Spring Tease
Posted: March 10, 2017 Filed under: Places I Like | Tags: City Park New Orleans, Dogs, Flowers, Gardens, Golden Retriever, Harper Lee, New Orleans, NOLA, Parks, Pet Photography, Pets, South Louisiana, Spring, Tallulah, Thek9harperlee 23 Comments
My sister, Tallulah Bee, and I went to New Orleans’ City Park last weekend. The last time we visited the park was a freezing cold blustery day in January, so you can imagine our surprise when we saw that spring had sprung while we were away. Now I know that for many of you the snow is just beginning to melt and spring blossoms are still a few weeks away. And I know that you’re thinking that the pretty flower pictures I’m about to share with you are a bit of a “spring tease.” You’re right. But just remember that when I’m seeing all of your fabulous fall photos–you know, the ones with the pretty colorful trees, the dogs romping through the foliage on the ground, and the humans sporting their cozy sweaters–it’s still 90-plus degrees where I live and our tongues are hanging halfway out of our mouths. So, without further ado, my sister and I present to you our spring tease.
There was a pretty little patch of tulips growing by the big lake. Tulips are tricky in the deep south. We have to let the bulbs rest a bit in the refrigerator before planting because our ground temperatures don’t get cool enough to get them going. And then when they do bloom, it gets so hot so fast that they don’t last very long. So catching them on a beautiful day looking their best is a big deal. Tallulah and I lucked out. As an aside, I had to laugh when I saw that flimsy little rope that was intended to keep the tulips from being trampled. Did the park humans seriously think that little thing would stop Tallulah if she decided to make a mad dash for the ducks in the lake? Good thing Daddy had a tight grip on her.
Can you see our Golden hair blowing in this shot? Tallulah and I spent a lot of time with our noses in the air and our eyes closed, concentrating on every little yummy scent that wafted our way. Fun for us . . . not so fun for or official photographer/blogging assistant/Mommy. Fortunately, she’s persistent and managed to catch both of us sort of facing forward in front of the blooming azaleas. There are plenty of pictures of me posing in front of pretty azaleas, but this is Tallulah’s first, a right of spring passage for all southern girls.
Any idea what might have caused these silly faces?
It was the whistle from this little train that travels around City Park. Maybe next time Tallulah and I can hitch a ride. A girl can dream, right?
Tallulah and I thought Mr. Lion looked so stunning with his profile pose that we decided to copy it. Pretty good, huh? Well friends, this concludes our spring tease. My little sister and I will take a bow and exit the stage . . . but not without wishing you a speedy spring full of pretty flowers, and to our friends in the southern hemisphere a mild and quick winter.
A Sunny Sunday in City Park
Posted: September 15, 2015 Filed under: Places I Like | Tags: Barri Bronston, City Park New Orleans, Dogs, Golden Retriever, Harper Lee, Lakewood Golden Retrievers, New Orleans, New Orleans Museum of Art, NOLA, NOMA, Parks, Pet Friendly, Pet Photography, Pets, Photography, Tallulah, Thek9harperlee, Walking New Orleans 11 Comments
This past Sunday, we had our first hint of autumn. It was a gloriously cool and crystal clear day. So my sister and I decided to take our humans for a walk in New Orleans’ City Park. (I know what you’re thinking: “We can see your human daddy’s hand holding your leashes. You’re not walking your humans. Your humans are walking you.” Tallulah and I just let the humans think they’re in charge. But back to our City Park visit.) We started our adventure in front of the New Orleans Museum of Art. Being the fine art lovers that we are, Tallulah and I wanted to go inside the museum, but we were there just before the opening so we enjoyed the beautiful exterior.
Our favorite part of the museum’s exterior was this fun alcove with the most fascinating gates we’ve ever seen and a beautiful modern art sculpture. Tallulah clearly loved the sculpture.
According to Walking New Orleans by Barri Bronston, City Park “boasts the oldest grove of mature live oaks in the world, and some–like the McDonogh and Anseman Oaks–are approximately 600-800 years old.” Naturally, Tallulah and I had to take a break on one of the park’s benches to gaze at those beautiful oaks. Tallulah also enjoyed the Spanish moss that hangs from the beautiful oaks, but that’s another story for another day.
We visited the Goldring/Waldenberg Great Lawn (I had to tell Tallulah that racing across the beautiful lawn and having a dig fest would be a very bad idea) . . .
. . . and then headed over to City Putt. Tallulah and I looked this way and that for the giants that play putt putt with these huge golf balls, but we couldn’t see them anywhere. What a relief!
We plopped ourselves down in front of Storyland and Carousel Gardens Amusement Park and waited for the gates to open. But our humans grew restless and insisted that we find someplace for them to have a little bite to eat.
And that’s how we ended up in front of Morning Call. Our humans refused to share their beignets and cafe au lait with us. That’s alright. Tallulah and I managed to bump their hands enough that they got powdered sugar all over their clothes. That’s what you get for not sharing, humans.
As we finished our trip to City Park with a walk around Big Lake, Mommy took a moment to snap a few special pictures of us. She loved the way my coat blew in the cool morning breeze.
And this shot of Tallulah reminded Mommy of my sister’s Florida roots (her canine mother and grandmother are Lakewood Golden Retrievers from Melbourne, Florida).
Before leaving City Park, Tallulah and I took one last look at the Peristyle, a Grecian-style open-air pavilion that was built in 1907. Even though we’d enjoyed a full morning exploring our lovely urban oasis, we’d only touched the tip of the park’s 1,300 beautiful acres. We promised our humans that we would bring them back to City Park, but we were all a bit tired . . .
. . . and it was time for a nice, long nap.
thek9harperlee 