October 22, 2026- Hana has now been ten months blessing our lives and keeping us on our toes. In the past month, she has mastered standing up and scooting. She is actively walking with support and has taken a few steps, independently, here and there. Babbling with intention is now accompanied by pointing to something she wants. She tries to help in little ways-picking up a clean diaper and a package of wet wipes; pulling her shirt off, at changing time; trying to put on her own straps and secure the tray, when placed in a high chair.
My grandchild loves to look at books and makes “comments’, after looking at a picture or two. She does best when given a limited number of books (2-3) to look at, at any one time. Otherwise, a whole shelf of books could end up on the floor.
She also likes our stroller walks, and is still very much interested in the Halloween and Harvest displays that alternate in several of the neighbourhoods we have covered in our meanderings. Her favourites are the skeletons, especially the tall ones.
HANA’S NOTE- I like sleeping in the stroller, on the way back home. The streets Papa chooses for each walk are sometimes the same ones; sometimes new ones. I like the neighbourhoods though.
EXPANDING CIRCLES: Alabama-I have been in the Heart of Dixie seven times: First,in 1987, on a bus bound for Phoenix, by way of New Orleans and Houston; then, in 2011, with several days visiting Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Selma and Birmingham; 2015, in Daphne, near Mobile and a visit with a friend in Sylacauga; 2022, to Tuskegee, at the tail end of a road trip by rental car, that began and ended in Atlanta; then a train trip from Atlanta to New Orleans, which went through Birmingham and Tuscaloosa; and finally, in July of that year, making a brief stop in Florence and Muscle Shoals.As in other parts of the South, I have encountered only graciousness and hospitality, from anyone and everyone.
The turf- Northernmost Alabama is covered by the Cumberland Plateau, which extends south from Tennessee. To its southeast is the Appalachian Valley, the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. South of the Appalachians is the Piedmont Plateau. The rest of the state is Black Belt, a reference to the rich black soil and coastal plain, whose soil, especially in the Sawgrass Region, of southeast Alabama, is a bit sandier. Alabama is drained by the Tennessee, Alabama, Coosa, Tallapoosa, Chattahoochee, Tombigbee, Black Warrior and Mobile Rivers, along with their tributaries. The state is bounded by the Gulf of Mexico, on its southwest.
First Nations-Alabama is the ancestral home of the Alabama-Coushatta, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Yuchi peoples. Mound builders were active in Alabama, before the ascendancy of the Five Civilized Tribes, and left some decidedly civilized structures at places like Moundville. Choctaw and Creek maintain presence in Alabama in the MOWA and Porach communities, respectively. All other Indigenous people were removed form Alabama in the 1830s. As settlers encroached on Native lands, in the 1810s, a civil war broke out among the Creeks, The Red Stick faction opposed white settlement; another faction allied itself with the U.S. Government. The Red Sticks were soundly defeated in the Creek War of 1813-14, in the Battles of Tallushatchee, Talladega and Horseshoe Bend. The other tribes were included in the Trail of Tears, as indicated above.
Where I most feel at home- Daphne, Sylacauga, Tuskegee, Selma, Florence
Where I most feel at peace- Sylacauga, Tuscaloosa, Ozark
NEXT: Florida
