Sand & Sun = Summer Fun

Sometimes living in Jacksonville just makes me happy.

Happy to have the mix of old Southern Oak trees lending me their shade, while having the ocean close enough to dip my toes into.

Memorial day brought the crowds out, more than I remember seeing in years.  This is the closest I've sat next to strangers on the beach since my 20 year old party days.

There were lots of kite surfers.  It's funny on the beach I just have to point and shoot with my camera, because I can't see a thing on those little digital screens in the sun.  I think I liked the things I found in the picture that I wasn't trying to take the best.  Like the new family above.

The winds were gusty and cool with storms rolling in. A perfect day with temps in the high 80's.  The storms had the sea churning too.  If it's a hot day, the beach is just minutes away.  Like I said - love Jax.

There were at least 5 kite surfers out there.  Looks like they were going to have some sore arms when they got home.  But I'm still enjoying the dad in the right hand corner riding his son like an airplane while mommy takes the picture.

Kids without a care in the world enjoying the never ending sea.

Dad taking the time to teach his son to surf.  A lifelong connection being made between father, son & sea.

Turquoise - be still my soul!

I could spend all day in the shops.

After a long stroll on the beach we came across this guy.

I've never seen a dog bury his head in the sand.  He was totally oblivious to us.

He cracked me up!  It's hard to leave the beach unhappy.

Livin' the salt life y'all...

Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depth.

~ Psalm 148:7

Free Paint, New Baby and Camping - What a Weekend

Spring may not officially start till Wednesday but it was definitely Spring here.  Ever since Ty brought his family back home from New York they have spent more weekends than not at the beach.  It's like winter forgot us and they've loved it.

Sometimes it's really good to live in Florida!  This weekend we had that perfect weather that I wish we had more of.  Not to hot to go outside - just perfect!  The first week of Spring looks like it living up to Spring expectations.

Some may look at the coming rain with a frown but not me.  It's been way to dry and there's already a breakout of wildfires, so I say bring it on.  Plus the rain will awesome for the yard.  Oh' and do you see the weatherman's warning of a cold front coming? Yep' it looks like behind that rain is a cool down.  We may not even reach the 60's. he-he.  Truth is we hardly had a winter at all and as much as I love having beautiful weekends like this past one, cold is good for killing off pest and weeds, and even we Floridians enjoy a change in weather.

Neil & I spent Saturday grocery shopping and picking up my FREE paint from Ace Hardware.  Did y'all get yours?

That evening I received a call from my sister reporting that her newest grandbaby was on it's way.  That's right I'm a new great aunt to Ava Leigh born in Atlanta March 16, 2013.

  Isn't she precious and she has such a beautiful Southern name.

Ty, Christal & the grandkids did something a little more fun then grocery shopping and a little less strenuous than having a baby.  They went on there first beach camping trip.  They spent all day over at Amelia Island which is only about 20 miles away.  It's where I spent all my summers growing up at the beach and where I raise Ty to be the surf boy he is.  I love knowing Zach and Ki'a are enjoying there childhoods there too.

 Ending a long day with a marshmallows and a campfire is what sweet dreams are made of!

Ty's best friend brought his family down for a while too.  His cute little daughter Tallulah seems to be having fun.  I think it's neat that Ty's daughter's name, Ki'a means Start of the Sea and his best friends daughter's name Tallulah means leaping water.

After a sweet night of sleeping to the sound of crashing waves and the scent of the sea they woke up to this beautiful view.

I'd love to open my eyes to this view every morning.  How can you not be in AWE of GOD's  amazing wonders when you see the sun rising over the ocean.

 

It was such a gorgeous day that Neil and I decided to spend it outside cleaning up the yard.  The family came over and pitched in.  It was just to nice to stay inside.  If we did we would have missed this.

 It was a dolphin right in front of the house!  That's the first time I've ever seen one out there.  Lucky for him an alligator didn't decide to have him for dinner.  He was having so much fun out there and everything just stopped when we saw him.  You can't buy moments like those.

It was such a wonderful weekend.  I hope yours was too.

Love Y'all....Tracy ♥

 

Jesus' face appears in Florida

A woman right here in Florida says she looked up and saw Jesus' face in the power box.

Accorging to MSN, a Florida woman says Jesus has returned -- to a power box across from her mobile home. "I came out on the patio and I was praying and I just looked over back towards the woods and I seen this here," the woman told WKMG. "And it was a comfort to me." The Jesus-shaped likeness attracted her neighbors, who crowded around the nonworking meter to take pictures of the image with their cell phones.

What do think? It's a shame the picture's not bigger or clearer so we could get a better idea. Wouldn't it be wonderful to think that Jesus sends image reminders out to give us all faith and hope in such difficult times. What a great way to get the message across....

JESUS IS ALL POWERFUL.

 
I don't know if this is a true miracle. There have been so many sightings over the years by over zealous people trying to make the unbeliever change their mind. Maybe they did it with good intentions (not that I think it's right- quite the contrary).

If it is dis-proven as a hoax that's terrible. If it's never proven to be a miracle, does it really matter? The point is, it got us talking, thinking and more than likely just a little bit hopeful that YES, Jesus does want us to know that he's right here with us, listening during these hard times. I know that the woman in Florida is probably sleeping very good tonight.

Sorry that I've been missing in action lately. I'm obsessed with spring cleaning, renovations, DIY projects and even yard work. By the way, when you clean does it seem to get worse before it gets better? I have to drag everything out at once which leads to another thing and so on and so on. I've got at least every room in my house totally messed up. Neils doing sheet rock repairs so everything comes out of that room. In the mean time I tackle another room. No kidding we have mudding going on in 3 rooms right now. Everything is in the dining room and living room. Not a clean room in the house, I tell you.

When I'm not doing one of the above I'm usually rubbing my arthritis aching foot or nursing a sinus headache. Darn spring pollen, it's killin' me. Anyway, I'm having a hard time even going to the computer. I'll try to get my time organized this weekend and be back on track next week.

Hugs ya'll......Tracy ♥

Well it's been a really busy week here. Neil and I were lucky enough to have my only sister (only sibling for that matter) Joni and her family come in from Atlanta for a few days. It was so great to see everyone. We haven't seen them since last July 4th. They missed the 4th this year but still made it.

Unfortunately we got a lot of rain while they were visiting. We did head to the beach one day but it was cloudy and overcast. The kids all went swimming but not Joni and me. By the time we left at 7pm it was really cold. I had to actually dig through the trunk and find a sweater. Can you image that - in July!!!! Just last week we had a heat index of 105 degrees. The cool air was wonderful. The rest of the time was spent enjoying the cool weather on our porch. We have a wonderful wrap around porch that Neil built that looks out over the river. I'm so lucky that he is willing to take on so many projects. The inspector said it was so well built that we couldn't have found anyone else that would have done such a good job.

Our property is lined with age old oak trees draped in Spanish moss. I don't know what we'd do without these lovely old trees to take the edge off our sweltering hot summers with the gosh awful humidity. They truly are a God send.

I don't have any pictures of anything I've made recently but hope to post some soon. Instead I'm leaving you with a few pictures of Jacksonville, Florida, the city of seven bridges (I know there's more). I've also thrown in a photo of the fireworks over downtown Jacksonville.

This picture is a beautiful purple sunrise over Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island where we grew up spending all of our summers.

The downtown fireworks celebrating the 4th of July. You can see the Main Street bridge to the right.

The beautiful Hart bridge over the St. Johns river with downtown Jacksonville in the background. This was taken not far from our home.

This is a photo of the Dames Point Bridge. When first completed in 1989 it became the longest cable-stayed span in the United States, the longest concrete span of its type in the Western Hemisphere, and the third longest cable-stayed bridge in the world. It crosses the Intercoastal Waterway, you can see the marsh in the background.



This is a view of the Downtown skyline from the old Ortega Bridge. It's gorgeous at night. I always thought it was one of the most romantic spot in Jax. Very romantic.