The Big Easy

In the BE and Bolixi for a few days. Weather is a little warm but beautiful. Have had lots of great food and lots of history. Went to the 9th ward (remember hurricane Katrina '05?) and Treme another area devistated by K. In NOLA. Drove over to Bolixi which was almost completely destroyed by K. This area didn't evacuate because they thought K would miss them. All predictions were that she was headed to NOLA. It's been 7 years and people are still trying to rebuild. The coastal area is beautiful with lots of history and the people are wonderful.

Au revoir to Another Imaginary Trip to 'la Ville Lumière'

I just posted my final assignment from my 'Trip to Paris'.  I can't wait to travel with Laure on a real trip to Paris or anywhere else for that matter.  If anyone is interested in taking a GREAT, online, watercolor sketching/journaling class this is the one! I also can't believe I am posting this sketch outside the safety net of a class.  Our assignment was to sketch some of the icons of Paris using a marker/pencil keeping in mind that if we were on a real trip we probably would only have about 20 minutes at each location to get the basics of the sketch down before we would be moving on to another tourist landmark. I acutally got this finished in about 30 minutes.

Finally headed to New Orleans tomorrow am. We are a week late as the weather just wouldn't cooperate for us to fly not to mention the jump in hotel rates for the weekend and me spending a few hours in the ER due to food poisoning. Looks like we'll have clear skies all the way down.  I'll be doing a lot of sketching, eating, and enjoying warm weather on the beaches of the gulf coast. Al will be doing some poker playin'.  It supposed to get to the upper 30s tonight in Holland but then warm up a bit. Weather in NO: Warm, sunny H's upper 80; L's mid 70's. ;-)

Unexpected Adventure

My walking partner and I had an unexpected adventure last Friday. We were taking our usual walk out to the Holland Harbor to look at Lake Michigan.  We always pass the infamous light house Big Red on our way to the end of the pier.  Friday the people that are 'keepers' of the lighthouse were giving a private tour to some British travel journalists.  We asked to take a look and were granted permission.  This light house is only open to the public on specially arranged tours or if one is lucky, tours are given for a couple of hours one Sunday a month between Memorial Day and Labor Day. My friend and I have lived here for over 25 years and have missed very few days walking out to the Lake.  This was the first time that we have been able to take a peek.  I took these pictures from the very top. This is a beautiful sailing ship that we see on a regular basis too.

Three Months+! Really?

Well, I just can't believe it's been three months + since I posted. I have been here several times thinking about posting but then got side tracked.  I've been pretty busy this summer which is great. Had my kayak out several times, lunched with friends, worked out, gained weight and then lost those few pounds, took another sketching class...Imaginary Trip To Paris this time... and now the summer is on the wain!

I'm leaving in a few days to go to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Lots of sketching opportunities in NOLA for sure. I missed Laure's NOLA made Live trip last fall. Can't wait! We'll be gone about 8 days and then I'll be home for about 48 hours. Just enough time to do laundry and repack for a 10+ day road trip with girl friends to TX.