Last Day of Camping

It was like being on a mini road trip. There were pix everywhere!



I could shoot this wall all day long. Love it!

Mary & Rosie after a morning hike.

Rosie & me ... way down upon the Suwannee River.

Handsome, ugly & beautiful.

Another great wall!

Primitive weigh station.

FL to GA to FL

Today didn't start off too well. We left PVB & drove to Crooked River State Park in St Mary's, Georgia, to rent a cabin for the weekend. After an encounter with a useless volunteer, we had enough of Georgia & headed back to Florida.

Luckily Mary found a spot to rent a cabin that was only 90 minutes from JAX ... Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park. An interesting park with a lot to do, but first we wanted to learn a little about Stephen Foster. Known as the "father of American music," he was the pre-eminent songwriter of the 19th century. He wrote hundreds of famous songs from Way Down Upon the Suwannee River to Camptown Races, Oh! Suzanna & My Old Kentucky Home. He died in 1864 (13 years before sound recording was invented) at 37 years old with 38 cents in his pocket.

We rented a great cabin with a huge wrap around screened deck.

Corrugated steel with rust, paint & nice light.

Two of my favorite things ... rust ...

... and peeling paint.

It looks like JS was here with some graffiti paint.

Lots of turkey vultures!

Nice shadow!

Mmmmm ... s'mores!

Pizza Party!

Yum! Gourmet pizza party at Anna & Tyler's place.

Ty made the fresh pizza dough. The toppings included caramelized organic Georgia sweet onions, oven roasted red peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, Dutch butter browned baby portobello mushrooms, slow roasted organic elephant garlic, buffalo mozzarella, havarti, French gruyere, a blend of parmesan, asiago, mozzarella and fontina, garlic infused olive oil, white truffle oil & Dei Frattelli pizza sauce.

Mary & Rosie try to toss their dough without being distracted by Anna.

Anna & Tyler made a fabulous salad ... organic arugula topped with chipotle dusted fried artichoke hearts & shaved curls of Parmigiano-Reggiano in a homemade Dijon country French vinegrette.

Matt & Ilona knead their dough.

My pizza in the oven.

The pizzas were all different, but delicious.

Me, Mary & Rosie.

After dinner we took Hank over to Luke's house for a romp. Anna always tortures Matt when he falls asleep. Sometimes Hank helps her out.

Four-Legged Friends

Since Rosie was out of town for the day, it was a perfect opportunity to take Mary to meet the pups.

Laddie meets Stella ...

... then had a little fun chasing her on the beach.

Rosie after a dip ...

... & frolicking in the surf.

Later on, the other Rosie got back to PVB in time to catch some football. Touchdown!

Yoga Day USA

Rosie's in town for a while for my second installment of organizing & redecorating. This time we're concentrating on my two home offices upstairs. It's so overwhelming that I only go up there when necessary, but Rosie is determined to change that. After a day & a half of intensive work, we took a much needed break.

Today is Yoga Day USA ... an annual celebration where yogis, novices, couch potatoes and triathletes, young, old and everyone in between join together to stretch mind, body and spirit through the practice of yoga. Mary drove up for the weekend, so we went to two free yoga classes in Jax Beach ... Aromatherapy yoga & Kripalu yoga.

After that we took a ride to Mayport & had lunch at Singleton's ...

... then on to Big and Little Talbot Island State Park before a quick pre-shopping snack. It's crazy, but Rosie's never been to Krispy Kreme.

I think she's mesmerized by the glaze waterfall.

Wheaten Weekend!

Laura went skiing in Taos for the holiday weekend so I was thrilled to dogsit for the parents of my future puppy. Rosie (L) jumps & licks a LOT, while Laddie is very mellow & loving. Both are so sweet!

Me & my adorable house guests.

Rosie & Laddie loved Anna. They took turns sitting on her lap for the entire episode of Desperate Housewives.

Laddie & I have some similar mannerisms.

Rob made some new friends ...

... put them in a trance ...

... then got lots of kisses!

Both pups liked the view, but it was very windy & Rosie kept barking at a squeaky dog/fire hydrant whirlygig in my backyard.

Rob liked playing with flashes in our makeshift studio.

After the shoot, he assembled this ringflash composite.

Awwwww!

There was a lot of licking going on.

We were all tuckered out by the end of the holiday weekend.

Rosie & Laddie were VERY sad when I took them home. I was sad too!