Good-bye to 2007

As the sun sets on yet another year, let us pause to reflect on all that... blah blah blah. Just another day designated by western humanity to attempt to give order to our lives. Just as with our plans for our lives, our calendar means nothing to God. :)

So New Year's is no big deal for me - it mostly means a day off from work, a day spent with Erin's family eating great food and having lots of fun joking around with them, and lots and lots of football on TV. So enjoy the day and celebrate with family and frends and be excited to hang up that new calendar on the wall that you just bought on sale after Christmas, but don't take it too seriously - I'm sure God doesn't.

Oh, and don't forget your fireworks!

Statue of Joseph

A statue of Joseph, father of Jesus, at the mission Nombre de Dios site in St. Augustine.

Birds on a Boat

Guess these birds just didn't want wet feet...

Sky Watch Friday

Photo taken December 26, 2007 in Gainesville, FL in a garden by a lake on the campus of the University of Florida. Beautiful place. In spite of UF being a rival of my favorite college team - the Florida State Seminoles - I make exceptions to visit Gainesville at least once or twice a year because it is a beautiful little city with an excellent pair of museums, rolling hills, and one of our favorite restaurants - Grandy's. :) (I like Tallahassee, too, it is just farther to drive. Go 'Noles!)

Sunlit path

ABC Wednesday: "W" is for Woods

A view from a trail in on the Olustee Battlefield State Historic Site nestled within the Osceola National Forest in North Florida - pine trees and palmetto bushes as far as the eye can see.

Merry Christmas!

Which one is Santa?

Silent Night, Foggy Night

Christmas Cookies

Cake batter cookies:



Paual Dean sugar cookies with homemade sugar glaze:




No three year olds were used in the making of the above highly unprofessional looking glazed cookies... we just really didn't know what we were doing, having never made them before. :)

We promise next year to bring our craftmanship up to at least a fifth grade level.

Sky Watch Friday

A cold front passed by overnight, but by dawn the sky was clearing out and the sun was attempting to break through. Tonight is crystal clear with a nearly full moon and Orion shining brightly just below it... but our batteries are recharging so I can't show you that. :) Trust me, it's purty.

(The above photo would be framed better if it weren't taken one handed out the windshield of my car on the way to work...)

Homemade chocolate covered pretzel sticks

Yummy! I luvs me some white chocolate covered pretzels! My dear wife is wonderful enough to make me a batch for Christmas, and we make enough to give out to family and friends as well.

So as my Christmas gift to all of our blog readers, here you go - just scratch and sniff! (If only... and don't try licking your screen... not recommended...)

ABC Wednesday: "V" is for Viking

From the 2007 Hoggetown Medieval Faire in Gainesville, FL.

And just for the record, "vikings" most likely never had horns on their helmets. Think about it - if you are in close combat (with swords and axes) do you want to have these horns sticking out above you so your enemy can grab them and pull your head down to kill you? Didn't think so.

No archaeological evidence has ever been found of a "viking" horned warrior helmet. Its just one of those modern stereotypes that developed with no basis in fact.

Still... I do enjoy Hagar the Horrible comics. :)

Ornaments

Stop n' Go

Hard to take "good" photos while scampering across four lanes of traffic and snapping off shots without aiming, but I got at least one workable image of each! Woo hoo!

A church post for a Sunday

This church is an old Episcopal or Methodist (I forget which) church in downtown Jaxsonville and is part of the Jacksonville Historic Society, which also has a museum in a victorian two-story house next door.

A Bethlehem Visit

Each year a church in the area puts on a big living Nativity, only theirs is an entire village of Bethlehem. There are fruits and veggies "for sale":


Basket weavers:

Shepherds and goatherds:

Llamas (watch out, they spit):

And of course you can't have a nativity/Bethlehem without Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus:

Sky Watch Friday

Reflections on a glassy pond

Lake Osceola - or whatever they call it - on the campus of the University of North Florida, which is largely a protected nature habitat with a modern university cramped into the middle. Watch out for snakes... and mosquitos, and gnats, and flys, and spiders, and small alligators... and ospreys - the school mascot.

ABC Wednesday: "U" is for Underbelly

This jaguar was out sunning itself last weekend at the zoo, enjoying a nice nap before lunch, completely ignoring her adoring fans clicking away on their camera behind the safety glass a few feet away.

Join ABC Wednesday at http://mrsnesbittsplace.blogspot.com/

A statue with a friend

Look again at the statue's left armpit - yep, that's a lizard. :)

At least your mom used her thumb...

The Dogs of St. Augs

Tonight's blog brought to you by Eukanuba! (Scratch that.)
Tonight's blog brought to you by Alpo! (Nope.)
Tonight's blog brought to you by Science Diet! (Nevermind.)
Tonight's blog brought to you by Purina! (Wrong again.)

Ok, so we contacted every dog food manufacturer in America and none wanted to sponsor our blog today. Foo on them. Anyway, in spite of that momentary financial setback and without further a-do, we bring you... the dogs of St. Augustine!

Just click on the picture below to advance to the next photo.

Sky Watch Friday

Cheating a little since the above photo was actually taken Monday afternoon on my way home from work. It isn't illegal to snap a photo (or five...) through the driver's side window while driving 55 mph down a construction constricted J.T.B. is it?

When God closes a door

Come thou fount of...

Some of St. Augustine's more diminuative locals...

Even the fowl are appreciative of the Spanish masonry work at the fort's seawall...

Bespectacled smile

One of the living history actors in St. Augustine, leaning on a wall in the old section of town, smiling at passers by - including me.