THE BACK YARD….

A few ….
before pix of the back yard…sometime this year I hope to do some “fixing up” of said back yard….This is looking thru the window in my craft/art room…rain drops on the window… it was raining and wind blowing that day …That little brown patch is where I want to have herb garden…it will be in pots as dad put weed killer on it and sorry to say I don’t think that it would be wise to plant in it…don’t think anything would grow…

One day when I first came to FL ..I was walking at the home park..and found a section of cactus about the size and shape if my hand I stuck it in a pot too see if it would grow and now 4 years later..it is about 8ft. tall and has a base of at least 6 in around…and many arms…and this year a ton of blooms…this pix is just one of the arms with blooms I want to show you..some are spent and some are just budding and coming out…don’t know what kind it is…anyone?

All his life…
My dad was a hunter and fisherman…total outdoors guy…when he moved to Florida he got rid of all his hunting gear…except these two duck decoy’s …they are in the back yard at the base of a palm tree…the other day I was sitting in my craft room and into the middle of the yard flew two female mallard ducks…they were looking at these male mallard decoys…and let me tell you the strutted or should I say waddled right  in that direction…they were women with a one track mind…it was so funny I could not take my eyes of them…when they got close they then made a circle around them keeping their eyes on them the whole time…they did this for about 5 min…then guess they figured they were dead beat ducks and flew off…I tried to get a good pic but too many shadows …but here are the decoys…and gezzz I did not notice until I was putting labels on this post and checking it for typos...there is what looks like a peanut in that air plant...good grief I am over being attack by run away peanuts!!

Well that’s it for the back yard for now…I have my frog garden to show you some time and will up date the herb garden…if it makes it thru the summer…going to ask dad to water but not sure he will…sometimes I am not sure what to post about on this blog…I am not sure I will even make it to  PA this year…I have had a couple incidents with my dad this winter…the last one a couple weeks ago ending up with …he will no longer be driving…I am really stressed out at this time..I pray and trust in Jesus …and try not to worry…I guess I should say “don’t worry” .. I better go for now thanks for looking and come back soon..
blessings to all G&M

QUILT STUFF….

After the fiasco ….
of the oil changing…I went directly over to JoAnne Fabric & Craft to a quilt block class I signed up for a few days before.. did not have time to even eat..The two girls next to the wall are fellow students and the lady in yellow is the teacher Aggie…

Hard at work…I forget their names…but they were a nice couple girls to play quilting with…my seat is beside the lady in the foreground.. you can see my cute little vintage sewing basket on the table…

This is the quilt block we made….this one is mine in pic below…I was so stressed out that I did not get it finished at the allotted class time…Aggie was telling us about her crafty church ladies that meet every Tues.  evening to work on various project that they have going..not a church project but something of their own…she invited me to come over and she would help me finish up…so that’s what I did…I also went the next week and took my baby quilt blocks I am working on for my new GGD…also on Wed. all day they work on items for the church bazar held every Nov. I think I will be joining that this week also…you bring stuff to make and donate the finished product to the bazar…I am still looking for a church to attend this might be the one…

This last year…
I have been thinking a lot about doing some sewing…I even broke out my 35 yr. old sewing machine…no luck with it seems to have died…so I went out and got one on sale at JoAnne’s..
My sister has been talking about a crazy quilt she is repairing for one of her girls…that made me want to check out a bag of material scraps I brought with me…(I have many more in PA) so found those and started to iron them so I would know what I have..

Some of these are a little on the old side could call them vintage…found on dotted blue swiss that I had made a blue dress for my DD back in the early 70’s when she and DS were in a Tom Thumb Wedding at the rec. center…she was the mother of groom and he was an usher..I will dig out some pix sometime and post…so cute…

Doing some …
laundry this AM…have ham bone in the crock pot for ham and bean soup…then at 5 I will go over to the church and craft with the ladies…so better get at it…
blessings to all G&M

A FLOWER KIND OF DAY….

It is a gray cloudy….
with rain in the forecast day…so I thought I might brighten up the day with some flowers…Here is Maggie on the front porch in PA hiding behind the roses…the porch is one thing I will miss when the house sells….thinking positive the house will sell….not sure what these will look like this year ….I really cut them back before I left…

And my beautiful vintage Holly Hocks… these were hiding when I moved here and they were dormant for over 30 years while I was in work mode…then when I retired I let them grow and I love how they turned out…but since I have been in Florida they are back in the dormant stage….I wonder if HH grow in Florida? These grow on both sides of my basement door …the main door I use…

And these are roses that my daughter had growing over her kitchen window…what a beautiful site while doing dishes at her home…but they are no longer…one winter the ice and snow broke them down…sad…

She woke up!!

And the rest of the story….
I guess this is a pretty lame blog..but I have free WiFi at Wickham CG so thought I needed to up load something….not traveling or camping there really is not much to blog about…I did stay last night here at the CG to do the tank thing but that is really not blogging material…the CG is only about 1/2 full…it was mostly empty when I drove thru on Tues. because of the music festival they had here last weekend…I expect it will not be that full again until the snowbirds come back ….I got the results of the ultrasound of my legs…I have bad veins in both legs…probably will need surg. at some point but Medicare says not now..have to do other things first….ware stockings, elevate legs, more exercise  etc, etc…first…so will do that…glad I know that I don’t have blood clot or something really bad like that… and all my blood work was very good that made me happy..I will keep on trying to eat better to keep it that way…guess I will hang around here until check out time then go look for a couple geocaches…they are still taking down the buildings and stuff from the festival…so the caching might not happen… will leave it here for now thanks for looking and come back soon…
blessings to all G&M

THIS & THAT…..

My strawberry short cake …
I ate at the festival last weekend…there is cake under all that….was good…but there is no strawberry like the ones up north in PA…homegrown…sorry Florida…..

This is a trail …
we took from the parking lot at the festival…I was thinking it would take me to the camp ground and I was right…

We also then took a walk around part of the main park…they were setting up for the Run Away Country music festival they were having this weekend…they put up this chain link fence around the main stage area…today I road by Wickham Park main gate and the whole place as far in as I could see was jam packed with RV’s all boondocking….the campground and park  was closed to the public,…only ticket holders could camp there or enter the park..….first come first serve…hence the boondocking ..this is one of two events they close the park to the public each year.…

Today Sat (22nd)….
I used dads car today and did a little exploring…I want to find some other day camp parks that Maggie and I can spend time at…I was looking at Google maps and seen some south on US-1 …while on the way I ran into this…..

but when we got out and checked it out..found it was more of a mini craft show…seen these cute Fairy Gardens…I have been wanting to make these for a couple years…

Click the pix to check out the details….

I talked to a couple of vendors and they said it was well attended each weekend and they did pretty good..only $20 a day or $30 for the weekend…this is something I might try and make some extra $$$ this next winter…they said lot of snow birds come every weekend…at this point in time I cant afford to set up at a reg. craft show…so this might be the answer for me…I did find some other parks along the intercostal water way that I plan on checking out…I will post pix and tell about them when I do….hopefully next week…as usual I am really tired of camp driveway ….looks like all my RV friends are on the road…happy for them but makes me sad …as it stands now I will be heading to PA…the middle of May or first of June depending on weather…I cant wait…on the medical front I have appointment on Monday morning to find results of test….I will leave it here for now…thanks for looking and come back soon…blessings to all G&M

FRESH–FLORIDA-GROUPER…..

After the kayaking….
We had worked up an appetite …Sarah and Sandy had been raving about this fresh grouper they had …so not ever eating grouper I wanted to find out what it was…So off to Crabby Bill’s Seafood Restaurant we went….

Walking up to the door I saw this sign…looked over at the parking lot…although it is not large…we were there in the middle of the day and it was far from full….

Then I looked on the other side of the sign…and saw this “limo golf cart”how cool is that…but it did make me wonder just how far they would come to pick you up…

I was glad to see the Fresh Florida Grouper sign! After all that is what we came for!!!

Sandy told us that they had up-ed the price since last week….it went up $3… but I wanted it anyway…so I got the dinner..grouper grilled, crispy fries and coleslaw..

And Sarah got an order of hushpuppies for us all to share…I think that is the first time for those for me also…MMMMM good!!!

Here is a pix of the three of us…some nice lady at the table beside us offered to take it…so we took her up on it…

 And the rest of the story..
There is not much going on now…I stopped for over night to empty my tanks at Wickham CG…then headed back to dads and camp driveway…doing laundry and other housekeeping chores…by the weekend hope to be sitting at home park or Wickham park..just to get out and about…well that’s it for now thanks for looking and come back soon ..blessings to all G&M

MONDAY MORNING KAYAKING….

ON MONDAY MORING…
Monday was a beautiful blue sky day…we decided to get the kayak in the water and go for a paddle…This little park is right around the corner from L&S Resort….along with a couple boat launches…ball field, play ground, picnic shelters….all the things these little Florida parks have for having fun…

Sandy got the kayak all aired up and we were off …while Sarah sat with the pups under a pavilion…They have a two person kayak…

The pix below was on the way from the boat ramp…going into the lake…

Just before heading out in the lake..it started to get a little rough….the wind was blow a good clip…and we could see a few white caps on the lake…I was not comfortable going any farther…

So we turned around and headed back the way we came and explored the area close to the ramp ..lots of lily pads and grasses that grow in the water…

It was pretty calm here but still had to paddle against the wind…I see lots of birds but could not get good pix…not fast enough and not a good camera…

Headed back to the ramp…I think after canoeing  with Soos and then kayaking in a two person Kayak…I like and do better in a single person water vessel…

Here is Sandy showing me how to deflate and pack up the Sea Eagle…it sure would be easier hauling around rather than  a hard body kayak….

After that…
We went to Crabby Bills ….and that and the rest of the afternoon …will be in the next post thanks for looking and come back soon…
blessings to all G&M

HANGING AROUND…

On Sunday….
there was a lot of hanging around….like all this moss on the Live Oak trees in the deep south…(Florida)…

I could walk around and look at all day…someone told me that it killed the trees…but have found out that it is an air living plant and not really attached to the trees…

And then there was this kind of hanging around…that is what we did all day at the L&S Resort…and Soos came by to visit before heading off to mow yard at her son’s place…Soos on left, Sarah and Sandy in back ground…

Some BBQ’ing …..
was also a good hanging around activity…Sandy below the BBQ master…

On the grill , hamburger, hot dog, sausage … to go along with that Linda made deviled eggs,I made some mac salad…if you look at the table we had plenty…in fact we no room for desert and had to eat that later…while we attempted to have a camp fire…

And the rest of the story….
I am really enjoying my stay with Linda and Sandy at their home…Sarah and I spent time in Melbourne then she went over to St Cloud to Linda/Sandy Resort and I followed the next day….it sure is relaxing out in the country…we can tool around doing stuff and then return to the cozy country retreat…my kind of life…anyway there is more to come…so thanks for looking and come back soon
blessings to all G&M

L & S RESORT …ST. CLOUD FL

Parked at …..
Linda and Sandy’s sisters from the WomenRV forum…Sarah is staying with them until they all leave for Rainbow Springs at the end of the week…they invited me to come and visit also..my rig in the foreground and Sarah’s in the back of pic below….
 The woods out back that I have looking out my door…just like a ST. Park!

On the side is what looks like a Christmas tree farm…not sure will have to ask..

And the rest of the story…
I got here in the afternoon on Friday…beautiful day as the next five or so days are to also be…up to 80 by Sun. They have have some hook ups for RV’s so not totally boondocking…we just hung around yesterday Linda had to work and Sandy had some paper work to do…we ate dinner together except Linda worked late…then was an early night I was tired…Today Sat. not sure what will go on Soos is going to try and come over for awhile..and tonight we hope to check out  the Dark Sky Festival…I will get a link for that and post next or you can Google it…it has something to do with star gazing… and saving the night sky from the light pollution…they have speakers…set up telescopes and a bunch of other stuff happening…sounds interesting to me…So will let you know later what it was all about…thanks for looking and come back soon..
blessings to all G&M

RV STORAGE MODS….

I was reading….
Barbara’s blog the other day and she had added some of these storage drawers to her RV…So I thought I might show you some photo’s of the ones I have and use…the one below is in the bedroom and I use it for undies,rolled up T-shirts, etc….this is a five drawer one with wheels….but they are not on at this time

The one below is a three drawer wheeled.. and holds my jewelry making stuff…it rides here bunged to the oven while traveling…then is moved to beside the dinette seat when the slide is out….

And this small three drawer unit sits on the bench beside me….this seat is mine and the other one is Maggie’s seat …and she really does not like others sitting in it…lol… this one I keep desk stuff in the top drawer and crafty stuff in the other two…about these drawers…how I came about getting them…I was wanting them for my art/craft room …and every time I went to a yard sale I would run into one…for $2 or less..and they all were in great shape…I brought them home scrubbed and hosed them off and they were ready to go…I got a total of 9 of them that year…I could not believe how many I was able to score….and now I hardly ever see them..let alone so cheap….

And on another mod note…
Here is another thing I made the other day…when I was a young girl…long time ago…I was in the Girl Scouts..a Brownie…I remember making something called a sit-apon not sure of spelling all these years later…anyway while camping and visiting at campgrounds I often find the picnic table seats wet…so I had this felt backed table cloth…and thought it would make a perfect sit-a-poon…so I made a couple also using white duct tape..they work great…I have more table cloth left so will make more….I folded the table cloth so they are double sided ..

The rest of today’s story…
Today Sunday…decided to say at the house today and get more things done…did 5 loads of laundry and cleaned up some yesterday..put roast in crock pot…and trimmed up a hedge along the side yard this morning …think I will play with some crafty stuff the rest of the day… so no more work …talked to my sister and she had some bad luck when she got home…she fell and pulled tendon in here knee and broke her shoulder…she doesn’t have to go the surg. routine just let everything heal on its own…if knee bothers her to much down the road…she might have surg. on it then…sending prayers her way…we have had some cool nights here but beautiful sunny warm days…the best weather ever…well all for now thanks for looking and come back soon…
blessings to all G&M

ALONG THE TRAIL….

On one of the two…
nice days we had at Hillsborough GTG…Soos and I went on a hike on one of the cool trails there…

At some points along the trail they had board walks over the more swampy areas….

After reading great blogs like Liz’s with all the wonderful photos …I have been trying to look at things like nature with a different eye…loved the moss and roots of this tree…

So while walking this trail with Soos I tried to capture some of the things I saw…look at the tiny ferns growing on this mossy tree….

And seen this downed mossy tree with green moss and a large fungi growing there…it truly was beautiful …but with my cheap-o camera I can not get the true beauty of it….this pix seems a little blurry..bummer…

And on another downed log…I found this orange/pumpkin colored moss…or is it called algae ….

And found this really neat Keebler tree…( a Keebler tree is an old interesting tree with nooks and crannies where elves live…

I really liked these exposed roots along the river…

Anyway I am trying to look at things in a new light…a new way of looking at life…took my sis to the airport yesterday..sad to see her leave….also got my jury duty deferred until I can see a doctor and get excuse…there is no way I can sit for more than 20 or 30 min at a time…need some other medical stuff done so guess it is time to find a doc…also going to change my eating habits…maybe if I announce it here I can do a better job than what I have been doing…I really would love to go Vegan…have been researching about better nutrition and eating healthy…I feel at my age I need to do this…get Cholesterol, HDL and LDL where they should be…Got my hair cut…thought I could go with long hair…NOT…made me look l like an old hag…so off it came….A little front coming thru thus AM and then back to some sun shine….may take the RV and go over to Wickham …that is when the laundry is all done…thanks for looking and come back soon
blessings to all G&M