Kudzu: winter and summer

Back in February I took some pictures of a big area of kudzu over in Fairhope, Alabama. The kudzu was dead at this point. You can see the the large area and there is a deep ravine-type area here that you can see really well in the winter.




Here is the kudzu as I saw it yesterday. It's so happy in the hot, humid weather of July. You can't tell how deep the ravine is in this picture. I would suggest never walking into any kind of kudzu because you might fall a long way because you can't tell what it's covering. Also, you never know what the kudzu has grown over...could be some scary stuff under it. The book Gods In Alabama talks about kudzu a little bit. I think kuduz is kind of pretty. Sure is green.


Anybody need some tables?? Maybe for a garage sale? These were just sitting there on the side of the road.




I'm guessing the parents of this child were at the local bar on the beach having a good time while this was going on.

blooms

The hydrangea bush finally put out some blooms this year. They have gone from green to pink to purple and recently I saw them start to make their fading colors before they start to dry out. I decided to pick three of them yesterday to put in vase. I remember seeing a wedding in Martha Stewart's magazine where the cake had YELLOW hydrangeas between the layers. It was so pretty.

I went to the grocery store about 8:30 last night. There were so many fireworks going off around here I would not have needed to get in the car and go anywhere to see them. At 5:00 this morning I went outside and still heard fireworks popping in the distance.

Big Brother starts tonight on CBS.

The Krispy Kreme here is being used as a test market for Krispy Kreme ice cream. The sundae is a cup with a hot donut in it and then topped with soft serve ice cream and chocolate syrup and nuts. Does anyone want me to try it and report?

Fourth of July and halfway to Christmas

Fourth of July! We're almost halfway to Christmas! I have bought one Christmas present so far for Aunt Sue. QVC will be having Christmas in July on July 24 and 25th. I bought one thing last year. I started collecting some decorations after Christmas last year because I want a tree. The tree I want has pinecones already attached on it. My parents have a tree like this. When I think about it now, I'm already thinking...no, it's too much trouble to put a up a tree. I don't know why I get like this. I will still collecting the woodsy type of oraments to put on my tree and maybe I'll get the tree this year on sale.

A blogging friend has had her baby boy! He is so pretty.

I don't know about where y'all are, but it's almost to hot and humid to open the door here. Do y'all know what it feels like to walk outside and in a less than 60 seconds your skin is wet and you're sweating? It's such a gross feeling. It causes me to stop all productive activity ... not that I do very much anyway.

I made Blueberry-Pecan Shortbread Squares the other day. The parents picked 15 pounds of blueberries so I had to do my part by baking something. Thank you to Girlville for showing her recipes from this Web site that has Southern Living recipes on it. It sure beats typing them out like I have been doing.





I hope to have something interesting to show you on Friday. It's interesting to me...anyway. We'll see.

Saturday festival at the beach

Saturday Aunt Sue and I spent a couple of hours at Navarre beach at the little festival there. It was so hot that we didn't stay too long. I think they had bands playing most of the day and the evening and then fireworks Saturday night.

Some pictures from the morning. These guys on top of the roof here are taking video of the activities.

A new boardwalk was built from the parking lot to the beach over the dunes. I wonder why they left the poles so high?

You can see where the pier was damaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Scary to think the water is so powerful to take out the concrete pier.

Condos line up down the beach. A popular author of vampire and witch novels lived in one of these condos while selling her homes in New Orleans. She no longer lives here now.

Aunt Sue and I shared this funnel cake. It was big and puffy with a blizzard of sugar on top! We had to get in the car to eat it with the air conditioner running...we were so hot.

This is one of the venders at the festival. These candles were so cute and smelled so good. They were all bakery items and cocktails or beer.


How about a candle for takeout?

These paintings were so cute...especially the hula girl.

These are so pretty too.



We had lunch here right by the beach.

Shrimp artichoke soup.

We split a club sandwich.

scenes from saturday in the sun

tutti frutti shaved ice

My feet on the beach

looking to the west on Navarre beach...hot hot hot day

Lunch at a new place in town

The other day, mama and daddy and aunt sue and I went to a restaurant inside the Andrews Institute, a new medical facility right near our house. It's and upscale restaurant that actually has a chef cooking! They have a wine room with a selection of wines. It's open Monday through Friday for breakfast and lunch and by reservation on Friday night for dinner.

This is the outside of the medical facility.

This facility is also geared for athletes that need surgery and rehabilitation from their injuries, but also regular folks who need that kind of help, too.

By the elevator.

Interior of restaurant.

This picture is not too good but I wanted to show how the kitchen is open so that you can see the chef cooking. There is a bar to sit at up there and watch, too. You can see a BIG athlete up at the bar eating his lunch. He was so tall and his shoe size must have been off the chart!

This was on the start menu. It's baked brie with a caramel sauce with some type of thing they called flatbread but it was a cripy something...not bread. It was very good but I would put it on the dessert menu instead of the appetizers.

This is Aunt Sue's turkey and brie sandwich...so very good.

This is my tuna melt with sundried tomatoes. It was good but I'd like to try something different.

Mama got this crabcake benedict. She said it was VERY GOOD and it did look like it.

Daddy got the BLT and it looked real good with that big bacon in it.


I am sure we will be going back to this place for lunch again. The medical facility looks very nice. If anyone needs major orthopedic surgery and rehab....y'all come on down here.

I might not have a post for tomorrow....I've got some deadlines looming. But I do plan to go to Navarre Fest on Saturday at the beach and will show you some pictures! It should be REAL HOT AND HUMID and the Fourth of July tourist/visitors will be here in large numbers this week enjoying their vacations!! I think about how nice it is to take a vacation at the beach and hope there is plenty of good weather for them...but I would like a good thunderstorm in the middle of it all.

EMMA GRACE TURNS ONE YEAR OLD TODAY

It's hard to believe it's been a year that Miss Emma Grace has come into this world. She is the daughter of Alfredsmom and Jason...sister to Alfred, Holly and Bella. It's been so fun watching her grow this past year. Happy Birthday, Emma! One of these days I'm going to meet you in person!

Today is also the birthday of GIRLVILLE! It's been fun getting to know Girlville this year. This blogging friend is very talented in crafts and decorating and cooking! She also can run 10 circles to my one circle...she has so much energy! I have no doubt that her Sofie will have on a birthday hat supervising Girlville's birthday activities.

books

I finished two books recently.
This is a book that I think I saw on Pam's book reviews one time. I enjoyed it. It's about three sisters whose relationships are falling apart and coming together. It's a quick read.

This book City of Falling Angels is authored by the author of The Garden of Good and Evil. It's a story about his travel and stay in Venice, Italy. It was a so nice to read about the people and places and homes over there. Interesting to hear about the Americans who live there, too. If you think you'd like to see Venice one day, this is a nice, quick book to read to get a little idea of the homes and sights over there.


I did the floors cleaned yesterday and bathrooms cleaned and kitchen cleaned. I didn't get any dusting done! It's amazing how the vacuum canister fills up so fast with pug hair!

Poor little chichi fell in the pool on Sunday but I was out there and grabbed her out real quick. She just had a misstep and went in. So scary. I never leave them out there unattended. Our living room has one step that you step down into and the husband said last night that Chichi just was walking and fell off that step, never saw it or remembered it was there. She is really about blind now. She is really happy when I hold her, especially at night. She just will lay there and go to sleep while I'm holding her. I can't imagine what it's like not to be able to see. I guess it's pretty scary and it must feel good when someone is hold you.

Yesterday, the husband and I went to lunch over in P'cola and then drove down to the new park area that has been built by the docks and marina. This little heron was waiting on a fish.

If you click on the picture you can see the heron sitting on the electricity line to the boat.

We went to a diner-type restaurant and I had the seafood au gratin. It was so good. Also had the squash and fried zucchini. The husband had a chef salad.





Today I need to clean around here and it's making really tired to think about it. I need to quit thinking and get going!