She’s Baaaack!

Been far, far away and very busy since I got back, to say nothing of struggling with a new computer (to me, at least) and processing a whole bunch of pics.  And, ya’ll had winter while I was gone!  Two whole days of it.  I was up with my sister in Rochester, MN, January 1-10, and they had their coldest weather in years and years, minus 24!  Yikes.  Didn’t even go out of the house that day.  Lots of things to blog and tomorrow will add even more to that list, so I will just consider this a teaser.  I have pics of my sister’s quilts, including the wedding quilt she just finished for her son and his bride that are getting married in May, pics of the wedding invitations I went up there to work on and shower stuff.  The latter pics will have to wait until after the shower.

Here’s a couple pics to tide you over for a bit.  This is Betsy’s pride and joy, hanging over her stairwell to lower level.

Betsy and me working at her table on wedding invitations.

Katie and her Mom, Nancy, working the big honking die cut machine during our work party in St. Paul at the paper warehouse.

That’s all I have time for today.  Blogging program is updated, too, so I had to learn that as well. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

(-: .·´* .·´*¨¨)) –:¦:- *** ((¸¸.·´*~Kathy~.·´*)****¨¨)) -:¦:- ·· ((¸¸.·´* .·´*((¸¸.·.·´ *-:¦:- ... :-)

Fort Myers and Everglades

Late last month, Russel and I drove down to Ft. Myers to spend the weekend with my sister and her hubby.  We were lucky enough to also get to see Dee and Bob for a day trip into the Everglades.  We took Dee and Bob’s little doxy Greta along as bait for alligators.  Lucky for her, the gators were uninterested!  

At a great walkway off of US 41, we saw lots of cool birds, gators, etc.  At another walkway, we saw more gators, including babies, and an eagles’ nest.  The ranger said eggs had been laid in the nest a week or so before we got there.  Be sure to click on the pics for details, especially the baby gators and eagle.  In no particular order . . .

Here’s an anhinga drying his wings.  They don’t repel water like a duck.

An anhinga swimming underwater hunting for fishies.

  

Gator babies sunning on a log.

Good mama with a baby on her back.  Ranger said babies feed themselves from day one, but mama watches over them to keep greedy dad from eating the babies.

Gators sunning in river next to US 41.

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Sunning turtle.  Laying around in the sun seems to be popular.

Smack in the middle is a bald eagle sitting on a bare branch.  He or she is able to overlook the nest from there.

 

Eagles’ nest.  It was huge!

Snowy egret with very last of his breeding plumage left.

Only pic I have that shows Greta, our bait.  Brother-in-law Steve in back with Dee, Bob and Russel sitting with Greta.

In the BBQ restaurant in Everglades City, was this stuffed gator.  First is Dee’s dismount, brave Steve, ladylike me, and sister Betsy hanging on for dear life.

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Here’s me, Steve, Betsy and Russel in front of the Bubble Room, a cool Christmas-themed restaurant on Captiva Island.

We did a lot of driving for a week, what with going to and from Sarasota and Ft. Myers and the Everglades, but a good time was had by all, even the bait!

Thanks for stopping by. Comments always welcome.

(-: ¸.·´* .·´*¨¨)) –:¦:- *** ((¸¸.·´*~Kathy~.·´*)****¨¨)) -:¦:- ·· ((¸¸.·´* .·´*((¸¸.·.·´ *-:¦:- ... :-)

Sarasota Visit/Ringling Complex

Last week, Russel and I spent a few days in Sarasota visiting with our friends Misty and Bob who are in FL for a month from St. Louis.  They picked almost perfect weather for their stay.  While Russel worked and Bob nursed his foot and kept Doxie Greta company, Misty and I drove into town to the John and Mable Ringling Museum to tour the grounds, art museum, circus museum, miniature museum and the Ca’D’Zan, Venetian for House of John.  There was a lot of ground to cover on a cool, cloudy day (one of few cloudy days they’ve had in weeks), but the museum complex has volunteers that drive trams all over all the time.  Saved my life and miles of walking.

The Venetian Gothic Ca’D’Zan was designed and built by the Ringlings in the mid-1920’s as their winter home right next to Sarasota Bay.  Mable wanted a place that reminded her of Venice, so there are lots of gardens and tiles and fanciful architectural features, including a belvedere on top of the house.  I’ll try to group the pics in albums that make some sense, starting with these pics of the exterior.

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The interior was just as elaborate, if not more so.  Here’s the formal dining room set for an “intimate” dinner for eight, breakfast room and guest room.

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Here’s the main parlor view up to balcony and chandelier, Mable’s dressing room, skylight and view down to main parlor from balcony.

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These are all of John’s bedroom, including his gold clock, marble tub, dual beds (they were a set, so he kept them both, even though Mable had her own bedroom) and Misty.

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Here’s the two stoves in the kitchen.

Here are pics of the grounds, including banyan trees gifted to the Ringlings by Thomas Edison from his estate in Ft. Myers, together with statues of a bull with a lady chained on it and Julius Caesar.

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Here’s the royal palm alee, the secret garden behind which the Ringlings are buried, Misty, the sculpture garden between wings of the art museum and a stone lady.

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Here’s a bronze cast of the original marble David in Florence, Italy.

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I think that’s enough for this post.  I have more pics from Sarasota, but this will take forever to upload as it is.

Thanks for stopping by. Comments always welcome.

(-: ¸.·´* .·´*¨¨)) –:¦:- *** ((¸¸.·´*~Kathy~.·´*)****¨¨)) -:¦:- ·· ((¸¸.·´* .·´*((¸¸.·.·´ *-:¦:- ... :-)

USS Alabama Memorial Park

Well, it took me a couple weeks, but I finally processed and reviewed all the pics I took when I went to Alabama with Russel for his company holiday party.  We drove to Mobile on Sunday, Dec. 4, and spent all day Monday seeing a couple of places.  I had seen the USS Alabama long ago in 1976, but it is now surrounded by a lovely veterans memorial park.  Before it was just the battleship and the USS Drum, a diesel submarine.  So, off we went, into a cloudy misty morning.

First, we stopped to admire a B52D, Stratofortress, one of the old “tall tail” models.  I grew up around B52’s on SAC bases with my Dad in the Air Force.  They were so pretty before they covered over the silver and white with camouflage for use in Vietnam.  The one in the park is called “Calamity Jane” and she made lots of bombing runs.  The planes’ nickname is “BUFF,” for Big Ugly Flying Fortress.  That’s the PC name.  Click on any of the pics for a bigger look.

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Next, we went up onto the Alabama.  With Russel’s knees we couldn’t climb all the way to the bridge or very far down into the ship, but we wandered all over the main deck.

Russel tried his hand with the 10mm machine gun.  They had these all over the ship and they were used mostly to shoot down Kamikaze planes.

Each of these 10mm guns had signs on both sides reminding the gunners to shoot ahead of the diving planes.  According to one of the plaques, they got pretty good at shooting them down.

 

The Alabama had some pretty dam big guns on her.

From the deck we took a picture of the BUFF and the Huey helicopter, back grounded by the Mobile skyline.

These next two pics are a smaller version of the Vietnam Memorial in D.C.  This one has the names of the men and women lost from Alabama in Vietnam. 

The poem on the backside was particularly moving.  Click on it to read it, then back to return.

This was a memorial to war dogs in Vietnam.

I used to have a T-shirt that said this.  “I’d fly 10,000 miles to smoke a camel,” a popular saying after Desert Storm.

Next to the Alabama in the Air Museum was what I wrongly assumed was an SR-71 Blackbird.  One of the guides said that was a common misconception.  This was an A-10, spy plane, made for and flown by the CIA.  Seated only one pilot and flew higher than the SR-71.  Never had US Air Force painted on the side.

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That’s it for Alabama pics.  We backtracked to Florida that afternoon.  I’ll blog those tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by. Comments always welcome.

(-: ¸.·´* .·´*¨¨)) –:¦:- *** ((¸¸.·´*~Kathy~.·´*)****¨¨)) -:¦:- ·· ((¸¸.·´* .·´*((¸¸.·.·´ *-:¦:- ... :-)

Thomasville, GA, Mansions, and More

I’ve processed and identified almost all of the pictures I took of houses and mansions in Thomasville that we went to see last week.  I took a lot of pictures and put names to most of them.  Some of them were just not in the guidebook and had no name on the outside.  Most of them are owner occupied or businesses and not open to the public, but there is a little history on most of them along with a pic and map numbers so I could keep track of where I took pics.  We only got to a little more than half of the houses and a little bit of downtown, but after Pebble Hill, we did good to see as much as we did.  During the afternoon, we had really good salads at the Ella Blue Cafe.  The owner supposedly named it after John Travolta’s daughter, but he spelled the “Bleu” wrong.  Ooops.

Had to take a pic of this shop downtown!  LOL  Pradas, anyone?

The first place we stopped was Strawbridge House, built in 1899 in Colonial Revival style, now occupied by a Neurology Center.

This is the Forbes Cottage, patterned after an English cottage and built in 1891.

This is the Charles Hebard house built in 1899 in the Neoclassical style.  The house was pretty overgrown and appeared to be empty.

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For his son, Charles Hebard built next door to his home the Charles S. Hebard House.  This was also built in 1899 and is nicknamed the Steamboat House.  This is another Neurology office.

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Between the two houses was a huge bamboo grove.

All Saints Episcopal Church was built in 1881 and is the oldest original church in Thomasville, though not in its original place. .

Balfour House was built in 1900.  Russel and I loved the rounded two-story porch sticking out one end.

The James Watt House was finished in 1893.

This is the side entrance of the McIntyre House.  Got the name off a sign on the door, not in the book.

The David Harrell House was originally built in 1853 and extensively added to over the years.

Had a dickens of a time identifying the Bruce-Driver House.  They painted it since the brochure when it was light brown!  Love the rounded porch and steps.

The Paxton House was built in 1884 and is a beautiful example of Victorian Gothic.  The Munsters would be happy there!  It is now a B & B.

Right next door is another Victorian Gothic, the Burbank Cottage, built in 1875.  It was originally barn red!

The Ransom Reid House was built in 1854. 

 

The John Dyson house was built in 1854 as a honeymoon cottage for newlyweds.  Some cottage, eh?

The Royal Miller House was built in 1903 after the style of the Greenwood Plantation, inspiration for Twelve Oaks in Gone With the Wind. 

The Hardaway House was built in 1856 and was home to the first mayor of Thomasville.

The last house I want to share with you is the Lapham-Patterson House, built in 1885.  This house is done in the Queen Anne style and is a real “painted lady” of the Victorian era.

Those are my favorites.  I have more pics but they were nothing special to share.  We’ll have to go back someday and plan to spend more time, maybe in one of the many B & B’s.  It was a full day in Georgia, taking in Pebble Hill Plantation, all these houses and a rose garden before heading back to Tallahassee. 

Thanks for stopping by. Comments always welcome.

(-: ¸.·´* .·´*¨¨)) -:¦:- *** ((¸¸.·´*~Kathy.·´*)****¨¨)) -:¦:- ·· ((¸¸.·´* .·´*((¸¸.·.·´ *-:¦:- ... :-)