Grater lady.
I've been looking at these forever. This one showed up on the marked down, marked down, marked down counter.

Christmas at Nature Coast Botanical Gardens.
Pam lives near here so we took an afternoon walk and voted for our favorite tree. The Asian motif was at the top of both of our lists. So was the yellow ribbon tree by and elementary school. The ribbons were wooden and students had printed the names and relations of family in wars. Some had full names. Some had dates. My favorite simply read "Grandpa".

Cadence goes camping.

Well, maybe soon. Here she is at her "stove". There were lots of accessories too buy I think they escaped my eagle photographic skills. Note the glow under the skillet. It gurgles and splashes to sound like coffee is perking and bacon if frying.

Cadence loves to cook and bake, especially bake, with Grandma.

Here are two additions to up the ante in her toy kitchen.Doing the Play Doh thing.

Cady and Daddy have a strong Lego bond.

Happy birthday Dot.

I'm so glad Annette had a camera and a plan to get a photo.We had brunch, mimosas and Nellie and Sophie's Paradise Torte. It was good a day with good friends.

(Dot, Tootie, Sandy, Elizabeth, Deborah, Marion, and Annette...Melinda was taking the pix.)

Origami Christmas tree forest.

It's a start anyway. I was having a sad moment so to cheer me up Keith taught me how to make these.

Annual Quates party.

Always a perfect party. Great food, great friends, great house, and a great big buck...you hunters know what I mean. It's a great time of the year. EmmettJuliaThe treeThe deer. OK, I forgot to get a picture of that one.

Not one but TWO dinosaurs.

The road to (and from) Pam's house is littered with cool stuff not the least of which are TWO dinosaurs.
And one manatee.

The birds needed a bath.

Step one. Buy junk you love but don't need and can't quite figure out what to do with; like this bronze ball or this old glass ceiling lamp shade which looks darn close to one we had in the Bradenton Florida room once upon a time. Or candle holders you already have too many of.

Step two. E6000, what did we ever do before that came along.

Step three. Drag out those old vases sitting under the sink.

Step four. Glue. Glue. Glue. And a birdbath will appear.

Sheila's family cookie exchange.

In true Pam style she called at 3 to find out the party started at 4. There was also the matter of the hour drive so no matter how you calcuate we were already officially late. Whatever, we still had to bake and decorate and get ourselves party ready so we were hours from departure.

The nighttime trip across the bridge was beautiful as always but NO ONE seems to know a turn signal indicator means please let me over. We missed our exit because of it and had to turn around which mean going back over the bridge and then another exit and turn and back onto the bridge for the third crossing of the evening.

Sheila's family loves Pam (and her dogs) so no big deal that we were late. They even like me because I took Pandora when Aunt Pat could no longer keep her. This is Sheila...not Aunt Pat. There was sangria, tex-mex and a chiminea fire because, doggone it, it was only 80+ degrees with 90% humidity but it's December and celebrate in December style we will, weather be danged. Oh yeah, and there were cookies.

Let's have a yard sale.

Bright and early. The weekend before Christmas? Yep, that's Pam's schedule.
Only she would think of it but she did pretty well especially with the surprise shopper. He made the day profitable indeed. Here's a sampling of the junk...er, I mean, treasures.

Meteor showers.

Is there a better way to enjoy the night sky? I think not. The show was pretty darn spectacular. If you missed it try again on January 4th. It won't be as good as last night but it will still be nice.

The one I long to see is the Persieds. Problem is that no matter how good the meteor shower is supposed to be the rain showers always beat it out. August is hurricane peak here in Florida. I've driven into the Everglades (where, really, the lights of Miami/FtL still won out) and out to Paynes Prairie and sat in my own backyard. If it is not raining it is usually getting ready to rain. The sky is just not friendly enough in this part of the country to let me enjoy the show.

Maybe I'll head north next August.

Webcam for Em.

My beloved godson Emmett LOVES penguins so this one is for him. Thanks to Jeremy for this one.

Ox and lamb??

Sheep and donkey? This is the nativity in my office.
Three or four years ago Emmett (alligator) and Julia (dinosaur) added their touch.

Last year Emmett gave up one of his juggling penguins to the cause.

Final product.

Christmas shoes.

Tuba Christmas.

It's a darn good friend who will ride two hours each way to hear 100 tubas playing an hour of carols.

"Deadhead" tuba guy.

Gardening.

At the end of the driveway in my old yard was an enormous native Lantana bush. Each evening when I drove in the birds and butterflies would fly out, think about it, and fly back in. It was consistently one of the best parts of my day. So I plucked a few stems and started them here. One is already in the yard and doing well.

I also have one in a pot... to transplant to the backyard. The other pot has my beloved calla lily that blooms one a year and once. Yeah, once. One flower. That's it. And it's a beauty. I think there might be a little lemongrass and rosemary to transplant as well. I'll wait for Michael's visit to figure all that out. He's the expert on when and where.

Michaels tree. So named because he gripped a stem from Kanapaha, took it home and got it started, and gave it to me to plant back in it's native state. I moved this from the old yard too. It's doing good. Soon pale pink flowers will appear.

Pam convinced me NOT to move my gardenias, figs, and lemongrass since the new people would enjoy them and I could start again. I drove by and they ripped it all out. The yard is naked. I did get some pine cone ginger so that will line the side of the driveway in year or two.

PLiBtNL (1st Saturday night of every month)

Pot Luck is Better than No Luck. Andy's has this party every first Saturday night of the month. There is often a theme involved.

Entertaining guests. Good food. Excellent fire; thanks to Marshall. Get it? Fire Marshall? No really, his name is Marshall.

Next time there will even be photos.

Christmas has started.

It was something like the 109th annual Christmas tea party in the forest. That's what they say; that they live in the forest. It was, actually and unexpectedly, impressive. Those old ladies can bake. There were tea sandwiches and cookies and punch AND tea and coffee poured in true tea style from silver tea services by old ladies. And the hall was decked out beautifully. I should have taken pictures. Next year.

Tuesday was the secret DHP party. That's all I can say or I'd have to kill you. No pictures allowed.

Come visit North Central Florida's largest indoor craft show.

Their words, not mine. It is big but this year was not as big, or as good, as it has been in the past. We still managed to spend a few bucks. I did very well; bought a huge gourd that is black and carved. We ate Backyard BBQ and shopped some more. It's in the O'Dome; view looking down from the second floor.

Pat and Tari post shopping frenzy.


Purchase of the day.