Lake Tarpon

Our youngest son was visiting recently.  We decided to take advantage of some of the neighborhood amenities.  One such amenity is a pontoon boat ride around Lake Tarpon.  Two daily boat rides are offered Monday through Friday except on holidays.

We chose a beautiful Friday morning for our boat ride which included a lunch stop.

It had been awhile since I had been to the lodge on the lake where the pontoons were docked.  Last time I was there I don't remember so many tables & grills.  

It is a really nice set-up for a group cookout!

This is Molly.  

She belongs to the nice gentleman who maintains the pontoon boats in good working order.  They were checking to make sure everything was O.K. for our boat ride.

All aboard!!!

Beautiful scenery on one of the side channels.

An alligator swam across the channel in front of us.  

 You have to know he is there to see him in the picture above.

Lunch break at the Tarpon Turtle.  

It was a little expensive, but the setting was beautiful.

Watch out for the spider!

We were promised an eagle sighting.  We saw three live eagles.  

I was lucky enough to get a picture of one of them.

We saw one eagle statue.  

(look to the right of the window awning)

This is how they guarantee that you will see at least one eagle on the boat trip.

 It was a beautiful day on Lake Tarpon!

I'm really glad we went on the boat ride.

Thank you Captain Pat & Captain Ray.

They were very knowledgeable & entertaining.

What Is It?

One of my dad's breakfast friends gave him a bunch of pepper plants & three of these unknown plants.  Dad passed them off to hubby & I.  

 The pepper plants went in the garden.  The three unknown plants stayed in pots on the patio.  That is they stayed in pots until we went to TN for the summer.

Hubby planted them in the ground before we left.

When we returned one of the plants had grown into a tree! 

Hubby trimmed it back, but it did not look right so he dug it up & threw it away.

I didn't even think of taking a picture before he dug it up.

I have been watching the remaining two plants.

Now they look like this!

 I had an idea of what they might be called, so of course I googled it.

What did we do before google??

The plants are Ballerina Purple Angel Trumpet Flowers!!

Here is what Park Seed had to say about the flower:

Marvelously fragrant and exotic in both color and size, this eye-popping Angel's Trumpet looks like something from a hot-house instead of an easy-to-grow, sun-loving tropical you can start from seed! Unlike single-flowered Angel's Trumpet blooms, which dangle, Ballerina Purple looks upward, the immense 6- to 8-inch flowers exquisitely whorled and twisted to show off their beauty! In the container or the sun-soaked garden, this summer-blooming show-off is a scene-stealer!

The plant is quite compact in containers, reaching only about a 2- to 3-feet high and 3 feet wide. In the garden, it forms a dense, well-branched shrub 3- to 4-feet tall and slightly wider. Beginning in early summer and continuing until the fall weather sets in, the plant is covered with magnificent blooms, so fragrant that a single plant perfumes the garden! Large, very attractive fruits follow the blooms, and should be cut for splendid accents to fresh and dried arrangements.

Tis the Crafty Season

I have been in the crafty mood lately.  

Here are some of my projects.

I went to a sewing class & learned how to make "wristlets."

I would call it a clutch purse.

I liked it so well I decided to make a couple more.

I gave the two "pink" ones to my sister for two of her granddaughters.

I will use the other one myself!

I started working on my granddaughters Christmas stocking.

We are going to visit her in November, so I have to have it completed by then.

I have made Christmas stockings for all of my family.

Most of them have been kits, but I freelanced 

my grandson's stocking & my granddaughter's stocking.

Here are the other stockings I have made in the past.

I resumed making yo-yos.  

 My mom showed me how to sew my first yo-yo 

while she was undergoing one of her chemo treatments.

My sister & I spent many hours sewing yo-yos while we waited for mom

during chemo treatments.  

My mom had started making yo-yos for a quilt many years ago.  It takes thousands of yo-yos to make the quilt.  It is a project that you work on in between other projects.  It is also a very portable project & it was easy to carry with us when we went to appointments.

We have all the yo-yos done & one of my sisters is sewing them all together to make the quilt.  Both of my sisters & I have contributed to the quilt so we decided we would pass it around between the three of us when it is completed.

I am sewing two different size yo-yos to make a cover for my cast iron skillet.

It has taken me a couple of years to be able to sew any yo-yos.

It brings back so many memories of my mom.

I attended a Dichroic Glass Fused Jewelry Class recently.

It sounded interesting & it required no previous experience.

I was a little disappointed in the class because there really was no instruction.

It turned into an "on your own free for all." 

Despite my disappointment in the class, I did end up with a beautiful necklace & earrings.

I picked up another old project that I had put aside months ago.

Two years ago when we were cleaning out my parents house that they had lived in for almost 50 years, I came home with hand sewn quilt blocks.  

My grandmother (my mom's mother) had sewn the blocks.

It was the type of thing that you couldn't donate or trash.

I told my mom I would figure out something to do with them.

I decided on a sampler quilt.

I would applique the various blocks to solid color background squares.

My first block attempt did not turn out well, so I put it aside.

After some research I discovered Heat N Bond Lite.

It was perfect for holding (no pucker or shift) the quilt block to the background block while I sewed.  I am really pleased with the results!

Here are the first four blocks that I am working on.

The last project I have worked on has been a bulletin board/chalk board made from an old painting.  I got the painting from my youngest son when we were cleaning out his house getting ready to sell it last summer.  He also supplied me with the bulletin board & the chalkboard paint.  I had to wait for it to cool off a little bit in FL, because I would be painting in the garage & I didn't want to be dripping sweat while I painted.

I forgot to take a picture of the painting before I started the project.

Here it is in process with the frame & background painted.

The completed project!!

That's all for now.  

I'm tired!!