Sleepy little town in Louisiana
This was such a peaceful looking place, I just had to get out and take a picture. I actually got out of the car. Usually I just roll the window and stick my head out.
The Atchafalaya Basin. My picture doesn't do it justice. It was just breath taking.
Here is my Confederate Soldiers uniform. I thought it was really neat. John hasn't tried it own. I hope it doesn't fit him. He will get out his sword and become General "Stonewall" Sundquist
This is the piece of Nippon that I found. The mark indicates that is was made sometime around 1891-1900. I can't believe I found it at a thrift store.We are just a few days short of Labor Day and I really can't figure out where all the time has gone since May. This has been the "Summer of the Family". A lot of things going on, kids moving from one state to another, grand kids growing up faster that you can keep up with, job changes for some and beginning new jobs for others, and as for myself I finally retired. Yep Pee~~
Fast forward to the middle of September. I went into the kitchen to check on dinner and finally made it back to my post two weeks later. So here I go again. Like I was saying this has been very fast summer. I am officially retired and like most people I don't know how I had time to work. I think in my last post Sondra's family moved to Louisiana, since then Sarah's family has moved to Monterrey California, Monica got a full time teaching position and her husband made a career change, Mark's wife Paige is finishing up her degree at Old Miss and Johnny and Tracy are busy with their jobs.
Our first trip of the summer was the trip out to Colorado and driving back with Sondra and the boys. They were able to stay with us to close to a month before leaving for Louisiana. Two days after they left we took John's mom back to Ohio. She was with us for about six weeks while Jimmy and Becky took their trip to Europe. We came home and left three days later headed to Nebraska so we could spend some time with Sarah, Cody and the kids while he was on leave visiting his family.
Sondra had asked if we could come down to Louisiana and watch David and Daniel while she and Johnathan took a short vacation. We drove down, leaving on the 4Th, stayed until the 11Th and started back home. We decided to take a couple more days and see some of LA. I have not been there since I was around 4 years old, so over 60 years. I loved the swamp lands and the moss hanging off the trees. The scenery really does have a relaxing affect.
We went to a couple casinos and hit a bunch of flea markets and antique stores. We came back with some nice things to go into our booth. One of the things we found was a Confederate soldiers Civil War uniform for reenactments. I also found a really nice Nippon vase from around 1891. We had a trunk full of things we just couldn't leave behind.
Driving in unfamiliar areas can cause a few problems. Louisiana has a lot of one way streets going into town and out of town. We were driving through one town and when I spotted a thrift store and said to John ooh let's turn around and go back. We pulled off the road and headed back up the same street. Suddenly there was a man coming down our lane. He stops in the lane and holds both hands up. I said to John "What the heck is he doing"? John says "We are going the wrong way on a one way street". Needless to say we got of the road quick, but that just happened to be back in front of the thrift store so we thanked the man for saving our lives and went in and that where I found my beautiful Nippon vase. There is always a silver lining.
When we got to Hattisburg MS.. We found that apparently they don't find a need for signs. We had planned on taking route 11 instead of taking the interstate. Well we follow the one sign that said route 11, went past the Court House and down a road that turned into a dirt road, then circled back up to the Court house. We did this three times and never figured out how to get onto route 11. If we hadn't have had the compass in the car, we would probably still be driving around the Court House. Please, if you stole the route 11 signs in Hattisburg, put them back.
Of course I can't leave out my own state of Alabama. For some reason once the markings on the Hwy. wears off, you're pretty much on your own. I was driving and it was dark. MS roads were well painted and even had reflectors. As we crossed into Al. suddenly the lines were faded and no reflectors at all. I felt the best thing to do was to shut my eyes and stick my fingers in ears and hope for the best.
If our kids read this they will probably take the car, keys and drivers licence from both us and ground us from driving ever again. Needless to say we made it home safely from one more trip.
