14 August 2011

A trip to St. Augustine

When the girlfriends and I took a short trip to Daytona Beach, Florida back in June we also took a little side trip to St. Augustine, Florida.  It is about 40+ or so miles north of Daytona, so when we were rained out I suggested a quick trip there since it looked like they were not going to get any rain.  Wrong.  Well, we made the most of it even though we did not get to see as much as we wanted.
A little background history on St. Augustine, Florida first thanks to the Wikipedia. It was founded in 1565 by a Spanish explorer and Admiral, and it is the oldest continuously occupied European city and port in the continental US.
So, amidst the thunder and lots of lightening, here are the photos, and since I was dodging lightening so to speak I can't really tell you what all of these places are unless there is a sign in the picture.  We plan on making a trip back down there sometime as it is a really cool place to visit with all of the old history associated with it.



I believe this is some sort of school



This is the area where you can walk along the shops in the old town section.  Lots of interesting things here.
As we were walking through the old town we could hear the old style blue/jazz music and singing.  This restaurant/bar had the music piped outside so you could listen to him sing and play. According to the pizza guy next door the restaurant owner happened upon Charlie Brown playing and singing underneath the big Lions Bridge.  The rest is history.  He gave Charlie Brown a job playing in his bar, and let me tell you, that man can sing! We could have stayed there for most of the evening!






I love this red fountain!


One of my favorite photos

So, if you ever make it to Florida, and would like to see one of our oldest cities, I would highly recommend St. Augustine.  Oh, and one of the best places to eat? Saltwater Cowboy!  Down a little road on the edge of a marsh.

08 August 2011

Natural Botox & What Not To Do In The Summer

Ok, so I know it has been a while since I have fallen off the face of blog land yet what a summer this has been, and not in a good way either. Oh, it started out quite nicely.  We put raised beds in a new garden area.  All of the plants I started from seed were happy (or so I say they were) to have fresh, compost, mulch dirt that we worked so hard on.  I have a water faucet right next to the garden so it could be watered every day.  I never gave a thought to the extreme heat along with the extreme humidity to just totally make me feel like crying over a plant.  Sad, but true.
An escape from the heat resulted in my neighbor girlfriend along with another friend heading down to Daytona Beach, Florida for a short girls trip.  No kids, grandkids, husbands, just us girls.  It- rained- every- day.  Two to three hours of sunshine except for the last day then we had 5 hours of sunshine.
I finally got a laptop although I still like my old hard drive that I use in the office.  Put a password on it, thought about writing it down, went to the beach, came back, could not remember my password. Had to get  help, boy did I feel stupid!
One thing with this heat though, the grass isn't growing very much.  We have only cut our grass about four times so far this summer.  So one weekend I decided we were going to get everything trimmed, cut, etc.  My uncle and cousin are here from Germany (they are leaving tomorrow after over a month of being here), so I wanted everything to look real nice for them.  Our son and son-in-law came to help us with all of the work.  I was the one with the wheelbarrow, picking up branches, digging, and so on when I pulled the wheelbarrow back after dumping and it dropped on my big toe.  Oh the pain! Black and blue it was and still is, but as I was sitting there on the ground everyone went about their work.  Never noticed me.
Hubby was busy cutting grass with the riding lawn mower.  After everyone had left hubby comes walking up to me fanning himself with his hat.  Boy, it sure is hot out here.  Yes, it is.  It's extremely hot out here he said. Then I take a good look at him.  What in the world happened to your t-shirt?! So the story goes....
Being as it was so hot hubby takes off his t-shirt and tucks it into the back of his shorts.  Nothing new, guys normally do that.  So as he was riding along he starts smelling smoke.  He slows down, looks at the lawn mower, no, no smoke.  He keeps going, smoke gets stronger, looks around to the back. Blank, Blank, I'm on fire! From his bumpy ride his t-shirt apparently got too close to the engine!
 

The front looks just as bad. Motto - Never tuck your t-shirt into the back when riding the lawn mower!
Another weekend we were sitting outside enjoying a cool one under the trees just chatting away, and my actually playing with the new laptop.  I had mixed a sprite in with my cool one which can be very refreshing.  I had gotten up to do something, came back, picked up my glass, and voila! Instant natural botox! I had not one, but two of our bees swimming around in my drink.  One made it into my mouth on the side.  More slight pain (not as bad as the wheelbarrow). I can't blame the bees as it has been so hot that they have been going after whatever they can find. Plus, I did the dumb thing, never looked before I took a sip, but I do now! Hubby laughed as he watched one side then the other side slowly swell up.  I thought I looked like one of those cartoon characters or hey! even a famous movie star!

What's a girl to do?  I know, go to the beauty parlor for a haircut!  Here we are, my daughter and I after our haircut which we were very fortunate to get as our hairdresser can be pretty booked up.  This photo, by the way, was after my natural botox !  

 
Yes sirree, this has been the summer of what not to do.
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