Time Well-Spent

Birthday curly ribbon in the kitchen of Surfer Girl

It's time to catch up from the weekend. We've had a lot of things going on of late, not the least of which was the third birthday of Granddaughter #5. 

Her big day came on Friday, which was not convenient for getting together, so after breakfast on Saturday, Beloved and I drove the couple of hours to the home of the little miss. She had opened her gifts the day before, of course (you can put off some things, but not the presents!!) and had much to show us. There was a delightful Cinderella coach, a mermaid costume (and a shark costume for her big brother), play dough with accessories, and some kind of amazing Fisher-Price amusement park toy that was great fun.  Lots of fun spread out on the living room floor. (Ah yes, I remember how it used to be at my house, back in the day!)

one of the pups helped with the gift wrap

We went to one of the wonderful shopping malls in the area for lunch. The original plan was to eat at an Italian family-dining place, but the decorating style was kinda dark and a little spooky for one of us to the point of tears, so we opted for the food court that was very light, open, airy, and everybody could choose from whichever vendor they wanted. No problem. We aim to please.

Beloved and me with Granddaughter #5 and Grandson #4

This mall has guests from all over the world all the time, so it's big with a lot of interesting things to see and do. We enjoyed some of that with the family and when it was time to say farewell, Beloved and I checked out a few more of the stores. We each bought some Croc sandals on sale. The weather here in Florida is warming up so ''tis the season" to ensure we have all the necessary footwear for heat, sun, and surf.

But now I need to back up to Friday. Contrary to what I had expected when we moved here from Colorado, Floridians DO have nice quilt shops, in spite of our [nearly] year-long summer weather. We have a very nice one just up the road from us that occupies an older home. The former two-car garage is a classroom. I am taking a course in Hand Needleturn Appliqué and this past Friday was our first lesson. 

the instructor's sample of what we are learning

The teacher is Janice Vaine of Graham Cracker Collection. My homework for the next class (a month from now) is to complete all the stems and do the advance prep work for the leaves. It's fun if you like fine, detailed hand-stitching, which I do!

a happy welcome to cast iron cookware

On Friday night I did another fun thing. I've not found the time to write a lengthy post about my new-found love for cooking with cast iron. I've had some pieces of it for years. An unplanned stop at the Lodge factory store in South Pittsburgh, Tennessee this past November re-kindled the fire and I've had fun with the heavy black pieces ever since.

making scones for Surfer Boy

My most fun piece is this cast iron wedge pan, which we found a few weeks ago on sale at the St. Augustine Outlet Shops. Admittedly, with my gluten, dairy, and egg intolerances, I can't freely eat everything I prepare in my cast iron, but making scones is the adult version of play dough for me! I made a batch of them for our son-in-law and took them with us for our Saturday visit.

Sunday was church (always a most welcome time in our week), and lunch out at Newk's Eatery (much like a Panera Bread). We've watched some of the Olympics but we're not glued to the TV with it.

Today we were greatly looking forward to meeting in person one of my long-time blogging friends, now that we live in the same state. A location had been agreed  upon that is about half-way for both of us from our respective homes. But alas, when I turned on my phone this morning there was a text from her that something pretty serious had come up, so we've had to postpone our first face-to-face meeting. Many of my readers also read her blog, so I'll let her tell the story of what's happening. We have every intention of re-scheduling this fun meeting when the time is right.

In the meantime, Beloved and I have a free day on our hands. Over breakfast we bandied about several ideas of what we might do until the local weather forecast came on the television. Rain all day. Bummer.

Well, we may just defy the odds and still venture out to the beach for lunch at one of our favorite haunts, and if the conditions are right, hunt for some sea shells on the sand. There is also a pier that was badly damaged in the past two hurricanes that is expected to open up in April. We may go check on the progress of that.