Lake Martin

This morning has been very relaxing. Drinking coffee on the porch while listening to the birds chirp and scold one another at the feeders. Enjoying a nice conversation with a friend that lives 1650 miles away and we managed not to persuade each other to buy any new books. (We did that earlier in the week. 😉 )

I also ended up going through old folders of photos, one in particular was from a trip our family took to Louisiana a few years ago. We went on a tour of Lake Martin in Breaux Bridge Louisiana. This is one of my favorite photos. The original was a bit washed out. I played with it in Topaz Studio and the first photo is a basic color correction with a bit of a vignette to darken the sky. The second one has a bit more color saturation and the third effect is called perfect portrait. Subtle differences but a vast improvement over the original.

Cypress with hollow area-Edit with Topaz.jpg

Cypress with hollow area-Edit with Topaz-Edit 3

Cypress with hollow area-Edit with Topaz-Edit perfect portrait

Melyna

I decided to go through photos yesterday. Call it procrastination or inspiration or maybe a wistful moment of nostalgia. I ended up spending a lot of time looking through a folder of photos from a trip to Louisiana last summer. It was brief,but fun filled, and we came home with a return trip in mind. Some of our favorite moments were on the food tour.

It was a fun way to tour Lafayette and some of the surrounding towns, get a bit of local history, and sample food from at least six different dining establishments (We actually ended up going to seven). We had scrumptious pastries, mouth watering Courtbouillon (COO-be-yahn) a catfish stew, boudin, sausage, cracklin’s, bread pudding, gumbo and I know I am probably forgetting more. (Click on the graphic above for the Food Tour and then click “The Food” tab. yummm) Owner and tour guide, Marie Ducote-Comeaux, is friendly, knowledgeable and made sure we all “Pass a Good Time” .

The other was the swamp tour at Lake Martin. I loved this. The lake borders a bird sanctuary, which was closed at the time for nesting season. We did take a tour with Champagne’s Cajun Swamp Tours. If we had been a week earlier we would have found the entire lake filled with blooming lotus blossoms. There were still a few in bloom and so much more to see, just gorgeous!

The last place I will mention is Avery Island which is home to the Tabasco Factory. We enjoyed a fun tour of the factory and a lovely walk through the gardens.

If you ever get over to Cajun Country look up Marie and take in the sights. I am So ready to go back!