on the island: trees and flowers

Without being very knowledgeable about varieties of trees, I saw some unusual-looking things growing on the island, and took pictures of everything pretty.

As soon as we arrived we spotted a picnic table, but in the sun. We then found some folding chairs under this

and a fellow sitting there said there was a writers' conference going on. He let us take some chairs.

there were hydrangeas everywhere that day

these "standing" stones made a pretty wall  

globe thistle - lovely!

 St. Francis

this tree was very impressive looking with its pink blossoms 

I pulled a branch down to get a better view. I later learned it's a mimosa.

 There was a small tree right near it which had a thick trunk,  so I suppose it was old. It  had very large leaves

and there were little white blossoms underneath! I wish I knew what it was.

There was a fountain,

a cross of flowers, 

and a reflecting pool, where a sparrow posed for me.

We stopped by the gift shop, which was across a hall from some conference rooms.

this sign was on one of the doors

Then I noticed an empty box near the gift shop area -

so I guess there were some famous writers there!

(Yes, I work in a library. No, I've never read anything by either of those two.) 

Back home, I wanted to know what that fantastic pink tree was. It seemed to have a tropical air, so I tried to think of tropical-type trees I'd heard of.  I googled an image of a jacaranda - that wasn't it. But then I saw some text with a mention of mimosa, so I tried that. And it turns out that's what it was!  Such a romantic sounding name for a tree, or anything.

Then I also discovered that it's a pest in Florida. So much for romance.

A beautiful day - and one more set of pictures coming.

waiting for dinner

{p,h,f,r}

It occurred to me that we have a {pretty} brook going through the back yard - I heard it babbling after a rainstorm, so I thought I'd take a picture

(don't know how pretty these photos are)


I was running the bread machine today, and Henry, being unused to the sound it makes, was trying to figure out what it was - he looked kind of {funny} - at least, to me he did.

I'm {happy} that I'm almost finished with a wall organizer, which - I hope - is going to eliminate two things:

an organizer on my wall now that isn't as neat looking as I want, and a box on my desk which I stuff papers and things into.  Too messy.

I saw the design in an old craft book we have at the library - it was the only thing in there that caught my eye, and I have high hopes for it. Seven pockets should be enough. The button is to prevent a full pocket from hanging out too much - I may need to add more.

I now only have to hand-stitch the binding on the back of it, and affix 2 loops to hang it up with, and I'm done.  I wish it were plainer - I used fabric I had at hand which matched my room. We'll see how it works - in time I may see a better way, and make another more tailored to what I need.


We had a tornado warning the other day, which ended up just being a thunderstorm, and heavy rain in places.  But later, I heard a sort of crash, and went outside to investigate.

This tree is very close to my brother's shed - thankfully the limb fell in the other direction.  But, look -

see the black on the trunk?  I wonder if it means it was hit by lightning.
Anyway, that's my {real} for this time.  It could have been realer, and I'm glad it wasn't!

Henry encourages

Henry came over while I was working on the button quilt. He seemed to like it.

on the island: the chapel

Returning to our outing last Sunday -

After the park we headed over to a small island about a half hour away. Found a perfect spot under a tree, and had our picnic. I took so many photos of that beautiful place, that I'm having to make three posts about it - the plant life, the views, and the chapel.

And since today's Sunday, I'll start with the chapel, and other religious-type things, because this island is mainly a retreat center, although they don't chase picnickers away.

This is as close as my camera could get of this gull - he was so pretty

St. Edmund of Canterbury is the patron of the place

St. Richard of Chichester is also there - I'm not sure why.

very pretty stations of the cross - see the squirrels and birds around the edges

an unusual Madonna statue

Jesus preaching from the boat

See the rooster, and the rising sun?  It's St. Peter. He was crucified upside down, feeling himself unworthy to be crucified the same way as the Lord.

prayer of St. Edmund of Canterbury

There was another chapel there, too -

but when we went around the back, it was open. Just a place for people to put their petitions, rather than a real church. Very touching.

The chapel itself was small, but beautiful. There was much blue in the stained glass, and several windows had an ocean, or boat theme.

More later!

how much is that Dolly in the window?

the one with the perfectly curled tail?

How much is that Dolly in the window?

I do hope that Dolly's for sale.

She isn't.

inside the mansion

Back to our trip to the park on Sunday -  there was a tour just beginning inside the mansion when we got there.

There were many {pretty} things inside -

this wall sconce really appealed to me

you could see wisteria out the window here

the floor is teak!

and there's a sunroom with flowers of many kinds painted on the ceiling

is this Old Country Roses?  I have a few pieces of that!

Upstairs were the living quarters, with the owners' bedrooms as one might expect, but I saw this quilt on a servant's bed

it could use a touch of Biz, but otherwise, very {pretty}

The best thing about the upstairs was definitely the view, this one being the nicest I saw -

It was such a perfectly beautiful day weatherwise - we were quite {happy}

There was one {funny} thing

carved under a stone bench outside near the shore. I wish I knew the rest of that story! We didn't see it until after our tour.

We went picnicking somewhere else afterward, which I'll show in another post, and I'd been concerned about the predicted heat and humidity.  But there was an ocean breeze which made it very pleasant -

the {real}ity hit us when we got out of the car back home - it wasn't nearly as nice here. What a difference!

with thanks to Leila and Rosie