Lying on a luxury queen-sized bed within a tent, one thought comes to my mind: ‘Can I get those cicadas to sing a show tune?’ Such thoughts also brought interior laughter at my odd request for nature’s top 40 singers. It made me realize I had left behind deadlines, bills, and problems as I listened […]

He started out as a smart aleck. Robert Bailey sat through his law school classes wondering if his professors could succeed in an actual court of law. After becoming a lawyer, Bailey wrote an 800-page thriller about an aging professor called to work a trial. After honing it down to the real kernels of the […]

There are only two places on earth where the natural phenomenon called a jubilee occurs: the Fairhope area and Japan. Dana Maloney has had the good fortune of living in both places. Rather than the bounty of sea creatures lulled out of their watery homes into the shallows, her personal jubilees came in different packages. […]

For those who bravely untangle last year’s Christmas tree lights, imagine covering an entire zoo or botanical garden with the illuminating bulbs. All across Alabama, the custom of lighting up Christmas rises to the level of art with dancing elves, prancing reindeer, walking Gingerbread men, and in one case, a mooning Santa. The displays range […]

It all started with a 1930s Shirley Temple doll for Mary Charles Robbins. Living in a home with no radio, before television, dolls provided her main entertainment. “The composition dolls are the ones from my era. They have such good expressions on their faces. I would say they are my favorites since I played with […]

She was only five years old when she tentatively toddled over to the paleontologist to show him her dinner-plate sized find. He leaned in with a smile of patience, assuming it was just a rock. He flipped up his sunglasses for a better look. The fossil hunt was 20 minutes in and the smallest child […]

If a high note breaks your beer glass, it’s not the alcohol singing—it’s Opera Shots. Far from the stodgy image of the large woman in a Viking helmet, this progressive opera company takes opera to the street, the bar, and the brewery. Opera Birmingham showcases its singers before unsuspecting audiences who get a sip of […]

Summer may turn a wildflower hike into a sauna, but there are plenty of creeks, caves, swimming holes and natural phenomena to make working up a sweat worthwhile. Our famed hydrangeas are in full bloom in every variety from climbing to giant foot-long blooms. Creature features include the largest emergence of bats east of the […]

“We were just stupid enough or crazy enough to think we could actually do it,” says Gary Jones, president of the Alabama Theatre Organ Society. “We knew we had to do it.” To most of us, the Alabama Theater is a masterpiece of Moorish design, velvet seats, and a massive stage. It is where we […]