Way Down Upon the Suwannee River.....

I hope you are all enjoying a day of fun and freedom! I am so thankful for the men and women who have sacrificed and those who continue to sacrifice for us to enjoy our freedoms. I have a couple of nephews who are currently serving in the Army, one of which is overseas on his third tour. I am so very proud of and thankful for them!

After the extremely crazy (not in a good way) week I had last week, the hubby and I decided to take the boat out and enjoy a few hours on the water for some fun in the sun! 

This is one of the few things in life that seems to restore peace to my soul.....fresh air, sunshine, & wind in my hair. Riding in the boat just seems to relieve me of my worries! Here is one of my favorite views...:) You can see my extremely white feet....although I did manage to get some sun today! 

I need a little tan for my upcoming cruise...:)

You may have heard the old Stephen Foster song....Old Folks at Home. If so, this is the river the song is referring to....the Suwannee River, and it's just a few miles from home. I was hoping to see a gator today so I could snap a photo to share, but no such luck! My hubby and son did see one before I met them. They said it was a big one....about 10 feet long! So, no gator photos, but I did take a few others to share. First is these two old boats. Really cool looking old boats. I don't know if they are still used or not. 

We rode all the way up to where the Suwannee meets the Santa Fe River and rode down it for a few minutes. It's not nearly as wide as the Suwannee, but it is just as pretty. Check out the cool paint job on this boat! Some creative person owns this one...:)

The sign below warns boaters to be on the lookout for sturgeon. They are huge fish that jump up out of the river and sometimes hit people in their boats. It happens every summer....at least a few times. They have been the cause of broken bones and knocking out teeth, etc. I know a couple of folks who have been hit by a sturgeon. I pray it never happens to me. I keep my eyes peeled!

Here we are heading back to the Suwannee from the Santa Fe. This is where the two rivers meet.

Here we are entering the run to a local spring called Rock Bluff Spring. Look at the green stuff floating on the water. It looked like some sort of seed to me, but I'm not sure what it was.

Look at this huge cypress tree in the run. The base is around 12-15 feet wide. These trees grow huge!

See how clear the water is here at the spring....look at the mullet fish! I would love to have taken a photo of the boil (where the water comes up out of the ground), but there were too many boaters. It is beautiful!

My son caught this pretty dragonfly while we were sitting in the boat and talking to friends.

I love this pretty cypress tree and the reflection in the water...:)

And here we are heading back to load up the boat and go home. I travel over this bridge often. This area is called Rock Bluff. The spring we just left is Rock Bluff Spring.

I hope you enjoyed riding down the Suwannee River with me...:) It's one of my absolute favorite things to do...:) I'm sure I'll be taking you along again this summer! Enjoy the rest of your Memorial Day and 3-day weekend! I have a 3-day work week due to graduation Friday and taking the day off! So......it's a short but  busy week so I better go get started on something.

 Until next time.....

Nothin' But Blue Skies...:)

Happy Wednesday everyone. I hope you are all having a wonderful week so far! Mine has been busy, but good overall. Yesterday, I attended my son's senior class breakfast. It was a really sweet time. They had a slide show of pictures and music....kind of choked up a couple times, but made it through...:) It has been so fun sponsoring the Class of 2013! I love some of those kids so much. After the breakfast, I went to work and was having a pretty good day, until after lunch. We had taken our 5th graders out to play kickball and one of  my students tripped and fell shoulder first on his left side and snapped his humerus (upper arm bone)

 into. It was a compound fracture and tried to go through the skin, but fortunately it just poked through a little and did not come all the way out. I saw the whole incident and went with his to the nurse's clinic while they called his dad. He was such a trooper....he never cried! It hurt me to look at it....:( I hope he is back at school tomorrow! Today was a crazy day at work, but I made it through, came home and accomplished a few things on my to do list, and then headed to town to decorate for the bridal shower tomorrow night. It turned out so cute. I will share photos soon...:) On the way home, I had to stop and take photos of the glorious sky painted by the Master's hand...:) Isn't it just gorgeous? Look at the edges of the cloud....they were lit up from the sun hiding behind.

This was over a corn field....so pretty the way the corn stalks meet the sky!

I love how the sun is exploding out the side here...:)

Simply majestic!

Here's a sweet photo of my little Farah...:) She is napping on my lap as I type this. She is so sweet! I gave her a bath last night, she's not so cute when wet....lol!

I also wanted to share this strange plant in my mother-in-law's yard. A few weeks ago, it started turning from solid green to this bright fluorescent red color and then it started blooming. This is the most unusual plant I have ever seen. Check it out. 

This is the bloom. They kind of look like match sticks to me before they open. 

Here is what they look like open. Pretty little blooms aren't they?

Anyone know what this plant is called? My mother-in-law couldn't remember the name and I have tried looking it up with no success thus far. If you know, please leave me a comment and let me know. I pray each of you have a blessed Thursday! Thanks so much for visiting...:) 

Until next time.....

 

 

Bridal Shower Decor & a New Fur Baby!

Happy Monday friends! Today was pretty good for a Monday two weeks before school lets out for summer! Only 12 student contact day left! Can I get a Woo Hoo! The students are as ready for summer break as we teachers are...:) Funny thing is, I love my break, but spend half of it working on school stuff and after a month or so, I start itching to get back to it. I guess that's a good thing though....it means I love my job...:) Anywho, I thought I would share what I spent part of my weekend working on. Thursday night, I am helping hostess a bridal shower for my niece's sweet friend and I was in charge of decorations. So, since the bride to be didn't have a preference in theme or colors, I starting browsing Pinterest for ideas. I was inspired by the cake you see below. 

Source

Isn't it just adorable? Well, I decided to go with this cake and use purple in place of the pink. My niece told me that purple is her friend's favorite color. I later found out that purple and green are her favorite colors, so I think she will love it! The cake we are having made will have a top hat on the groom pear and a veil on the bride pear...cute huh? I can't wait to see it...:)

I made the decorations. You can see the buntings and pom poms I made in the photo below. 

The next couple photos are just some of the items I am using to decorate with. I am using my milk glass vases & silver trays, as well as a few other items from my home. 

The next two photos are the centerpieces. You might remember the green flowers from Friday's post. They look very pretty wrapped in burlap! I found the sweet purple votive holders at Ross Saturday.....3 in a pack for $2.99! 

You can see the burlap and paper layered under the silver tray in the photo below. Some have purple prints and some green. 

I found this sweet little heart frame at Michael's Saturday for just $1. It was unfinished and I painted it white, added some pearls, made some yo-yo flowers and a couple other flowers and some burlap leaves and trim and voila! A pretty frame to display a black and white photo of the sweet couple  at the shower...:)

I still have another banner to make....using sheet music! I'll share that one later. I can't wait to get it all put together! I sure hope she likes it...:)

Now.....I also got a new kitten Sunday! My mother-in-law had a stray have kittens under her porch and this was the one that didn't have a home yet, so she came home with me...:) My daughter wanted so badly to take her home, but it didn't work out with her living in an apartment and having roommates, so I brought her home and she can see her when she comes home. She wanted to name it Sheldon after Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory, but, it's a girl, so we named her Farrah after Amy Farrah Fowler from Big Bang. My family loves that show...they are too funny! She has been running across my laptop while I am trying to type and I can't count the times I have had to redo parts of this post...LOL! She's a feisty little thing but she already has my heart! I love kittens and cats...:) I tried and tried to get a good picture of her today, but alas, it wasn't in the cards! She is far too hyper. This one is from yesterday at my mother-in-laws before we came home with her. She's  a cross between tabby and calico....a very strange mix! She is a cutie though...:)

Well, I'm off to cook supper before my evening walk. Have a blessed, restful evening my friends and thanks so much for visiting!

Until next time......

 

 

Walking With God!

Those of you who are regular followers, know that I walk at least 2 miles almost daily. Granted, there are days that I just can't walk due to rain, or an obligation to be somewhere else during the time I normally walk, but for the most part, I walk pretty much every day. I always walk with my mama and sometimes my Aunt Loretta joins us as well. We almost always take the same route, but occasionally change it up a bit. It never ceases to amaze me that I can spot so many new things almost every day! Every single day I notice God's beauty! I am sharing some of my walking photos from the past week...:) I hope you enjoy them.

Looking at the photo below, you may find yourself wondering if I live in the jungle! It amazes me how fast the vines have grown this spring! A lot of this is wild grape vine....it has taken over like Kudzu!

This huge leaf caught my eye....the one in the center of the photo. It was massive...at least 12 inches at it's widest point! Amazing...:)

 

The moon was oh so pretty on one of our walks this week. It was a half moon!

I spotted this honeysuckle growing in the wild. We couldn't figure out how it got there unless the seed got carried by the wind or an animal. Honeysuckle smells heavenly! I broke this piece off and mama is trying to root it!

The sunset was just beautiful here. The sun rays were coming up through a cloud over the trees, but you can't see it in this photo. It's still pretty enough to share though!

I love dandelions! In the words of Phil Robertson, they make me happy, happy, happy!

 Isn't this a pretty photo?

And...I love the rusty fence wire in this photo!

The dandelions were growing along this fence row. Look at the pretty wild vine growing along the fence...:)

Mama spotted this pretty caterpillar. His coloring was perfect for spring!

She also spotted this one on a different day! She's good at spotting crawling critters...:)

I love the fresh green color of the new growth on these pines. 

Look at mama's beautiful gardenia....these smell heavenly as well!

And...look at the new growth in her sago palm. I love to watch them grow. It seems like they grow an inch a day! When they start to unfurl, they are so pretty!

Have you ever heard of milkweed? Ever wonder where it gets it's name? This is just a weed that grown here in Florida. The leaves are very pretty, both in color and their veining. Look carefully and you can see where this weed gets its name. See the puddle of "milk" dripping from the broken leaf?

Here's a closer shot of it.....you can see it dripping from the vein. Pretty cool isn't it?

Ok....so I have a couple more to share that were not from my walks! My mom and I went to watch my nephew, Jacob, play Lacrosse on Saturday and then went shopping. The ditches on the way were just full of Black-eyed Susan's and Phlox. They are gorgeous! I had to pull over and take a quick photo to share!

And lastly, I wanted to share the cute little pitcher I bought while shopping Saturday to add to my white pitcher collection. This one is new, I bought it at Michael's while shopping for the bridal shower. It was normally $10, but it was half price and I had a 25% off my order coupon, so that made it $3.75. I just had to have this little cutie! She fits in nicely with all my others, although they are a little jealous of her sweet little leaf  and vine design! LOL!

Well, I hope you enjoyed walking with me and seeing some of God's handiwork! Try to take time this week to notice the little things in the big picture of life. You just might be amazed!

Until next time......