..and then there was Saturday

After that 3 hr adventure from Friday, including a nice bruise on my side from the cow train ride, Saturday was even more packed. I started the day at about 8:30am at Jax Beach for the Out of the Darkness walk for suicide awareness and prevention. I was there to support a former co-worker who lost a brother to suicide a few months ago. It was a beautiful day at the beach, and at about 9:30 (after coffee & a donut) we set off for a 3 mile walk on the beach. Thank goodness it was low tide! :)

After the walk, I had enough time to shoot over to the Arts Market for just a bit. This weekend there was some chalk art going on, and the Salvation Army was kicking off the "Bell Ringing" season. Bonus: A couple local restaurants got together and started a food truck! Mossfire Grill & O'Brothers are the restaurants, and they call the truck "busin' your chops". I didn't get a pic of the menu board, but I did grab a corned beef and cabbage "taco" and enjoyed it at a nearby park.

Last, but certainly not least, I headed home to change, feed the cat and head up to church. From there a bunch of us car-pooled to a favorite restaurant in Fernandina, FL called Barbara Jean's. Very down home, southern cooking. I had my shrimp n grits for dinner and for dessert a few of us split a big bowl of "Chocolate stuff" Kinda like a cross between warm pudding and raw brownie batter....sooooo good!!

It was almost 8:30pm by the time I got home..it was a wonderful day, full of good friends, and good food!

messing about..

Today was such a long day at work. We got in some long awaited product that needed to be packaged and stocked. We had extra help from another department, plus my normal crew. A few of us stayed til almost 8pm tonight, and I need to go back and finish it tomorrow morning. Glad to get it all done finally. I got them McDonald's for dinner for staying so late, too. Gotta love the dollar menu! :)

A couple of weeks ago I picked up an old Kodak Duaflex IV camera on Ebay to use for "Through the Viewfinder" Photography (AKA TtV). If you're not familiar with TtV, basically it's taking a photo through the viewfinder of an old camera, with another camera. Usually digital, but I'm sure any other camera would work. I've always loved the idea of a small display of old cameras anyway, so I'm gonna build towards that as well. There's a whole Flickr group devoted to this type of photography here, and if you're a photoshop user (which I'm not) there are also "actions" you can use to get the same effect. Not nearly as fun, though. I took a few photos looking out from the balcony and of the cat when I first got it,  which came out really badly. Last Sunday I took it to the beach.

Speaking of Sunday, it was Jeanne & my 7th "Scrap Your Day", adapted from Shimelle's project of the same name. The theme this month was reflections. Once we can get together and do our layouts, we'll have a post to share on that, as well. so my teaser shot is this one.

Oh, Scout asked if I could post his picture anyway.

As always click on the photos to see them in more detail.
Looking forward to a quiet scrappy weekend at home. After last weekends adventures, I think I shall stay right here. :)

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.

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.

My, My...

I had a pretty quiet week for the most part, and really didn't go anywhere until last night. I ended up at the beach with probably a couple thousand other folks all to watch the Space Shuttle Discovery take off. I'd never gone to watch that before, and even though I'm quite a ways north of Cape Canaveral, you could see plenty, it was very cool!

As usual Jeanne & I had a scrappy session going on. It wasn't as long as some of them, but still fun & productive as always!

I got 2 layouts done, both super simple. First one is for my baby girl Sadie. Ok, so she's a dog. I love this pic i took of her on my last vacation home, she was so happy to see me, and I was very happy to see her as well!

~details: PP: American Crafts, date stamp: Collage press "office Policy", "sadie" bone and paw stamps: Studio G, ink: stampcraft and ColorBox.

Next one is a few favorite beach pics from january and february. I used sketch 12 from Inspired blueprints for this one, and since I didn't cut the contrasting blocks to exactly 6x6, I had to finagle it to get the pics to line up right. It's still not quite lined up, but I like the way it came out.

~details: background papers: Colorbok "jewel", PP used for button in center: American Crafts, Thread: DMC, Rub-on flowers: American Crafts, Date stamp: Collage Press.

So, there you have it! I can't wait to get prints made of the shuttle launch to scrap that. How am I ever going to fit 50 pics on a page?? lol

As always, go here to see what Jeanne made!

Sunday Morning Beach Walk

This morning, I woke early, and decided that St. Augustine would be a nice ride. I forgot my phone, so I couldn't let a certain person know I wasn't going to be home til later. oops! It was still dark when I left, and the Dunkin Donuts is a little out of my way. I made the trip anyway, since I had a gift card to use. I got a coffee & a jelly donut. Armed with my sugary breakfast, I made my way down the A1A. It started getting a little lighter, and I knew I wouldn't make the beach for sunrise. As I passed all of the beach-front houses (in Ponte Vedra, they can hardly be called "cottages") I would glance at the horizon to see how the sunrise was looking. I finally found an open parking lot on the side of the road and quickly parked to grab a couple shots before continuing down the coast. Once I got to the old city I sat on a bench near the parking garage, and ate my breakfast, then wandered the mostly empty city. As it was so early, not much was open, but that was ok. I didn't mind the quiet. I got done there after an hour or so of getting some shots, and wandering. Most of the people I saw were heading into church. Here is a little color for you northerners. Hoping spring comes quickly! Like before my vacation. LOL

When I left there my next stop was the St. Augustine Beach, where the Pier was. I was looking for sharks teeth, but instead found this:

Yes, it's *that* small!! I've never, ever found a whole sand dollar before, I only see bits and pieces of them. I took a photo before even picking it up, and then another to show how tiny it is. It's now sitting in bleach to get out that ocean-y smell, and whiten it a little, not to mention kill anything in it that may still be alive. ;)

After that, I pretty much decided that my day was complete, so left the beach and got a couple more random shots on my way back to my car.

I remember going to the Sunset Grille about 20 years ago when I came down here to visit my aunt, we'd always spend a weekend in St Augustine. Alas, the hotel we stayed in (was called the surf and turf inn, if I remember correctly) is no longer there, but the Grille is! I remember they had named much of the food after Jimmy Buffet songs, like a cheeseburger in Paradise, etc..

It's right down the street from Cafe 11, which seems to have a popular sunday brunch as the parking lot was packed. They have some great concerts there as well.

Some Random Pics.

Going thru some of the pics i've gotten this year so far, I thought I'd share a few. I really need to get a proper Florida bird book. I got this shot near the (non-working) clock tower across the street from where I work. I see lots of Egrets, and the occasional Anhinga, plus the usual canadian geese...I have no idea what this bird is. besides ugly that is. ***edit: I stopped at the library today, and I believe it's a wood stork.

On a recent ride down to St Augustine, I actually made it to the beach, since the historic area was PACKED. I don't think I could have found a parking space if I tried. It was breezy, but a beautiful day nonetheless.

I caught this little bird's picture at the St John's Town Center on sunday morning. I got pretty close too, and he/she didn't even fly away, a nest, perhaps?

Hopefully, everyone is keeping warm. I know I am, with the heat on. It's been chilly here in North Florida. Not nearly as cold as it's been in other areas, but cold to my florida-aclimated self.