Live Oak Indeed

Like a gorgeous matched team of Clydesdales! Shot at Oak Alley Plantation, LA, September 2003; view from the back of the main building. To fully appreciate the size of the trees, visit my "Oak Alley Plantation" set on Flickr; look for the shot with two people walking away from the plantation home.
Shot on a Canon PowerShot S230; edited on IrfanView.

Flickr vs.Hard Drive

Live Oak.03
Originally uploaded by Minkas Studio
This is what the same photo looks like when uploaded from Flickr. If only I had selected a different Flickr "template," this image would be larger. The template choice is a one-time choice, so I'm stuck with it. If I had selected the "large" template, it would have looked more like the photos on this blog. Flickr also adds the thicker border and the tiny caption below the photo.
Shot on a Canon PowerShot S230; edited on IrfanView.

Tu b'Shevat 2007/5768

The size, shape, color, and lushness of this nearly 300 year old live oak makes my heart shudder with awe . . . not to mention my envy of small animals that may scamper over and lounge upon its leafy branches. Click on the photo for a better look. This tree lives half way between New Orleans and Baton Rouge at Oak Alley Plantation. I'm no fan of plantations as slavery is what made them possible, but the sheer number of ancient and enormous oaks all in this one place is amazing. Some branches on these trees are so long they trail along the ground; sometimes requiring propping up. Anita Shreve wrote "The Weight of Water," but it's the weight of oak that's on my mind. This shot was taken pre-Katrina, September 2003, to be exact. Here are some shots of the same locale before Katrina and the day after. The trees suffered minimal damage but the tourism industry is floundering.
Shot on a Canon PowerShot S230; edited on IrfanView.