From Rustic with Love

Well, it's coming up on a week of our being out here at "Rocky" and here's how it went. After the hubbub of Memorial Day weekend was finished we did our last minute packing, staging and cleaning in preparation for our departure to our 5th wheel out in Rustic, Colorado. Those who have followed for a while know we have to escape the hot summers at home, thus we head out to the mountains. 7200' helps a whole lot, although the sun's rays are quite intense at this elevation, (we come home tan, lol). Most mornings after a chilly start, a little sunshine gets things warmed-up in short order.

So we got started last Friday, with our first stop being a return to Lake Guntersville State Park Lodge in Alabama. What a beautiful place, with nice rooms overlooking the lake and a restaurant on site. First however, let's talk about the gorgeous scenery heading up through the deep south in Georgia and Alabama, with it's picturesque little towns and long stretches of pecan trees.

Several towns had a nice showing of thanks and support to those who served and lost their lives. This picture isn't the best but it was quite moving to see each cross, with a name, and a flag lining the main street.

Something the Boss could tell you about, is the rubber-necking I was doing trying like the dickens to get a good shot of all the mimosa trees, which were in full bloom along the sides of the roadway. I just couldn't do it - I must have deleted 25 pics that missed the mark, but here's one that at least tries to show how pretty they were. Various shades of pink from light to dark! Excuse the reflection.

Pretty soon we start to see the hills of north GA/AL and the views make the miles tick away pleasantly. Not much traffic either, thank goodness.

We passed by the turnoff to Cheaha State Park, another lovely park which we visited 3 years ago, and which you can read about here. With the time zone changes in our favor while heading west, a longer haul isn't so bothersome. We prefer to arrive and get squared away before dark. Soon enough we made it into the park and checked in to the lodge.

Lake Guntersville State Park Lodge

The Lobby, lots of rustic charm and gorgeous
wood and stone touches.

Impressive front I know, but the back is where the money shots are.

The view of Lake Guntersville from our room

Observing with a smile on his face...
if only the winters weren't so cold, (*heavy sigh*)

The pool complex. Down by the lake is a small beach and marina.

After dinner we took in the air with a small stroll and the view of the lake with the moonrise was stunning. We're off to a great start.

From there we headed off across the Mississippi at Dyersburg and into Jackson, MO to spend the night. We had a gift card for the Outback Steakhouse, so we found one 3 miles away and had a nice bite. We were worried it would be busy/noisy on a Sat night but it wasn't bad at all.

Lots of farms, silo's and hay fields, lots of flat while we headed to Lied Lodge in Nebraska City, NE. Another favorite stop for us, a gorgeous lodge and great restaurant. I never take selfie's, but thought I looked rather nice after getting ready to go to dinner.

Here's a shot of the hazelnut orchard outside our room. The property is expansive and offers lots of planned activities throughout the summer.

Now it's a single shot straight into Rustic with one more time zone change to help us out.  Lots of farmland and then we spy a view of the mountains.

I'm sure there are many among you who have seen large
and more complex silo set-ups but they are cool & dotted all along.

Well, here we are on the last little stretch, "our" dirt road, the one that leads up from Hwy 14, (right at Glen Echo), to the Redfeather Lakes area. All's well at Rocky, everything is functioning which is a big relief! Now, to get this yard raked, mowed, weeded and flowered-up. We'll be looking pretty soon enough.

Thanks for taking time to read the blog, I hope you enjoyed it. 😊

Been too busy to post..

 Spring is quickly moving into summer as has been the case over the past couple of years. We're well into the 90's now and that means it's getting to be time to head out west. This blog post will wrap up our spring here.

I was invited to a Ladies Only 90th birthday celebration luncheon for a special lady in our neighborhood. Hosted by her daughter, with a Mexican theme and plenty of flair, we enjoyed wonderful food and margaritas (for those who indulge). It was a surprise party so we all stood outside with balloons to greet her as she was chauffeured up to the door of the event hall. What a fun time and nice group of ladies. A few shots.

Peg, the guest of honor, a truly 
wonderful person and so kind.

And a few more craft shows, one the weekend before Easter. It featured the Easter Bunny, an Easter egg hunt for the kiddies and some great DJ'd music. Fun time, ok sales.

A shot of my booth set-up. I got there early!

We made it to the Easter Sunday Sunrise service down at Moosehaven, which is right on the river. A very special time.

Moosehaven is a retirement community which has quite a bit of frontage on the St. John's river. It's just about 3 miles from our house and that stretch of riverfront is a favorite walking spot for the Boss.

We had our annual neighborhood garage sale the last weekend in April, so I set up shop in my driveway and did very well (color me surprised!).

3 of my 5 neighbors had items out, 1 in particular had several
large pieces of furniture out and several tables which made our
building look like a target-rich destination for bargain hunters.

And finally the last craft show until the fall had me up in the lovely neighborhood of Ortega with all it's old growth oaks and eclectic homes. Great turnout - 35 vendors and many curious market-go'ers. Fun time, ok sales. Many vendors expressed that sales had been a bit soft this year, but I expect that by the fall they will pick-up again.

So there you have it, the last 6 weeks in a nutshell. Thanks for stopping by. In a few days we will head out to Colorado for the summer. Join us for the journey and to see all the sights in Rustic.

A visit to the Cummer Museum & lunch with a friend.

As many of you know, springtime around here means azaleas, dogwood, redbuds and a myriad of other gorgeous flowers popping out in full form. So delightful to see, and smell if you can visit a garden that has enough flower density to concentrate the amazing aroma of fresh flowers. Here in Jacksonville we have the Cummer Museum, a lovely museum property located just along the St. John's River. It's a beautiful place with a rich history in this area.

My friend Nancy is serving as a docent this year and she graciously invited me to a tour and lunch. I gladly accepted. We started with a tour through the gardens before the temps got up there. Nancy had all the details about each garden area, what style it was modelled after and the other interesting tidbits about them. Lots of shady benches to enjoy. Boy, what a delightful way to start the day. Just going to feature some of the beautiful flowering plants now.

Azaleas plus the river in the background

More azaleas plus a Holly Fern (I love them).

A Bottle Brush

Foxglove

Pansies

After a nice leg-stretcher along the river we headed inside for some lunch and then a tour of some of the exhibits. Lunch was quite good, a turkey BLT on croissant spread with Boursin cheese for me and a beautiful salad for Nancy.  A few of the exhibits to follow.

I don't have any kind of formal training but personally,
I liked this one a lot better than a Pollock

The tiny details of the outfit in this painting are so superb. Nancy mentioned that the Lady in Waiting was sitting in such a way as to show off the details of the back of the dress (in case you wanted to whip one up).

Finally, a painstaking needlepoint of the gardens by Ninah Cummer, so nuanced when you look at it up close. The water, the greenery everything is rendered in multiple shades of thread. I wonder how many hours she spent on it? Labor of love for sure.

It was a great way to spend the day with a friend, thanks Nancy!

Thanks for checking in on me, I have another catch-up post I will be working on soon, so check back sometime. Otherwise, have a great day.

Spring is zipping by with craft fairs, and HOA doings

Gee whiz, I can't believe how fast this spring is flying by. I've been a busy beaver with making my 'dazzlers' to boost my inventory as this is the season for craft fairs to spring up. I've done 2 more shows since the one in Feb, again with somewhat mixed results. One was a small neighborhood festival at their community center grounds. It was a great weather day and I did sell several items, however, it seemed like it was more of a walkabout for families with kids/dogs. Got to wear those kiddos out somehow. The other was at a church property - it was quite large and fun, but sales were again slow (for all of us vendors).

I have 2 more shows scheduled this month; this weekend, another neighborhood, and the 19th at the Thrasher-Horne Performing Arts Center. I'm excited for that one and hopeful that I get a good location for my booth. I figure as long as I cover my booth fees and supplies I'm ahead of the curve.

The hearts and moons are popular.

A couple of shots from the One Heart Church fair. I did meet a lot of nice vendors that have been having mixed results this spring. We just keep rolling along, we're all having fun. Once a "maker" always a "maker" - totally addicting! Also, the more I setup my booth, the easier it gets. It can still be a hot and sweaty deal though.

The little pink tent that thought it could.

Lots of professional looking setups - If I keep going
I'm going to have to up my game, lol.

I was surprised by the Boss the other day with a bouquet of beautiful tulips - just out of the blue! Sometimes I forget he has a romantic side to him. 💗 Thanks sweetie.

I may have mentioned that I volunteered to join the board of our homeowners association to handle the secretarial duties  - the normal 9 member board was down to 5 and the HOA's operational responsibilities proved to be a lot of work for so few people. If I can free up someone from having to produce agendas and board meeting minutes, they can put their time and energy towards other projects. Luckily, I find I'm enjoying it, it's stimulating the business side of my brain which has been dormant for a while, lol.

Just a final note once again thanking Publix for selling ready-made pizza dough. Such a handy shortcut, and delicious to boot.

Kitchen sink pizza at it's finest; pepperoni, Italian sausage,
bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, garlic, black olives, capers
and 2 kinds of cheese - divine. We eat 1/2 and save the rest.

Thanks for dropping by - and sorry about the long wait for this post.

February's Flying, food, crafts and fun

Wow, I'm kind of behind on the blog having had such a busy few weeks. Doing what exactly? Getting ready for the K9 adoption and craft fair, visiting with friends passing through and my favorite, cooking. Also, I've been having a great time with my crafting pursuits, making more inventory, creating new, fun dazzlers and upscaling some of my booth displays.

So, the craft fair was a mixed result. I don't begrudge the organizers at all, and they had great success with some 18 adoptions. But because it was so dog-centric, there weren't a lot of browsers or much foot traffic. Most of the booths around me were in the same boat, not many sales. I jokingly chalk it up to people figuring out just how much pet ownership can cost. That's OK though, I still made enough to cover my costs and donated most of the rest. It was a beautiful day weather-wise, and here's a shot of one side of my booth.

It's kind of hard to see much about the
inventory, but I had a lot with me.

I put together a Valentine's Day display area for some of my "heart" Dazzlers and had a Valentine's Day helium balloon for outside the booth. Well, the display was fun to make, and I did sell one of my bigger hearts. Fun to make is the name of the game for me. I like to spend my time doing something other than housework or shopping or baking (ugh, my waistline).

Anyway, moving on, we had a great get-together lunch with cruiser friends passing by in their trailer on their was south. We met Heather and Scott (Vermont'ers when at home) back in the mid-2000's when we were in the Bahamas getting ready to head down into the Caribbean for the grand adventure. Fun, knowledgeable and great company, we would see them here and there in the various anchorages and get together aboard 'Scott Free', their gorgeous Nauticat 43' or onboard our sailboat. It was a fun reminiscent session and we got caught up on the whereabouts of common friends.

From the left; me, Ed, Heather and Scott

Speaking of friends, I had a great lunch with Nancy, another ex-cruising friend who currently lives in Jacksonville. Here she is with her magnificent sushi/sashimi plate - wow.

That was a work of art and even 
included fog from dry ice.

More great looking sunrises too, and good weather all around except for about a week of cold, gloomy-looking weather. I think we had 1 or 2 hard freezes but we were ready for them.

We love our lake

We also celebrated our 50th anniversary mid-January, with a romantic evening at home. So wonderful to have a lifetime of memories with someone you love. 💖 We both appreciate how very blessed we've been to have found each other all those long years ago.

On to the upgrade of my custom jewelry display. I had DIY'ed a display of sorts which I used at my first craft fair last year. It was pretty rinky-dink and I wanted something more polished and professional that didn't break the bank, and this is what I ended up. I like it, it breaks down and stores easliy.

The sides of the necklace display fold in for storage
and the 3 bracelet displays come off the base
which comes apart for flat storage.

I'm trying out some new dazzlers using a tree/hanging basket motif. I love them and think they make an excellent addition to home decor in small nooks & crannies. Any thoughts? I guess we'll see if ppl like them, I'm lined-up for a show mid-March.

Mine is on the right. It fits right in and brings some sparkle
 to the party. Since the rocks are glued on, you can just give it a 
rinse if it becomes dusty over time.

I love the winterscape in the middle, my sister favors
 the stone chip and succulents little one on the right. 

And finally, a tiny (2.5" pot) hanging
succulent basket that will never die.

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day and come again.