This is FLORIDA - BONKERS!!!

Life in Florida works on beach time and is a bit haphazard [ie bonkers] to say the least!  Weird things and disjointed, illogical conversations happen every day. Bonkers also means no planning, but somehow things come together at the last minute - gives mini me a headache and 1/2 but hey, you have to go with the flow!!  So I did [go with the flow] -- and here's my inflatable toy stingray gracing my bathtub. Hubby, trying to resuscitate his British humor after a 30 minute call with the health insurance company, has also gone bonkers.

We missed it-but apparently an "anonymous donor" puts up a beach Christmas tree each year - not anywhere to be seen on Christmas day I might add. Read the caption and see what you think . . .

We have stuck our toe in local politics, small town antics with a Sunshine Law supposedly to create open government, but on the ground it seems to have the opposite effect.  The funniest part is that local government buildings have named meetings rooms 'Shades Conference Room' and they don't see the irony.  

Great Blue Heron & Snowy Egret

Thankfully mother nature continues to provide some restful relief.  The temperature has dropped into the 40's (~5-6 C) with thunderstorms this second week of January, so sweaters out and windows closed - even occasionally heat on! Tornado to the South and freeze warnings surround us. The snowman wall quilt on my front door (see blog of 20 Dec) is very apropos.

And the sewing continues:
a little carry bag (with separate pouch for the charger) for my hubby's new travel clock . . .

Despite what my London quirky quilting friends might think, I am progressing with various applique projects - this one a mini me designed lap quilt for my elderly neighbor who gave me the large hand-pieced flowers - you might not be able to tell, but my skills are slowly improving even if I cannot follow a pattern to the letter.  With a little encouragement from CD and web tutorials (what did we do before the Internet?), I am even trying out the 'quilt as you go technique.'

don't look too closely . . .

For the start of 2016 we got new hurricane shutter covers - what more can mini me ask for (LOL)! You may not have realised, but living on the beach is actually a very dusty and fairly dirty affair - all sorts blows in over the water and off the beach. Now with these covers comes a story . . . the first set of covers were tied on to the back of the supplier's pickup truck and blew off when going over the drawbridge 2 blocks from our home.  

He showed up at the door with 'good news and bad news' -- the good new was he thought the covers he made were beautiful looking things - the bad news that these aluminum covers were now scrap metal and hence he couldn't install them as they blew off his truck and were run over by a gasoline tanker. By the way this had happened to him before, but hey he took a chance with an old single bungee cord to tie them on (said with a straight face no less)!  A week later we got a new set installed - hurrah!  Florida is bonkers!!

Roller shutters exposed & dirty!

After - roller shutters hidden