BELLINGRATH GARDENS

Yesterday Diane and I sailed off on the Ferry headed to Bellingrath Gardens. Unlike my last voyage, this one was a bit exciting with rollers crashing against the ferry sending spumes of water over the deck. Everyone who ventured out gave full meaning to the phrase "walked like a drunken sailor"!

Diane wanted a picture of one of the British Petroleum platforms which dot the route to Dauphin Island. She had her feet planted and was intent on being still when she took her picture. Some friend, I couldn't help laughing when she got caught by a wave and got a bit of a shower courtesy of Mobile Bay!

Bellingrath Gardens made me truly appreciate our botanical garden in St. Louis.

Bellingrath was lovely, but couldn't begin to hold a candle to a spot that's a regular outing for me at home. The azealas and camelias were blooming. The camelias a special treat as they need their own special house at home to be displayed. A normal St. Louis winter is too harsh for them.

The house was lovely with sixteen rooms and a sleeping porch, all wonderfully proportioned and overlooking the river. The very best part though was Barbara, our at least octogenarian docent who took us on the tour. She obviously loved the house and had lots of stories to tell as we walked through which brought it to life.

After Bellingrath Diane and I poked around Mobile for a bit, very quiet after the wild times there for the last month celebrating Mardi Gras. We took a look at the battleship Alabama in the harbor, but neither of us had a burning desire for a tour.

It was dark and windy when we arrived home!

GOLF

We've played golf the twice this week and my game is improving....sometimes! It is the most frustrating and the most fun few hours. When we were coming down the third hole we saw two hot air ballons being fired up just off the course. Pretty exciting to be right there watching them lift off.

BP AT WORK

The ludicrous British Petroleum effort at beach clean up was at it's finest today on Ft. Morgan Beach. A bulldozer and a large scoop with a contingent of more than a dozen men were working in a roughly 20 foot square area.

The bulldozer had made a pad for the scoop to sit on. The scoop had a mesh attached to its bucket so the sand filtered through and the debris left behind was dumped into a big black tarp. They'd obviously been there for a couple of hours already but had a very small pile. It was hard to see if they had gotten much tar for their efforts.

The only person working was the scoop operator. All the rest were just standing around talking, listening to their iPods.

Even worse was about a quarter of a mile down the beach. There were two four by fours with college age looking kids in them. Four or five kids. As Diane said, it looked like the school carnival when you give kids a net and they try for a treasure in the fish pond. Each of the kids had a net on a stick and stood at the waterline. Every once in a while they would scoop up a little dab of black, but they didn't have much either.

I asked one of the people driving a four by four who seemed to be more "in charge" what was up. She said this was the cleanup effort going on from Florida to Ft. Morgan. LUDICROUS!!!

I've heard since I've been here that clumps of oil keep washing in and that the sea bed offshore is coated in crusted oil. It's cool enough now for it not to stick to your shoes or feet, but the thought of the summer heat makes for a very unpleasant beach walk.

They don't seem to be making any real progress in this mess, just employing a whole lot of locals which does help the economy and is keeping some of the grumbling down.

You would think there would be a more effective way to clean this up than sifting sand by the seashore!

I know in St. Louis there are ads all over telling us the spill is over, the beaches are beautiful, come on down. I don't think any of us in the rest of the country have thought much about it recently. But it is still here, and still affecting the waters and beaches.

Fat Tuesday

The last of the Mardi Gras celebrating today with parades everywhere, both on land and water!

Mary Ann, a new friend introduced by my friend Christine, joined us for late morning golf, lunch, parade watching and celebrating. We had a really good day, and my golf game was my best ever.

Mary Ann arrived with her Mardi Gras hat and Teddy thought it was a new toy for him.

Today is 72 and overcast, we were supposed to go bike riding but I was ready for a quiet day.

I think after all our overindulgence the last week I'm ready for Ash Wednesday!

A LITTLE MARDI GRAS

THE MUNCHKINS CAME LOOKING LAST NIGHT

Diane arrived after driving more than 600 miles friday through wind, rain and fog. As you can imagine, she was really happy to be here. She was met with the warm Bay Breeze welcome with Jerry and Mike helping her get set up fast and level so she was sitting in Saffire having a glass of wine in no time.

We had a really great evening talking about so many things, laughing about past escapades and wondering what this trip would bring.

I had a new experience when she arrived, a very touching one. Teddy and I were watching for her to arrive and when he saw her van he jumped up, knocking over a glass of wine in his hurry to get out to see his friends from Virginia.

Diane had a lab named Reileigh. Teddy and Reileigh were great friends, rubbing noses and greeting each other every morning on our trip out west. Sadly, Reiliegh had a fatal heart condition and left us a few weeks ago.

Teddy greeted Diane and then went searching for Reileigh. His cries and pleas for her were heartwrenching. I know Teddy is a smart boy, but watching him search for and mourn for his friend humanized him and once again make me question just how much Teddy really knows.

Storms and predictions of the Wizard of Oz demanding a part in the Mobile Mardi Gras Parades messed up the weekend of celebration. The storm had the potential for such severity that events were cancelled yesterday in Mobile and moved to a cramped Sunday schedule.

The winds are still up and it's 60 this morning and we've decided to stay at the beach for local parades rather than make the trek to Mobile. We'll head down to Orange Beach for the afternoon parade there, then plan on the Shrove Tuesday parade of the boats and some fun at Lulu's.

Teddy and I are off to the beach for our morning walk after my coffee. I heard predictions of 11 foot seas so there may be some interesting things on the beach this morning!

Pictures from Mardi Gras Orange Beach style will be up tonight.

ps...forgot to mentions aour little problem with Diane. We went to the outlet mall, taking Teddy with us as I didn't want him far away if the storm did get us. He slept in the back of the car while we shopped. We had been in a shop at least half and hour, came out, walked past the car and realized the passenger door was gaping open!!!! I ran over sure that he was wandering the mall somewhere but good boy that he was, he was sleeping on the back seat. When Diane closed her door the seat belt must have gotten caught in the door and it just didn't close.

We were really lucky Teddy is so good in the car!

UPDATE

I haven't posted the last few days because we have just been in a normal living mode, nothing too exciting. We are walking the beach or the bike trail every day, playing a little golf, reading and exploring the area. There is an outlet mall that rivals any I've been in, every store from West County Mall has an outlet here!

Diane is on her way in today arriving around four after driving six hundred miles today! Too much for me to do anymore, I don't think I'd be able to walk when I finally did arrive!!!

It is 70 and overcast today. We had a few sprinkles at the beach but it just added to the atmosphere over there this morning. I wish we had sunny weather for her arrival, and tomorrow they are giving us 90% chance of rain. But she'll have our smiling faces and I'm sure we'll find things to do...maybe the mall!

Sunday is Joe Cain day at Mardi Gras in Mobile. They have had parades every day for the last two weeks there are so many crewes in the area. But Sunday is the biggie. Deb's friend Mary Ann has a hotel room and we will use that as our base to roam around. The weather is supposed to be 60's and no rain so I'm excited and hoping for the best.

I imagine next post will be Sunday night or Monday filled with pictures!!!

A FEW PICTURES FROM OUR WALK

JUST LIKE ST LOUIS

In St. Louis we say if you don't like the weather...just wait a day. It is forever changing. And Gulf Shores, well, the same could be said this week anyway.

In the course of five days we have had cloudless skies and 70 degrees with water so quiet the surface was glassy; raging winds, white capped waters and 20 degree weather and today....sitting here this morning with windows and doors open, a bit of rain overnight which brought soft fog rolling in this morning making a monochromatic landscape out our windows, unable to see where the water stops and the sky begins.

The cold over the weekend combined with the wind was brutal, Saffire just couldn't stay warm enough to be comfortable without being budled up while we were inside. Sleeping was great, sticking my toes out first thing in the morning another story.

Friends Jeanne and Janis have taken their cards and dice and moved on to make their way back to their North Carolina homes. And Diane, the friend I traveled west with this fall, is arriving Friday to stay the rest of February. She and Deb and I have plans for a lot of golf and biking while she is here. We have to do something to offset all this great seafood we're eating!

When Teddy and I manage to get around today I'm going off for a bike ride and hope Deb wants to play some golf too!

T WANTS TO KNOW...WINDS IN WEST OR SOUTH MOST EVIL

My friend Teresa wants to know how the winds here in the Gulf compare to the winds experienced across New Mexico and Kansas last year. The answer to that is I wouldn't even leave the campground with Saffire and the car behind today, it would be insane to think of driving her in this.

We are just back in from the beach. Strangely we were the only ones there, our own private beach. Walking with my back to the wind was just fine, beautiful bright blue sky and the water deep shades of green. The pelicans were like kites in the sky, barely making headway against the wind.

In the other direction, I think my sunglasses were sandblasted and forever pitted by the blowing sands!

YOU CAN FIND PATRICIA AND TEDDY IN OZ

The wind is an interesting phenomenon. Like your heartbeat, sometimes you don't even know it's there. Sometimes it's a soft whisper brushing your face. Sometimes it is the warm breath of spring breezes taking kites soaring. Sometimes it is the harsh whipping gusts of winter. And sometimes it is so relentless and persistent that it is the focal point of your existence.

It became just that last night about one oclock. I woke from a sound sleep to clunking and bashing noises and Saffire rocking with wicked wind gusts. Jeanne and Janis were across from me in their A's and I am very glad they didn't fly apart in the wind.

I put down my antenna and had to pull in both slides because the small awnings which cover them were whipping in the wind. I am sitting looking out at the Bay which is covered with white capped waves. Accuweather says we will have 45 mph wind gusts, so I'll stay "buttoned up" for the day.

On the positive side, it is sunny and 50 degrees and Teddy and I will brave the winds and head for a good beach walk later. If we don't come home the first place to search for us is Oz!!

JELLY FISH

DAUPHIN ISLAND DAY

Deb returned from Birmingham and joined Janis, Jeanne and myself for the ferry ride to Dauphin Island today. I had expected it to be a very windy, cold trip over but it was beautiful! There's just something about being on the water.

It's about a forty five minute ferry ride which took us close to several of the drilling platforms in the Bay. I think the people from Star Wars patterned some of those creature things that I can't remember the names of from the structure of the drilling platforms. I can't help but think of Star Wars every time I see one.

We visited the Estuarium Research Center on the island. They had a miniature aquarium, the coolest thing was a tank with jelly fish swimming, very other worldly looking.

We had initially planned to go to Bellingrath Gardens but the threatening rain postponed that for another day. Deb took us to Ed's Shrimp Shack in Mobile for lunch. I think it was the best fried shrimp and grits I've ever eaten.

Janis and Jeanne leave tomorrow. It's been fun having them here. We've had some wild evening playing cards and games. It's going to be quiet here next week!

ROCKING AND ROLLING

It was a VERY windy night last night, Saffire was even moving a bit in the wind and Janis said she was rocked to sleep with the Aliner swaying and creaking!

It was a beautiful, crisp day today still windy but the sun was out. Perfect jacket weather. We decided to explore a bit and headed for Fairhope, Alabama, a cute little town about 45 minutes from Gulf Shores. There were some houses I wouldn't mind living in and nice shops to poke around in.

After we returned home, Teddy and I took off for the beach. You can see from his big smile how much he loves going there! We were strolling along when out of the blue someone is calling "Teddy, come here and see me", turned out the man who manages the RV park, Jerry, was fishing. He caught a pompano while we watched, made me wish I had a saltwater rod, he says Pompano is the best eating.

We had a beautiful sunset this evening and a very cool full moon last night. Tomorrow we are planning on taking the ferry from Ft. Morgan to Dauphin Island and then on to Bellingrath Gardens. All the spring flowers, including the azealas, are blooming here. It should be a spectacular show, then I'll go to the Botanical Garden in St. Louis for a second treat when spring finally arrives there.