this is the home of Ricky and Ralph Lauren. The popular, “RL” branded towels in...
Jacobs proclaims Constitution Week in Cullman
“…it is fitting that every American should reflect upon the vision and fortitude of our forebears in creating a charter designed ‘to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Leaves of Funny Grass Birthday Party
The Great Lawn of Central Park in the middle of bustling Manhattan is the setting for “The Leaves of Funny Grass Birthday Party.” At some point in their life, all the American joy-givers attending this party have enjoyed some splendor on the grass in...
COLUMN: Celebrating in the Wundergarten – Quilted pan-roasted vegetables
CULLMAN QUILTS inspired the art style I used to illustrate the folktale, “WUNDERGARTEN” (see the Cullman Quilts poster, available at Leldon’s in the Warehouse District). My very earliest memory is being a 3-year-old playing under a quilt frame in the Cullman County community of...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Greatest Birthday Party on Earth
“Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages…welcome to “The Greatest Birthday Party on Earth!” The circus is about to begin!
Let our joy-givers lead you to the three-rings of clowning and amazing feats of wizardry in Downtown Bridgeport, Connecticut and the Barnum Museum. This is...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Twistin’ Party
We are twistin’ and turnin’ on a plywood structure built atop a barber chair. This gyrating contraption was created in the early days of America’s space program here at Morehead Planetarium, the site of “The Twistin’ Birthday Party.” Think stargazer Neil Degrasse Tyson meets...
52 ODES TO JOY: S.U.N.S. AMERICAN ALPHABET
“Joyous aging” is as easy as 1-2-3-4, which you can remember with the simple S.U.N.S. (Smile-Making, Uniting, Neighboring, Spellbinding) acronym.
S.U.N.S. AMERICAN ALPHABET reflects on positive things we’ve embraced over the past months in this “52 ODES TO JOY” year-long series.
A is for AUTHENTICITY “Be...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Wonderful World Birthday Party
“The Wonderful World of Disney,” a hugely popular television show on Sunday nights for 25 years, gathered America around a tribal fire for magical storytelling. The theme song was classic Disney--“When You Wish Upon a Star.”
The joy-giving stars we are celebrating this week have...
365 AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS for 2021: The Life as Opera Birthday Party
“Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings,” wrote American joy-giver, Robert Benchley. Another music critic wrote, “Opera is like a husband with a foreign title…expensive to support, hard to understand and therefore, a supreme social...
