A Most Excellent Weekend…

Must say that this weekend was superb. 

On Saturday, we headed out on our maiden voyage in our new boat.  Mini-DD and Mr. D fished while I took pictures and listened to my “Boat” playlist CD on the on-board CD player (pretty cool).

Mini-DD fishing near Dog River Bridge

 

Mr. D giving instruction

 We were on the water early and the scenery was just extraordinary. 

  

 

I can get used to this. 

Today, we decided to pick up some steamed seafood from one of the local seafood houses.  It was crabs and crawfish abound….

 

A few days ago, my friend, Pat from Cocoderie (Amy’s Dad) made me aware of an old song from Elvis’ homage to New Orleans’ King Creole.  Knowing that I’m a huge fan of ‘The King’, Pat passed along this song from the movie.

  Crawfish, Elvis Presley

I absolutely love this clip.  The street scene is so vintage New Orleans and that street basically looks the same today. 

Very cool.

I hope you all had as great a weekend as I did.

 

One More “Southern Belle”

 

The aptly named Pink Perfection Camelia

 

Big Easy Azaleas in Black & White

St. Louis Cathedral – New Orleans, LA

Since KD announced a mini-“photo” challenge  over at her blog, A Half Hour A Day, regarding flowers in black & white that had a quick turnaround, I figured I’d capture some spring foliage on my woman’s weekend in New Orleans.  So, in between good eats and great company, I managed to find the patron plants of the Deep South, Azaleas.

Technically, Azaleas are Rhododendrons, and are mainstay plant material in beds of virtually every Southern homeowner.  My father was a Nurseryman for over 45 years and was actually a field grower of Azaleas, so I have special kinship with the “belle of the South”.  Ironically, Mobile is actually called the “Azalea City” because of the proliferation and varieties found here.  But I digress…

The point of the challenge was to use black & white to show character of the flowers, in particular textures of petals, stamins, and leaves.  I’m not sure if I captured it exactly, but I gave it a good shot.  The New Orleans azaleas were soft pink, but taking the color out really does draw your eye to different facets of the flower, particularly the veining in the petals.

Truthfully, I have never noticed the “ink stains” on the top petals before and likely wouldn’t have without putting these in black & white.  While this isn’t part of the challenge, I think it’s important to show the same picture in color to really get the perspective of how the subject is changed when converted to black & white.

More of my “series” from New Orleans:

 And, here are a couple of different varieties that are actually in my yard.  This one is red:

This one is purple:

I think I still prefer the soothing that color brings when it comes to flowers, but black & white definitely “pops” texture and depth. 

And, just to bring it around full circle, here is the King to lay some New Orleans on ya (in black & white, of course).

 

Challenge of MO-Beel

Mobile, Alabama.  Pearl of the South.  Oak tree-lined streets draped in moss that provide a welcoming canopy for residents and visitors, alike.

The city I call home.  While I am forever Cajun and unabashedly proud of my homeland, Lower Alabama is home now.  I won’t bore you with the long, convoluted story as to how we chose to live in Mobile, but will share some particular sites with you that I took with my new Canon 50-D camera.

You see, my friend KD put a notice up on her blog, A Half Hour A Day, about photo guru, Scott Thomas’ collective shoot “assignment”.  While I’m quite the novice when it comes to this monsterous camera, what it does and how I can unleash its power, I figured I had to get wet sometime…so I jumped right in.

Now, I have been all around Mobile over the last seven years that I have lived here, but admittedly, it’s been a while since I took in the sites.  I took off on Sunday to capture some of the main sites to share, cyberly, with folks that are literally all over the world.  Heady stuff.  Never the shrinking violet, I embraced the assignment with gusto.

A little background for the readers (since most of you is yankees)…

Mobile is the only city in the United States that has been under five “national” flags. 

Spanish, Confederate, U.S., British, and French.  The one on the left is the Alabama State Flag.  Desired for its port, rivers and bays, Mobile offered settlers commerce and transportation.  Today, the many rivers, bays and tributaries provide livelihoods and entertainment for residents and visitors.

Probably the most well-know attraction in Mobile, is the USS Alabama Battleship. 

The Alabama is a floating museum that is anchored at the mouth of Mobile Bay and the prominent visual as you exit the famous Wallace Tunnel on I-10, heading East.  I have many fond memories of visiting the battleship as a child when we would travel through Mobile on our way to Pensacola or Orlando.  To see the battleship rooms and decks was always like entering a time warp for this WWII history buff.

And, Mobile is a bastion of history.  Founded in 1702,  Mobile is actually named for the Mobilian Indians who first settled these parts.  French Canadian explorers (and brothers) d’Iberville and Bienville were the first settlers in Mobile.  d’Iberville went on to explore the Carribean, while Bienville made his way west along the Gulf Coast to establish a little village called La Nouvelle Orleans…you might have heard of it.  Matter of fact, a few years later some Mobile natives moved over to the new settlement in Louisiana and brought with them their new Lenten tradition, Mardi Gras.  That’s right.  MOBILE is the home of the first Mardi Gras…not New Orleans.

Mobile pays tribute to its founding brothers in two different ways.  A statue of d’Iberville graces Cooper Riverfront Park, gazing out over the water that continued to call him.  At his back is the new RSA Tower, the pinnacle of Mobile’s budding skyline and the tallest building in Alabama.

The lovely old towne square in Downtown Mobile is named after Bienville, where a large cross monument and exquisite wrought iron fountain beckons.  The brothers, like most French men of that time, were vehemently dedicated to Catholicism.  Even today, Mobile has a very large Catholic community.

Now, I’ve seen pictures galore of the Bienville Square fountain and have also seen it numerous times from a distance, however I had never been up close.  The wonderful clear water made a very comforting, peaceful sound on this particularly gray, Sunday morning.

While it looks black from afar, closer inspection discloses that it’s actually a wonderful dark verdi green.  And, the detail on the iron works is simply superb.  Considering that this centerpiece has been in place since the 1890’s, it’s held up remarkably well.

I had a great time seeing some of the sights of Mobile and of course, getting to know my new camera.  I still need LOTS of practice but I like the shots I took, however I think the last one is my favorite.