OH, I forgot to tell you about my niece's blog! Her name is Sarah Klein and her blog is called The Hungry Bambino. She is a wonderful journalist, photographer, wife and mom who lives in Madison, WI. Her whole family cooks, cooks, cooks...good stuff, quality stuff, stuff with fancy foreign names! Don't let that put you off though...check out the blog and see for yourself. She is doing an amazing job with it! Proud of you Sarah!

http://www.thehungrybambino@blogspot.com

Well, I haven't blogged for quite a while...we moved! We are now in Clearwater, FL and really like it. I love all the thrift shops and garage sales that are nearby. I'm closing down my space in the Peddler's Village in Dade City and have taken a space with a friend, Mary, in KNOT ON MAIN STREET in Dunedin, FL.




The shop is an antiques mall and has just about anything and everything you can imagine! Our booth, BOOTH 39A, is pretty small but a good way to ease into our new surroundings. 6'x8' is tiny but we have crammed a ton of stuff into it and are adding items all the time. I purchased a cabinet and Mary's husband put locks on it so we can safely display our jewelry and better items.

We are working on getting more lighting and more stuff in there so this is just a start. The other dealers and the owners all seem very nice. Some of the dealers work the sales counter so we are getting to know them a bit better.

The shop is just south of Curlew, which is the road you take to get to Honeymoon Island! There's parking along the front of the building, restrooms and a really nice, relaxed atmosphere. You can spend hours wandering around. The shop did really well over the holidays and we are hoping it continues into the new year. So if you're down this way, stop by and check out KNOT ON MAIN STREET on Alternate Hwy 19!

CALEDESI ISLAND, FLORIDA

On two occasions in the past month I was able to take visitors to the #1 beach in America...
Caledesi Island! I hadn't been there since the 90's when we lived in Florida before.

The beach hadn't changed...just as pristine and wonderful as I remembered it. My visitors loved it. We walked forever on the beach and collected lots of beautiful shells. Here is my haul from one day.

It has to be one of my favorite places. It's north of Clearwater Beach. You go to Honeymoon Island and pay $5/car park entrance fee and then pay $10/person for the round-trip boat ride to Caledesi. You can only be on the island for four hours at a time. It's a wonderful place!

This is a BIG cockle shell!

Sand Sculptures

The water was beautiful and warm enough for some folks to go in. This is my nephew on his skim board. There was just enough wave action to keep him busy and happy!

A DAY AT LOWRY PARK ZOO, TAMPA

Last Saturday my friend Jeanne and I took five kids to the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa. What a hoot - two grannies and kids ages 2-12! The weather was very "iffy" at the outset but we braved on anyway. It was brutally humid and warm.

This zoo has a very high rating and I was impressed with the variety of animals that live there. We got to see many critters but not anywhere near all of them. We got to see the albino gator and a baby chimp! So cool!

We grannies pooped out way before the kids did and had to call it a day at mid-afternoon shortly after we got caught in a downpour. I'm sure everyone slept well that night, I know I did!

I would highly recommend a visit to this zoo (maybe in the cooler season), just have lots of $ on hand for food for humans and treats to feed the animals and birds. At least the parking was free. As I looked at the photos I took I decided that my personal favorites were the penguins, giraffes AND the blue frogs. I think the kids loved the giraffes. What an amazing world the Lord created for us! JUST AWESOME!

AN AFTERNOON PROJECT