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.