Something Old...

I love my job.  Holding something in my hands that hasn't been held since it was "lost" or "discarded".  Unburied from its home of 3,000 years.  Its a neat feeling.  Most of the collection I work with is old, I mean really really old.  But every once in a while we get in artifacts that are historic, dating between 50-100 years ago.  I love these the most.  The stories they tell, the pictures they paint in my head are endless.  Sometimes an artifact won't tell us much and sometimes it opens doors to understanding an incredible amount of history.  I often wonder if anything of mine one day will end up in a museum collection or will be found by someone in the future.  Will the object tell them anything about me?  Will they be able to understand my life, what I did, and where I lived?  

Silver Bracelet, historic Seminole Camp

I recently photographed this artifact for the collection.  I wonder what this bracelet's story is?  

Snake Road

My daily commute into work consists of busy highways and country roads.  The majority of the one hour drive is spent on Alligator Alley, aka I-75.  It generally is a quiet drive, without too much traffic.  Everyone is heading the opposite direction, into the city.  

After about 35 minutes you will see an exit sign for Snake Road and the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation.  Snake Road has appropriately been named for its 17 miles of twists and turns through both the Miccosukee and Seminole Reservations.  After more than three years of driving this two lane road every morning and every evening, I have memorized it's curves.  The scenery and wildlife are always changing though, which I love, and it is also of course very different depending on the time of year you make the drive.

Through the many seasons, here are the things I have learned about this slithering road:

Winter brings the fog.  Expect days of thick gray clouds covering the road.  Only a few spots on the road will allow the sun to muster through, creating a quiet yellow nebula.

But winter also brings the birds.  Oh the birds!  Many have come from the north and the trees and vegetation are white with birds.

Trails of green beans cover the road.  The giant produce trucks coming from the farm fields north of the reservation pass through on a daily basis during the harvest seasons.  I'm amazed there aren't green beans sprouting up everywhere!

Alligators.  The summer months make the alligators disappear, far beneath the dark water of the canals.  When the temperature cools down, they seek the warmth of the sun in the afternoons, stretched out on the banks and absorbing their energy.

You are a trespasser.  Careful...you are driving through the homes of so much wildlife.  Otters, bobcats, panthers, alligators, birds, snakes, turtles, boars.  Nothing beats a quick glimpse of a shiny black otter jumping gracefully into the water.

This is cowboy land. Cattle as far as the eye can see.  Sometimes in the mornings you will catch a glimpse of half a dozen cowboys herding their cattle in the soft misty morning.

  Beauty.  In its own very special way, the Everglades is a beautiful place, one of the last true frontiers.      

New Face Part II

FINALLY finished my dresser makeover--Ta-da!

What do you think?  I'm pretty happy with the Lafonda Teal.  Hehe the name makes me laugh and reminds me of the movie Napoleon Dynamite.

I love the new ceramic knobs.  They are bright and pretty and get the job done.  I think it has been a nice change to the bedroom!

Dresser knobs found here 

Good Morning

Spring has left and those early days of summer have arrived.  I am sad to see such a short lived spring...Come back!  I have to admit that I was never a fan of the season growing up.  I didn't like that the world still looked dead and gray and the air was cold and windy.  It felt empty and alone.  I remember longing for the greenness and warmth of summer.  I guess here in Florida spring takes on a different feeling, like early summer in Colorado. 

I love how no matter where I have lived, those early summer mornings have felt the same.  Colorado, Texas, Italy, Florida.  I live for familiarity.  There is always a feeling of peacefulness, the sound of the neighborhood birds chirping at the rising sun, the long shadows across the floor, a slight breeze.  

Good Morning Florida

Bobby will sleep for another few hours and I will have the place to myself.  I like to open the porch door, to let the fresh air in.  Little lizards scamper across the porch, looking for a morning snack and the perfect sunning spot.  I've made a promise to myself that this weekend my mornings will be spent doing something other than watching Netflix.  I need to enjoy the quiet, let my mind wander, read a book.

Happy weekend to all!

Flamingo Gardens

The husband and I spent a nice relaxing day at Flamingo Gardens, a local botanical garden, house museum, and wildlife refuge.  

There were wonderful flowers, trees, plants, and animals to look at and explore.  We saw panthers and bobcats, at least 50 different bird species, and a cute home from the 1930s from the couple who originally bought the land to grow citrus.  

Smells like Spring

Hello Yellow.

I like experimenting with home fragrance.  My mood has always been strongly connected to smells and it is  important for a fragrance to make me feel happy and content.  I have discovered a great new line of candles and room sprays from Bath and Body Works.  They always have pretty smelling lotions and bubble bath, but recently I have been wanting something clean and fresh smelling without buying the common "fresh cotton" or "linen breeze" scent.  I found their Lemon scent last Spring in their candles and it was a perfect replacement. 

Today I discovered Bath and Body Works' room sprays.

The sales lady told me that just one or two sprays will last several hours.  When I got home I gave it a try and sure enough it lasted several hours.  It wasn't over powering and smelled quite lovely. With something that lasts so long in the air, its important to have a smell you love.  I don't think I could do anything flowery or sweet.  The Lemon is perfect.

Also picked this up.  A slightly different spin on the Lemon.  Our home officially smells like Spring!

And Other Duties As Assigned...

Human Resources sure is smart when they add that ity bity clause in your job description:

And Other Duties As Assigned.

very smart.

Today was one of those "other duty" days.  

If you remember waaay back a few summers ago my office hosted a field school.  Our Civil War era tent has been great for activities like this and it's usually dragged out several times a year for outreach programs.  I love the tent.  I just adore replicas of old things, especially the Civil War. It's really not that old of a tent, only 5 or 6 years, but it has that old smell to it.  The canvas retains the smells of the outdoors and its been rained on countless times.  The light is soft and yellow under the beige canopy and it always makes my mind wander to the past.

Unfortunately our dear little tent has seen better days.  Its been stretched and pulled and is no longer crisp and clean.  Several large tears have started to effect the integrity of the tent.  I had bought a repair kit awhile back but no one ever had the time to sit down and patch up the holes. Last weekend the tent was up for another outreach event and it became clear that those tears needed to be tended to.  I'm not sure how I ended up with the job.  Maybe it was my magnificent sewing skills that my mom taught me.  Or maybe someone thought, "Oh, that tent is old and Kate takes care of old things". Regardless, it fell under my "other duties'.  I'm pretty sure Repairing Replica Civil War Tent is not on my job description.

I spent many hours today sewing up the tears and holes under the chickee behind the museum.  I have to admit, it was quite peaceful and again my mind wandered to the soldiers having to sit and do the same thing.  My fingertips were raw by the end and I know a few drops of my blood ended up on the fabric.  Its not very easy to sew through thick canvas.

I looked down at my stitches and was slightly embarrassed   They were not the tiny graceful stitches my mom makes, each one the same size and distance.  These were crooked and ugly.  But in the end I think even my slanted stitches will hold this little tent together for a few more years  *luckily there was also glue in the repair kit!  

As I continued sewing, the cool afternoon breeze billowed under the stretched out tent.  It was quiet and all you could hear was the prick of the needle, the thread pulling through. Up and down, up and down.  My job is consistently one thing, and that is, it is never boring.  Those "other duties" just add character to my job, right?  Kind of like the day I found myself out in a pasture looking at a giant dead alligator and being asked, "So...how are we going to get this back to the office?" But that's a story for another day!

:)

Breezy Sunday

Hope you all had a nice weekend!