VACA 2011...Part 4

The Library. Or common area. It had a couple of old rattan chairs with funky zebra covers. There was a wall of glass cabinets holding the book collection and CD's. I found out later that the extra toilet paper was in the cabinets below...sorta self serve. A really nice old piano was against one wall with some sort of homage to elephants on top of it. A sign on the piano read:  Don't play the piano before 9AM or after 9PM. I think it disturbs the elephants.

Here is an overall view of that room with the cabinets of books, the chess table and the rattan chairs. Note the floor...the painted green was the flavor of the day. The stairway led downstairs to the dining room.

VACA 2011...Part 1

We took a little vacation before D has to go back to school. This is his week between classes, so we went to Grayton Beach. I'm going to post the pictures that I took...as I took them. So it will be planned randomness. A photo journal of our vacation in a timeline. Exciting!

Grayton Beach is, in the scheme of things, relatively close to us. Perfect. Not a long drive. And beautiful. Also close to Seaside. It all works in our favor.

First stop was en route to our lodgings. It was a little area by the road with a beautiful view of an inlet. We had always wanted to stop. This time we did.

I adore the 3 beach umbrellas on this sign

The Gulf Coast

Just a few images from Pensacola Beach and up Fort Walton way...some of the Gulf Coast. Only the most beautiful stretch of heaven around!

"Sister. She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Barbara Alpert

Palafox Market...2

Sometimes the flowers are beyond description. Glowing with color.

So. Take a stroll with me and enjoy the market.

"The sunflower is mine, in a way."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Vincent van Gogh

Off to Seaside we go...7

The last of this Seaside trip. I really fell in love with photographing textures on this trip. A basket of scarves is what set it all in motion. So warm. So lovely.

"Family faces are magic mirrors.  Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Gail Lumet Buckley

Off to Seaside we go...5

"Love is like the little red toy wagon you get for your Christmas... It makes you deliriously happy and you just can't leave it alone."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Mario Puzo (Fools Die)

Off to Seaside we go...3

And so it continues...

"... I love everything about motels. I can't help myself."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Bill Bryson (I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away)

Off to Seaside we go...2

The trip to Seaside was so much more to me this time than 'the beach'. Somehow cloth, texture, tactile...all worked into my feelings during the visit. I saw beautiful racks of clothing. Folds of material. Baskets full of twisted, colorful scarves. Shelves holding seashells and blue glass jars. Warm rows of hand crafted pottery. Baskets of candles. Wooden boxes overflowing with metal stars. It was all warm, comforting. So in this Seaside series, Off to Seaside We Go, you will see evidence of this.

The light and sheerness of this rack of blouses whispered to me. I was in awe.

"Today's woman likes to have a hint of lace showing under a white blouse..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Barbara Lipton

Off to Seaside we go...1

I'll post our trip to Seaside. This is actually a combo of two trips...One weekend then the next. It was like we couldn't get enough of going up Hwy. 98 to Seaside.

I'm starting with this picture of the beach because it is just so Seaside.

"i thank god for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees & for the blue dreams of sky & for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes."
¸.•*´¨`♥ E.E. Cummings

On the Way to Seaside...Destin 2

The rest from the Harbor Walk...

"She belonged to a different age, but being so entire, so complete, would always stand up on the horizon, stone-white, eminent, like a lighthouse ..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Virginia Woolf (Mrs. Dalloway)

A smattering of Pensacola

"The way out is through the door. Why is it that no one will use this method?"
¸.•*´¨`♥ Confucius

New Orleans 2011: lost folders 7

The lost folders. Oh. The lost folders. I think I have 2 more posts to go. We'll see. I've been wrong before. But here are some more of that marvelous city...

"I love the sound of a brand-new bottle of coke when you pry the lid off and it starts to fizz"
¸.•*´¨`♥ Gary D. Schmidt (The Wednesday Wars)

New Orleans 2011: lost folders 6

WOW. More from the lost folders. TeeHee. These are all from our afternoon trolley ride. Shot on the move hanging out the trolley window, trying to not get my head knocked off by a tree. Or light pole. Extreme Trolley Photography.

"Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Beatrix Potter

New Orleans 2011: lost folders 4

The lost folders posts continues! Without further ado, I'm going to start with a collage I put together of a guy at the trolley stop. He was awesome. Towered above the crowd, and had a massive Afro to boot. Loved it.

"My hair has it's own zip code."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Jodi Picoult (My Sister's Keeper)

New Orleans 2011: the lost folders 3

More from the lost folders. Yes. Exciting, isn't it? These little birds really enjoying the birdbath in Jackson Square. And I enjoyed watching them.

"... small visitors to the garden hopped and splashed and made the most of the day..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Juliet Marillier (Heart's Blood)

New Orleans 2011: set 2

Perhaps if you asked me what my favorite picture from our stay in New Orleans is, it may surprise you when I tell you this one. It is not the typical New Orleans photo. But, I love it because I feel it embodies all that New Orleans is about...it is colorful. layered. old. new. rich. in depth. stark elegance against decay. weathered. textured. And just a little off.

"I have dreamed in my life, dreams that have stayed with me ever after...and altered the color of my mind."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Emily Brontë

Polar Bear Plunge, Pensacola 01/01/11

Every year there is a New Year's Day tradition on Pensacola Beach...the Polar Bear Plunge. We went to watch this year. Did not take the plunge, but enjoyed watching.

Left overs

I have been cleaning up my photos, organizing, and making sure they have all been put in the blog before I move them from my computer to my hard drive. These are the mysterious left over four ten. I'm not quite sure if I have or have not posted them. So, I'm going to err on the safe side and post!

"I invented the pelican, but probably not the acorn or unicorn."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Daniel Davis

Gallery Night

This past November Nikki and I went to Gallery Night. It was a lovely night and we had so much fun!

"Some people are born to make great art and others are born to appreciate it. . . ."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Ann Patchett (Bel Canto)

Pensacola Restaurants

Just some shots from The Fish House and the Oar House.

"I don't care if we have our house, or a cliff ledge, or a cardboard box. Home is wherever we all are, together."
¸.•*´¨`♥ James Patterson