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Archive for favorite flanerie

favorite flânerie . Killing Time in Memphis with Street Art

Memphis street art, graffiti

Street art. My favorite kind of city wandering, and it always seems to offer endless inspiration. I consider it a parenting win that my children have no qualms about stopping on the side of the street and getting out to take photos. In fact, they often suggest it now! I guess it seems perfectly normal after years of my traipsing around various alleys and byways in cities and small towns on the hunt for hand painted signs and graffiti art.

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favorite flânerie . Happy President’s Day in Stamps

I love stamps. Their glimpse of history and what nations choose to honor. Their mini artwork masterpieces. Their throwback to times when receiving correspondence from someone was more precious. From portraits to places to historic artifacts, stamps display so many versions of what we see as important. In honor of President’s Day, I decided to take a look through my stamp collection to see how many presidents I could find.

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favorite flânerie . Chasing Murals in Downtown Memphis

Out of the blue as we were driving to dance class the other day, my daughter sighed and said, “I miss trips.” What a concise reflection of our collective hearts over the last six months! Although we really love home and have enjoyed the nesting and strengthening time brought on by the pandemic, our spirits still miss the wandering trips and travels to favorite places we’ve canceled because of it. When the shutdowns and closures brought on by Covid-19 began in our state, we were actually on spring break from school and traveling in Tennessee. We were visiting the Great Smoky Mountains after spending several days on our Memphis “stomping grounds,” as my grandmother would say. So, naturally, talk of trips took us into a discussion of all the things about Bluff City we’ve claimed as our own. We consoled ourselves by remembering that, yes, they are the things we miss, but that’s because they’re the things we love.

That conversation with Baby Girl sent me into my photo archives for a quick glimpse of walking in changes of scenery, taking in sidewalks and experiences – familiar, but so distant from us right now. I know I’ve shared that some of the scenery we seem to always seek out is street art – the murals, graffiti, and public art installations that lend vibrance to even an already bustling scene. From driving through back roads to wandering down alleys, finding these works of art seems like a treasure hunt through even the most traveled sidewalks. And, whether it’s parked cars, moving transit, business folk, or the occasional three ring circus tagging along with their mom for photographs, we all become part of the story depicted.

Today, I’m taking a virtual field trip to the corner of Madison Avenue and B.B. King Boulevard in downtown Memphis, to find scenes of the city’s resilience set against the story of a gothic “queen”, a Bluff City matriarch, and hopes waiting to be fulfilled for a Memphis icon.

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favorite flânerie . Painted Clarksdale

I’ve been wandering through my photo archives lately, and it’s like a stroll through back roads and small towns and memories made. We’ve made quite a hobby of road-tripping over the years, and my kids have been pretty good sports with all the random stops to capture the views. I’ve been trying to archive and organize and make connections between all the places and wanders we’ve experienced, with the hope of sharing them here on The Frog Kisser.

This week, I’ve been looking at some images from Clarksdale, Mississippi. We last visited this crossroads of Delta arteries on a hot (HOT) summer day, and I’m revisiting the sun-baked glimpses of a small town steeped in art and dust and most of all, the blues. I’ve already shared about our visit to Delta Blues Museum and the iconic Ground Zero Blues Club, but most of our adventures also include at least a little dawdling over downtown streets and the search for whatever street art we can find. So, today’s archive is a glimpse of painted Clarksdale.

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favorite flânerie . A Detour in Downtown Jackson

I’m heading to Jackson, Mississippi on Saturday for a client strategy meeting, and I’m looking forward to getting a few glimpses of the Capitol City again. My children and I spent a few days in Jackson at the end of the summer and had lots of fun visiting museums, trying out restaurants, and exploring historic downtown. This week, I’ve been looking back through all the photo evidence of our wanderings and thinking about any places I’d like to revisit this weekend. I’m reminded again of all the inspiring textures and colors and materials and art and signs – old and new – found everywhere in an urban downtown. Sometimes, we just have to train our eyes to look.

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