Kayak swamp tour II

A little over a year ago, on November 28, 2009, I took the most enjoyable trip in my kayak that I ever taken.  Today, I revisited the same area.  The scenery was a bit different this time, being later in the season.  The two most notable differences were that there was less foliage on the cypress trees, and, because the water level was much lower, the cypress knees were much more exposed and impressive.  Enjoy the photos.

Shortest day of the year packed with happenings

For being the shortest day of the year (Winter Solstice) and reportedly the darkest in over 300 years (Lunar Eclipse on the shortest day), this was quite an eventful day.  So what all happened?  In the course of 24 hours, I got to see the lunar eclipse.  I got to see UConn Women's Basketball team win their 89th game in a row, eclipsing the long-standing men's basketball record held by John Wooden's UCLA team.  I got to see the 2010 U.S. census results for the first time.  I got to see the long-awaited new road in Houma connecting Hwy 311 to the strip on MLK Blvd, where we do most of our shopping, finally open today, cutting almost in half the time it will take us to make the trip to the strip.  And, to top things off, I got the kayak out, brushed off the cobwebs, and took a 4-mile round trip journey on Bayou Black.  The background scenery and wildlife on these kayak trips never disappoints, which makes me wonder why I don't go more often.

Pictures from Thanksgiving trip

Due to low batteries, I only took one picture of a view we will have from our not-quite-finished home near Tracy City, TN.  The picture didn't come out as well as hoped, with the camera focused on close up trees and the backdrop being somewhat out of focus.  It least it shows that a lot of clearing of underbrush across the highway was generously done in our behalf by the developer, which gives us the view we had hoped for when we purchased the property. 

We traveled north to Plymouth, IN (25 mi. south of South Bend in northern Indiana) to be with Matt & Julie and our grandchildren, Allison, Lauren, and Megan at Thanksgiving time.  The day after Thanksgiving, we joined the family in traveling to a tree farm near the school where Matt works, where they picked out a very special tree.  I took a picture of the grandchildren in front of it.  Over this past weekend, the Bertassos had a lot of snow.  We felt fortunate that we didn't have to contend with the white stuff while we were there.