Finally

Just finished putting the garden in.

It's only over a month late.

Been a crazy busy Spring for me. 

New Potatoes (way late, should have been Feb 14)

Tomatoes

Red Sweet Peppers

Green Bell Peppers

Cucumbers

Yellow Crock Neck Squash

Zucchini Squash

Cabbage

Watermelon for the very first time.

Hope you all are doing okay and are having a happy Spring.

Hope to be back to bloggin soon.

Take care my friends!

Lunch Date

The weather was perfect yesterday and so we ate outside.

This was not my lunch date but the lady sitting at the next table next to us.

This furry friend ate at least 6 french fries.

He just kept begging for food and she kept feeding him.

I don't think that was his first rodeo.

This must be the way he has lunch every day. 

Spring Break Visitors

This is my GREAT niece Gracie.

Gracie came from Utah to visit her GRAND~parents, Sue and Phil Jacobs.

And her GREAT~GRAND~ma Kathleen Griffis.

She came with her Aunt Leah.

She left her mom Rachael, dad Ryan and baby brother Jude, at home.

This is Gracie's Aunt Leah, my niece.

She came home to thaw out from the frozen Utah winter.

And to visit her mom and dad, Sue and Phil Jacobs and her

GRAND~ma Griffis and GRAND~ma Jacobs.

She is one hot hair stylist in the Salt Lake area.

While here she usually does every cousins head of hair.

She's good and they all look forward to her visits.

Call her and make your appointment.

This is my GREAT~nephew Jonah Jacobs.

This is the only picture I got of Jonah.

I so wish I would have gotten one by himself.

He came with his brother Manny, from Nashville.

He left his dad Aaron my nephew and his mom Molly at home.

This is Emanual Jacobs.

Manny for short.

He and his brother Jonah caught a ride from his other GRAND~parents house

in Birmingham, Al. with his GREAT~Aunt Angie and her boys.

They all had the same destination vacation Spring Break in mind.

GRANDMA Griffis house in coastal sunny Georgia!

This is the youngest Ripley boy, Ammon, my nephew.

He loves those Jacob cousins and has loved being at his GRAND~ma Griffis house.

He is Angie and Tony Ripley's son.

Mr. Senior in high school, Andrew Ripley, my nephew.

He has loved being at the beach for spring break.

He is Travis and Jordan Griffis's shadow.

Where ever they are you will find him.

(Travis is my son)

My Sister in law, Mary Angela Griffis Ripley.

Mother of 4 Ripley boys.

Pre~school teacher, loves the sun and the beach.

Loves her mother and has missed her dad so much.

The hostess of all these spring breakers,

My mother in law, Kathleen aka Mom.

We had a special family dinner to celebrate her

upcoming 80th birthday, April 11.

We will have another celebration on her birthday but they

will not be able to come back so you are never to old to have several birthday parties.

Always fun to have relatives in town!

Our spring break will be the first week in April.

I hope we have more vistitors.

Hope you all have a happy weekend.

Spring has sprung and we have temps in the 80*

A most perfect weekend!

Midweek~Blues

Picture taken at Sea World, Florida I LOVE this picture and can't believe that I took it :) Join the mid ~week blues by clicking on the above picture.

The Old Fort

Saturday Photo Hunt

This weeks theme ~ Triangle

This is the sight of the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument

lovingly known as the "Old Fort" in St. Augustine, Florida.

I took many a field trip here when I was in school.

St. Augustine is about 30 miles from

where I grew up, in Palatka, Florida.

Anna, my niece and the GRANDgirls walking the sea wall.

The old Fort in the back ground.

This is my view from the sea wall and this is my Photo Hunt Triangle.

For more Saturday Photo Hunt Pictures click here.

Mellow~Yellow~Monday

Not sure what kind of Bird this is but I took the picture at the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, Florida.

Click on the picture below to view other Mellow Yellow Monday photos or to join the fun and enter your on photos.

Just A Swingin

Enjoyed the cooler day yesterday so much.

A perfect day for swinging.

A Real Florida Welcome

Look at that cute smile!

It just couldn't be any sweeter could it?

They especially love tourist.

The official welcoming committee.

(This is for you Aramie, sweet dreams!)

My Biggest Fear

Watch this snake as she is talking.

And she just keeps talking.

and talking!

And we are just freaking out!!

Not my idea of a great summer job.

A Conch Shell

We were over on Jekyll Island taking pictures of Jordan's cousins that where here for spring break. They were looking for seashells and came across this conch shell. When Jordan picked it up it had the conch in it. Yuck, I've never seen one that had a live animal in it.

But just in case you do, here is a recipe for conch fritters.

We didn't eat it.

Conch Fritters

Fritters:
1 quart oil for frying
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
ground cayenne pepper to taste
seasoned salt to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup chopped conch meat
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped

Dipping Sauce:
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
1.Heat the oil in a large pot or deep fryer to 365 degrees F (185 degrees C).
2.In a bowl, mix the flour, egg, and milk. Season with cayenne pepper, seasoned salt, salt, and pepper. Mix in the conch meat, onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic.
3.Drop the batter by rounded tablespoons into the hot oil, and fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
4.In a bowl, mix the ketchup, lime juice, mayonnaise, hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Serve dipping sauce on the side with the fritters.
Footnotes

Conch can be replaced with any seafood. We tried last week 'Calamari Fritters," following the same recipe but replacing conch with chopped calamari... it turned out awesome! We cannot wait to try it with shrimp or crab meat. Read about CONCH in our handy encyclopedia! We have determined the nutritional value of oil for frying based on a retention value of 10% after cooking. The exact amount may vary depending on cook time and temperature, ingredient density, and the specific type of oil used.

Recipe courtesy of Allrecipes

I was excited

to find that on returning home from spring break this weekend

my Wisteria vine had bloomed!

I had just looked at it the week before and thinking to myself that it

looked dead and wondering if it would bloom this year.

It is in full bloom.

It's bloomed every year of the 32 years I've lived here.

I've always loved it.

When I took pictures of it yesterday it was

covered with bumblebees and smelled so good.

Happy Monday.

Since When?

My parents live about 2 hours south of us in Florida.

When we got about a mile from their house I looked in the back seat and Rea had taken down her hair and hair bow.

I said, "mercy girls, we need to comb your hair before Grandmother and Papa see you like that."

Shelby was quick with a come back, she said,

"well they don't care if we look like hillbillies"

Since when did we ever become "hillbillies"?

We've been in St. Augustine, Florida.

We took the GRAND~girls for their spring break.

Their parents had to work.

But WE didn't.

We had lots of fun with them.

They say the funniest things.

They keep us entertained.

We took them to the Alligator Farm.

When I took this picture Shelby said,

" my mama is going to FREAK when she sees this picture!"

She was a little grossed out but the girls loved it.