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*

Sunday Ride

I was up fairly early this past Sunday and decided it would be a good day to hit St Augustine. I hadn't been there for a few months, and wanted to see what was going on. I made it to the beach for sunrise, then headed into town. Did a lot of walking all around the fort (Castillo De San Marcos) and the historic district. Being a sunday, not much was open that early, but I managed to find a small cafe, which seemed like a great idea. No iced coffee and they didn't take debit cards. I hardly *ever* have cash on hand. So I got just a hot coffee, and took it to go. I'll be prepared next time, since it did seem like a nice place to relax.

On the way home I stopped at a preserve, and took a good long walk there too. I saw lots of animal tracks, but other than a few frogs and lizards, I saw no wildlife. This little guy was hanging out in the box where the sign in/out clipboard is stored. too cute!

Here is a collage of a few pics taken of the fort. I love walking around it and just knowing how old it is amazes me. I never fail to find something that I missed on a previous trip.

Also, I was reminded recently that I still haven't shared pics from the 4th of july. ooops. I made it to the beach in Jacksonville. It took forever to find parking but once I got settled in to watch the live music, then walked the short distance to the beach for the fireworks after. Totally worth it!

As always click on the photos for a closer look!

Scrap your day 03

On to the 3rd "Scrap Your Day" layout already, and next week brings the 4th day of picture taking. This year is just flying by. I can't believe it's only 66 days til my next vacation already too! THAT makes me very happy! This time we plan to get to Boston and the Big E (hopefully)! At least I have more time in September, almost a full 10 days.

This months theme was capturing the faces around us. Since I live with just my feline companion, there was no getting pics of family, and since I'm also not allowed to take pictures at work, it made for a short window of picture taking. Above, see a pic that didn't make it into the LO, one of the fountains by where I work. The first pic of the day came when I left work at 4:40 in the afternoon. After a quick stop at starbucks and the boat ramp I came home. I was able to get a couple shots around the house, then decided a visit to the St John's Town Center mall was in order.It was a bittersweet evening as both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson passed away.

This past weekend I found yet another turtle in the continuing saga of "find all the fiberglas turtles in Jacksonville". This one is just on the side of the road by my Toyota dealership.

I also managed to find a new nature preserve. Unfortunately the interesting half is closed for renovation. This one is called Castaway Island Preserve. They did have a nice, albeit overgrown, flower garden loaded with butterflies.

Oh, and in other super duper cool news, the dunkin donuts we had here near the airport is REOPENING!!! oh, how happy that makes my workplace. But wait, there's more! In addition to the million restaurants at the river city shopping center (near the airport, not as nice as the St. John's, but definitely a place I visit frequently) we now have an Olive Garden there! Salad! Breadsticks. I think I'm in heaven! :) I'm thinking dinner before the new Harry Potter film on Thursday!

As always click on the photos for a closer look, and don't forget to visit Jeanne's Blog to see what she created!

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. :)

Scrap Your Day layout #1

Here it is, already a week into June almost. Where oh where is this year going??

We had some rain and a bit of thunderstorming today. Here is a photo taken at the boat ramp around sunset. I stopped at Michael's to use the coupon I had for 20% off, and got a few things to use on my vacation layouts.

Here is my layout I did for April's Scrap Your Day that Jeanne and I are participating in. Ge here to see her "Scrap Your Day" layout.

I will scrap May's SYD pictures soon, so that I can concentrate on June's day without feeling like I'm behind. It was definitely a great day, and I can't wait to see how the page turns out! I also need to choose the next month that decides our "theme" for taking pics.

Tonight I am just plain tired, and ready to crash.

I will leave you with this photo, it almost looks like the same bird I posted some months ago, and still can't ID. It would figure that now I can't find the other pic to compare. *sigh*

What I saw today..

So, I haven't much to say about these, but I couldn't resist posting several of my favorites.

I showed some of these little guys (and gals, I'm sure) here. They seem to be growing pretty quick. I'm pretty tempted to feed them, but don't want to upset the balance of nature...so I am content to take several photos and watch the protective parents keep them safe.

Into the water they go......

By this time, I've turned the car around twice, and finallt decided I should just park. thankfully there's a new warehouse for lease right there, so I stopped in the lot for just a few minutes.

.....And back out the other side, right towards me. this is when i wish i had some bread. :) (and where I got lightly hissed at, hehe.

This shot is my absolute favorite. I did only a slight crop, to move them more off center. I do wish I had gotten a little more in the bottom of the frame, but their cute faces more than make up for the slight oversight. hehe

More Vacation Memories

As I mentioned in my previous post, the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory has much more than just butterflies & Moths. Top center: some kind of lizard (couldn't find it on the website), top right: Female Australian Stick Insect, left & center: Owl Butterfly, Bottom left: Akbar, a Senegal Parrot, and bottom center: the iguana. On the bottom right is a close-up of the nursery, where all the coccoons waiting to hatch are pinned up.

While Jeanne was jumping for joy, I was twirling about next to a small flower petal circle. Not sure of it's signifigance, but it was pretty.

Here's are several views of the area around Paradise Pond. clockwise from top left: tree from right side of Boat house, The island as seen from the tree, The flower grouping, and the boat house.

I can remember when I was much younger, they used to plow the whole pond in winter, around the island even, so ice skaters had plenty of space to move around. There was a sign hung in front of the boat house telling the thickness of the ice, and whether skating was allowed. We pulled each other around holding onto each others scarf, and probably spent as much time on our butts as we did skating. As I got older, and less people went there, they plowed a smaller and smaller area, and no longer went around the island at all. I can remember walking down the steps with my rubber blade guards on, and having hot cocoa with marshmallows when I got home afterwards. It all looks so much smaller than it did when I was a kid.