St Augustine continued..

Here are some more photos from my visit to St Augustine on Sunday. First up are a couple pictures from the little walk I took before I went in. These are the steps leading up to the path. The cement path has palm fronds engraved all the way around. They look a little like fossils, pretty neat.

The music was as awesome as the food. As I said before the stage setup was much smaller than last year's, but that didn't affect the enthusiasm of the players at all! That's one thing about the blues bands, along with original songs, you're also likely to hear a few familiar songs as well. At right is JW Gilmore and the Blues Authority. Love the singers purple suit!

The band below (Stormy Weather Blues Band) did an awesome version of "You Didn't Think About That", a song I know from Coco Montoya's Suspicion album. The guitarist was a riot to watch on stage. besides playing the guitar, he took pictures of his band mates, and pretty much was all over the place. The singer reminded me of a cross between Joe Cocker and Jack Nicholson, a la The Shining.

At left is the Regi Blue/Al Stone band, (links go to to their respective, seperate MySpace pages) they were fantastic as well. So all in all, with the food, and the music, and the stupendous weather, it was a great day! After all the food I ate, I decided to drive south just a bit further and hit the beach for a short walk, since I had some time still before I had to get home to the televised Red Sox/Yankees game.

Phew!

Oh. My. Goodness.

Sunday I met a friend of mine at the St Augustine Ampitheater for the Taste of SA, and the Birth of the Blues. Last year it was a 2 day event, this year they've shrunk it down to just one. The weather was beautiful, with hardly a cloud to be seen.

On the way down I stopped at the SA outlets to walk around and pick up a new pair of sport sandals, and a 3 pack of "car jar" air fresheners (Vanilla Lime) from the YCC outlet store.

I pulled into the Ampitheatre a little after noon, and took a walk on a short circular stone path. I didn't venture too far, lest the parking attendants think I was trying to sneak in the back way. There were steps leading up, all but blocked by a large hanging tree branch. After getting a few photos in there, I paid my way in to the Taste. After purchasing some taste tickets I wandered about the booths looking for what I wanted to try first. Immediately the booth with the Pan Seared Mahi Mahi tuna wrapped in bacon caught my attention. The line and the wait never seemed to cease. Adding it to my "must try" list, I moved on. The A1A Ale Works had a busy booth as well, and the Shrimp 'n Grits were quickly purchased, photographed, and inhaled. Delicious!! While I was wolfing that down, my friend called saying she had just pulled in. I met her at the entrance and after purchasing her tickets, we wandered again, with me pointing out where the "good stuff" was. She started out with the sushi, and I headed to the booth with
Caribbean Jack Seared Ahi Tuna with Apple Mango Slaw. It included an edible flower, which I ate, but it was pretty tasteless. :)

Other items I had were the Maryland style Crab Cakes with a mustard sauce, Fried Custard, Garlic Fries, Mini Chocolate Torte, The Mahi Mahi wrapped in bacon mentioned above. Oh and 2 Starbucks Iced coffees, and a small pice of Orange Chocolate fudge to go. The only disappointment was the Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice, which was very bland.

In between dishes we sat under the tent and watched the bands and chatted.

More pictures to follow!

Scrap Your Day 01

I randomly chose the August prompt from Shimelle's free online "Scrap Your Day" challenge/project she did last year. Jeanne and I decided to do it together this year, and alternate choosing months, as well. She already had a system that works for her down, and I'll be learning what works and what doesn't as I go along.

This months theme was "in the details", and I probably could have done better, but I had fun and that's what counts! :) It's a challenge after all, right?

I could tell when I got up, that it was going to be a beautiful day!The sun was shining, and some high fluffy clouds.

Dinner last night was from a tasty recipe I found in one of the Taste of Home magazines. I love that they are fast, and always use easy to find ingredients.

This one has spiral pasta, diced chicken breast, diced tomatoes, black olives and some spices. It also called for sour cream, but had none, and it was still tasty. I have made it properly before, so knew it was one ingredient I could skip.

Most of the day was spent at the St John's Town Center browsing at Barnes & noble, and watching the free music in the small park there. There are ducks, koi, and lots of turtles in the pond there as well, so plenty to capture my attention.

They had an art show going on also, so I couldn't get too picture happy there, but there were some great drawings and paintings. very creative stuff!

I even managed to find my new bathing suit. hopefully this one lasts more than a year, since I may go swimming 2-3 times a year at the most.

Today it's off to St Augustine for the annual Taste of St Augustine, and Birth of the Blues festival at the Ampitheatre. I've even skipped breakfast so I can properly stuff myself later on. Carribean Jack Seared Ahi Tuna with Apple Mango Slaw anyone?? YUM-O!

Remember to go here to see some of Jeanne's pics from her day! I wonder what month she'll pick for us next!!

Lazy Sunday

On Saturday I had planned to go to the beach for Sunrise Service, but on Sunday morning that was not happening. I woke up, fed the cat and promptly went right back to bed. Ah, well. I finally got up about 8:30-ish, took my shower and proceeded to have a semi-lazy day.

I made cinnamon rolls, and coffee, then got on the computer. I always hit the Postsecret blog first on Sundays, then off to check out some crafty blogs.

Eventually Jeanne & I connect and decide to scrap. It took me a little while to decide what layouts to do, but I decided on one for the election (loosely), and one on the walk through Cradle Creek Preserve.

The photos on the right half of the page were from the rally held at Metro Park back in September.

~details: cardstock: The Paper Company, "memorable" stamp: Collage Press office policy, "imagine" & "dream" rub-ons: Junkitz, "change you can believe in" stamps: Scrappy Cat.

For the Cradle Creek layout, I wanted simple, and used a sketch I found in the newest, and sadly last issue of Simple Scrapbooks.

There are so many great places here to hike and watch birds, or other small creatures, that I just need to get out there and find them.

~details: Cardstock: Bazzill, Flowers: Prima, Letter stickers & brads: unknown, journaling font: Lucida Handwriting.

Have a great week and don't forget to go visit Jeanne's blog and see what she created!

Jax Beach & Springing The Blues

Between Friday evening and most of Saturday I spent about 10 hours at the beach listening to some great music, and eating some good BBQ. They had 2 stages, going and I found myself at the less crowded, but just as good, smaller stage. I listened to the Yankee Slickers for most of their set, and moved about between set-ups.

It wasn't as windy as the last time I was out, so I ended up on the pier again also. Lots of bluefish and some white being caught. From what I heard, there was a small shark sighting. The dolphins made a quick pass also.



This guy was hanging out on the pier for quite some time. I bet he was probably waiting for someone to toss him some fish.
I got a little sunburn, even with at least 2 applications of sunscreen, but it was a great couple of days at the beach.