Long Weekends Rock!

My weekend started on Thursday evening when I got out of work. For once I didn't have to "make an appearance" at work on Friday. Not that I don't usually have stuff I need to get done, but that's besides the point. A fire-truck in front of a Larry's Firehouse subs?? nahhhh. *click*

On friday afternoon I took a ride around downtown Jax knowing there wouldn't be much traffic, and saw many places I need to explore further. I really should visit the Cummer Museum & Gardens. Seriously. I've been here for almost 3 years and haven't been there yet. I managed to drive by it twice on Friday. I love visiting the local parks, and today I found Riverside Park, with its fenced in pond full of various birds, ducks and turtles; and a Turtle Sculpture (see another one I posted here).

Driving further out of the city, I found the remnants of what was to be Luxery Condos on the St John's River. The banners proclaimed high quality living and there the concrete skeletons sit, vacant and only half built behind a new (and thriving) strip mall. After all that driving around I made my way to the Barnes & Noble for a coffee frap. After coffee and a fast but heavy downpour it was time to scope out the eye candy at Anthropologie. If only I was filthy rich...*sigh*

Walking past one of the walkways going to the back parking lot, I noticed lots of tents set up. So, off I wandered to check it out. Turns out they have a flea market on fridays. I immediately bought an Icee and took a bunch of pictures. Rain was again threatening so off I went to head home.

Fireworks photos to follow in a seperate post...stay tuned!

Blueberry Festival

Oddly, I bought nothing containing blueberries. I did have a polish sausage with some onions and peppers, and a nice fresh squeezed lemonade, served in a quart size takeout container. Yum!

They had some seafood and BBQ thai as well, but it was a lot more money than I felt like forking over. There was also kettle korn and I almost got some, but the heat was making the cooker sweat, and that sweat was dripping right into the kettle, so I decided not to go there. ewwww..

It was pretty darn hot out, so hung out in the barn checking out the poultry and cattle, watching the judging. Once I got my food I made my way to a little open barn to sit and eat, as well as enjoy some country/folk/bluegrass music performed by Ron Davis, a one man band. He played much Johnny Cash, some Willie & Waylon, and some other odds and ends, very good!!

There was also a small civil war reenactment. Bless those people dressed in heavy wool period clothing on this sweltering day.

Scrap Your Day layout #2

So, here we are, only 3 days away from the third Scrap Your Day that Jeanne and I are doing together. She did this project last year with Shimelle, and this year we've decided to take it on ourselves, but picking the months randomly to switch up the different themes.

On this layout, I made a collage of just a few of the flowers from mom's gardens, and my sweet puppy of course. In the middle row are some of the cars from the Cruising Night at Atkins in Amherst, MA, breakfast with my parents in Williamsburg, and the entrance to the Holyoke Mall. On the bottom is me & my mom walking the 2 dogs. Click on the picture to see in more detail.

Where is the year going?? I can't believe it's only 87 days til my next vacation already! Not that I'm complaining. ;)

On Sunday morning I went to the farmers market in Jacksonville. I really should try to go more often, as it's only about 8 miles away. I spent about $14 and got so much stuff. Mangoes, strawberries, blueberries, bell peppers, onions, red potatoes, cukes, and both green and yellow squashes. You could also buy live chickens as evidenced in the top left photo. Or fresh boiled peanuts! Now all I have to do is make sure I can eat everything before it goes bad. It shouldn't be too hard. As of today, almost all of the potatoes are gone and half the berries, squash, and peppers. yummmy!

Thought I'd share another photo from the friday night free movie at the pavilion by the beach. Since the movie didn't start til 9pm, I had quite a bit of time to wander around. I love the blue on the right hand side of this building, and the sun dropping below the horizon.

Northeast FL weather update..

Lovely storm tonight: high winds, heavy rain. I didn't see any hail here, and the power didn't go out surprisingly. Once it stopped, as I did the other evening, i took the cat out onto the balcony with his cute little leash and halter on. Probably the only good thing about storms (besides much needed rain) is the fact that it usually cools off a little bit. And that's a good thing, since it was still 90 degrees last night when i went to bed at 10pm. **sigh**

Here is Mr. Scout admiring a bug flying around, I'm sure. or a shadow moving. certainly NOT the camera.

I couldn't resist a fisheye shot of the sky with this sweet cloud once the storm had mostly passed. Hence the funny orange color of the cat.

Happy day!

Friday Night Movies

On Friday I went to work for about 3 hours getting some last minute work done on a small project I'm finishing up. After I left work I went for a quick ride to Hobby Lobby & Michaels. Didn't get much, but wanted to see if there was anything new and fun.

I also made a quick stop at the Cradle Creek Preserve I had posted pics of here. It was great then, I don't know what happened. They may be cleaning it up, but the trails are overgrown, and there is cut wood everywhere. Lowe's did build a new footbridge in one spot, though. So, needless to say, I was in, got a few pics out by the estuary, and the canoe launch area, then I was out.

I headed out towards the beach after that, and to stop at Krystal's for supper. Over by the SeaWalk Pavilion I noticed something going on, so parked and walked over. I'd forgotten about the free movies they show on the big screen on Friday nights. Last night's movie was Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade, starring Sean Connery as Indy's father, and River Phoenix as a young Indy.

Sunday's in the summer they do free jazz concerts, so I believe that will be on the agenda soon as well.

Red Shouldered Hawks

As I was leaving work this afternoon, I was looking at the giant rolls of hay being baled in the field, and something caught my eye. I made a quick u-turn to come back around and saw these two hanging out, i'm sure looking for dinner. The baler must be disrupting the small field creatures they so enjoy. I sat in my car pulled over to the side so I wouldn't scare them away, and managed to get a few pictures.

Pretty cool, but eventually they flew off in search of food. Hope they found some!

I was really bored the other day, and decided to try a makeshift filter on my camera. I used the trick of a nylon over the lens, and held there with a rubber band. the tighter I stretched it the less you could tell it was there. For this first pic I kept it pretty loose.

And this is with it stretched very tight. Still pretty muted, but clear.

A couple nights ago we had a very cool light show, as well. it thundered quite a bit, and rained for a little while. After the rain stopped it was all lightning. Mostly it was just the bright white flashes, but there was some orange and reddish light on occasion as well. I also noticed that the lightning mostly forked either upwards or to the side, not down. I have some video of it, but it's very long. If I can figure out how to get a couple smaller chunks seperated, I may even post it. I put my small P&S camera on the tripod, and brought it out onto the balcony. I put the halter and leash on my cat, and we sat, watching the light flash. It was 12:30 am by the time it had stopped enough for me, and then I went to bed.

The Color Red, And Then Some...

Today I had a TWI (training within industry) class south of downtown jax. I had a lot of fun, and learned quite a bit. It's mostly about training others to do their job properly, consistently and safely. It doesn't matter what industry or title you are. You will run into difficult people to work with and for. We got out a few minutes earlier than planned so I hit up the St John's town center for a bit on the way home.


Grabbed a scrappy mag at Barnes & Noble, a Frap of course, and this shot of the cute train they have set up for rides. I love the bright colors! Shimelle has a bit of a color challenge going on..

Over the weekend I went out to Lake City to visit my cousin and family. One of the kids had an end of year dance program which was a lot of fun (no photos allowed, tho). We also went to a town-wide tag sale out in Ft White. There weren't a ton of vendors due to the unpredictable weather that day, but there was still plenty to look at. In the center of the parking lot they had this old caboose set up on a short set of tracks, and I couldn't resist getting a few shots of it as well. Click on the photos for a closer look, and enjoy!

Hopefully I will get to scrap my May "Scrap Your Day" page. I think part of me doesn't want to scrap my vacation pictures, as I'll wish I was still there instead of being here. LOL
Only 100 days til my next vacation. :)