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Windows vs. Ford. For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on. At a recent computer expo Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, “If Ford had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.” In response to Bill’s comments, Ford stated: If Ford had developed... Read more

Virginia Wesleyan has a lot of positive features: 1) a thriving Christian worship and Bible study and fellowship program lead by Asbury grad and my cousin Rev. Greg West; 2) it has a notable and healthy ethnic diversity of students; 3) it’s teams are known as the…. well you guess from the picture below—- One of the great advantages of a small campus is the excellent student teacher ratio and personal approach to academics and faith life on this campus.... Read more

My denomination, the United Methodist Church,has since the Civil War, founded literally hundreds of private colleges, especially in the southern part of the U.S. Shoot, there are seven of them just in my home state of N.C. One of the newest ones, and most promising ones is Virginia Wesleyan, founded in 1961. The school is noted for its sacred music program, and with an enterprising President, it is growing and developing, most recently adding a state of the art Environmental... Read more

This post gives you a peak at the decor of the homes of the well off who can afford to buy and refurbish an old house in the quarter. Notice they all are more spacious (walls have been knocked out) and all have big beds! If you ask me, I agree with Scarlet O’Hara…. give me the old ways, and the old days, without the slavery, and with air conditioning for a city like Nola! Read more

On the whole I enjoy seeing the older houses with older furniture etc, but I’d rather live in one of the more modernized houses in the quarter, though I could do without some of the decor and art etc. you find in these house. For example, here is a beautiful old four poster bed in the Patout house Or consider this old bed with hand-carved spindles…. Or consider the old traditional variegated ceiling both one partially refurbished and another completely... Read more

Notice the sign in the window— No Air B+B! The locals are not happy with corporations buying up vintage homes and turning them into Bed and Breakfasts. Lots of things get repurposed in the Quarter— old doors, mirrors, masks,signs, wine racks, bathroom fixtures, shutters, flower pots you name it. Read more

Most of these houses are at least two stories high, some are three. If you can’t go wide, go tall. Here’s a view from an upstairs window. There were five houses on the Springfest tour this year, two more traditional the other three quite modern. Here are some shots from the Bonnecarre house which is decorated more traditionally. This wallpaper was brought over from England. The Bonnecarre house belongs now to the French Quarter Trust, and is used for weddings... Read more

There are all manner of houses in the French Quarter from the squalid to the splendid, and some dating back to the Napoleonic era when America did not own the Louisiana Purchase. The house above is one of my favorites, and it comes with a nice vintage car as well! One of the tell tale signs is the typical French ornate railings on balconies and elsewhere. During the earlier eras of New Orleans people were taxed on the basis of... Read more

Spring is of course also Lent, and the Easter season, and so various houses in the French Quarter were all decorated for occasion with the appropriate Easter colors. Quite naturally you expect to see some Southern belles in their finery in Nola at this season, and when we did the house tour of the French Quarter we were not disappointed. Nola is predominantly a Catholic city, no surprise what with the French heritage, and here is a sad reminder of... Read more