Fall is County Fair Time

One thing I love about small Southern towns is that each one has their own fair in the fall.... vendors, produce, competition, and maybe even a tractor pull. I didn't make it to the Center Fair; however, my mom and dad did and they entered some art in the competitions. This is a charcoal sketch my mom, Joan Hall Forbes, did of Abraham Lincoln. She called this one
Beardless Lincoln. Here is what she wrote about this charcoal drawing:

"Abe Lincoln had not worn a beard until an 11 year old girl wrote him a letter telling him that his face was too thin and she thought a beard would make his face look fuller. So...he grew a beard and wore one until his death. I like this particular picture too, because his face shows the stress he was in because of mourning the death of his son Tad.It's hard to imagine Abraham Lincoln without his beard. When he first ran for president in 1860, though, he was clean shaven. Lincoln grew his now-famous beard all because of an 11-year-old girl. Her name was Grace Bedell. Grace saw Lincoln's picture on a campaign poster and thought he would look much better with a beard. So she wrote the president a letter. She suggested that he let his whiskers grow. "You would look a great deal better, for your face is so thin," she wrote. [When eleven-year-old Grace Bedell wrote a letter in 1860, she couldn't have known that people would be reading it more than one hundred years later. But Grace's letter was written to Abraham Lincoln, who was running for President of the United States. Abraham Lincoln, sometimes called "Honest Abe," felt it was time to put an end to slavery. He was well liked by most, but faced several other candidates who felt differently about slavery. Grace Bedell desperately wished she could vote for Mr. Lincoln. If only there were something I could do to help get him ... Grace received a handwritten reply from Lincoln. "



This black and white picture is one that my dad, Gary Forbes, took of Uncle Guys' Old Ford. The truck is old and rusty but had a special appeal to my dad. He loves the look of black and white photography and for this picture, it seems to capture a bygone era. Dad has always worked on old cars and restored a couple in his garage. When he began to have some heart trouble, his doctor told him he needed a less strenuous hobby... soooooo... he sold the old vehicles he was working on and bought a really good Canon Rebel camera and has been taking pictures ever since. It was ironic to me that the photo that one was an old truck... Dad has kinda come full circle!



Mom and Dad both won "First Place" blue ribbons in their categories and both pieces received judges "Best of Show" ribbons! Way to go, Mom and Dad!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dad is entering some photos in The Dixie Classic Fair in October.