Avery Island: Nature and a Buddha

After buying an entrance ticket to the Avery Island grounds, one of the first views one gets is of the beautiful hanging moss. Southern hanging moss is a romantic symbol of southern nature. This is one of Corrie's pictures from right around the first bend in the road.



This next picture is the McKinley Tree. President McKinley was a good friend of the Averys, visited the island often, and they named this tree after him. I'm in the picture for scale, and if you look close, I'm dealing with a bug that's just flown into my eye.



A gift to an Avery was a 900 year old statue of the Buddha, sculpted in China. A raised temple was built for him. The temple has since been encased in glass.



Here's the actual Buddha statue.



I asked Tony to stand next to one of the many tremendous bamboo bundles that were growing in various places around the island. If he looks distracted it's because a fly flew into my mouth and a wasp flew into my sweaty hair at exactly the same moment I was pressing the capture button on the camera. I was flinching and ducking and hollering at the insects and Tony thought something else was happening off to the side.



This is a picture of a walkway on the grounds. Its one of my favorites that Corrie took.