RINO REMINDER

Senator Lamar Alexander is the traitorous senator from Tennessee who voted to confirm the racist judge, Sonya Sotomayor. Never again will I vote for Lamar Alexander. He is not up for re-election until 2014, but I intend to post this reminder each and every month until then. I hope he either resigns or they run a true conservative against him in the primary. I challenge my fellow bloggers to do the same if you have RINO's in your state that need to go. I may add my other senator, Bob Corker, to this reminder. I'm waiting for him to cross the aisle again and work with Dimocrats.

It is with sadness that I have added my congresswoman, Marsha Blackburn to the RINO Reminder list. She voted for the BOEHNER bill and has voted to raise the debt ceiling, thereby COMPROMISING and selling us out to the Dimocrats and the establishment Republicans. I have let congresswoman Blackburn know that I am looking forward to voting for a primary challenger against her in 2012. I hope there is one.

Hidden Snow Girl Illusion

Illusions are always fun and sometime mind blowing, here i found one more hidden girl who hides herself in the branches, take a close look and you might come with a snow girl hides herself in tree branches. If you able to find the snow girl here then try to check out the similar illusion which i have posted before. Hidden baby in tree and face appears in tree and once you find out then don't forget to comment

2012 Democratic National Convention Schedule -- Charlotte , N.C.

4:00 PM – Opening Flag Burning Ceremony – sponsored by CNN
4:05 PM – Singing of " God Damn America " led by Rev. Jeremiah Wright
4:10 PM – Pledge of Allegiance to Obama


4:15 PM – Ceremonial ' I hate America' led by Michelle Obama
4:30 PM – Tips on “How to keep your man trustworthy & true to you while you travel the world” – Hillary Clinton
4:45 PM – Al Sharpton / Jesse Jackson seminar “ How to have a successful career without having a job.”

5:00 PM – “ Great Vacations I’ve Taken on the Taxpayer’s Dime Travel Log” - Michelle Obama
5:30 PM – Eliot Spitzer Speaks on "Family Values" via Satellite
5:45 PM – Tribute to All 57 States – Nancy Pelosi

6:00 PM – Sen. Harry Reid - 90-minute speech expressing the Democrat’s appreciation of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and George Soros for sparing no expense, for all that they have accomplished to unify the country, improve employment and to boost the economy.

8:30 PM – Airing of Grievances by the Clintons
9:00 PM – “ Bias in Media – How we can make it work for you” Tutorial – sponsored by CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times

9:15 PM – Tribute Film to Brave Freedom Fighters incarcerated at GITMO – Michael Moore
9:45 PM – Personal Finance Seminar - Charlie Rangle
10:00 PM – Denunciation of Bitter Gun Owners and Bible readers
,
10:30 PM – Ceremonial Waving of White Flag for IRAQ , & Afghanistan
11:00 PM – Obama Energy Plan Symposium / Tire Gauge Demonstration / You too can get rich with Green Investment bankruptcies
11:15 PM – Free Gov. Blagovich rally

11:30 PM – Obama Accepts Oscar, Tony and Latin Grammy Awards
11:45 PM – Feeding of the Delegates with 5 Loaves and 2 Fish – Obama Presiding
12:00 AM – Official Nomination of Obama by Bill Maher and Chris “ He sends a thrill up my leg ” Matthews

12:01 AM – Obama Accepts Nomination as Lord and Savior
12:05 AM – Celestial Choirs Sing
3:00 AM – Biden Delivers Acceptance Speech

HAT TIP - JD Pinkerton, Facebook friend

Simple Hair Style For Long Hair

Colorful hair style for your beautiful hair. It’s without materials hair styles which will help you to look beautiful. you can find a glorious styles for your beautiful long hair…

SPIRIT OF ONAM PERVADES KERALA

RECREATING THE MAGIC OF ONAM
FLOWERS AND FEAST CELEBRATION

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com - The spirit of Onam once again prevailed in the city as residents both Malayalees and non Malayalees joined in the celebrations on the auspicious Thiru Onam day on Wednesday in Coimbatore. While some preferred to invite friends and relatives for the traditional Onam feast at their residence, hotels and eateries witnessed a huge rush especially during the lunch hours. Their patrons were mostly private firm employees who celebrated Onam and exchanged greetings over lunch. The city based associations of Keralites including the Coimbatore Malayalee Samajam had organised special cultural events and the traditional Onam food fare on occasion of the festival. “We had a good turnout this year. We had organised some cultural programs including traditional Kerala dance forms,” said K Rajagopal, President, Coimbatore Malayalee Samajam. Onam fever had gripped even the IT sector where employees donned the traditional garb, the white sari and dhoti. Food courts at the IT firm campuses had arranged for special Kerala cuisine, the vegetarian lunch with payasam on Wednesday.

Onam, is a combination of the Kerala new year and the harvesting festival. Traditional food varieties including avail, sambhar, upperi and pachchadi were in great demand, favoured over the usual masala dosa, fried rice and noodles. “Almost the entire office was in traditional attire and all of them made it a point to partake in the traditional Onam feast. A huge floral carpet was also made in the morning,” said Malini Pollekkad, employed with a major IT firm in Keeranatham near Saravanampatti. Some city restaurants had also come up with 'Thiru Onam lunch kits' especially for those who did not want to spend their Onam sweating in the kitchen but still wanted to savour the spirit of the festival with their dear ones. Apart from natives of Kerala, some local residents also joined in the celebrations. It was a day to relax from their hectic schedule and meet friends and relatives. “Since it is a holiday we decided to have a small family get together and cook an Onam lunch at our residence. It was a good experience,” said L Mahesh Priya, a lecturer at a private college in Coimbatore. Keralites believe that they have to appear as happy and prosperous as they were in the days of Mahabali, the benevolent king, who returns to Kerala once a year to see his subjects. This was a boon he received from the Supreme God himself, Vishnu.

Onam is the most important festival of Kerala. This regional festival is celebrated every year to honor the demon-king Maha Bali and his reign. During the festival, homes are decorated with floral designs, boat races are organized, and family gatherings are held with festive dinners.  The great Emperor Mahabali was the grandson of Prahlada Maharaja. Unlike any other demon, Mahabali was a very good king and a great devotee of Lord Vishnu, too. During the reign of Mahabali, the world was like heaven and everyone was praising him in the three worlds. Lord Vishnu came as Vamana (the dwarf) to get rid of the pride of him.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

In the Vedic/Hindu tradition, there are many festivals that are observed throughout the year. There are major festivals and numerous minor ones, as well as those that are celebrated on a local or regional basis, which are celebrated differently according to the location, or even named differently. There are different festivals to celebrate the various incarnations of God, as well as those that honor the seasons, harvests, relationships, and certain principles of the Vedic culture. One of the major festivals is Onam: This festival marks the day on which the great devotee of Lord Vishnu Emperor Maha Bali, the grandson of Prahlada (the great devotee of Lord Narasimha), received benediction and liberation with the blessings of the Lord, who had assumed the form of Vamanadeva, the dwarf incarnation. Onam is celebrated in August-September, and especially in Kerala. Onam is a ten-day festival marked by women creating beautiful floral patterns in front of their houses, pujas for Lord Vishnu, feasting and boat races.

Stephen Knapp (Śrīpad Nandanandana dasa) :
“Hindu Festivals”
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/hindu_festivals.htm
http://www.stephen-knapp.com  -  http://www.stephenknapp.info/

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
http://www.vedicviews-worldnews.blogspot.com.ar/

Friday Questions

A recent post on show runners elicited a number of follow up questions.   So this week's Friday Questions shall attempt to address them.

Bill starts us off:



If the showrunner is so important--really the most important position on a show at a given time--why is "showrunner" not an "official" credit?

First off, it doesn’t have “Producer” in the title. In addition to the prestige and

A Day in the Life of Jim Cantore

Well, I know I learned a lot from that!

REPEAT ABORTIONS LINKED TO PREMATURE BIRTH

ABORTIONS INCREASE RISK OF HAVING
PRETERM OR LOW-BIRTH WEIGHT BABIES

www.bbc.co.uk - The more abortions a woman has before her first child, the more likely she is to give birth prematurely, a study has suggested. Data from all 300,858 first-time mothers in Finland between 1996 and 2008 was analysed. The study showed women were three times more likely to have a very premature baby, born before 28 weeks, if they had had three or more abortions. The report was published in the journal Human Reproduction. The overall risk was still low, the study suggested. Being born too soon is linked to higher risks of infection, hypothermia and death. The study showed there would be three babies born before 28 weeks for every 1,000 women who had never had an abortion, four per 1,000 who had had one abortion, six in those who had had two abortions and 11 if the woman had had three or more abortions. There were similar figures for babies born before 37 weeks and for low birth weight. However, only 0.3% of women in the study had had three or more abortions before their first child. Researchers cannot say for certain that abortions result in premature births, merely that they had spotted a link between the two. However, they suggest that surgical abortions could increase the risk of infection, which could affect future pregnancies.

The lead researcher Dr Reija Klemetti, from the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki, said: “Our results suggest that induced abortions before the first birth, particularly three or more abortions, are associated with a marginally increased risk during the first birth. However, the increased risk is very small, particularly after only one or even two abortions, and women should not be alarmed by our findings.” Andrew Whitelaw, a professor of neo-natal medicine at the University of Bristol, said: “While pre-term birth before 37 weeks' gestation exposes an infant to a modest but definite increased risk of a range of serious problems including brain injury and death, birth before 28 weeks exposes the infant to a hugely increased risk of death, brain injury and permanent disability. Thus an increase, after three or more abortions, of nearly threefold in the odds of having an infant born before 28 weeks is worrying. The steadily increasing survival of very pre-term infants should not be interpreted as a solution to the problem of pre-term birth. Increased survival of infants under 28 weeks is at the cost of increased survival of infants with disability.”

While abortion and women's rights is still a hotly contested topic in modern politics, researchers are doing their part to inform the public on the clinical dangers of the abortion for both the mother and any future offspring she may have. While It has already been proven that one or more abortions affects a women's fertility rate, now researchers have shown that women who had had three or more abortions have a higher risk of some adverse birth outcomes, such as delivering a baby prematurely or with a low birth weight. In general, society does not raise his voice in defense of unborn babies, and this is the demonstration of the spiritual crisis ​​in which we live.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

The idea of abortion shows the depth of the crisis of values found in our so-called “modern society”. The government tries to protect the interests of consumers, industrial people, pensioners, etc. Could it be that these creatures have no rights just because they can talk about their needs and express their desire to live? How to be denied protection to them? The legalization of abortion will be the burial of the grace and dignity of man and the politician class, too. ... Ignoring the law is no excuse to transgress it although abortion was legalized, it would be a violation of the laws of nature (Law of Karma: Justice infallible. Eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth) in other words action and reaction, both individually and collectively. Earthquakes in Popayan or Mexico are reactions, they are not coincidences. We are responsible for what we do and what we fail to do, too. ... We must strive to achieve the purification of our existence by wholeheartedly promoting compassion, truthfulness, internal and external cleaning, in realizing our eternal life.

Śrīla Bhakti Bimala Harijan Swami Mahārāja :
“Industrialization of Abortion”
http://bhaktivimalaharijanswamiconferencias.blogspot.com.ar/
http://bhaktipedia.org/espanol/index.php?n=harijan_bv.harijan_bv
http://bhaktipedia.org/espanol/index.php?n=harijan_bv.industrializacion_aborto

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
http://www.vedicviews-worldnews.blogspot.com.ar/

Colorful Fish Shaped Dresses photo Gallery

This is a fish shaped dresses collection. This all colorful and awesome fish shaped dresses are biggest attraction for the girl. Its looks so beautiful and glorious fish shaped dress collection.

Designed Bindies for a Bridals

Now days, bindi is becoming old fashion for all girls no one won’t to do bindi. After all bindi is mostly use in the time of marriage and celebration. Bindi is use to decor the face, hair and hand etc. So different types so bindi available in the market like diamond bindi, traditional bindi, colorful bindies etc...Here is also small collection of bindi for bridals….

Traditional Anklets Design

Anklets designs accelerate the beauty of women according to event and occasion. There are numerous ideas about anklets for women across the world, but here is some versatile, beautiful and unique anklets design. Beauty of feet boasts to the maximum extent and become a center of attraction by the right choice of gold, silver, traditional anklets design.

Teen Bride Courtney Stodden reaches 18: Mulling over many porn offer

Teen bride Courtney Stodden

Courtney Stodden, American teen singer and wife of Eugene Victor Tooms of X-Files Doug Hutchison, 52, reaches her 18 with lots of offers from porn producers. Doug Hutchison finally got her legally,but the adult offers that are pouring in has something to think about.

Brazzers, a media company specializing in hardcore adult entertainment, offered the "sexually charged" blond bombshell "a chance to star in four X-rated scenes in the genre of her choice." Mofos.com, which showcases "real amateur girls," wants to partner with the prolific tweeter to throw Stodden an epic 18th birthday bash to be featured on their site.

Another adult site, Twistys.com, said they "find [Stodden] so special it would be an honor for us if she accepted our offer [to perform in a scene of her choice, in an erotic destinations she will also choose] and became Twistys Treat of thee Month. As well, the production company Digital Playground (whose oeuvre include Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge and Top Guns) has invited "the forward-thinking beauty" to work on "a future project with the premier studio in adult entertainment."

But Stodden's hubby needn't worry: Hutchison and his much younger love (whom he wed when she was just 16) have been offered a Babes.com couple contract. The site feels that "the sexually open couple would be a perfect collaboration."

But so far Courtney isn't biting. In an exclusive statement to E! News, her momager Krista Keller says: "She is taking it one day at a time. She woke up today and was flooded with offers. Lots of the porn companies have put out happy birthday videos with lucrative contract offers. She, however, has not giving it much thought.

She is enjoying her birthday with her husband, loved ones and her adorable blue italian greyhound puppy Dourtney! She is having her momager handle all this business as usual." Somehow, it's hard for us to believe that anything is usual here, but regardless we hope Courtney has a great day. Can't wait to find out what her future entails.

Stodden with  Doug Hutchison

What's with the Weather Channel?

A couple of weeks ago, we were headed for New Orleans. So was Hurricane Issac. While we were in Huntsville, AL, Issac was a long way away and nobody knew where it was going. I tuned to the weather channel hoping for some information. What I got was some story about lifeguards in San Diego. A reality show. Now all that is fine, but what the hell has that got to do with weather? Not a damned thing!

I realize that when nothing is imminent, things can get boring, but people who are planning their activities still would like to know. Oh well, thank goodness for my internet weather.

Cantore

As Issac drew closer, the Weather Channel coverage became more consistent and I knew things were getting serious when they dispatched talking heads with raincoats to various locations in the path of the storm. They thought Tampa was going to be ground zero and lo and behold they sent Jim Cantore, the Geraldo Rivera of weather, there for his excellent synopsis of gusting wind and sideways rain. You know, I really don't like Jim Cantore very much. He looks like a reject from a steroid factory and really he just seems way to happy to report that a monster storm is on the way. It's kinda like, "I'm going to have my disaster and nobody is going to deprive me of it!"

I'm sure that many were hoping that a major hurricane would strike Tampa during the Republican convention. Oh, PLEASE! PLEASE! strike those evil Republicans. Instead of heading for Tampa, Issac turned out into the gulf. Jim Cantore was rushed at a high rate of speed to New Orleans. I guess the weather folks already in New Orleans were just not up to snuff. As tropical storm Issac meandered closer to the mouth of the Mississippi, one of the weather babes, Stephanie Abrams, referred to the storm as a hurricane. She would have been crushed, I guess, if Issac had remained a tropical storm. What a disappointment. She later apologized on camera for her error. Bless her heart.

Anyway, we left New Orleans 2 days before the arrival of Issac. Sitting in the dry in Tennessee I turned on the Weather Channel only to see a couple of dudes barely standing up in sideways rain on Canal Street. One of them was Jim Cantore. I'm not sure who the other one was. I turned it off.

I heard the other day that the Weather Channel would be introducing a new series called "Iron Men". This is a show about men building skyscrapers in New York. Yeah, that really has a lot to do with weather.

CHEERS BABIES

Here’s a Friday Question that became an entire post either because the subject matter warranted it or I’m just incredibly verbose.

It’s from Carl:


Ken, what is your opinion of children on sitcoms? I've noticed that the shows you've worked on rarely feature them. Myself, I've noticed that many sitcoms will make an effort early on to give the kiddies screen time, then give up and only trot

Gold Meenakari Stone Enclosed And Polki Bangles

There are some Traditional & Antique Photos of bangles enclosed with Gold Meenakari Stones and it is also known as Polki Bangles. Now a days,many girls does not wear a bangles but on special events like marriges,Parties..it's give traditional looks of your hands.So plz looks here some awasome photos.......

LET'S go RAIders!!!

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

It’s been a busy few weeks… but it’s leading up to the Utah vacation… and of course, Bacon Day before that. By the way, apparently the Academy of Science has read my posts and is trying to steal my thunder mere days before my event… but I called dibs, b**ches! That’s why my event is going to be even grander… just without dinosaur bones & bio-domes. Let’s see what’s been happening…

I’m sure you don’t want to hear about my job… and frankly, I don’t wanna talk about it… but it’s been taking up a long of my day as you might expect. In the evenings, we had a test run on Bacon Day last Tuesday and sampled five of the features… bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers (cheddar filled), bacon wrapped red pepper & garlic sausages, BLT, bacon grilled cheese… and a small version of… DA BOMB!!! Basically it’s Italian sausage mixed with cheddar, chives & various other ingredients, weaved in bacon strips, covered in a BBQ rub & BBQ sauce, slow cooked over a few hours… and then covered in sauce again… BEHOLD!!!

All were delicious and fantastic… and most other nights was catching up on TV and playing the video game that my brother sent me “Assassin’s Creed Revelations” which is the latest in the AC series, this time set in Constantinople (pre-Istanbul) around 1510 AD or so. I REALLY enjoy the series… and anxiously await AC3 coming this Halloween set in the American Colonies circa 1775. Anyway, for those who may have not played these games before… the story is modern day people are using a machine that can relive an individual’s ancestral memories in a virtual reality environment. So like if you went back a few generations, you could theoretically live out your great-great-grandpa banging your great-great-grandma… but when they were both teenagers. Obviously that’s not the use they put it to into this game, rather they go back into the memories of a bartender, whose lineage includes assassins back to the time of the Crusades (original game) and they’ve been trying to find answers to the location of some powerful objects that could shape the fate of the world. So that’s the story… as for the gameplay, it’s pretty amazing with how your character can jump and move about the city environments… and the detail of the environments if really good too. It’s kind of one of those things that you’d have to play to understand (or I’m just a sh**ty writer) but I highly recommend it.

Over the weekend, I hung out with Dizzy… and get this, my ladyfriend had one goal this weekend… and that was to watch “Showgirls” with her gentlemanfriend. How many guys out there can say that? Allow me to elaborate before you inquire about my ladyfriend having a penis. You may or may not know this… but Dizzy is a HUGE fan of comedian Adam Carolla (again, she doesn’t have a penis, I’ve checked extensively) that you may remember from “The Man Show”, “Drawn Together”, “Family Guy” or maybe the world’s most successful podcast. Well, he has this thing that he does called “Basic Cable Commentary” where he & a few guest comedians watch movies that they saw on basic cable (others include “The Karate Kid Part 3” & “Road House”) and basically watch them with the microphones on… and have hilarious comments. Basically it’s like watching bad movies with your buddies… if your buddies also happened to be millionaire celebrities with fixations for classic cars. Anyway, one of these commentaries was for the classic horrible movie “Showgirls” starring Elizabeth Berkeley & Kyle McLachlan… and the commentary featured Adam and comedian Dana Gould portrayal of PBS legend Hule Howser (if you don’t know how that is… google him, he’s the host of “California’s Gold”). Ergo, she wanted to watch it with me… and Adam… and Hule. Good times were had… and I had almost forgotten how horrible a movie it really is… especially the last ten minutes. By the way, you may be privy to a similar concept of commentary one day when I watch bad movies with the roommates… or maybe another entry in my live football commentary… you’ve been warned.

Saturday, after a breakfast of donuts, we headed to Oakland Coliseum (aka O.co Coliseum… or as I prefer, the Big O) to see the Oakland football Raiders host the Detroit “Why is you” Lions in a preseason showdown of biblical importance (to atheists). Thanks to StubHub we got some pretty fantastic tickets on the 10^th row right behind the Lions bench for about $20 a pop… and with the Lions being Dizzy’s favorite team (you thought I was a glutton for punishment with the Eagles) we had a pretty good time… and the game was even pretty decent. Interesting little tidbits of the game: The only Pro Bowlers on the Raiders for the past decade or so have been their kickers & they’ve been hands down the best in the league. However, punter Shane Lechler is… I don’t know… 54 years old now? And I think that Polish sports icon Sebastian Janikowski’s heavy drinking may finally be catching up with him because he missed a fairly easy kick in the first quarter… almost making him look mortal. Then they brought out this new kid Carmona who just before the half hit a 58 yarder from the dirt of the 2^nd base line (still baseball season so the dirt was out) so that reign of supreme kickers may not be coming to a close quite yet… and that’s a good thing because aside from backup quarterback / disgraced Ohio State alum Terrell Pryor having a few big runs in the second half, there wasn’t a whole lot to get excited about… but then again, it’s the preseason… and beer helps with excitement. WOOOO!!!

After the game, we had some pizza at Albany Pizza Company (decent pizza & giant slices and a soda for $5) then watched “Hidalgo” starring Viggo Mortensen. Now, this was one of my dad’s favorite movies… and he watched it a lot when I had first moved out into my first lone wolf apartment a few years back… but I had never sat down & watched it with him. It was actually pretty good. From director Joe Johnston (specializes in period action pieces like “The Rocketeer”, “Captain America” & “Wolfman”) comes the true story of a man (Mortenson) who joins Buffalo Bill Cody’s wild west show after the destruction of his mother’s Sioux tribe… and is basically in a bad place… but with a good horse named Hidalgo & apparently he can ride with the best of them and has never lost a long-distance race. Well, an Arab noble graces one of these shows… and basically says American horses are sh*t & can never ride with Arabians… which I’m no horse expert, but may very well be true. It might be like the Saudi Arabian national basketball team going against any average American high school team for all I know, but in reverse. Regardless, it’s the setting for an underdog story… so they go to this 3000-mile, two-month long race across the barren asscrack of the world known as the Arabian desert… and you throw in a few plot twists, Bob’s your uncle, and you’ve got yourself a flick. I liked it. Check it out if you want.

Fun fact: We were at the local video store picking out a few selections for the weekend… and I wanted to share the delight of the wonderful comedy “Hamlet 2” that I’ve shared with you repeatedly. Now… I couldn’t find it in the comedy section, which you know, maybe they just didn’t have it because it wasn’t really advertised much & probably grossed enough to cover Elizabeth Shue’s nurse outfit. So Dizzy asked the checkout guy… and it was in… wait for it… The William Shakespeare section. Yes ladies & gentlemen… Hamlet 2… which has an entire act of the movie entitled “Hope is a Demon Bitch” was located right between the original Hamlet & Midsummer Night’s Dream. I thought it was hilarious. Wanna know what else was hilarious?

Something titled “Midgets vs. Mascots” has laughs written all over it just as a concept. Well, this movie is basically what you would expect… starring the likes of the late great Gary Coleman and he’s referred to as “The Shaquille O’Neal of Little People” so that should tell you right there it’s pretty good. Basically it’s a mockumentary about a deceased millionaire named Big Red and during the reading of his will, his money is to be distributed through a competition of his fellow little people… versus his fellow mascots… coached by his bratty douche son & gold digger wife… oh and did I mention that Big Red was a midget mascot? Surprise! Anyway, it goes from there… and yeah, just check it out if you can find it. Ron Jeremy is in it… and he’s never starred in anything that sucked… well, that sucked the bad way. HEDGEHOG!!!

Anyway, that’s pretty much it. Bacon Day is this Saturday… and pictures will be forthcoming… along with the family reunion in Utah immediately after. So yeah… have a great weekend everybody!!! Deuces!

Our Anniversary Gulf Coast Trip - Part 6 - Hoofing it

We probably walked several miles during our last full day in New Orleans. We began by walking down Canal Street all the way to the riverfront. We took the free ferry over to the Algiers area and got some really GREAT pictures of the city.

 Later we rode the trolley and the bus to Lafayette Cemetery in the Garden District for a walking tour. We met our guide, Carla, who gave us lots of information and history on the cemetery and the fine homes in the Garden District.

Carla, our guide

Archie Manning's home

Sandra Bullock's home

Departing the Garden District we rode the bus back toward our hotel, getting off at the World War II Museum. From there we WALKED back down to the riverfront where we traversed the entire mall. My sweet one finally found a memento of our trip, a little silver fleur-de-lis, and of course, I bought it for her with a "happy anniversary" added.

We sat for a while at the trolley terminal for a trolley that never came, so we hoofed it back to the hotel. That evening we DROVE to Mother's Restaurant. This was different. We stood in line, cafeteria style, ordered our food, and they brought it to us when it was ready. The atmosphere was laid back and the food was GREAT. Boy our feet were tired when we finally got back to the hotel.

The next day we departed New Orleans, 2 days before the arrival of Hurricane Issac. We arrived home at 7PM that evening. There's no place like home.

Please go HERE to view all the pictures of our last day in the Big Easy.

Our Anniversary Gulf Coast Trip - Part 5 - Alligators and the 9th Ward

The next morning we headed back to the Oceania Grill to try their breakfast. My plate full of scrambled eggs, alligator sausage, hash browns, and grits hit the spot.

Next we drove our car into the bayou to the Jean Lafitte Swamp Tour. We were loaded onto a covered pontoon boat. It is good that it was covered cause it rained like pouring pee out of a boot.

I saw my old friend, Al E. Gator......

Our guide, Jason, would whistle at these lizards and they would come right up to the boat for a photo op. He told us that feeding gators was now illegal but I can't believe he doesn't sneak out there after hours and slip them a treat.

We finished the swamp tour and drove back to the hotel in torrential rain. Later that afternoon we decided to take a bus tour. At least we could hopefully stay dry. This was a good decision. Our guide, Bernadine, took us all over the place, to the riverfront, the garden district, the French quarter, the Lakeshore area, and finally, the upper 9th ward. She showed us many places devastated by Katrina, ruined houses with holes in the roofs where people had hopefully escaped. Many places lay in ruins with no hope of restoration. The whereabouts of some of the previous property owners are not known. We learned a lot about the history of New Orleans and why it is like it is today. She could not take us into the lower 9th ward. This is where over 1000 people died. No tours are allowed there.

That evening we walked back to Bourbon Street and visited the Redfish Grill for dinner. Our waiter, Ike was one hard working dude.

Go HERE to see all our pictures from this great day. Still more in part 6.