Monday, February 3, 2025

Best Shot Monday: Spotted - Shadows

 

Happy Monday! Doesn't this photo make you want to loosen up your shoulders and deep breathe out all your cares? Something much needed these days! I took this photo a few weeks back from our dock in Jacksonville and decided to use it for my blog friend Hanna's Spotted Photo Theme Challenge. I'm a bit late (nothing new around here!), so January's theme was shadows. See how you can see the shadows of the clouds reflected on the water below? 

Being able to take this photo again was a momentous occasion for us as our dock has been inaccessible since Hurricane Nicole in November of 2022. The dock was damaged during Hurricane Irma in 2017 when high flood waters destroyed quite a few docks along our part of the river, and 12 of them, yes 12!, ended up in our backyard due to the flow of the tides and winds. Those docks took out our dock as well (and the water left us a foot of water in the ground floor of our house, but that's a story for another day). We were able to repair the dock after Irma, but storm after storm every year since really took a toll on her and Nicole finally did her in. It took us two years just to secure a dock builder - if you are in the Jacksonville area, that's clearly the line of work to go into as all the ones here can't keep up with the work - and another 8 months before he finally showed up and did the work. But at least she's finally usable again. I've missed hanging my feet over the side and watching the sun rise (as in this photo) or set (opposite side of the dock!). 

We've been here in our little spot on the river since 2000, but we bought the lot in 1994, way back before this side of town was "discovered" (let's just say we could definitely not afford to purchase here now). The dock was the first thing we built. One night shortly after the dock was done, my husband and I were sitting out there watching the world go by when a mama and baby dolphin spy-hopped up to take a peek at us literally less than 8 feet from the dock. It was truly a magical moment. We both set there in silence hoping they'd come back, and then finally I said, "Well, that was worth the cost of the mortgage right there." And we're blessed with dolphins swimming by pretty much every day now. #countingmyblessings

Friday, January 24, 2025

Paint Pours and Long Stitches

 
I created this book with the help of a friend ... well, two friends actually! I learned the book structure from Ali Manning as part of my Handbook Book Club membership. It's a variation on a long stitch that I added to a bit to sew the spine covering to the book a bit more. 

But let's talk about that beautiful cover!  It's made from a paint pour that a sweet family friend created. She was looking to find a home for several she did and I told her I'd be happy to purchase them from her as long as she was happy with them possibly becoming books! And she loved the way this came out!  I've made two of these so far with Hannah's paint pours and I plan to create a few more with this stitch as I feel it fits perfectly! The finished size is 5 x 7" and it's filled with Canson Mixed Media paper for a variety of uses. It'll be on my website next time I get around to an update!

 

For me, this is an example of thinking outside the box, and it's made me look at other "old paintings looking for new homes" in a different light. I LOVE wandering through antique stores and thrift stores, and I often look for old books needing a new life in those places. Now I'll be looking at old paintings a little differently as well! So many things in thrift stores end up in the landfill, so why not rescue what I can to give it new life. Of course, I can spend hours going down the rabbit hole of watching furniture flips, so ... who knows! That could be in my future when I retire!

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Who Knew This Could Happen? A Snow Day in Florida!

So if you've been watching the weather news in the United States, you may have seen that the Southeast is experiencing record cold ... and record snow! This is the view off my front porch in Tallahassee, FLORIDA, at about 8:30am this morning. As I write this now, while the snow on the street has mostly melted and is now turning into ice now that the sun is starting to set, the snow in my front and back yards is still holding strong!  All the schools in the Florida panhandle were closed today and have announced that they will remain closed tomorrow, some through Friday.

The snow and sleet in some areas started at about 5pm yesterday afternoon and was pretty much non-stop until 2am or 3am early this morning. I could not get my pups to go out last night before bed, and when I took them out this morning, they did their usual "run out with full gusto" but then quickly hit the brakes when they hit the snow! It was something they'd never seen before, like most Floridians! They eventually settled in and have enjoyed playing outside off and on today, though they have definitely wanted to come in sooner than normal. It's cold even to them!

Thankfully we've stayed off the road, as have my daughters who've sent me videos of them sledding down the hill just outside their back door at their apartment complex across town! My husband just got rain in Jacksonville, but still very cold! This is will definitely be a day for the history books in Florida so I wanted to record it here!   

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

A Reading Goal for 2025

As I get back to regular blogging, one of the things I plan to share here are my reads. I love to read and am in an online book club with a group of my sorority sisters. We started it during the pandemic, and it's blossomed from there. The group has even gone to the Savannah Book Festival together, and I'm excited to make that trip this February! The photo above includes all but one of the books I read in 2024. I finished number 31 on New Year's Eve after I pulled this graphic together! If I get super ambitious, I may back post my reviews from 2024 that I posted on Instagram. We'll see!

And below, ta da, is one of my big reading goals for 2025: War and Peace! I learned of a slow read of War and Peace here from my friend Hanna and decided to give it a shot. I even have a few friends joining me! The book is about 1,350 pages and 361 chapters, divided into four sections. For the slow read, we are reading one chapter a day, taking a day off between each section, getting us to the end of the year. I'm reading my chapter over breakfast since I read my book club reads before bedtime. It's not too late to join in since the chapters are pretty short! Drop me a note in the comments if you plan to join in! What do you like to read?  



Sunday, January 5, 2025

Sunday Gratitude: Traditions

 

One of our Christmas traditions is to take the dogs to hike the Black Rock Beach trail on Big Talbot Island on Christmas morning - tides allowing! Occasionally we'll have to go later in the day if the tide is too high in the morning. It's our Christmas present to the pups. We've been doing this since the girls were little, before they could even walk the dogs! But since they've gotten big enough to walk them, I've taken a photo like the one above. The pups have changed over the years - I wished they lived longer - and the girls have gotten quite a bit taller, but today, on this Sunday Gratitude day - I'm so grateful we have kept up this tradition. My girls are 21 now, and I know these days are precious as they continue to get older. Have a favorite holiday tradition of your own? Drop me a note in the comments!