Another three in one post - Outdoor, What's on Your Wall and Wordless Wednesday

Once again, it's a busy day here in blogland! Wednesday means Outdoor Wednesday, hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. Make sure to visit Susan at http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/ to see the list of this week's participants. Make sure to check out her blog while you're there. She has a beautiful home, and wait till you see what is going to be blooming in her yard this summer!

This week I am attempting 3 posts in one again. I started by choosing one of two themes offered this week for Wordless Wednesday. I chose Ash Wednesday, which led me to choose these pictures for my outdoor Wednesday post.
Steeple of the Grace Heritage Center. This was the original Grace Episcopal Church on University Avenue. When the congregation outgrew this beautiful little building, it was moved
to the downtown area just off of the courthouse square. It is now the Grace Heritage Center and is available for public use. Can't you just imagine what a beautiful setting this would be for a wedding or anniversary celebration?
Detail of the arched stained glass window and arched doorway. Don't you just love this?
Here she is in all her glory. As you can see, it is still dead winter here. Even though the sky is gorgeous and the temperature is warm compared to my buddies up north, the trees are still bare and the grass is brown. I will take pictures this spring and summer when the flowers and plants are thriving. Now hop on over to Susan's and see what everyone else is sharing!



WHAT'S ON YOUR WALL WEDNESDAY



Barb at Grits and Glamour recently started this fun Wednesday event. What's on Your Wall Wednesday asks us to share our wall decor with each other! I just love this one, since my DH is a picture framer and this is one thing I have ALOT of. I'm cheating a little bit here and repeating a post I did right after Christmas. This is one of my favorite pieces of photography and I felt that it fit with my "theme" today, which was inspired by Dixie's Wordless Wednesday theme of Ash Wednesday. I'll apologize in advance to any faithful reader who has seen this before. If you want, you can just skip down to Wordless Wednesday lol! Please make sure to stop by Barb's blog at http://gritsglamour.blogspot.com/
and stay for awhile, you'll be amazed at her beautiful home and delighted by her wicked good sense of humor! Check for a list of this week's participants and have fun visiting everyone.


My Favorite Christmas Gift
Lynette at Lynette's L.A.M. blog posted a wonderful gift she received from her mother and asked everyone what their favorite gift was. This gorgeous photograph by my favorite photographer has to be right up there with my all time special gifts. It's not just the photo, it's the story behind it. We vacation in Florida every year, and discovered the photography of Richard Bickel in an Apalachicola shop several years ago. I fell in love with his work, and every year we would try to buy at least one piece. He has published two books of his photography and I discovered this work in the second book "Apalachicola River, an American Treasure". I was mesmerized by this photograph. Last summer, we discovered that Mr. Bickel had opened a gallery in Apalachicola. Well, I was like a kid in a candy shop. The rest of the family was tired and hot, but indulged me my time in the gallery. I bought one small piece that I have always loved, but could not purchase the piece that I really wanted. The work in his gallery was very large and more expensive than I could afford. So I purchased my small 5 x 7 and went happily on my way. Little did I know that my dear husband had been corresponding with the artist over the month of November. He made arrangements for the artist to reproduce this piece in a smaller size for a surprise Christmas gift. Now this is where the "Christmas Miracle" comes into play. The last correspondence indicated that the piece could not be ready in time for Christmas, as the framer that the artist uses had been ill. My husband is a picture framer, but Mr. Bickel signs all of his work on the custom cut mat that surrounds them, so that was the hold up. On Christmas Eve, we received a note in the mailbox that an express mail package was out for delivery. Of course we were not home, but we just assumed it was something DH had ordered from Ebay. Suddenly our daughter grabbed daddy, ran into the music room with the phone, and 2 minutes later they were both running out the front door. What on earth? It turns out that Caitlin had a suspicion that this photo was what was being delivered. She called the post office to find out the senders name and sure enough, she was right. The postal clerk told her that our carrier was still in the neighborhood and that they could probably catch him (sometimes it pays to live in a small town) So off went dear hubby and dear daughter to chase down the mailman! They finally caught up with him and pulled up next to him frantically waving the delivery notice. I'm happy to report that he gave them the package, they went to my husband's shop and framed this and one other photo that they had purchased. Imagine my total surprise when I opened this on Christmas morning. I will cherish this always, not just because it is one of my favorite photographs, but more because of the love and thought that went into the gift.


WORDLESS WEDNESDAY



It's time once again for Wordless Wednesday, graciously hosted by Dixie down in French Lique, Texas. If you haven't visited French Lique, you really should take a stroll on over. Dixie's blog is full of beautiful ideas, wonderful stories, and besides, she is a hoot! The theme for this week is your choice of Fat Tuesday or Ash Wednesday. Make sure to visit Dixie at
http://frenchlique.blogspot.com/
and see what everyone is sharing today.

Celestial Glory, courtesy of Windberg Enterprises
Glorious New Beginning, courtesy of Windberg Enterprises

Now go visit Miss Dixie!