Vacation at Ramrod Key

Living area of our house.

We stayed with Jeff & Karen on Ramrod Key.  It's about 25 miles north of Key West; a very tiny key, not even on many maps.  The weather was warm and sunny.  The first day we were there, Jeff took us sailing and we had a beautiful surprise.  Eight very large dolphin swam up to our boat and played around it for a few minutes.  Very cool!

View from the porch.

Rusty's hand is reaching out to them.

Not a bad pic for my little point-n-shoot taken in a moving sailboat.

"Street" to our house.

It was a lot of work with sharp instruments to harvest the meat from a coconut!

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a WALL!

View from the garage.

View from inside the workshop.

The third bay of our garage was always intended to be used for canoe storage and Rusty's workshop.  This weekend, Billy Venhaus and Rusty installed a wall, complete with double doors.  The wide doors will allow for easy removal of the canoes.  The entire wall took them less than four hours!  Even before the interior walls are completely insulated, there is a great deal of warmth in the room with its little heater.  It will be a great place for Rusty to do his work projects year-round!

This Friday was Art Walk Friday, so Rusty and I took the opportunity to view the latest works at The Sheldon and also Tugboat Art Gallery.  What a fun night!  In this picture we are enjoying wine and snacks just outside the Vinh Danh exhibit.

One of the pieces we saw at the Sheldon was this Portrait of Edith Dimock Glackens by Robert Henri. Henri studied in Philadelphia and Paris and taught at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women.  Interestingly enough, Henri was raised in Cozad, NE and there is still a museum of his works in Cozad, NE. Apparently Glackens, the subject in this picture, was a painter in her own right.  We read that Barnes, an early collector, purchased some of Glackens work.  Could that be the Barnes Foundation that we visited in Philadelphia?

2012 Begins

We've had unseasonably warm weather.  Last week we rode bikes to the Haymarket and back (15 miles).  Today we rode the trails in the Highlands area (12 miles).
It was a perfect day!  Sunny and 65 degrees.  Broke all records.  We took the Christmas lights off the house and it was much warmer than when we put them up.
Yesterday we installed the shade over the bedroom door.  It arrived a month ago, but it had creases in it and had to be reordered.  The shade opens either from the top or the bottom.  At night, we like to lower the top part a foot or two.  This lets us see the moon and the stars, without anyone being able to see in.  Perfect!

Christmas was a ton of fun this year!  Got to see lots of family.  Rusty is pictured here showing off his "funny gift" from Felicia.

As the new year begins, we are ready to start some home-improvement projects.  In a couple of days, Rusty and Billy will be building a wall in the garage.  Of course, I'll be posting pics.
Happy New Year!