Guilt Trip

Thelma & Louise tour LA (Lower Alabama)

With a detour through Jackson, Mississippi  (for the Raoul Dufy exhibit at the Mississippi Museum of Art – not exactly on the way from Kentucky to Alabama) Melinda braved the storms and cell phone problems and arrived for her FIRST visit to Fort Morgan in the wee hours of the morning.  Most of my buddies have been here at least once so Melinda claimed peer pressure and guilt were her motivations for renting a car and making the trek down here alone!

When the sun came up that morning we discovered her rental car was, TA DA, a convertible! The perfect car for the perfect weather. 

Thelma & Louise???

We had a week of walking on the beach, shopping, shelling, and rum drinks. We made a list of all the places she’d heard about over the years, and crossed them off as we sipped Bushwackers at the FloraBama (twice), selected fish at Billy’s, found the perfect mirror at Connie’s and hats & scarves at the Waterfront Rescue,  munched lunch at Lulu’s, met friends for drinks at The Happy Hooker,

Sunset at The Happy Hooker

closed down the Liz Claiborne outlet, and found gifts to take home at Al’s and Souvenir City. 

And we were styling in that sleek black Sebring Convertible!

One afternoon we donned our Thelma & Louise shades and headgear, and loaded Sophie in the backseat with her ‘doggles’, and motored to the legendary Pines for boiled peanuts, beer, and hardware.  We were quite the  sensation.

I think our Derby celebration was my most memorable since the year Betsy helped the waitress at Big O’s make Mint Juleps with dried mint flakes from Brunos (not a memorable recipe).

Derby menu

We were crabbing in the bay with Horton & Sharon until post time, then we zipped back to their beach house just in time to pour the Bourbon.

While we watched the coverage, wearing our hats decorated with sea horses and shells, Chef Horton boiled our catch in a turkey fryer (!! Who knew??)  We didn’t pick the winner, but loved the fairy tale ending and toasted to long-shots.

Then we were escorted to the deck with trays of crabs, rolls of paper towels, and butter and we were instructed by experts on the ‘right way’ to eat a crab. They were absolutely right! Too much fun and too much fabulous food.

That evening she unveiled her creative contribution to my little Thérapie beach house. 

I have many precious gifts contributed by my many wonderful guests and it makes me smile when I dust to remember the visits and those thoughtful mementos. I have Betsy’s Craftsman furniture, Sam & Erin’s Margarita bar, Laura’s pottery, Danny’s bamboo curtain rods, Allison’s frame, Ted’s garden, Claudia’s frog, Charmaine’s beads, Terry’s kitchen faucet… and now Melinda’s mirror.

After relentless shopping, she finally found the perfect vintage mirror, coated it in our white sugar sand and then collected, arranged and glued the shells to create a masterpiece for the blue bedroom. 

Melinda's Mirror

The collage includes Blue’s molted claw, driftwood collected in the fall, barnacles found five years ago, seaweed from the recent storm, and my favorite weathered shells.  It is a treasure!

But the visit was over too soon and on Sunday she was headed back for another tour of the exhibit in Mississippi and then home to Kentucky with her colorful hermit crabs.

It is my hope she found LA as enchanting as I do and will be back very, very, very soon for another week of Thérapie.

Thursday Girls at the Beach?