Saturday, December 26, 2015

Merry Christmas

Hi All,

We spent a wonderful Christmas Day with the kids and Tara's mom Pricilla.

One of Scott's gifts was a BugAssault rifle. It shoots a few grains of salt to kill flies and other flying insects.


The boys got Tara a blinged out keyboard and mouse. Enlarge the image to see the synthetic diamonds.

Garrett's Amazon gift list was late in posting so he got a small pile of $20 bills.

Wyatt got a new air-soft weapon-powered by compressed air.

Wyatt  also got a set of lock picks and a clear plastic padlock on which to practice. Sometimes grandparents need to just bite their lips😖.

Across the country, friends sent us this beautiful photo of Christmas Eve Luminarias at Tumucacori Mission in AZ.
Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Sunday, December 20, 2015

Amelia Island

Hi All,

Today we went up to Amelia Island with Herb & Marilyn, the other resident volunteer couple at Fort Caroline. 

First stop was American Beach. In the heavily segregated south of the 1930's, Blacks had very limited access to beaches. In 1935, a wealth black insurance man, A.L. Lewis bought 216 acres of beachfront property on central Amelia Island. The "A.L. " stands for Abraham Lincoln.

 In the ensuing years African-Americans from all over the east coast came here to vacation. Duke Ellington even performed at the night club. 

The history of this extraordinary place is preserved and celebrated at the American Beach Museum

Ironically, desegregation contributed to the demise of American Beach since folks could now use any beach. The old cottages and hotels barely survived the luxury condo development on Amelia in the 1970's.
 The strongest advocate for preservation was MaVynee Betsch. She was known as the "Beach Lady", a passionate and flamboyant resident who worked tirelessly to preserve the natural and cultural history of the community and adjacent 60' dune. The dune is now National Park property, protected as part of our Timucuan Preserve.

We then drove to Fernandina Beach for dinner and finished just in time to catch the holiday lights and sunset.
Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Finishing Touches

Hi All,

With the body work completed, the last job in rejuvenating our CRV was redoing the front.

The headlight pods had become dull and foggy and previous attempts to polish them were unsuccessful.

We were astonished at how much better the new ones look.

The black facia across the front and the grill were also in sad shape but it looked like too big a job. However, watching the You Tube video on how to replace the headlight pods, Carl learned that step 1 was "Remove the fascia" so the car got a whole new front!
Looks pretty good for a ten year old car with 250,000 of driving and towing.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Thursday, December 17, 2015

Fungi

Hi All,

Did we mention it has been humid? Above average temps and high humidity has grown a new crop of fungi along the park trails. We had not noticed any of these last week!









Humidity is also causing mold & mildew in the coach. Yesterday we ordered a dehumidifier.

We got our car back from the body shop today. They did a great job and the right hand side of the car looks like new.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Monday, December 14, 2015

Jacksonville Zoo

Hi All,

Evalyn took us to the zoo today. She has been coming here since she was a kid and really knows her way around.

There are many bird exhibits but few compare to these flamingos.

The giraffe viewing platform puts visitors at eye level!

No zoo visit is complete without viewing the venomous snakes like this copperhead.

This squirrel monkey watched Carl carefully as he took pictures.

Big cats are often elusive in zoos so it was neat to see this lion pair in plain view.

As we mentioned last year, the new tiger exhibit is extraordinary, We arrived for the "Training" demonstration. The purposes of the training include intellectual stimulation for the animals as well as teaching behaviors that facilitate veterinary care without anesthetizing the cats. Behaviors like opening their mouths to inspect their teeth

or standing to inspect their underside.

They even train them to press their flanks against the cage so they can get injections!

When the training is over, the tiger still wants food so he watched the keeper closely-maybe one more bit of food?
On November 19th a baby tiger was born at the zoo and the whole community is waiting to see her on exhibit.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Sunday, December 13, 2015

Happy Chanukah

Hi All,

Happy Chanukah to our Jewish family and friends.

Love to all in this holiday season.

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Jefferson, Ginger & Guns

Hi All,

Wyatt did a history project about Thomas Jefferson. He did his final presentation in costume along with a friend whose project was a civil war officer.


Back in the motorhome, a rare sighting- Ginger let Sandy hold her for about 20 seconds, barely enough time to grab this photo.

Saturday we went to watch Scott and the boys in a shooting competition. 

Wyatt finished second in a class that included many adults (including his father!).

Wyatt and Garrett finished 1-2 in their age group.
Fun to watch and spend time with the boys.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Saturday, December 5, 2015

Re-enactors in St Augustine

Hi All,

Big doings in St Augustine today. Re-enactors in authentic uniforms and period dress filled the streets. In spite of sporadic rain we shared a great day with a group of Fort Caroline volunteers.

Our ranger, Craig Morris supervised the loading and firing of the Castillo cannon.


Along the sea wall, volunteers set up four cannons to fire

The Spanish crew,

irregular British artillery

regular British artillery

and another crew of irregulars ( locals helping the British).

Before our ears recovered from the cannon, we watched the musket demonstration.

This was all great fun, capped off by the fife and drum corps.
Can't wait to fire the Fort Caroline cannon.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Holly Jolly Trolley

Hi All,

We met Tara, the boys and Tara's mom in St Augustine for dinner and a ride on the Holly Jolly Trolley to enjoy the holiday lights.

The Hilton Hotel is well decorated

as is the Lightner Museum

Wyatt took this group selfie.

Guess who's taller than his grandfather?
Poor Scott was stuck at work but we had a great time.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Saturday, November 28, 2015

Thanksgiving Part 2

Hi All,

We had two pretty busy days in the park. Last night we ate out, enjoying some great Mayport shrimp. 

After work today it was back to "leftovers" but few meals can beat Thanksgiving leftovers-Yum.

Life is good,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Friday, November 27, 2015

Celebrations

Hi All,

This was a week full of wonderful celebrations. 

Tuesday evening we joined Tara, the boys and her mom to watch Scott blow out one candle on lieu of 44. Still not sure how our son got older faster than we did😉.


In preparation for Thursday we measured the oven then measured turkeys at the supermarket to make sure it fit. Here Sandy prepares a spinach casserole.

We sat down to a wonderful meal with much to be thankful for.
Happy Thanksgiving and a belated Thanksgiving to our Canadian friends.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Another APOD Image

Hi All,

Astrophotography is all about collecting light. To photograph more details you either get a larger telescope or make longer exposures. How about a 212 hour total exposure! Fourteen hundred separate images taken over two years shows extraordinary detail in the Orion Nebula.

These folks have way more patience than we do🙀.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Friday, November 20, 2015

Nature Walk

Hi All,

We walked the park trails today with Rangers Craig and Heather to refresh our memory on the local trees and plants.

We spotted this young tree frog on a saw palmetto.


This tree is hosting a large crop of interesting looking fungi.

We saw lots of club moss

and large patches of deer lichen.

After work we went to Singleton's in Mayport for dinner. We sat outdoors and enjoyed the view over the river.
Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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