A November Journey

This doesn't look much like Indiana in the middle of November does it?  We escaped the Midwest for the Gulf Coast last week.  Since the weather forecast for both areas was excellent, we rode the bike and took our time getting there.  These first three photos were shot at St. George Island State Park near Apalachicola, Florida.  The beach there is beautiful and with it being off season, it was nearly deserted. 

Except for one of the residents who came out to greet us!

Gotta love those white sand beaches! Next time, I won't wear motorcycle boots and jeans. The saddlebags will probably still be there though!

We saw this huge tree covered in Spanish Moss in the parking lot at the hotel in Crystal River. 

An early morning shot ...

and a beautiful sunset from the balcony of the best  hotel of the week!

Our hosts, cousins Mr and Mrs Mac in front of their beautiful condo near St. Petersburg. We had a great time visiting for a couple of days and enjoying their hospitality! 

This is "Captain" Mac on a cruise around the waterways and out into the Gulf on board his boat.  We were even able to spot some dolphins frolicking in the water.

Can you make out the name on his boat?  Some of you might find it quite appropriate. Sorry about the poor photo quality.  A few salt water spots on my lens, that's my excuse!

 

As you know, we love to eat.  And whenver we go on vacation, we like to rank our meals.  These raw oysters at P.J.'s Seafood Restaurant are at the top of D's list.  I had steamed shrimp ....yummm.  But I have proof that even I tried the oysters.

My theory is that enough zesty shrimp/seafood sauce will make just about anything better!

These scallop sliders were at the top of  my vacation food list.  On Wednesday Mr and Mrs Mac drove us down to St. Armand's Circle for some shopping and lunch at the Tommy Bahama Restaurant. The fruity tropical  adult beverage was pretty good too!

Thursday morning we were on the road again.  The condo association of their gated community doesn't allow motorcycles so we had to park the bike and trailer near the security gate.  It wasn't so bad though because it was under a spot light and under 24 hour observation by the guards.  Probably much safer than it had been at any of the hotels!  A subject of coversation of many of the residents though, I'm sure!  Thanks so much for a great visit Mr and Mrs Mac!

We had intended on stopping at Tarpon Springs on the way down to St. Pete but instead stopped on our way out of the area.  We didn't take the time to do any of the sponge cruises/tours but enjoyed a Greek lunch and browsed some of the shops and the sponge exchange.  This village is famous for the sponges that are harvested from the waters off the coast and the Greek immigrants that came here to work as divers and such in that industry.  (Can you spot the boat under all the sponges in the photo above?)

 

We took our time getting home too and stopped at some other interesting places.  More of that later.

Overall we covered 2012 miles, under mostly sunny skies and with absolutely not one rain drop!  But it's good to be home!

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Like most of you, Thanksgiving dinner is now the top priority.   We had hopes of all the kids and grandkids being able to come but unfortunately some plans have changed.  DIL J's ninety-eight year old grandma is having some health issues so they (J, J & J) have decided to spend some time with her in Wisconsin.  We will miss them, but understand completely and hopefully we'll all be able to get together at Christmas.  In the meantime, please keep J's sweet grandma in your prayers. 

On a happy note.....!  The J's have discovered that the newest J will be a little boy!   What fun it is going to be with three little grandsons so close together!  We are thankful that they are all healthy and thriving! 

Back again soon!

Cootie Bug Sighting!

It's hard to believe that I've had this little blog for over TWO years!  There have been many times when I've been tempted to abandon it and move on to something else.  But somewhere along the way I began to research other blogs and bloggers with similar interests and location to look for some inspiration.  One of the first I found was  Connie at  Cootie Bug 2 !  I've truly enjoyed following her blog and continue to be inspired by her! This past Tuesday it was my pleasure to receive a message from Connie that she would be nearby at a quilt retreat.  So with B and the Peanut in tow, I was able to meet up with  her as she and her friends were shopping at the Hollyhock Quilt Shop in Corydon.  Was a pleasure it was to  visit with her and get to meet her in person!  Such a sweet, kind lady!  I have to admit that I was slightly star struck.  Though I'm sure she would deny it, to some of us she is a quilt blog celebrity!  It was great to meet you and your friends, Connie!

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is just two weeks away?  We're so excited that our whole family will be coming (kids, spouses and babies, that is) !  There will be busy days ahead.  I started today with some baking.  I understand that chocolate cravings are hitting our pregnant daughter-in-law so that was a good excuse to bake some good ole chocolate chip cookies!  Tomorrow it will be the dinner rolls.  My freezer will be filling quickly.

The cookie recipe I used is just the one on the back of the Nestle Toll House Mini Morsels but with half butter and half butter flavored Crisco.  Then I used half regular white flour and half whole wheat pastry flour.  Yummmmm.  If you haven't gotten one of these silicone baking sheets, put it on your Christmas list!  I bought mine at Bed Bath and Beyond with the 20% coupon that they send out every few days.  Cookie sheets are so much easier to clean and the cookies turn out great!

Today is almost over  - but a quick THANK YOU to all of our military on Veteran's Day and every day!

Lovin' the Road Trip

We've had a lovely weekend here in Indiana.  But many of you had the same and I hope you were able to enjoy it as much as we did.  We didn't stay home, but can you blame us!  Sure, the garage needs to cleaned out, the kitchen still has some final touches that need to be completed (pics someday I promise!) and my sewing area needs to be organized, just to name a few of the not so fun projects that we could have been working on.  No, we took the Harley and hit the road!  Our destination - Music City, U.S.A. (a.k.a. Nashville, TN)

No trip to Nashville is complete without a trip downtown on a Saturday night when all the bars are full of tourists, college students, conventioneers and brave residents enjoying the free music.  You don't even have to go inside the bars  as the music blasts out on the street and you can  just wander up and down the streets and people watch.  Which is pretty much what we did.  The caught a shuttle from the hotel so we wouldn't have to battle the traffic on the bike.  A smart move by far!

Many of the bars and shops have some of the coolest lighted signage.  Though these can't compete with what you can find on the Las Vegas strip, they give Broadway an atmosphere that is unique to Nashville. 

Soon to be famous musicians (hopefully!) take turns entertaining the crowds.  We thought this band was really good, especially the girl with the fiddle.  Most of the bars where so packed it was standing room only and I could never get a photo of the band.  But this one wasn't quite as crowded, though we still had to stand  along the back wall.  I think the reason it wasn't so crowded was that it wasn't one of the "famous" bars like  Legends or Tootsies!

A busy Saturday evening gives some folks the opportunity to show off their "ride"!  Every color imaginable, but always complete with some awesome wheels!

I love the cowboy boots! If I had thinner calves, was about 30 years younger, and had an extra $500-$900 I could seriously become a boot addict!

So we left downtown Nashville to the young and young at heart and made it back to our hotel completely sober with only tired feet to show for our adventure.  What a fun couple we are! 

On Sunday morning we headed down to the Loveless Cafe for breakfast.  Though with the hour and a half (plus) wait it was noon before we ate.  This nationally acclaimed destination is famous for their smoked meats and homemade biscuits.  Supposedly, many of the country music stars who live near this area are regular customers.  But the closest we came to a celebrity sighting was the Harley rider admiring our "rig" who we found out drives a truck for a certain popular country western star's tour. (Hint #1:  K.C., #2:  No Shoes)   The cafe is located near the start of the Natchez Trace Parkway which we would love to ride someday.  Now that we know where to begin, I'm sure we'll be back!

Makes you hungry, doesn't it?

If we keep eating out like this, there will be more of me to love!  Not to love less!  Have a yummy week!

Break Time Should Be Over By Now

There's been a short blogging break these past few days.  I doubt that too many of you all missed me, but in case you did... thank you.  It's nice to be missed:)   I really have nothing to blog about though.  Sorry.  My sewing/quilting activities are mostly top secret and we've not been on any exciting trips lately. 

These are a few of the projects I've been working on that I can share.  Two of them are WIP from last year and the other is a newer little Christmas item that has been fun to put together.  Thanksgiving is fast approaching and once that gets here you know how the Christmas holidays seem to shift into NASCAR mode and speed by before you know it!  I really need to concentrate on that Christmas list! 

Last evening my "book" club buddies came over.  Sometimes we can't really claim to be a book club, but more of a gathering of close friends. But  this month we decided to read  The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.  When we first began our little club, I was always one to finish the book.  Lately, not so much.  I'm still working on this one but I'll definitely make it through to the last page.  I tried out a new recipe on the girls.  This was Pumpkin Custard Crumble and I found it on The Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen site.  It was very yummy - but I'm afraid I was too generous with the servings as it was VERY sweet/rich. 

There's a forecast of a beautiful, warm fall weekend.  We'll be taking advantage of it and getting out on the Harley.  This might be the last good weekend for a little road trip so I should  have some material for a blog post next week.  Wherever you are, I hope you are able to enjoy a nice weekend in your neck of the woods!

Oops !  I almost forgot to do a little bragging!  Emily over at The Handmade Experiment has posted some of her favorites quilts from Park City Girls Fall Quilt Festival.   Of all the 675 + quilts to look at here, it is quite an honor to have my baby quilt included in her list!  Thanks Emily!

Just a Bump in the Road

Have you ever had one of those weeks were you wondered if it was a total waste of seven days?  Well that almost could be said about last week here at our house.

 I started out with good intentions.  Monday I was on the road to getting back into my routine at the gym and spent some time with B and the little Peanut.  The fabric I had to hunt down on Ebay for a special project arrived and I was all ready to do work on that the rest of the week.  Tuesday came and so did Peanut for a day with Grammie.  We played.  I didn't sew.  I was looking forward to Wednesday as a mall trip and lunch with a dear friend was planned.  But I woke up with the flu.  Yuck!  I spent the entire day in bed and I don't remember the last time that has ever happened!  Whether it was the dreaded H1N1, I'm not sure, but I don't really think so.  It was more of a stomach type virus.  By Thursday morning I was better, but hubby was down with the same thing.  Since I was the back-up sitter this week for the regular babysitter who was on her honeymoon, little Peanut was back with Grammie. (So far, he's still healthy!)  Grampa got sent to recouperate in the basement and Peanut and I just didn't do much of anything.   Friday brought a burst of energy and I tried to catch up on laundry, groceries and housework but by the end of the day I was exhausted.  With D still recovering too, we didn't get much done Saturday either, except a little shopping.  So much for my good intentions!  But now with that behind us, I'm looking forward to this week! 

With either lousy weather or sickness keeping us in the house the past few days, we were ready to venture out on the Harley for a short ride today.  The fall color is near peak around here and it's surprising with as much rain as we've had that so many leaves are still hanging on.  We took some back roads over near the river and found some pretty places to stop and take a few photos. 

We've ridden by this bison ranch before.  I'm not sure if they knew what to think of us.

This helmuted, chaps wearing creature hanging over the fence with a camera was probably rather amusing to them (just as it was to me!).  By the way, have you tried bison meat?  One of our favorite breakfast places serves bison sausage and D loves it.  They're just now beginning to carry it in the local grocery stores and the ground meat as well. It has good flavor and is nice and lean.  My apologies to the photo subjects above. 

Little Peanut is growing up so fast.  Here he's just getting ready to do his little flip back over from his tummy to his back.  Thus the sober, determined look on his face!

Grammie and the Peanut before the week went downhill.  My attempt at a windy self portrait with the little guy.  He looks rather worried here.  I think he's used to me being on the other side of the camera! 

I didn't mean for this blog post to be such a "pitty party".  I try not to do that so I'll promise to do better next time.   So much for this week, a better week is ahead......!

Pumpkin Farm Adventures

Lucky me!  We took a quick trip over to see the our Missouri family last weekend.  Look who's walking (and running)! 

I was invited to the pumpkin patch with little J, his mama her, friend and her children.  It was pretty cold but we had a fun time.  This little gal is only a few days younger than our grandson and already wedding plans are being made!  She is adorable and I had so much fun photographing the little ones.  Her big brother was kind of camera shy but Miss M was not!

How do you like this wind blown shot?  He sort of looks like he's practicing for his future GQ cover! 

His daddy wanted to try his hand with the new Nikon.  Someone was curious! "What cha doing Dad?"

We took a few fall family photos outside before we left. 

Another cutie pie pic. 

Not much else going on here this week.  We're closer to getting the final touches on the kitchen and once all is done I'll post some new photos.  But a small setback tonight when one of the doors was dropped during installation.  Now repairs of dents and scratches will have to be made. Someone was pretty unhappy with himself!  It seems like fall came so quickly and weather has turned too cold that we didn't get all the motorcycle rides to see autumn colors in.  We had hoped to accompany some friends on a longer  trip next week, but a business trip again had to take preference. We're hoping for a warm weekend here and there before winter sets in so we can get out on the Harley one more time. 

Have a good week!

Happy Fall!

The Fall Quilt Show organized by Park City Girl has certainly been fun.  Thanks for all the nice comments about my quilts and for all the visitors who've stopped by this little blog!  I've no where near looked at all the quilts and blogs (I think there are over 600 by now!) but every day I try to look at a few.  There are some very talented people in blogland!  If you need some quilty inspiration, just click on the sidebar badge or here. 

Now after all that, I should have another quilty type project to brag about.  But everything that I have been working on either needs to be kept under wraps for awhile or else isn't quite to the bragging stage. So instead I'll go with the travel theme and show some pics from our last motorcycle trip a couple of weeks ago.  It seems that it might have been our last trip for the year too with the arrival of cold, wet, fall weather.  But the day we drove up to Greene County, Indiana was perfect for a motorcycle ride.  D had read about the longest railroad trestle in the United States located near Solsberry.  It is 2295 feet long and 180 feet high and built in 1906.  It's located pretty much out in the middle of nowhere but half of the adventure was finding it.

D and M climbed all the way to the top and took a photo of me and R standing near the motorcycles down below. 

I guess he thought that since he'd just climbed the Great Wall, he could handle the "great" trestle!  I don't think M was as excited about the height as D was.  You can see D waving from the top, but barely see M as he wasn't thrilled about getting close to the edge.  Can't say that I blame him!

After they enjoyed the engineering and the view, they decided the trestle is probably still in use and it was best to climb down.  Luckily, no trains came!

Today was such a rainy, dreary, cold day that baking seemed like a good thing to do.  I found this recipe for Pumpkin Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies  on the Tasty Kitchen website.  They turned out great.  Now I just have to keep away from them. 

Here's my kitchen helper today!  The little Peanut is looking like the little Pumpkin today! 

Speaking of pumpkins..... We're so excited that we'll get to see this little one this weekend and maybe go to the pumpkin patch with him and his mama.  Evidently he's walking everywhere now so hope I can keep up with him!

HAPPY FALL!