Flower Search

I did find some flowers.......

A house down the street had lots of flowers blooming. They must have covered them when it frosted.

It's a bright clear morning. No rain in sight and my lawn is again bright green from all the rain. If it warms up again I'll be mowing it in January.
I have nothing planned for today. The munchkin will be here at 10:30 then the fun starts. I've been munchkin free all weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The house is tidy; there are no toys scattered everywhere, the floors are without sticky spots and the tv has been off most of the weekend.

I've had the computer all to myself. I haven't heard my name called every 5 minutes requesting the bathroom light be turned on, "i'm thirsty", "i can't do it!" or "i'm hungry". My weekend vacation is over.

I think I may pack her up today and go visit her grGrandparents in Lydia. Lydia is a small sugar cane and crawl fish town about 25 minutes from here. There isn't a stop light in town and only one stop sign. The two service stations have booths along the walls and serve stuffed bread, fried chicken, potato logs and fried shrimp. Everybody knows everybody and when I stop in though they don't know me they recognize Carrie from her visits there.

The post office is as big as a Goodwill drop off station. One church and many bars where the locals get together for card games each week. They just got a Dollar Store in town and everyone was ecstatic. I don't think any one's name there ends in "Smith" or "Jones". It's pure Cajun country. The locals still speak French.

Carrie's grandmother lives in a house on stilts in the swamp. She and her husband built this house around the time Carrie was born. It sits about 15 ft in the air and you can drive a tall truck beneath it on the concrete pad. They have been hit by the effects of 3 hurricanes in the short time they have been there. Water didn't enter their house but they had to use their air boat to get to town because of the Gulf surge that would come in. Salt water into the pond they have, salt water into the lawn equipment and the pumps they have and now they have the property up for sale.
Insurance didn't cover the loss of any of the peripheral stuff .

The house on stilts is beautiful. All the walls and floors are done in cypress. It has a cathedral ceiling with a short set of stairs that lead to a half loft where they have a bed for guests. The main floor has one bedroom, one bathroom and a small kitchen open to the living area. A porch with railings surrounds the entire perimeter of the house. The stairs leading up to the house are about 10ft wide and on a gradual incline. The view from anywhere in the house is awesome. It's a view of the swamp but the swamp is an interesting place. Alligators can be see in the pond. I don't think it's a real pond in the sense of the word. I think it's a "walled off section of the swamp water". Birds, vegetation, snakes and alligators and I wouldn't live out there for all the tea in china! After the last surge Carrie could't visit till they removed all the snakes from the yard! She keeps a loaded gun on the kitchen counter. It's secluded and isolated. Who knows who could sneak back there and murder you in broad daylight??? There is a one lane trail thru a tunnel of foliage and deer can be seen leaping across this lane on the drive to the house. There is a metal gate that has to be unlocked and phone calls have to be made if you intend on driving in.

It's a great place to visit. I like my house in the subdivision. It's scary enough living in any town surrounded by neighbors; I would have that gun strapped to my hip if I lived in the swamp.

The morning is flying by. If I want an uninterrupted shower, I must get it done now. Munchkin will be here in a couple of hours.

I'll take my camera and get some pictures of Carrie and the Gr.Grandparents for her album. I do a yearly album of her and it's almost time to close the 2008 album and start a new one.

I copy all her 2008 pics onto a CD and give them as gifts to the Gr.Grandparents. I make a nice CD label with her picture on it and the year printed in nice script. What else can you get people that are 75plus that they don't already have? They can put the CD in the DVD player and watch a slideshow of her thru the year. They love it!

Now that I know what I am doing today, I'm off to the shower. I have to pack all that stuff that goes along with taking a child somewhere and get my cameras ready.

I might even get some swamp shots today.