Turtle Crossing

During our recent rain, we noticed a small turtle crossing our lawn, so hubby went out in the rain to take a couple of pictures and also made a small one minute movie of the turtle walking and his quick escape from the camera! Here's a couple of still photos:

And now for your enjoyment the one minute movie:

A Peek at My New Design Style

Hi Everyone,

This has been a very rainy (10" of rain where we are and 20" on the beach side) week for the Panhandle area of Florida. The water just kept coming! All day...all night for three days.  There was flash flood warnings, major parking lots were flooded with water and side streets as well.  The system was stalled over us and the 4th of July festivities cancelled.  It was supposed to move on by Sunday and get better here each day this coming week.  I was about to go stir crazy.  So we hopped in the car and drove to Destin Florida (an hour away) to visit the Outlet Mall, 110 stores of just about everything a person could want...a shoppers Mecca!  And while it still rained off and on we got a brief respite from it while at the Mall.



I also put together a little collage of what I'm trying to do in our little duplex,  changing my style to a more relaxed decorating style with coastal colors but still keeping some of my favorite French things.  It is a work in progress and I'm taking my time to find just the right things.  I thought I would give you a peek of what's coming:

I still have more photos to take and eventually I'll show you the finished results. There will be colors of red, navy and cool blue colors in aqua, blue, yellow and green. Well, that's it for today. I hope everyone enjoyed the 4th of July festivities...I guess we will see ours in the coming weeks. :-(

A Stormy and Rainy Weekend

Hello everyone,

Well here it is already Sunday evening and after a busy weekend of checking out yet another Farmers Market, shops along St. Andrews Bay, and trying out a new Mexican Restaurant I'm plum tuckered out!  Although today, I did manage to whip a pineapple upside down cake and some potato salad with (new) red potatoes from the Farmers Market.

It has stormed here since Friday night and I mean storm!!  From about 1:30 a.m. in the morning until about 5:30 a.m. we had thunder and lightening almost like a light show!  It poured and the rain blew.  Saturday the red flags were out which meant no swimming in the Gulf because of the tides and waves.  We had rain squalls all day off and on and into Saturday night and still on Sunday throughout the day.  We managed to hit the Farmers Market between rain drops and the shops along the way while we had a brief respite and the sun peeked through but not for long.

Here are a few of the pics from Saturday.  I hope you enjoy them.

The Farmers Market at Captain Anderson's Pier.  I think the rain kept a lot of the vendors and people away Saturday but the few vendors that were there had plenty of fresh produce.

The entrance to Captain Anderson's Restaurant on the Pier

A picture of the entrance to the Marina

One of three boats our Landlord owns for deep sea fishing 

Another one.

Because of the bad weather most of the deep sea fishing boats were in their slips at the Marina.

This little (or big) guy was out looking for something?

Here he is again looking for something...Can you guess what it is?

I think he thought he would find his lunch here?  LOL

We ended the day at the beach to check out an area for taking the grandkids too when they come in late August for a visit.  This is how the water looked Saturday afternoon.

A rainy and cloudy day.

Well, thats it for today.  I hope everyone had a nice weekend and hopefully you didn't have to deal with rain and storms too. :-)

Trivia For The Day

This Heritage Oak Tree is estimated to be over 250 years old.  It was standing during the War Between the States as if a Sentry standing guard over Old St. Andrew's Bay.

The Old Sentry

The View Three Blocks From Where we Live

Hey,

This is just a quick post to share with you some pics of the view down the street from where we live.  This morning we went for a walk and decided to take some pictures of St. Andrews Bay from our neighborhood.  We also spent the day working in the yard clipping heavy foliage around our fence.  We were pretty exhausted when we finished but after quick showers and a dinner of grilled Bratwurst, fresh fruit, and salad our energy returned and we took a drive down to Pier Park and strolled along the shop lined streets weaving in and out to check out  what was available.  I was looking for a wind chime but didn't find any that I liked and only ended up with a white sand dollar and a stand to put it on.

Here are a few pics for you:

A peek at St. Andrews Bay From the Street

Another Peek

This photo is a bit grainy but the sailboat was actually on its side??  We don't really know what happened.

This is a lot that is ready to have a house built on it.  How would you like to wake up to this view every morning?

This is a new house that is going up.  It has three stories.  The original house on this lot had to be torn down after Opal came through here.  This time the owner has built it up (3) stories the first level is the garage and if the water should come up and flood it won't ruin the entire house.  The living quarters will be on the second and third floors.

Another view

HUGE!!!!

That's it for today....we'll see what tomorrow brings.  Hopefully, not too much brush clipping.  LOL  :-)

St. Andrews Bay ~ Farmers Market

Hi everyone,

Gosh, where has the time gone!  I can't believe that it is already June 22nd nearly a month since I last posted.  We have been so busy with packing and moving and unpacking (which I'm still doing) but things are moving right along and we love it here!!  The weather is perfect and the beach gorgeous.  We have been exploring the area and find there is a lot to see.  Everyone is so friendly and helpful here.  Because the duplex we are renting is new there was a lot of construction dust to clean up but with that under control now I've been playing hooky on the packing and getting out and about.

Today, we hit the Saturday Farmers Market in St. Andrews Bay, a hop, skip and jump from here.  It was a gorgeous sunny day (are there any other here?) breezy and very pleasant.  We got there around 9:00 a.m. and the fruits and veggies looked wonderful.  We picked up some fresh tomatoes, corn on the cob, blueberries (just picked the night before) cucumbers and sampled some of the best baklava, which was the best I've ever had...so we had to buy some of that too! LOL.  I took loads of photos so I will share them with you over the next few posts.  I don't want to give you photo overload.  :-)

The entrance to the Farmers Market

Boats at the Marina

This man had just caught this fish and gave it to the Blue Heron in the next photo. 

I love this photo!  The Heron waited very patiently for the fish the man in the photo above gave him.

A pier on St. Andrews Bay

This photo was taken at Panama City Beach.

This photo was taken of The Pier in The Pier, a new resort area with shops, restaurants, and of course "The Beach!!

Well, that's it for this post.  I hope I haven't overloaded you with pics. Tomorrow looks like a quiet day here...hopefully some rest and MAYBE a bit more unpacking.  Sigh....

I'm BACK........

Hi Everyone,

Much has happened since my last post in February.  First and foremost, thanks to all of you who inquired about my brief rest from blogging.  I had just come to a point where I needed a rest.  I won't be back to blogging on a full time three to four times a week basis to start with but will gradually get back into it.

Since my February post, my husband and I decided that we were going to make a move to Florida.  It is about a 14 hour drive by car.  We recently drove down to look at places to rent and was fortunate to find a new two bedroom duplex which was to be completed by June 11, (coincidentally the time our lease is up where we are now).  I have been happily packing (I don't think happy really describes how I feel about packing LOL) and getting rid of things that we don't want to take with us.  It is always a JOB to pack up but this move starts us on a new adventure.  The location of the duplex is 6 miles from the beach, a quick drive.  After looking at some beach cottages along the beach we decided that it might be a bit to close with all the activity during the holiday season so that is why we opted for the place we decided on.

Beach front in Panama City Beach, FL

In past posts, I'm sure I've made references to my childhood visits to see my Aunt and Grandparents when they lived here.  It is a place that I loved and could never get enough of.  Just walking along the shore barefoot and looking out at the fast Gulf of Mexico takes my breath away and brings to me a sense of peace and contentment.  I actually never thought we would live there though...so this is a dream come true for me.

Another view of the beach

So, you will probably be viewing new photos of the surrounding area as time goes on in future posts and a change in my decorating style.  While I still love and will incorporate my love for French decor, I will also be adding a beachy relaxed mix as well.  I'm looking forward to it!!  I hope all of you who have been wondering what happened to me will hop aboard and follow me on this new and exciting adventure.  Stay tuned for photos I take along our move down to Florida.  :-)