By the Sea

I am home from three weeks of traveling.  I had a unique opportunity that will probably not happen again.  Three trips back to back.  I started out in Manasota Key.  It was just what this girl from frigid Michigan needed to get back on track with life.  Hunting for shark teeth, cocktails in the sun, laughter and exploring with friends and hexie making in between.  I even read two books.  I'm hoping the time in the sun will get me through to spring.  I'll be back to take you to the next stop.  Happy Monday!

Baseball & Hogwarts

Wow, I can't believe all that I did in a mere 72 hours!  I left Michigan on a cold, gray Friday morning and stepped off the plane to warm, bright sunshine in Florida.  It was my first trip seeing Taylor at spring training for his college baseball team.  I said I would go when he was a senior.  I snapped this photo just as he tagged the player out at second base.  He was waiting for the call from the umpire.  I took some great shots that day.

My trusty sidekick came with me (along with her Dad, of course!).  I pulled her out of school Friday and Monday.  This was no small feat for a girl who is a senior in high school, has an internship in NICU at the local hospital and is working on her CNA certification.  She is so organized and so on top of things that I didn't have to do anything but report her absent.  Oh how I love these two!

We did not realize how close we were to Universal Studios.  We decided to take Maddie to fulfill her dream of seeing Hogwarts.  We waited in line for an hour.  I had not been on a ride since I was a child, I dislike them so.  The pleading look in her eyes did me in.  Her Dad bailed when he saw what he would have to get in to.  When they fastened me into the box that would carry me away, her hand came around the outside of her box to hold mine.  I was spit on by a larger than life spider, breathed on by a dragon and nearly fainted when I came face to face with a Dementor.  That was the rare occasion that my eyes were open.  The rest of the time I was trying to keep the butter beer in my stomach and my flip flops on my feet.  The whole time I was thinking I gave birth to two children, surely I can take a five minute ride through Hogwarts…as long as Maddie doesn't let go.

Smiles,

Renee

Stone Mountain

While visiting my brother in Georgia, a couple of weeks ago, we took a trip to Stone Mountain.  It is the largest bas relief sculpture in the world, measuring 3 acres and in it's entirety is about the size of three football fields.  The Confederate Memorial Carving depicts three Confederate leaders of the Civil War, President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson as well as their favorite horses, Blackjack, Traveller and Little Sorrel.  An interesting fact is that the deepest point of the carving is at Lee's elbow, which is 12 feet to the mountain's surface.  Work on the carving began in 1915 and was completed in 1972.

Stone Mountain is a quartz monsonite dome.  It's elevation is 1,686 feet and it extends underground 9 miles.  It is known as the largest exposed piece of granite in the world.

We took a skyride to the top of the mountain.  There are a few rock pools and some plant life at the top.  It was a bit eerie to stand up there and I was happy to find out that it has a fence around it, it slopes in places and would be easy to lose your footing.

I want to share this image with you which I find fitting for Easter.  A group of people were telling the Easter story and giving communion.  My brother told me that there is a sunrise Easter service each year.  I can't imagine what it would be like to be on the top of the mountain, with the sun coming up, worshiping the Lord on Resurrection Sunday!  I also just read in Country Living magazine that the Country Living Fair will be held at Stone Mountain this October as well as in Columbus, Ohio.  Have a wonderful Thursday!

Joyfully,