The hub is on his way home from various parts of the world. Sounds so romantic, but I know it gets old. We're just happy to be getting him back home.
The teenager came home last night from university for a stopover before heading down to Riverside. Spring break. Deep breath. Wouldn't you want to be a fly on the wall. Not me.
As we promised the kid, we beached it all day today. It was fabulous, to say the least.
We drove along the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) to Perdido Key, FL. It's our favorite spot on the Gulf of Mexico.
It was another picture-perfect day--not a cloud in the sky. And, of course, I have the sunburn to prove it.
I brought all my magazines that I never seem to get through at home. I loved this saying.
I finally settled in to read through the latest issue of Artful Blogging, complete with lovely Janet's beautiful drawing. Kudos to J!
A delicious dinner at The Crab Trap, along with my favorite pina colada, of course. Thinking of you GGC!
We have slathered lotion on our rosy little faces, lit a fire and are now settled in for the night. The moon is lighting the river for the little boats returning home. It's our last night here until summer arrives. I keep pinching myself. It was another memorable Spring Break at riverside.
Banana Pudding on Pelican Landing? Bring it on!
I'd much rather have Prudy visiting rather than than old tailless lizard any old day. We have named the porch The Lizard Lounge. Perhaps the dock can now be called Pelican Landing?
This is one of my calla lilies I brought down to Riverside. They are magnificent.
Bella looking for her next catch as I catch up on reading about the Sparkledrawers Sisters on Vallen's site.
The kid and I shared a muffuletta yesterday for lunch. Just like being in NOLA.
Felix's Fish Camp, which I will tell you all about later. Major yum.
One of Wintzell's many signs. I liked the woman quote. hehe.
Here's the kid trying to "coax" the tailless lizard from under the sofa. Didn't work. He corrected me last night and let me know the lizard was living with us for two days, not one. It was Sunday when all the commotion started.
It's a rainy day which is always fun. The kid and I have plans to do some more running around. Lord forbid we ever sit still for a minute or two. The hub is in the Carolina's for the day--bidness--but comes home tonight. Think we will spend the evening on the Gulf since we will be picking him up in Pensacola. Always lots to do there.
Just what the doctor ordered! A river and a beer. Sigh.
Uneventful ride. Rained until we hit the Alabama border. This is one of our rockets--don't know which one, I'm afraid. Hunstville, AL is home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. We've never stopped, but it is on the list of things to do at some point in our journeys.
Our azaleas are blooming here. Tomorrow I'm going to take a look out back and see if the wisteria is in bloom. It was last year, this time. Haven't had a walk about yet. The beer and river were calling my name after we unloaded the car. Everything is good.
My goofy 'bama flower girl.
This morning, as if the garden faery had sprinkled the beds with magical faery dust, most of the hyacinths and daffodils were in full bloom! Poof! Amazing what a few days for warmth and a morning of rain does. It's so pretty and fragrant too, I might add.
If I were going to be home, I would start a bouquet for the house. But since we're on our way out, I will leave these for Mother Earth to enjoy. Oh, and the one lone yellow jacket that has also sprung a little early. Can you spy her? I think I got her a little mad trying to capture her in my lens. The think the last flash kind of dazed her. But not for long. She was back to doing what she does best. Mmmm, don't you know those grape hyacinths sure do taste good.
My flowers of the month arrived on my doorstep this morning. Calla Lilies! I have them soaking in water, but you can guarantee that I'm taking them to Riverside to enjoy for the week. You think I'd leave them here with the teenager and his hoodlum friends? I think not!
Here's the last of the anniversary roses. I hated throwing them out, but they were pretty well spent. And another one of my silly 'bama girls--needing a little dusting, I'm afraid. (I found these cuties in Alabama and lovingly call them my 'bama girls.)
It's been a busy week. But it's all worth it. Riverside is everything we were looking for and more. Even with all the busy work, it is still relaxing to be here. I admit, I am finding it hard to settle down with all all I want to do with the place. That will come in time. The boys, however, have had no problem at all sliding into the relaxing mode. The hub, unfortunately, had to fly out on Wednesday for biz and will return on Friday. He says he already misses the place.
Yesterday, I found this old wisteria vine blooming on the property. I can't tell you how luscious it smells in the kitchen. This is the view off the back of the house. I am enjoying hearing the birds, even woodpeckers across the river, as they flitter about in the spring air. This morning I noticed a little lizard walking about the outside (thank goodness) of the screen bulging his pink balloon neck. Guess love is in the air. We have had a school of porpoise swim by and were greeted by a pelican resting on an old piling across the way. How exciting.
I've been busy having various tradesmen in and out. Got the cable hooked up the first day we were here--knew that was important to the younger folks. The kid and I ran out before the hub and teenager arrived and purchased a refrigerator, washer and dryer. Even had it delivered within the hour! Aw, small-town service. (I received a call from Sears the next day asking me to read the numbers off the fridge. When I did, the lady said they had made a terrible mistake. I had purchased a $1500 fridge at $700! Well that paid for the washer and dryer! Good deal baby!) I have a guy building us a ramp for the hub's mother (and us!) on the side of the house. The steps here are quite steep and I worry about anyone falling down them, even my mom. He gets started today. I've also had a window lady come in and she will be installing plantation shutters on most of the windows. The master bedroom is awakened with the sunrise every morning. The previous owners, as noted before, left nothing on any of the windows. Literally ripped the treatments and hardware out of the wall. Gee, thanks. She even took the door knocker and didn't replace it with anything! Oh, and the doorbell doesn't work, so I've put a little note out there to knock! hehe. Gee whiz. Another "grrrrrrr," she didn't leave us a phone book either. I've had to literally look things up on the computer--which isn't always great or run around town looking for things. Oh well. Such is life.
I painted the kid's room. The pink didn't look too bad when there was furniture in it, but once we arrived to an empty room, I could tell right away, it wasn't going to work. (Of course, the hub had the before and after shots on his computer--I am working on the communal "dog" of a laptop. It is soooo slow. I have had to upgrade all the programs on it since no one else seems to see a need to do so and move my blog to beta--yes, finally I had no choice but to do so. They had me over a barrel. I hope to get to mom's room tomorrow and get it a lighter shade of yellow. You know how paint just starts to look old? It's at that stage. I would love to have the whole place done, but one step at a time. You can see here, the cantaloupe color is a tad outdated. I can definitely live with it though. smile. I ordered a huge sofa to put in here that has a chaise lounge attached so it will sleep two comfortably. Perhaps when that arrives, our next trip down, it will then be time to paint. We'll see how that goes.
We ran into town yesterday and here is a shot of a local artists' "pelican" that are on each street corner. I have more (again, on the hub's laptop) that I will share later. Such a pretty little town.
Tonight's our last night. Kinda sad but kinda happy. I will miss the beach, but I'll be glad to get home to my other babies. Isn't it nice to have someone waiting at home for you? Everyone has had a wonderful time but I think it's time to get momma home. She is especially ready. She was ready the first day. She misses her little dog, Frankie. Next time, we either bring the dog or she stays home. You'd think we'd left a baby at home all by itself--haha. Can you tell?
We've had our fill of shrimp and crab. The Royal Reds have been especially good this season. Think one of us has had them at least once a day. Yum. They're huge! Taste like you're eating big ol' chunks of lobster. How good is that! These were from Down Under Zeke's. We all shared these for lunch today. Our last hurrah. (The teenagers ate four pounds of them tonight--FOUR POUNDS!)
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