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!