Rainy Days are Painting Days

It's spring in Louisiana which means the rainy season is upon us.

Since we enjoy apartment living while working on the road and since I don't have any family nearby to keep me busy, when the rain starts I enjoy pulling out my watercolors and seeing what I can create.

I tried my hand at making note cards and sent a few out.

Sometimes I get stumped trying to figure out what to do with what I've painted. 

On some a focal point is needed, or something in the background, I'm just not skilled enough to know what to put in there.

I do think some of my flowers are getting better though. No matter if it's good or not, I really enjoy it. Hopefully I'll be able to take some classes in the near future and improve even more.

Patty is 60 and the Siblings Celebrate!

April 11, 2019
Yes, my beautiful, younger sister Patricia, (a.k.a. Patty Wiley) turned 60 on March 7th. To celebrate John, Michelle, Sandy and I treated her and her husband Chuck to a weekend in New Orleans. 

We stayed in an AirBnB house in Terrytown. Sandy Joined us on Friday morning just in time to Photo Bomb the Birthday Girls photo.

We found some chalk and had a great time writing Patty her birthday message!

Time for another family photo!

Hey.... don't drop her! Haha!

 Gotta love a close family!

In New Orleans we walked around Jackson Square looking at the artists handiwork,

..the historic Palmyra apartments..

and some great jazz on the square.
The parks and levees were pretty crowded with several stages set up around the city to celebrate the New Orleans Blues Festival.

We stepped inside St. Louis Cathedral, the oldest Cathedral in the United States.

So very beautiful.

A Mardi Gras Indian ready to celebrate Blues Fest.

Meeting with our high school friend Kurt Owens who works at one of the great museums of New Orleans.

We passed Music Legends Park on our way to Pat O'Brien's for lunch, which was fabulous.

We saw many musicians and artisans on the streets.
This woman's marionette paints a picture while the crowd watches.

We stopped up on the Levee and listened to one of the many local Blues Bands.

In the late afternoon we drove over to the Garden District and walked around looking at many of the beautiful homes.

I was surprised to find this plaque in front of one of the homes. It is a resume' of the accomplishments of Jefferson Davis, Soldier, Veteran of the Black Hawk War and Mexico War, U.S. Senator, U.S. Secretary of War and President of the Confederate States of America.
He died in this home in 1889

When we saw that this lovely old house was up for sale we looked it up what it would cost us. Let's just say it's a little bit out of our budget at $4.2 million dollars.

Loving the lace ironwork on many of these old homes.

The beautiful home of the actor John Goodman.

Another beautiful home. I really liked the fence out front of this one.

It's a cast iron " Morning Glory and Cornstalk" fence.

It was a truly delightful day.

After dinner at Mr. Ed's Seafood and Oyster House we had Birthday Cake and Ice Cream to celebrate the Birthday Girl!

On Saturday Morning Darryl drove down from Addis to join us for the day. The first stop was the Mardi Gras World. The 300,000 sq. ft. warehouse where many of the incredible Mardi Gras floats are constructed.

The following pics will give you an idea of how large these floats really are. Most of the floats pictured here belong to Harry Connick Jr.s Super Krew Orpheus.

Just a Jester at heart!

Another Jester!!

Instead of the song "We're a couple of swells", we could sing "We're a couple of fools".

This was really incredible and definitely worth the entry fee.

Posing with the birthday girl yet again!

After riding the trolley back up to the Garden District we had an early supper at The House of Blues.

Followed by a river cruise on the Steamboat Natchez, the only steam powered paddle wheeler on the river.

The New Orleans skyline.

It was such a great weekend! Can't wait to do it again in two years for Sandy's 60th birthday!