dog scares seagulls scare girl scares seagulls excites dog

Chris and I ran up and down a beach throwing the rugby ball back and forth.  After tiring ourselves out, we collapsed on the sand and I took a semi-nap on his tummy while he read about Andrew Jackson.  I got bored and went to dip my toes in the waves and sing to the ocean.  Things were wonderfully peaceful until a hilarious floppy-tongued puppy herded a flock of seagulls toward me.  This little chocolate lab bulted up out of nowhere and forced the sleepy birds to take off as quickly as they could; they fumbled on each other in the rush, which was hilariously awkward.  And they didn't notice that I was standing where they were aiming until they were in the air.  The mass avoidance of both girl and dog made the comotion even more awkward for the poor birds.  It was the silliest thing.  So they just went up and up and revealed me to the A.D.D. dog, who immediately wanted to meet me.  So I gave her some attention and she got me wetter than I already was, then I returned to my husband and the dog continuted to pursue the seagulls.

The oldest city in the U.S., a college, a fort, and another fort

We drove down a barrier island to a place that really didn't feel like America.  St. Augustine, founded in 1565, is the oldest port in the U.S. Spanish architecture and mosaics dominate the city's buildings and squares.  We walked through ornate stone arches below embellished bell towers near carp-filled fountains.  We gawked at the hotel ponce de leon's

courtyard and wondered at Flagler College's atrium.

Railroad barren, Henry Flagler built numerous hotels in Florida to bring his wealthy yankee friends to on his RR. Clever huh? The atrium of his school's foyer is filled with sunlight and brushed with gold.  The glimpse I got of the dinning hall reminded me of Cambridge. 

We circumvented the 16th century fort, Castillo de San Marcos, too.  We walked in what used to be a moat and sized up the cannons.  Twas yet another reason I didn't feel like we were in America.

As dusk approached, thousands of little white Christmas lights flipped on.  The trees were doused in them and the buildings were lined with them and the wet cobblestone street glowed because of them!  We stopped for Cider and Yuengling at a colonial tavern.  The room was lantern-lit, the beer came from a barrel, and colonial garbed employees were quite entertaining.

Thanksgiving, we toured Ft.Clinch, a Union-held Civil War fort on the Georgia border.  Then we ate our feast at Cracker Barrel because our hotel hasn't an oven.





I just love driving down roads like this. 

Pumpkins to Poinsettias

The days of my pumpkin spiced lattes are dwindling. The plump pumpkins that lined the grocers’ windows have been replaced with poignant poinsettias and will soon be joined by mistletoe and fraser firs.  In September, I wrote, “If it weren’t for Thanksgiving, Christmas would start November 15.”  http://heatherpaiges.blogspot.com/2009/09/september.html  Ha!  Okay okay I take it back.  I must have forgotten that Plymoth has been forgotten everywhere but the 1st grade classroom and the dinner table. 
Here I am in Florida attending Christmas tree lightings and sampling peppermint hot chocolate.  It's so warm here!  I haven’t worn a sweater in weeks. Rather, I walk on the beach barefooted in a t-shirt. I bet the water here never gets as cold as the warmest water ever gets in Maine. I am a Texan from Maine staying in Florida. Well, I am just tickling the underbelly of ubiquity aren't I?

"Don't Feed the Alligators."

What a welcoming sign
What an interesting area. As I drove through Seminole Park, I felt like Christopher Reeves felt in “Somewhere in Time” when he crossed from 1989 to 1912 and his surroundings flickered and faded from modern to Victorian. My surroundings seem to flicker and fade between Hawaiian and Georgian as I crossed from the entrance booth to the beach…A tropical flower to my left and a rhododendron to my right, a swamp-lake down this street and an ocean view down that, a palm branch on the forest floor and Spanish moss dangling above it… flicker fade.
I approached the beach to find oat-covered sand dunes standing like a wall unbreached by the sad kelp that lay mangled at its base. The sand was course, the shellsherds many, and the water warm. As I looked out across the horizon, the numerous barges and carriers reminded me that my nature preserve was near a port. Above the big-beaked and long-legged birds flew J-hawks and HH65s. Beyond the foam puffed another tugboat.

Beach this Morning

Morning sun beams snuck between illuminated clouds and made the water and the mist bright white. I could not see more than 200 yards down the stretch because of the white film around me. Early bird surfers did a disappearing act as they bobbed up and down with each wave and the figures of joggers faded into the mist soon after they passed me. So every once in a while, I was completely alone and then moments later, I had company again.

My husband is wise.

“Chris, thank you for understanding me and validating me. Sometimes I think you understand me better than I do myself.”

Some people get in fights and doubly hurt each other because they react to their spouses actions instead of looking at the deeper cause of that action. This is like slapping a horse because it pinned its ears. A wise owner deepens his/her level of thinking and considers the source issue that is causing the horse’s behavior and addresses the issue instead of mindlessly slapping.
My husband is so wise. When a problem arises, before he gets angry, he ponders the position of my heart and considers that the problem at hand may be just a symptom or manifestation of a deeper and maybe even yet-to-be-discovered trouble. He has a knack for knowing what the real problem is. Then we talk it out and he comforts me and I apologize and we pray about it and both leave happy and unscathed. This wouldn’t work if we did not both value honesty and desire to know each other better. I am so thankful for this man.

English is ridiculous.

The barren bear bared her beard then barely bit the board that the bored boar bore.

Fireproof

Once you get past the acting, Fireproof (Sherwood (church) Pictures) is a really good film.  The movie is about fixing a broken marriage.   One character just said, "A woman is like a rose.  If you treat her right, she'll bloom.  If you don't, she'll wilt."  I sent Chris a text message saying, "I just want you to know that I am blooming."  :) They're coming out with another film.  http://www.thenextsherwoodmovie.com/

I read this today and teared up for the truth of it then called Chris to express my pride in having him for a husband. “A woman who has known healthy love from a man is stronger, more content, and more self-assured. A haven of a healthy love becomes a safe place to run back to. A haven to rest in . A shelter from the storm. There is someone to hold her in the night. Someone to call her beautiful.”

Chris has 24-hr duty on the boat on Thanksgiving Day. I'll probably get Christmas with him, but they will be gone by New Years. Last New Years, we were on our third date in New York.

Temporarily Floridian

Florida is warm and humid.  Not that I expected it to be any different. Glad it's not hurricane season.

Jaguars football game last week. Woohoo.
Casting Crowns concert Thursday.  Man the lead singer is so genuine.  Some bands play for the sake of music and add lyrics; some bands write for the sake of lyrics and add music.  Casting Crowns is the latter.  I recommend scoping out their music videos on Youtube.  Esp. Slow Fade and American Dream.

Honky Tonk Friday.  Man, we were so eager to go country dancin!  Unfortunately most of the country this "honky tonk" played was rock-remixed.  And most of the dancers were square dancin. What is that?  If we were in College Station, they would have been booed off the floor.  I love A&M.  I requested some Aaron Watson and all was well.  Chris spun me all around the floor!  I am so glad he is a good dancer!

Today we hiked barefooted on a sandy path in a nature reserve.  weird plants.

Dormant Sugar Maples to Vivacious Palm Trees

Chris and I fell asleep to the Christmas-tree-topper Chrysler building standing outside Brian's window at 37th and Lexington.  I have labeled his 80 yr. old flat a "cozy little money-sucking fire hazard."  He agreed.  I like it. 

We had spent our evening in New York carrying pumpkin spiced lattes through Times Square and Grand Central Station.  I got to wear my pretty coat, so I bounced instead of walking and twirled instead of standing.  (and they say boys never grow up- ha!)  Did you know that Grand Central Station was built by the Vanderbilts? Yep. Interesting fact: the ceiling is a painting of the night sky and the constellations are all reversed because they traced them from a projector!

The next day, I caught a glimpse of the U.S. Capitol while crossing the Potomac River.  Soon after that, we saw the original capitol of the first American Colony in Jamestown, VA.  And Pocahontas told me to tell you hi.  Okay she didn't really.  Anyway, that night, we cozied into the Dyken's house for dinner and video games then woke up to pumpkin pancakes!  Mrs. Dykens is so sweet.  : ) We drove 10 hours straight and made it here (Jacksonville, FL) by midnight. 

We went from one of I-95s nothernmost cities to one of it's southernmost cities.  I felt like we were chasing fall southward.  The trees went from gray to orange to yellow to what is this color again?  Oh Green.  Yes, we ran out of fall around Savannah and now here we are in Jacksonville, where the hibernating Sugar Maples have transformed into vivacious Palm trees.  And my attire has gone from pea coat to bermuda shorts.  We are here for the month.  I hope I don't miss the first snow and I hope I do get to go to Disney World. 

the head bone is connected to the ankle bone.

"head>heart>feet>steps>walk"

Stuff flows into our ears and eyes then infiltrates our minds and hearts. It is unlikely that something that enters our minds will not puncture our hearts whether it be truth or lie, pure or foul, love or lust. Additionally, it is impossible to disconnect the state of our hearts from our hands and feet and stride. In Matt. 12:34-35, Jesus says, "For from the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him."  Heart matters don't only dictate our verbage; they also feed our cravings, steer our thought patterns, sway our decision making, and direct our next step.  The way we walk is a direct outcome of the what we put in our heads and hearts.  Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your HEART, for it is the wellspring of life.  Put preversity away from your MOUTH... let your EYES look straight ahead... Make level paths for your FEET."

Zombies Perform Thriller in Market Square

Every Halloween, a parade of wowingly costumed people marches through old downtown Portsmouth.  Seriously, these costumes are ridiculous and meticulous!  I do not think I saw a single storebought outfit.  There were characters from every movie, story book, and youtube video you could think of.  I saw the Knights That Say "Ni," the Teacher from the Black Lagoon, Achmed the Dead Terrorist full-sized, the cranky critics from the Muppets, the boy from Where the Wild Things Are, smurfs, a family of pirates pulling their son in a homemade ship on a wagon, a man with shoes on his hands and gloves on his feet so he looked like he was walking on his hands, a band of aluminum foiled tin men clanking on tin lids and banging on cans in a really neat ditty along with a group of Wicked Witches of the West marching on stilts and hammering their long brooms into the ground on tempo saying "I'll get you my pretty" in an odd off beat.  I went with a lobster, a moose, and a ninja turtle.  I was a painter, but the only painting I did was the ninja turtle's face.  At the end of the parade, 50 zombies performed Thriller in Market Square!  The crowd was so dense that we could not see a thing.  I really wanted to watch though!  Then, I rembered that I am small.  So I crawled on the pavement amongst tattered jeans and striped panty hose without disturbing anyone till I reached the front of the crowd.  I poked my head between some knees and watched housemaid zombies, egyptian zombies, tuxedoed zombies... quite skillfully do the Thriller dance.  It was quite a site and it made me happy.

"Sow a thought; reap an action
Sow an action; reap a habit.
Sow a habit; reap a character.
Sow a character; reap a destiny."

http://heatherpaiges.blogspot.com/2007/12/you-know-old-saying-you-reap-what-you.html

Galatians 6:7-9
1 Corinthians 15:3
Philippians 4:8