September 24, 2026
On September 18, Bruce’s sister spent the night at Blackberry Homestead on an air mattress in the odd room. Lola slept on the carpet next to the air mattress.
On September 19, I got up early, just after six, and headed out to water the garden. Blackberry Homestead, the entire time we were gone, suffered temps in the high 90sF and even made it over a 100F on a couple of days. (36.6C to 38.8C)
My strawberries were scorched. I lost several of my Alpine strawberries. My Florida Pearl and Honeoye strawberries had some leaf curl and browning from not having enough water. The asparagus looked great. The deep crowns put the roots into moist soil. I did lose one of my sorrel plants. The horseradish looked good other than the holes from the return of the harlequin bugs. My Thai Longhorn pepper was dead. The dead plant was full of ripe peppers and a few green ones. The leaf-legged bugs had abandoned the tomatoes and moved on to the eggplants and pepper plants. My watering disturbed them and they flew away. I also watered the bucket brigade.
While I was watering, my sister-in-law and Lola came out. Lola had to pee, then she raced around the yard after being told it was okay. My sister-in-law came over (followed by Bruce shortly after) to see the garden. She started talking to me about the garden and Bruce took over showing her around while I continued to water. Lola decided she needed to follow them instead of hanging out with me.
Bruce showed off the orchard and blueberries. I had finished watering and caught up with them while Bruce was showing off the blueberry ring. Bruce’s sister was impressed by the number of blueberry bushes we had. She and Bruce laughed at the miniature peach and nectarine. Bruce’s sister said they looked shaggy and Bruce told her we thought they looked like cousin It.
Bruce and I took his sister and Lola around to the front yard and front field to show off the figs, willows, pawpaws, pecans, the redbuds, and dogwoods. Lola had a great time running around the front field.
My sister-in-law admired the purple magnolia. Bruce went inside to get rags so she could wipe off Lola’s legs and feet before letting her in the house. Lola knew the door was there and she was ready to be on the other side. Lola was ready for water and food!
Since we were gone for almost a week, we didn’t have much food in the house. Since my sister-in-law loves brisket, we decided to go to Mitchell’s Smoked Meats. Mr. Mitchell makes some of the best BBQ we’ve had.
After one more pee stop, Lola was left behind. She looked sad because she couldn’t come with into the garage. Bruce’s sister laughed at Lola and told her, “ We are getting into a car, so you wouldn’t want to come with us.”
Before the day got blistering, we went to the Wilson Dam Waterfall. The waterfall area is cooling from a cool light mist from the water .
Then, onto Mitchell’s Smoked Meats. Bruce’s sister and I had the brisket sandwich. So goooood! Bruce had the three rib plate that he loves.
Since my father-in-law had been a Lions Club member for several decades, he had several awards. I thought if no one in the family wanted them, the awards could be donated for the Lions walk at Ivy Green. We drove through Tuscumbia to get to Ivy Green and Bruce’s sister enjoyed the views. We made it to Ivy Green and paid the entrance fee for the indoor tour. The docent knew the history of the family and the childhood stories about Helen. They may have read Helen’s book, “The Story of my Life”. We walked around the grounds and through the Lions walk. The Lions have a deep connection to Helen Keller. She called on the members to be “Knights for the Blind” in a speech made at Lions Clubs International Foundation Convention at Cedar Point, OH, in 1925. The Lions took up her call.
Bruce drove us around the Tuscumbia Spring Park and the large fountain was running.
We were hot, so our next stop was Trowbridge’s Ice Cream and Sandwich Shop. It has been in business since 1918. It has won numerous awards. Food & Wine’s local flavor for each state, Trowbridge’s pineapple and orange was the winner for Alabama. Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) honored them with the Keeper of the Flame award. They were included on the “TrueSouth” season 9 for “The Shoals” episode. It is the best ice cream shop in Alabama and we are lucky enough to be able to make a quick trip to get their ice cream.
After eating ice cream, we decided to go see the Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum House. The tour guide mentioned it is an intact Usonian house. The addition was done by Frank Lloyd Wright as part of his plan to be able to add onto a Usonian house when a family grew. Mildred Rosenbaum donated the house and everything in it to the city of Florence, AL. Most of the furniture was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright to go with the house. The dents, scratches, and scrapes are visible signs of long term use.
“ Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum House – The Stanley and Mildred Rosenbaum house was completed in 1939 and is the only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed structure in the state of Alabama. It is also one of only 26 Usonian houses in the United States. The original owners lived in the house until 1999. It is constructed of cypress, glass and brick and has been meticulously restored.”
These pictures from the Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum House site has much better photos than I took. They didn’t include every room, so I included some additional pictures of rooms I found interesting.
The original kitchen was smaller than the main bathroom. The tour guide joked that Frank Lloyd Wright never cooked anything in his life. Frank based his kitchen ideas on railroad dining room kitchens. The kitchen in the extension was a bigger kitchen and the original kitchen was turned into a wet bar.
The tour was fun and informative.
Then we went back to Blackberry Homestead to let Lola out of the house. She was happy to see Bruce’s sister and us. We played with her and she has a marvelous time. Lola loves chasing the ball and playing tug with it.
When it was time for supper, my sister-in-law was interested in Mexican. We took her to Senor Tequila. We had a good time and when we got home, Lola was happy to see us.
We all went to bed early so Bruce’s sister wouldn’t be tired on her drive home. In the morning, she was gone with Lola before we could get up and steal Lola.
I am glad she was able to change her route to stop by to visit with us. It added an extra 4 hours to her travel time. From our house, the drive was 10 hours and 30 minutes plus time for stops. She did get a good break in between travel days.
What an action-packed visit!!
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We packed a lot in during one day.
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It sounds like a wonderful visit. I love Frank Lloyd Wright’s work and enjoyed seeing the photos. Lola looks like Reggie only with shorter legs. Their tails are the same!
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It was a great visit. I hope she’ll be able to stop by again.
I admire Frank Lloyd Wright’s work, but he preferred looks over functionality in many cases. Two of the fireplaces in the original part of the house didn’t draft properly because taller chimneys would’ve affected the horizontal look. The rooms filled with smoke when a fire was lit. The original kitchen was very small. I looked at the size and thought, how do you keep it stocked for four growing boys? For a single person or a couple, it could’ve worked. The chairs looked great, but apparently weren’t comfortable to sit in. The flat roof developed leaks and is expensive to maintain or replace. Termites are a problem.
It is a beautiful house, but give me comfort and usability along with looks.
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I loved the Frank Lloyd Wright house “inspiration” from Murdoch Mysteries. In the show, FLW designed their house as a stage set, and it looked much like one of his real house designs. It however, was very functionable, and had all kinds of cool items, including the “potato cooking room”–a precursor to the microwave. If you watched the show, you already know this, and that the show featured not only historic to the period elements, but alluded to future developments.
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I have not seen th Murdoch Mysteries. It sounds fun!
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Lola’s short legs are a surprise, you can’t tell when she is lying down. Goldens are such pretty dogs.
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That they are. 🙂
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Lola means grandma in our dialect. She’s cute, and lovely photos embedded in this detailed post, Julia
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Lola is a sweetheart. It is interesting that Lola has a lovely meaning in your dialect.
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Yeah, and that makes her so special here and there🤩
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🙂
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I did not know there was a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Alabama. And with a fiber arts room! Interesting that he did not cook, therefore a small kitchen. I have seen a couple in Chicago and in Arizona.
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It is the only one in Alabama. I found it very interesting. Did the houses you saw have small kitchens as well?
I saw another Frank Lloyd Wright in Arkansas at Crystal Bridges. It had been moved there.
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Actually I don’t remember the kitchens in the Frank Lloyd Wright houses I have seen, it has been years since I saw them. But I am surprised that he would not design a house for the customer, rather than for his own needs. He was a unique guy for sure.
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The Usonian house was meant to be more of a standard house for middle-class families. They weren’t designed for a particular family. He did take the layout of the land into consideration when he designed the house.
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So glad you were able to show your SIL around the area and pack it chock-a-block full of sight seeing. What a bummer about the lost plants while you were gone. We hope the temps cool down soon. Have experienced 65 days over 90 degrees this summer, I empathize 100% with you.
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We had a lot of fun! I was glad she was able to come.
It has been so hot in most places this year. 🥵
I was afraid I might lose a few things. I watered everything really well before I left in hopes it would help. I was glad I brought the bucket brigade inside before we left. The plants would’ve all died in the heat.
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Glad to hear you mitigated the losses. Unless you have a drip system, vacations in summer can be dicey. Hopefully the losses will be kept to a minimum and the temps will start dropping soon.
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Even more that an average family would want a normal size kitchen.
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Yes! He called the kitchen a workstation. The new kitchen was big enough to really use.
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That was a nice visit! We visited Ivy Green when we stayed in Corinth. We made a day trip from there. Will Ivy Green take the plaques? I also didn’t know there was a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Alabama! We have visited many of his homes. The kitchen is always tiny! Too bad about all the loss in the garden, but I know you enjoyed your visit to Jekyll Island.
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It was a nice visit. I know they take gifts, I thought it would be worth it to check.
It is the only one in Alabama. I’ve only been to one other Frank Lloyd Wright house. I thought he might design other kitchens small since he didn’t seem to think they were important.
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Wow, for a few minutes I thought that was your home! I was like, OMG.
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🤣 I had an OMG home before we went RVing. I still miss the kitchen and other parts of the house, but it was more house than we needed. I’d rather have 5 acres and a smaller house, but I’ve still got to do something about the kitchen. 😆
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As I get older, I am glad I grew up in a very big house in the Catskills with 14 acres but my parents sold it as soon as they retired which was a good idea as it was too big for them to take care of. Our home is 1800 square ft. and too big for us sometimes. I could live with lots less, even a nice condo or apt. in a pretty area and the ability to travel. If your home is mostly paid for, it is hard to find a bargain though nowadays.
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With interest rates going up, I would expect it to be hard to sell a house. People mostly live paycheck to paycheck, so a higher interest rate puts a lot of people out of the market. This should also drop house prices, which means people will become upside down on their homes, which makes it very hard for them to sell their houses. If you have cash, it should be easier to get a bargain on real estate.
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We have no desire to move. Happy with our location and home.
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It is good to be happy with your home and location!
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I admire you and your husband for taking on a big home and the country but as comparison, we would probably go the other way. We are in a hot market in Florida and have had buyers make offers but we are not selling. We have the ability to travel. We just need to both be mobile physically and well. It is getting better.
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This has been a long-time dream. We also know we will get too old to manage it, so we’ve talked about what we will do then.
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Yes, we have discussed this also in the event I lived past my husband and he lives past me. Getting older is not for sissies!
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It really isn’t.
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It sounds like the heat really took a toll on the strawberries; it’s always frustrating to lose plants like that. I’m curious about your watering routine during such high temperatures—do you have any tips for keeping the remaining plants healthy? And how did Lola enjoy her time in the garden?
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Lola had a great time playing. She took to Blackberry Homestead as if she had been visiting for years.
Yes, the heat was brutal. The poor strawberries suffered the most since they have trouble with heat. I try to do a deep watering about 1 to 2 times a week depending on what needs it. I’ve got a meter to measure moisture. I hope to get an irrigation system in place.
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