Happy New Years to CC from BJ 12'13

Stan Sperlak Gogh Box 12'13

STAN SPERLAK GOGH BOX

Guess what arrived on our door step last night.....

 A Happy New Years gift of a Stan Sperlak Gogh Box

to CC from her  wonderful  husband, Bruce.  

Bj had  seen me struggling to juggle my pastel equipment  while painting en plein air on our last trip, (and probably read my blog review of what I needed to correct the problems before the next trip),and  decided it would be easier to buy me a full kit with all the components than for me to try to assemble them. 

Resourceful soul that he is,  he checked through my FB  friends  for the equipment that other pastel artists were using (and probably checked my Yahoo bookmarks for art supplies) and decided that the Gogh Box looked perfect.

The only issue was whether I would get it in time.  Stan Sperlak's crew rushed it out on the Monday before Christmas so I would get it before the New Years.   A Huge Thank You to  goes out to both Bruce and to   Stan and the Sperlak Office  Staff for going over and beyond.

I am so happy.  I can't wait to load it up with my pastels and do some plein air paintings in 2014

My next door neighbors are clearly dog people who adore their two large dogs.  Even so, they are always very kind to our cat when we are away on a trip.  Even though we pay a cat sitter to attend to the cat's food water and other needs daily, our neighbors always  stop in  daily to talk to KAT, play with her, and to give our kitty lots of  reassurance that she hasn't been abandoned. By way of saying thank you for their kindness , CC made their pups some home made dog treats.

Bacon- Beef Flavored Dog Treats

Ingredients:
5 cups whole wheat flour
10 tablespoons melted bacon fat
1 cup milk
1/2 cup  warm water
1 cube beef bullion (dissolved in water)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon 
Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients well. 
2. Dampen your hands in water, then pinch off pieces of the dough and hand  roll them into 3" to 6"- logs - about 1 inch thick.  ( You can continue to hand shape the ends into a bone if you want them to look fancier,)
3. Place on a well-greased baking sheet.
4. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Makes 12 to 24+ treats.  My Neighbors' dogs are quite large so I made some 6" bone shaped biscuits.  If I were making this for a smaller dog I would reduce the amount of dough used in each biscuit by half or more.

This recipe for Bacon-Flavored Dog Biscuits uses egg, milk, and bacon grease, all of which can spoil, if left out in the open, so be sure to store the cooled dog biscuits in a well sealed bag in the freezer until the day you are ready to give them to your pet.

St Augustine Florida - Last Evening 12'13

Our day trip may have been  a dud but that didn't put a damper on our evening.

 I had made breakfast and lunches every day, but every evening we had eaten out.  Since it was our last night in St Augustine we decided to return to our favorite restaurant of this trip: Salt Water Cowboys.

This hidden gem is a small  seafood shack built out over the the marsh at the end of a unpaved residential street. It's very popular with the locals, and for good reason.

The interior is funky and casual and inviting; the service is outstanding, and their seafood is some of the beast we've ever eaten.  And from where the the restaurant is located in the middle of a coastal salt marsh , we were able to watch Mother Nature's light show going on to the South of us all evening.   It was a great way to end the  trip.

Florida - Change of plans 12 '13

 We had wanted to visit  Cape Canaveral and tour the Kennedy Space Center on this visit to Florida, but the mother nature had different plans for us.   All started off well enough in the morning when we headed  south on Florida coastal highway A1A, but the further South we went, the rougher the weather got.  By the time we reached the Palm Coast we were hitting heavy rain, lightening and  were being buffeted about by some very strong wind. gusts.  A police car flagged us down.  He said the storm was predicted to get much worse and advised us to turn around.    It was Good Advice..  We heard later on on the news that a tornado had touched down in the area shortly after we left, and had ripped apart 6 or 7 homes and brought down power lines all over the area. 

. 

St Augustine Florida- The Bear & The King, 12 '13

Friday we decided to tackle the World Golf Resort's other two courses: The Bear & The King which is rated among Golf Weeks Top Resort Courses.   Named for its co-designers, World Golf Hall of Fame members Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, is the first and only course design collaboration between two of golf’s most respected and well-known ambassadors. Palmer and Nicklaus set out to create the 7,279-yard course as an eminently playable and picturesque course with memorable par 5s amid lakes, loblolly pines and 200-year-old live oaks.

 Like the other two courses on the resort, there are plenty of  obstacles but the fairways are wide and long enough to give even a beginner a challenging but enjoyable game

St Augustine Fl -Evening Visiting the City 12'13

While windy and cold the weather  looked like it would remain dry through the evening so we decided to do a walking tour of the old city of St Augustine.  It was settled by the Spanish on August 28th  1565 - 42 years before the English settled Jamestown, and 55 years before the Pilgrims settled at Plymouth.  That makes the City of St. Augustine is the nation's oldest permanently occupied European settlement.  

The Castillo de San Marcos

It's a beautiful place filled with historic sites like this stone fort with a mote around it. The Castillo de San Marcos' architecture and detail are distinctive and unique. It is the oldest masonry and only extant 17th century fort in North America. As such it is an excellent example of the "bastion system" of fortification.

and building with Spanish flair architecture

The British also briefly (1763-1784) occupied the site .  The old city has many British style pubs and public houses  to commemorate the period of British occupancy.

 

But things the tour got even better as darkness fell and the city began to light up with what it calls it's Nights of Lights. The whole city and harbor was aglow.  It was truly beautiful!

St Augustine Fl - Putting Around 12'13

Hall of Fame Reflecting  Pool

Next to the Hall of Fame the World Gold Resort offers a  18 hole natural grass putting green.

BJ on Putting Green
It seemed like a good thing to do on a cold winters day and again we both scored better than we would have on our home course.   Maybe because the greens are in better condition????

St Augustine Fl - Round 2 Slammer & The Squire 12'13

Wednesday was not a lot warmer than Tuesday, but was at least dry,  so we decided to pay another round of 18 holes on the Slammer & The Squire Courses.

As I said before, this course has a lot of obstacles, water,  sand traps, and deep rough where you can get into trouble.

But the fairways are long and wide  so if your aim is true, it is easy to avoid most of the hazards.  Both Bruce and I scored better than we do on our own home course.

St. Augustine Fl - World Golf Hall of Fame 12 '13

Tuesday,  we woke to temperature that were 25 degrees lower than the  day before.  Factor in wind and rain, and golf was clearly out of the question.  We decided to explore the World Golf Hall of Fame which was within walking distance of our back door.

The World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum provides an extensive look at the game of golf through stories, artifacts, videos, art and photography of its members within 75,000 square foot exhibition space

Of course we had to have our photo taken on the Replica of Swilcan Burn Bridge at St Andrews

 We spent  several hours touring the exhibits and watching many entertaining videos. One of our favorites was the exhibit on early history of the game.  I learned a lot from the displays of the original equipment used in the game

The even had a miniature putting green with wooden clubs from St Andrews and golf balls filled with feathers to play with.  That was fun. CC found she did a lot better with a left handed wooden putter than she does her own modern iron.

Bruce practicing putting with original equipment from 1800s

The museum has also done a great job on featuring cultural diversity of the players including  major exhibits on African American and Female players who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame for their achievements in the sport.

Nancy Lopez won 48 tournaments on the LPGA Tour and was player of the year four times.She has a whole room of the trophies, medals, clubs and photos in her at the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Also fun was peeking into the locker room golf lockers with memorabilia from all the individuals who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.  I don't think it would ever have occurred to me to check out someone else locker, but when encouraged to do so... what the hey.... It was fun to find sequined evening jackets and golf caps in the women's lockers, and cowboy hats in the guy's.

And  of course, Bruce had to have his picture taken with 

Old Tom Morris

St Augustine Fl _ Slammer and Squire Golf Course, 12 '13

For our Hanukkah Gift to one another, Bruce and I took a vacation to St Augustine Florida.  We stayed at the World of Golf Resort, because it was conveniently located on their two famous course: The Slammer & The Squire, and The King & The Bear.

On our first day there we chose to play The Slammer  & The Squire. This 18-hole championship resort course was designed by Bobby Weed with design consultants Sam "The Slammer" Snead and Gene "The Squire" Sarazen.  It features two distinct nines with generous fairways. 

contoured greens,

 and plenty of water and other  hazards along with impressive views of the World Golf Hall of Fame