Visiting Dudley Farm Historic State Park

We had such a fun Sunday afternoon at this beautiful Florida State Park. The website is HERE.

The house was beautiful, built in the mid 1800s!

But of course, all I could SEE were FENCES!

I have enough photos for a ‘month of good fences!

This old split rail fence was a favorite.

Here we are walking past this HUGE cedar tree to the house. (my hubby is 6 ft tall!!!)

And then when we turned around to leave, I saw the hodgepodge at the fence corner.

I wonder if anyone was told to do this job and did it in a hurry!

I’m joining Tex for the

Good Fences party!

A Box filled with treasures “Wednesday Wee Ones”

I’ve mentioned a few times on my blog that I grew up living next door to my Grandparents. And my Grandmother influenced my life in many ways. She taught me the joy of music, books and poetry. She paid for piano lessons with I was a girl and read to me from books she had on her bookshelves. The one I remember most was Heidi.

I married when I was young. And I didn’t really have a whole lot. My grandmother told me to keep some of my childhood things to take with me. So when I moved away from home, I packed a box filled with treasures.

The box I packed my treasures in was a shoe box.

It would sound like a sad story except for the fact that I’ve spent the past 20 years collecting many of the things I had as a child and things I probably ‘wished for’. So it has a sweet ending.

But my advice for anyone getting married or even ‘purging’ is to be sure you keep a box filled with treasures.

My hubby put up another small shelf in the doll room this week for the Nancy Drew books I’ve collected over the years and I filled out the shelf with the Hardy Boys.

And then I decided to dedicate the shelf to my little collection of childhood treasures.

Let’s see…the baby cup I got at my birth, an armless doll with crochet dress, a tiny tea pot, a little cloth dollie and my teddy bear.

I’m joining the Vintage Inspiration Link party HERE,

and Roses of Inspiration.

I hope you cherish the memories of your childhood and hold on to the good ones.

Springtime in Florida!

I feel very blessed to live in Florida and Springtime is especially beautiful this year.

I went to the farmer’s market again last week and this time I hopped out of the car to take photos across from the ‘action’, looking out over the golf course.

 

Hubby came with me this time and took a quick pic of me, too.

I’m joining Beautiful Sunday and

Lavender Cottage for Mosaic Monday

and Amaze me Monday.

I hope you are having a beautiful week and that Spring weather comes to your area soon, too.

Natural Scenes from Florida

When it’s too warm to hike, we can get in the car and drive!

And it was a beautiful day over the weekend to head to a feeder creek to the Gulf Coast.

I thought you might enjoy seeing some natural beauty.

And how nice to have a bench to sit and watch the boats come in.

Looks like a fun day to be on the water!

We brought an afternoon snack with us.

Time to sit and relax.

Enjoy your day everyone!

 

A ‘Half a Hike’ for Good Fences “Orange Creek”

We found a really beautiful hiking trail but it was TOO HOT to hike!

‘Orange Creek Restoration Area’

We walked around for about 30 minutes but it was 90 degrees so that’s as long as we lasted.

I thought about adding 1/2 to my ‘total hikes’ on the sidebar, Carla (from The River) but decided not to! lol

It even had a swampy area and we saw a pileated woodpecker while we stood there looking around.

We’ll go back when the weather is better.

How do you like the one fence post I got in this shot, Tex?

I’m joining Tex for the

Good Fences party!

Hand Embroidery joins ‘hi tech’!

I love to sew and decided to try embroidery again after all these years.

I visited Prairie Patchwork Quilts and saw her precious pillowcase doll HERE and found the kits on sale on Amazon.

I’m starting with a regular pillowcase to see if I remember the basic stitches.

But if all else fails, there are videos galore to view online. Keep your IPAD handy!

I’ll try the pillowcase doll next.

Some of these old transfers were my Grandmother’s. She could sew, crochet and quilt better than anyone I’ve ever known. I hope just a little bit of her talent was passed on to me.

When I went to the thrift store last time, I found this sweet little doll.

I’m joining the Vintage Inspiration Link party HERE,

and Roses of Inspiration.

Enjoy your day!

It’s Spring in Florida! Let’s go to the Farmer’s Market!

Oh, my! There were so many wonderful products as well as fresh produce.

The vendors are all so friendly and helpful.

Everything I bought was from this nice gentlemen. He always says, “Have a blessed day” when you leave.

And there are lots of temptations like handmade jewelry, silk flower arrangements, soaps and birdhouses.

I think I looked at everything twice!

And enjoyed visiting with everyone.

I stuck with the fresh Florida produce today.

And enjoyed sliced strawberries on my bakery bagels.

 

(I should have sliced them prettier for the photo. lol)

Have you been to the farmer’s market lately?

I’m joining Beautiful Sunday and

Lavender Cottage for Mosaic Monday

and Amaze me Monday.

How would you like to go?

The Gator bus or golf cart?

3 Months of Hiking

The winter months are the best time to get out on the trails here in Florida. The weather is nice and the cooler temps are perfect.

Swallowtail Kite, photo taken yesterday

During the first 3 months of this year we went on 18 hikes, averaging 1 hour and 45 minutes for each.

We also went to the beach a few times. When we first moved here I wondered why anyone would ‘hike’ when they had the choice to go to the beach and walk. But our favorite beach Cananveral National Seashore is 100 miles from our house and our favorite hiking trails, Ross Prairie and Halpata Tastanaki Preserve are 5 miles from our house. So it’s been nice to find the joy of hiking again and the day trips to the beach are even more special.

Several of you have wondered how to find hiking trails in your area. We found most of ours by driving around and then going to the State Parks site for our state HERE. You could do this too and find out what trails are near you.

Scrub Jays in Halpata Taskanaki Preserve

Getting out in nature is always an adventure. This year we’ve seen deer, a raccoon in a tree, a covey of Bobwhites twice and several Scrub Jays. We’ve seen hawks, osprey, all kinds of common birds and a swallowtail kite. We watched a pocket gopher and even got photos of him, and listened to owls calling to each other. We’ve seen families hiking, a horse and carriage and bicyclists. Wildflowers and water lilies blooming in a pond. Pileated woodpeckers and wild turkeys on the run. It’s been amazing.

An Easter egg tree right on the trail.

We’ve met a really nice Forest Ranger that told us about a trail nearby that he enjoyed and now we’ve hiked it several times. He explained about the control burns and gave us info on some of the critters we’ve wondered about. (he is NOT the person that told us about B*ig F*oot! haha)

I hope you have a beautiful and blessed weekend.

If you have a chance, get outside and enjoy the beauty that surrounds you.

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE.

And I'd Rather B Birdin' .

B*ig F*oot sightings in the Forests of Florida!

Now who would ever believe there are B*ig F*oot creatures in the deep dark forests of Florida?

(some of you are just learning that Florida HAS deep dark forests!)

It’s a little known fact but we know it is true!

How do we know, you may ask?

Because we met someone that talked to someone else that saw one and now leaves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in a basket in the deep dark forest for B*ig F*oot.

Don’t laugh!

Walk with me as the trail goes into the shadows.

You never know what you’ll see.

(all photos taken by ‘me’)

Do we dare go closer?

Seeing is believing!

And since clearly there is a fence in some of these photos,

I’m joining Tex for the

Good Fences party!