Windows Wednesday

Dauphin Island, Alabama. Thanksgiving week. A family taking a walk at sunset past a camp where another family is preparing a meal for a cold November evening.

Windows Wednesday

The setting sun reflected in the windows of a camp on Dauphin Island, Alabama .

The Sun Room

The past several weeks have been more gloomy than sunny. The ground is saturated and it's difficult to play with my "throw the ball" Labrador in the yard without him becoming a muddy mess. So I improvise and we play ball in the house, which entails using nasty, slimy balls that leave snail trails on the floors. I refuse to wash the floors until this rainy spell is over because it would just be a waste of time.

To help pass the time during these gray days, I decided to spend some time in the Sun Room and spruce it up in anticipation of a sunny Spring. So I introduce you to my Sun Room through pictures.


This is the entrance to my room of windows.

This stunning seashell hanging was purchased in Biloxi before Katrina.


I have collected so many shells and driftwood, I decided that the Sun Room would have a "beach" theme.



After years of not having enough space, I have found a place for all my suncatchers!








This beauty was created by New Orleans artist of found object folk art Lance Vargas




The driftwood is safely tucked away from the dog!


This piece - found in Fountainbleau State Park - looks like a gator


An homage to our last trip to Dauphin Island


This piece was found in my husband's mothers house - a minnow trap. I'm looking for a spot to display it


I found this stool/table on Overstock dot com. Made in Vietnam, it's real slices of wood


Big Sam approves of the new cushions.

I can hardly wait for the warmer, sunnier days of Spring to let this room shine in all her beauty!

missing this

Dauphin Island November 2011

I am a shoreline person. My blood pressure drops when I hear the sound of the surf.  I adore walking barefoot in the sand. I live within a mile of a bayou, I cross Lake Pontchartrain 2 times a day 5 days a week.  I have a thing for pelicans. My wonderful husband is the same way.  So we decided to renew a short tradition that began in 2003: spending Thanksgiving Week on Dauphin Island.  This tradition lasted only two years due to Katrina, and it was wonderful to get back there after 7 years.

I am happy to report that Dauphin Island is back better than ever.  She has a new West End Beach which is perfect for beach combing, walking your dog sans leash (if you are a responsible owner and your dog is not aggresive), bird watching, photography and just plain relaxing. 

We took thousands of pictures during our stay there.  We would arise before the sun and walk the block to the beach and then come home for lunch and rest and return to the beach about 4:30 for sunset.  I loved the daily schedule. 
We came home sunburned, happy and with a cooler full of beautiful seashells. 

I grabbed a few pictures that somewhat show just a fraction of the beauty and peace that we observed in our 7 days in idyllic Dauphin Island, Alabama


Our dog Deuce in dog heaven....look at all of those sticks!!



He chooses a stick that favors his breed an size and runs with it....



Deuce and his favorite human jumping for the stick



It's hard to believe that the first day we were there Deuce wasn't comfortable with the surf....he adapted quickly



One of my favorite part of the day was sunrise.  The pelicans would start to fly low across the surf looking for breakfast.  They are magnificent birds.



When we looked out of our screened in back porch we faced a lagoon.  During our week there we discovered that this lagoon was home to a beautiful blue heron.



Because I love the shoreline, I am so happy to find the shells that the tide brings in.  This pic shows my favorite of the shells, the ones I like to call 'ridged' shells. 



This shot shows the broken shells we were attracted to.  That holey one on the bottom sits on my desk at work.  It's my favorite.




Hubby caught this picture of a pelican doing the dive for food.  Isn't it awesome?  We sat for at least 30 minutes watching the pelicans eat lunch during this particular day.



I apologize that I didn't rotate this picture and can't figure out how to do it in wordpress.
Hubby spent 30 minutes slowly approaching this magnificent heron in the surf. 



tiny shorebird



We caught every sunset while we were there.  One night we caught this awesome sight.



I became obsessed with these fences, especially at sunset because the light changed everything. 




you can set your clock by the time that the pelicans go home for the night.  It was a magnificent show every evening about 5:10 PM to see flocks of the birds heading home.




This is an evening shot of the lagoon that faced our porch.  It was a wonderful sight which - if you paid attention - would attract a variety of birds.  I tried on several occasions to catch a kingfisher but he was too fast for me.


Another shot of the pelicans going home. 




I like this sunset shot




This is a morning shot of a pelican flying across the surf




A wonderful sunset shot when the waves were active




Our first night there I caught this shot of a blue heron walking along the beach, oblivious to the people fishing.  It gave me a good gut feeling to how the rest of the week would go.  And it did.  if only I could live there.  ;/




Here is a close up shot of the blue heron who lived in the lagoon across from our camp.  He became noisy if we got to close





I can't tell you how emotional I get when I see shrimp boats in action.  Weird, i know.  I find them so beautiful.  Another reason I enjoy Dauphin Island.....great shrimp boat shots.




My favorite shot of Deuce for the whole week.  He is magestic in this picture, despite the fact that we know what a big doofus crazy goofy puppy that he really is.

Happy Thanksgiving

Billy, Deuce and I spent our early Thanksgiving afternoon on the beautiful deserted beach at Dauphin Island. Heaven, just perfect.