No place like home

I went to a conference  in Woodworth, LA, at a place that was located in Alexander State Forest..  It was an all day event.  The surrounding were lovely and I really liked the pavilion where we spent a lot of our time.

Here are a couple of photos of what I was looking at most of the day.

Bayou Clear, Woodworth, LA

This area of the state has some of the more rugged terrain in it.  Don't you just love our mountains hills.  (I like to muse on geology but as you can see, unless I ponder upon recent deposition I don't have much to think upon unless I get some well logs to look at.)

 I thought it was so neat to see the cloud centered in the half circle.  By the time I got my camera out it had moved on a bit but I thought it was still a fun picture to take.

  Even though I had a good time, it was a long day and I was happy to get home.  I knew I was almost home when I turned onto our street and saw the sign below.

One of the things I love about my neighborhood is how friendly everyone is.  I knew I was going to like living in the place when we first started to look in the area because of these two signs that were up at the ends of our street and subdivision. 

Welcome home on the Bayou

Now whenever I travel I always look for one of these signs to know that I'm within walking distance of my home. Like I said in this post title:  There's no place like home.

Spring Walk - 2 weeks later

The other day I went walking and took some pictures and shared them here at this blog.  It's two weeks later and I have some new and different stuff to share.

Forsythia

Dogwood blossoms

Azaleas

 Just wait a week or two and the Azaleas will really be out if full bloom.  I can hardly wait, because they are some of my favorite plants.

Irises

Dogwood blossoms

I think Lady Banks Roses?

Narcissus

Hyacinths

Wisteria

Wisteria

Irises

Violets

Lily of Valley

Tulips

 The flowers sure did make it feel like spring was definitely here.  But there were other signs that made me feel for sure Spring was here and it was going to stay.  For one was seeing this robin's egg fallen from a nest.

Robin's egg, fallen from nest

 And geese sitting on their eggs trying to hatch them.

Another thing is seeing lawn mowers like this out. 

But the thing that really got to me more than anything was getting in my car yesterday and having the out side temperature being 86 degrees.  I'm just not ready to have that type of heat yet.


Thank you for looking

Book: 'Assassination Vacation'

The other night, on the news they were saying that there was a new recording of the time when Ronald Regan had an assassination attempt on his life when he was shot by John Hinckley.  That reminded me of a book that I had read last summer called 'Assassination Vacation' by Sarah Vowell. (2005), Simon & Schuster paperback.  It is/was a New York Times Bestseller. I'm in a book club and it was picked for the summer as a light fun read.  If it wasn't for my book club, I seriously doubted that I would have ever picked this book to read.  But then as I read it I really got into it.
  When I started to read it I was about to take a vacation, with my husband, to Nashville TN. In the book she briefly mentions Andrew Jackson.  So when I got to Nashville I just had to see the Hermitage.  Then as I read the book, it excited me because it was mentioning some places that I actually had been too and have photos of.
Here are a couple of photo's of the Hermitage and the surrounding area:

The Hermitage, home of Andrew Jackson, Nashville TN (taken 7-14-2010)

Andrew Jackson's tomb at the Hermitage (taken 7-14-2010)

Black Eyed Susans a the Hertimage (takes 7-14-2010)

Black-eyed Susans

Crepe Myrtle (7-14-2010)

Aster's?

I found the flowers in the gardens that Rachel had started were very beautiful and enjoyed them as I walked around.

  Getting back to the book, 'Assassination Vacation' is about this girl that decides to spend her vacations studying the different assassination of the Four Presidents that were shot and killed. Andrew Jackson was like I said briefly mentioned because he was in some duels in his lifetime and was almost assassinated and thus the reason for the mention in the book.
    In the book she only really studies three of the four assassinated Presidents since the last one is Kennedy and so much is already known about that assassination.  In the book she researches:  Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, and William McKinley.

    The book is written in the first person, so you never really know if this is an autobiography or if it is considered a work of fiction.  I liked the way the book was written because it was witty and easy to read.  What excited me so much was the fact that I had visited a lot of the places she had mentioned in the book.  And the one thing that did disappoint me was there were no photo's in it, thus giving it a fiction feel to it.
  One of the things that struck me was when we were discussing this book was to find out how many people thought that most of the Presidents were buried in Arlington Cemetery like JFK was. That idea had never crossed my mind since I grew up visiting Garfield's tomb in Cleveland Ohio and McKinleys in Canton, Ohio.
My friends were surprised that I had actually visited some of these places too like the girl in the book. Most of them had never considered visiting a tomb like that before they read the book.
   Because there were no photo's in the book I decided to bring some of my own. I was glad I had brought some pictures with me so that they could see these places for themselves.  So here's some of the stuff I shared with my friends:
ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Tomb

and Memorial

Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC (taken 10-21-06)

Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC (taken 10-21-06)

the reflecting pond in front of Lincoln memorial, Washington DC (10-21-06)

World War II memorial (taken 10-21-06)

     This was also mentioned in the book.
 

World War II memorial, for the state of Louisiana (10-21-06)

JAMES A GARFIELD Tomb
Lakeview Cemetery

The reason I have photos of the Lake View Cemetery is two fold  When I was going to school in the area sometimes my geology classes would go there to study all the different types of rocks that the monuments were made of. And we would also study the Allegany formation which out cropped there.
The other reason is my older brother is buried there.

Garfield's Tomb, Lake View Cemetery

Enterance to Lake View Cemetery

Red Maple in fall, Lake View Cemetery

the meditation area at Lake View Cemetery

Not Garfield's tomb but someone else that is pretty famous.  If I'm not mistaken I think this is John D Rockefeller's tomb

Back side of Garfield's tomb.

WILLIAM MCKINLEY TOMB
 I thought I had some but don't even though I have visited the place more than once.  It's not too far from the Football Hall of fame, which is another popular place to visit while in Canton Ohio.


I must conclude if you ever have a chance to go visit these places, please do they are fascinating spots with a lot of information connected with them.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY TO YOU

Today is St. Patrick's day and since my maiden name starts with an O' guess what?  I'm Irish! and as Irish I like to celebrate with corn beef, cabbage potatoes and of course beer. To get in the mood I took some pictures of three leaf clover - growing in my garden.  It seems that's all I'm good at growing these days but that's okay with me since I like them.
So here's  a couple of pictures of three leaf clover.

three leaf clover

three leaf clover (3-17-2011)

three leaf clover

three leaf clover (3-17-2011)

Being Irish, we had alcohol in the house.  I always loved this saying that my parents had by the drinks.
An Old Irish Toast
May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows you are dead.

When I was growing up there was this saying that was by the door as we left.  I looked at it every day and thought I knew it but then when I tried to write it down I had trouble, I think this is it.

An Old Irish Blessing
May the road rise up to meet you
And the wind always be at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
And the rain fall softly on your head
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.


3-18-11
I realized I didn't put in a scale so you can see how well I can grow clover.
Here's what you normally see in the yards in my neighborhood.

And here's mine.

Three leaf clover

See I told you I could grow clover.

3-20-11
While I was walking I came across this unique clover and picked it so I could share it with others too.

 To me it looked like there were three hearts on it and that was why it was so special.

YES, SPRING IS HERE, in the South & ITS PARADE TIME

This is what I woke up to the other morning.
I have spring fever bad.  I have a lot of things to work on,  but what do I do - I went for a walk in my neighborhood.  I decided to take my camera so I could take a couple of pictures to send to my sister who lives in Wisconsin - to give her a break from winter.  Well a couple ended up being quite a few, but I want to share them anyway. I thought all the people up north might enjoy these too.

There is always certain clues that spring is here like blustery days. Nothing stirs me more than seeing an American flag blowing in the wind.

Another clue is to see the Red breasted Robins.

Or nests being built.

Or actually finding a nest with goose eggs in it.  There is nothing like seeing the circle of life to make you feel alive.

All of this is great and wonderful, but it is the flowers that really get to me.
Here are some of the flowers that caught my breath as I walked today.

Daffodils

Camilla's

Forsythia

Pansies

Jonquils

Hyacinths

Camillas

Camillas

Tulips

Lily's of the valley?  and Daffodils

Even the trees and bushes are wonderful.  Look at how purple this Tulip Magnolia tree is, while the other one is so whitish looking. 

Tulip Magnolia tree

Tulip Magnolia Tree

Azaleas

Here's some more trees that are spectacular.

Bradford Pear?

Peach blossoms

Not sure what this is.

or this

I even enjoyed looking at the weeds.

Clover?

Violets in the grass

Dandelions

 And a gardener after my own, someone who grows Dandelions!!  I have one just like that at my house.

Don't know what weed this is but its pretty anyway.

And finally for St Patrick's day some three leaf clover

Ah yes, Spring is definitely here.  Even my arch nemesis is coming out - Fire Ants - who would have ever thought something so small could topple me over like they do.

Yes Spring is definitely in the air -  It's no wonder my husband is complaining about me snoring in the middle of the night.  I'm just glad they have invented the allergy medicines that they have.  Claritin - my new best friend.

Yah, there's nothing like walking in the neighborhood and enjoying mother nature in its fullest.  When my kids were little, the one thing they had to do was go to the duck pond at the first chance we could get to break the ho-hums of winter.  I decide to go to the pond without them today.
Seeing ducks at the duck pond tells me that winter is over.

 One of the things that excited them so was to find eggs.  I thought it was too early but I was wrong. There were eggs to be found.  Here's another picture of the eggs in the picture above.

But  the thing that really, really makes me realize that winter is just about over is the annual migration of the port-a-lets to the duck pond.

And the setting up of tents.

And the setting up of barricades

The signs are in place

It all just leads to one thing:  Mardis Gras is here and 

                        IT'S PARADE TIME !!

The parade takes off on March 8.  If you haven't submitted anything yet for AW-32
Please get it in to me as soon as possible.