A touch of green for St Patrick's day!

Okra two ways -

fresh and ready for the grill - sprinkled with sea salt and olive oil

and Okra chips!

deep fried...yum - we found these recently at Whole Foods , they are new to us and so delicious! they also had deep fried green beans, will have to pick some up next time.

Did you wear green today?

An upside down Fall

You would think it is Autumn around here....

but both the patio area and the ledge below were swept clean only yesterday....

there were even leaves left on a covered porch -

and a little night visitor left paw prints in the humidity

all signs of a Southern spring....

the first Azaleas - the "Pride of Mobile"

and these little buds deep in the woods.

The falling leaves are from the Southern Live Oak - one tree in our yard is said to be 250 years old. The leaves fall in the spring and are immediately replaced with new growth, followed closely by the flower and then pollen. Finally in the autumn the acorns fall.

A few quiet moments by the bay

The weather was warm, the tide was low and who could resist the view....

from here....

The handmade touch

I have been busy with a few projects....one is a surprise for my OLDER sister who is turning 50 this week!! I will load those pictures later - as she is still waiting for it to arrive in the mail.

Lately I have had my knitting needles out - it's been years, so I started off slowly with a simple baby beanie. I made a few...about 25 actually.

a nice simple pattern

adding my touch of decoration

finished and ready


I got adventurous and did some stripes - these are all wools left over from when I was knitting for my last baby....almost 15 years ago. I knew I would use then one day! (the little pink above had to be bought)



There is a reason I made about 25 hats....My British friend has a team of ladies knitting for her, she collects our offerings and sends them off to homeless shelters and foster homes. I will keep at it and maybe try to branch out a bit. Anyone got a really really basic jersey pattern?



Then an invitation came to a baby shower,


time to try my luck with some booties.



many false starts later I managed to produce these booties

A pink beanie and a heart added to an undershirt

an adorable ultra soft cuddly with a baby bunny in the pocket "Lulla Bunny Bye" (didn't make that) and the gift was ready to box.

into these.