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.

First week of the New Year

Once again we have crossed over the threshold of a new year, and finishing up the tail end of a quarter-century. Lots of water under the bridge.

We had to start the New Year with the "good luck" meal of course. Here's a look at our black-eyed peas, (we make a big batch), and our prep method which ensures a tasty batch. We sauté chopped bell pepper, the more colorful the better, plus plenty of onions. Then after softening, add chopped ham bits, minced garlic and continue cooking until they get a little color on them. Add 2 cans partially drained black-eyes, a cup or so of chicken stock, 1T of chipotle sauce and an envelope of onion soup mix. Add a few herbs of your choice and let simmer an hour or so adding additional stock or water if they are looking dry.

Wonderful black-eyed peas, a little on the "wet" side.

We like them a little wet, over rice or cornbread. So good! We had a delicious mid-afternoon meal of smoked pork chops, collards, black-eyed peas/rice and cornbread with some cabernet sauvignon.

Here's the Boss in one of his new tee's
 getting ready to enjoy the meal.

I'm signed up for a craft fair in early February, so I've spent some time making a few more dazzlers and something new - puff trivets. I've been enjoying looking at my puff quilt lately and my brain came up with this idea. They are a good size for a bowl/plate or casserole dish, would  pretty-up the table, and also, unique I think. Any thoughts?

Puff trivets, about 12"x12". Some ppl
might not like my "twirly" trivets.

Bobby-Dazzlers anyone? I stock a few repeats
of the most popular items but hold them back in reserve.

Still getting the good sunrises on those cold, crisp mornings. Here's today's after overnight low's around 37°. 

Not a stunner like some, but still a pleasant surprise.

The Boss got the Colorado Pontoon boat commissioned the other day and while he was taking his test paddle, he got a shot of the swans having a "bottom's-up" feed. Pretty day too.

That's about it for this post. I stopped making New Year's resolutions a long time ago, however, I am planning on doing more stretching, squatting and "body-groove" style dancing to keep my joints limbered and loose. Oh, and I'm planning on laying-off the Christmas cookies one of these days too, lol. 😉😊 Thanks for stopping by and see you next time.