Wishing you were here...

Each summer we go from our almost 3,000 sq. foot house (and it feels bigger because of the cage around the lanai and the pool) to our time share unit here at the resort with its approximately 500 sq. feet and a small lanai overlooking the Gulf. While I love nothing more than soaking up the rays and reading to my heart's content, E cooks. E buys fresh shrimp at the fish house across the bridge and grouper and we get veggies at the stand on the side of the road. These are just a few of the ways he takes his large kitchen at home and brings as much with him as he can...look at the system he has...the last series of shelves is in the bedroom part of the unit...lol.

Tonight we are dining on grilled shrimp in a cilantro marinade. Last night, when we had our former neighbors from here and good friends, Ed and Deb, over we had a ravioli lasagna which was magnifico!

Ed and Deb lived across the street from us when we lived her in Ft. Myers and you could not ask for better neighbors or friends. We survived three hurricanes together and we were laughing last night at the last one where E and I though they were signaling us in the middle of the dark and horrific night in Morse Code when they were merely looking out a window just like us flash lights in hand. It was so good to see them again.







We have incredible surf here today which is so rare for this side of the state. The winds have kept the temps low and comfortable. E and I went to the outlet mall for some retail therapy this afternoon ( he got socks and underwear...hardly therapy in my opinion) and I found two cute tees at Izod. He grocery shopped and I read the magazines til he was done and text'ed Pam B and Janet M and then we went for a late lunch at one of our favorite places here... S.O.B...Smokin' Oyster Bar. E use to work for the Chamber of Commerce here and his kiosk was right next to this place. He, the meter maid and the gals who waited tables and the bar all exchanged recipes...it was too funny! And the ones who are still there, still remember him!

I'll post surf pics tomorrow. Life is good and I wish you all could be here enjoying this with us. Our St. Louis pals all arrive tomorrow...safe journey friends!

Wed and Thurs at the Beach

Yesterday, I met my friend Sonia at Owl and Pussycat Stamp Art Store for demo day and we learned the cutest technique for making darling paper hearts (I'll put some pics on my altered art blog). Regina, the owner, was out sick. She is the most talented woman and I hope she gets better soon. Her love of creating is so contagious and she taught me the technique that got me published for the first time about 7 years ago. Barbara was subbing for her and did an excellent job. Sonia and I roamed the store inhaling idea after idea and being totally inspired...thank Owl and Pussycat!

We had a great lunch and got caught up on our lives. It is always good to see old friends and know some things will never change.

This morning we hit the beach early. It is a good thing too as it is pouring rain here with the wind causing big white caps. It is beautiful to watch ...from inside!
The first picture is of the pier here on the north end of the beach. There is a great restaurant/bar at the base of the pier that makes excellent pina coladas and great coconut shrimp.

E is walking back towards the resort here and you can see the causeway leading to Sanibel and Captiva in the back ground.








and the icing on this sweet slice of life day was brunch with a fellow A Cherry on Top CT member, Jenn. Jenn does digi and her work is wonderful and creative. While we had only met on line, having brunch with her was like we had known each other forever. She graduates with her teaching degree in Dec. Best wishes my CT pal! You are a delight!


After I left First Watch where Jenn and I had brunch (oh my...we had the best tomato basil soup ever), I picked up some fresh decorations for my mom, papa joe, aunt marion and uncle harlans markers at the cemetery. It is always surprising to me how long my parents have been gone...Papa Joe since 06 and my mom since 1999. They would be so excited to meet the boys but I feel certain they know along with Momie and Harlan.

Off to scrap for a bit til the rain, thunder, lightening and winds abate! E, is starting our dinner preparations for our old neighbors, Ed and Deb who are due here around 6:30pm. Hoping this storm has passed by then so we can all have our cocktails Gulf Side.

Have a great day.

As Time goes by

We spent a lovely day doing a whole lot of nothing. We took a couple of mile walk along the beach and then did some dolphin watching. We grabbed our table and alternated cooling dips in the pool with some reading and dozing pool side.

There was a near fatality here when parents got distracted and a very young boy was pulled out of the pool by a very astute eleven year old who was getting ready to enter the pool. She noticed the little boy floating face down, pulled him out and called for help. Fortunately, there was a paramedic staying here and he got the little boy breathing again before the EMRs could arrive. We have not heard an update but I am sure will soon. E and I will definitely be signing up for a child CPR class when we get back home.

When we lived here we would meet our friends, Karen and Dewey a couple of times a year for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Vincenzo's on the Bay. E and Dewey would often meet at the dog track on a Wed. Since we have moved, we make plans to meet them during our two weeks at the beach, Last night was that night. Unfortunately, Vincenzos is closed for the summer so we ended up at what could be our new favorite, Watermark Grill. The pictures speak for themselves...divine food.

And then the sun set...

Beach Time Baby!

We both woke up this morning shortly after four a.m. and hit the deck running! We got the sheets washed, dried and back on the bed, the bathroom cleaned, the rugs all down where they belong, the trees and plants watered and the food into coolers and into the van and, by 8 am., we were on the road!

I have been spending a few weeks each summer here at Estero Island Beach Club. My dear Papa Joe use to manage the time share resort and helped me get 3 wks. in the same unit and use to employ both of my kids so they would have summer spending money.

I don't think I have missed a summer since I first bought my units in 1985...this is my 25th. year!



Once E and I got married, we started inviting friends down and each, as they came, also bought a week. Kristen and Jill bought two weeks and alternate summers for our prime week: the infamous Week 29...next week.


This week is E and my week (we sold our 3rd. week to Rob as we had helped K get her week). We don't do anything we don't want to do but there is one thing we always do...go to the Cottage (one of the oldest places here on the beach). It is our reward for unpacking and getting settled into our unit. Today, we had grabbed sandwiches on our way to Ft. Myers so we sat out on the pool deck. I read the end of a book and E worked a cross word. We visited with old friends whom we only see once a year here and finally worked up an appetite.


So, we headed on down the beach to The Cottage and our traditional 'meal' of bacon wrapped shrimp w/a seasoned honey dip and beach bread with a beer chaser. We toasted 1) all the working people...the every afternoon Week 29 toast and then 2) all our good friends whom we wish were here with us!



Happy Monday!

Ahoy Matey!

I read in the paper last week that the Tall Sails Ships were coming to Tampa...and we had to go. We have taken an evening cruise on one of the smaller ones down in Ft. Myers but these babies were just huge! One has over 80 crew on board. The tours were amazing, the crews friendly (ahem)and we had a blast with Suzie, Justin and Buddy today.







Tomorrow's blog will come to you via the beach! Oh, and it was a hard decision to make today when we stopped first at the original Hooters for wings and buffalo shrimp and then later for an afternoon toddy...World Cup or Rays playing Cleveland. So we did like they do at tennis matches and went from one tv to another...Congrats to Spain and we left before the outcome of the Rays/Indians game...both went into over time!

Night on the Islands

We had had a full day yesterday with babies visiting us, trying to get the floors cleaned and the kitchen all spic and span so we almost didn't go last night. It had been muggy and sweltering most of the day, we were tired and were pretty listless. Then we realized we had nothing to fix for dinner so off we went to the Sponge Docks and Night on the Islands, which is a town sponsored event coordinated with our strong Greek population. And we had such fun.

The Docks had been magically transformed into any of the Greek Island waterfronts with tables decked in white and black or blue table cloths, Greek flags flying everywhere, live Greek music and lively dancing! A most welcomed breeze came up the river off the Gulf and the temps dropped inviting us to linger long after we finished our sandwiches. We sat on the riverfront and watched the boats before dinner and chatted with some of the staff at Mykanos' Restaurant during and after our meal. We eat there or at Dimitri's on the Water (both owned by members of the same family) often.








As the sun went down, small twinkling lights came on outlining the different "cafes" set up along the wharf and reflecting off the water. With reluctance we headed home but you can be sure we will be attending the next Night on the Islands in our very own little town. Want to join us?

Any one need a baby fix besides me?

Little Mama and the boys have been here most of the day...right now, all three are napping with Papa on baby alert. The kids dryer is broken, so we doing a few loads of laundry to get them through for a bit. E is going to grill some burgers and we have some of the mango salsa left from last night. And between helping with feedings and entertaining the boys so Mama can get a bit of rest, I have even gotten the last of some packing done!

Now I ask you honestly...are these not two cuties? More pics later! Thanks for letting this proud Nana brag!

Where did the week go?

We have been so busy running errands, getting our house sitter acclimated, taking care of last minute details that the week has just sped by. We met Becky and her neighbor, Sonia, for lunch at Lime N Coconut. Love the Mojo pork sandwiches muchly.

Suzie called after she got off work and we grilled red snapper with a mango chutney sauce and ceviche. She and Justin, E and I had a dip in the pool and then supper!

Today Little Mama is suppose to bring the babies over for a visit and E and I have plans to head to the Sponge Docks tonight for "Night on the Islands" festival with Greek food, music and dancing.

Tomorrow morning, we are heading to Tampa to the Tall Sails ships which are in town. Justin and Suzie are going with us. We want to head out early and hopefully avoid some of the heat and the crowds. The picture in the newspaper of the sails and crew of one was amazing. (memo to self: take the good camera).

I have a couple of last minute errands to run and then I am all packed for the beach. We have supper dates with some friends from Naples and are having our old neighbors whom we love over for supper one night too. I have a couple of lunch dates set up with Ft. Myers friends and our St. Louis pals will all be down before we know it.

I am only back one day before I turn around and catch a plane to Wisconsin to visit with my good friend, Pam Bennett (who just got a big promotion at A Cherry on Top and is now the lead designer for both the paper and digi design teams)Congrats to you Pam. We head to Chicago to join up with Janet M and other members of the ACOT design team and the owner for CHA. There is just such a big difference in seeing new products in person as opposed to on line.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Terrific Thursday

Happy One Month birthday to Nana's boys.



Yesterday I met Jackie at Rainbow's End where we could hardly contain ourselves with all the pretty ribbons, trims and fabrics. I had been wanting to try tufting woolen felt for embellishments for my altered projects and the owner, Michele, patiently walked me through the process. I am taking my new tufting tools and several pieces of the felt down to the beach to try my hand at this. Wish me luck.

After our shopping spree, Jackie and I headed to Sea Sea Riders in Dunedin for lunch. Jackie has a fantastic salad with goat cheese croutons (you have to try these to believe them) and I had the Mojo chicken and shrimp. Our portions were so large that I took half of mine home. Well, I would have taken it home, but when I went by Little Mama's after Jackie and I had lunch, I gave my half to her. E is going to try to find a recipe. I copies down the description of my meal so he'd know what went into it!





And more fun news. I will be teaching the All Dressed Up project at Posh Scraps on Aug. 28. It is now hanging in the store behind the check out counter and more info will be available on Michele's blog and facebook soon. A preview can be seen on my altered blog.

Today is happy haircut and color day for me. Taking a book to finish reading as I want to get all my library books returned by Sat.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Busy busy busy

Before we know it, it will be time to leave for the beach. Our house sitter comes by today for an intro to the house, cats, pool, etc. E has been packing up his cooking things and I have clothes all lined up and scrap supplies in a pile to be put into the xxl. I have WW weigh in this morning and, according to my scale, I have taken off the weight I put on the past couple of weeks and a lb more...let's hope that the WW scale shows the same results. It has been far too rainy here for E and I to bike and walk like we were doing daily but look out beach, here we come.

Jackie and I are heading to Dunedin tomorrow to lunch at Sea Sea Riders and shop a bit. And, of course, we'll be making a stop at Rainbow's End to stock up on trims and ribbons.

Thursday I have yoga and then my hair cut and color...can't wait. It is driving me nuts too long and I'm having her cut it short again for the beach. I need wash and wear hair!

Friday, Becky and I have a date for lunch at Lime n Coconut here in Tarpon Springs. It has been far too long since we got together and I miss her! Think we need to plan another road trip in Aug., Becky! I don't know if I'll be able to make the crop at Posh Scraps Friday night or not. Sure had fun last Friday! I do need to make a run by and see what new goodies Michele has gotten in.

I am going to miss hugging on my boys for the almost two weeks we will be gone but Kristen and Chris have promised me daily pictures and updates so Nana doesn't go through too severe a withdrawal.

Off and running! Hope everyone has a great day...oh, just saw our humming bird (not the moth) for the 4th. day in a row...hoping he /she is nesting in the preserve behind the house!

Yankee Doodle Dandies and a Question

Don't the boys look so cute all dressed up for the 4th. of July? We are about ready to eat and I wanted to get this picture up yet today! Happy 4th. from all of us to all of you!

And, what is this I caught a picture of? E says a hummingbird. We had an emerald green one drinking from our plants and flowers yesterday and a bit ago another one with more of a blue color came for a visit...and then this! The wings were fluttering like a hummingbirds, had the same shape and it was drinking from the flowers but I could not see the beak to make sure.It was not any butterfly I've ever seen if it is that. The wings were moving so fast that you can see the green stems "through them" and the tail almost disappears. If this was a hummingbird, it was tinier than the others who have visited and a bit more rotund...HELP please.

Many thanks

Star Spangled Saturday

First, a big shout out to my friend Janet who has been selected for yet another design team. Her unique style, her amazing machine stitching and her incredible (and yes...award winning...numerous CKU's and CKC;s for her heartfelt journaling and her creative cards) journaling have been recognized again! Bravo my talented friend! My hat is off to you! You can see Janet's work at A Cherry on Top and now at How Much is Too Much.



I got so much done at last night's crop at Posh Scraps in Palm Harbor and got to visit with wonderful pals as well. I finished this layout and another that is for my reveal at ACOT on July 19 and got about 3/4 done on three others. Good thing I accomplished so much last night as Kristen brought the boys over for a visit today and I did nothing but love on the twins...that and feed, change, rock, walk and play with them! They are both staying awake lots longer and loved the walk I took them each on to see the flowers in bloom. Speaking of our flowers, this morning our annual visit from the humming bird arrived. He was emerald and dined on several of our blooming plants. See you next year, little guy! lol


Whatever your plans are for the 4th., I hope it is a safe and fun one!

Left Overs Layout

E and I seldom have left overs more than one day. What he fixes for supper is generally what we have the next day for lunch. I adopt a similar attitude towards my scrapping. I am privileged to do design work for two incredible companies, A Cherry on Top and Simply Scrappin' Boutique. Both of these on line scrap booking companies generously supply me with papers, embellishments etc with which to design projects for their sites. In this layout, I incorporated some of the things that were left over from my projects for these places. Bits and pieces, one of a kinds and pieces of this and that were used to create this layout of my daughter and one of her sons for the baby's album.

Thanks for looking. Oh, and this also uses packaging in keeping with my altered objects challenge at ACOT for July.

Remember when you were a kid

and there would be an afternoon summer shower? I know what I did...I'd put on my shinny yellow boots and stomp in the water puddles! I need to make a list of things like this to do with my grandsons.

I had a delightful childhood as I think I have mentioned. I spent almost every summer with my grandmother in a small town in Iowa. I was summer friends with Sally and Susan Willison at the end of the block, played with Susan Loo who lived on the corner and had a good friend one block over (if I cut through the Butterfields' yard!).

During the day, I would ride my bike to the library or take the bus and meet my aunt who worked for the newspaper who then would bring me home in her little snazzy English Ford (oh how Aunt Momie did love to drive stick shift).

After dinner, the neighborhood kids would all gather on the boulevard that ran down the middle of Home Park Blvd. and we'd play badminton, kick the can and tag til our parents (or in my case, Nana) called us home.

I want my grand children to have this type of summer. I think it was easier then as I will have to compete with WII, computer games, DVDs, and who knows what by the time they are old enough to chase lizards and butterflies with me (no fireflies in Fl.)and make sand castles on the beach.

E and figured the other day that when the boys graduate from high school, we will be in our 80s...but the good news is that we are doing everything in our power to make sure we are the healthiest and most loving grandparents we can be.

Lunch on Lake Tarpon

Jo met both Gloria and Sandy when she was 'wintering' here last January and we all had such fun together with Marsha too. Marsha has returned up East but the four of us had lunch yesterday at Tarpon Turtle. While it was too hot to eat outside when we arrived, by the time we left, a nice breeze had picked up. The food, as always, was delightful. And the company...ooh la la! We've made some tentative plans for next Jan/Feb when Jo and Bill are back here in Tarpon Springs. I am going to miss Book Club this month as we will be a the beach so this was a chance to chat with Glo and Sandy before we go.






Speaking of the beach, we need to get our house sitter over for dinner so we can walk him through the pets' idiosyncrasies and those of the pool so he has a pleasant stay and is willing to come back for our Med. cruise as well.

I am trying to book friends in Ft. Myers for lunches to get caught up with them while we are down before all our friends from St. Louis arrive. I want to do Demo Day at Owl and Pussycat (or perhaps even a Sat. class?), meet up with some gal pals, have Ed and Deb out for supper and meet Dewey and Karen at our favorite restaurant in Bonita, Vencenzos. I also want to get down to Bonita Springs to visit with Janet D. I have not seen her store since they moved, Scrapooks, Etc.

Lots of friends are leaving this week...Jo heads back to St. Louis, Janet and Cynthia are returning to Penn. and my friend, Diane, is off on a cruise the end of this week. But it won't be long before we head out ourselves and two days after we return from the beach, I wing my way to Pam's in Wisc. and then we head to CHA for a wonderful reunion with our Cherry Gal Pals from A Cherry on Top online store. And meet up with Elizabeth, owner of Simply Scrappin' Boutique (my other "boss")! And sweet Michele, new owner of Posh Scraps here in Palm Harbor will be there too...yeah!

Hope everyone has a great day!

Sunshine and good friends

We had a delightfully busy day yesterday. Jo and I started the day with coffee and a variety of fresh fruits on the lanai with the Sunday paper. By ten am we were on our way to the Craft Fair in Dunedin, the little Scottish town just south of where I live. While we did not find the earrings we are both looking for, we did find...a hat lady! And nothing would do but for one of us to try on a few. I found this one particularly fetching...what do you think...is it me? lol




The sky was gorgeous...a splendid blue with white puffy clouds and we did have a bit of a breeze but the temps here have been horrifically high and yesterday was not exception. By the time we had walked the two blocks of the Craft Fair we felt like wilted lettuce!.


The car had cooled by the time we made our way down to the Pier in St.Pete and the Columbia restaurant where we met up with Janet and her enchanting grand daughter, Cynthia. Janet and Cynthia are down in Anna Maria preparing three condos that Janet and Bob have recently purchased for rentals. And yesterday they took a break from their cleaning and shopping and decorating to have lunch with us.

Here we are toasting to all those who could not join us (you know who you are!). The sangria, which is hand made at the table, is so yummy! We shared a flat bread and then had the 1905 famous house salad and the black bean soup. And Miss Cynthia has a decadent chocolate cake slice with chocolate mousse for her after lunch treat.'



I'll try to put up some of the pictures from our trolley ride through downtown St. Pete later. Our driver was a tour guide extraordinaire.

Today we are meeting Glo and Sandy (book club pals) for lunch and catch up at the Tarpon Turtle and finalizing the side trips we decided on last night for our cruise. We are only doing one tour through the cruise liner and have elected to do tours of several of our other stops with private drivers and vans and some we will do ourselves such as our day visit to Capri. It is so nice to be going with Jo and Bill whose expertise has proven invaluable...and besides, we have such fun with them.

Have a great day.