Holiday this and that {page 1 of 3}

Oh. We had barely moved in. Not settled by any stretch of the imagination, but we were in. Then the holidays were upon us. Daughter to visit. Presents to buy. Tree to decorate. Cookies to make. Here are some photos from the last couple of weeks. Snippets of this and that.

We, meaning Nikki and I, went to the Gulf Breeze Flea Market. Always an experience. This time Santa was roaming the aisles, much to Nikki's delight. He really had a beautiful red velvet cape. One of the best I've seen. Even though I caught a grumpy appearance, he was a bit on the jolly side.

Happy daughter grumpy santa




"She asked me when the season of joy was supposed to end & I said I didn't really think there was an exact date, so we left the tree up till June that year." ¸.•*´¨`♥ StoryPeople



"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Albert Camus

This man was painting with spray paint. I guess you would call it air brushing. He had quite an audience. His music was pounding away and he worked with the beat of the music.

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Scott Adams


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Holiday this and that {page 2 of 3}

"There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Jane Austen



"Clarity, clarity, surely clarity is the most beautiful thing in the world..." ¸.•*´¨`♥ George Oppen

We made it to Bagelheads on more than one occasion. It is a wonderful little coffee shop on the bay.


Enjoying their coffee fishermen?



"Good order is the foundation of all things." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Edmund Burke


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Holiday this and that {page 3 of 3}

Nikki is always happy to be at Bagelhead's.

"Beauty is power; a smile is its sword." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Charles Reade

One day I just took a couple of photos at home. It was rainy and I needed a change.

"You may go into the field or down the lane, but don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden." ¸.•*´¨`♥ (Peter Rabbit's mother) Beatrix Potter



"Goodness is the only investment that never fails." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Henry David Thoreau



"Those who labour in the earth are the chosen people of God ." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Thomas Jefferson


The last three were at home. I have the little Peter Rabbit pot on my kitchen window with a Maidenhair fern growing in it. The little Bonsai is in my living room window. The last is another of the fern.

Holiday spirit

Just a couple of images from my house. Part of our Christmas. I will probably take more, but here are these.

"All right, you're a reindeer. Here's your motivation: Your name is Rudolph, you're a freak with a red nose, and no one likes you..." ¸.•*´¨`♥ The Grinch



"Love is like the wild rose-briar; Friendship like the holly-tree" ¸.•*´¨`♥ Emily Bronte

Monet Monet

My last post was about our Seaside trip. This is a little part of that trip that deserved it's own place in the sun. Monet Monet, a spectacular re-creation of Claude Monet’s home and garden in Giverny, France.

We last saw it about 10 years ago...almost to the day. We happened upon it on a trip to Seaside. They were having a festive holiday party which we were lucky enough to stumble upon. The gardens were breathtaking. The lights. The fountains. The gardens. The chocolate desert that haunts me to this day.

D went back at a later time and bought me a beautiful hand made plate. This is not just any plate. It has dogwood blooms artfully painted on a rough, yet gentle, pottery. It is a soft forest green and the flowers are an aged white with a muted yellow center. The edges of the plate are anything but straight...they curve and swirl with the potters imagination. I adore this plate. It is now hanging over my kitchen window.

So, we were delighted to find Monet Monet again. But, alas, it has changed hands. It is now a jewelery store. A very artsy one. But no festive party. No chocolate desert. No glittery lights. But, while walking in the gardens, which the owner so graciously let us do, I could see the magic that I felt that night so many years ago.

Monet Monet mailbox




Fountain girl still beautiful




She stands by the tree waiting for the party




Gate to the house old and rusty



A pic for Nikki
She wanted a shot...but it was getting really dark

A day trip to Seaside {Page 1 of 5}

We took a day trip to Seaside, FL. It is such a fun place to visit. And it has been over 10 years since I've been there last. Exciting.

We started out lunching at Floyd's in Destin. It is a crowd pleaser...always. While waiting for our food I walked around the area outside the resturant and took these photos.

"A city has values as well as slums, excitement as well as conflict a personality that has not yet been obliterated by its highways and gas stations." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Charles Abrams



"Fame lost its appeal for me when I went into a public restroom and an autograph seeker handed me a pen and paper under the stall door" ¸.•*´¨`♥ Marlo Thomas



Some were taken inside. The one above and the one below. The one below was at the Sushi bar.

"You can't go anywhere without having a sushi bar. I think it's right behind McDonald's" ¸.•*´¨`♥ Sang Woo

Eventually we arrived at Seaside. There were many shops to explore. Lots of pretty things to take pictures of.

"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Henry David Thoreau



Of course, there was the beach. With clear blue water. Clear blue skies.

"My river runs to thee: Blue sea, wilt welcome me?" ¸.•*´¨`♥ Emily Dickinson


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A day trip to Seaside {Page 2 of 5}

This was a tower on one of the boardwalks out the the ocean.

"Many, many steeples would have to be stacked one on top of another to reach from the bottom to the surface of the sea." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Hans Christian Andersen

This is the view from that boardwalk. Really cold. Rather forlorn. At least at that moment to me.

"Spring, summer, and fall fill us with hope; winter alone reminds us of the human condition." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

D said I needed to take a picture of these chairs...winter in Florida. So I did. Winter in Florida.

" The color of springtime is in the flowers, the color of winter is in the imagination." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Ward Elliot Hour

This little view was just a little glimpse I saw between buildings while taking a walk. Loved it.

"May you live all the days of your life." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Jonathan Swift


A beautiful chandelier outside one of the shops.

"Just as iron rusts from disuse, even so does inaction spoil the intellect." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Leonardo da Vinci


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A day trip to Seaside {Page 3 of 5}

A path down to the beach. Surrounded by dune fences. I love the dune fences. Much better than snow fences :-)

"Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail" ¸.•*´¨`♥ Ralph Waldo Emerson


Walking back from the beach I saw these boats neatly stacked behind a building. I was caught up in all the color.

"The true harvest of my life is intangible - a little star dust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched" ¸.•*´¨`♥ Henry David Thoreau

Another sign from Floyd's.

We be open...


Always bikes aplenty at Seaside.

"Think of bicycles as rideable art that can just about save the world." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Grant Petersen

What a neat little place to stay. All tucked up in the trees.

"Hark, 'tis the sparrows' good-night twitter / About your cottage eaves!" ¸.•*´¨`♥ Robert Browning


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A day trip to Seaside {Page 4 of 5}

A display at one of the little Seaside shops.

"Some people like to paint pictures, or do gardening, or build a boat in the basement. Other people get a tremendous pleasure out of the kitchen, because cooking is just as creative and imaginative an activity as drawing, or wood carving, or music." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Julia Child

The grocery store. You may have seen it in the movie "Truman."

"The grocery store is the great equalizer where mankind comes to grips with the facts of life like toilet tissue." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Joseph Goldberg

Sorry. This one is from Floyd's also. No rhyme or reason as to how I post them. It is all chance.

"You must love this country more than I love a cold beer on a hot Christmas morning." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Homer Simpson

Another from Floyd's Sushi bar.

"What is true by lamplight is not always true by sunlight." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Joseph Joubert

Outside Floyd's.

"Always give a little more than you promise." ¸.•*´¨`♥ The Studebaker Brothers


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A day trip to Seaside {Page 5 of 5}

An outdoor bar. But not open. I just meandered about taking some empty bar shots.

"I like all the chairs to talk to one another..." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Mario Buatta

Another at the bar...

"I have heard him assert, that a tavern chair was the throne of human felicity" ¸.•*´¨`♥ Samuel Johnson

The side door to Floyd's.
Door... and window



As we left, D stopped so I could take this shot. Blurrier than I like, but it gives you the general idea. Simply beautiful

Sunset at Seaside

Old and new

It has been awhile since I've posted. There is a reason. The move. I put my camera away and dug in. Now it is pretty much done...boxes packed, moved and unpacked. There are final touches to be done, pictures to be hung, probably things to paint. But, I have my camera out again! Here is the last picture I took from our dock at the condo.

"The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


My first camera outing after the move was to J.W. Renfroe Pecan Company. They had candy. Pretty much that is all I could think about.

"Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart." ¸.•*´¨`♥ Erma Bombeck




"The jelly - the jam and the marmalade, And the cherry-and quince-"preserves" she made!" ¸.•*´¨`♥ James Whitcomb Riley



I was slow on the snapping, cause I only got a couple that I liked. But it is a start!

Our new home

This is the reason I haven't taken a photo in over a month. I can hardly believe it! I can't believe that it has been that long since I picked up my camera, nor can I believe that we actually finally got this house.

We looked at this house when our thoughts of moving to the Pensacola area was in it's infancy and happily it was back on the market when we were ready to buy.

As far as the photography goes, I just have not had time. I have been cleaning, painting, scraping, trimming, and laying new floors. It has occupied every spare minute, so I knew that I just couldn't take any photos for the sheer joy of it. I love photography so much...but it simply had to take a back seat until we at least get moved into our new home. Which will happen next weekend. (I'm supposed to be packing now...ahem.) This is my last little batch of photos I had in the archives waiting to be put up. So until I get out and about with life in general again (not remodeling and such)...this is it.

The following photos were taken right after we closed on the house. I went over alone (D had a class he had to hurry on to) and just absorbed it all. And, of course, took pictures.

Second floor balcony Love the sun



I'm envisioning wonderful comfy chairs, a little table, and lazy Sunday mornings drinking coffee with my sweetie. It's like living in a tree house on this porch. I can almost touch our live oak in the front yard. The dappled sunlight and birds singing is so peaceful.


Front
...porch and balcony



This shows the front of the house. You can't see it very well in this photo, but on the front porch, to the right, is a sweet little porch swing. One of my favorite places in the whole house! It brings back such wonderful memories of my Aunt Effie's front porch. We spent hours and hours on her swing. I loved it as a child. And I love it now.


Our tree I <3 our tree


I fell in love with this tree immediately. Love at first sight. Every time I walk by it, I either hug it, pat it, speak to it or all of the above. It makes me giddy with delight. Yes. it has turned me into a tree hugging hippie. (OK...I always was. It just made it more evident to those around me.)


Can't help myself It is beautiful



Front yard ...in all it's glory



This is the front yard and a nice view of the house. I love all the plants and the shade. It makes me happy. Happy. Happy.