Sunrise...sunset with oysters and songwriters in between

Last weekend started with a beautiful sunrise:

We spent the afternoon at the 6th annual Oyster cook-off.  It is held on the white sands of the Alabama coastline and this year was hosted by The Hangout restaurant.   There is no charge to get in and then you can purchase a book of 20 tickets for $30.00.   Beer, wine, Bloody Mary's and champagne cost 3 tickets and one oyster for one ticket. .      My favorite are the ones cooked (especially if fried...of course) with lots of extras on top...cheese, spinach, ham or bacon bits, sauces etc.   But you have to like oysters because unless you go inside to eat all you can buy are oysters and if you were lucky you found a couple of tents that offered saltine crackers!     Over 46 celebrity chefs competed for combined total prizes of $10,000.

Looks crowded, but it was well laid out  and organized.   

                                   Shucking or "sukin" oysters is an interesting process but a bit messy.


Saturday evening we had happy hour at the site of one of the owners and got to know them better,  and gave us an opportunity to ask questions about the resort from an owners prospective.

• After Mass on Sunday morning we drove to the border of Alabama and Florida to Flora-Bama, the host of the 29th Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival.   We attended when we were here last year and had it on our travel schedule to come back.    The event takes place for 10 days and is host to Grammy Award winning songwriters and up and coming stars of tomorrow.  Venues of all kinds spread along the Florida and Alabama coastline and  welcome over 200 participants.  

                                  Oops...I think we picked the day the bikers were in attendance.

                           
                               They are an interesting group to watch with their very colorful attire.

                                         they come from all over to attend...From Norway...

                                   
                                           To the Czech Republic.

                                We listened to 3 ladies who write, sing and play gospel music.

                                                 And enjoyed a trio of mail gospel musicians.

                                           
                                                    And a Rhythm and Blues group who were very good.



The Flora-bama is an interesting place in itself.   Opening in 1964 and going through several mix-matched renovations due to fires and hurricanes,  it favors unusual decor...

such as these signs:

And a ceiling full of clothing lines draped with hundreds of bras.

Here's the link to our last years post if your interested in more information about this event.

2012 Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival



And our weekend ended with this awesome sunset taken from the Gulf  State Park Pier.

Hope all is well!