And Blink They are Gone!

I had to say goodbye  to daughter and family already but it sure was a huge blessing for them to squeeze in a visit to us before the surgery, etc, that is going to be their focus for the months ahead!  I have some beautiful reminders of the visit--I don't know how she squeezed these things into the van but they did!  this is a ceramic garden decoration-about 18" tall.

A Thunbergia plant with trellis-

she knows how much I love orange flowers!

Two large branches from their Oak tree that was removed will be a good wood to try-we have Live Oak so it will be different-or maybe not;  I will get to try it out on the lathe soon!

A friend of theirs had to have this Japanese Red Maple removed and so I have a 36" piece of that to play with also!  

And Marsel has a new sewing room so she has cleaned out fabrics (plus a ton had recently been donated to her and I have some of that!) and brought me a box of goodies to sort through!  It will help with the lonely feelings 

that might creep in in the weeks to come!

And finally in light of friday felines--here is a pic Marsel took of Nyki--I can never get a clear pic of her facial features and she has her perfectly here--Nyki will miss all of the extra laps she tested out all week! lol

 

Squared Off

 It's amazing what you can accomplish when you stay home all day!

This quilt went together, was loaded and stitched and then I moved onto the next one!

 A quick job on this one , too!

Next I will be adding the binding so I can add these two to the pile for donations!

 And I am proud to say I have another completed pair of socks!  

The Patons Kroy makes a very hardy pair of socks!

And best of all, my niece came for a visit while here on vacation!

We went out for a lunch on the deck of Corky Bell's, along with her friends!

Look who stopped in for a bit of sunning

 and swimming!

Fernandina Beach After Hurricane Hermine!

I finished the SU socks for Jared, my WA state son, on the way to Fernandina Beach to visit Caleb and family!  We waited until the storm was past us and then drove north to spend time with them during the tail end of the storm!

These are size 16 socks-they used almost all of the 100g ball of Opal yarn!

I have just a small ball of yarn left for my sock yarn blanket! 

They are playing in the shallow area the sand bar made so all the waves and riptides were far out beyond them!  The water was warm and inviting. 

It was even more invigorating being by the ocean after it has been kicked up from a storm! 

We visited at low tide;  enjoying the remains of beach erosion and the shells and shark's teeth left behind! 

The waves weren't as big as expected but still beautiful!   

Besides the shells, there were starfish to collect-they took a beating in the surf. 

And there were quite a few horseshoe crab shells-the seagulls pick them clean very quickly! 

This one was as big as a helmet!  

Unfortunately, they stink so we left the it for someone else to collect! 

Here are the few treasures I collected;  it was a great beach time! 

This morning we took a walk on the local greenway.

It was pretty steamy and didn't take long for us to head back to our air conditioning!

It's always nice to go and visit. 

And it is always nice to arrive home again and check out the grounds after the storm.

We had 2" of rain is all....disappointing but a fact.

Bill had scraped out our pond  when it was so dry in anticipation of the mega-rain we hoped for. 

The rain smoothed out most of his tractor tracks and filled up a little.  If 2" can do this, can you imagine the hoped for 15" would have done?! 

The banana grove didn't fair too well .  Two trees with fruit collapsed-I hope they will ripen okay on the counter because that is where they are headed! 

My wonderful 'drive' up the oaks was clear and unscathed which was wonderful news!

We are grateful that we didn't get hit with the damage that was possible in a hurricane.

This season isn't over until December so there's always the next one!

Visitors Part II

 Saturday morning was clean up and regroup mentally after saying goodbye to family. I decided to spin some of this month's FiberBinderClub hemp fiber.

 While it is a bit coarse compared to wool, it spun very nicely and I would love to make a woven mat from this for the table.

I remembered I had another ounce of this fiber somewhere and sure enough, found and spun that , too.  I am leaving this as singles and going to boil it to set the twist and see how it knits up.  I might have to ply this, too, but it is good to have ideas to try out!

In the afternoon, we had our next visitors from NY.  We took a drive up to Corky Bells for our dinner and our traditional picture on the dock!  They are official visitors now that they have this picture as record!  (The picture is wonky because of the sloped rails where I rest my camera for this timed snap shot!)  It is so nice to have old friends make the time to drop in for a few days.

A FIELD TRIP

No,it isn't 1740, but we did take a field trip today to Fort Matanzas with friends and despite the gloomy weather we had a great time!

Our trip started with a boat ride down the Matanzas River to the Fort.

A nice guide presented a great slice of history for us about this Spanish outpost.

We climbed up to the roof for a good stiff breeze with a view!

Bob and Judy, Cindy and Bill --->we figured out that we have

been friends for 24 years..........cool, huh!?

The Lord makes a bond for life and then eternity!

No, they aren't trying to figure out where we are but it sure looks that way!

After our return trip we took a brief hike down the boardwalk to the beach and then back to the car to escape the wind-it had a bite even tho the temp was 70.

Judy and I stayed on the boardwalk while the guys braved the wind and went down to explore along the shore-it was pretty empty there today.

Finished this pair of shorty socks while in the car. It is superwash wool I spun in November. I knit them toe up-always a good mindless project. (Going to start another pair tonight.)

We closed out the day with dinner at Corky Bells, a restaurant on the St Johns River in Palatka. It was too chilly for us to walk along the pier at the marina right in front of the restaurant but we had a great dinner and the company was suberb! We are all lumping in front of the tv now for the final game of March Madness (guys wonder why women don't 'get' sports but why does March madness finish in April now-it isn't a women who organized this!!!!)

Beach Visit

Off for a picnic today-it was overcast but mild (71). We stopped at Montanzas fort for a picnic and the annual tree climb picture-we have pictures of our 4 adult children in this same tree and even some friends that accompanied us through the years.............it is an important tree to our family!

The kids took right off for the water at the beach-the water was cold to me at 66 degrees but they plowed right in-jumping waves and squealing-beautiful to behold.

Even Abigail wanted in right away-Marsel had to make a quick scramble to remove hearing aids and she made it just in time-David said not to worry-he had them safely in his sweatshirt pocket! Never a dull moment!

We found that the tide pool was a bit warmer and calmer to play in and we settled round with cameras to catch the smiles. Note my mother's proper foot apparel for on the beach-bare feet give her the willies and on the beach this is especially true!

A Walk to the Park

We enjoyed a tramp to the park just down the road from my parent's home. The kids had fun chasing each other around and getting their picture taken-unlike the adults who all scatter when the camera focuses on them!

Pitter Patter of Lively Feet

Grandkids and neices and lots of laughter fill the rooms of my home. My daughter is here with children to visit her aunt and uncle while they visit at Dad and Mom's which is just 2 miles down the road.................so nice to have a full family gathering. The kids play nonstop all day and go to bed very easily at night! We recently moved refrigerators around and so the kids think that we have this moving dolly just for their fun!

Today we visited a friend, Jessica, who used to live in NY, and we enjoyed watching the children play together-especially the boys on all the bikes! Abigail preferred to watch and so didn't get in the photo.