Pairs...Pairs...Pairs in Paradise!!

The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.  ~Attributed to both Jim Goodwin and Sydney J. Harris

I know...I've been terrible about blogging lately, I actually love it, just haven't made time to do it!! Our home game tailgating is already over!! Can you believe it?  I have pictures of the beautiful fall trees up in Blacksburg VA to show you, but will have to do that at another time.  Today we are in paradise!! That's right this is our Anniversary week at Sanibel Island!!  So the next few days we'll be bringing you a little summertime in the middle of fall!! :)

These are the resident Osprey's looks to me like they are getting there home ready for something....I wonder what!?!

Daddy Osprey is looking out over the territory while Mommy works on the nest! This is about 4 stories tall!!

This Monarch was sunning himself!

A Powderpuff is appropriately named

The pond out back was full from lots of rain down here last week, It ran over and into the yard, this Ibis seemed to enjoy it!

This Snowy Egret doesn't seem to be paying attention to the sign beside him....it says "Don't feed the Alligators!"

 We didn't spend a lot of time at the beach, we got on the island about 1:30 and went on to our favorite restaurant "Hungry Heron" before checking in to the condo.  Our favorite waitress Lori was there and as usual, greeted us with great big hugs!! We feel like we really belong here!!  After a heavy "linner" (Lunch and Dinner) we took what was left in our 'to go' boxes and headed to the condo around 3:00.  We got all moved in and settled down then headed out to the beach.  It was a 'lower' tide and showed some promises for the upcoming days!!

Hubby's finds

It was a day of 'Twos" for me...I got a lot of bivalves with both sides!!

Prickly Cockles (Love the inside colors on these!!)

Atlantic Cockles

A pair of Jewel Boxes

Coquina 'Butterflies'

More Coquina

Dosinia!! I can't tell you what we are making for our Christmas gifts...but a little hint...these are needed and I ran just a few short...so hopefully I will find some more of these!!

Here is the entire collection we found.

 There were LOTS of live shells yesterday evening...they were everywhere...that is always fun to see!!  I planned on getting up with the sun this morning, but didn't make it, since we set the clock back and Hubby and I stayed up to watch the LSU vs Alabama game until Midnight...I slept too late...that's okay, low tide is at 3:00 am any way, so no worries.  After all, we're here to relax, Right?!  We went to Jerry's for breakfast instead and to pick up a few things at their grocery store so now we're all set!  Stay tuned!!


::Hugs::


Cheri




 

Fall, Foliage, Football and Family!

For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together.  For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad.  ~Edwin Way Teale


We had another home game at VT against Miami, and BOY was it a game!! We finally won, but not without a lot of excitement, it was one of the best games we have seen....down to the last few seconds and last few inches!! It is absolutely true what they say about football being a game of inches!!  The crowd was really into this one, it was nearly deafening...but so much fun!!

After only a week, we could see a difference in the trees on the drill field.  The temperature was in the low 70s which is perfect football and tailgate weather!  We had breakfast among the trees of blueberry or strawberry pancakes and sausage.  For lunch we had grilled salmon caesar salad!!  What a great day we had!!

Multiple colors in this tree

Of Course, the vet student enjoyed the weather....studying!!

The Highty Tighties continued their practice

Brad couldn't resist the leaves!!

Jess had to grab some leaves....and rays!!

Grilled Salmon Caesar Salad...Hokie Style!!

This was a coast guard helicopter that did the flyover of the stadium....he was a Hokie!!

Since we had a 3 day weekend, we headed on over to Winston-Salem to visit with Hubby's daughter Stacey and her husband Steve.  You can see some trees changing along the drive!  The scenery was beautiful along the rolling hills!

Pilot Mountain, near Winston.  It was called 'Mount Pilot' in the Andy Griffith Show!!

Stacey and Steve had made arrangements for us to go to a play put on in Salsbury, by the community theater that they are members of.  We got to see Dream Girls!!  They did a tremendous job, and they are all volunteers...they do it for the community and seem to have so much fun doing it!  We got to tour the whole theater, backstage and see how it is put together!!  Of course we had GREAT seats, we felt very special!! When it was over, the actors all came out into the audience and visited with everyone! What a blast we had!!

After the play, we went back to Steve and Stacey's and Steve cooked us a great dinner and they showed us pics of their recent trip to Rome and Venice and talked about the trip and what they saw...we just had a great time!! We don't take the time to visit with them nearly enough...we will have to do better, it seems that everyday life just keeps us too busy!!

When we got to our hotel in Winston-Salem, this bus was parked outside!! I was afraid that we were going to have some excitement that night, but all was quiet!! I never knew they had their own RV!!

Hubby's mom likes to decorate the outside of her house with seasonal wreaths and flowers, I went and got fall flowers and leaves to take to her next weekend.  Here is a wreath I picked up for her, I like it so much I might have to get one for me!! Just make a bow and Voila....Fall is here!!  

We go back to VT to play Boston College for Homecoming on the 22nd...I should be able to show a lot more fall foliage then!!  I love the fall!!

::Hugs::

Cheri

Hokie Football and a question!

The game of life is a lot like football. You have to tackle your problems, block your fears, and score your points when you get the opportunity~Lewis Grizzard

I know, I know, I am the world's worst blogger!! I left you guys for over a month, and for that I am sorry....but you know how it is....it seems no matter how hard you work the behinder you get!! No excuses...I will try to do better from now on!!  I have however managed to finish the homemade Christmas gifts (60 of them) for the family for this year...or almost!! I took my parents to Nashville Tennessee to visit family (700 miles each way!) and then of course there is always the fact that I still have to work for a living!! :)


We have been going to Virginia Tech for the home games (another one this coming weekend)!  And the chill of fall has hit big time!! Already wearing gloves, long johns, sweats etc!  Even had to wear rain ponchos on top of all of it last weekend!!  We've had some great meals under our cover and it has been pretty chilly!! Jess and Brad bought me a propane heater for my birthday this week so I'm anxious to see how that does!!

Breakfast this trip was sausage gravy and biscuits and fresh fruit with Greek yogurt!



Spiced Graham crackers!!

 I found this recipe for Spiced Graham Crackers  here at Piece of Cake, a blog I have been following with great (and fun) recipes....I thought they were great and they just tasted like October!! They are super easy!! Try it, you'll like it!

It's cozy inside!!

Hubby cooking bacon for BLTs!!



I told you it was cold!! Look at Jess all bundled up!!....and of course studying!!
 A Vet student never rests!!



The wind was blowing pretty strong all day, which added to the chill!!

The leaves on the trees are just starting to change!!

The Hokie Bird made a surprise visit on the Drillfield at VT!

Love the tailfeathers!!

The Hokies didn't do so well against Clemson last week, hopefully this week we will do better against Miami!!

...And now a question....

While I was working on this years Christmas gifts, I was using my small and tiny shells and ran across this one!! It is something I have never seen before and not sure where I found it!! Does anyone have any idea what it is??  It seems to be super fragile like a bubble, and has a light brown color to it!!  Obviously it's from Sanibel, but I have never seen one like it!! Hopefully some of you shell experts can tell me what this is!!

It's nearly transparent like a bubble, but so oddly shaped!!

UPDATE:MurexKen says:

October 5, 2011 at 3:25 pm

Cheri, your small shell is a relatively uncommon one for Sanibel Island. It is a Simnia, which is a member of the Ovulid family. These shells live on Sea-whips. Since you found the shell on Sanibel Island, it most probably is the One-tooth Simnia (aka Simnialena uniplicata).
Here’s the BMSM website hyperlink that shows the pictures, http://shellmuseum.org/shells/shelldetails.cfm?id=54
Hope this helps.

We will travel back to VT this weekend, looks like we will be cooking breakfast and lunch again!! From there we will make a side trip to visit Hubby's Daughter in Winston Salem since we have a three day weekend!! It's never a dull moment around here!!  

Wish us luck against Miami!!  GO HOKIES!!

::Hugs::

Cheri