A few vacation photos..... 6 to be exact.

17 years ago

Woody and me on the beach, looking at a sharks tooth we found. Actually, I'm looking, he's digging around in his pocket for the one he found, I think.

We found 141 of them, prehistoric fossilized ones.

This year's craft project- we painted "totems" which are pressure treated fence pickets. We are all standing with our own. We planted them there in front of the porch, facing the Gulf of Mexico, so we had to paint the backs, also.

Can you tell that Woody is an engineer? All his painting is equal and balanced and measured out just "so". lol

This is the beach house, it was built around 1920, I think, and has stood up to hurricanes quite nicely. It's identical on each side, we stay in the side on the right. Murphy bed, one-butt kitchen, one bath, a DR and sitting area, it's all you need since you're outside all the time except after sunset, when we always collapsed out of exhaustion. Yes, we're party animals! lol

And this is the view... literally about 10 seconds from the beach. It's just wonderful, we're so lucky to get to go here. Our friends, the owners, stay in their other side so we get lots of good "friend time".

We had perfect weather, all the storms ended right when we got there and then the clouds in the morning blew inland, it was great, sunny, warm but not too hot. We really lucked out!

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Comments (24)

OklaMoni
17 years ago
WOW, great pics, nice paintings, SUPER tan.... looks like you had a GRAND time.

Welcome home.

Moni
lydia1959
17 years ago
I think Moni said it all! Looks like such a fun time and so relaxing.

What? Not giving away one of your totems in a KT drawing? LOL Wouldn't that be a nightmare to ship. hehe.... That little yellow fish your friend painted sure is cute.
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It takes another gardener to know how one feels, not just about the joys, but about the tragedies, too! And you know what they say... what doesn't kill us only serves to make us stronger! Your former plant-sitter obviously isn't a gardener... if she were, she'd understand how important all the work you've done to your yard is to you! She doesn't care about flora and fauna... she cares only about the money she can make pretending to look after it all while her clients are vacationing. Those kinds of people have empty souls... they're miserable people deep down inside, and we should really pity them... they never really see the beauty of nature around them, they'll never experience the emotion that a special flower in bloom can bring, and they'll never feel one with nature or experience the deep sense of accomplishment that working with nature brings. I've seen so many people like that, being in the dog breeding business as we are... people who look at plants and animals and only see the monetary value... it's sad, really. When spring rolls around again, you're welcome to divisions, cuttings, young stock... whatever I have... of any of the multitude of perennials and shrubs in my gardens! I have Daylilies (both named and unnamed), iris (named and unnamed), columbine, rudbeckia, echinacea, hostas (named and unnamed), ferns (most named), heuchera (all named), monarda in 3 colors, roses (named and unnamed, large and miniature), and a plethora of other perennials and shrubs, the list too long to pull out of my memory at this moment in time! I'm not even through my first cup of coffee yet! You have all winter to think about it, though... and you pretty much know what my gardens contain due to all the photos I've posted! There are some things that didn't make the photos, but I'll have a more detailed listing by then. I've always felt that the most beautiful and precious of plants come from the gardens of our friends. Gardening is for sharing! If not, then why grow all this beauty? Surely not to hoard for ones self! It can only be enjoyed fully if we share the beauty with others! I sure wish your yard could have shared in all the rain we've gotten lately! Last year, this area of the country was low on precipitation, but we're surely making up for it this year! Not a week has gone by since spring that we haven't had at least one storm with an inch of rain! I've only had to run the soaker hoses once so far this season... last year, they ran constantly, it seems! In fact, we had more thunder storms last night! Larry and I stood out in the garage and watched the lightening flash across the sky... the light show was incredible! The flashes were both orange and white-hot! Some were in the distance, but some were pretty close! 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Linda Wayman
17 years ago
Great pics Flamey. What a great beach house. I can tell you sure had a good time..

Love the totems.

Linda
alisande
17 years ago
Do your friends need any more friends? Do they take bribes??

Great pics, and you couldn't be more photogenic! The waist.... the shoulders...... the smile....... the TAN!!

What a perfect vacation!
maryanntx
17 years ago
Wow, Flamey, you have a great tan! I love the totems. What a cute idea. Do your friends live there all year, or just for weekends and vacation? That would be the perfect place to retire to.
LorifromUtah
17 years ago
I saw you were 'home' yesterday on another post.

Did you know you and Woody are tanned-er than your hosts?

Love the totems.
What's wrong with Woody's knees?
They look chapped.

Glad you are back!

Lori
Toni S
17 years ago
funfunfun...life as it should be!!!
clubm
17 years ago
Nice pics!!
grammahony
17 years ago
Thanks for sharing your vacation with us. It looks like a great time.
Leslie
jannie
17 years ago
Great pics, I love the totems.
gingertn
17 years ago
Awesome! Beautiful art work and I thought it was funny - right after reading your "engineer" comment about Woody, I read what his shirt says, lol! Love the beach house. Where again in Fla?
nodakgal
17 years ago
Looks like one fantastic time Flamey!
You and Woody are such a great looking couple, and I KNOW a very fun couple too!
sue_va
17 years ago
I wanna go there and play in the water and sit on the porch of that little house and drink iced tea.

All we have had here is rain and more rain.

Looks like it was a great vacation.

Sue
Lindsey_CA
17 years ago
"What? Not giving away one of your totems in a KT drawing? LOL Wouldn't that be a nightmare to ship. hehe...."

Any bets on whether or not little mini-totems are her Christmas presents this year? :-) Wouldn't those be COOL ?!?
donna_oh
17 years ago
Oh Man, what can I say??? What a fabulous vaca you had by the looks of your pics!

Donna (^_^)
hayjud_mn
17 years ago
It sounds like your vacation was perfect! I love your tans, and those toteums are great. OK, the prehistoric sharks teeth are unbelievable!

Thanks for sharing, it's always fun to see the pictures.
FlamingO in AR
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks, everybody! We did have a fun time. Our friends actually live in a very nice townhouse about 2 miles down the road, but they use their beach house almost every weekend and Patrick stops by there on his way home from work every day to water his jungle, he has an incredible green thumb. The beach house gets a lot of guests, sometimes if there's a bunch of peeps, they let them stay over in their half of it, we've stayed there before, there's also an upstairs area with a big bed. (I gave them some napkins that say "You never know how many friends you have until you own a beach house!") lol This house is in Indian Rocks Beach, just a couple of miles south of Clearwater Beach, on a spit of an island. While we were there, they opened up a new bridge that had been under construction for 2.5 years- I got to drive over it on the very first morning it was open, that was nice. As you're coming back to the beach, heading west, you go over the Intercoastal waterway between the mainland and the island and see the Gulf up ahead of you, that's pretty cool.

Mini-totems- what a good idea, Lindsey! I could use those big popsicle sticks. Maybe for next year, this year's ornie is already in the works- little ships made with walnut-half hulls, remember? Maybe I should do a few minis as bookmarks, though, for the 4 of us. As a mini-reminder..... like I said, great idea!

Lori- Woody has some bony protuberances right below the knee, it's genetic. Because he's always on the floor playing with the dogs, they stay kind of rough. You're the first person who has ever noticed them. As to being tanner than friends, that's what it's like when you live and WORK in FL, you don't have as much play time as your company. We never even went to the beach when we lived there. Of course, we didn't own a beach house, either! lol I would LOVE to live there, even though the humidity on the beach is kind of annoying. Not when you're outside, but when you come in and you feel damp and all your things feel damp and you can almost hear the metal around you rusting.... that, to me, is not pleasant. Love everything else, though!

And he doesn't really like that shirt that has the chili pepper and the words "Bite Me" on it- he thinks it's rude. I like it, love the color, it was a gift from my boss to him and it looks good on him, so he wears it occasionally. We were listening to a book on tape at night called "Dead Until Dark", a vampire book (not scary at all) so that made the shirt even funnier, to me anyway.

There were 16 turtle nests on the beach so far this year, we came across 2 marked and dated nests, but I expect many more to be dug/laid soon, it all depends on the moon and tides and we weren't there during the right time. Hopefully they'll have a lot hatching in the next 2-4 months.

Thanks again for all the lovely comments!
happytime_ca
17 years ago
Looks nnd sounds like a fabulous vacation. Thanks for sharing it with us. And to see that many turtle nests how exciting.Have you been to the beach house when the turtles hatch? That would really be something to see.
grinch_gut
17 years ago
Awesome vacation...I love the idea of mini totems for book marks.....I am one of those who turns down the pages. When I get loaners from Sydney (she is so picky) she gives me orders on how her books are to be returned...no bindings broke and no turned down pages....I might need to get some popsicles and paint her some book markers for school...and me one too! Very cleaver as usual!!
I love the beach too but like you I hate that damp feel. It is like that at my sisters house in Texas also...uckky! Glad you all had a great time....You and Woody look great....Stacy
jel48
17 years ago
Looks like you had a BLAST! What a wonderful vacation!
zeetera
17 years ago
Whatcha gonna do with all those shark teeth? I was looking up shark teeth necklaces on the net a few days ago thinking that people would like to wear them again (remember when it was poplular in the 70s?).

You did a lot in the time that you were there and you're all artistic I see.
kim_okla
17 years ago
Fun pictures. Glad you had a good time.
vicki_lv
17 years ago
Great photos...Good times! I LOVE the beach house! Thank you for sharing.
majaco
17 years ago
Wow!! I have been to Florida one time. I got to go with my daughter and then son-in-law.We went to Indian Rocks Beach.We had a little 2 bedroom(I call a cottage) on the beach.I loved it!

A few vacation photos..... 6 to be exact.

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OklaMoni

lydia1959

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A few vacation photos..... 6 to be exact.

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FlamingO in AROriginal Author

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