Chilling @ Flea Market

This past Saturday my husband Bob and I had a booth at the Old Court House Museum for the 29th Annual Old Court House Museum Flea Market.  Thousands of people filled the streets for the fall activities that was scheduled.  According to Bubba Balm, Old Court House director, an estimated about 4,500 people attended the flea market, while Kim Hopkins, executive director of Vicksburg Main Street said about 3,000 attended the Fall Festival downtown.

Bob and I sold his copper trees and paintings and did very well.  We also got to see many of our friends and family members helped us set the tent up/down.  We could not have done it with their help. Thanks guys!

Below are some pictures taken before and during the flea market.

Great niece, Anna Claire, Cassie (newly weds who got married at the Old Court House Museum this past April) and Bubba Love, nephew with Bob.

Our family team that help set us up!

Bubba took this picture of us after we got all set up.

We are ready to sell some trees and paintings.

Took a picture of our neighbors next to us.  The lady on the right is Angela Whittington who made jewelry and bought a pair of earrings.  Her Mother and I have known each other since the first grade at SFXA graduating in the Class of 1959.  The lady on the right had homemade preserves to sell and got some Strawberry Fig preserves from her.  

The law on parade!

This guy was across and down from us and blew his horn off and on.  

Up close picture of his antique horn.  He could also make the sound of a horse with his mouth to the delight of all the children...I loved the horn blowing myself.

The crowds kept coming and coming and coming...

This little girl's name was Anna and loved Bob's pictures.  She let me take a picture of her "new" face paint.  

 A cute little car but this little fella did not look my way!

Little boy in the car headed down the crowded street.

Dogs were all over the place.  Will post them tomorrow!

This nice guy had an unusual walking stick of a pelican eating a frog and neither was giving up he said!

Took this picture across from us.  I could not figure what was written on the street with chalk and had to write it down...to my surprise it spelled, PECANS!

It was a delight to see crowds of people enjoying themselves.

Bob's Christmas tree all lit up.  It was a good attention getter.

I have no idea why this lady was holding up her wreath unless she did not want the crowd to mess it up.

From the top of the steps of the New Court House Museum with out tent next to the red on the far left.

Sitting looking up at the New Court House.

My only sister/sibling, Laura Love Ables, coming by for a nice visit.

We walked around together and I took pictures of these cool looking fire pots for sale

Front Page News: SPS 10th Year Celebration!

Jessica Delk, right, program coordinator at Some Place Special, presents Juanita Wyatt, center, a certificate of membership at the center on Manor Drive Friday.  (That is me on the far left clapping for her.  My husband, Bob, who goes to SPS was standing up away from the table at the time picture was taken)

This past Friday I was invited to attend the 10th year celebration at Some Place Special where my husband, Bob, attends four days a week.  

Some Place Special is run by Warren-Yazoo Mental Health Services (WYMH) as a recreational outlet for seniors living in the Vicksburg Area.  I am also on the Advisory Council Board for WYMH where Don Brown is the director.  He said that the programs helps keep the participants active in the community.  

"In a nutshell, it's about socialization," Brown said.  "Most of our folks live at home alone or with family who are not able to be there all day."

Brown said the facility on Manor Drive allows participants to keep up with current events and stay sharp in communication.  

Participants are picked up by a bus Monday through Friday mornings and spend each day working on arts and crafts, learning about nutrition and health and taking field trips throughout the region.  

Elizabeth Naya was the coordinator for Some Place Special for nine years before Jessica Delk took over.

"Over the years, we have implemented a lot of different programs to address their needs and wants," Naya said.  "They will tell us, 'No we don't like this," or 'We really like this."

Naya went on to describe the atmosphere saying that after several months, the participants grow close and rely on each other.  

"It's really a special place," Naya said.  "It's really just a family within a family."

One of the more popular visitors at Some Place Special is Al Gordy's Australian Labradoodle, Smooch, a certified therapeutic dog.  

"The thing about therapeutic dogs is they show a high degree of empathy," Gordy said. "Smooch can immediately pick up on someones emotional needs.  His primary job is making people smile."

"Smooch"

Sherry and Bob at Some Place Special.

Elizabeth Naya, Coordinator for Some Place Special for nine years.

Some Place Special 10th Anniversary Cake.

Don Brown, Director of Warren-Yazoo Health Services, addressing the participants and guests.

Featured In Our Paper - The Vicksburg Post

Robert Phillips and his wife, Marian, display some of the art that he made during his time at Shady Lawn Health and Rehabilitation.

Bob and I, with his copper trees and paintings, were featured and humbled by the fact that we were in Sunday's hometown paper, The Vicksburg Post.  It was the idea of, Deborah Hughes, his Activity Director at Shady Lawn Nursing Home while he was a patient there getting physical therapy back in August.  Below is the article that was written by Terri Cowart Frazier.  We want to thank her as well for putting together a great article called, Branching Out and to photographer, Eli Baylis, for taking pictures for the article.  

Late art bloomer inspires Shady Lawn residents

Robert Phillips' life, like the branches of the miniature trees he meticulously crafts from copper, has spread in many direction.

The local artist regularly takes his artistic skills to Shady Lawn Health and Rehabilitation, sharing and inspiring residents while receiving his own treatment at the facility.

The 70-year-old Detroit native didn't get into art until later in life, but now he's making up for lost time, not only producing the trees, but taking brush to canvas as well.

Christie Martin, Registered Nurse, director of nursing at Shady Lawn, said Phillips has been a short-term resident on several occasions.

He comes in to receive physical therapy care, and during his stays he demonstrates and shares his art with the other residents, "and if they want to join in they can," Martin said.

One of the projects he demonstrates for the residents at the facility is his copper trees.

Phillips said he uses copper wire that he has cut in graduated lengths.  He skins the plastic covering from around the wire and then joins the wires, by twisting them together, like wring out a towel.  

"It takes a pretty good amount of twisting," he said.

He then pulls individual wires from the bundle and begins shaping them to form branches.

Phillips' wife, Marian, assists in gluing wooden bases to the bottom of the trees, he said.

Sometimes he will decorate the trees, too, said Marian Phillips.

Robert Phillips said the idea of the copper trees came to him about while in the woods hunting.

Bored and fixating on a white oak tree, Phillips said he began visualizing how he could make a tree to resemble the oak.  

"I used a lead-type metal at first but it didn't work," Phillips said.

But with a subsequent try, he discovered copper was a more suitable medium for his creations.

Deborah Hughes, the activities director at Shady Lawn Health and Rehabilitation entered his copper trees in the annual Mississippi Health Care Association Nursing Home convention arts and crafts competition, and he won first place.

After growing up as "sort of an orphan," Phillips graduated from the original Boys Town orphanage in Omaha, Nebraska, founded by the Roman Catholic priest Edward J. Flanagan in 1917.  Since, his travels have taken him all over the country.

Phillips said he was transferred to Vicksburg in 1980 from his company in Champagne, Illinois, and work at Anderson-Tully as director of labor relations until his retirement.

After discovering his talent for crafting trees, Phillips began branching out into other art forms.

"He has become a prolific painter," said Ron Whitmore, Phillips' son-in-law, who owns an art supply store in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

"It all started as a fluke," Whitmore said, when he and his wife started sending Phillips canvases, paint brushes and paint from their store.  

Whitmore said Phillips now paints every  day and sends a list of supplies when he runs short. Karen Whitmore, Phillips' daughter, also is an artist in Santa Fe.

To view Phillips' art, visit twodogstall.blogspot.com.  His trees are available for sale at The Old Court House Museum and at The Attic Gallery.
tfrazier@vicksburgpost.com

Vicksburg Fall Festival and Flea Market

Tomorrow will be a fun and beautiful day to get out and enjoy the fall festival and flea market here in Vicksburg.  Bands, bikes and booths will dominate downtown Vicksburg this weekend with the 3rd Annual Bricks and Spokes, the 18th Vicksburg Fall Festival and the 29th Annual Old Court House Flea Market.  It will start this evening at 6:30 p.m. with performances by the bands Osgood & Blaque and SlapHappy at the River Stage on Washington Street.  The festival will resume Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the downtown area with the flea market at the Old Court House a few blocks away.
 

It will also kick off the fall Farmers' Market, which will run through November 24th downtown.

The Third Annual Bricks & Spokes begins at 8:00 a.m. Saturday, with riders taking 10-, 30-, or 50-mile rides.  Bikers will leave the Senior Center and ride into Louisiana across the U.S. 80 bridge and return using the old U.S. 80 bridge.  The 10-mile riders will stay in town, and the 30- and 50-mile riders will head into the county before returning to town.

Bob last year checking out the vendors.

At the Old Court House Museum will be 18 food and 150 arts and crafts vendors that will occupy the streets surrounding the Old Court House for the flea market from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday.  There will be some excellent woodwork, swings and metalwork...a man who makes fire bowls for the outdoors and a man selling Egyptian cotton.  He comes every year, and people like to come see him. There will be lots of cools things to see.
 

My husband and I will also have a booth and selling his copper trees and paintings. We have been doing this for about 3 years now.  You can view his trees w/prices and his painting on his blog at:  http://twodogstall.blogspot.com

Towboat Time

Picture taken on September 27, 2012, of M/V Ray A. Eckstein, making it's way south.  

M/V Ray A. Eckstein, Marquette Transportation

Heading under the Mississippi Bridges, Hwy 80 and I-20 at Vicksburg, MS, while a small boat catches up.

Supply boat pulling up to drop off miscellaneous items for the towboat.

Picture taken on September 28, 2012 of M/V Lainey Jones coming into view.

M/V Lainey Jones of Canal Barge Company, Inc.

Closer view of M/V Lainey Jones

M/V Laney Jones heading towards the bend in the MS River @ Vicksburg.

My New Hunting Book!

I recently won a new hunting book on Facebook that was written by Jay Campbell, called, Longbow: A Hunting Life!  Jay writes about wild hunting adventures for magazines such as Gray's Sporting Journal, Sports Afield, Bowhunter, and Traditional Bowhunter.  A former attorney, paramedic, and police officer, he weaves his complicated life into these true hunting tales as his partner Karen learns to hunt, and becomes the only woman known to take a water buffalo on the ground with a longbow.  I'm looking forward to reading all about their adventures in chasing big game in the far fringes of northern Alaska, Australia, Hawaii and the Caribbean.  They show us that in hunting, as in life, the joy is in the journey.  If you are interested, you can purchased the book at http://www.campbellquest.com and by all means please check out his photography/blog at http://jaycampbellphotograph.com of wildlife in our great wild outdoors! 

Karen Campbell with her first Florida pig, on the 10,000 acre Woodson lease she and the author shared with 12 other hunters.

Karen and Jay Campbell

Bathed In Blue Lights

The Old Court House Museum - Eva W. Davis Memorial is bathed in blue lights to bring attention to yesterday's kickoff of Domestic Violence Month and tonight's National Night Out Against Crime program hosted by the Warren County Sheriff's Office and the Vicksburg Police Department.  Neighborhood gatherings are planned throughout the city and county tonight from 6 until 8.  

Air Force Bound

Today my grandson, Michael "Ethan" Kelly, will be spending the night in a motel in Jackson, MS, with other recruiters and will be heading to Lackland AFB, San Antonio, TX, tomorrow for basic training.  We will miss him and wish him Good Luck.  Thanks for serving our country Ethan and God Speed.  With love and hugs, Gran Gran