Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Swamp Goodies

Back in the Atchafalaya Swamp- on one of our favorite pieces of road in the country. Stopped for the night at one of our regular haunts- Frenchman's Wilderness, pretty much right in the middle of the swamp. We unhitched the tow-able chuck wagon and headed off to Pat's for an all cajun meal on the bayou just beside the levee. In order to fit this in, we had to do an early dinner, so we had the place entirely to ourselves. Tried a bunch of cajun classics and a few things we'd never had before- all very interesting. Cajun or not, we added a generous portion of Pat's local made hot sauce. Whew! Good! Think of it as Happy Tuesday - a day late!



Georgia Color and Then Some

It's no secret we were in Georgia for quite a bit over the last few months doing the prospecting thing at Loud Mine. We did find some gold- not enough to write home about (or blog about for that matter) but it was a really good time with a bunch of good people and we enjoyed our time there. Gold. They call it "color." But COLOR and the Fall makes you think of driving through New England to watch the leaves on all the trees turn color. But New England has no corner on the market for Fall Color so I though it appropriate to use this post to show you some of the "color" that Georgia has to offer. Gonna break this down into two sections- leaves and .....hogs. Hogs? Yea. It seems that Georgia has a whole hog BBQ competition every year and we took that all in....right after we drove around in the mountains to see the leaves turn gorgeous colors. Perfect bbq has a color all its own, a fragrance, an air that wafts in the smoke and makes the appetite come on strong. With all the smells and images, this was a great event, complete with our getting to meet world famous bbq chef Myron Nixon (you'll no doubt recognize him from the slide shows especially if you watch GRILLMASTERS competitions on the Cooking Channel.

Here then the images from Fall and the Pig Jig- Georgia style!



Tuesday, November 29, 2011

If She Hasn't Already...

To be clear... I posted this photograph and NOT Marilyn- although it sure seems inspired by the sisterhood safari to South Africa and Botswana. And furthermore, the subject of the photograph is NOT Marilyn nor anyone in her party on the safari. In fact, it was a recent contest winner of a photo/caption competition:

"If She hasn't.....she will soon!"

Enlarge and study the photograph by clicking on it. It deserves to be the winner!

OUT OF AFRICA- last in a series by Marilyn


This is my last post on Africa. There are so many more thoughts and stories I would like to record to help me always remember this most wonderful adventure with my sisters. Because I am not a writer with my technical skills dismal at best, and with a mantra of "I'll do it tomorrow," when faced with any computer task I have stretched out this project much longer than originally planned. Greg who enjoys writing his posts has been very patient ,but
is getting itchy fingers and it is time to return the keyboard to his control.

The ranger was as excited as we were when he spotted the tracks . There are very few cheetahs in the preserve and are seen once in every three to four months. We were lucky enough to spend a couple of hours observing this graceful cat.

A cheetah climbs trees only to look around, checking out the grasses for prey and enemies.

The cheetah's body is designed for speed and has a very small head.



We watched this cat just dissapear into the wheat colored grasses of the savannah.





This slide shows some of the other sightings the last two days.