houses of New Orleans

 the architecture

it's all about the architecture

Key West was just a small taste of wonderful old houses

New Orleans has actual neighborhoods

 of wonderful old houses and

 filled with some of the most interesting and colorful people

tons of character and charm here man

and unlike Key West, they are not a million dollars and everyone

was not fixed up by a banker from the mainland

I never tired looking at the houses the whole time we were there

here are some of my favorites

there is something about the shutters that I just love

so Caribbean

the work so well in the heat too
they keep the sun out and the air can still come through

they were built in a time when people cared about ascetics

they took pride in their craft

works of art and all so different

I especially like this one

these are all just in the neighborhood we were staying in

I wanted to take photos of every one but it seemed

too invasive even for new orleans

 I am always more attracted to the

fixer-uppers

these houses have more character and soul than most houses built today

aging queens they are

need partners for this one I think

 notice how the post is not actually touching the porch

we could fix this up.....

I sent some of these photos to a friend and he said,
just looks like work, I'm over it

(he is older than me I think)

***

the other thing I noticed very soon

was the evidence of the perfect storm they called Katrina

well actually called several things, many not printable...

 spray painted on a wall -

F - fix
           E - everything
 M - my 
A - ass

it is mind boggling to look at this map

the house we were staying in

 is the little strip of land between the flood and the river - top right

but the house my son bought, was under water to the top floor 

 as were many, too many others

to still see the effects of this tragedy nine years later

still so evident and to hear the stories 

it broke my heart

I could not take any more photos of the houses, lives and communities people lost

I also could not take photos in the cemeteries

though from a street over they looked inviting 

with their lovely angel statues

it did not feel right to be stumbling around taking photos

these are not ancient cemeteries, but cemeteries people are still using

still have family in

biking by we saw a tourist bus pulling into one and people 

hopping out with their cameras....

I did with my son's help get a couple great graffiti shots though

at an abandoned high school

at least some art is still going on there

then there was this wonderful old church in our neighborhood

originally a German church

 it looks Spanish to me

and next to it were some of the oldest crepe myrtles ever

 the street was purple from the flowers

they were blooming all over town while we were there
very magical

 and beads - what is New Orleans without beads??

they were everywhere, on fences, houses, cars, one street even
had filled it's pot holes with them - I kid you not
my son was too embarrassed to let me stop and take a photo

ah the houses of New Orleans - I fell in love with several

on the back of this card it says

"K's lamp.  Grasping this pole in a firm but sensitive manner K divined truth and remedies.  As it was her power spot she came back often."

artist - James Michalopoulos

next one - music

New Orleans changed me

a wonderful couple we met in Key West said,

if you like key West - you will love New Orleans

they were SO right

it changed me, this trip change me

New Orleans - changed me

***

well of course let's start at the beginning

New Orleans is 735 miles from our house - that is a 2 day trip for me

first stop the Swanee River - yep the famous Swanee

 ("how I love you, how I love you")

I came here with my grandparents when I was a kid

or at least I thought this was the one, now I see there are lots of parks on the Swanee......

 

 

here is the swim in the famous Swanee River

the sand is white but the tannin in the water turns it orange and dark

very refreshing in a 90 degree day

 lots of kayaking and canoeing opportunities along the river

we did not bring the kayaks this trip but we will be back

okay the most amazing thing about this park is that hole in the wall

above is the old stone work around the spring

it looks mucky but it isn't - the yellow is sand and the dark is deep water

the spring wells up in the middle of the dark center and goes out the hole

under the wall into the river

it was so much fun to jump in the spring and let it shoot you out into the river

the spring water was very cold and the river warm

you needed someone to catch you though 

or the current took you down river fast

lucky for me there were some local kids and they very happily stopped

and helped people out

I did it until I could hardly walk

next stop 

Ponce de Leon Springs
they created a swimming area around the spring

 the water was turquoise

 a small damn spilled from the swimming area into the river

 this was the most amazingly clear little river
it was very cold as was the swimming area but very refreshing

did you know that Florida is covered with natural fresh water springs?

27 first magnitude springs move over six billion gallons every day!
and there are over 900 known springs in Florida!!



and 

 there was this tree - all over the southern states
crype myrtle

 they got huge

and these were nothing compared to the ones in New Orleans

which was our next stop

just as we get across Lake Pontchartrain - we could see the storm coming

it was so bad everyone pulled off the road and waited for it to blow through

which it does most of the time here in the rainy season

 when we crossed Florida Street - we knew were close
our son bought a house a few blocks from there
he got me to New Orleans and I am so grateful!

when we got to where they were staying I used the bathroom
on the wall was a PLAY LIST - that is so New Orleans

 there were also several other 

 walls artistically done

we were happy to have rented an apartment in the Bywater nearby
half a shot gun as they say

it was over 140 years old

it was a wonderful home for a week
the feeling was like we lived there and were part of a neighborhood 
instead of tourists
it had all the right things, old wood fireplaces, big claw foot bath tub
and a great front porch to hang out on, super high ceilings with fans

we essentially came to the city to support our son in buying his house

 here is the happy seller and happy buyer
it was the sellers aunt and uncles house, he grew up there
he said he would be checking in to see how the rehab was going
they both look pretty happy

new house

  I love the brick and sweet little yard

that accomplished - we were free to explore the city

to be continued......

the Key West Vacation

- just what I needed -

my friends had made this trip before 

and kindly let me tag along on this one

we took the Key West Express from Fort Myers Beach

which is about 80 miles south of us

it was a great easy 3 hour trip

except for getting up in the dark to make the boat

it was great to have someone else do all the planning

and she did a fabulous job!

they only make one early trip a day and one coming back at night

most people go for the day

we weren't coming back for 3 days

staying on an island in the middle of nowhere

and what a beautiful island it was

I loved the hotel the minute I saw it

it had been a brothel and was over 100 years old

I had the corner room upstairs - it was perfect

I loved sitting out there at night

 the view 

around back was a lovely shaded pool

which was well used as Florida in the summer is hot

 the red ginger growing next to the pool

and these sweet epiphytes

first thing to do is walk to a restaurant on Duval Street

 it is considered off season - still some tourists

very few were from Florida

and the picture taking started

the ceiling at the restaurant

later that night we walked to the western side of town to watch the sunset

we saw the famous Key West roosters

they and their families were all over town

everywhere - wild chickens

back when Cuba was closer than the US

 cock fighting was in it's heyday on the island

 in 1860 it was the largest and richest city in Florida

mainly from salvaging ships that constantly wrecked on the reefs that surround it

I loved the old architecture - almost every house or building was old

and had charm and class

something lacking in buildings today

 here are just a few examples

 oh the potential of this one is most attractive

 adorable can be small

 like this one?  think a mill and a half - no parking

this is an old postcard - the house is still there

we saw it on the way to the gardens

the main difference is that it is surrounded by other houses now

then it towers over the landscape - now it is dwarfed

we talked to one person who had grown up there

the biggest change he said was that when he was growing up

there were plenty of empty lots

now - no empty lots

but they kept the old houses - I love that

 the trees were old too

huge trees that shaded the streets

the royal poincianas were in bloom all over town

 this is a frangipani - it has a wonderful smell

this is the largest and oldest one I have ever seen

up past the second story and thick as a tree

they are very fragrant and each color has a different scent

 there was an occasional fixer-upper

(don't get excited - we can't even afford that in Key West)

 this is the sculpture garden - the first and largest showing

the men of the town saving the life of a little boy

(he is on his back) from a sinking ship

next to it were the heads of all the important people in Key West

this is Truman, he had a winter vacation house there

(because he could)

the town had many venues for watching the sunset - 

we actually passed on watching (we live on the Gulf of Mexico)

and went and had a beer and some conch fritters

(don't say conch - say conk)

Day 2 was a visit to the botanical gardens

 where we of course saw an amazing variety of tropical plants

 I don't know the names of most of them

I just like looking at them

 it is hard to see but there is a little green lizard on that branch

they are native to Florida and I have only seen one other one

in 5 years

they are being driven out by the invasive species.....

imagine that

 the setting was very beautiful

on the Atlantic side of the island

a peace park inside the gardens - very nice

great play on the word "key"

Day 3 was the best

the day we took a seaplane to the Dry Tortugas

about 60 miles west of Key West

 it was a small sea plane that held 8 people

 plus the pilot and first mate

that's the pilot with my friends

 I was surprised that these shots

from the plane

 actually came out

 these are the Marquesas islands

about one third of the way out

 it would be so fun to have a boat and pull up on the beach 

and have your own deserted island

 these are the Dry Tortugas

tortugas for all the turtles that use these islands to nest

but the early sailors added the word - dry

no water means don't bother stopping here

 we brought our own - water that is

most of the island is a fort

(what a surprise)

the reef was all along the walls and easily accessible from the beach

the wall actually separates  the moat from the sea

 it was hard to get a good photo of just how

wonderfully turquoise and clear the water was

(this was taken from the plane)

alas I do not have any underwater photos

there was quite a bit of coral, big purple fans,

waving anemones, kinds I had never seen before

yellow fish, blue and yellow fish, parrot fish, some big fish

black spiny urchins, and lots of conch, huge conch shells

I saw one come way out of it's shell

before it saw me and snapped back - it was bright purple

there was a fish so small and so transparent 

that it looked like just the dot of it's eye

so it looked like 100 little dots floating together

until you got up real close and saw they were actually 

very very tiny fish

flying low on the way back I saw several sea turtles 

at least 2 different species of them

a few rays 

and one long black shark

we came on to Key West and headed for the airport at the far end

but we flew over it and made a huge circle of Key West

I was thinking he was giving us a tourist tour of the island

then we made another pass and still did not land

we new something was wrong - big circle and one more pass

he was trying to get the landing gear to come down and lock

this time he tried manually - pumping hard - sweat pouring off his face

nope not working

so he calmly said he was looking for water to land on

which considering that we were in a sea plane and every where you looked

was water, we weren't too concerned either

he finally decided to land in the marina at the far end of town

and he pulled up to the dock better than some people pull up their boats

(these guys fly in Alaska too - they are good)

no visit to Key West would be complete without a visit to the

Hemingway House

I opted not to take the tour, as it was just 2 blocks from our hotel

I liked to walk by at night when no one was around and stare in the front gate

imaging life then

I was reading a book called "Papa" about Mr. Hemingway's Key West years

while I was there

it was a lovely house on a huge block of land

this is an old photo

Hemingway had a 6 foot brick wall - built in his day to keep the tourists out

only the front gate was open grill work and one could look inside

that is where I stood in the dark and dreamed

and I know now that my writing will be better with having done that - right?

the boat ride home was calm

and the sunset on a wonderful few days

ps

 we did not get our photo taken at the "southern most point of the US"

as you can see the line was rather long, we were rather hot

and this photo taken from the cab - was as close as we got

(again nmp)

thank you and good night

xxoo