New activity – Discovering Decatur

We’re finally back on the road again and this time it was to the city of Decatur. When we got there and parked, the first thing that struck us was the height of a lot of their curbs. The one by our car was probably a good two feet high and Barbara couldn’t get up on the sidewalk without a hand from Laura.

Of course, we couldn’t help asking one of the store owners of Decatur if all the people there had really long legs. After sharing a chuckle, she opined that it could have something to do with water runoff. We still don’t know but are sure everyone thought us a bit suspicious as we were staring at their legs.

While waiting for a table to be available at Rooster’s Roadhouse, we took a quick look at the city’s absolutely gorgeous historic courthouse. Unfortunately, it was closed for renovations but they just don’t make courthouses like this anymore.

Back to Rooster’s and another question, this time to the waitress. The restaurant had many animal sculptures and pictures but none of roosters – so why the name? She had no idea and told us the original owner was long deceased. Are people just not curious anymore? We couldn’t imagine working there all this time and not finding out the answer to that question. But there was NO question about the yumminess of the food. We split an order of Brisket Hash and a Brisket Burger and each was fantastic. We followed the meal up with a visit to Hey Sugar candy store and then did a little shopping. All in all a fun way to spend the afternoon.

New actress – Danielle Deadwyler

The discovery of an actress who is new to us is always rewarding, especially when there is a slew of movies and tv series to choose from to catch her again. However, it is her performance in Till that we were so impressed with. Till is a gut-wrenching film, dealing with the true story of Mamie Till Mobley’s fight for justice for her 14-year old son, Emmett Till. Emmett was brutally tortured and lynched in 1955, and the film focuses on his mother’s quest to bring his story to the world. Although we felt the film would have been just as powerful if it were 30 minutes shorter, it’s hard to see this movie without experiencing outrage and riding a hard-hitting roller coaster of emotions. Overall, we both agreed that it was the performance of Danielle Deadwyler, who plays Emmett’s mother Mamie, that shines the brightest and almost guarantees her an Oscar nomination. This is an actress whose face can emit so much emotion that words are entirely unnecessary.