Picture this: a beautiful spring afternoon, a lovely breeze sweeping through the pines, friends gathering, ice chests and picnic baskets full of goodies, and one of your favorite bands playing their best tunes at an outdoor amphitheater.

The smallness of my hometown, Evergreen, Alabama, meant a lack of separation. The poor and the wealthy, the educated and the ignorant, the sane and crazy, and the sick and healthy were thrown together in a tiny, rural piece of geography.

“Chicago of the South.” That’s how it was described to me when my friend from college, Tom Lavender, first told me about his hometown of Boligee, Alabama. It had everything to become a booming metropolis, a river, a railroad, and later, an Interstate highway.

I am in the middle of 6 acres of beautiful woods, with Red Gully Creek meandering through the property. There are lots of little children here, climbing, digging, building, and playing while teachers ask questions to foster creativity.

David Cooper has written and published an entertaining book called The Laundry Man. It is a fun tale that weaves through a fictional Mississippi family that draws on David’s life and experiences growing up Southern.

January is a cold, wet reality check after the festive atmosphere of the holiday season and is often ranked as the worst month of the year to no one’s surprise. Whether you are working off the holiday excesses, working on a new year’s resolution, or getting back in the swing of work / school, the short, dreary days can dampen anyone’s spirits.

Side gigs are fun. It usually means you’ve found something to add to your daily responsibilities that's worth the time and effort. In the case of Amber and Hunter Harris, both chefs working in the restaurant industry, launching a monthly supper club is a test of bigger things to come.

This week, I met two 13-year-old boys who have started a business called Bay Boys Lure Company. Thomas Gross and Bennett Lieb are 7th graders at Bayside Academy and are on their way to creating a very successful business: conceived, funded, manufactured, and marketed entirely by themselves. Of course, because they are so young, moms and dads are advisors, yet mothers, Kim Gross and Ashley Lieb, clearly state that these entrepreneurs are on their own.

I am one of those people who turn their heads at the sight of a classic car. I have many nostalgic and fond memories associated with restored vintage automobiles and trucks from different periods. My friend, David Pierce, just bought a classic MGB which I first saw last week with him smiling behind the wheel.

Did you know that cilantro is the only herb that can detoxify heavy metals from our bodies? Or that ginger and turmeric are natural painkillers and have antiviral properties, or that beet juice gives you energy?

The restaurant business is not for the faint of heart. It’s a business that requires passion and love, with a pursuit of excellence that has no end. Sustainability means meeting the challenge every single day.

Part II: The Life and Times of Jimbo Meador Jimbo Meador has experienced many different and interesting occupations throughout his life, and most were squarely in his wheelhouse. He managed Bon Secour Fisheries for several years at the peak of the oyster and shrimp business. While there, he and Chris Nelson, a marine biologist and owner of Bon Secure Fisheries, had a grant to grow oyster spat in a lab for farming oysters in Bon Secour Bay before it was a widely accepted thing.

I ran into Jimbo Meador at a grocery store a few weeks ago. After exchanging pleasantries, we decided to meet for coffee and a visit. I left looking forward to it like a kid waiting for Christmas. I wasn’t sure what we would discuss. I planned to listen and learn and relish in the moment. Any time spent with Jimbo is memorable.

Fairhope residents Dean and Pagan Mosher seem to lead a life that’s only found in storybooks. Maybe that’s because they live in a house that looks as though it came out of a storybook. Enter the world of these two, and you will find yourself feeling as though you are in a kind of fantasy life.

When conviction meets passion and perseverance, anything can happen. Going against conventional thought to blaze new trails can be a lonely endeavor, but it’s the path from which most great innovations produce better outcomes.

Don’t you love it when a local gal gets recognized at a young age, goes off to find fame and fortune in the Big Apple, but yearns to return to her roots? That’s the story of Judy Culbreth, writer, editor, and online dating expert. Who knew?

It’s oyster season, folks. Thank goodness, and Hallelujah! Linda and I kicked off the Thanksgiving holidays by attending a wonderful oyster roast party. There, I met and enjoyed the hard work and delicious oysters provided by Brandon Smith, owner of Grayson Bay Oyster Company, and his “Crafted Emerald Coast” oyster catering business, ECOyster Mobile Raw Bar.

Connect to Your Coast, is the motto of the Alabama Coastal Foundation, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Mobile. It makes a coastal impact message throughout the state of Alabama and beyond.

The mere mention of the name “Pirates Cove” brings a slew of memories to mind for most people living in LA (Lower Alabama). Like this writer, multiple generations of families have been coming to this oftentimes rowdy eatery and entertainment venue, and they come for not just the food, but the laid-back atmosphere, the pageantry, and the stories they’re sure to hear and share.

Devon Walsh is a local gal if there ever was one. Born at Thomas Hospital in Fairhope, a graduate of McGill-Toolen High School, and the University of Notre Dame, she is the epitome of a Southern woman who has a bright, outgoing spirit and loves everything about the people and the area we call Scenic 98 Coastal.

On a drizzly Monday a few weeks ago, we made our way to the new Jesse’s on the Bay just past the Peninsula Golf Club on Ft. Morgan Road. It was Linda’s birthday, and this is where she wanted to celebrate. Reservations were made a few weeks earlier when we stopped on our way home from a day-long boat trip.

My friend and neighbor, Scott Miller, has the most beautiful golf swing I’ve ever witnessed. Smooth, methodical, and consistent, it’s a rare combination seldom seen in amateur golfers. His is a swing that golf dreams are made of.

The Wharf in Orange Beach has become a central part of the town’s budding community where people come to shop, dine, listen to great music, and participate in all manner of sportfishing tournaments. I sat down recently with Jim Bibby, Owner Representative at The Wharf, and Mary Kate Lantrip, Social Media Manager, to learn more about The Wharf’s impact on tourism and residents in the area.

Ameri’ca Tickle is a 5th-generation member of the Allegri family, who settled in the Daphne area in the late 1800s. Her roots in the Scenic 98 Coastal area truly run deep!