Biking Fun

Beautiful weather! A recent overnight trip to Fernandina Beach for an early morning bike ride! and time to get some great reference pics along the way. The ride took us thru Fort Clinch on the northern end of Amelia Island, with live oaks shading the pathway and sand dunes peaking thru the trees on the ocean side. Here's a pic of the riders in front of me! I'm always surprised at the photos I capture with one hand on the bike and one on the camera just clicking away....!!

...after the ride with the group, Deb and I biked thru the "greenway" leading back to her home. It's a beautiful natural landscape with marsh grass, canals, wildflowers, and native critters. Thought you'd enjoy seeing some of the beauty we spied that day!

Don't you love that rich orange color!

Everyone knows you can never have enough references for "pond scum"! As I was taking some pics of the scum along the canals, Deb says...be sure to get a pic of the sign behind you!

Right after taking the scum pic, I spotted a gator watching me with nothing but his eyes showing above the scum!

If you're in the lowcountry any time soon, join me for a bike ride! Never know what you might run into along the way!

Weekend Happenings

Saturday afternoon, several great friends, a boat, a river and sunny skies. The perfect recipe for a fun filled day enjoying boating on the Julienton River and the Intercoastal waterway. Of course we started out by having lunch at Hunter's, a small cafe overlooking the river at Shellman Bluff. Best way to get there is by boat! I had fresh brim...yummy! and upon leaving the dock, we ran into the catcher of our lunch...one of the local fishermen! It doesn't get any better than that!

Here's a couple of views from the boat ride!

Friday evening, the group taught me how to play Mexican Dominoes! It's one of those fun games where you really don't have to think a lot...but it does help to pay some attention! And "summer punch" with snacks go great with Mexican Dominoes! Amazing as it seems, I was the winner of my first marathon game! Not so lucky on Saturday evening after boating however...I came in last...but I was the first player to reach 1,000 points!

Sunday...overslept as usual! I really must get home earlier on Saturday nights! But still had time to get a few things accomplished....first in the kitchen. Had considered a roman shade for the window to give it a softer touch...but when I spied this one at the World Market, perfect color and $10...well, it had to be.

But I would like to make one comment about hanging this type of shade...when you read the instructions (some do, you know!) take a sharpie and mark up ^ or down mark on each of the hangers. When you're up on that ladder and you can't remember which way it goes, you'll thank me! or when you get all three up there and you look back and realize one of them looks different...you'll thank me!!

Another thing I love about living in a more tropical environment is all the natural plants that grow outside your door! This is "ironwood"...not sure why they call it that except I've heard that it will take over your garden if you let it. So I keep cropping it back for kitchen decor..it will stay alive and green like this for several weeks!

...and don't you love the white napkins!

Here's another outdoor plant that is awesome indoors if you have space for it...this one is in the corner of the studio! From outside it looks like I have a palm growing...

Thought I'd share what the handyman, Kelley, did last week! A new fan for the classroom!

...and of course, I got around to adding to my blog posts today! So until next time...keep your brushes dipped in paint and your canvases glowing with color!

carly

Sunset Bike Riding

Every day near sunset, I jump on my bike and zip around town catching fleeting glimpses of the setting sun thru the trees and out over the marsh. Along the way I've gotten to know several neighbors who walk their dogs at sunset and met a number of others who enjoy the boardwalk along the river. Yesterday I decided to ride across the bridge on Hwy 17 that crosses the river in town. The view was fantastic with the sun, bright red, glancing off the water...but alas, I'd forgotten my camera! So the pics you see here are from my rush back to the cottage, grab the camera, and try to make it back to the top of the bridge to get some last minute shots of the sunset. The bright glimmers had disappeared but the sun still gave its usual display of color that no camera can actually capture. You just have to be there....

In the last pic, the sun looks more yellow, but from the eye, it hung bright orange red over the treetops before disappearing behind a purple bank of clouds!

On the way back to the cottage, I stopped at a neighbor's to get some shots of the oak hydrangea that grows "wild" along the house and sidewalk.

and here's my last stop for the evening - Doodlebugs Flower Shoppe! The owner has ok'd my painting her building!

Even if you don't bike, get out and catch a glimpse of the setting sun today! Walk....run...skip....twirl about...be a kid again! Till next time...from the art cottage!