January is right around the corner and what better way to start the year off right than in our sketchbooks with some sweet, orangey fun?!

Clementines seem to hold a special place in many folks' hearts as I've already had several memories and traditions shared with me since announcing this class. In part, I think it has to do with the smell of these sweet jewels that evoke strong memories and thoughts from childhood.

Capturing these on the page require not one, but two, different white gel pens! One is opaque and non-permenant and the there is semi-opaque and very permanent. The combination makes it easy to capture the look of the clementine sections on the paper.

I hope you'll come and join me at Keeton's in Bradenton, Florida, on Saturday, January 13th! Just scroll down to the appropriate date to view all of the details.

Left: This was as far as I got on location. Right: The finished spread. Watercolor and Ink

Kathy, from Catching Happiness, and I went sketching the other morning to take advantage of the um, cooler* weather, here in Florida and the fact that it's pumpkin time! It was 79º instead of 89º at 10:30 in the morning. Woohoo.

Sometimes, you gotta go when you gotta go and it doesn't matter what the thermometer is reading.

Still, it was fun and when a breeze came by, it's was sweet. We don't have too many of the large pumpkin farms in Florida like they have further north and we don't have the huge change in temperatures either. Obviously.

This was as far as I went while on location—it was taking too long and there were too many other things to draw and paint!

Finished at home, in the studio!

They had all kinds of pumpkins and gourds in all shapes, colors and sizes along with harvest corn, cornstalks, hay bales and some croton plants on display.

A purple pumpkin?! Actually, a happy accident! I meant to pick up the gray watercolor brush pen and accidentally picked up a violet instead. I was a little shocked, but then decided to go with it as the color wouldn't lift anyway.

The image above was originally going to be just gray watercolor along with pen and line but things went awry...in a good way! Sometimes, we find ourselves in new places because of "mistakes." After I got past my shock of the violet, I decided I kinda liked the look and continued. Now, I'm planning on exploring this style with other colors as well.

It was worth it to put up with less than autumn-like temperatures...well, scratch that...that was autumn-like temperatures for Florida! I think this may turn into an annual pilgrimage, perhaps as a way to shepherd in the change of the...calendar...even if it does still feel like summer outside.

How does the changing of the season effect your sketching? Do you do more or less? Change styles?

Commemorating A Wild and Wacky Mother's Day

Ever go to Gatorland on Mother's Day?

Ever been to Gatorland...at all?!

Well, we have! We went this past Sunday with family and friends and it would not do but some of them just had to go zip-lining over the gator ponds!

The Zippers

And they all had a blast. So much so, that I've already heard discussion about a return trip though we'll probably wait for cooler temperatures—it was HOT! (And yes, I know this is Florida, the land of there perpetual summer!).

The park had plenty of alligators and crocodiles along with lots of other critters—panthers, bobcats, tortoise, parrots, budgies, snakes, spiders, herons, egrets, flamingos, ducks, wood storks, anhingas, a rookery,  and without a doubt, the most buzzards I have ever seen at one time! There were hundreds of them!

It was interesting to watch the shows. Most of them were quite comical and at the same time, they were sliding in a lot of education about the critters, their habitats, what kind of environment and food they needed as well as a good bit of common sense about how to avoid being lunch.

My sketch above was just a fun parody on the goofiness of the day! The folks that ran the zip line were great sports and did everything they could to scare the pants off all the "zippers." (At no point was anyone in any danger.)

My goofball having a great time. If you enlarge the photo, you'll see me as a pink blob doing some videoing on the right

The Great Blue Heron was the only thing I actually managed to sketch on location. Everything else was done from photos once we got home. I was too busy running around attempting to video those flying through the air with the greatest of ease.

The silver token has the saying, "See you later, alligator" on one side and the Gatorland logo on the other.

If you're after a slower pace and a glimpse of old Florida attractions, this is a fun place to visit. Unless you go zip-lining, it won't take you a full day to visit, but I think you'll be glad you did!

We went to my nephew's last home game of his high school career last Friday night and I decided to attempt sketching the players...

Black gel pen in No Name Watercolor Journal 3.5 x 5.5 inches

Here are my observations (and remember, these are from a non-sports person):

Jacaranda Tree across the Hillsborough River Straz Performing Arts Center Watercolor and Ink Stillman & Birn Zeta Bound Sketchbook

I have the opportunity to go and see We Will Rock You, a musical featuring Queen's music. Somehow, we managed to arrive too early, so will my friend Celeste took a call I decided to pull out my sketchbook. 

Close up of page

Despite being a tad messy, it was fun and will always be remembered as the beginning of a super, fun night. The show was a blast. We clapped, sang along and would have danced if there had been room. 

Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band Watercolor and Ink Stillman & Birn Beta Bound Sketchbook 11 x 8.5 inches

Back in May, I went off for an evening of music and entertainment with some friends and to support a very worthy cause. We went to see Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band in downtown Tampa. They were playing to raise money for retired Marine Sergeant Mike Nicholson. Mike lost 3 limbs back in July 2011 and the proceeds of the concert and auction were going towards building him a specially equipped home.

The evening was fairly cool (for Florida). There was a nice breeze and despite sitting right next to the river, the bugs (mosquitos) were not bad. The crowd was a mix of young and old with many, many military personnel, retired and enlisted, present in support of the cause.

It is not often that you see a Hollywood star step up to the plate as Gary Sinise has done. He has taken his role as Lt. Dan from the Forrest Gump movie and uses it as a way to help those who have given their all to keep the United States free.

The band travels around the world raising funds and awareness of the needs of the wounded vets through the Gary Sinise Foundation. I encourage you to take a look and consider helping out.

I would love to tell you that the image above was painted on location, but I would have to lie to do that and I cannot tell a lie...
This was what was accomplished on location. It was fun attempting to get down the elements that spoke most to our location. The stage, the minarets of the University of Tampa and the palm trees swaying in the breeze.

Because it took f...o...r...e...v...e...r at the food trucks (not their fault—they were slammed as there were only two), it was nearly dark by the time I finished the sketch. Rather than attempt to paint in the dark, I  opted to wait until I was home.

When I finally got around to looking at my photos, I have to say I was a bit disappointed. They  didn't come close to show the light, the colors, the emotions swirling around in the air that evening.

Taking considerable creative license with the photo, I painted the colors I saw that night rather than worry about reality. Reality is overrated anyway. You'll note I moved the minarets and made them larger. I removed a lot of folks in the foreground and I deleted the guys running the lights and camera on top of the platform on the left. And probably most noticeable were the colors I added that do not show in the image.

I would like to call out a special thanks to Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band as well as to our Armed Forces for all that you do.

Each day. Every day.

For the greater good.

...are about as rare as hen's teeth. We've had days and days of wet weather for the last week or more. We finally had a reprieve yesterday and was it ever fabulous! The temperature dropped and even better the humidity dropped to make it a fantastic day.

Breezy, cool and low humidity is a Floridian's idea of a perfect day. Chris and I decided to have lunch at one our favorite places to eat, a little Greek taverna so we could sit outside and enjoy the weather.

Huge cypress trees in big, big olive-style pots sit around the area as a privacy screen and wind break.

Acropolis Greek Taverna Cypress Watercolor and Ink Stillman & Birn Beta Sketchbook 5.5 x  8.5 inches

The cypress in the sketch above sat close to the front door and made for the perfect opportunity to sketch as I love the mellow colors of the bricks behind it. I sketched a bird nest from the same place in this post.

Have you ever seen a green brick before that wasn't painted? Probably not. But if you look at the bricks above, I have a few. This is called embellishing, it's one of the "5 E's System" I teach in the Imaginary Trip classes to help artists learn to sketch on location.

Embellish means just that—to embellish what you see with colors that may not be there or may not be very obvious. Embellishing can be subtle or quite obvious depending on what the art calls for.

When we rely on photos for the majority of our sketching references, we sometimes forget that a camera is limited in the colors it can "see," versus what our eyes and more importantly, our imaginations, can see.

Try adding some "extra" pop to your work by embellishing with some unexpected color and see what you think. Let me know how it goes!

Clearwater Beach Visit March 2013 Still & Birn Beta Sketchbook 8.5 x 10.75 inches

One of the cool things about living in the middle of the state of Florida, is that I sometimes get to meet "online friends" in person. I had the opportunity to meet up with a Michigan friend this past Monday who is visiting Florida with her husband.

I had arrived a little bit early as you never know what traffic is going to be like between the Spring-Breakers and the general beach vacationers.
With 15 minutes to kill before our stated meeting time, I sat down on a handy wall and painted the stormy skies and some of the beach. Due to my limited time, I made three lines with my pencil—the horizon line, the line indicating the sand dune and the water/sand line. Then I let the paint fly.

As I started back towards the restaurant, I saw a gorgeous Sea Grape Leaf lying at the base of the wall I had been sitting on. I picked it up and tucked it into my bag so I could sketch it later. A few steps further and I spotted this gorgeous shell shard. Abalone shell, maybe? Lots of pretty iridescent colors!
We met for a quick lunch (which was actually breakfast and very, very yummy—thank you J & T!) before we walked down the beach. I sketched the lifeguard shack or observation stand or whatever the call it these days. The flag was standing straight out as the winds were really kicking up, but strong winds didn't keep folks off the beach.

Living in Florida, my favorite time to go to the beach is on overcast, windy days. There's more wave action in the water and you can see some truly spectacular cloud formations. You'll occasionally find a "beach treasure" (unusual shells, beach glass and very rarely, a gold doubloon) you won't find on other days.

I did all of my sketching in pencil and didn't add color to the rest of the page until after I reached home. Then added the lettering and journaling. I put a bar under the "er" of Clearwater because somehow, I managed to get off track with my lettering.

I seldom make it to the beach any more and the day was a great deal of fun. The beach is in my own backyard, and yet I don't take advantage of it—why? Maybe because it's in my own backyard and I don't value what is around me all the time? (Sam's in the background just shaking her head.)

Sharing time, art and the beach with like-minded friends, not to mention great food, makes for an excellent combination!

Do you have some fabulous outdoor venue near you that you don't take advantage of simply because it's in your backyard? What keeps you from going there to sketch with friends or even by yourself just to enjoy the place?

Pumpkin Pancakes at IHOP Watercolor and Ink Pineapple Journal 5.5 x 5.5 Inches

Have you ever notice that a home improvement project will take over and totally eclipse your otherwise sane life?

If you answered no, consider yourself lucky. If you answered yes, you commiseration is greatly appreciated. We are reluctant do-it-yourselfer's. We're too picky about what we want and how we want it done to hire out the job so we always end up doing it ourselves.

Chris and I have decided it was finally time to tackle the long hallway in our house. The hallway that has 7 doors and slightly resembles a hotel hallway. (What was the builder thinking?!)

So there is our first challenge...we decided we would try to "disguise" two of the doors by making them less obvious.

Our second challenge came from the fact that the people who built this house did not prime any of the walls. They used the old, thick wallpaper paste and glued wallpaper up—over drywall. Oh yay. Can you say damage?

The prior owner removed the wallpaper as it was very (VERY) dated. In the process of removing the paper all the walls were left with an "interesting" texture. If it had been a texture we could have worked with, great, but no. Instead, it looked like exactly what it was—damaged. In fairness, I have to say I don't think anybody could have removed the paper and the glue without damaging the walls.

Our third and final (?) challenge is that this hallway is in the center of our home and you don't go anywhere without accessing the hallway. That meant there was no way to shut it off and work on it. If we tried to drywall, even with wet sanding, we'd be cleaning dust long after the cows had come home and the chickens had roosted. (In case you've forgotten, I am NOT nor will I EVER be a good housekeeper—there are too many other things I would RATHER be doing!)

So, we've looked at textured paint products, heavy wallpaper, paneling, drywall textures, and something else I'm not recalling to the point of ad nauseum. Without success. Nothing looked promising as the walls are so messed up. We were quite perplexed.

Enter the power of the internet.

I was surfing the web in search of paint grade v-groove planks that were not 5/8 of an inch thick. Oh yeah, there's another challenge...the hallway's not particularly wide and it's dark. We don't want to make it narrower nor darker.

After getting frustrated with all the big DIY box store web sites, I started thinking we were going to have to "settle" for a product that neither of us were crazy about but would do the job. To blow out a little of the frustration I switched over to looking at pictures on Google.

I stumbled across a very talented woman who had used paint-grade v-groove planks to redo her dining room ceiling! Oh boy! Not only did she show a photo of the product, she also mentioned where she purchased it. A year ago.

To make a long story a little shorter, I skipped over to Lowe's yesterday to find out if they still carried the product as their web site was not answering my questions. Sure enough they had it, but it was on clearance. Yay! Oh, wait, oh no...

Luckily, I had managed to find one of those super nice, super knowledgable, super helpful sales people. He helped me source the additional planks we would need at another store nearby.

After picking up our spiffy new planks, we came home and reevaluated our project—and right before our eyes—it expanded! Poof! Just like that.

Dang.

We were going to need even more boards. So bright and (too) early this morning, we hiked over to IHOP for breakfast which just happens to be conveniently located right across the street from Lowe's.

Since I love just about anything pumpkin, I was delighted to see Pumpkin Pancakes on the menu! As for the wonky sketch of them above...I can only say that I had not yet had any coffee when I started drawing...BUT...it rather captures the mood of the morning with all its wonkiness! And the pancakes were delicious.

After returning to Lowe's, we bumped into Mr. Super Helpful Sales Guy and he once again helped us to locate the additional boards we need. Yay!

All this and we haven't even started the project. And yes, it has taken over our lives. I rather dread the coming month.

Have no doubts...you will be hearing more about the ongoing saga, and maybe, just maybe I'll be able to wrangle some more of those pumpkin pancakes out of the deal!

Donna is fairly new to watercolors (but not to art) and she wanted to combine two of her passions—travel and art–on her upcoming trip. She took the two online classes as a way to help her prepare. Take a look at her gorgeous pages! I'm posting her delightful email below:

Hi Laure, 

I want to thank you again for your fabulous online classes that helped me practice and achieve such personal satisfaction with my art skills. Working with different tools [in the classes] helped me pack my supplies knowing what would work for me. I often made use of the fountain pen and waterbrush for super quick sketches (something I had never used before your classes).

During August I traveled in France, Switzerland and Italy, sketching and painting in my journal as we went along. I managed to do 16 pages over 3 weeks.

Here are some of the pages:
Eiffel Tower - 15 min. on site and embellished later at the hotel 

Moulin Rouge - Painted leisurely from memory, 4 sessions on the bus

Venice - 50 min. on site (while being constantly photographed by tourists!)

Sincerely,
Donna Vacca 

Eiffel Tower by Donna Vacca Click to Enlarge Donna Sketching at the Eiffel Tower (Note that she's standing up!) Click to Enlarge

Moulin Rouge by Donna Vacca Click to Enlarge

Gondola by Donna Vacca Click to Enlarge

It's kind of cool to go to lunch with a friend that "gets" sketching during the meal, even if it is for celebratory reasons.

Neighborhood Bistro sketched with pen and watercolor in my Pineapple Sketchbook

This was a new restaurant that I'd not been to before nor had my lunch partner. We decided we were in the mood for something different and it had come highly recommended (how many little bistros do you know that have their own chef?!).

The restaurant was at the end of a strip mall with each storefront different from the next to give the feel of a small village. I had intended to sketch my meal, but I was too busy eating to sketch it. Maybe next time.

One of the coolest things was their logo—it strongly reminded me of a logo we saw in NOLA last year, but then I've had NOLA on the brain for the last few days!

Lunch was good, the company superb and the day an absolute delight!

It's also a delight to come back after being gone nearly two weeks and see all the new folks that have joined the blog—welcome, my friends! I'm so glad you're here!

The technology war continues and it's still impossible to tell who is winning. However, I'm going to be doing the first ever Painted Thoughts' GIVEAWAY next week, so please check back next Tuesday to see what the giveaway is and whether you would like to win it!

Hope y'all have an awesome weekend!

Texas Moose Watercolor and Ink Pineapple Journal 5.5 x 5.5 inches

Chris and I went to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant the other evening and I noticed this big guy hanging over the door where the customers come and go.

I turned to Chris and asked, "Do they have moose in Texas?"

He looked at me a bit odd, but shook his head and answered, "Hmmm, no. A bit too warm there would be my guess....why?"

"I was just wondering why there's a moose over the door in what is suppose to be an Texas restaurant if moose don't live in the state," I replied. "I dunno, it just seems kind of weird. They don't even have moose on the menu."

"They don't have jackalope on the menu either," he noted.

"Yeah, well, maybe because those don't exist? Just a guess" was my retort.

Ask anyone who knows me well and they'll tell you that patience is not my long suite. Case in point is this "lovely" sketch above. Everything was fine at the restaurant. I sketched out the moose between our salads and the arrival of our entrees. I added color during the meal.

Later after we were home, I decided to put in the text. Looking the page over, I decided it would look better if there was some indication of a wall behind Mr. Moose.

I failed to wait until the ink was dry. Before it was over, I even managed to smear some of the ink.

And why?! We were already home! It's not like we were keeping the table too long.

I suppose it's the same reason I often misspell words on my journal pages—I'm in creative mode and the left brain leaves for a little while.

Or maybe it's just standing back to see what kind of mess I'll get myself into so it can say, "See? See what kind of messes you get into when I'm not around to keep you in line!?!"

Oh, well. It was still fun and it was still nice having a break from an overactive left brain!

Are you a patient kind of person? Have you always been that way? If not, how did you get there???

We picked up the rental car on Friday morning at the airport. We even managed to get on and off the BART System without incident....getting the tickets to ride the BART was an entirely different matter. Let's just say it's not an intuitive process.

We figured once we had the car, we'd really start covering some ground. So what did we do? We parked the car and walked around for 5 hours!
We started off in the Japanese Tea Garden and what a treat this place is to all of your senses! There was a calmness there that made it hard to leave even though we were sharing the garden with a host of other folks.
Some much was in bloom and there were so many cool lanterns to see...it seemed there was another secret garden around every curve of the path. The koi were rather lazy with some basking in the warm sun.
In the two pages above, I chose to go with a grid pattern of small boxes on my two pages. I limited myself to 20 minutes per block. I hand-drew the blocks and then decided what to put in them. This allowed me to capture a lot of different views in a short period of time. Because of the time limit, I didn't get caught up in the details (too much).

This type of sketching is a great way to capture a day's outing when you don't have much time at each location. Do a quick sketch in either pen or pencil, snap a photo ref and add color later as time allows if you don't have time on location. Try limiting yourself to just 5 minutes and see what you get—you'll be surprised at what you can capture!

You'll note that some of the structures are cut off by the edges of the boxes. Because I chose to stick with my 20 minute time frame, I knew I wouldn't have time to erase and start over, so I left them as they were. Setting a timeframe and sticking to it (no matter what) is a great way to "train" yourself for working live on location.

From the Japanese Tea Garden we went over to Shakespeare's Garden, the Ancient Garden, Rhododendron Garden and then on to the Fragrant Garden.
We sat down on a bench for a while only to find we were annoying the squirrels as we didn't have any peanuts for them!
After all the gardens, we were a bit lost until we discovered the path to Stow Lake...up 979 steps...okay, not quite that many, but it sure felt like it! Almost immediately, we spotted an empty bench, and it didn't take us long to claim it.

We decided to do some sketching since we were too tired to keep walking, but there was a problem with this bright idea of ours...it was bright. Too bright. As in we were looking straight into the setting sun as we attempted to sketch. However, we'd decided it was just too bad because we weren't moving!
You can see from the glare in the photo this was not the best of places to be sketching, but it worked out.
As I mentioned before, the object of the trip was not to sketch but to visit as many different locations as possible. I'm thrilled that I was even able to sketch the two I did as that's two more than I did in NOLA.

After finding dinner and collapsing back at the cottage, we both discovered we had a slight sunburn for our efforts of the day!

Next up, a different kind of mission....

Our trip started out bright and dark on Tuesday, April 17th....dark as in before dawn. We made it to the airport before 6:30 and we managed to get through security without any issues—we were ready for take off!
We knew it would be a long day of travel so we came prepared with things to read, games to play, wraps to keep us warm, and something to munch in case we started getting hungry in-flight. Oh, and coffee.

Other than a slight delay in Dallas, our trip was uneventful....just the way we like them!

UPDATE: One of the kind blog readers has clued me into the fact that referring to the city by the bay as Frisco is considered a faux pas. My humblest apologies. No slight was intended in any way. It had more to do with artistic interpretation than language. 

Hello, California! Finally, we're here!

The sketch above and below of the cottage is one of two I managed to actually do on location.
This is a sketch I did of the front of the "cottage" we stayed in. The wisteria was blooming at the end of the deck and wind chimes were constantly chiming as the wind was constantly blowing. Kind of like living next door to church bells.

I won't bore you with the details of having to learn to use CA's transportation system, getting stuck in the terminal while trying to get out or of going up the wrong (STEEP) hill to our cottage that nearly (but not quite) did us in.
Instead, I'll tell you about our stroll around the neighborhood....if you can call that strolling. I'm not sure. It took far more effort to stroll there than it does here, that's for sure!

Anyway, three things became very evident in short order—dogs everywhere; beautiful, gorgeous things blooming everywhere and cut flowers were available at every corner market!

You'll be hearing and see more about all of these as the story continues.
Above is a sweet pup named Chip, a small 4-month-old puppy with fur like silk! We decided he must be the greeting committee...until we realized he was far more interested in a dog walking on the other side of the street than he was in us. Oh well, cuteness makes up for a lot.

On our last night in town, we actually got to meet Chip in person and he couldn't have been any sweeter if he'd tried. And he really was that small in that big glass window.

Next up...a lesson learned from stopping in front of street maps, a trip to Chinatown and Fisherman's Wharf!

Our last full day in NOLA dawned cold and clear with a strong wind from the northwest that robbed the warmth from the sunshine. However, that morning we spent touring the Beauregard-Keyes house (Keyes rhymes with eyes) and then sketching in the walled gardens. The walls made it possible for us to sketch without being totally miserable!

St. Francis in the Beauregard-Keyes Walled Gardens Sketched on location

The house is named after its two most celebrated owners, Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard and author, Ms. Frances Parkinson. We had an absolutely delightful guide and learned a good deal about what it might have been like to live back in the mid-1900's in New Orleans.

[I recently had someone ask "Don't you ever make mistakes!?!" Take a close look at the page above and you'll note one colossal mistake—the bricks....I drew what I THOUGHT I saw there rather than what I OBSERVED to be there. To downplay the wrong perspective, I washed some darker color over the bricks so that they are less noticeable. So the answer is "YES. I make mistakes. I also do what I can do downplay or correct them and move on. Lastly, I seldom point out mistakes because most of the time, if we don't say anything, no one notices anyway!"]

Other shots of the house and gardens:

Interior Courtyard behind the house

Cold, but determined sketchers in the walled gardens

Resurrection Fear growing on the wall of the garden

We took off for lunch and then spent the first part of the afternoon doing some shopping (purchasing pralines) and we then gathered to go to the Germaine Cazenave Wells Mardi Gras Museum at Arnaud's Restaurant:

Sketched on Location

The museum houses dresses worn by Ms. Wells, who is Count Arnaud's daughter. She is the one woman who has presided over more Krewes than any other. There were also outfits worn by her mother, daughter and the Count as the King of Mardi Gras. It was a very interesting and close-up look at the opulence and details of the Mardi Gras dress of yesteryear as contrasted against our visit to Mardi Gras World on our first day.

The dress is encrusted with beading and other embellishments. The train is made of velvet and trimmed with real fur—it had to weigh a ton!!

Intrepid sketchers sitting on the floor after a mishap with a broken stool

Our evening finished off with a fabulous meal at Arnaud's. The restaurant harkens back to another era where you wore your best to go to dinner, the door was held for women and the chair pulled back. Men wore jackets and the ladies were dressed to the nines. (It's more relaxed now, but only by a little bit!)

It was a wonderful way to wrap up our week in NOLA with a fabulously wonderful group of sketchers!

[I have a few more pages to share (that are out of order) where I've done a few different and fun things to change them up a bit!]

Thanksgiving Sketch Watercolor and Ink Stillman & Birn sketchbook Click to Enlarge

Our Thanksgiving was wonderfully relaxing this year—near bliss after the crazy weeks leading up to the holiday.

A small gathering at my brother's home. Nearly perfect weather. We were able to leave the doors open and enjoy the breeze. (It can be hot enough to run the air conditioner on Thanksgiving here in Florida!)

After dinner, I headed outside and sat by the koi pond to sketch.

I think I could have stayed all day.....

I do know I'll be going back.

Care to join me?

Sketched on Location Click to enlarge

Oak Alley is a (still-working) sugar cane plantation upriver from New Orleans. There are 28 Live Oaks that line the path to the house from the river that were planted by a settler back in the 1700's. They're estimated to be 300 years old.

Front of the Home Image courtesy of the Oak Alley Plantation

The Roman family later purchased the land and built their home in 1830's, using the 28 oaks to inspire 28 columns that are 8 feet in circumference and walls that are 16 inches thick. They also planted an additional 28 Live Oaks in the back of the plantation. Those are estimated to be around 150 years old and are what show in the journal page at the top of the page.

Back of the Home Click to enlarge

The large kettle featured in the journal page and the image above is one of the kettles they used to boil the sugar cane juice down into syrup. Today, they are often used as koi ponds and planters as manufacturing has long since surpassed the use of these pots.

As the fates would have it, the weather was being rather fickle this day and it didn't know if it wanted to rain or not. After a few warming sprinkles, the rain finally started to get heavy enough that most of us retreated to the café.

Introducing my latest "coffee passion:"

Memory sketch, created after returning Click to enlarge

Praline coffee. YUM! There's not much more that needs to be said about it. It was sooooooo good! I went by two of our local liqueur stores only to find they don't carry it. It's a special order. Needless to say, there is a bottle winging its way here as we speak.

Last but certainly not least, we had dinner at the Napoleon House. It looks like a dive on the outside and it's as dark as a cave on the inside with an old world, European feel. The walls are brick and stucco with an open air courtyard.

Memory Sketch, crated after returning Click to enlarge

Several of us had difficulty reading the menu due to the low-lighting (no lighting?) conditions. Our helpful waiter brought us a big yellow and black flashlight so we could read the menu. No kidding! Apparently, they'd had this kind of trouble before.

Napoleon House is also known for their "Pimm's Cup" cocktail and I just had to try one! It is made with Pimm's Liqueur. It is garnished with a cucumber slice and is quite refreshing. (One of those drinks that sneaks up on you if you have too many because they're not hard to drink! And, no, that's not experience talking—I only had one!)

Despite the few showers of the day, it was a fun day with many laughs and some great sketches!