Today (US time) is my mother's 85th Birthday. It is difficult being so far away on these important occasions but I promise you Mum, we will be home in NZ for your 90th!:) So hang in there!:)
Yesterday, Sunday, was a good day for us to drive down the road a couple of miles to visit Jefferson Island and the Jefferson Estate 'Rip Van Winkle Gardens '.
It is a most attractive drive down a tree lined road to get to the turn-off to the Estate. You can see the house from the road because it is the only elevated thing around. This is on a Salt Dome, of course, and it gives the house a perfect 360 degree view from the top.
Everything is beautifully laid out, with the parking lot just outside the gift shop, of course. As in most places of public interest, you have to pay an entry fee. This covered the gardens and the house tour. $10 each sounds a lot, but there is much upkeep to these places, so we dont mind.
Jo Jefferson , as it says here, was an American actor who became famous worldwide for his Rip Van Winkle stage play, in which he played the man himself. It is rumored or indeed written, that he performed the part 4500 times. Phew! Makes you wonder if he could ever sep. real life from the character he played, doesn't it?
He certainly designed his home in an interesting manner. Lots of considerations for privacy, cool breezes entering the home, and the release of heat up through the ceiling via the Cupola on the top. Of course he had visited some of the world's great cities and been in, no doubt, some of the better homes around the world, so he had plenty of 'style' to choose from when building this home. It was only one of several homes he owned and apparently spent no more than three months of the year here.
When we entered the home for our 'tour' (on the hour) at right on noon, the docent had to stop our intro to re-intro a family of stragglers who arrived late. The docent was very informed and gave a great commentary, but we didnt have much time in each room to just look. Over the 45 mins of the tour, we only got to look at the downstairs rooms of the 10,000 sq. ft mansion, as there was only one staircase, and the fire marshalls insist on there being two for safety. I did feel a little cheated, in that case, but one must be safe. I have to admit that I was looking forward to a 'Gone with the Wind' grand staircase, but this Jefferson person thought he would hide his, and it is behind a door in the foyer, is rather skinny and nothing grand at all, at all:(
The tour finished in the Kitchen/pantry which apparently had sep. from the main house when the salt mine collapsed and 64 acres of the estate disappeared into Lake Peigneur in Nov. 1980. It has been rejoined and all is now well.
This is all that is left of the 2 yr old home built by the Salt Mine owner who bought the estate off the Jefferson family in 1908. He didnt want to live in the homestead, so he built himself a nice but more modest home a small way away. It disappeared into the lake, like a lot of other things.
This is a rather lovely lookout over the Lake.
The Joseph Jefferson homestead from the front. The glorious wide veranda is what we have come to think of as from 'The South'.
The front veranda
The carriage house out back of the kitchen
This is apparently a Bomb shelter and Wine Cellar
The Plaque at the entry to the main homestead.
The gardens were not in their best dress, unfortunately. This is Fall, after all, and most flowering plants were not. The place is full of camellias, as the gardener was well known for these and won many awards for same. Audubon painted many of the species developed on the grounds of the estate.
Audubon also painted many of the birds from the area.
There is a Japanese garden complete with Tea House, a Balinese garden with sculptures...
...and many beautiful flying creatures...
Stunning Fan palms
Ever wondered how those photographers get such wonderful photos of hummingbirds?? It is called Patience and a fast camera. Boy, are those birds fast! I did my best...so did Warren. Our collective results were mediocre, I believe.
Arent these funghi beautiful?
This frog guards the entry to the Japanese garden, which we didnt enter because time was running out if we wanted to eat in the Jefferson Café...which we did.
We sat down to lunch just after 1pm. It was 'awfully' civilized:) well, it might have been if there hadnt been such a large contingent of Harley Davidson weekend bikers in the dining room:) They were all old codgers, and we laughed out loud when we went outside in the rain to the car...these folks were saddling up to ride out on their armchair (read- old peoples bikes) bikes...you know the kind...HUGE saddle bags and faring. There was even a trike there with Ma and Pa (of undetermined age but definitely over 70) on it. Good for them. They were the 4th Sunday Bike Riders Club. Pity it rained on their parade! ...and no, we weren't in the least bit jealous. We have had our biking days and left them behind us. We have too many old bikers injuries to prove we once rode.
After leaving the homestead behind, we went on into New Iberia, looking for a Thermos. Hmm...Not sure where to find one, our first stop was K-Mart. We did find a 'close-out' thermal jug for $5!! woot woot:)...and then we on to Walmart and found another one...which we didnt buy, coz we already had one. We now know to look for Coleman brand items everywhere. They seem to make what we are looking for.
The Thermos (or in our case, Jug, ) is so that we can make our tea while the genset is on first thing in the morning, and then we dont have to turn it on especially to make a cuppa during the day.
We came home about 5.00 pm, tuckered out, met Jim and Katherine in the parking lot and invited them for tea. They joined us on the boat and we exchanged stories and information, and K made a couple of phone calls to ascertain that we could get some more white shrimp from her supplier, and they left around 6.30 so that we could all have our respective dinners.
We had bought a rotisserie chicken at Walmart, as the hour was late, and it looked like a great idea for dinner. We bought some Sweet italian sausages also, but those would have required at least 45 mins of cooking and other prep, so the chix was a great idea.
Salad and chicken is good, and thats what we ate.
I will tell you all about today, Monday, in the next post.
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