today's photos..

It was a chilly start to the day, but once the sun came out it was very nice. I headed to St Augustine for the morning, and had a lot of photo oportunities. I heard at least 3 or 4 foreign languages as well: Italian, Spanish and French..and those were just the ones I recognized!

As the sun was coming up over the very heavy cloud on the horizon, the fog/mist started to lift on the river. This ship just screamed Pirates to me, dunno why. Maybe it was the way the sails hung, or the fog, or both! :)

I had lunch in this small Spanish Bakery: an Empanada, a roll, a cookie, and a can of lemonade for $5.50! It was delicious, too. After I was done there I picked up a birthday present for a dear friend. *hehe*
While walking down the street I heard some accordian music, and got a quick photo of the one man band! We tried to get someone to take our pic for me, but the gentleman we asked refused, so I just took it myself.

On the way home I stopped at the beach quick, and it was very windy and cold. I almost got killed by a kite crashing down near me. And for some ungodly reason, there was a surfing contest going on! BRRRR!

I thought about walking on the pier, but not with the way that wind was blowing. My ears were near frozen.

Back home I went to do some laundry and feed the Master and myself some dinner.

Something Like Normalcy..

Hooray! I actually managed to visit the Riverside Arts Market yesterday. Parking was a challenge due to Toyota and their awesome Farm to Table promotion. They paired local farms with local restaurants and in addition to offering (delicious) foodie samples, and promoting the Hybrid models in their automotive line, you could also take a test drive. They handed out passports at the entrance to the market and as you got samples, they stamped it. Once you got at least 3 stamps (I had 7) you could get a free herb. I waited until I was ready to leave so I didn't have to carry it, and chose a nice basil.

Due to the heavy traffic and hard time I had parking, I stopped at one of the little parks nearby to see what was hanging out in the "pond", and kill some time. I saw a roseate spoonbill, among other water fowl types. There was also a "Pet Blessing" going on, seen in the photo in the lower left. Lots of furry pets about.

Out in the St John's River the fish were really jumping. Several boats stopped to watch, and there was a few people at the rails watching as well, probably wishing they were out fishing. :)

After all those healthy samples, I had what I'd been craving for a couple weeks, a beignet and an iced coffee. Yum!

At left is my dessert, the plant wagon and the stamped passport. The dish is pickled beets with goat cheese. And like all the other samples before it, it was delicious.

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*

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!