When Inspiration Strikes

Clean out and throw away!

Okay, lots of times we give away instead of throw away. 

I'm not sure Goodwill appreciates it, but that's not the point. 

It's a hard fact that we can't keep adding to our nest 

without pushing some stuff over the edge and into a Goodwill bin.

And so, please consider the wagon in the photo. 

This rusty Radio Flyer's done its time here on our one acre. It's hauled plants, 

kids, weapons of Nerf warfare, and more plants. 

During the spring greenhouse clean-up, 

I declared it finished ... mort ... trash-day fodder.

"Take it to the garbage," I instructed my doubtful crew of two. 

The beat-up wagon spent quite a few weeks upended near the garbage cans  

waiting for a final trip, this time for roadside collection.

But then, just in time—inspiration struck. 

 

 And now it has a new life as garden hardscape.

* * *

Other inspirational sights from our getaway to Madison, Indiana: 

I'd like to replicate this shutter's rubbed-off, old blue on our upcoming garden gate.

We have a mostly-forgotten, single oar to add to the playground platform. 

I just need a good slogan ... 

send suggestions!

This canvas placed in the top three items we considered buying as 

 an anniversary gift to ourselves. 

The arc created by these doortops is what I'd like in a garden gate. 

Side note: Doors are unreasonably expensive right now.

* * *

And a final photo of us on our thirty-third anniversary -

We stayed at the Iron Gate Inn and are happy to highly recommend it.

They provided comfy accommodations and an excellent breakfast. 

This ponderable message was just inside the door—

Round and Round - A Marriage Allegory

We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary last year with a trip to Florida. 

This year we enjoyed a nice dinner and a ride in a posh Ferris wheel. 

So, if you'll indulge me, I'll "spin" an 

over-obvious parallel 

between marriage and a Ferris wheel ride. 

After paying too much money to ride, anticipation builds as you stand in line watching other riders settle into neon-lit gondolas and spin slowly up, into thick summer-evening air. Anticipation makes waiting almost unbearable, but finally, it's your turn. Someone with a badge mumbles a litany of rules and recommendations. You and your partner rush aboard,  fastening safety buckles and latches in all haste.

Revolutions which looked slow and relatively safe from the ground spin by impossibly fast.

The dazzling view and intimate seating arrangement are thrilling, although either may prove uncomfortable over the course of the ride. The free-fall sensation of the downward spin and the unpredictable swing of the car delight, excite, and cause many to cling even more tightly. 

Multiply the excitement (or terror) if your partner decides to jostle or even swing the cab during the ride. But, if your companion is the quiet sort, you may be challenged to celebrate simple joys: starry night gazing or a gentle handclasp. 

Too soon, it's time to exit the ride. The wheel slows as others leave their gondolas, allowing enough time for a kiss or two before arriving at the bottom for the last time. You exit on the far side of the wheel, unnoticed by glee-filled new riders, eager to begin their circular journey. 

"What's next?" your spouse asks and reaches for your hand.

"How about some ice cream to top off the night?" you reply. 

And off you wander, hand in hand, toward the next allegory-worthy adventure.

Bliss

1988 in Charleston, South Carolina. 

We were post-wedding bliss.

Honeymoon Me

Can you see our faces sort of glowing?

Honeymoon He

Our First Married Morning

on the front steps of the Graustein Inn in Knoxville.

These photos were rarely seen, boxed slides and have been recently transferred to digital. 

I'm thinking this might be a fun small business. 

Let me know if you have some slides you'd like to have switched over - I've got the gear! 

A Courtyard Connection

Aside from the lions everywhere,

there were so many really remarkable sculptures in St. Augustine!

The bust of a monk, only visible through the gates of a locked cemetery. 

He looks a little bit smug, I think. His expression is certainly unusual -

 a wry twist of the lips? Maybe he hoped his likeness would be displayed in

one of the elaborate cathedrals in town - but he ended up in an obscure graveyard.

How unhappy to have a sculpture made of you with your mouth

wide open like that! You know something has crawled up in there and is 

waiting for the pizza delivery guy. 

And this fellow in a courtyard was my favorite. 

We made an instant connection, he and I.

He's barely got his head on, and it looks like it was made from

an entirely different material than the rest of his body. 

I can identify.

My impression is that he was a sailor, coming home from a long voyage.

Possibly on which he was forced to acquire a new head? 

I don't know - it's hard to get away from the head detail. 

But just look at the wide smile! 
That alone makes him different and special.

Spitting

It's a good day to talk about fountains.

After lots of 90º days, we've had a nice rainy day.

Soaking, straight-down showers have made me feel comfortably drenched.

And I don't have to drag a hose around to the gardens!

While we were in St. Augustine, we visited Flagler College.

How awesome would it be to snag a college education in St. Aug?

We almost made the tour, but were distracted by cupcake happy hour, happening 

right down the street. Our priorities are certainly in good order - we missed the tour.

But just inside the gates, there's a really impressive fountain. 

At least my husband found it to be really impressive. 

It stopped him in his tracks - "Wow!" 

He circled it, exclaiming, and finally asked for the camera. 

Keep in mind, he NEVER asks for the camera.

I admit that the frogs were interesting, each one  with a differently formed mouth and stance.

But beyond that ... ?

I guess it's true - ART, like BEAUTY, must be in the eye of the beholder.

I'd rather see spitting faces!

Lighthouse

The St. Augustine Lighthouse was one of the 'must stops' in our sightseeing frenzy while 

on the big 25th anniversary trip recently.

I find that I cannot recommend the sightseeing frenzy any longer. 

It's what we've always done when we're in an actual vacation destination - we feel

obligated to see everything, since we're not likely to ever return.

We wore ourselves out this time, though - maybe we are too old now?

"How do they get the lines on the tower so perfectly perfect?"

One of the staff knew the technical answer, of course.

It's a vacation game we play. We set some goals for the day and enjoy pursuing them. 

 I think the goals for this day were to:

 -laugh big enough that your mouth is wide open,  

-make conversation with a perfect stranger,  

-ask a question that completely stumps someone

(among others not really fit to share)

I don't remember the answer to the question now. It just really seemed like she was not the sort

of person to just spit up a scientific answer. Books and covers, right?

Husband was smirking at my failure to achieve a 'stumping' right there in the gift shop.

In looking online this morning for exactly how many steps the tower has, I find that the 

tower is reportedly haunted - shocker!

All ghosts aside, there were maybe over 1(6),000 steps.  

So it seemed, as I huffed my way to the top, trying to hide the gasping from my uber-cardio-fit husband.

Believe me, I was quick to call attention to the amazing views 

to be had from the windows along the way.

We met (and made conversation with) two women who lapped us on our climb. 

YES, they were going  up and down and up and down  the steps as exercise!

One of the women was 75 Years Old - she "did the tower" 

TEN TIMES A DAY.

They did not spend any time looking at the view through the windows.

Us.

By the way, almost everyone wears a hat of some kind in St. Augustine.

It's just windy there, all the time, and you are probably coming from or going to the beach -

I loved the idea that hair is just messy, so cover it up!

It's Dark

Now, I admit to being a tiny bit sensitive to all things bearing an evil tinge.

And even though I find scary babies in antique stores  fascinating,

I have to cover my eyes  or squint  through every horror flick commercial.

Orcs pretty much traumatize me.

All that to say, I thought St. Augustine was a dark sort of city. 

Lots and lots and lots of history regarding native massacres, plagues, 

religious murders and pirate killing sprees.

So seeing this as we waited at our trolley stop was not so shocking.

Looks like a  headless Spaniard ... or is it a headless Huguenot ... a headless Englishman? 

OK - it was shocking, at least for me.

We've Been Away

It's easy to recommend St. Augustine as a nice place to celebrate a 25th wedding anniversary.

We spent a whole week there - SEVEN nights - and decided that might be a little too long to be away.

We got a whole lot of sand between our toes as we jockeyed from beach to beach,

 looking for just the right spot. 

(Found it on the last day at Vilano Beach.)

Visited as many cemeteries as we could - most of them are locked up

unless you're on a GHOST TOUR.

This carving in a tombstone from the late 1700's caught my eye.

"Look at that, hubs - is that amazing or what?!"

"Tombstones just aren't that amazing, sweetheart."

 Endured an agonizing sales pitch for the resort where we were staying

(We ended up giving them the most ridiculous bottom line figures in answer to:

"What would it cost to make you an owner today?" Knowing the salesguy would 

have to politely decline our thrift - but he met it instead. Then we had to turn him down.)

in order to get a $100 Visa which we used to buy our private eco-tour of the bay with Captain Kyle.

We unashamedly became Total Tourist Nerds with trolley stickers, visitor bands,  

appropriately painful sunburns and audio tour devices. 

It was all good - we had lots and lots of company. 

At least I didn't sport a fanny pack.

Here's a tourist SHOULD for free:

People should keep their knees together when riding in a full trolley seat, 

instead of sitting like bullfrogs wearing short pants and tube socks.

And yes, even the elderly should follow this rule, I believe.

Our eyes were trained on the beaches searching for sharks teeth,

and on the skies, too.

More on St. Augustine coming your way soon.

It'll be like the missionary slide show held in the church hall 

on a slow Baptist Wednesday night.

Two Posts - You Pick

Morning Pop-In

If you stuck your head in my door this morning to say a quick 'hello' and maybe grab a cup of coffee on your way to work, you'd smell roasting pork loin. Pretty odd and somewhat disorienting at 6:30 in the morning.

You might set your coffee cup on the crowded countertop and wonder about the multiple boxes of brownie mix or the giant-sized bag of crushed oreo cookies. "She's off the wagon for sure...," you might muse.

If you needed to make a quick trip to the restroom before you left, you'd pass three-gallon drink dispensers and boxes of plastic plates/cups/utensils.  Then you'd remember --- of course! 

There's a big party here tomorrow! 

Our Second Son is turning 18! 

You'd probably call work and tell them you needed a day off to help a friend get ready for a party. I'd weep with gratitude. We'd have a bonding moment.

***********************

When Lists Collide

There's a big party here tomorrow! 

Our Second Son is turning 18!  

I'm working a master list that ebbs and flows like the tides, baby! I add items and tasks, then cross them off with no small satisfaction. The list has been around for a couple of weeks now, but it's the last three days before any big event that are what really matters. (This concept, hotly disputed, applies to all sporting events also - the last half/quarter/whatever is all that matters.) That's when the purse list, the pocket list, the refrigerator list and the master list are combined and everything is mapped out to be finished over a three day spread. Things are going pretty well, I'm keeping up and feeling pretty good on this day-before-party-morning. 

Except I just remembered a forgotten dentist appointment - we were a complete no-show / no comment / no call. I'm really dreading the phone call I'm going to have to make in a couple of hours or so. I don't think I'll try to explain that the appointment was on the calendar, but simply  had not been transferred to the Master List, rendering it completely nonexistent. 

And in the spirit of listing, bullet items to consider:
- Who will be asked to go patrol the yard for dog bombs? (not me - this is a man job and if you've been doing it, you should stop)
-  Yesterday, my doctor prescribed some serious cough medicine which she said will 'knock you out for 6 hours'. Man-O, was I looking forward to that sleep last night! Instead, I coughed like a maniac and wondered, "Who keeps coughing like that?" Oh ... it's me again. I ended up on the couch with Mr. Selfridge, scalding hot tea (to burn the tickle out of my throat) and dry peanut butter cheerios (to scrape the throat tickle away). 
- The morning after the party, we're flying away on a 25th anniversary trip! I want to yell YIPPEE, but that's not on the list. I'm trying to cram all my vacation stuff into one carry on bag. Do you know what a challenge this is? Sure, the clothes, but what about hats, books, toiletries and shoes? I asked my husband about the shoes, hoping he'd suggest we check just one bag, and he explained how to solve the shoe situation: "You only need two pairs of shoes: beach shoes and going to dinner shoes." I just nodded and added that bit of wisdom to the list.
- Did I mention that we're leaving  the morning after the party? The trip has its own sub-list with sub-sub-lists for making sure there's enough to eat in this house for three adult-sized males, emergency numbers, accommodation and flight confirmations, and questions about sunscreen. If I buy it here where I can get it for a better price and try to take it down there, will they take it away from me at security? DH, could this be another reason to check a bag???

Scary Junk

We found an antique store to browse on our One Day In Savannah. It's our thing - finding oddities among the antique junk booths. Complete and total enjoyment!

So just for fun on Halloween ... what is the scariest object in this photo?

Without a doubt, it's the Cymbal-Playing Monkey, sitting oh so innocently on the table. Here's what he can really do - it's not pretty.

The button-eyed charcoal child holding a box of chocolate covered cherries for her 'Grammy' is nightmare inspiring, as well. I think it's the shoes that really do it.

Just the right realistic macabre touch to give me the shivers.

And just for chuckles, this liver pill ad cracked us up. Especially placed next to the child's chamber pot - great marketing!

Cemetery Naps

We visit cemeteries. We even visited the graveyard in Charleston, SC, on our honeymoon trip. "Graveyards", the old folks call them. On our One Day In Savannah, the Colonial Park Cemetery in the middle of downtown was on our list of must sees. It's fascinating to be one of the living tiptoeing among the markers, monuments and memorials of the dead. Reading their life dates and their considering their parting words.

And one never knows if that glorious catching away might happen, right there in the cemetery, giving us the best seat in the house to see the "dead in Christ rise first". That would be amazing!

Some of these gravestones were defaced by Union soldiers who had too much time on their hands while occupying the city during the Civil War. I'm sure those up to such wicked mischief must've been teenagers...

Speaking of mischief in the cemetery...

We rounded a bend in the quiet, peacefully lush, consecrated grounds to find this:

Seriously? Really?? Is this the right place for a NAP? Yes, it was hot, and it was the napping time of day, but ... really? Could you? WOULD you lie down among tombstones for a little rest?

And apparently that's what they were doing; and you know I stared and studied them. They had made themselves fair game, after all, reclining in such a tourist stop - it's on the trolley line, after all!

Observe that they were not touching. And they did not jump apart when they (if they) heard us. (Close up lenses rock!) They must've just felt a little noddy. A tiny bit 'sweepy'. So unbearably drowsy.

"Hey, hon - let's just take five on this soft grass here, want to?"

"Yeah, Babe! Great idea - I could really use a power nap!"

"Whoa, there's a bumpy spot right under my hip..."

(There's a southern version of this conversation, but I'll leave that to your imagination. :0)

No Way Bridge

We left our island paradise, just for a day, to visit Savannah. It's only 45 minutes away, and certainly I've complained about missing it every single other time we've traveled to HHI. I thought that it would be making clever use of an awesome history opportunity to take our boys into a great old city like Savannah, but I was the only one who thought so. Now I'm so glad we waited to take this trip until we were on our own. What a great day we had! More photos on that later, but I thought you should see these two pics of an amazing (!) bridge approaching on the horizon as we were almost to the city.

Now I'm not one to be afraid of high places, in amusement park rides, tall buildings or bridges, either. And I did once have a moment on a bridge going into Cincinnati, but it was because of the crazy traffic, not a height issue.

There is that bridge going into Madison, IN, from Milton, KY... that one makes you form an exit plan.

Do you have an exit plan for bridges?

When I saw this one rising in the distance --- I had to start snapping photos from pretty far away. "Is that a BRIDGE?" ... "That CANNOT be a BRIDGE?!" ...

"What in the world were they THINKING ?!?!" ...

"Do we have to GO on it???"

And yes, we did have to go on that bridge. More snapping, LOTS of (panic-y) photos as we got closer and closer.

*are you kidding me*

I did have a PullOverPullOverPullOver reflex, but I kept it to myself.

I thought I needed time to form a new exit strategy for this size bridge - those of you who know my strategy know that it would not work in this situation, right?

Anyway, not good to prove oneself mentally unstable on the anniversary trip, right?

At least not on the third day out.

:0)