A Little Bit of Nothing

Photo taken in Tucson Arizona of my great-granddaughter, my grandson and me and my fantastic hubby (we've been married now for 45 wonderful years).

So what have I been doing ?  It's been months and months since my last post and all I have to show for that lost time is . . . well very, very little. 
Over the past few months I've been trying to find resources in which to sell my handcrafted jewelry.  My primary source, a studio/gallery in Bradenton's Village of the Arts, has moved and the owner is no longer maintaining a gallery featuring items made by local artists.  Keeping all of one's eggs in one basket is never a good idea but I really didn't want to have to keep track of inventory scattered about in several different boutiques and galleries, it was hard enough keeping an account of pieces at just one venue.  Perhaps I'll post more about those trials and tribulations at another time.

Recently I had a heart stopping experience.  One of those moments when that little voice inside my head screams out; "OMG !  What have I done ?"
A couple of days ago I decided to delete an old email account that I never use.  I sat up the account with Gmail because , at that time, I wanted to open another Etsy shop and needed a second email address in  order to  do so.  That was several years ago and the GMail  account was never used.  Since it was occupying space on my computer desktop it seem logical to delete it.  A couple of days later I tried to access my blog and got a white page informing me that ABeadersBlog did not exist and did I wish to use that domain ?  That's when my heart went crashing down to my stomach. Good grief what in blazes had I done ?  Unfortunately when I thought I was deleting my GMail account I was inadvertently deleting my whole Google account instead . . . including Blogger!

Therefore my blog vanished from the Internet for several days before I discovered what I had done.  Trying to restore one's Google account is doable but believe me it is one big, freakin' hassle.   I went around in perpetual circles, like a dog chasing its tail, and was getting nowhere.  Time and time again I went through their procedure to restore my Google account and spent hours accomplishing nothing.

To make an extremely long story shorter, let me just say that through some bit of Google website magic the mysterious "verification page", that I had so vainly sought, finally appeared and allowed me to submit my request to restore my account.  All of this required my changing my password a couple of times, filling out a form, getting an automated phone call with a "magic" code and then inserting said  "magic" code into its proper box.   Afterwards my blog reappeared as did several new gray hairs and a couple of wrinkles that I didn't have before all of this rigmarole !
But an invaluable lesson was learned;  Look, not once but twice or even thrice, before hitting the delete button !!!

 

 

Look...up in the sky...it's a bird...it's a plane...

The sky is always fascinating, it changes it's wardrobe throughout the day from sunrise to sunset.  It can be clear and blue or a hazy gray or even dark, foreboding and threatening.   There can be a scattering of small clouds or an abundance of huge billowy thunderheads.  The photos below were taken just before sunset in the backyard of my Bradenton, Florida home.

Photo above...strange down cloud.  At first I was concerned that it might be a funnel cloud, a harbinger of a tornado, but it didn't have the movement nor the smooth tubular appearance of a funnel cloud.

Photo below...It was a pre-sunset sky and the golds, pinks and lavenders were just making their appearance.

Photo below...another shot of the strange cloud.  Camera set at full zoom (all 3X of it LOL).

Photo below...I wondered if perhaps it was a trail caused by a weather station rocket, though they are usually not so big nor so vertical.

Any ideas as to what you think may have caused this strange cloud ?

SWEETS FOR THE SWEET

Yes I am aware that I've already posted twice today, but those don't truly count as they were merely information regarding my past blog giveaway. This post is for all those wonderful blog readers that drop by to visit and aren't really interested in games or giveaways.

Recently my area, the area in southeast Manatee county Florida, got its very first Kohl's store along with an absolutely marvelous Fresh Market. Fresh Markets are not at all like our mega grocery stores, they're smaller and more intimate even the lighting is subdued and not glaringly brilliant.

I'm sure I could have found a dozen things in Fresh Market to photo, and buy, but I lost my heart in the candy section. Large apothecary jars filled with myriad assortments of candies. For some reason it reminded me of an old fashion store with its penny a candy jars...well these candies weren't a penny a piece but then a penny doesn't buy much of anything now a days.

As people passed by I'm sure they wondered why I was taking pictures of the candy section, well you must admit it is bright and colorful. True eye candy.

Wish I could have gotten a better shot of the produce section as all the fruits and vegetables were incredibly fresh, much like a Farmer's Market. Even the cut Christmas trees on display outside the store were the freshest and greenest I've seen in many years.

Photos below...part of the fresh produce section

More than photo worthy was The Fresh Market's unbelievable bakery. Tortes, tarts, cakes and pies looked like they were straight out of the pages of Epicurean or Gourmet magazine. Matter-of -fact, they were too perfect and too pretty, there was indeed the chance that some would have thought them not to be real. Guess I could use that as an excuse for not having photographed it, but the truth was that there were so many people standing in front of the bakery display that I could not get a shot of it. Hm, can't say as I blame them.

Lingering At The Lodge

Photo above...Taken from behind Linger Lodge, looking up the Braden river.

Today was a day to relax and wind down. John had a golf game, the first one in several weeks, which left me on my own and with time to do as I wished, at least for awhile. Not long ago I had my longer hair cut short and have found myself fighting with a few annoying wisps that appeared to have a will of their own, refusing to go into place. It had been my intention to return to the salon and have a slight nip and tuck done to these reluctant strays and since I would be out and about I wanted to drop into my local church and offer a few prayers of thankfulness for all that I've been blessed with. Afterward it would be home again to catch up on laundry and whatever else that screamed out to me, demanding attention.

I had barely returned home, threw a load of wet towels into the wash and was folding up clean laundry, that had overnighted in the drier, when my darling hubby returned from golf. Seemed like a very short game, it wasn't even lunch time yet. Well, as they say; "The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry". (from 18th-century poet, Robert Burns ; "The best laid plans o'mice an' men Gang aft a-gley." ... thankfully we no longer talk this way.)

Photo above...The back of Linger Lodge with its screened in, outside dining deck. The inside of this establishment could make a whole blog in itself with all its taxidermy bobcats, armadillos, rattlesnake skins and alligator hides

In the end it all worked out to my advantage as John treated me to lunch at The Linger Lodge camp ground and restaurant. Located on the Braden River, Linger Lodge is a quirky restaurant that has been around since about 1945, it has its history, its followers and a scenic view of the local river.

Photo above...Taken from behind Linger Lodge looking down the Braden River.

NOTE: In my last post, regarding my Blog Giveaway, I failed to mention when it would end and the drawing made. Rest assured that I do not intend to drag the giveaway out until I reach 200 followers, as that might take a very long time. I've had to skip the week of Nov. 26th as that is our thanksgiving and it will be a pretty hectic week for everyone. The deadline to enter will be on November 29th and the drawing will be held on November 30th. I will contact the person who wins the first draw to find out which pair of earrings they would like and then the 2nd pair will go to whoever's name comes up in the second draw.

Sarasota-BradentonAirport...Leaving On A Jet Plane

Above and Below photos...Water feature at our local Sarasota/Bradenton airport, from 2nd floor.

Photo below...water feature with manatee sculpture from different perspective.

Photo below...Tumbling waterfall and fountain jets make for interesting photo.
 

Two photos below...Close up of bronze sculpture of Manatee (aka sea cow) at top of waterfall water feature.

 

Photo below...And then there's the area's art scene. Airport poster hyping the upcoming Ringling Art Festival.

John Ringling is known for his Ringling Bros. Circus, and also his contribution to the art culture in the Sarasota and Manatee counties, with the Ringling School of Arts, the Ringling Museum of Art, and the Ringling Circus Museum.
 

Photos taken Thursday, Sept. 10th, 2009...We were awaiting our plane at our local Sarasota-Bradenton airport when a couple of items caught my eye, the lovely water feature with its bronze sculpture of a Manatee and the poster advertising the up coming Arts Festival.

Lost Causes

The above photo was taken when we first moved into our newly constructed home, the photo is a bit dark as it was taken just as the sun was setting. You may notice that the garden is nonexistent, the landscape barren, that green grass is really just a carpet of weeds. At this time the driveway was little more than dirt with a large mud hole in its center. It has taken us time, 2 years to be exact, to slowly transform our yard into a ... well into a yard, rather than a barren plot of land.

When we moved into our new home, we had an allotment of about $20,000 to do such things as install an irrigation system and buy plants for landscaping. But given the fact that our builder/contractor, Brad , was undoubtedly the worst businessman this side of the Mason Dixie Line our money disappeared. We are pretty sure that Brad over extended himself by attempting to construct 5 residences with his meager construction team, and I might add a very piss-poor team at that. Brad could easily have fired 2 or 3 of them and he would have noticed no difference in the amount of work being done. It’s sad that he was not able to see how he was being used by their laziness and ineptitude, to Brad they were good old boys, he had known them awhile and he placed his trust in them. Well sometimes the best of friends don't make for the best business partners.

I figured out that Brad was basically using money paid from one project to finance another, this game of musical funds is played much the same way as musical chairs with the outcome being very similar. When the music stops you end up with 4 chairs and 5 people, somebody ends up without a chair. Our $20,000 landscape allowance ended up who knows where, but definitely not in our yard.

Perhaps we could have taken legal action but it would not have gotten us our money. Brad didn’t have the money, the money was gone, long spent, matter-of-fact he was so in debt and over his head that his own electric bill often went unpaid leaving him in a dark home without lights or air conditioning, a condition almost intolerable in the heat and humidity of south Florida. Faced with a battalion of creditors who banged relentlessly on his door, plagued him with phone calls and sent threatening letters, his wife had taken all the harassment and hardship she possibly could and left him.

Many times we tried to reach Brad via telephone, calls were not answered as he knew all too well it would just be more demands for money, money which he did not have ... to be continued

Village of the Arts

Took a refreshing break from my computer yesterday and day-tripped over to Bradenton's famed Village of the Arts. A friend of mine, Sandra French, was having an exhibit of her stained glass art. Sandy's exhibition was housed in a small studio behind the larger gallery house. Though her studio is small and intimate it is charming and blessed by the fact that it's surrounded by an equally charming garden. Like most artists, Sandra was very optimistic and could envision how she would, eventually, decorate and organize her new studio. To get an idea of Sandra's amazing work please visit her web at http://sandyfrench.com/page0.php
Saturday was my first foray into this enchanting enclave known as The Village of the Arts and treasures awaited me behind every door and every turn. A district of quaint older houses rescued from the ravages of time by the hands of artists and crafters, some homes were loving restored and renovated, others repaired and "Artistically Enhanced".

Perhaps Florida's spat of cold winter weather is finally over as Saturday's temps hovered around the low 80's and the sun felt almost hot, should have brought a hat (and my camera). Ahhh warm sunshine, fresh air, live music and a cornucopia of arts, all wrapped up in the most delightful package of older homes dripping with character, vivid colors and lush landscapes...couldn't think of a grander way to spend the afternoon. Too bad I didn't think to bring a camera but below is a link to that eclectic slice of paradise, should you care to do a bit of exploring. Next time I will bring my camera, and yes there will definitely be a next time.

http://www.villageofthearts.com/index.php