November is Good

Please let me preface that with the fact that I am not one of those "Northshore Snobs", I'm a yankee who's been here since '75, bore a cajun girl and am not going back. Louisiana is my home and that's that'

It has been a crappy week at our house this week. We had to put a cat down, we adopted a cat, hubby's still out of work on medical because of a cat tripping him on the stairway, a coworker and her father died unexpectedly last week and we attended the funeral and I'm losing a special girlfriend at the spaceship factory who's transferring to DC. We definitely needed a getaway.

We found out about the fantastic 3 Rivers Art Festival in Covington. We like to attend this every other year because it takes place on one of our favorite weekends to check out the Louisiana Renaissance Festival in Hammond (a MUST attend event if you like fall fests)

With artists of every ilk from Louisiana to North Carolina, this festival's enjoyment factor was multiplied by 10,000 because of the perfect November Southeast Louisiana weather.





I apologize ahead of time for the number of pictures, but these are just the favorites of the several hundred that we took. I hope you enjoy and make the effort to attend in the coming years. Festivals in this area are fantastic.
So without further ado, here are some of what we thought were interesting pieces of art or sites found at Three Rivers Arts Festival in Covington Louisiana:


































































This was the end of our day, taken at Bayou Liberty - close to our home.

Scuzzbucket of the Week

Mr. Toad himself

Read the story here

equity research analyst Todd J. Remis had his own taste of the fairytale life during his wedding to Milena Grzibovska on Dec. 28, 2003, at Castle on the Hudson in Tarrytown, N.Y.

But when Remis and H & H Photography hooked up, the result was an entrepreneur's nightmare.

Remis has filed a lawsuit against H&H Photographers as well as its original founders, who are now both in their 80s, for $4,100 for the cost of photography plus $48,000 to bring back the principal attendees and recreate the wedding so new photos can be taken. What Remis failed to disclose in his legal papers is that he got divorced in 2008 -- and he doesn't know the address of his ex-wife, who returned to her native Latvia. "Honestly, I think the whole thing is an abusive lawsuit," Dan Fried told The Huffington Post. "Having to go through this along with my dad and partner and partner's dad is a real shame. We have a lot of pride in our work, a love of photography and thousands of happy clients over 65 years. The whole thing is a shame."

According to Fried, Remis came to the office in January 2004 to pick up his wedding proofs (though in legal papers, Remis denies getting any pictures). "He complained to us right away," says Fried. "And the company made an effort to try to find a common ground with him. We said if we missed something, we would be happy to offer another type of shoot or do touchup on some images and make some changes for the prints for the wedding album. But that was not enough for him."

Remis continued to file complaints but never picked up his wedding album or paid his final balance. After years, H&H sent Remis a bill for the outstanding amount due. "He responded with a threatening letter and then shortly thereafter, he sued," says Fried. That was in 2009, six years after the wedding, a year after the couple separated and a few weeks before the statute of limitations would have expired.

Goodnight Midnight

We had to put down our 8 year old cat this morning unexpectedly. He was our quiet cat, kept to himself a lot. But last night he seemed out of sorts, confused. We brought him to the vets today and they discovered masses covering both kidneys. The vet said cats have a tendancy to hide things till the bottom drops out. We have wonderful memories of this sweet cat and thank God that we had the years with him. Rest in peace, my gentle giant.

Sunshine and Antiques

This weekend was the perfect time for outdoor activities. The sun was shining, the skies were blue and there was a steady breeze. With so much going on around us, we decided to stay close to home. We had breakfast at Sunrise on Second Street and then wandered over to Slidell's Antique District to check out their biannual street fair.

We like this fair for people watching, finding unique Christmas gifts and eating good food. There are many one-of-a-kind items for sale and you can't beat the prices. Here are some of the things that caught my eye.



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I didn't buy anything above, but I DID manage to grab some neat stuff. Next weekend we're off to the Picayune Street Fair

Veterans and OWS

If online reaction is any indication, it’s not a stretch to think Olsen’s injury could be the start of something very big. We have a lot of military combat veterans in this country who haven’t been treated very well since they left the service. No job prospects. Inadequate medical coverage. If they take their anger offline and into the streets, the OWS movement will become an extremely potent, and WELL TRAINED force.

Taken from this article about the reaction of Marines to Scott Olsens' injury after taking a tear gas canister to the head. As fellow protesters tried to assist him, police lobbed a flash grenade into their midst–right next to Olsen’s already fractured skull.

Scott Olsen's Assault

Bobby McFerrin and the human brain

Butterflies and Bayous

We were pleasantly surprised when we finally decided on what to do on Saturday...



we went to Camp Salmen Nature Park to see what updates have been done since our last visit in February. Originally a Boy Scout camp from the 40's to the 70's, Camp Salmen has an interesting history in the Bayou Liberty area.

(click on pictures for larger versions)



When we visited in February we were unaware that the Park would be undergoing a metamorphosis of huge proportions. We truely enjoyed one of the first upgrades of the Park: the butterfly garden. The entire park will be changing under the direction of Edward Blake, director of The Crosby Arboretum in Picayune, Mississippi. If you like interpretive journeys trail system to observe a park’s biological diversity you'll like both Camp Salmen and Crosby Arboretum. But I digress.



The butteryfly garden at the Park contains all native wildflowers. The blanket of purples, golds and reds attract scores of butterflies. During our visit we enjoyed the sights of butterflies and bees enjoying a cool, sunny Saturday morning. Check it out:

















There were several butterflies with these markings.


Can you see the tiny butterfly in this picture?



There are boardwalks that bring you closer to the Bayou and trails that roam throughout the deep woods. It's difficult to take a bad picture there.











I must say that early autumn in Southeast Louisiana - while not as beautiful as the northern states - is one of the prettiest around.



After leaving the park we headed for the Slidell Trailhead of the Tammany Trace and hubby caught two butterflies attempting to mate.








According to him, the female butterfly must've had a headache, because she didn't want anything to do with him.
Guess humans aren't the only ones who have problems "connecting". Good to know.

Have a good week, y'all.