The Dacha

Monday, October 22, 2012

Ballet Feet

On our last sea day, Alix was able to take a ballet class with the dancers Charlie Anderson and Laure Dougy and their master class teacher Francine Kessler-Lavac.

I enjoyed watching it, and captured a few shots of the professional's feet.....and thought it would make a cool photographic essay.

You may only enjoy it if you are are or were ever a dancer....

2012 SFC- Back to Odessa

Remember how long ago, I was telling you about my summer family cruise? Yeah, that one, back over the summer.....well, here we go back to Odessa.

After that amazing morning at The Way Home, we had a "one last mandatory thing to do in Odessa"...

Climb the Potemkin Steps.

What's really cool about the stairs is the design. From the sea, they look like one long solid set of steps, but they are actually broken down in to flights.

Ready.......

GO!

Mary Cecile made it first, followed closely by Alix. Buzz and Ashley were next, and I, of course, brought up the rear.

From the top of the stairs, the stairs look like simple landings.

Cool optical illusion.

We were glad to make it to the top!

The Duc de Richelieu, who was instrumental in Odessa's early growth, now watches over the harbor from the top of the stairs (or at least his statue does!)

And there is always a statue of Catherine the Great to be found.

Loved the name of this high-priced boutique.

(as a side note, I wonder who shops in these stores? The prices along the harbor area rival Monte Carlo and New York)!

Even the pigeons are fancy in this area!

After all that climbing, a refreshment was in order.

And we had a great view of what we had climbed!

That evening, the young artists performed for us again.

Sean Plumb.

Brian Kim.

Charlie Anderson and Laure Dougy.

Alix had a great time talking to them!!!!

Atlanta Food Trucks

As I headed back to Georgia, I needed to swing by Atlanta to pick up my granddog, Molly. The big pair were off to Florida with AJ's fraternity to do a little work with Habitat for Humanity over fall break. Ok, they also had a little beach time, which I feel AJ was more than entitled to, having just sat the Physics GRE exam for grad school.

So, while I stopped to pick up Miss Molly, we decided to try dinner at the Atlanta Food Truck Park. If you are a foodie, you already know that food trucks are the rage right now. Atlanta has a central location where you can sample an ever-changing assortment of yummies.

Making a choice is difficult.

Hmmm...

We nabbed a table....

This was divine...

It's french fries, crispy pork belly, onions, jalapenos, crackin's, and cheese. WOW.

What a logo.

Look at that foodie face!

Happy Campers.

October So Far

It has been a busy month- although it seems I have precious little to show for it. I have a camera with me at all times but I never remember to take it out, for some reason....but I have a few things to share...

While in Shreveport at the first of the month, I was able to visit with my childhood friend Carol Ann and her daughters.

It was fun to catch up. When I last saw Melissa and Sarah, they were little girls...as is witnessed from this photo from Leesburg, Virginia taken in 1988.