Sunday Morning

Wedding photographer

Here a wedding photographer poses the bride and bridesmaids for soon-to-be-cherished pictures of that special day. They all are unaware of the beautiful scene they are helping to create.

British Car Show

This coming Saturday Historic Rugby will hold their second annual British Car Show, 10-3 throughout the village. Here's one car you can see there, our friend Eric's 1952 MG-TD. This year there also will be motorcycles. If we're lucky, maybe there will be a Vincent Black Lightning 1952.

Sunday Morning

A Tomato War

The highlight of Grainger County, Tennessee's, annual Tomato Festival is the Tomato War. The rules are very similar to dodgeball, except tomatoes are thrown instead of balls.

Boxes of tomatoes are placed on and next to barrels near mid-field. At the starter's whistle, equal teams throw ripe tomatoes at the opposing team. Players are eliminated when hit below the shoulders by a tomato, and the round ends when all of the players on one side are eliminated.

You want to start with plenty of ammo!

Note the videographer from a local TV station catching the action, using raincoats to protect herself and her camera from catching a tomato.

Rush the other team!

Going in for the kill!

"Ha! You missed!"

 Regroup for another charge!

Attack!

Time out for an injury. It turned out she wasn't hurt badly, just some tomato juice in the eye. I'm sure it burned until it was washed out with tears. But since she was hit above the shoulders, she was not eliminated. And she was game! Five minutes later she was back in the fray.

Despite the tomato-juice-in-the-eye incident, it was all great fun. I'll bet just about all of the warriors will be back at it next year. Yet ......

that's a lot of BLTs that won't get made this year.

Grainger Tomato Festival

Grainger County, Tennessee, has branded itself the "Tomato Capitol." The Grainger County brand is widely recognized in a 250-mile radius for vine-ripened flavor and quality. Grainger tomatoes have even made their way to Canada and Mexico. For each of the past 20 years Grainger County has celebrated, and promoted, its premier product with a Tomato Festival. This year we finally attended one.

At first glance it looked pretty much like any fair.

There was a midway with lots of opportunities to later say "Man, I can't believe I ate that!"

There were lots of activities to keep the young ones busy.

 

There were lawn tractors souped up for racing.

and a display of vintage farm tractors.

There were artists and crafters,

and a long table of writers selling and signing their books.

There were line dancers,

and cloggers.

Even the local blood bank followed the crowd here.

But it was really all about the tomatoes.

Everywhere farmers were selling tomatoes; by the pound, by the peck, and by the bushel. We watched vans fill with bushel boxes of tomatoes heading home to be canned or rendered into tomato juice and pasta sauce. There was another tomato attraction beyond the chance to buy premium tomatoes in quantity at bargain prices, however - the famous Tomato War!

Silent Saturday

The Smallest Library

Back Valley, in Morgan County, Tennessee, remains rural today. But it also has paved roads and electricity, which wasn't true in 1945 when Dot Owens Byrd moved there as a new bride. She brought with her a love of reading, but reading materials were scarce. Mary McGlothan, a local teacher, collected used books and circulated them among community members, the collection being housed in Dot Byrd's home from 1955. Eventually some building materials were collected, and Back Valley soon had its own public library.

The building measures 6 feet x 5 feet, has one window and one door, and initially housed 75 books. Dot's daughter worked for John Rice Irwin, founder of the Museum of Appalachia, but then Superintendent of Schools in the adjacent county. He had written a couple of books and came to Back Valley for a book signing. Irwin mentioned this visit to a television reporter in Knoxville, who followed up with a story. The library was dubbed "smallest in the United States" and soon was featured in a national publication, followed by invitations to Dot Byrd to appear on nationally-televised talk shows.

Dot Byrd finally accepted an invitation to appear on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, for which she received an all-expenses-paid trip to Los Angeles for the taping and a check for $200. She promptly deposited the check into a fund to build a new library.

The new library was built in nearby Coalfield, a small unincorporated community, and dedicated in 1994. It has 2,600 square feet and a collection in excess of 10,000 books, as well as DVDs, CDs, and recorded books. It also provides free computer access to the community.

The tiny library was moved to the grounds of the new library in 1996, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. It still has the sign announcing it is never locked and inviting visitors in. The books inside are available for circulation, strictly on an honor system; if you take one you are expected to bring one back.

The shelving occupies the back wall and is filled with books.

Included are the initial 54-volume Great Books series by Encyclopedia Britannica, quite a few Readers' Digest Condensed Books, and an eclectic collection of library gifts and donated books.

Stacks of "coffee-table" books rest on the floor under the window.

It's fitting this tiny building has been moved to its present location. The modern, well-equipped library beside it might never have been built had it not been for the vision and dedication of two women, a teacher and a reader. The tiny structure stands as a monument to the power of books.

Morning Walk

With the sum of temperature (F) and relative humidity hovering around 160, it's get out early or forget it!

Past the founder's house,

through the village,

and Newbury Pond.

Ant hills along the walkway.

An abundant seed crop on the Redbuds.

Where a Luna Moth lost its life during the night.

Virginia Creeper growing up the side of a tree,

balanced by Poison Ivy growing on the other side.