TREASURES IN LAKE CHARLES, LA!!!

Heidy-Ho, Blogging Buddies!

I know.  You don't hear anything from me for a month then I inundate you with pictures and information!!  Imagine how my spousal-unit feels!!  :)

Now then... I was in Lake Charles with a friend.  An acquaintance had mentioned a place there with vinegar and olive oils.  I am a HUGE fan of both so convinced my friend, who is not nearly as big a fan, we should check it out.  We were both VERY glad we did.  They do not have a web site that I can find, but they are on Facebook.  I'm not, but you can find them there.  This place is more than just a vinegar & olive oil tasting spot (although that's my fave reason to go!).  They have a TON of great gift items AND they will put together a basket for you to give as a gift that the recipient will love.  A few quick photos to get you interested:

VINEGAR SAMPLING !!!  THIS IS JUST ONE SIDE.  THERE ARE MORE ON THE BACKSIDE!!!

JUST ONE WALL OF OLIVE OIL SAMPLING!!! THERE IS A WHOLE 'NOTHER WALL.  YUMMMMMM.

GIFTS GALORE,,,

... AND MORE!!!!

CAN YOU SAY SPECIALTY FOOD OVERLOAD?!?!?  OH MY!!

The ladies there are just lovely and will help you with anything at all relative to all the goodies available.  Please support them!

Now then... just three doors down, in Suite 400, is a WONDERFUL place owned by two sisters.  Haven Home Furnishings does have a minimal web site (click on the name which will take you there) but you really need to visit the store to get the full effect of the items and the sisters!  Or you can visit their Facebook page.

We stumbled across it after visiting Crave one day.  We had a wonderful time chatting with Kathi who gave us the lowdown on her history, the store, etc.  She also told us about the painting of many of the furniture items in the store.  Her sister, Shirley, had done it.  That led to a discussion about the paint and the technique.  Next thing you know, she is telling us her sister will be holding classes in the technique soon.  Uh.  Okay.  Being a severely left-brain individual, the thought of trying to paint something really cool (other than the kitchen cabinets which was a VERY long project but relatively simple) was just daunting.

The next time I was there, however, I wandered in to see if I could beg or cajole Shirley into painting a couple of items I have that would really look great with some of the techniques used on some of the items for sale.  She was very sweet and understanding but kept telling me how EASY it was to do what she did to a piece of furniture.  Finally, we struck a bargain.  I would attend the one-day class IF she would agree to do the pieces should I fail miserably at achieving the look I wanted.  Done.  We reached agreement.  It was this that saw me heading to Lake Charles early one Saturday morning for a furniture painting class.  Oh boy.

Well, I will tell you this much.  The class was great fun.  There were three other attendees (all of whom were far more right-brain than I am!) who were very kind to me... encouraging me and taking care of me throughout the ordeal.  I actually found myself having some fun with it by afternoon!  The fear had abated.  Now I just wanted to get crazy!!  :)  So... armed with new knowledge, I am now thinking about exactly what treatment I want to give the telephone table and the two huge chests-of-drawers that belonged to my parents.  They are great pieces but the old blonde wood look just doesn't work for me.  Oh... and there will eventually be an "advanced" class with more techniques!  Dare I consider it?  We'll see.

At any rate... here are some photos of the items that inspired me and one of my mentors in class (Thanks, Linn!).  Please try to get by there when you are in Lake Charles.  You'll be glad you did!!

TAKE AN OLD DOOR, A SMALL TABLE, A SHELF... CONNECT & PAINT... VOILA!!!

ONE OF MY MENTORS!!!  THANKS, LINN!!

WHO DOESN'T LOVE A PINK FLAMINGO POWDER ROOM?!?!?!?!?

Please take a little time to go visit both of these places.  They are locally owned.  They are different.  They are fun!!  What else could you possibly want?

Until next post...

LOUISIANA TRAVELS!!! PART II

Heidy-Ho, Blogging Pals!

I have heard from a few of you so I know the Avery Island post was liked.  Thank you for your emails!

So... let's move on to the Sunday following Avery Island when my friend, Charlotte B., and I made our way a short distance to Jefferson Island and the Rip Van Winkle Gardens thereon.  This was a very different environment.  Avery Island was very natural with no real "plantings."  It was just as you would find leaving the island... native landscape.  Jefferson Island has been molded, shaped, and planted for some very spectacular viewing as well as having some native landscape areas.  It is also home to the Joseph Jefferson Mansion which can be toured (we chose to not take that tour) and a B&B consisting of three cottages available for rental.  The web site link earlier in this paragraph can point you to information on those.

We were the first to arrive early Sunday morning.  We entered into the gift shop where tickets were sold for the mansion tours as well as for the ability to wander the gardens at leisure.  We obtained our gardens tickets and headed out.  Wow!!!  What a beautiful sight!  As done previously, I am going to just post some of the best shots with captions, when appropriate.  I hope you enjoy the trip!  :)

Wow!  Beautiful views right off the bat!

Old Rip's Oak planted by Joseph Jefferson 1870

And here is Old Rip's Oak... Magnificent, isn't it?

There were some interesting "yard art" pieces there.

Beautiful settings and plants.

These are Crinum plants.  A flower detail is below this.

Charlotte caught this fellow preening himself on one of the railings.  We were told there are 83 peacocks (and I'm guessing that includes peahens) on the property!!

There were other "surprises" to be found throughout the property.

Charlotte worked very hard to get this great close-up of the water lily flower!!

At the base of an oak tree (and the remaining trunk of another) I found a stone with a small plaque explaining what the two oak trees had provided!

The LaFitte Oaks - In 1923, 3 pots of buried treasure were discovered here

We had a lovely lunch at the cafe which was 3-sides glass providing a view from every table.  Absolutely beautiful... and the food was pretty darned tasty, too!

Charlotte's favorite bird is the roseate spoonbill which resides all over south Louisiana but is not easily spotted.  On our way out, we stopped at the rookery area where Charlotte risked life & limb (and her shoes!) to cross a field of grasses and a ditch full of water to get as close as possible in order to capture the following shot using her camera's zoom feature.  You will notice the spoonbill at the upper left section of the tree and, I believe, another one nearly hidden below and slightly to the right of that one.

If you like interesting facts, check out the info on the 1980 disaster when an oil rig punctured the salt dome beneath Jefferson Island.  It is fascinating and some of you may remember it from national news reports!

I do hope you have enjoyed our little road trip.  Charlotte and I had a wonderful time discovering a little more of this state where we were both raised.

Oops!  Sorry.  As I was finishing and proofing this post, the spousal-unit called me to look at the back patio and check out the bird activity.  There were two or three Brown Thrashers and a plain ol' Blue Jay out back hopping about and clearly unhappy.  The spousal-unit pointed out the snake hiding up underneath the bench against the back wall.  Hmmmm.  Dark snake.  About two feet long.  So we tag-teamed it.  He got a piece of bamboo split at one end.  I got the shovel.  We had seen it disappear behind a bag of garden soil against the wall.  The spousal-unit slowly removed items until he uncovered the snake.  I got as close as I could comfortably to attempt an ID.  Black & grey topside.  Uh-oh.  Triangular head.  We may have a poisonous one... looks like a water moccasin.  Yeppir.  That's my opinion.  The spousal-unit deftly caught its head in the forked end of the bamboo and rolled it up like a piece of spaghetti!!  Poor little snake didn't know if it was coming or going.  He took it out to an area with a tree stump handy and very deftly dispatched it.  He buried the head and tossed the remains over the back fence.  Done.  I won't kill a snake unless it is 1) poisonous, and 2) too close to where I'm living!!  This seemed to be both.  I hope it wasn't just a frightened water snake since they are not poisonous and I would have preferred to leave it alone.  Oh well.  That close, you have to make a choice.

Until next post...

LOUISIANA TRAVELS!!! PART I

Heidy-Ho, Blogging Buddies!!  Glad to see you haven't left me yet!

Things have been a little busy but my very excellent friend, Charlotte B., and I took a weekend to do a little Louisiana traveling.  I had always wanted to go to Avery Island, home of that FABulous product, Tabasco.  It is between Lafayette and New Iberia, south of Interstate 10.  We decided to stay in Lafayette overnight Saturday night and left for our road trip early Saturday morning.

I knew there was a little store on Avery Island and some sights to be seen but wasn't sure exactly what to expect.  I was very pleasantly surprised at the lovely environment we found ourselves in on a Saturday morning.  Let me share some photos with you.  It may take a few posts to get them all to you so bear with me.

A LITTLE HISTORICAL INFO

A SURPRISE WAITING AROUND THE CORNER

WHAT IS THAT?

AN 800+ YEAR OLD BUDDHA GIFTED TO E.A. McILHENNY BY FRIENDS!!

BEAUTIFUL STONE BRIDGE THE BUDDHA OVERLOOKS

LOVE THE TREE "SCULPTURES"

MORE "SCULPTURES"

My friend, Charlotte, got this beautiful "sculpture" shot!

Always a fan of flora & fauna, I spotted this beautiful bird alone doing some fishing (it was... not me).  I waited a bit to see if it would fly off and got some really fun shots of its short flight into the shade.

 

Wondered where all of this bird's buddies were... and found them at the rookery!!!  Noisy place, this!

Again, my friend with all of the "proper" camera equipment including a much better zoom lens than my poor little Samsung phone can offer, got a lovely shot of a flying egret.

Back at the Tabasco Country Store, next to the actual Tabasco manufacturing plant, we found a "hot" fish biting on a "hot" pepper!!  Smart fish!  It knows what's good!  :)

So... while we were a little "hot" ourselves (it was darned toasty out there, folks!), we still could appreciate and enjoy the fun and frivolity of Avery Island.  I had always wanted to go and I am glad I did.  Even saw some little gators swimming around in the bayous!  They're cute when they're little.

Next post, we'll go to Jefferson Island and the Rip Van Winkle Gardens.  More photos for you to (hopefully!) enjoy and a little more historical information for you to add to your trivia knowledge.

Until next post...