POTD - Palm Shadows

POTD - Palm Shadows

This was an interesting spot along the beach between Ponte Vedra and St. Augustine in Florida.  This was one of the only spots on the hills where you could see sand.  I wonder why?  (I'm always wondering)  Since there wasn't any ground cover, the shadows of the palm trees were visible in the brilliant sunshine. 

Enjoy!
Kristin

The Beach

I talk about the beach quite a bit because I live near it, vacation near one at times and well, you all seem to like it!  It's also an easy place to go when I'm out of ideas of where to go to take photos.

I've been wanting to gather a bunch of these little shells at this specific beach for over a year now.  Today as I was leaving the Mayo Clinic (I was visiting a friend who just got a liver transplant) I decided that today was the day by golly.

I drove all the way down to this beach, 20 miles or so from home, when I realized that I didn't have a bag in the car.  I swore I put one in the back, but nope, I was mistaken.

On the way out I stopped at our mailbox and got the mail.  Thankfully my husband received a T-shirt that was enclosed in one of those waterproof envelopes.  Sorry honey, I opened your mail, I had to!

He totally would have done that to me.

Do unto others as you know they would do to you.

Isn't that the way it goes?

By the way, I just love the photo above.

The sea oats gives height to the picture, as well as foreground interest and the umbrellas low in the opposite corner draw your eye to the other side with a punch of color.  I wish there was a cloud in the sky over the water, but they were mostly over the land today. 

This is the beach area.  Down by the water it is sandy, but up on the ledge it's all shells. 

It's such a pretty area.

  All along the beach I saw parts of the beach sectioned off in triangles.   They were in different locations along the beach, too.  Some up high near the green and others down in the sand.

Turns out that these are turtle nests.  We're not supposed to disturb them, so I didn't  :)  I hope that my photo taking didn't disturb them.

Not a lot of people on the beach today, but I'm not surprised, it was late afternoon and it was hot out. 

I wanted clouds in at least one water shot, so that's why I included this one :)

If someone comes to visit me in Jacksonville, I will take you to this spot, if it's not raining. 

Isn't this just a lovely spot?  Since Florida is soooo flat, I really do get very excited whenever I see hill!  But this area really is fabulous.  Love the three palm trees at the tippy top on the left.  They have a great view, huh?

This was going to be my photo of the day for tomorrow, but I it really needed to be here.  It's the whole reason I went to this beach.  I didn't arrange anything either.  The sticks and shells were all naturally placed.  The main color in the shells is orange, but I noticed that there's a lot of purple in the shells, too.  Purple and orange really do go together.

Maybe that will be my next decorating scheme.

Maybe.

I'll have to talk to Yellow and Burgundy though as they've been my paint color choices in the last few houses.  Not sure if they'll give up their reign quite that easy.





Hope you have a great day and that you've enjoyed Sundays in my City.
Please go on and take a look at who else has joined in over at Unknown Mami.

Kristin

POTD - My sunset view

POTD - My sunset view

Something happened to the fountains in the little puddle between my condo community and the Publix shopping plaza.  We had an electrical storm the other day and after the lights flickered a few times I looked out the window to see if the lights were on in the strip mall and I noticed that the fountains were not working. It's been a few days and the fountains are still off.  Bummer for all of us, because  I bet it's going to cost a pretty penny to fix them, but cool because I can see the reflections in the water. 

Enjoy!
Kristin

Polaroids

I found my Polaroid camera a few months back.  It'd been hiding in a box in my garage for a couple of years.   Today, however, I noticed that I still had a few Polaroids left.  It had long since expired, but I thought I'd see what it'd look like.

I set up my friend, the kitty twine holder, and took a few glamor shots.  I had the kitty squarely in the center of the lens when I took this photo and yet its poor kitty head is totally chopped off.  I think the photographer needs some practice.

I tried another one, a bit further away.  You can clearly see the red stripe running through the center of the photo.  That was about the only color in the photo.  Clearly the film expired and the correct color properties have long since faded. 

I still have a few more photos in the camera and a whole pack of film that I found in my filing cabinet a few weeks ago.  I'll have to see what comes of that :)

Even though Polaroid is no longer producing film for their cameras, The Impossible Project is up and running and film is once again being produced.  I may have to get a pack or two and experiment. 

Hope you have a great day!
Kristin

POTD - Red Cross

POTD - Red Cross

When walking along Jacksonville Beach you can't help but notice the bright white building with the large red cross on it's sides.   The Red Cross Station is somehow quite beautiful.  It's quite a comfort knowing it's there, too.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Friday Fragments

Hello Friday!

Oh how I've missed my Friday Fragging friends. The past two Thursday nights have been crazy insane and busy (and fun!) as I was getting ready to go away and then I was away. I love vacations, but it sure is good to get home again.

Thanks to Mrs. 4444 of Half Past Kissing Time for getting so many incredible bloggers together for some fun and interesting fragments.  She is just a wonderful host.  Thanks so much Mrs. 4444.  Thank you! 

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You know it's got to be a legitimate offer if the sender of the email is named "Perfectly Legal."

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I love these two commercials from Geico.   They make me laugh as soon as I see the commercial starting. 

I crack up when he tosses the kleenex box.  What a hoot!!

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A few weeks back my niece asked me to send her a card, a purple card. I've been looking all over for a purple card and I am seriously getting discouraged. I'm going to have to make one at this rate.

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I love tutorials and tonight I was searching around for a specific tutorial (couldn't find it and not telling - not yet anyway)  but I did find a blog that specializes in tutorials.  It's called Totally Tutorials.  It looks to be updated on a daily basis and has a search box and labels so you can find a subject matter that interests you.  I'm excited to dive into that site and see what's there.  Maybe I'll even write a tutorial! 

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This is me, taking my picture in a mirror, with giant, waxy, smoochy lips.  If you'd like to look at the photos of the shenanigans with my friends and the red lips, please go ahead and read the post "A Nice Pair of Lips,"  it's a hoot!

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You really need to be talented to hurt your thumb while holding a plate.  Seriously.  I was holding my dinner plate, while sitting on the couch of course,  I reached for something and the plate started to tip.  I used my thumb to grab onto the rim to keep it from tipping.   I felt a little twang of pain for a second but really didn't think too much about it.  However, it's now been a month and the tendons, ligaments, muscles, bones, whatever it is still hurts quite a bit.  I am the jar opening queen and I've been totally incapacitated.   It's not broken, but I do think it's strained.  What do you think?  I have a doctor appointment in a month.  Can it wait?  or should I make an appointment to have him say "It's not broken and when you strain your thumb muscle (hahaha) it takes a long time to heal."  I would have been the one laughing in the middle of that sentence.  Is there such thing as a thumb muscle?!!

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Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you've had a wonderful week and I wish you a fabulous weekend.

Kristin

POTD - Chandelier

POTD - Chandelier

I've always liked the look of this chandelier - it's a long row of lights with crystals draped in pairs all along the bar.  I just cannot imagine what a hassel it would be to dust this.  It's so sleek that my dusting skills would be put to the test.   I found this one at the DWR store in South Beach, FL.

Enjoy!
Kristin

EDITED to add - here's the link to the DWR site.  Be sure to click on addional views so you can see it in a real life setting.

POTD - Bird house

POTD - Bird house

If I were a bird, I would like this place.  Tin roof, weathered wood, white picket fence, hanging basket of flowers, yellow house in the background.  My kind of place.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Tires Tires Tires

I photographed this building months ago and I think I used the last photo as a Photo of the Day.  I'm pretty sure I did. 

If I go and look it up right now, I'll get sidetracked, so we'll just assume that it was a POTD at one time.

This tire store has been closed awhile. 

Maybe having simply tires wasn't enough.

Maybe they needed to have expanded into rims, too.

Clearly having a 7up machine didn't do it.

What I really liked about this building was the red letters on white. 

It just pops!

Even the air hose was red.



I'm a bit dyslexic, but I almost always read the word tires as tries.

Used Tries.

We tried to get more tires, but tired out. 

I'll try harder :)

I always read unite as untie.

Always.

I always read untie as untie.

Untie has an unfair advantage. 

NEW!

The funny thing about all of the lettering on the building is that each section is a different font.

I think that's why I found it to be simply interesting.

Sometimes I want to go out and photograph only red things.  Then I look at my photographs and realize that I've done just that. 

I simply like red.

...and purple, too.  It's my favorite color.

Have a great day!
Kristin

POTD - Weathered Cross

POTD - Weathered Cross

There were so many interesting headstones and statues in the Elberta, AL cemetery that I can't help but feature another piece from there.  What got me was how many of these were painted.  I found that to be incredibly interesting.  I'd venture a guess that everything pre 1940 was painted white at one time. 

Enjoy!
Kristin

It arrived!!!

The book arrived today.

The book that has one of my photos in it!!

It's here, in my hot little hands!

Four Word Self Help by Patti Digh (her blog is at 37days.)   You can pre-order it through Amazon, here, or wait for it to hit the shelves in September.  It's a small book - perfect to tuck into your backpack or purse.  It's just a little over 4x6 and is chock full of artwork.

I'm glad to see that the four words are the star of the book.  There isn't a lot of explanation, just four words and a piece of artwork for most.

I was asked to submit something for "breathe deeply, and often."  I thought the chair on the seawall, which I call Chair on the Edge, would be perfect for those four words. 

When I got confirmation that my photo would be included in the book, but the photo might not be with the words I was originally given, I got a little nervous.  I'm sure that this photo can mean lots of things, but I loved knowing it was breathe deeply, and often.  It just fit.

I was elated to see that it was indeed associated with those four words.

I just noticed that the opposite page has an orange haired woman on a purple background. 

And I just so happened to photograph the purple book (without it's dust jacket, because the book was purple, my favorite color) on an orange background.  How funny!

There are a few sections to the book and Patti shares a little story or two in just a few short pages.  Then the rest of the section are the Four Words and artwork.

I find it completely ironic that my photo appears in the wellness category, under "eat less, move more."  My own personal wellness seems to be about half of my thoughts each day.

Wow.  It really happened.

I'm published :)


Hope you had a great Monday!  I know I did!

Kristin

POTD - Great View

POTD -  Great View

One beach volleyball net and three birds.  I think this was a prized location because several seagulls came by to demand their turn on top of the volleyball posts, but these three birds wouldn't budge.  What a hoot.

Enjoy!
Kristin

I'm home :)

It's been a really hectic day, but not too much happened.

I had a tough time falling asleep last night, so it was a short night for me. 

I think I finally fell asleep around 5am and got up at 9am so that I could pack and finish closing up the Gulf Shores house. 

I wanted to get out by noon and I did it!  I locked the door at 11:59.

Then I hit the road.

Rain.

Pouring rain.

Bright sunshine!

Pouring rain.

Rain.

Clouds, no rain.

More rain.

It was a very long day.

Thank goodness I had my Rain-X washer fluid.  Even in the downpour I could see the road.

But I got home just before 9pm.

Whew!  It was totally worth it. 


Hope you've had a great weekend!
Kristin

POTD - Wild Sea Oats

POTD - Wild Sea Oats

Wild sea oats are protected in Georgia and Florida (possible in other states, too) not because it is an endangered plant, but because it helps stabilize sand dunes and reduce erosion. When I think of sand dunes, I think of the beach fences and wild sea oats.   Well, and sand, too!

The sand dunes in this photo are along the Gulf of Mexico in Alabama out along Fort Morgan Road.  Thankfully the oil never made it to the sand dunes, but just barely.  Just a few feet away I saw a whole line of tar balls.

Kristin

Lillian, Alabama

I think that this past week should just be called my week of trespassing.  I pulled into driveways, empty lots, sandy paths and overgrown trails to get photos of stuff this week.  I think the thing that drives me the craziest is that I don't know why something is there, or who built it or what's the point.

There really should be something like a historical marker at each interesting spot so that my curiosity (just mine) can be quelled.  Or at the very least answer some basic questions.

Like...what's up with this place??

Why is there part of a car perched on the side of the house?

And why is there the front half of an old Ford pickup on the outside of this garage?

And the little black marker next to the stairs looks like a grave marker.  That's pretty close to the house for a grave.  The name on the plaque is Jesse.

I had an Aunt Jesse. 

OK, so she was really my Great Aunt Jesse, but that was just too many words.  She lived in a great house in Nebraska and then when she and her husband decided to downsize she got a double wide trailer and put it on a lot right by my Grandmother.  I thought that was a pretty cool trailer.  I'd never seen a new trailer before and I'd never been in a double wide.

I was young :)

Oh right, I was talking about this interesting house in Lillian, Alabama.  When I first drove by the place, it was the old DeSotos used as fence posts that drew my attention to the property.  There was this one here, one way down on the end next to the sign and then one on the other side of the driveway.

It was just strange.

My first thought when I saw the DeSoto was that I wish Lisa Ceaser was with me because she'd know how to make the most of this car in a photo.

This car was just sitting out there in the yard, a part of the fence, too.  It's odd I tell ya, just odd.

I couldn't tell if this business that was here was a stump grinding business or if it is the new business or if stump grinding had nothing to do with this place.  (It was on the sign at the end of this car fence.)  I originally thought this might have been a car lot, but the lawn was pretty well taken care of and the only cars parked on the grass are the ones along the fence.

I thought that this place was abandoned, but I realized that the permit stapled to a post at the entrance to the driveway was for a deck and it was dated just a month or so ago.  Why go to all the trouble to apply for a permit if you were going to up and leave the place?

Red trim on the house.

Red half of a truck on the garage.

Red muscle car along the fence.

Lillian, Alabama.

It's a puzzling situation.


Have a great day!
Kristin

POTD - Painted Angel

POTD - Painted Angel

I found the Prince of Peace cemetery in Elberta, Alabama today.  For such a small cemetery I was surprised to find so many interesting statues and crosses.  I think this painted angel was my favorite.

Enjoy!
Kristin

A nice pair of lips

The Palmisano's had a weeks worth of events planned. 

They played a card game called Oh Hell, that I renamed Hell-O.  That was fun, but we only got through two rounds because we had a few too many people playing and it took nearly an hour for those two hands.  I guess that's why it was called Oh Hell!

We were all part of a Corn Hole tournament (a bean bag toss game) - actually two tournaments.  One was individual and one was couples.  I did pretty good the second time around.  I figured out how to toss the darn bag, but it took awhile.   I'm now itching to practice! 

I learned a card game called Rook, too.  I want to pick up a pack - I liked that game.

But last night, after the egg toss on the beach and the corn hole first place trophy award ceremony, the wax lips were passed out. 

Oh my goodness, they were so funny!!  I couldn't resist taking a picture of myself in the mirror.

Steve and I.  The reason why nearly all of the pictures I have with Steve look like this is because he likes to use up all of the personal space between us :)  I teased him about this.  Remember the line in Dirty Dancing where Johnny says to Baby "This is your dance space and this is my dance space."

Well, Steve had never seen the movie, so the quote was lost on him!  But he likes to be close and I'm very used to it, but I did notice that all of the photos of the two of us this weekend he had his head clunking into mine!  Oh my, I love him :)

The brothers.

Those lips look so funny with facial hair!

They look like family, don't you think?

I love this smooch :) 

Say Hi to the lips family!

I brought my lips back home. 

They hung out on my computer for a little while. 

Such nice full lips, but just a bit too waxy for everyday :)


Have a wonderful day!


Kristin