Friends at Riverside

Beth (from Lasting Impressions from the HeArt) came down to Riverside on Monday. I tried to post, but this has been sitting on the computer for two days now. Solly. This was our first night on Mobile Bay at sunset.

Tuesday, I took her on the grand tour of the Gulf. We, of course, had to start with beignets from the Beignet Cafe. Sinfully good.

Oh, so much better than a power bar, ya think? Diet? Whaaaa?

They gave us enough strength to hit the beaches and the sorry state that the Gulf of Mexico is in.

But the beauty remains at first glance.

Double red flag? NO swimming. NO SWIMMING!!!

Warning signs are posted everywhere. I think this would have had my attention. Of course, there were still families, yes FAMILIES, in the water. So many local stories we heard. One lady said her daughter watched as a family came out of the water with welts on them. WELTS! (Or what Beth and I call "them whelps.") What are they thinking?

This was left over from the Jimmy Buffett concert made with seaweed (and probably a little oil mixed in). I think I would have made a NO BP sign, myself. But I'm sure the day was all full of peace and love, which was the point.

We then drove East towards my favorite beach, Perdido. This is looking West at Perdido Pass Bridge from Perdido Point. The pass separates Alabama from Florida.

These seagulls just sat by and watched. (Sorry about the smudge on the lens, I'm getting pretty good at that, aren't I. Hey, at least it's shaped like a seagull!)

The sands were much cleaner than they were three weeks ago at the same location. Still, we kept our sandals on.

Clean-up crews on the horizon in that gorgeous water.

There was a CNN.com reporter and photographer there. The reporter interviewed Beth.

There weren't a whole lot of people here, and the photog was trying to capture that, I'm sure. More people were walking along the beach than were in the waters. That's a good thing. The reporter told Beth that one lady had come out of the water and she asked her how it was. The lady said "Well, yes, there's some oil on me but mascara remover removes it really 'good.'" Oooooof. And when you come down with skin cancer, will the makeup remover help there? Lordy me.

After we had enough, we went and chilled at the Crab Trap and had my favorite there.

Pina Coladas! Woooot.

Then we made our way inland a tad to The Wharf. Oh, I do love this shop. Beth and I were oooohing and awwwing over all the pretties.

I'd love to do the "girls'" room like this. Not enough money in the world. lol

K, I AM going to make something similar to this though, thank you very much.

After all that window shopping, we were parched. So we headed over to LuLu's (Jimmy Buffett's sister's restaurant). Of course, they had a run on all the One Love, One Ocean T shirts during big bro's latest visit. The only things left were the hats and visors.

Of course, we had to have a margarita; and let me tell you, if I wasn't already warm and fuzzy, this one would have done the trick.

Woooooosh. A new tequila the bartender told us about that is as good as Petron, but cheaper. Thank goodness I only had the one.

After a few more stops, we headed back to Riverside. Only for a short while though. It was almost dinner time. The kid and I wanted to take Beth to one of our favorite haunts, Felix's on the Bay.
I love the copper menus at the bar. Beth ordered a Bloody Mary and I stuck with the margaritas.

It couldn't hold a candle to LuLu's though. (Must be a Buffett thang.)

She ordered my favorite dinner here, the BBQ shrimp. She was in for a real treat.

Straight outta New Orleans. My mouth is watering just looking at the pic.

Needless to say, I think we all slept well that night. No moss grows under our toesies. Zzzzzzzzzz.

Gulf Coast

Gonna tell you a little about what's going on in the Gulf with regards to the oil. The cuz, kid and I went to our favorite beach in Perdido on June 29, the day Hurricane Alex skirted our area.

We first saw these boats-of-some-sort in Perdido Pass. I truthfully don't know what they do other than being related to the oil spill. I've never seen them here before.

Once we hit the beach, we could see where the oil had washed up. While down shore from here, there were bus loads of volunteers being unloaded to help with the clean up, there was not a soul here.

There was one loan surfer out there. I wonder what he was thinking? (That's the cuz over there on the right.)

Look at that sugar-white sand. Sniffle.

The tar balls were nasty speckling the beautiful beach. Even though we stayed clear of them, we still ended up with some oil on the soles of our feet. Yuk.

We didn't stay too long. It was pretty sad.

On the riverfront, we are still in the clear. The local officials have been proactive since the beginning. Mobile Bay has been boomed since way back. Further in, closer to us, Weeks Bay has been boomed. Our little river? It is being monitored closely. These boats come up and down several times a day looking for any sign of oil. When I shot this photo, the boat in front was actually moving a log that had floated out into the waters. It does give one some peace of mind.

Today, Jimmy Buffett gave his free concert down at Gulf Shores (postponed from July 1 due to Hurricane Alex). I watched it on TV and it was great to see such a crowd down on the beach. This photo was sent to the hub from a friend who was there. Thanks Richard! I think I'd rather be at home though, truthfully. I had to giggle at a sign in the crowd "WWJBD?" (What would Jimmy Buffett do?) Response: "Have a party in the gulf slick!" or some such. Yes indeed.

Beth arrives tomorrow from Tennessee, and I cannot wait for her to arrive. We are going to have so much fun while she's here for the week. I PROMISE to share lots of photos. (In between, perhaps, more Europe posts. Maybe.)

On the Gulf

The Gulf of Mexico as we see it today. Bright white sands, blue and green water. Tomorrow? Who knows when the oil is going to hit here.

For now anyway, the disaster has not hit the Mississippi, Alabama or Florida shores. We're thankful.

I drove over to Bon Secour on Thursday and bought some fresh brown shrimp for dinner.

So peaceful and simple here. The thought of our waters being poisoned by who-knows-what kills me.

Local brown Gulf shrimp which may be our last for a while.

I made a low country shrimp boil.

Earlier in the week, the kid and I went over to Darlene's for art class. She's the best art teacher ever. She teaches a student on Tuesdays and she always invites us over when we're in town.

This was our inspiration for the day. Dar makes beautiful, whimsical pieces.

I absolutely love her work.

Gotta love that face.

And those colors. Of course, we love her too. She's just the bestest in so many ways.

We had showers off and on today with thunderstorms mixed in. I found it to be absolutely perfect as it kept the neighbors' noise down a few decibels. ha. We have a big group renting the next-door house. Joy. They're nice, just loud.

And is that Fessy I spy? Naw, it's just a log floating down river.

Heading home tomorrow. Then we're off to Dublin on Saturday!