Tiptoe Through the Tulips

These are the last of the images from Afton Villa Gardens around the end of March. I debated heavily whether to post the little girls, so I made a compromise that only the ones where they are not facing the camera directly would be allowed on this post.

A little plug here:
My Etsy store is open for business! I am helping my dad sell his enormous collection of Indian artifacts. These are relics he has found and also purchased over the last 25 years. All are authentic to the best of his knowledge. Some of the arrowheads he fashioned into necklaces. As my dad goes through his collection I am photographing and adding them to the store.

If you're on Etsy I'd love it if you'd follow me and favorite at least one item in my store. I'll be happy to reciprocate. Not sure if there is a market for this kind of stuff, but I guess I'll find out! Thank y'all so much for all your support!

CLICK HERE FOR LINK

Afton Villa Gardens II

With images still unprocessed from my March 15th photowalk at Afton Villa Gardens, I made another trip on March 29th. I'm so glad I went! In just two weeks the gardens have exploded in color. The wisteria, tulips, and azaleas were especially full and vibrant. Here are a few I thought you might enjoy.

Two mothers were out doing an Easter photoshoot with their darling girls.
I couldn't help getting my own shot. They were so adorbs!

Thanks again to Frank at FABirding for helping me with my blog crisis yesterday. All of my posts were still in English, but my dashboard and settings were in some kind of African language I'd never heard of! Note to self: Stay away from blog settings when tired.

Also a big thank you to my wonderful blog pals for sticking with me during this blogging transition I'm finding myself in. Not sure once a week blogging will cut it...we'll see how it goes. I will be making rounds the rest of the week, so if I haven't gotten to you yet, please be patient. :)

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Afton Villa Gardens is a historic site located in St. Francisville, LA. Its history began in 1820. You may read more on the web site if you wish. A fire destroyed the main home in 1963 and only the gardens remain. Although not my first time there, I had missed the azaleas and daffodils blooming. I have so many photos that I will have to create another post. I had loads of fun with the photo group on this outing.

Comments closed temporarily
until I can get caught up.

Afton Villa

More images from Afton Villa Gardens in St. Francisville, LA.

Many of you asked how the flowers are cared for at this abandoned site.
A caretaker was there watering all the plants. When asked about the property he
excitedly stopped watering to show us an old, faded photo of the original home.
He seemed to genuinely care for the place. Even though I understand Cajun accents fairly well,
this gentle soul had such a strong dialect that I had difficulty making out his words.
I did a lot of nodding and smiling, charmed by his animated ways and enthusiasm for the old place.
We still connected even though I didn't understand a thing he said! :) 

This pitiful calf mooed me over. I felt sorry for her because
she sounded sad. I petted her and scratched her head for a while
and she seemed to enjoy it. Maybe she was looking for her mama.

Cher bébé (Shah beh-bay), as we say around here. :)

I was captivated by this beautiful flower growing through the cracks of the old foundation.
How can you not admire something so strong and beautiful and determined?
Just goes to show that even though this flower doesn't have the perfect conditions in which to grow,
it grows anyway! And beautifully at that!

I'm not sure I will be keeping this layout. It works great for pictures, but the words stretching

all the way across on a smaller monitor do not automatically adjust, which is why I am centering

my text. But it looks kind of stupid with the text this way so I may have to go back
to the way it was before. If someone has a formatting suggestion, I'm all ears!

Participating in

Kate @ Thankful Thursday

Barn Charm! Finally!

Double D and I drove to St. Francisville, LA after church to see the countryside. It was such a beautiful day, I told him that if he wanted to stay inside and watch football that it was fine with me, but I was going somewhere, anywhere, to enjoy this gorgeous weather. I didn't say it in a way to make him feel bad, but he said he'd rather spend the day with me. Cue the "awwws" now. :)

We ended up at Afton Villa Gardens. A quick history: In the mid-1800s David Barrow constructed a grand home for his second wife. It was well cared for until 1963 when a fire destroyed the villa. The remnants are surrounded by lush gardens, with various statues and pillars scattered about.

Imagine my delight when I saw a barn off in the distance! Although I have many other photos to process, the barn took top priority. Tricia, thank you for hosting barn charm. I'm so excited to finally participate!

Processed with a Katie Lloyd texture

One of the remnants of the burned villa

Edit: Just found out about Homestead Barn Hop, so I'm linking there, too!

As you can see, I reformatted my blog. A HUGE thank you goes to Brian King for helping me with questions on sizing my images and other blog issues. The time he took to answer my questions was very generous, kind, and deeply appreciated! Please let me know if you have any problems with the new layout. Thanks!