I found this little guy on our chair outside. Did he choose this one because he knew the color was so complimentary? He could have chosen the red…no… too much like Christmas. I liked that he held the pose for me. Now why can’t I choose the right colors for both my wardrobe and my house so easily.
We spent an evening exploring the historic downtown of Fernandina Beach. It had a lovely quaint feeling to it with live music playing at several of the restaurants in the area. The music provided a nice background to our stroll to see the boats and for window shopping. We bought some ice cream and sat on a bench to listen and people watch.
Does anyone have any small, cool beach towns they love?
At long last I have come back to post some of my photos from our trip to Fernandina Beach, Florida. We didn’t have the time to make our usual trek to Anna Maria Island, but we enjoyed Amelia Island for a short get-away. I will post some of the historic downtown area next time. Enjoy!
So it took me until now to recover from vacation! Getting ready to leave and then catching up … is it really worth it? Okay okay I still think it is. So here is my first photo from our trip:
Every year for about the last twelve years, we have gone to Florida. And every time we cross the ‘border’, I begin to search and find a source to get my Cuban food fix or alternately some Spanish food. Since the majority of the years have been spent on Anna Maria Island, we were in close enough proximity to get to the Columbia Restaurant numerous times each stay. I do own their cookbook and that’s all good to cook at home…but NOTHING beats when it’s cooked on the spot.
This time we were on Amelia Island and the closest thing anyone could tell us was a Puerto Rican restaurant that had opened up recently. Hmmm. I wasn’t sold. So since this was a shorter trip and we didn’t want to drive another hour and a half to St. Augustine, we decided to eat at a restaurant on the beach. I tell you live music and brisk ocean breezes as we sat on the upstairs deck made up for the disappointment. Add in some scrumptious hush puppies with an unexpected bonus of sweet tea and I was in a good place!
Home again after a week at the beach and while it was great fun, always good to be back home. I will post photos as the week goes on, but for now just some random thoughts…
1. After being gone for over 30 years, I don’t think of Florida as home any more.
2. Body surfing never gets old.
3. Getting beat up by the ocean on red flag days does.
4. Going to Florida and not finding any good Cuban food just isn’t as fun.
5. Eating outside with a view of the ocean and ocean breezes is always fun.
6. Screened porches make all the difference.
7. Seeing all the other dogs on the beach without my Daisy along isn’t fun.
8. Coming home to her unadulterated joy at seeing me makes everything all better.
Hope you all had a great week and weekend!
Just realized I never posted a photo of our bedroom after we had repainted it with the new color. You may remember I thought I could go with an all white room, but no. I did find that it took forever for this brand of paint to stop smelling like paint. I did all the tricks I researched on how to dissipate it quicker. There were little bowls of coffee grounds and cut up onions scattered about. I brought every single one of our houseplants in there and hoped they wouldn’t die overnight because surely that would be a very bad sign! And then finally burned candles for about 3 days straight. I exaggerate. I did blow them out at night. So that explains the delay in posting the photo, but here it is. I still have to finish up with details, but I’m happy with it.
So it’s been a few days since I posted. Almost a week in fact. What has been going on around here…let me think because it’s gone by so quickly. Two days of working at the barn so our barn manager could have a week off. Rough work, but always good to be around the horses and get to know them better. A bonus 4th of July celebration since it was the first year in so many that I can’t remember that my husband did NOT have to work. Yay. Moving furniture. Trying to move furniture and getting it stuck in the hall between doorways. Oops. This behemoth piece won and it’s back in its rightful place. Gardening. And picking and eating some delicious vegetables. Reading. Lots of reading. A Yin yoga class with some hip openers held for a long time. Good for the summer and definitely good for my hips since they are evidently where I hold my tension.
And a few photos to brighten your day!
We had a break in the weather yesterday so planned a little bit of fun. As we walked into one of our favorite restaurants, I noticed how much this horse resembled one at my barn. This horse always wants to pin her ears back and will sometimes seem to want to bite. I’ve found though that if I simply tell her to stop and go up and pat her and say nice things to her, she relaxes. Isn’t that the way with people sometimes. They can be cranky, but treating them gently sometimes just turns things around. The horse at my barn has some pain issues and can’t move around maybe as much as she would like. As the stories always tell us, we don’t always know what pain people might be carrying around with them either.
A friend lost her dad over the past few days. My pony boy lost his pasture mate. I had to say good-bye to him too. Another friend is facing a betrayal. Just a lot to think on today. Maybe this stone horse is feeling a bit cranky because it’s been trapped for eternity in front of a restaurant. But today. Today we will be going to the movies. Always a fun time.
So every morning I’ve been getting up to get to the barn early and help get all the horses into the barn where fans and shade can help keep them cool in these days with temperatures over 100. I ended up staying for several hours each day and then have straggled home for some cool relief and tried to muster up energy to do anything else. I did get some errands run, but for the most part have read and watched movies. And pondered paint colors and furniture rearranging.
I just finished ‘The Underside of Joy’ by Sere Prince Halverson. A great book. But also an eye-opener. My dad was Italian-American with parents that came from Italy. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before and mentioned that he never taught us Italian. I always thought it was because he grew up poor and was ashamed. But after reading this book, I think maybe there was more to it. I never knew that Italians were detained in the US during World War II in camps and were under curfew with other restrictions. How did I never learn this? And there were posters and strong encouragement to only speak English and not to speak the enemy’s language. I don’t have my dad or other relatives still around to ask, but I just wonder was this the real reason for not teaching us Italian. Sad.
I love finding something lovely when it’s not expected. We stopped at a different library yesterday to stock up on reading material for the next few days of scorching heat. Parked on one end of the parking lot, but as we were coming out …almost hidden around the corner…was this lovely girl.
Our plan for these days of temperatures over 100 degrees – movies, reading, napping, maybe just maybe some more sorting and moving of furniture. And I will have to go out to check on my pony boy and move him into shaded areas with maybe a hosing off or two. On a side note. Back to my Portland/Seattle chant. Thirty degrees cooler there. All that needs to be said. Stay cool and hydrated everyone.
Chicellarose's Blog 