After Orlando We Were off to Cocoa Beach

After the Hard Rock Cafe we headed to the coast, Cocoa Beach to be exact. We stayed in a beautiful little Inn called The Inn At Cocoa Beach http://www.theinnatcocoabeach.com/

It is a self contained oasis! They have a beautiful walled in court yard. The hotels and buildings are not right on the beach in this area. The beach and dunes are all public. From the second story, where our room was located, we could see the beach and the full moon!

The next day we walked along the beach a few miles to a pier where the fishermen fish and the surfers surf.

What a treat to be in such a beautiful place. We enjoyed the contrast and the opportunity to be in this wild, open place!

The Hard Rock Cafe!

Well after we visited Harry Potter we were on to The Hard Rock Cafe at Universal Studios in Orlando. Wow. All we did was walk around the place to see all the rock memorabilia. It was unbelievably impressive.

Where else are you going to see a pink Cadillac above the bar? It was spinning too so we could see it from every side.

Bob Dylan

Led Zeppelin

B.B. King

Eric Clapton

John Lennon's Cap

Pearl Jam

Well there were so many more sites to see in The Hard Rock Cafe but I guess you will have to go yourself. Besides the people eating their dinners were getting a little tired of us oohing and awing next to their hamburgers!

Gal on the Go

Well I have been on the go for the past couple of weeks now, hence my internet absence. We headed south determined to see the Harry Potter exhibit in Orlando, Florida. We did it and it was spectacular! Well worth the long line ups. Ok they probably weren't as long as when the exhibit first opened. The weather was overcast and seemed to suit the mood of the place. It was a lot of fun. We went on a ride through Hogwarts that was truly something else. We were flying behind Harry on his broom stick. We ducked out of the way as dragons chased us. We were pursued by dimentors. We even got to play in a quitich game. It was magical.

We headed to Olivanders to buy the right wand. Let me tell you that that is no easy task. There are so many to choose from that one has to be certain which spells they want to wield... We settled on Hermione's wand because she knows the most spells of all!

From there we headed over to the candy shop to buy berty bots every flavoured beans. We didn't get a boggie flavoured one luckily. There were chocolate frogs too but we were afraid that they might escape before we had a chance to nibble on them.

The Harry Potter exhibit was in The Island of Adventure theme park, next to Universal Studios and it did not disappoint. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to that magical land that grew out of the imagination of one very talented woman!

The Silly Season

Hi All. Well it had to happen. It comes every year. It is upon us. I call it the silly season. In my line of work I see lots of the challenges that come at this time of year. So I call it the silly season.

Like my strange felted santa? I did that a number of years ago in a felting workshop. We had fun but he does look a little demented doesn't he? Maybe it is all that shopping!

On a more serious note I have not posted to my blog because I have been dealing with the grief and loss of some very dear people, theirs and mine. I cannot help but be affected by those whose lives I share. I would not have it any other way. And what I have learned from their broken hearts is to appreciate the most minor things in life, my son's voice, the warmth and life in my home, time, the opportunity to learn, the many privilege I have...

So on this silly season 

I want to say... 

thank you to all of you.

My heart would not be as full as it is if it wasn't for you.

I have learned so much and continue to do so.

I will be forever grate ful...

Mosaics!

 Well two weeks ago I started work on this mosaic mirror. I have been attending a wonderful woman's art night that Julie Davidson Smith http://www.juliedavidsonsmith.com/ holds in her studio. We have been doing encaustics but we had an opprotunity to do mosaics on mirrors so I thought I would give it a go. I just had a small wall built in my basement and am so excited to have a place to hang some art. This photo is just after I groated and began to rub off some of the groat.

In this next photo I have washed all the groat off and I have begun to uncover the mirror. Still lots of goup in the center and on the sides.

 The third photograph is how it looks now. I was so pleased after I got it all cleaned up. It was lots of fun and now I feel I have learned the basics and am ready to tackel a small table top. Well not right now but...

The last shot is of me taking the shot. Just wanted you to see something besides my ceiling and see it is a mirror. There I am...hello...