St. Augustine on Sunday

I wasn't able to leave as early as I usually would, but I still managed to make it down there shortly after sun-up. I didn't bother with the beach this time. I parked the car in a nearby garage, and headed to the Castillo De San Marcos fort. Chatted up a random photog (one of many I saw today) for a few minutes about our favorite spots and time of day for shooting, and parted ways.

I spent quite a few minutes watching some chickens, roosters and babies over by Flagler College. A local told me there was 3 chicks, and after a trip crossing the road, there were only 2. Mama still seemed to be looking for that 3rd baby.

I had been messing around with my camera settings this morning, and while some of it worked, some of it didn't. This shot is pretty blurry, but you can still tell what it is.

Shortly after noon, I was back home to listen to The Red Sox game.

This is one of my fave pics I got today.

Red Hats & stormy skies

During a recent Saturday at the Riverside Arts Market, there were many ladies belonging to the Red Hat Society wandering as well. Here is a collage of the ones I managed to get photos of. They all looked to be having such a good time!

I decided to skip out on the market this weekend, and instead listed a few unneeded items on Ebay and Swap A CD.

Maybe tomorrow I will head down to St. Augustine for the morning. It's usually pretty quiet there on Sunday mornings, but with enough people out for some good people watching, and photographing.

I couldn't resist getting a shot of this last week. If you look closely you can see downtown jacksonville. Obviously, I was driving, so wasn't going to attempt making sure it was composed. The sunlight is what I was after.

Thursday is..

Thursday is.. coffee in the evening since I don't have to go in for 6am on Friday. I'm usually there by 7, though. *yawn*

Thursday is.. what I consider to be *my* Friday because of the above, which almost makes for a 3 day weekend.

Thursday is.. already? Wasn't it just Tuesday, and I was at Barnes & Noble, learning of Sen. Kennedy's passing?

Thursday is.. wear your team out casual dress day at work. I wore my "Vote for Papi" t-shirt from here.

Thursday is.. debating whether to go to the Riverside Arts Market on Saturday. They have a good entertainment schedule this weekend. And seriously, I missed my french Quarter Beignet! :)

Thursday is.. reading thru the Boston list, and seeing how much more stuff I can add. I love Flickr.

RIP, Mr Kennedy..

Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy passed away last night. Despite the fact that he has been quite ill as of late, it was still a shock to hear the news this morning.

Work was good. We have slowed down yet again, so several people are taking a vacation day tomorrow. We did manage to get quite a bit of work done on our current Kaizen project, so at least it was a productive day.

I can't wait for my vacation, 3 weeks to go. So much to do and see in just 10 short days. Boston and the Big E have been occupying my every thought lately and that's just 2 of the 10 days. lol! So much food, so little time! I'm starting to check the Boston sights a little more now to see what we can find that's a little more out of the ordinary. We came up with quite a list, too! It will definitely require leaving very early in the morning, and employing lots of logistics. Not to mention camera batteries, memory cards, and really good walking shoes! :) Let the insanity begin!

Seriously, we've been there so many times and have yet to see all the little nooks and crannies that make up Boston. Then there are those places we visit over and over, and never tire of the sight..

Yesterday was Tuesday, (and Scrap Your Day #5) so that meant a trip to Barnes & Noble to catch up on some of my favorite magazines, and a Green Tea frap.

This morning I *had* to go to Dunkin' Donuts to try the new "Toffee for your Coffee" donut, created by a customer in a contest this summer. It was a little too sweet, but still very good. It consists of a sour cream donut with a little glaze on top, and then crushed Heath Bar candy on that. Did I mention it was sweet? LOL

Around Jacksonville..

Last Saturday (the 15th) I made my way downtown for the weekly Riverside Arts Market for probably the last time, til fall anyway. I'm trying to save a little cash for vacation, just to make sure the credit card isn't used more than it needs to be.

I got to watch an escape artist get out of a straightjacket, twice. I missed part of the first show, so made sure I caught the whole second performance.

This time I walked only to the train bridge, and then turned back. More rain was threatening after an already good storm plowed thru. Dare I say it was actually *chilly* under the bridge. I had a yummy pulled pork sammy and fries for lunch and a beignet (pronounced ben-yay) with cinnamon on it and some chickory iced coffee from the new orleans vendor for dessert.

On the 17th as I was leaving work I noticed lots of flyovers going on over the airport, so I took a short detour to find a good spot to park on the side of the road and try to get a few photos.

As always click on the photos for a bigger view.

Have a great week!

Scrap Your Day #4

I was finally able to complete my layout for the 4th Scrap Your Day held on Saturday July 25th. The theme this month was looking down, out and up. I did pretty good for down & out, not so good on up. Two outta three ain't bad.

I love when SYD falls on a weekend. Weekdays make it much more of a challenge, since I can't take pics at work. This particular saturday I went down to the Riverside Arts Market and watched some live music from Justin Roberts and the Not Ready For Naptime Players, had a delicious pulled pork sandwich and lemonade, and wandered all about downtown Jax. It runs thru December, I can't wait til it's just a little cooler out.

Here are a couple more photos that didn't make it onto the layout.

Downtown Jacksonville Highway Maze. There is still construction going on, but it's gotten better than it was a couple years ago, thankfully.

This is the splash fountain in front of the jacksonville Landing Mall. Oh, how I wished I could have taken a splash..I did stand on the edge and try to get a good shot of my slightly wet sneakers, but it didn't come out like I wanted.

This is the back of the turtle seen in the upper left of the layout. I think I've found about 6 of them so far.

As always click on the pics for a closer view, and don't forget to visit Jeanne's blog to see what she made!

Saturday at the Market

For the third Saturday in a row I went to the Riverside Arts Market to hang out and see what I could find. There is always so much going on there.. Lots of food, crafts such as jewelry or clothing, and then you have the entertainment. I've seen everything from jugglers, a break dance competition, belly dancing, and major recording artists.

I decided for the second time to make the walk down to the Jacksonville Landing and across the Main St Bridge to the fountain. I had planned on walking down the street some to find the Treaty Oak, but it was too hot, and I didn't write down proper directions.

So after wandering for a bit and seeing dolphins in the St John's river (?), I caught the river taxi back across. Once safely inside the air conditioned mall, I picked up a proper downtown map. Got a few good tips from the gentleman working there as well!

Man, I can't *wait* until winter, so I can go outside and wander without feeling like I'm going to pass out. LOL, I guess I'm just meant to sit in B&N nursing a huge coffee frap for the rest of the summer.

Speaking of winter, Trans-Siberian Orchestra has released their 2009 tour dates already. They will be here in Jax on December 3rd! for the rest of the weekend they will also be playing in Sunrise, Orlando and Tampa as well.

At right is a collage of just a few of the statues/scuptures/cool stuff I've seen recently. From top left: Maxwell House factory. We walked past this on the JDRF walk, seen here. and it does smell good out there. :) "The Sea of the Ear Rings" stand at the front entrance to the Cummer Museum & gardens. Next is Alltel Stadium for all you football fans. Bottom right is "Winged Victory" in the historic 5 points part of Jacksonville, bottom center is a memorial dedicated to Tilly K. Fowler, a Florida Congresswoman, and last but not least is "Diana of the Hunt", located in the gardens at the Cummer Museum. *phew*