Falling down the rabbit hole…

In Lewis Carroll's book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the White Rabbit appears in the first chapter muttering, "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" 

He then scurries down a rabbit hole, where Alice follows him and she ends up in Wonderland.
















I'm feeling a bit like both these characters these days — I'm running late on opening my Etsy store, but I feel like I've landed in Wonderland and I'm havin' a whole lot of fun!

Black and white images: Sir John Tenniel - 1865

I'm still overwhelmed by your response to my driftshell art and while I thought I could blog and visit while I got my Etsy store ready to open, folks, that just ain't happening. I've been making sporadic visits, dropping in here and there, but let me tell you right now, opening an Etsy store isn't all that easy. It is not as easy as starting a blog — that's for sure! Lots to read and understand, store policies to set, PayPal to set up and figure out and most of all — designing more goodies!


Oh yeah, I'm spending hours and hours covered in paint, glue and shells! Right now I need to concentrate and get this store open. So, please excuse my absence and please don't forget me. I'm almost there and then I can breath again and we can have a nice, long visit.


I want to thank all of you who have already placed orders via snail-mail! WOWZA! Who knew? The store is slated to open this Friday, barring any more disruptions. I'll be back to let you know and to invite you to the World Oceans Day Blog Party I'm having in June. I think it will be a whole lot of fun and I've decided to give everyone who attends a chance to win a special prize AND there will be TWO winners chosen!!!!

So for now, know that I adore and I miss you all!!!!

Oh, and I promise you won't have to fall down a rabbit hole to come to my party!

Art At Home Show and Good Friends!

I had such an amazing weekend, I don't know where to start! As you know, my friend Jane of Artfully Graced held an art show at her home on Saturday and graciously ask me to participate. Well, all I can say is the show was a success! Jane sold her wonderful paintings, her friend Becky sold her quilted pieces and yep, I sold my driftshell art! It was all so exciting and the nervousness I felt all week was put to rest. Jane's daughter-in-law also displayed some of her paintings and another Becky was showing some of her scrapbooks and homemade cards.

Here's a few pics of just some of the goodies that we all put out…

Art At Home Show was throughout the house, such a fun way to display our work!

SOLD! Our friend Tracy bought this piece the minute she laid eyes on it!

I love my driftshell frame with Jane's colorful crab paintings, I think they complement each other beautifully!

The painting hanging on the wall is one by Jane's DIL, isn't it wonderful?

      

I love this painting! It reminds me of both Jane and Becky, since Jane painted it from a photo Becky posted on her blog. One day I'm hoping this will be hanging in my home!

I had made another driftshell heart and added a few candle holder/vases to my list of items…

I made four vases and came home with only one, so I'm definitely going to make more of those.

The best part of a show like this is the relaxed atmosphere and all the visiting that was going on. I was so excited to finally meet my blogging friend Becky of Beachsnaps and Abbey Style, she drove about an hour and a half to spend some time with Jane and I and she is just as much of a sweetheart as I knew she would be! She also bought one of my driftshell frames, I love knowing that one of my frames will be in her home, it just gives me a warm, cozy feeling.

Here's a pic of the three of us…

Jane, Becky and Rhonda

Our friend Tracy of Ms. Bake-it was also there with her cutie pie grandson and daughter-in-law. Jane had put out a lovely spread of munchies and plenty of coffee for our guests. All in all, it was a lovely way to hold an art show, visit with dear friends and have a fabulous day!

But, the weekend didn't stop there. I live about forty-five minutes from Jane, so I decided to spend Friday and Saturday night with my dear friend Sharon, who only lives about ten minutes from Jane. Sharon is an art student at USF, she paints and sculpts, so I was able to see some of the completed pieces she had started when I was there a few weeks ago.

Not only is Sharon a talented artist, after knowing me for almost ten years, she also knows I love her home cooking. On Saturday morning, even though she had to get ready for work (she works at one of the art galleries in St. Petersburg), she announced that she was going to make me a special breakfast. Did I mention that Sharon is Jamaican? Here's my breakfast…

The main ingredient in Callaloo is a leafy vegetable, much like our collard greens here in the South, but without a trace of bitterness. Sharon added fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic, homegrown scotch bonnet peppers and whatever magical seasonings she always has on hand. When it was finished cooking she added salt fish. 

Bammy is a traditional Jamaican favorite made from the root of the cassava plant. Bammies are formed into patties, baked and then frozen. When ready to eat, they are soaked in coconut milk and fried.

Breadfruit is a member of the fig family, it has a starchy texture and Jamaicans call it, "Nature's answer to fresh bread."

How was breakfast? D E L I C I O U S!

After the show I went back to Sharon's and to further indulge my love of Jamaican cuisine, she made me chicken curry. It was such fun to see Sharon and her hubby Charles cooking in the kitchen together and the aroma was incredible. By the time dinner was ready, I was starving and didn't even think to take a picture. Our meal was completed with a piece of Key Lime Pie, a Florida favorite. Great friends, great food and great conversation! Who can ask for more than that?

Oh, there was one more thing…

The Full Moon! Did you catch it? Did you know it was bigger and brighter than normal? Yep, it was a "super moon" according to scientists. The moon was closer to Earth than it's been since 1993, and they said it appeared 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter. This view through the trees in Sharon's backyard more than made up for the rather drab sunset we had earlier that evening…

The next morning I got up and headed out to Honeymoon Island. After all the sales I made on Saturday, I needed to get out there and collect some more driftshells. What a job! Now I HAVE to go to the beach for work, lol.

I got there just as they opened at 8:00am, I think there were about four or five others who arrived before I did. I found the perfect parking spot, right by one of the trails that leads down to the beach. Arriving early at this time of year is a must. Our weather has been gorgeous and on Sunday we almost broke our heat record for that day. It was a lovely 87°F, the record is 88°F in 1935. By the time I left, this is what it looked like…

It took me 35 minutes to drive the 2.5 miles off the island, but with a beautiful view of the Gulf of Mexico all the way, I wasn't complaining. The shelling was wonderful and I came home with lots of goodies to create more driftshell art. I spent yesterday out and about, buying more supplies and some bins to help me keep organized. I started cleaning shells but I have a lot more to go.

Whew, I'm exhausted, but happy. I decided to take today off and catch up with all of you. My new venture has me doing the happy dance, but I need to organize my time to accommodate my new life. I figure I can get out and visit in between painting frames and gluing shells. Yea, life is good and I have all of you to thank for your encouragement and support. I am humbled at your friendships. 

Thank you dear friends, thank you!!!!!

It's Intermission Time, Folks!

Some of you may recognize the images below from your youth…

I LOVED piling into the back of my family's station wagon on a Saturday night to head to the local drive-in theater. We went to see movies like Old Yeller (bring on the hankies), The Parent Trap, 101 Dalmations, The Blob, The Crawling Hand (I had nightmares for years), Mary Poppins and Psycho. 

We'd get there nice and early to get a good spot. While my parents visited with friends who had also brought their families, all of us kids would go and play on the playground located under the BIG screen. They would come over the speakers and let us know when it was time to get back to our cars when the movie was about to begin. There were always two movies and cartoons and the much anticipated INTERMISSION! We'd head back to the playground, while daddy went to the concession stand to get hot dogs, cokes, popcorn and candy. My gosh, it was such fun. We always wore our pajamas, because by the time we reached home, we were fast asleep and my parents would carry us in straight to bed.

Did you go to the drive-in when you were young? The last movie I can remember seeing in a theater like this was Star Wars and that was in the late 70s if I remember correctly.

Anyway, enough walking down memory lane, my purpose today is to tell you that I'm taking a short intermission, but I won't be going to the playground. I will, however, probably be wearing my pajamas.

I am discombobulated, going crazy, unorganized and just darn tired. This Saturday is Jane's Art at Home show and I am frantically trying to get more driftshell pieces ready for that and for my upcoming Etsy store opening.

I finally decided that I need to take a quick break from blogging this week, so I can pull it all together. BUT, if you know me at all, you just know I had to do a quick google search to find something interesting to share…

"With an investment of $30,000, Richard opened the first drive-in on Tuesday June 6, 1933 at a location on Crescent Boulevard, Camden, New Jersey. The price of admission was 25 cents for the car and 25 cents per person." –History of the Drive-in Theater

With that said…

I'll be back next week,

In the meantime…

Note: if you're going to be in the Tampa Bay area on Saturday and would like directions to Jane's, just shoot me an email from the link in my sidebar. Hope to see you there!

Scent memory – have you ever had one?

Yesterday, my friend Sue @ I Need Mom, did her weekly tablescape post and it included a couple of photos of some fresh lemons she had received in the mail from another blogger. We all know that our brain can recall memories associated with certain scents, but have you ever seen a photo that brought the memory of a scent on so strongly, that in turn, it evoked the associated memory? That's exactly what happened to me when I saw this photo on Sue's blog…

Ahhh…lemons — fresh, crisp and zesty. I love the scent of lemons! I'll get back that in a minute.

Please note that all the photos in today's post can be enlarged by clicking on them, I knew some of my SoCal friends would want a closer look at some of these amazing aerial shots.

For a time I lived in the Santa Monica Mountains, on the backside of the Hollywood Hills, in the wonderful town of Studio City. This map shows you the range of the Santa Monica Mountains and the "X" marks the spot where I lived…

The mountains run along the coast of the Pacific Ocean in California. They extend from Point Mugu in Ventura County to the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles County (approx. 40 miles). On the southern end they separate the San Fernando Valley (think "Vally girls" or "Vals" from the 80s and 90s) from cities like Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

That's the area I lived, in a house that was so me; I loved every inch of it and only left when my mother became ill in Florida and I moved to be closer to her. I lived just off Ventura Boulevard, the "Melrose" of the Valley. 

viz

This where you want to be to see Universal Studios, great boutiques and fabulous restaurants.

Oh, and you're more than likely to run across many celebrities — look, don't touch! 

I could go on and on about that house, but the part that is relevant to this post is the lemon trees.

Because the backyard was the mountain, it had been layered into four terraces, each connected by steep cement stairs. The top terrace was planted with fruit trees, including three very large lemon trees. Each flat part of the "yards"  was separated by the slope of the mountain and it was planted with creeping thyme. Got the picture in your head? Okay, now I'll get to the point.

Living in the Santa Monica Mountains, the wind current would bring a cool ocean breeze into my open windows. When Spring arrived and the lemon trees would start to blossom, the breeze would pick up their scent and then swoop down over the rosemary and my house became an aromatherapy haven!

I wanted to show you some pics of the mountains and when I started searching I found two websites that provided me with incredible aerial shots from one end to the other. You can find those sites here and here.

This first one is of the Hollywood Hills, remember I lived on the opposite side of them…

From the top of the side I lived on you could look out over the Hollywood Hills

and see downtown Los Angeles in the distance…

What a view!

BUT, the view gets better when you travel north over the Santa Monica Mountains!

The closest beach to my house was Santa Monica. Here's a pic of the Santa Monica Pier, looking back towards the mountains…

Fun beach, but very crowded! I prefer the more northern beaches in this region. There are numerous ways to get there. From Santa Monica, you can drive along PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and just take a look at how close you get to drive to the ocean…

The most scenic drive to get to the beaches from The Valley is taking one of the canyons  — either Malibu or Topanga. Two of my girlfriends, who are both avid readers of this blog (but don't leave comments), can easily take Topanga Canyon to reach the beach. Marice lives right on Topanga Canyon Blvd. and Cheryl lives just blocks from it. Here's a example of what you'll see…

And here's what you'll see on the other end…

From land to sea…

or from sea to land…

there's no better place, I'd rather be!

I LOVE the coast of California. I've mentioned before that my husband and I drove the whole coast from L.A. and up into Oregon for our honeymoon. I've driven this coast many, many times and I never tire of the view…

The Pacific Ocean

Malibu Point and Surfrider Beach

As most of you know, my family had a place at Paradise Cove in Malibu when I was growing up and this is where I spent most weekends and summers. I wrote this in a post from 2009, "We had a modest home in the San Fernando Valley, so that we could also have a weekend/summer getaway at Paradise Cove in Malibu. The Cove was strictly a trailer park at that time and our neighbors included Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Edgar Buchanan and Frank Cady (both of Petticoat Junction) and many friends. We bought our trailer from Lana Turner, better known as the Sweater Girl in those days. By the time we located to The Cove, we were already known as The Lazy G's from our many years of beach camping." I have many, many wonderful memories of our time spent in Malibu.

Paradis Cove at low tide — the beach of my youth…

You're probably wondering how I got from lemons to beaches in this post. Well, the lemons sparked the memory of my house in the Santa Monica Mountains and the ocean breeze I spoke of led me to the beaches that lie in their region. That's just how my brain works, one thing leads me to another. So, I have Sue to thank for filling my day with so many wonderful memories — thanks Sue!

I can't leave without showing you the aerial photos I found of those beaches I grew up on…

Point Dume

Point Dume Cove and Paradise Cove

The second cove on the right in the photo is Paradise Cove. Here's a close-up from Google Earth, I added a red dotted line from PCH, down Paradise Cove Road, right to where our trailer was located… 

The park hasn't grown that much in size since the forty-odd years ago that I lived there. Down on the beach there to the right was the house where they filmed Marcus Welby M.D., that was the house that the good doctor lived in on the show. They also filmed the opening segment for The Monkees on the beach and Rockford Files was another show that used my beach for location shots. Yeah, Hollywood loved us and we loved them!

We lived in Malibu before it was incorporated into a city in 1991 and the boundaries grew. When we lived there it was just…

"27 Miles of Scenic Beauty"

Oh, if you're wondering what Paradise Cove is like today, here's an excerpt from this month's issue of Vanity Fair, "The hippest neighborhood in Malibu right now is … a trailer park? Yes, say the likes of Minnie Driver, Pamela Anderson, and Matthew McConaughey. In Paradise Cove, whose pioneers included director Sam Peckinpah and Los Angeles Times publisher Otis Chandler, Vanessa Grigoriadis explores the surfboard-and-shirtless bohemian charms—not to mention those trailers, with their marble floors, Italian-granite countertops, and Sub-Zero appliances—which have sent the price of a tricked-out double-wide into the millions." You can read the entire article here.

Isn't it amazing what a simple photo of lemons on someone's blog can lead to? 

I started working on this post yesterday (despite the fact that I said I was going to be doing simpler posts while I'm working on goodies for Jane's Art at Home Show) and then I woke up to the news this morning about the 8.9 earthquake in Japan and the impending tsunami that is expected to hit the California coastline in the next few hours. The advisory starts just north of the area I wrote about today, but it is under a tsunami warning. Also included in the warning area is Redondo Beach, where my son lives. As I write this, a newscaster from Newport Beach (an hour south of my son) is reporting that they've closed down all the beaches, harbors and marinas. They are not expecting any major damage, but are concerned about the surge and have told people not to go near the water. The threat is worse up in Northern California and officials have closed down Highway 1. PCH is a section of Highway 1, in Southern California. You can bet that I will be glued to the television today to see the effect on the coastline that I love so much. My heart and thoughts today are with the people of Japan for the damage the quake caused and to those who lost loved ones. My heart and thoughts are also with those in Hawaii, Washington, Oregon and California who are taking precautions against the tsunami — please be safe and listen to what the officials are saying — don't go near the water! 

Note for my California friends: Remember that house next door to me whose backyard was always covered in Morning Glories? Well, when I was researching this post I came across the realtors listing and discovered they completely remodeled it and it sold last August for $615,000. Two bedroom, 1.5 baths, only 1,158 sq. ft. and it sold for more than 1/2 a mil! You have to see what they did to it though here, it's gorgeous!

You like me, you really, really like me!

You like me, you really, really like me!

Even though those are not the exact words spoken by Sally Field after receiving an Oscar in 1985 for her role in Places in the Heart (she actually said, "…I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!"), they are the words as we recall them. AND they are the words that express how I felt after reading your comments and your emails regarding my driftshell pieces and the upcoming opening of my Etsy store.

I am so moved by your response to my driftshell pieces that I'm left tongue-tied on how to express how much you all touched me and lifted my spirits. WOW! Who knew? I certainly didn't, that's for sure! I swear, I couldn't sleep that night, I just kept thinking about what a wonderful world I have found myself a part of — I blog with the most AMAZING people.

You never cease to inspire me with your thoughtfulness, your compassion and your just plain ol' neighborly ways. I wish I could have each and every one of you over to my house. I'd put on a pot of coffee and chances are something yummy would be coming out of the oven just as you arrive…

Could you all just imagine how much fun we would have if we all lived in the same town?

There would have to be one LONG white picket fence down Main Street…

so that we could hang out, chatting over the fence…

Copyright Bolton Council from the Bolton Museum and Archive Service collection.

Or one of us would have to have a really BIG front porch with lots of comfortable seating suitable for visiting for hours and hours…

Front Porch

That's probably more than likely never going to happen,

but what if we could all get together somewhere?

Wouldn't it be lovely if we could all take a holiday from working…

and take a break from housework…

and get together for a real…

You just know there'd be a gift exchange between us.

We could choose Secret Sisters!

Yeah, we could pick a date and a spot to meet…

Then we'd have to arrange for transportation. We could go…

by train…plane

or automobile! Carpooling would be fun!

Others might be close enough to

walk together or ride their horses (while wearing their tiara)…

or by carriage would be nice — racing would be allowed…

There is no doubt in my mind that one of the Pinkies will show up in something like this…

We do know that once we get there, we'll have to have

one really long table that would stretch…

Mosaic by Shellbelle from photos found here

Can you imagine the fun all our tablescaper friends would have getting together and sprucing up these tables?

Then of course we'd have to have…

Food Galore

and let us not dare forget the desserts…

viz



I know we can depend on our Foodie Friends to help with this!


Then what would we do?


Well, of course, we could don our suits and go to the beach…

or do a little skiing if we choose a colder climate area…

To please everyone, we could wear our bathing suits (and high heels) in the snow…

or maybe we could head out to the rodeo…

On the other hand, we could go to the gym and work off all those calories from all that food…

Don't worry, this is NOT going to happen!

We'll shed those pounds by doing some…

POWER SHOPPING!

viz

I'm sure we'll all come away with some real cute and thrifty vintage goodies…

viz

There are so many things we could do to enjoy our time together! There's always…

Canoeing

Fishing or cycling — either by motor or pedaling

gardening

a rousing game of soccer

or perhaps a tennis match

or we could head to the beach for a test of strength

We could always form a band and…

viz

serenade some cows!

Of course, we could always just sit and relax over a…

cup of tea

and indulge in some idle chitchat about…

our families

or talk about what it was like when we were young

Don't forget we need to get some…

sewing and craft time in.

Oh, and someone better bring a camera…

because there will be lots of posing…

and horsing around…

and we'll want to capture every cherished moment together for our blog posts!

Then as the day draws to a close, we'll don our favorite dresses, from the era of our choice…

and proceed to party like there's no tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!

Let's pretend we could have a gathering of bloggers anywhere in the world and the only thing on the agenda was FUN, where do you think we should go and what do you think we should do?

I'll be waiting to hear from you…

All vintage images, unless otherwise noted, are from the Library of Congress and various state archives.

Update: Diane and Jane, the first two people to comment on my post today, both remarked on how long it must have taken me to put this together. They're right, it took FOREVER! I had planned on writing my thank you post and having it up by 9am and you can see it didn't go up until 5pm. I had started at about 7am, so it took me roughly 10 hours to put this together. Once I got the idea of A Gathering for Bloggers and started searching the archives for photos, I just couldn't seem to stop, lol.

I wanted to do something special for all of you and this is what I came up with. A wish, a dream that one day we could all meet up and have an incredible time together. As I started finding the vintage photos, an idea for another would pop into my brain and I'd start searching for that. When I found the one of the ladies sitting on the porch knitting, I couldn't believe the one on the end was holding a camera. Now, if she were alive today, you know she'd be a blogger! Perhaps her descendant is one of us! Wouldn't that be fun? I think, throughout history, there have been women who have supported each other.  I know there are those out there who know someone who doesn't have women friends and I think that is just plain sad. I know this isn't true in our online community, because I see the love and compassion that abounds throughout our friendships. I think this is incredible and I sincerely meant it when I wrote, "I just kept thinking about what a wonderful world I have found myself a part of — I blog with the most AMAZING people." 

Then I have to take all the photos into Photoshop and clean them up a bit and why would I just ask where we should go, when I can take a map of the world and create a little smiling X-guy to help us pick a spot? Oh, and I love doing the mosaics. Call me crazy or just downright anal, but I love doing this kind of post for you. Of course, this means I didn't get out to visit much and the laundry is still piled up and I forgot to take something out for supper, but boy, I had a good time and I hope you did as well!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I adore you all and if I ever win the lottery, you can bet we will all be getting together!