sue posted this goodie on facebook today.  there is nothing i don't absolutely love about it.

i know this cat.  his name is pippin bear ninja.  thanks, sue, for letting me share.

and since it is again chilly outside, kidlet and i are enjoying a fire.  she is crocheting and i am photoshopping . . . is that a word?  it is now.

this one is using anna aspnes designs.  do the photos look familiar?

and let's end the day with this:

makes me happy.

did i mention . . .

i made it on nancie rowe janitz's design team?  yep, twice a month i get to play with her new products and post the results to show off her designs.  win. win. 

only two so far:

 new goodies, happy me.  if you're interested, jump over to the lily pad and take a look.

and i signed up for another class.  this time a pen tablet class by anna aspnes.  not til next month but it should be interesting. 

also signed up for a self massage and restoration class in march with katie Zarajczyk at our yoga studio.  feel good stuff. 

that's all the forgot to mention stuff i can remember.

back at home . . .

and into the studio for friday, yummy yin.  our lovely 80º temps dropped back into the 50's and brrrr, of all days, the hens decided to eat on the porch at river grill.  brrrr. 

i don't mind at all, the fire is going and i would be sipping on wine but i'm going to do a month long fast.  it's good for the liver even if the soul objects.  hot chocolate it is.  yum.

glamping day three . . .

sniff.  sniff. sniff.  after a wonderful breakfast of granola, fresh yogurt, swamp honey and fresh blueberries, we packed up our paraphernalia and headed home.  good bye, rocky.  goodbye, robin. goodbye, julie, goodbye, vicki,  goodbye, little cabin.

by the time they dropped me off, i was plotting for our return to the silver river park. 

good days. 

glamping day two . . .

up and out to the run before the park opens to the general public.  more manatees, gators and turtles and then there was this guy spotted by robin:

i'm not sure if this is rocky the midnight marauder or his second cousin once removed but he let me
take lots of shots. unfortunately, he is so rotund that part of him was always behind something.  these are my only two really clear shots.

they grow them big in them thar woods.

robin, julie and i were going to go kayaking but they only had two singles left.  discretion being the better part of valor and all that, i opted to head back to the cabin where vicki and i occupied ourselves with word games and may or may not have gotten into the wine.

the girls came home for lunch with tales of high winds and rough goings with the kayaks.  i was happily patting myself on my back for my decision.  my shoulder thanked me profusely.

mexican chicken soup and cold cuts on chicago hard rolls.  slurp and slurp. 

another walk though the park and we decided on a lazy afternoon of games and wine.  or wine and games.  either way, it was relaxing.  and then came the fire.

ok, it's fuzzy, but then, so were we.  what a great evening.

dinner, you ask?  robin made an eggplant, spinach lasagna to die for.  triple slurp.  we added a couple of salads and life could not get better.

a little more wine and off to bed.  end of day two.

glamping day one . . .

and robin, julie, vicki and i are off to de leon springs for some kayaking.  doing a happy dance.

 that's nineteen million gallons of water a day and all of it at 72•

crystal clear until it hits the cyprus trees and turns brown with tannin.

we lucked out.  drop dead gorgeous day.

but the run out the river and down to lake woodruff is long and the wind has picked up so we decide to take the boat ride rather than kayak and this is by far my favorite shot.  check out all the babies crawling all over mom. 

aren't they cute.  until they get big and then i like them better as shoes.

more normal river life:

 and finally out on the river itself.

we decided we were hungry and since we couldn't get into our cabin until three, we decided to go to de la vega in deland.  check out these goodies:

that's plantain.  slurp.

and my soup with magic cheese.  see the white food in the little cup?  i thought it was creme fraiche but as i ate my soup, more and more stringy delicious cheese came up to the surface.  having no idea what it was, we added more of the magical mystery substance and stirred it in.  more string cheese.  we were fascinated!!!!  then robin asks what our magical cheese is and the waitress looks like we are crazy.  that is sour cream, says she.  we look at each other and the bowl and shake our heads.  turns out, the soup is ladled into the bowl on top of a large portion of cheese which then starts to melt.  so much for our magical cheese and hooray for friends that understand your life.

and finally it is time to head to silver springs and our cabin:

as soon as we unpack, we head to the spring head to count manatees.  mother nature has blessed us with a stunning day and since the manatees are happy in warm water, three quarters of them have left the warmth of the spring and headed out to the river but not all.  check out this shot.  there is a gator, a manatee and a turtle:

but here are my favorites with mama and her baby:

 

and this is a little herd. or clutch. or nest or . . . .

amazing beasties and no, i would never make shoes out of them.

julie set the ambiance for dinner:

we dined on robin's amazing crab cakes and spinach, mushroom, bacon and hard boiled egg salad with homemade chocolate chip, walnut cookies for dessert and wine.  well that's the wine that needed to be chilled at least:

and then a camp fire of course:

but here's the thing about the campfire.  we're all sitting around with me closest to the parking pad and all of a sudden the girls, who are more or less facing me start to giggle.  i look around and behind me by only three feet, is rocky racoon.  he wanders up the walk, pushes the screen door open, walks into the porch, wanders around, hooks his claws into the screen, pulls it open, walks down the stairs and into the woods.  true story!

Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya.  and to all a good night.

busy . . .

grocery shopping
baking cookies
hard boiling eggs
frying bacon
gathering cold cuts, chicago hard rolls and condiments
packing
toting wine
stock piling wood and newspaper
doing laundry

we're going glamping again!!!!!!!