More Car Shots

Here are several more car photos from last weekends Train Festival in town. I do love dogs so the one shot is a no brainer. The moose one, well, it was just plain fun!

Hood Ornaments

Here's some really cool shots from the vintage cars at the Train festival in Green Cove this last weekend. I'm very intrigued by the whiskey jug holder thingy?? Wouldn't that get the jug really dusty? Or is that just for when you're parked and hanging out? Who knows these kinds of things? The eagle and bird (Gary says it's a sparrow, looks like a duck to me) are sharp.

Old Jail

Imagine this saying being in a modern jail?!! It should be, but no way would that happen. They had the old jail open for touring...not a place you would want to be. Very cold, dank and depressing. This was on the inside of a cell over the door. The cots they slept on were metal bed frame attached to the wall from a chain. The mattress was laid over the metal frame. Not the most comfy.
The old police car is really nice. The thing was huge, but then old cars were that way. There are several reflections on the fender, myself, plus a modern police car. Interesting!

Train Festival

Saturday, the family all went to Green Cove for the Train Festival. They had the old museum open, food, vintage cars, and numerous exhibits. Here's Dave checking out the train station. Green Cove was a thriving tourist town with an emphasis on the sulphur springs and their health properties. During World War II, we had a large naval base here and a lot of ships.
The weather was gorgeous, and people were very talkative. The vintage cars were really neat to look at, I'll be posting some pictures from them this week. I was very intrigued by the radiator caps they had, everyone was different and they were small works of art! Gives a personal touch to the car.

Highland Games

Where else can you find dogs in plaid and men in kilts? The North East Florida Highland Games here at the fairgrounds. Bagpipes, kilts, sheep herding, battle axe tossing. So many things to see and do. Food, that's another thing. We had shepherds pie and meat pasty. My shepherds pie was really great, the crust was fabulous! It was really sunny, windy and HOT. We both got a little pink as in sunburned. Today it's windy and a light freeze tonight. Go figure, only in Florida. So, enjoy the pictures and more coming soon.

Just for Fun

These pictures are here just because I like them. The pink ones with the butterfly is wild azaleas. They are just starting to come into bloom here. Another 2 to 3 weeks and they will be in full bloom. The wild ones out in the woods are very delicate looking and are actually fragrant, unlike the cultivated ones. The front of our yard has azalea bushes that are 6 to 8 feet tall. Some one has not trimmed them in a long time...me. Gary's idea of trimming is with the chainsaw and cutting them off at ground level.

With the gorgeous spring weather there will be more flower pictures coming soon.

What is Love?

What is love? I've really been thinking about that today. Several things come to mind right away.

The first is from the Bible, I Corinthians 13:1-13, NASB. It talks about having several different public ministry gifts, having faith to remove mountains, giving away everything to help the poor but ultimately without love what is it?

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears[Or covers ] all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy[Lit prophecies ], they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest [Lit greater ] of these is love.

I think that mostly speaks for itself. One of the greatest examples of love I have has been my parents. They have been married for 60 years. They are not perfect, nor have they claimed to be. My mom took care of us during the early years while my dad worked. Now that they are older, and my mom has cancer, my dad is taking care of my mom. He is not complaining, just doing what needs to be done. He's setting an example of love by being patient and kind and caring for her needs. Thank you dad!

My father in law was here recently to help my husband on a wood working project. Another form of love. Teaching and showing your children how to do something. Did you ever wonder about the furniture that Jesus made? He learned his trade from Joseph, his earthly father. Children learn from example, watching and absorbing what their parents say and do. Mostly by what they do, or their actions. Watching the two of them work together made me think about Jesus and Joseph. Working side by side in someones home or working out in the court yard to finish a project. Countless generations of sons have learned by working alongside their father. Thank you Gary Sr for helping my husband make this project be the best possible because of your vast knowledge base!

Closing?

It's probable that we'll be closing on the construction loan to start the house this week. We have all of the colors, carpet, and tile chosen... just waiting to sign. Once we sign, they'll let us know how long it will take to build it. I'm not sure if I want 2-3 months to build up some money or 3 weeks and have it over?! It will be what it will be. I'm learning to trust in the Lord and not fret over things I have no control over.

Gary's parents were here on Saturday and Sunday. (The picture is of his dad and their "puppy") They came up to see the house and for his Birthday. We had a really nice visit and it was fun to show the model home to more family! We are really excited to get into the house and start having some cooking parties, olive oil tasting parties, who knows what else.

Crazy Gary

It is true, I have a wacky, zany husband! The house thing is a bit stressful on us, so today's post is a fun one. Before the house thing, all the pictures on my cell phone were of Gary in a store trying on costumes at Halloween, rabbit ears at Easter, elf head bands around Christmas. Are you beginning to get the pattern? Here's us out in the woods after finding one side of antlers, how cool is that! Posing with Jesse, in my mom's wig. He is crazy, but I love him. He's all mine.

Valentine's Day

Chocolate and roses are synonymous with Valentine's Day. Roses are pretty to look at, but you can't eat them. My wonderful husband got me the BEST chocolates.. from ETIQUETTE of CHOCOLATE in Orange Park. The quality is phenomenal and the combinations of fruits with chocolate is scrumptious. The first picture shows their amazing creations. Very dainty looking. The second heart is filled with candied ginger dipped in chocolate. Naturally a good cup of coffee to go with the sweets! I really love a great cup of "Joe" and no one makes better coffee than Gary. We use Naviera Cuban style coffee. It's a dark roasted coffee with chicory. So enjoy some decadence today, Valentine's Day only comes once a year!

Birthdays

It's true, my brother just had a birthday this week and my dad's birthday is today. He's 82 years old. Dave threatened me if I published the picture of him with the sombrero (from the Mexican place) so instead I have one of him and his antique tractor. We have not celebrated dad's birthday yet, so his birthday picture will be coming soon.

Packing

The packing has begun!! I'm packing up the china today. It's possible it will stay packed for several months since there will be no place to put it. It seems with the slow economy that we are creating much work for everyone?! Once we sign the initial loan (for the start of construction) things will be happening VERY fast. They will take our current "home" to the dump, plus we're getting numerous trees removed. Many of them are large and old. Not the type you want next to your new home. Plus we have to make room for the new place. Then the foundation is poured and the new home is being built during this time frame. It is built in a factory in Lake City (I think). Our rep, Allen, says it should take 3 weeks to build. Not the 90 days I was anticipating. That's great that they have nothing but our house to build but what a whirlwind it will be! I was figuring on more time to save money to buy furniture. Oh well, that's the way it goes. We'll be putting this place together for several months.
Yes, the tourist room (aka spare bedroom) will be equipped with "visitor" beds. Any are welcome, just give me a month to move in. Actually, visitors are fun. That way we all get together and eat really good home made food and hang out. My family used to do that when we were all kids, sadly it rarely happens on such a grand scale anymore. I have such fond memories of hanging out with all of my cousins, eating, and just having fun being together. Where does the time go?
Enough musing, the packing must go on!

Colors Picked

More house fun this past weekend. Gary and I (mostly Gary) picked out the colors for the carpet, tile, paint and floor style. It was sort of fun and sort of tense. He's the one with the eye for color, my taste is very simple. Then we went shopping to look at furniture, house wares and what ever else looked interesting. We spent all day out and about and only spent money on food. We are collecting a lot of ideas!! We've found that we have very expensive taste in furniture. At least as we get furniture it will last forever. Kitchen cabinet and closet stuff is another area where I'm looking for inspiration. The kitchen cabinets are really tall and have no extra anything in them. We get to do all the additions on our own. Plus I'm trying to decide where I'll store all of my kitchen stuff.
I've already started cleaning. Several closets are much less crowded then they were before. My clothes closets are next! I wish I knew someone close besides the good will store that was my size! They could really make out.
Gary took a movie of the model home this weekend. I'll preview it and post it soon.

House Fun

Well, it has started! We've been looking at modular homes off and on for a year and seriously for a month now. Today we picked the model that we want and got things started. It's a Better Built Home, unfortunatly their web site I can not find the floor plan. We will have pictures coming of the model and the actual process.
Pray for us that we use our resources (ie money) wisely. It's really great how they do the houses. Everything is in it. Mini blinds and window treatments, tile, carpet, and cabinets. We pick the colors and they do the grout in the tiles on site. Nothing to redo when we move in, just the furniture. We'll finally get to see our dining room table! I remember that it has a really nice pattern inlaid on the top.
Stay tuned.....

Granola

Here's a really great granola recipe. The only down side, it's so good it will be eaten up too quickly!! We made this over the weekend and it was scruptious as usual. The original recipe was inspired by Emeril Lagasse, but I have changed and added numerous things.

Dry Ingredients:

3c old-fashioned rolled oats (or try Quaker Multi Grain)
1/2c slivered almonds
1/4c coconut flakes (natural is best, unsweetened)
1/4c pumpkin seeds, raw
1/4c raw sunflower seeds
1/2c chopped pecans or walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp salt




Combine all of these together in a large bowl.



In a small sauce pan over low heat, stirring frequently melt:
1/2c unsalted butter, then add
1/2c real maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
Stir together until combined.


Then pour butter mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until combined.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

On a large cookie sheet, spread the granola evenly in a THIN layer. Place cookie sheet(s) in oven, in middle rack. Stir granola every 5 minutes to keep it from sticking. This is very important, to help it dry out and not burn. Cooks for a total of 20 minutes.


When granola is golden or lightly browned, remove from oven. Spread the granola on the counter top and add dried fruit.


1c total dried fruit try raisens, dried cranberries, blueberries, or dried cherries, chopped dates, any combination will do. (see #3)



Once cooled off, place in an airtight container and enjoy as a snack or with milk. Next time you'll have to double the recipe, it's that good.

Osceola Face

Did you find the Osceola Face? There are 2 possible or did you find any others?

Happy Dogs

Ever wonder what it would be like to truely live "in the moment"? To have no cares besides what is going on right now. Not worrying about what someone else thinks or might say. Just living in the now...If you have dogs, you just need to study them.

Our dogs really like it when we have company, because then we use the DISHWASHER!! That means they get to "pre clean" the dishes. For a dog, there is nothing better. OK, Jesse might differ, he really likes to play with his toys but I think the dishwasher ranks number 1 for both pups. After lunch today all you could hear was the dishes smacking together as both dogs worked as fast as their tongues could reach before the other one moved into their territory. Here they are doing the dishes!

Osceola

Wow! It's been a week since I've written and time has really flown by. I've been busy at work, then recuperating from work over the weekend. Now it's cold and all I want to do is sleep and read (in bed where it's toasty warm snuggled up with the dogs).

So, on our ghost tour last week we heard some weird legends about Osceola. It's said that when he died, an army physician removed his head and embalmed it. Then kept it as a family hierloom?? They say his face can be seen on the wall of the Castillo. I'm placing a picture here, can you see his face? That's Patricia our tour guide. Stay tuned and I'll show you where in a few days.

Ghost Tour St Augustine

This weekend we went to St Augustine and succumbed to the tourist trade! Thanks so much to my in laws for treating us to an evening of good food at the Florida Cracker Cafe where Gary had a really good blackened ahi tuna steak that was prepared perfectly. A side note, if you go to the Cracker Cafe's web site, Gary assisted in filming that commercial. We took a walking tour through St Augustine and captured these ethereal graveyard images. These photos are from Huguenot Cemetery which is located across from the Castillo de San Marcos (which you can make out in the background, just barely). It was a nice way to spend the evening and walk off some food and take some night time photos! Thanks again to Gary Sr and Maryellen.

Christmas in Savannah

Gary and I spent a nice and relaxing Christmas in Savannah this year. Lot's of napping, plus I had long walks with the pups. We were able to go for several days thanks to the hospitality of my niece (Thanks Aim!) and she let our pups come along. That makes staying longer so much easier on us. Getting someone to watch them is no easy task.

Here are several photos from my photo safari in the historic area. If you are going to Savannah and interested in photography at all, if it's wanting to take better pictures with your point and shoot digital camera or you are a photo enthusiast, check out this web site: Savannah Photo Outings. This is my second outing with Frank, I highly recommend him if you are in the area. He is a good teacher and very knowledgable. He knows the city and took our group to some good photo spots and helped us "get the shot". More photos to come as I sort through them.



Here's the fireplace all decked out for Santa's visit. This Christmas it was all about the kids! They got lots of toys and had a lot of fun opening them each of them. All in all I am glad that Christmas is done, and the New Year is upon us. Happy New Year!!