The Q

Plans were hatched to visit the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans one June morning with a new friend, Theresa. Well, as with most plans these days, the rain had other ideas. Refusing to let a little water stand in our way, we decided to forge ahead!

The rain continued, relentlessly, so we had no choice but to ditch the zoo plans and head to the Q, better known as The French Quarter. It was the weirdest day ever. Let's see, I was first approached by a very inebriated man who got right in front of my face gesturing the peace sign. Every turn of my head to avoid him was met with him doing the same. That was pretty unnerving. I finally got away from him which took a few exhausting minutes. Several times throughout the day he turned up doing the same thing to other people. More unsettling things happened, but I'll just leave it there.

A break in the rain. A lovely woman is focused on a book or her phone.

Here is Mr. Peace Sign harassing another passerby.

And here he is again, flashing the peace sign to another girl.
I loved the faces of the onlookers. I see anger, amusement, fear & caution
on all four faces.

Lots of colorful umbrellas. 

This precious little girl watching all the shenanigans
in Jackson Square.

Meet Dorothy Smith. She approached me in St. Louis Cathedral with a very sad story.
She got my last $10. I'm pretty sure I was snookered, but I did
promise to pray for her whenever I look at her photo.
After I gave her the money, I remembered a pack of almonds in my purse.
Offering her the almonds, she politely refused, showing me her toothless gums.
Talk about embarrassing!!!!!!!!
Lord, please help this woman find housing and 3 meals a day.
And if she is scamming people, let karma have its way.
Amen!

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. :)

Fontainebleau, Part I

A couple weekends ago we decided to revisit Fontainebleau State Park to see what progress has been made since Hurricane Isaac blew through last year. It was astonishing to see that nothing has been done. There are still no restrooms, no cabins to rent, and Alligator Boardwalk is still in scattered pieces. Very disappointing. It amazes me that the government requires all public facilities to have working restrooms, and will levy a fine if the requirements are not met. I guess they are exempt from their own rules. Oh, I'd best not get started down that path.

Half an hour before sunset

When these children saw me setting up my camera they came running over shouting,
"TAKE OUR PICTURE! TAKE OUR PICTURE!"
Who could resist these little hams?

More children wanted in on the action. After each click, they'd run over to see themselves on the back of the camera display,
then run back out for more photos.

I was so surprised by their enthusiasm and wanting to get the gazebo in the photo,
I failed to notice they were standing over a big ugly drain. I should have moved
them over to the grassy area. 

The sun setting over Lake Pontchartrain as viewed from the gazebo.

More photos to come!