Here or There

Although the Butterfly House is full of beautiful butterflies, I'm not very good at capturing them with my camera. The light is dimmer than ideal and they flit around quickly and unpredictably. Which means this is one of my favorite photos from the excursion. Aren't these flowers beautiful? I don't know what they are, but I love the way the petals overlap and swirl around the center.

More scenes from the library! The library is full of great lines, and on a sunny day like this , there are extra sun and shadow lines.
After visiting the library, I had a delicious lunch and good conversation with John and Juli! Then I had to drive home again. Making the one way trip four times in two days was a bit much, but I did get in good conversation with Matt, John, and Juli and I got to spend some time outside on campus. All in all, I think it was an okay couple of days.

After dropping Matt back at school, I had some time to wander around campus for the first time in quite a while. I sat in the shade on a bench, read, and watched classes change. i didn't walk in any of the buildings except the library, mostly because I wanted to see if the comfy chairs were still there. And they were right where they were supposed to be.

Doesn't this seem like a nice day to drive somewhere? It didn't start out this beautiful when Matt and I left home to drive him back up to school. But by the time we were halfway there, it had turned into a beautiful day. After some good conversation and music on the way there, I dropped Matt off for class and then wandered around campus for a while. More photos to follow from that later.

Every year for the last three or four years (maybe longer), I have gone to the Japanese Festival at the Botanical Gardens. It's a good time, but I've learned I really enjoy a few things: the bonsai demonstration, the cooking demonstration, the tea ceremony, the bonsai and ikebana display, and Art Towata. I own one small piece of his pottery from a couple of years ago, and I love coming to see his new work. This year, we happened to walk by in time to see him finish a platter he was making and then decorating. I took seven photos of him as he was working, but this is the finished product. You can see all of them if you follow this link or any of the links to my flickr.

Taken at Creve Couer Lake. I really loved living by the lake, and I'm a little sad that I have to drive quite a bit farther to get there now. I guess I'll have to make use of other hiking/walking areas nearby instead. Like many of the other photos I've put up here, this one if part of a project in which I take at least one photo everyday. If I take more than one, I choose my favorite and it becomes part of my Project 365. So you may notice numbers like this (229/365 - Aug 29) that signify which day and number the photo represents in the project.

My mom has grown some beautiful plants and flowers in her gardens this summer. She can't remember what the name of this flower is, but I liked it. I've taken pretty many photos of flowers I've found in her gardens, so for more, follow this link!

Seen from the tram at Grant's Farm. They were really close to us although getting good photographs around all of the people and bits of the tram were a little more difficult. There are a few more photos from my visit here.

Out at my aunt and uncle's a-frame on this little lake. It was a beautiful day. Perfect for laying around on the deck, especially in a hammock! Good company too, hanging out with my brother and sister. It's so nice to be out somewhere quiet, away from streets and people.

I love the Muny. I love that it's been around so long, that it's outside, that the trees frame the stage. Plus, I love theater!

You're not allowed to photograph or record the actual performance, but this is the stage before the show started when Paul Blake was introducing the evening. It was the last show of the season, so he did a little extra talking. After the show, everyone stuck around to sing "Auld Lang Syne", a song to which I don't know the words, and I suspect many other people are in the same boat as me.

with the exception of the first photo (cloudy skies), all of these were taken on a visit last month to the botanical gardens with lis, stephen, and thomas. we had a delightful time!

I just love this photo. I may have edited it a bit too dark, but I love the quality of light, the lines, the empty spaces. It's one of those photos that I can't take too much credit for. I just walked into a doorway and saw it. I wonder what the museum will be doing with the space in the future. I'm betting they don't intend to leave it like this for long, but maybe they knew how striking it would be just like this.

I have a fondness for porches. The porch at Houmas House was amazing. Large and wide and it wrapped around the house. Someday I'll have a house with a porch.

i love trees, for anyone who didn't already know. if you have talked to me for a while, or looked at many of my photos, you're probably familiar with my love of trees. this tree is at houmas house, an old plantation outside of baton rouge, louisiana. it's a live oak and i can't remember the exact number, but our tour guide said it was over 450 years old. amazing. you can see in the bottom of the photo that the lower branches of live oaks grow out so far from the tree that they get pulled toward the ground. it was amazing. follow the photo to my flickr to see more photos of the same tree and other photos from the plantation.

i have a friend who painted this child-sized rocker with the words to "you are my sunshine". it was a gift for the first child of some good friends. we were all very impressed.