It was a quick, spontaneous, stop in Mobile, just passing through en route to Texas, so we didn't get to visit family in Mobile, but it was fun, nonetheless.
We went to see the property where my parents' house on Fowl River where they lived for thirty years until Hurricane Katrina made the move-or-not-to-move decision for them. This is the view from the entrance to property. It looks abandoned and, as remembered places do, smaller. There's a row of shrubs, running down the middle, marking the line that divides their lot into two. I don't know who, if anyone, owns it. Considering what a sentimental, overly emotional person I am, it was surprising that seeing it was interesting, but not sad. I've analyzed and re-lived it all so much that it doesn't bother me to look back. It helps that I didn't allow myself to think about my mother.
view of house foundation from deck
down river to the right
Micah, looking left from island
boathouse and birdhouse from new deck
boathouse from far corner of pool
vines intertwined on the pool chairs
old fountain
One of our old dining room chairs ended up in lower boathouse.
view from what was the porch
11404 B Queen's Way
We waited twenty minutes to be seated at one of the several empty table at Baudean's, before giving up and going to Battle House for dinner. Wise decision. The Battle House was amazing!
We bought a basket of peaches at Mom's favorite fruit stand across the street from their church.
Rear of St. Philip Neri - The old white clapboard parish church is across the street and, even though it wasn't in use when Mom and Dad lived there, I wish I'd taken a picture of it.
Then we went on to see the Visitation Convent where my mother attended high school.
Chapel steps
This is the Visitation gift shop now, but I don't know what the building was used for when Mom attended the school.
In the garden right next to where I parked the car.
My mother's childhood home on Hunter Ave..
We stayed at the Battle House in Mobile. Maybe it's the family connection, the hauntedness, and the French influence, but I think it's my favorite hotel. And, not all that expensive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_House_Hotel and http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/mobbr-the-battle-house-renaissance-mobile-hotel-and-spa/
view of the Battle House from the skywalk between the old and new sections of the hotel
My mother told me that at a party shortly after the re-opening in 2007, a friend of hers saw the reflection of a Confederate soldier in the glass on a painting. Mom seemed to believe the story.
My sister, Mary, and I stayed at the Battle House shortly after it re-opened. The first night we were there, Mom stayed with us (the last night I spent with Mom, shortly before they moved to Williamsburg). She was very weak, with what we thought was exhaustion, but now know was a heart problem. Mary and I were glad she wasn't there in the middle of the second night we were there, when we had a fire alarm and had to evacuate down several stairwells.
Louis XIV immortalized
Terry and I stayed here in 2008, along with some of my siblings, when we attended the ceremony of the dedication of a room on the USS Alabama (not sure that's the correct name) in Mobile.
My paternal grandmother worked at the Battle House for thirty-two years and I have my other grandmother's scrapbook containing dance cards and invitations from the Battle House, so this place is pretty special to me. We're descendants of the the original owner, John Battle, too, but Mike has to explain the line to me. Again, because my retention is pathetic.
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