Ms. B & Mr. D. in Wisconsin... it was so much fun reconnecting with the both of you today!
Keep in touch ! Come visit ANYTIME! :) G.
I also spent the winter months working on building  a fishing website for a friend..  http://www.toadstackleshack.com/   Check it out & send it to your fishing buddies!

Smell the green!

  As I sit  looking out over the yard, I wish that I had the energy to dig up my gardens and begin again from scratch.  Wishful thinking!
  I call myself a 'garbage gardener.' There is no rhyme or reason to my planting scheme.  I buy plants randomly. They catch my eye & I absolutely cannot leave the garden center without them...a habit that sometimes tends to send my gardens into chaos! One plant totally taking over all that surrounds it. Choking out the sweet pretty red Poppies I loved so. Some turning into such a nusance that I have been pulling them like weeds for 4 years now!  Why did I ever buy that plant? Or where they offered to me from a fellow gardener years ago? Either way...I should of never of put them in the ground. :)

   Yet, each spring I venture out. Eager to find that one plant that I cannot go home without.
This week, Iris and I hopped into the car and off we went to one of our local nurseries, Van Wilgen's Garden Center.

  All the tables were filled with color! Perennials lined up row after row! Unique planters available in every color & my heart went a flutter! Everything looked fabulous and I swear that I could actually smell the green!

 I walked the aisles for over an hour. Iris scurring at my feet & enjoying every inch of the place. There was'nt
anywhere she did not attempt to explore!

I read tag after tag & daydreamed of starting a 'new garden'. A garden that visually makes sense? You know...english garden style. Tall ones toward the back, shorts ones in the front, colors that actually match, and no weeds!
Dream on! Lol.

  Iris and I totally enjoyed the day. I came home with a huge hollyhock & no specific area to plant it in?
No worries, I will find a spot somewhere for it. :)

 

...And so,  another season of gardening begins!

Back to reality.

  After being away for nine days, Iris is happy to have us home.  She had a wonderful stay at her best friends home. Thank goodness for 'great friends' who care our loving pet as much as we do.
Makes us feel less guilty leaving her behind. Somehow, she learned a few things while we were away.
After trying for five years to train her not to jump on people, with no luck....our friends were able to train her to do just that....in nine days! Along with curbing her begging routine too. Thank you M. & S.! :)
  Our flight back was uneventful. Always less exciting to fly home.
  Some of our luggage took the long way home via Cinncinati, but it was delivered the next day, as promised by Delta Airlines.
  Funny how silly one can feel while standing at the luggage belt. Waiting, waiting, waiting...
hoping that maybe, just maybe, the belt may turn back on and your missing luggage will miraculously appear through that little hole in the wall? But, it does'nt. And you look at each other, tired and discouraged....off to the luggage claim office we go....ugh.
 

We are headed back to CT.

Our vacation is coming to a close.  It was a very nice week away. Alot of sun, laughs with family & good food!
Our flight leaves this evening and we will be arriving home very late. I can't wait to see
Iris. She will be thrilled that we have finally returned home!

Back to the working world tomorrow....bummer.

Shelling was a success. There was a slightly  painful moment when our niece Ryan caught a 3-pronged fishing lure in her foot while wading in the water. Luckily it was'nt rusty & it just sliced the skin a bit. Not a puncture. Whew!  That was close.
  All in all, we had a very nice shell hunt. The shell cove was all ours!  And there were shells galore.
Found some goodies & then had a full pancake breakfast to start our day!

Off to go shelling.

We are going to hit the local shelling spot this morning. 

  In order to find the good ones, you need to wade waist deep in water.

We'll see what we can find! Another one of my favorite things...shelling.

You can never have too many shells!

Sea shell,

Sea shell,

Sing a song for me,

Sing about the ocean,

Tell me about the sea.

~Auhtor Unknown

...He calls me the ' beach stalker'!

 My husband laughs as I try to take photos of families and children on the beach without them knowing it! Not to be sneaky or anything, I just see a shot and I  have to take it. 
I have nothing but my everyday camera, a Canon SD960 Powershot. No huge digital camera & lens for all to see. So nobody becomes uncomfortable at the sight of camera lens in their direction. Totaly candid.
Sometimes I am too far away & they appear a bit grainy. Actually, I like them to look that way at times, in black and white.
I make my way ...ever so quietly near an oncoming family....and Click! Got it! Now ... if I can find them tomorrow, I will introduce myself',get their email and be sure to get the shot to them.  My hubby calls me the 'beach stalker'!
I  ask permission if it's a little one, playing in the sand etc. ,so that the folks don't get nervous
 I will take a walk down the beach tomorrow and find the family. They will probably think I am nuts, ....but that does'nt bother me one bit. :)
What a lovely day.
....And I got the shot.  I love how the little girl is  hoppin' behind in the sand.
There a few beachshots in my slideshow at the bottom of the blog from a few years ago. Took those on our last visit here.

...sounds of rolling waves.

  Our trip up in the clouds was as glorious as ever!  I would fly around up there for hours if I could.

I took about 100 shots of the clouds. My husband thinks I am nuts!

Flight was delayed almost an hour. Mechanical issue, which can make you a bit nervous if you were an uneasy traveler.... which I am not.  For the few that were, the tension was getting a bit high in the terminal. Two flights backed up , gates side by side. We were starting to feel like cattle with no were to go.

Aaaaah. Up very early this A.M. to the sounds of rolling waves.
  We made it to Redington Shores, Florida.  About 20 minutes south of Clearwater.
The minute you exit the airport, you just know you are in the sunshine state. Warm, balmy & a kind of calm comes over you.  There is a slight breeze off the water and the weather this week is Nothin' but sun! Mid 80's.

 My mother-in-law's condo is right on the beach.  Lovely area. Great view in either direction.
 The beach is very nice.  The fishing pier brings many early birds out before the sun comes up, I guess to get the best spots on the pier?

I smell Bacon! My husband must be cooking!
Time for Breakfast  and then we'll go for a stroll on the beach to walk it off.
  I see a few extra pounds added on in my future. :)

Yeeehhaawwww!

Vacation begins today! :) Off to the Sunshine State for a little R & R.

If the chime video is hestitating to play, just adjust the pixels from 720 to 360 (arrow below the video).
And yes, those are white Christmas lights in the tree. We turn those on during the summer months for gatherings and bon-fires. Looks pretty and the wires don't even show after the leaves come out. :)

Get your hands dirty!

It's that time of year when the 'to-do' list gets so long that it can be a bit overwhelming.
Each day, I try to accomplish at least one thing on my list. Where to start???
  ~150 Bulbs to be planted.
  ~Rasberry & strawberry bushes to go in the ground.
  ~many trees to be pruned.
  ~gardens to be raked.
  ~weeds to be pulled.
  ~pool to be opened.
  ~furniture be be cleaned and stained.
  ~fertilizer to put on the yard.
  ~windows to be cleaned.
  ~planters to be filled.....and so on, and so on, and the list keeps going!
......one thing at a time.   Somehow, each year, it all gets accomplished.

The sun felt glorious today. I am  thrilled to get my hands in the dirt again!

The fruit trees out front are just peeking out a bit of their color. They are gorgeous when they are in full bloom. This peach tree in front is half pink and half white.

And the Bradford Pear has become so large, that it is actually providing shade up at that end of the yard.

Unfortunately, we will miss the full bloom. We are headed to Florida for a week of some very much needed

R & R!

  I am dragging my laptop along with me....I don't think I can go without it for that long. :)

A week of Awesome Music Entertainment!

 We are avid David Gray Fans!
 For those of you who are not familiar with his music, he's who you are listening to on this page.
We have seen him 7 times & have enjoyed every concert!
He is in the catagory of Folk Rock & never disapppoints his fans.
'Babylon' was one of his big hits you may recall.
We enjoyed him this past Friday in Providence RI and again in Wallingford CT. on Tuesday night.
My camera was not cooperating. so I have labeled these pics as ' my funky shots of David'  Very grainy shots...darnit.

.....he is always entertaining !

Our weekend was also made exciting (yet terrifying) when we had a major blow out in the fast lane

 on Interstate 95N in Providence! Scared the jelly beans right out of us!

There was not much left to our tire.

Thank goodness for the kind soul that stopped to offer us his assistance. We will surely 'pay it forward'.

I have changed  tires in my day, yet I was  to freaked out to help. It took the two of them to get the darn thing off my car. 

  Put a real damper on our 'karma' for the evening...

  We eventually made it to the hotel. Very nice digs I might add! And to top it off , they allowed us to check in with our Golden Retriever, Iris, at no charge. That was a first!

Should of seen the looks from the other guests in the lobby that were not too sure why there was a dog perched up on the check-in counter! Lol. They upgraded us to a corner room with more space and we basically had the whole floor to ourselves. Guess they thought she may be a barker or something?

She is not. And she was good as gold...thank goodness.

 

"This was my first visit to Providence. Its a very nice area and I am looking forward to our next visit!"

The historical Biltmore Hotel had a yummy  menu and we plan on eating there next time. 

On this visit, we ate in our room, because we wanted to calm Iris down and get her comfy in the room.

Watching the people and cars from the 14th floor.

A Hint Of Color is Blossoming !

 Well, Springtime has Sprung once again!

  Thank goodness...thought we would all start to mold after the last rainfall.
  We faired very well here on 'Doc Island'. Others in the area ...not so well.  The rains have stopped and the sun is shining brightly! Finally!

 Winter is a distant memory. Snowfalls that blanketed the ground are now gone. Peeps of greenery are slowly showing their beauty.  The weeds in lawn are greening up nicely...(we have very little actual grass,)
But, thats OK , it is green and that is all that matters.
  Doc (aka Tom) has aquired a new lawn tractor and boy, is he thrilled with it!

  Iris could'nt be more content, as this is the time of the year where she can sit with the front door ajar and watch nature and birds galore from her 'perch' on the front porch. Sitting there for hours on end, occasionally welcoming any' passers by' with her friendly bark and her ritual of pacing back and forth in the front yard....begging anyone to stop and play with her! She watches down our dirt road, always awaiting a visit from her best girlfriend Casey!

 Doc has cleaned out his vegie garden and he has sent his soil off to be tested by a Connecticut Agriculture  Extension , ensuring the BEST crop for this 2010 season! Very special tomatoes, peppers & eggplant seedlings  have been ordered on line and will soon be arriving.
 
  I have spent the winter months working on a website for a friend  (http://www.toadstackleshack.com/) . Finally finished it just in time for the fishing season.
I spent many more hours than expected on this project! Check it out . :)

 I did followed through on at least one of my ventures this winter....at least one anyways.
I finished writing my childrens book,  Lots and Lots of Marshmallows, entered it into a local writing
contest, with no expectations ,short of its completion. Now...I need to illustrate it. I was supposed to complete that this winter, but ....I did'nt. What can I say? Lost my momentum...with this blog & a few other simple endeavors! LOL! I have No excuses. :)

 Tom and I celebrated our 6th Wedding Anniversary March 22nd!

  I tried a new 'eating plan'. Basically, stopped eating processed foods. Dabbled in Organic and Vegan
type foods. Tom says that I need to eat meat every now and then.Though, I am certainly not a meat and potaotes kind of girl, but he has found some yummy recipes for healthy pork burgers,lots of fish, etc. My hubby, has done a great job in  helping me with meal planning and of course his cooking. (I don't cook.) He has successfully helped me drop 16 pounds....and it has made me feel So Much Better!

  Lets see, what else is going on? ...Oh yeah! We are headed off to
Providence,RI to see David Gray in concert this Saturday!  I have loaded the blog music player below with some of my favorites of his.... 'Shine' being my number one fav, along with, 'The One I Love' & 'This Years Love' pulling a close second & third.  He's our favorite and we are eager to have one night out of town. Iris will be joining us, as the hotel welcomes pets! That should be interesting. It's her first stay. She will get her bath tomorrow A.M. and look 'o -so-purdy' sportin' her Easter scarf around her neck...she will probably jump up on the check-in counter & freak out the lady behind the desk!
She is harmless, just easily excited. I even purchased an herbal collar with calming phermones Etc. to take the edge off during our stay. I put it on this afternoon....and she is resting comfortably?....could it actually be working?? We'll see.

  We will also be visiting Tom's Mom in Florida this April. A week away will be Glorious & very much needed.
  Iris has reservations at a  local homestead here in Killingworth. She will be having nightly slumber parties with her best friends Casey, Chloe, Mary & Sue! Can't thank you enough ladies!

Extremely busy at work! The spring season is has hit!

So, that is the latest in a nutshell.

  Maybe I will do better blogging this spring!  LoL  G.~

....How's that for an 'update' Mrs. Anonymous. :)

I hope everyone has a Very Happy Easter!