God's Word for Today

Friday, September 4, 2015

Beach Vacay Day Five ~ On the way home...

I was mentally kicking and screaming as the sun came up on our last day.


As condo's go, I have to share that being the spoiled woman that I am I found several deficits in my surroundings.

Don't get me wrong, I loved our time at the beach, the place where I rest my head is a secondary issue. It was completely adequate, however, compared to some of the other places we have rested our head this was a bit lacking. The back deck, the furniture was very old and kinda dirty, so sitting outside was not an option. Enjoying my morning coffee as the sun came up was not something I wanted to do on rickety dirty plastic lawn furniture. The grill was a fire hazard, there was a dead tree right outside our back porch so it was a bit of an eyesore.

The condo was also a townhome, that meant stairs leading up to the main living area and then stairs leading up to the bedrooms. The trips up and down the stairs were not the most conducive to the arthritis in my hips and knees. I managed to contain the trips up and down to a minimum so it did not adversely affect my pain level to much.

We had a minimal view of the morning sunrise, but mostly we slept in.

I am a HUGE tightwad, but I thought that the price per night was a bit high given the distance we were from the beach. The fact that we did not have an ocean view was a bummer. The distance to the beach from our condo was a bit more than I would have liked but we managed. The Hubs would drive me down to the clubhouse and we would unload all our stuff, then he would drive back to the condo and then walk back down to the beach, casue there was no parking at the clubhouse.

The complex had a few maintenances issues. I thought the whole place could have benefited from a coat of paint. I'm guessing that the complex was about 20 plus years old, so it was getting to be just a bit past it's prime.The condo had no beach chairs, beach towels or umbrella. Also with the condo being a bit of a stroll from the beach a lot of folks had small wagons they used to carry all their stuff down to the beach. So as convenience goes this condo did not meet my expectations. We had to bring all that stuff with us and that was a lot of stuff to pack! Live and learn, I will know what to ask next time and what to look for when I am doing my pre-vacay research.

But then we didn't come to hang out at the complex!

The beauty of the beach and the time we spent there made up for the deficits in our housing.

I was also a bit disappointed in the appointments in the kitchen. Let's just say that the owners of the condo did a bit of embellishment as they described how well appointed the kitchen actually was.

There was a semi sharp knife, plates, cups and a few other odds and ends. I made due and we did not starve.

But "Well appointed kitchen..." that would be a BIG NO!

The coffee maker worked so everything else was gravy....



I look traumatized by the condo deficits don't I....NOT!



I was able to read a book from start to finish, I can't remember the last time I did that. I signed the inside page and left it in the condo for someone else to enjoy.


This was the path we took for our evening stroll each night. The complex had a myriad of boardwalks weaving in and out that all lead to the beach, so it was not a difficult walk.



After breakfast, and after packing all our stuff in the car we tortured ourselves with one more trip down to the beach to say goodbye.

My theory, the beach is always the most beautiful on the day you have to leave!




Here is the comic relief! Clearly the Hubs is not grasping the concept of the selfie...

  

Me, on the other hand...NAILED IT!


Now that I know about the really cool animation function I had a little fun with it...





Saying goodbye to the beach...


I guess it wouldn't be a road tip without a few traffic jams.


Me quietly enduring the Hubs as he maneuvered the SLOW TRAFFIC...IT WASN'T PRETTY Y'ALL!



At last, feet propped and safely at home and longing to be back at the beach.



Well that was our Beach Vacay 2015

Y'all I wanna go back....RIGHT NOW!

Blessings
R

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Beach Vacay Day Four ~ A Perfect Day

Y'all God is sooooooo good!

Our last full day at the beach was about as perfect as it could have been.

We had blue skies and not a threat of rain at all.

We had an entire day to enjoy, sunning, napping, reading, dipping in the pool...it was awesome!



Perfection!




This little guy was fearless and very bold, he hopped around in the sand just a few inches way from my tootsies looking for birdie tid-bits in the sand.

I tossed him a grape and he was less than enthused, apparently ocean fowl don't eat grapes.Later a seagull swooped in and snatched it up and then promptly dropped back down on the sand.

Whooo knew....




We had most of our meal at the condo, I had planned very well and spent minimal effort, kept it very simple, mostly fruit and yogurt for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, big salads for supper.

But on our last night we went out for dinner.

A very dear friend suggest The Indian Pass Raw Bar.

HAVE MERCY!

Y'all, over the course of that last few months I have been really trying to expand my pallet. I have never been a HUGE seafood fan. With the exception of oysters, weird I know, but I have always like them.

Funny story, when I was pregnant with my son, back in the dark ages, I craved oysters and sushi. The odd thing was I had never eaten an oyster or sushi but suddenly started craving them. There was a sushi place right across from where I worked at the time so when the craving would hit, I would indulge from time to time. It was probably horribly bad for me, so much has changed in what they allow pregnant women to eat, but my docotrs told me certain foods to stay away from and such and oysters were not on the forbidden list. Go figure.

But I digress.

Anywhoo...

The best way to describe this place is incongruent.

It si a major hole in the wall. It used to be a gas station.

The reality, it's not much improved from it's origins. As far as I could see they had invested little in the way of upgrades. The removed the gas pumps and that's about it.

They had live music outside, the beer cooler was self-serve and on the honer system. You were given a sheet of paper and a pencil, you were relied upon to accurately register how many beers you consume over the course of the eveing., Fortunately,  the Hubs and I are not big beer drinkers, we are also honest so we restrained outselves.

The inside seating was limited to cheap plastic library tables and cheap plastic lawn chairs.
You wrote your name down on a waiting list and then when your table was ready, which you also had to share with another couple, someone would stand at the front door with a piece of paper with your last name on it. They had it down to a science. The menu was on the back of the piece of paper that they held up.

Even that was self-serve.

The menu with a series of boxes, you went down the list and entered how many dozen of each item you wanted. The waitress would come back and take you list and then the eating began.



My only complaint, it slightly offended my sensibilities when the food was presented. I am a huge believer in the statement "We eat first with the eyes!"

However, even with there complete lack of presentation, the oysters were presented on a plastic cafeteria tray with plastic forks, horseradish sauce and lemons. There was a box of saltine crackers on the table, a roll of paper towels and a big bottle of cocktail sauce. No fuss, no frills!

Even with the lack of presentation, they were the best raw oysters I think I have ever had. Not  trace of grit and they were fresh, basically perfection on the half shell.



The seasoned steamed peel and eat shrimp were not to bad either.

But the star of the meal was the baked oysters.

Very simple, served steaming hot with a sprinkling of parm, served with a bit of crusty bread to soak up all the deliciousness.....ya know those meals you have, that linger in your thoughts. Well I am still thinking about those baked oysters.



One dozen raw, one dozen baked, steamed peel and eat shrimp and steamed crab legs. By the time the crab legs got to the table I was so involved in the foodgasm I was experiancing that snapping a picture was the last thing on my mind.

The Hubs was skeptical that we were going to be able to make our way through the meal!

"We're gonna need a doggie bag!" he said!

Well doggie bag my bohunkious....we were victorious!

Fortunately, our server made it out alive.We managed not to confuse her appendages with the pile of crab legs before us.

I am also thankful that there is no hidden footage of our feeding frenzy, that I know of anyway!


It was soooooooo gooooood!


My one observation: I have never paid that much for a meal served on a plastic cafeteria tray in an old gas station in my life, and I had to fetch my own beer too boot, well to be completely honest, the Hubs fetched the beer.

However, the meal was outstanding so it was money well spent!

We made it back to the beach in time for a blue sunset. The cloud came in so there was not much color, but it was wonderfull cool and breezy.



We leiserly enjoyed our last evening on the beach. I was secretly trying to figure out how textend our stay on an indefinate basis...but reality was just a few hours away.

Say ti aint soy'all!

Blessings
R

Monday, August 31, 2015

Beach Vacay Day Three ~ Dark Clouds

Day three unfolded the same as the day before. After breakfast, we headed down to the beacht. However after a few minutes.....




...we began to notice some very looming dark clouds off in the distance.

We were able to get in a few hours of beach time before the dark clouds lumbered in. We had to rapidly pack up and race back to the condo before the thunder and lightning hit.



God is good and the thunderstorm did not last very long.

Our evening cocktail and stroll was just gorgeous!



I was again basking in the solitude of the beach!



Is this not gorgeous, I keep using that word!

Outstanding, spectacular, breathtaking, amazing.....






Meanwhile back at the condo...I had a few minor issues with the refrigerator. The setting was a bit off and several things froze.

The strawberries I had brought with me.....FROZE SOLID!

I was regretfully forced to alter my menu and suffer through a frozen strawberry cocktail while we relaxed after our evening stroll!



Oh woe is me.....NOT!

Blessings
R





Saturday, August 29, 2015

Beach Vacay Day Two

Day Two....

After a wonderful nights sleep, we hit the beach after breakfast.

I had been looking forward to sinking my toes down into the sand for so long. I was good y'all!



In a perfect world, our condo would have been just a few steps away from the beach. However, due to circumstances beyond our control (conflicts on the Hubs office calendar, we had to adjust our dates to accommodate his work schedule) plus, the place we had originally wanted to stay at was no longer available for the new dates we needed. There were also some financial constraints (I don't know about y'all, but that money tree in the backyard just isn't producing like it is supposed to!) So ya make adjustments and move forward. Our condo was about a 5 to 10-minute walk to the beach, not perfect, but it was still the beach.

My saving grace was the clubhouse and pool. Once set up at the beach it was a very short walk up to the pool and restroom. I could lounge to my hearts content and then head up for a cool dip and a potty break anytime I wanted.



An afternoon thundershower chased us off the beach, so we packed up and enjoyed an afternoon nap in the air conditioning..

We grilled steaks for supper....YUM!



After dinner, we fixed a cocktail and headed down to the beach for a stroll to enjoy the sunset.



We practically had the beach all to ourselves!

The sunset was beautiful.

I am always re-reminded of God's majesty when I experience a moment of sunset!




It seems like every day I discover some fun new thing my phone does!

It kinda weirds me out sometimes, I picked up my phone and got a message that there was a new animation waiting for me to look at.

My Photo App all by its lonesome had assembled a series of photos onto this really cool animation.

I love the way it looks, but REALLY it sorta reminds me of The Terminator. I keep wondering when my phone is going to achieve consciousness and attempt world domination




Me and the sunset....aaaahhhhhhh good stuff!

Blessings
R


Monday, August 24, 2015

BEACH Vacay 2015 -Day 1


Is there such a thing as a vacay drive happening in this day and age without having some sort of traffic jam? Not on a Georgia highway, that's for sure!

I love my husband but sitting in traffic seems to push him to the limits of his Christian charity.



it did not last too long....

We began our trip with full confidence that the GPS had us safely in hand. At about the mid-point in our trip, we began to wonder. 

Were we headed to the beach or had the mysterious voice in our GPS taken control and decided that the middle of nowhere was a more desirable destination. We were traveling down lonely roads with no other cars in sight in some unknown rural part of Alabama. The roadside was a sea of tall scrub pines, the very picture of a scene from the walking dead.  I kept an eye out for the possibility of the zombie apocalypse, cause if we never returned nobody would ever be able to find us.

I was thankful that we did have a cooler full of vacay food in the very real event that we were hopelessly lost in the rural depths of Alabama with no gas station, restaurant 
or any other signs of human life to be found. 

I was also very thankful that we had the good judgment to fill up before entering the rural wasteland.




 After about an hour of our rural explorations,  we sought the comfort of multiple GPS units to ensure that we were in fact heading in the right direction. We felt somewhat reassured that all three of our units, my phone, the husbands phone and the standard GPS unit were all guiding us in the same direction. 

After six-plus hours on the road, we did end up at our destination. 
I will reflect upon the deficits of the condo in a later post.
I was just thankful to be out of the car and no longer wondering 
the rural depths of zombie apocalyptic Alabama.


The husband volunteered to run to the grocery story for the few items we needed. I was left alone to breath for a few minutes, the simple task of turning on the television proved too much for me. 
We eventually had to call the owners of the condo for instruction on exactly how to turn the television on. Let's just say that there was no printed instruction on how to maneuver 
the three remotes anywhere to be had. 

Not to mention the hoops we had to jump through to get connected the WiFi...and the WiFi was kinda important because we had NO SIGNAL ON EITHER OF OUR CELL PHONES!

Fortunately, we weren't on vacation to watch television 
or surf the web, 
however, we eventually got all the technical issue sorted out and our groceries in place we set out to say hello the Gulf...
The sun was beginning it decent, but it was still several hours away and we were fading fast. Our first sunset for this vacay would have to wait, our tummies were grumbling and our energy was waning.

The ocean breeze was beginning to work its magic, washing away memories of being stranded in rural Alabama, threats of being killed by wondering zombies or having to crack the code on three separate remotes and solving network WiFi issues.
The coolness of the gulf washed over my feet as they settled down into the soft sand and I was in heaven.

Our first vacation selfie, ever since I got my new smart phone in May of this year I have been struggling with the proper positioning and technique of the selfie.
I get it right about half of the time. I have lost count how many pictures of the inside of my hand I have deleted from my phone, am I preaching truth to anybody else!




After our long drive, we were ready for a good nights rest so we headed back to the condo.
 I began my vacation with a much-deserved celebratory
pomegranate martini.
\\

It was good y'all!



Feet propped on a pillow, sip'n a cocktail at the beach!

Good Stuff!

Beach Vacay Day One was at a close!

Blessings
R

Day Two, I promise some much better pictures...


Monday, August 17, 2015

The Girlchild Update and a Vacation

For the few of you who still read my blog, the Girlchild made it home safely from the beach.

Momma, made it through on her knees, but I made it through.

The one fact remains steadfast, there is no problem that prayer can not soften, I could not actually know what she was doing, I had to trust in the foundations we have laid for, the foundation she has taken up for herself.

God is good and a steady stream of conversation with the creator kept my head from exploding, my accountability sisters were awesome as well.

I don't know what I would do without those women in my life!!! FOR REELZ!

Life is funny, I am convinced that God has a wonderfully sharp sense of humor. No sooner does the girlchild make it home safely from her first unsupervised vacay, what do we do????

We promptly head out leaving her all by her lonesome while we enjoyed some down time, some much needed down time in fact.

So I switch from concern over her being at the beach unsupervised to worries about her having the house all to herself.

So, I'm think'n that God is trying to teach me something, I just need to figure out what it is...

Trust in God...
Trust the foundation...
Trust, Trust, Trust...
Do not worry...
Train up a child in the way they should go...
Be still and know that I am God...

Take your pick!

And I had no signal whilst at the beach so I couldn't  phone home!

Another valuable lesson...

It's ok to unplug every now and again.

We arrived back home to find that the house was still standing, the Girlchild was fine, the dog did not starve, nor did she and all was well.

I know she did not starve because the physical evidence she left behind was still in the sink.

And yes, she did clean it up, cause momma wasn't doing it....

GOD IS GOOD y'all! !!

Blessings
R

PS: Contemplating doing some vacations posts...it was good y'all!


So keep an eye out...

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