March 14, 2017 Chihuly-Dali

Hi everyone.
We traveled a different road today and ended up in St Petersburg where there are 2 museums that caught our eye.
The first one was the Chihuly Collection that featured some of the larger in size blown glass works.
Dale Chihuly was introduced to glass art while studying interior design at the University of Washington.  He later went to the University of Wisconsin and then the Rhode Island School of Design where he established a glass program and taught for more than a decade.

The Carnival Chandelier

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The Azul de Medianiche Chandelier

Sunset Persian Wall

Float Boat

Ruby Red Icicle

Blue Neon Tumbleweed

Milli Fiori

Milli and Grammie

We went across the street to the Hot Shop where there was a demonstration on glassblowing.

Preparing the chemicals to color the glass.

This smaller oven is used to keep the working piece of glass above 900 degrees.  If it isn't, it will cool too much and crack the glass. 

Using a metal tool to help reshape the bowl.

Cleaning the surfave of impurities.

Heating the stem to keep it above 900.

Using metal tools to reshape the molten glass.

Hand twirling the thin molten glass on top to add a flared look.

The finished product ready for slow cooling.

For those interested, individual lessons are available.

Next we went over to the Salvadore Dali Museum

The First Days of Spring 1929

Enchanted Beach with Three Fluid Graces 1938

The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus  1959

The Ecumenical Council  1960

For those back home, just wanted to let you know that it was windy here today also.

On the way back we stopped for a couple of pictures of Wind Surfers

Thanks for looking out for Grammie.

March 12, 2017 Anna Maria Island

Hi Everyone.
I guess it is time to do a little catching up again.
Since the last posting at Hilton Head Island, we finally made it to Florida where our first stop was in Port Orange where we visited with a high school classmate, Geoff.  We make this visit part of our travel plans to the area.
Next we went to Vero Beach where we spent another 3 days visiting another High School classmate, Gail. In both of these last visits it is  wonderful to visit the people that were a part of our lives 50 years ago. 
Even though we didn't put it in our blog, both Tom and Alice had 50th class reunions this last summer.
Thursday we drove across the state to Anna Maria Island to visit people down here on a getaway from Maine.

We know that  things aren't all that great in Maine with another impending snowstorm but, things are also pretty white down here.

The weather has been great here and the skies predominantly blue.

 T-shirt weather for sure.

 It might be hard to see but Grammie wanted to showcase her recent pedicure that both she and Gail had back in Vero Beach.

 Ta da!  Grammie working her magic.

We had an evening meal at Bones.  The Jambalaya didn't need any spices.

Was everyone really that engrossed in completing the puzzle...or was this just posed.

Yesterday Tom and John went the the Valspar Championship up in Tarpon Springs. 

Thanks for keeping an eye out for Grammie.

March 2, HHI

Hi everyone.
Today was one of those days where everything we planned got accomplished.
We woke up, had breakfast, finished the 1000 piece puzzle and finally around 1 p.m. got dressed for the day.  Making sure we had checked our e-mail and FB we had dinner (leftovers) and then walked into town to get an ice cream.  We came back and spent about 15 minutes in the hot tub.
Now, at the conclusion of The Voice, we accomplished everything.
As one of our children would say...  Boringly functional.
You were probably wondering why we don't write on the blog everyday.

March 1, Hilton Head Island

He everyone.  Since we left Myrtle Beach on the 22nd, we have spent a couple of days in Sun City SC, visiting a good friend Anne.  She has recently moved from her previous location in Beaufort.  She was glad to see us as the previous owner left all sorts of household goods here and there.  By the time we left, things were pretty well consolidated and organized.

On Saturday, we arrived on Hilton Head Island, which is having some of the warmest weather in years.  Today was in the high 70's.  The island is however still cleaning up from the effects of Hurricane Matthew on October 8 and 9.  It is estimated that the costs of cleaning up could run into the 30 million range.  Thousands of the downed trees have been mulched and removed, but a lot still needs to be done.  Some buildings are being rebuilt and there is still a lot to do repairing many homes.

Since this was not our first time on the island, we knew right where to go first. 

There were dozens of choices.  Tom's choice was Junkyard.

This morning we took a Gullah Heritage tour.  The tour was done by Irvin Campbell who has been doing the tours for better than 20 years and has a large knowledge of the  Gullah heritage on the island.  Many of the Gullah people have sold their land and relocated but many still remain.
They were a group of African American people that have been on the island dating back before the Civil War.  Part of the island was used as an encampment for Union soldiers up until 1868.

Part of the tour where the encampment was located features a Bench by the Road started by Toni Morrison and her benches have been located in other locations around the world.

Toni Morrison 

 http://www.tonimorrisonsociety.org/bench_histories.html

This location is called Mitchelville and is the focus of a Preservation Project.  Toni Morrison was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama in 2010 for her work's attention to African-American history and culture.   Mitchelville   in case the link may not work, use http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/article33510423.html

The Freedom Park is being supported by the Hilton Head community.

For dinner we went to the Skull Creek Boathouse.  It features seafood, and the food was great

No, we didn't have the Lobster Tail

The location was down by the water.  In the background you just barely see the big blue tarps covering parts of a roof in need of repair.  In the south, this is the time of the year when year round maintenance is done.

Grammie was seen today down by the water.  She is getting used to the pictures.  What a sport.

A card seen in one of the local shops. It sure does apply here when you see so much devastation caused by the storm.  These people had a mandatory evacuation back during the hurricane.

Feb 22 on the way to Myrtle Beach

Over the last 3 days we really haven't been too busy, but did follow our travel plans.  On Monday we traveled to Siler City to visit with one of Tom's high school friends.  It is always good to visit with friends and reminisce about our youth...and yeah it was over 50 years ago.

Even though the grass hasn't really turned green, the flowers have had a head start.

On Tuesday, Tom played a golf course, Tobacco Road, that he wanted to play last year but the temps were in the 30's then.  This time with much better conditions, he had an enjoyable day.  The first 2 pics show the terrain that included plenty of sand, and mounds much higher that he had ever seen on any course.

 On the 17th hole, with the ball in a terrible lie....

 this pic told the rest of the story.

Today, Wednesday, we spent some time at Myrtle Beach taking in the sunshine.  As with Virginia Beach, the area has a few people out taking advantage of the sun. 

Grammie wanted to be out there real bad.

 Walking around, Grammie was seen at a new Sugar Life story.  No, she didn't have any candy...but if you look in her hand

Thanks for following Grammie's travels.

Feb 19, 2017 Virginia Beach

Today we left Dover AFB and headed down the DELMARVA peninsula headed towards Virginia Beach.  We stopped at the Visitors' Center after crossing into Virginia and picked up some brochures and took a picture or two. 

 A few miles down the road and a few turns on back roads, we arrived at the Chatham Vineyards.  It was one of those days where some wine needed tasting. The vineyard is in a great location and right across the street is a house, a little in need of repair, but still in a great location for wine lovers.

In another half hour or so we reached the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnels.  While the toll is a little pricey, it saves over 50 miles getting to the Norfolk area while only saving about a half hour time instead of trips through Baltimore, Washington and Richmond.

With a few hours of time left in the day, we spent them at Virginia Beach and had a little time to grab a meal.  While the area is at a slow time of the year, the temps were in the high 60's and brought out a lot of people.  Many places are still closed for the season including Ben and Jerry's.  The beach area was still sparse but the eating places did much better.

The boardwalk, a skateboard and a little creativity made the day for this guy.

The Festival  Center just off 9th street seemed to be the most popular place of the day.

With the many things to see and do, we decided to make a return visit on the way back North.

Thanks for keeping track of Grammie's whereabouts.

Feb 18, 2017 Dover DE

Welcome back to the blog.

Yesterday, (17th) we left home and snowbanks, but not before clearing out the driveway with a tractor, and then shoveling off the garage roof.  The walkway was pretty well taken care of, thanks to 2 grandchildren...and a snow day that afforded them the time to get it done.  In Newport on Wednesday night into Thursday we only got a dusting for what was supposed to be 8-12 inches.
We left with clear skies and spent the night in Danvers, MA visiting Tom's sister.  As always it is great to spend time with the oldest and wisest sibling.  We were surprised as there was no unfinished puzzle laying about on the table.

Today we drove 400 miles to Dover AFB in Delaware.  The skies were sunny and the snow finally diminished to nothing after we got on the New Jersey turnpike.  We did only make one error and that was deciding to go through NYC on a nice day.  So wasn't everyone else.  We did set a new worlds record though.  We left my sisters house and by the time we got onto I-90 west, we took off 11 minutes of travel time on Rte 128... according to the Garmin.  There was 1 change and that was that there are no toll booths getting on to I-90...as well no toll booths getting off at the Sturbridge exit.
Being a nice day when we arrived in Dover, Tom got permission from Alice to go across the street to play golf. After he got back, he had to ask what she said in the rest of the sentence.
We didn't take any pictures of either the snow we left behing, or the sunshine we drove towards.

We do have two pictures to start our blog.

The first is of Grammie on a recent visit to Cheyenne to see her newest grandchild, Henley, and her parents Robin and Doug. 

The 2nd is a picture of the newest grandchild Henley with her Mom, Robin and her Dad, Doug, and her aunts who visited Cheyenne from Maine.

Thank you everyone for keeping an eye out for Grammie.