Hi everyone,
Today it’s Sissy’s turn to show and tell about her pictures.
Hi Jeanne,
Here are some photos from our trip to Crystal River, Florida. We had a large crowd because more was added by my nephew’s younger daughter’s boyfriend and his family. We had 2 boats, captained by my nephew and my older son.
July the first was the open day for getting the scallops and we started out early with the boats. It takes a while to get out there in the Gulf. Here is a photo of my nephew’s boat. There were at least 100 or more boats already there.
Also, a photo of my granddaughter, Simone, her cousin, Harper, and Elvis, and really cute friend of Simone’s from CA.
He was so excited to swim in the Gulf, and you can see he was a good swimmer as he holds up one of his bags of scallops.
Also here is a photo of our scallops in the cooler and another of Peyton, me, my younger son, Tommy, and Harper leaning over the scallops and cleaning them out of the shells. It took us all the way back to my nephew Mark’s house to finish that!
After we got our selves cleaned up we went to Mark and Deb’s house and started a great dinner. Here I am cooking the scallops, we had enough for me to make the 3 times. We had a lot of cooks in the crowd and I made my cheese grits and had my meringues for desserts. My son Ronny took the photo of me getting ready to put the scallops in the pan. They are delicious with butter, lemon, and garlic.
The next day we took out Mark’s boat and the big boat with big slide on top that my older son Ronny had rented.
Here are Ronny and Tommy handling the boat.
People were relaxing in the water, also jumping off the big boat or sliding down it. Even my older brother who will soon be ninety-one slid down it!
The two girls and Elvis got on one of Mark’s Skidoo’s and went searching for some manatees, these lovely big, kind animals that swim all through the water. They found some and had fun swimming with them.
Photo of manatee.
That night we went out to eat at a great seafood place. Here are Peyton and Carl, my older brother having a great visit while waiting for dinner. The last day was July 4th and this shows Tommy, Ronny and Mark making some “music” before dinner, then the lovely sunset before the fireworks. We had to leave before the fireworks because we had to leave really early the next day. It was a great time, hard to leave everyone, especially my family. I hope you liked seeing some of our trip.
Thank you Sissy! Your pictures are so much fun! It looks like a good time was had by all! Your whole family LIVES for the water, don’t they? It’s pretty obvious!
Thank you for sharing,
Blessings, Jeanne
First of all, thank you to everyone for your kind comments on my photos yesterday. I tried to answer each comment,
We are getting a lot of smoke from the Spokane fire today; I managed to spend it in air-conditioned places this afternoon, to try to minimize the effects of the smoke on my asthma.
Sissy, thanks so much for sharing your wonderful pictures. You and Peyton look just as I remember you, when we met a number of years ago!
What fun you all had on the water!! It rather reminds me of when I was growing up and my aunt and uncle had a cabin on Lake Michigan. We spent a lot of time on and in the water, too!!
Those scallops certainly have pretty shells, and in different colors. I don’t recall for sure if I have tried them or not.
Oh, my–that slide really looks like fun! We didn’t have anything like that on Lake Michigan, that I recall, but we did have a raft, as I recall, at least some summers.
Jeanne, I hope and pray George is getting a little stronger every day.
Hi Charlotte, I didn’t have a chance to comment on your wonderful picture yesterday. I’m not a person who sews except for maybe sewing a button on, so I can’t even begin to imagine making the dolls you are showing us today!!!
They are amazing! That’s a lot of work! I especially like the red headed doll in the front on the left – A Rose is a Rose. Hope that’s her name. Her face is pretty and that red hair is so cool!
I may have asked you this about your days spent on Lake Michigan. Think you said you were very up north on it?
As I kid, our family use to camp a lot at Terre Andre State Park.near Sheboygan. It is now called some other name. Three years ago, my family and I took a trip there just to remember the fun we had and to see all the changes – it was a wonderful walk down memory lane.
Thank you for sending your doll pictures to Jeanne to share with us!
Thank you so much Paula; I’m glad you liked my dolls.
Yes, the one on the left in front is A Rose Is a Rose, and her “hair” is actually petals of fabric that match other fabrics in her outfit. Her clothes, except for her bloomers, are actually part of her construction–her “sleeves” are part of her arms, for instance.
There’s another red-haired doll, Modern Woman, but she has BRIGHT red hair and a blue outfit, and is next to last on the right in the picture of all of the dolls.
Where we were on Lake Michigan was near Rapid River and Escanaba, in that little southern-most tip of the Upper Peninsula. My aunt and uncle actually lived in Escanaba, a few miles from the cabin. In later years, the cabin itself was sold and moved across the ice to its new location, and my uncle built a beautiful large home on that plot of land, and they lived there for a number of years, until they retired and moved to AZ. Sometimes we went up to the Ishpeming/Marquette area, where my dad was from, and occasionally spent time by Lake Superior, but that lake is MUCH colder year around, so I don’t remember doing more than maybe getting our feet wet in that lake! Ishpeming and Marquette are about 100 miles north of where we lived (which was Stephenson, 43 miles from Escanaba).
Thank you, Charlotte! Your time in the lake sounds fun too! When my first hubs and I moved to Michigan for him to become a dentist his parents took us to a cabin on the lake that summer. I don’t remember the name of the cabin but it was a lovely place. We lived in Michigan 4 years until he graduated.
Glad to hear that you braved the smoke at the mall yesterday. Good idea to keep cool indoors. I’m sure that it is still smoky today and may remain so for awhile. They mentioned on the news last night that the smoke was heading our way, but I can’t tell this morning because it is foggy. It is so sad to see all of the damage caused by that guy that they caught who set the one fire. Heartbreaking.
Hi Sissy, thank you for sharing your pictures with Jeanne and the rest of us. It looks like you had such fun being on the ocean. I’m sure it’ll be a well remembered time with your lovely family. We can now put a sweet and lovely face to you as well , unless I missed some earlier pictures of you another time..
You also must be a good cook! Your pies looked so good sitting there on the counter.,
It looks like the children are pretty good at getting the shells opened.
And the boat with the slide looks like added fun.
Many years ago, we rented houseboats on two different Kentucky lakes with family and friends. One of them had 2 slides off the back. We towed our ski boats along side the houseboat so we could go out seeing the sights on the lakes. Such fun and we memories. We’d beach the boats so the kids could play on the beaches and making meals and sitting up at night on the roof was amazing under the stars. It was so much fun.
Glad you had such a fun time with your family!
Thank you, Paula. It is nice to hear that you and your family had fun like that, too! I lived in FL many years and I do miss swimming in the water where we live now. We look out at the water from our house but it is salt water and the Gators like it. Good fishing there, though we don’t anymore, sold the boat because it was just to much to handle now. At least we get to the water at the Y twice a week.
Sissy, what a wonderful time your family had together! Before I get into commenting, I must say that I have a very unreasonable fear of the water, so this was not anything I would ever do! No idea why I am so afraid of the water, but I always have been, and never learned how to swim, even though I took lessons, which never got me past getting my head in the water!🤣
You have a very good looking family, I must say, and it was so nice to see your smiling face! Those scallops are really beautiful, and what do you do with the shells once they are cleaned out?
Thank you so much Sissy, for sending the pictures, and despite my never doing anything like that, I really enjoyed them!
Thank you, Jeanne for showing them and I hope George is doing better. Did the chicken house doors open this morning?
Well, Linda, I am glad you enjoyed the photos, I am sorry you have not been able to enjoy the water yourself.
The scallop shells have varied colors, white, brown, yellow, orange, all mixed. I have saved so many over the years I have a basket full. This year I saved all those orange ones and cleaned them for Elvis to take home to his mother. I hope they made it on the plane.
Thank you for enjoying looking at my photos.
Sissy, you are beautiful, so perky and happy to be in the kitchen making the goodies.
I love scallops, and I have not had any in a long time.
Your water adventures were terrific and your family appears to be so loving and caring.
It appears that the youngsters provided all of the safety measures for you and Peyton and your brother to enjoy the time on the water. What a blessing they are.
I just love these pictures of your grand kids, they are so big and beautiful, oh my!
I never really grew up near water, but we went to beaches in various countries.
The big boat looks so fun! I have never been on one of those – are they also called Party Boats? 😂🥳😂 I love the slide thing. Correct we never had slides into the water when we were kids, they had not invented that kind of plastic yet… and metal slides would not work out well 😱🔥
Sissy, thank you for sharing so many pictures and your family. Wow, you have a loving family.,
Jeanne, I hope you and George are comfortable and that you have a lot of helpers. I know you do because you are the best in the neighborhood. I hope the weather is decent too
Here, the weather is hot and humid. Kitty Princess loves her porch all day and I have my sewing set up down stairs on the dining room table so I can observe her. Yesterday we had several birds hopping around and two doves flying around. Princess was really excited. She has also observed from her porch, some lizards and turtles.
Well, not much is going on here, I am keeping the house tidy and sewing and sewing. I have a lot of attention problems and want to make everything but I am focusing on this quilt and also have some binding to sew on some older projects.
I will try to update my flickr page.
Sissy, thank you for sending photos to Jeanne, Jeanne, I truly hope all is going well.
Posting each day must be a task. I hope you can find a techy helper to do that secretarial duty if necessary. Both of you are dearly loved.
Thank you Rosemary, I am so glad you enjoyed the photos. There were a LOT more but I think I sent enough.
You are so kind what you said about me in the kitchen. I am getting to old tht I do have problems with memories and such but cooking has stuck with me. I do like to cook, and Peyton is so kind to clean up after me.
Thank you again, for your kinds words.
First things first. Have the chickens learned to come in on time? Hope so. Then you would no longer have to do the chicken round up for those stragglers in the evening. And hoping that George is doing well and regaining his strength. And does Jeanne, have any help with chores? Hope so as she too needs to catch a break and get some sleep.
What a wonderful trip to Florida. Loved seeing all the boats anchored and everyone trying to bring up their catch. I guess you could call it, “Fighting for Scallops?” And that pleasure craft with the slide looked like great entertainment. How fantastic that the teens managed to actually find some manatees with which to do the swim. Sounds like so much fun. Great seeing Sissy’s family too. Thanks so much for sharing Jeanne and Sissy.
Here, it was cooler so I managed to get back out and clear another area on the embankment. Other person showed up and decided to trim a bush. I warned him that if I found branches/leaves/ etc. left below on the area that I had taken so long to clean up the last time, that he would hear from me. 🙂 Anyway, pruned some roses too and we managed to fill up the big yard can for pick up today. That is always so satisfying.
And now, my Lance is out for delivery some time today. No idea how I can manage getting him inside as I have my eye appointment this morning. Really can’t wait to see the knight arrive. 🙂
Lancelot’s delivery is easily fixed, Joy. If other person sees him first, just say he is a knight in shining armor and you had to get home to remind you of him. See, problem solved! 🤣🤣🤣 If other person happens to have been blonde that will be an added bonus.
Thank you, Joy! I am so glad you enjoyed the photos. I hope your eye appointment goes well and also that Lance arrives just when you needed him too. If not you can tell Other person that you bought Lance because he reminds you of him.
Excellent idea about the purchase need for Lance.
You are good! wow. spiffy lady!!
Thanks for the tips on what to say to other person. He would probably fall over if I mentioned those. 🙂
I’ll tell you about the delivery tomorrow as it is still difficult to focus right now.
Just gorgeous photos, Sissy. It is so nice to see you and your family.. No one would guess your age. My dream would be to live near the water. We can get to Lake Erie pretty easily and there is another lake just up the road. When you take a paddle boat of small boat out on that there is a lot of water around you so you feel like you’re in a small ocean.
Manatees are precious. We got to see and swim with them in the Everglades and on Santibel Island. That sunset is spectacular.
Thank you Laura, so glad you enjoyed them and also thanks for your kind works for this old lady. I am so glad you have water near by and that you have had your chance with the manatees too!
I think Manatees are adorable and would love the chance to swim with them.
Sissy, this would have been the life for me. Sadly not for anyone else in my family when I was growing up or my hubby. I love seafood and scallops are one of my favorites. When I lived in DE I had a friend whose family had a cabin at Rehobeth and I would go down with them on weekends. Her dad taught me to water ski and I loved it. But my mother could not stand sand so we never went to the beach when I was a kid. Funny thing is we had a sandbox in the backyard. My sister Beth is probably the only one who agrees with me that the beach is a great place to be. She and her husband winter in Florida and spend a lot of time on the beach. I’m welcome anytime but, as I said, that’s not David’s idea of a fun vacation. You have a lovely family and it is so nice that you can get together this way. Very conducive to staying young.
Oh, Barbara, I am so sad for you. I wish you could go down to FL to visit with your sister. I feel like you should have a turn to do what you want. I have been so blessed to have lived on the water when I grew up and then moved to FL. We only left when I retired from teaching and Crystal River got so big and full of people and cars. We built our house at the water and had a boat and enjoyed it until it got too much for us. We still love watching the water, the birds and sometimes a gator.
We even see manatees here once in a while. I am really hoping you can figure out a way to visit your sister.
Jeanne, I hope the chicken door is working well, the baby birds are growing and of course also that you and George are resting. I do hope you find someone to help him soon.
Thank you for showing my photos, they seem to have been enjoyed by the sofa friends!
Prayers are always going up!
My sister once brought me some extraordinary potatoes. I hadn’t realized that potatoes and manatees were related, but the shape made it clear.
Scallop shells are so beautiful. Pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela carried them as a sign that they were on “the way,” the roads/paths that led to the cathedral:
“During medieval times, pilgrims wore scallop shells attached to cloaks or hats to show they were on the Camino. The shell also served a practical role as a lightweight bowl for food and drink. At churches and pilgrim shelters, food was often given in shell-sized portions. The shell became a badge of identity and also helped gain the support and kindness of locals. It reminded others to assist pilgrims on their sacred journey, creating a strong sense of connection and purpose.”
It was traditional to walk at least part of the way and to finish at the sea.
The association between St. James and the shells came from or inspired stories of the saint saving a drowning man who came out of the sea covered with shells.
I’m always amazed at how much useless information my brain has stored and how much practical information it has ignored.
Thank you, Marilyn, I loved your talk about the shells. My mom and dad went on a cruse that included Santiago to see the church. I used to make jewelry from clay that I fired and painted and had made a shell for my mom to wear. She wore it that day and so many people asked her were she got it. I could have sold a lot of them!