Facebook Flair

I've found a new thing to be hooked on: Flair! I loved Flair as soon as I saw it, but when I found out you could make your own Flair... Wow! Giving me a new art tool is like putting a kid in a candy store! For those of you who don't use Facebook, or who haven't yet added the Flair application to it... Flair lets you browse through images of buttons (buttons like the ones they give out at political rallies and chili cook-offs and concerts. The ones you can pin onto a blue-jean jacket. There's some pretty cool Flair out there! (There's some pretty stupid Flair, too). Anyone can make it. When I found out you could make your own Flair, I was like a junkie with a new drug. Gimme, gimme, gimme!!! I found myself searching through my photo files, obsessively searching for anything that looked like Flair. I had quite a few nice 'Flairy' bits. I had already designed a bunch of postcards for Southern Muse (my main website). I have added some Southern Flair to the mix. I had some very cool old newspaper images from 1939, where someone had collected clippings of the Atlanta premiere of Gone With the Wind. It was a special section of photogravures. There were nice, old sepia-toned photos of Clark Gable and Scarlett O'Hara. There was one of Margaret Mitchell at a press conference, in front of the WAGA and WSM microphones. There was a great little photo of Butterfly McQueen (Prissy). There was also a section called "World Events of 1939," now a nice bit of history. The World War II pictures didn't shrink well, though. (Flair is pretty small ~ and seems even smaller when you start trying to squeeze those images in there.) I also have my paintings, and I enjoy seeing them as Flair. I just pick out certain details or focal points. I would say this is the beginning of a fantastic career, except... well, Flair is free. You get Flair points ~ good for sending; but it doesn't do you much good if you make a lot of Flair. You don't want to overburden your friends. I'll be over my new toy in a week or so. But in the meantime, there'll be lots of good Flair out there from Southern Muse!

Historic Preservation in Dalton, Georgia

Dalton, Georgia: Quick update from the archives... Crown Gardens and Archives was closed for about two hours today to allow Whitfield-Murray Historical Society to set up a table at a local Historic Preservation event that took place at Dalton Green (park). The importance of historic preservation was discussed. Dalton has a large area of Civil War battlements that still exist, including Rocky Face Ridge, a large tract of which has been purchased and is now out of danger of development. There was a nice lunch and had some great entertainment (some funny imitations of the Blues Brothers and a great Patsy Cline act)!

Organizations/Participants:
Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation
North Georgia Regional Development Center
City of Dalton
Whitfield-Murray Historical Society
Mary Jane Mohr (local author)
(Other groups and participants/complete list not available).

The remainder of the day at the archives was pretty busy, with a couple of researchers and several calls. A woman brought by a beautiful old chenille spread to show us. It is supposed to be one of the Gone-With-The-Wind spreads. It is not known whether the spread was actually used in the movie, or was sold as a souvenir around the time that the movie was released. The spread was gorgeous, as chenille bedspreads go, with a lovely basket-and-vine design. More research would have to be done to find the origin of the spread, and the owner is going to continue to research it. The archives does own one of the actual spreads used in the movie, Gone With the Wind. (Dalton is in North Georgia.)