TAKING A BITE OUT OF MY DAY!

I drew a mandala on that square piece of wood....

so I can fill in the shapes with 'just a few' of the hundreds of shark's teeth!  (these were from my son-in-law!)  It's working out well--I decided I need to paint in the lines of the mandala first and then lay out the glue in each small area at a time

 for the 'mosaic' of teeth to be applied!

And I am going to be that Grandma who has to brag about her oldest granddaughter....she is2nd from the right, second row.    (blond hair-no hat)    This is a screenshot so it's showing only about 1/4th of the size of the choir!  she was part of the Bob Jones University choir for the annual tree lighting and caroling night--it was live and we got to watch it on tv!  (gotta love technology to keep us connected!)  We had friends over and I tuned in for the concert and we listened together--it was wonderful!

 

WEEKEND RECAP!

Saturday we headed toward Fernandina Beach early in the morning and ran into a T-storm but went over the river....

and through the woods....

to a beautiful resort

right next to the beach dunes.

Here is the whole family for a Father's Day gathering;  Cassandra's parents, Caleb and Matthew and grands!

After eating we all headed over the boardwalk to the beach.

Now, I will share a bucket list activity of mine-to stand on a surf board in the ocean.  (I left the surfing part out long ago!)  Caleb helped me get to this position...

but my inner balance is greatly impaired and I did this several times before..

I managed a victory pose!  I smiled all day!

 

POND ADVENTURES

While Grandpa got together the equipment for fishing, 

Eli and I took a pond visit.  The lilies are in bloom!

The little frogs are about the shore.

And then this guy lumbered out of the pond...the sun was inviting!  We were on the golf cart and this is zoomed in; 

 he is oly 40" long.  

Even so, we do stay on the golf cart!

In spite of the competition, Eli caught two bullheads

 which we ate for dinner!

When the guys left for fishing,

 I finished the quilting at the frame and trimmed the edges.

See how pretty the back looks with the leftover apple core blocks?

 I also made two more blocks. 

 Now I have to decide if I want to make the next six blocks with gray stars and alternate the blcoks.  

Or if I will make all the blocks with red and then use gray to make sashing with red cornerstones. 

 Good  decisons to deal with....

GrandParenting!

I know you think you saw this already but I ripped out the first one and took my Mom's advice to use a hook one size smaller for a better fabric--she was oh, so right!  It isn't so sloppy now;  I'm much happier and it was fun to do it all again!  I worked on this on the drive to the boys-

Bill and I were able to go and pick the boys up from school-what a joy to see their faces light up when they spotted us!  We had some time to unleash energy....but also snuggle time while we watched Godzilla vs KingKong!  It was great to hear their running commentary throughout the movie!  

I kept smelling the most delicious perfumed aroma while they were jumping and soon enough I found this 'wall' of Confederate Jasmine--oh, how I wish I could share a sniff with you!

They also have the tallest ferns-almost as tall as I am!  A beautiful contrast in color and texture! 

And we were graced with the most colorful sunset all the way home!

Christmas Visit!

We had an early Christmas visit not from three wise men but from three snowmen!  The boys really wanted to make arms for theirs so we hunted up some sticks, drilled holes and glued!  The arms aren't very sturdy so I hope they make it through the season!   They had fun telling me how to make them on the lathe and then painting them by themselves!  

A perfect family trio--just like them!

While they played outside, I whipped off this little bird house! 

It makes a cute little ornament!

Merry Christmas!

 

Feelin' Blue-In a Good Way!

One of the elderly ladies at church thought she would like some small mitts, \if I would be willing to make her blue ones!

  I dyed the sock blank I had knit in double strand 

to have a pair of matching socks.  

I will make a mitt with one strand

 and then use the other strand to knit the other; 

 this way I will be able to have the remaining blank for socks still!  

The colors are tie-dye pretty 

and it will be interesting to see how it knits up!

Can you guess who came to visit yesterday? 

 How wonderful to see these guys!

Birthday yarn is becoming a hat!  

It's good to have several knitting projects on the needles. 

 I made the boys a snow man and they painted them all by themselves

--pics after the snowmen get noses! lol

 

A Grand Beach Day

 We started out our beach day with a bit of metal detecting!

 They each found quarters,

 Abigail a 2005 collector's quarter of California--we had a few heart stopping moments

when the date 1850 was read first on the back!  David's quarter is dated 1980.

We might not be rich, we were looking for doubloons after all, but we had a wonderful

time digging merrily away together!

 After lunch, we fed the seagulls.

And then Abigail and I did this while the guys did some fishing. 

 We enjoyed coloring with pencils in our bird field guides, a water bird scene, of course!

 David finished off some crackers and we packed it up!

 Goodbye, beach!  Thank you for the warm, sunny day!

(it was in the 80's with no humidity--utterly wonderful!)

 After dinner at South Beach Grill, we were greeted by this sunset!

In just a few minutes, we crossed the intercoastal waterway and David captured this photo.

Yup, it sums up the beauty of our whole day!

Spiffing up for Family!

 Since I moved this chair into the fireplace room, 

I didn't like the color of the cushions so I recovered them!

 It is a nice soft fabric, too, so it's very inviting to take a seat--we will be taking a dip in temps

again this weekend so I will be sitting here looking at the fire!

Until then, I wore this t-shirt to go to the airport and pick up my two oldest grands!

They flew w/o parents to spend a week with us!  I am so excited!

We have a lot of painting and fishing planned!

Out of Town

Two hats delivered to their new owners!

Visiting grands in Fernandina Beach-

it is chilly here, too!

We read "Stanley the Amazing Knitting Cat" and 

then I gave the kids their own woolie warmies!

It was a great ending to a very fun book.

(Recommended by In a Pickle, a knitting podcast)

We watched the space station go overhead last night-

it is good to share the wonder of such a sight.

Off to enjoy taking part in their Grandparents' Day at school.

Life Anew

 The last of the packing/moving has taken place.

 The last swim has transpired,

 a little of sewing has begun.

A new chapter begins as we close the book on the last two years 

and look forward to writing a sweeter, kinder life for all of us.

Top, Cat, View

Sometimes you just need to bury your head in the sand....

(this is Sissy, not Lena)

 And other days, you feel you can run like the wind!

Will got his day on the pier;

 what a difference a few days can make!  

The waves were 2' high and the wind was strong!

 This is what a nor'easter can do to us!

 Here is the full view of the Fringe tree-radiant!! 

And a full view of the new sweater 

just before I left the house wearing it on its maiden appearance.

Speaking of appearances--

this is the same cat that was sleeping in the first photo

except here, she photo bombed me!

And this is what I managed to pull off yesterday while I made use of several small time slots--

the flannel quilt top is pieced, trimmed and will now await its turn on the frame.