Biltmore Gardens

We spent last weekend in Asheville, North Carolina at the Biltmore House and Gardens. Everyone I had talked to about this said that it was amazing and they were right. I was awed that the house was so "modern" for having been built in 1895. What I really enjoyed were the gardens and took way too many pictures of them. I am posting a picture of the door to the 115 year old greenhouse. You should have seen this green house, quite large for a private home and something you would imagine in a public Botanical Garden. Inside I found a tree that had hanging blooms on it that looked like little paper party lanterns. I couldn't find a name for this little tree anywhere so I took a million pictures of it. Here is one of the beautiful blooms on it. Also a picture of some of the flowers floating in one of the "CementPonds". I am terrible with flower names, but they were all so pretty. The weather was wonderful. While it was close to 100 degrees at home, the highest it was there was 82 degrees around noon. The view, well, no wonder these people built a mansion in the mountains. So serene. Originally they owned 125,000 acres, including some forest. Can you imagine? And back then, it all cost about 2 million dollars. Mind boggling !!! Today it would be billions.

OK, I have tried to change the order of my pictures, but whenever I upload them, they are always in the wrong . Enjoy anyway !!

New Orleans

I was in New Orleans last weekend for a wedding. While walking through the French Quarter, I noticed how some buildings are kept up very well and the one next to it is just there, barely it seems. I will always love walking through the area and am amazed that as much as things change, they seems to always be the same here. All kinds of people coexisting in one area not bothered by one another's differences and seeming to respect that difference with a southern soul unlike any southern city I have ever been to. We had a chance to talk to some people that were born there and lived through the Katrina experience. I was speechless as I listened to their stories and admired their tenacity to live and die there too. We did not visit the parts of town that were affected by the levee break but most of the people we talked to had lived in those areas. My heart broke for what they lost, more than bricks and mortar. It seems they are still fighting hard to bring it back to the city it used to be , but to me this is a city still like no other you will find in America and it could never be replaced.

I found this picture from my trip to Florence last spring. This is an entry to a house and is on a street that is only wide enough for one car to pass, if that. It look so clean and perfectly appointed with the brass doorbell and light. It has such a romantic look to it. I wonder if the inside is just as polished. It was a little strange thinking the door was so close to the street and how many people were passing by it but I guess that is the way of life there. Most of the streets in this section of town were not very wide at all. Most of the doorways were very nice and a lot of people put so much effort into making them neat and shiny. Some doors had plants flanking the door also. Wouldn't it be great to walk out your door right on to the streets of Florence? I think so. 

I found this picture of a door that I took last summer. It was a cabin we stayed in near the lake we like to go to. I knew as soon as I saw the door that we were going to like the place. It was quiet, away from traffic, and sitting on the screened in porch at night, I realized just how dark, dark is. 

A Place to Start

I love doors. This is a picture I took of one across the street from the entrance of Parc Guell in Barcelona, Spain. My fascination with doors has been around since I was a child. I love to imagine walking through them on a daily basis, or try to figure out who is on the other side, what life is like behind them. Doors also represent an entrance to an unknown and once you've walked through it, you cannot change what you've seen or done. You can open a door, close a door or leave it ajar.  I wonder how many hands have turned the knobs ? Is it a neat and tidy door or is it  in disrepair ? 

It's February 2nd, and just like my procrastinating self, I am thinking of the new year. Closing the door on the old one and opening the door on a new one. This year, I going to open this orange door in the purple building and walk right through. We'll see what's inside.