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.

Coco Robicheaux

Taken at French Quarter Fest, April 2011 Published in The Times-Picayune from December 1 to December 2, 2011

ARCENEAUX Curtis "Coco Robicheaux" Arceneaux departed this life on Friday, November 25, 2011 at the age of 64. Beloved husband of Danielle Laramie Arceneaux. Son of the late Herman and Virginia Arceneaux. Father of Heather (Alex) Nygren. Brother of Thomas (Alys) Arceneaux, Connie (Hoyt) Reese and Nancy (Dan) Jones. Grandfather of Zinnia Nygren. Godfather of Alexandra Casey. Uncle of Gabriel, Christopher, Michael (Julie), Sean, Melissa (Adam), Jonathan, Zoe, Tanner, Mason and Rachel. Also survived by a host of cousins, other relatives and friends. Relatives and friends of the family are invited to attend the Memorial Service at DW Rhodes Chapel, 3933 Washington on Saturday, December 3, 2011 at 3:30 pm. Visitation will begin at 3:00 pm. Interment: Private. Arrangements by DW Rhodes, NOLA. Please visit www.rhodesfuneral.com to sign the guestbook.

and from that guestbook, check out this message from Coco's daughter:

The outpouring of love and support from the global community is heartwarming, and has been comforting.

We have created a Memorial Love Board for my father on Spiritland as a place to tell stories, share pictures and videos, and especially to add some humor, because anyone that knew Curtis knew that he was funny.

http://www.spiritland.com/abovelove

It is my wish to create a museum to honor New Orleans musicians in his memory.

Although he did love flowers, I believe he would want donations made to support the family of Kenny Holladay and the New Orleans Musicians Clinic.

With Love,
Heather
~ Heather Nygren

Scuzzbucket of the Week

That would be Representative Allen West of Florida



Will the race card ever go away? I think not because of people like Mr. West and redneck white people.

The reason I'm choosing Allen as the Scuzzbucket of the week (1st in a long time, I know. I've been busy wasting time on FB) is because of this article regarding his bid for re-election as a Congressman in the Sunshine State. Here's what old Allen has to say about his white, female opponent:

"She's a career politician looking for her next gig," he said. "Maybe she likes running against black guys," he added, referring to a 1992 Democratic primary which she lost against Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.). Frankel, the former mayor of West Palm Beach, is running in the Democratic primary along with Patrick Murphy to oppose West.

Hope he loses.

Bethlehemian Rhapsody

Awesome

Happy Thanksgiving

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

A POEM WORTH READING

And sharing!

(Author unknown)

He was getting old and paunchy
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion,
Telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he once fought in
And the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies;
They were heroes, every one.

And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors
His tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened quietly

For they knew whereof he spoke.

B ut we'll hear his tales no longer,
For old Bob has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer
For a Soldier died today.

He won't be mourned by many,
Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary,
Very quiet sort of life.

He held a job and raised a family,
Going quietly on his way;
And the world won't note his p assing,
'Tho a Soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing,
And proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell of their life stories
From the time that they were young
But the passing of a Soldier
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.

Is the greatest contributio n
To the welfare of our land,
Someone who breaks his promise
And cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his country
And offers up his life?

The politician's stipend
And the style in which he lives,
Are often disproportionate,
To the service that he gives.

While the ordinary Soldier,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal
And perhaps a pension, small.

It is not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
That our country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger,
With you r enemies at hand,
Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever waffling stand?

Or would you want a Soldier--
His home, his country, his kin,
Just a common Soldier,
Who would fight until the end?

He was just a common Soldier,
And his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us
We may need his like again.< /span>

For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor
While he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage
At the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline
In the paper that might say:
"OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,
A SOLDIER DIED TODAY."

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.