Louisiana!

Hello, all!

I know it's been a while, but the holidays swamp everyone, do they not? These photos were taken around Thanksgiving at my grandmother's house in Louisiana. I was born in the boot state, and it's a place that's close to my heart. I always feel so at home when I visit my family (and a large family it is). Anyway, these are some photos from my grandma's yard, home, and the swamp in the surrounding area. Beautiful!

 My grandmother's pergola patio. It's pure heaven to eat breakfast out here in the morning.

 I love all of the small details of items on this patio. The antique-looking lanterns, the lovely rugs and faded benches. It's taken years to accumulate all of these things, I know, but every item here is special.

 Romaine hearts! Perfect for making homemade hummus wraps (YUM).

Talk about bounty! It's one of my goals to have a garden this spring.

 Not to mention the citrus trees! (Unfortunately, Georgia is just a little too cold for them :( ). But we came home with a huge bag of lemons and satsumas (below). There's so much fruit on the trees that the poor things are sagging nearly to the ground!

 This incredibly beautiful live oak tree has been here forever! My grandpa built the tree house you see there, and we loved playing in it as kids. Our hand and footprints decorate the inside, and we each made a painting on the walls (we being myself and my cousins).

 We also visited the Louisiana swamp for the benefit of my boyfriend, who had never seen it before. I love the way that cypress trees stick out of the water with their skirted bottoms. As a kid, I loved playing in the low water levels of the bayou because you could balance on the parts of the cypress roots that stick up out the water, called "knees".


 While in Louisiana, we went Cajun dancing, and my photo was even in the local paper! We also ate some good, gooood food. Gumbo, sweet potato casserole, homemade hummus, pepper jelly, fruit galore, and even some sugar cane. I'm a Cajun girl at heart!

 Do you have a home away from home? Visiting Louisiana made me want to up and move there, even though I just got to Georgia.

I have some crafty projects in the works for this blog, and I'm going to attempt to make Moroccan stew this week, plus homemade sushi, so look forward to more from me soon!