Out and About

                                               beach dresses, sidewalk sales

                                                                   = summer is coming!

Hi everyone! I hope you went out to see the big Pink SuperMoon. It's shining beautifully right now and casting a sparkly  path of rose gold sequins across the black ocean tonight. Maybe the Moon is a good portent, a harbinger of good, well--better?--days ahead? [below is from internet]

I've been venturing out more, my vaccine is effective Wednesday April 28.

I went back to Home Goods last week. I suppose it was almost a month, maybe two?, since our first adventure. The store was well stocked but not really with anything much I wanted. I did get more of the plastic? oilcloth shopping bags [blue pineapples] to piece together a top for my patio table that is in good shape---it winters indoors as an AC windbreak/ cover---but the top sheds a nasty red rusty patina, so ii must be covered entirely for sewing without staining. Note to self, next time get a glass topped table!

I saw a few cute items. I seem to have lost my shopping mojo and never come home with the things I liked. I loved these polka flower planters. How cute they'd look with my zinnias and marigolds. 

Only a bit of the hand blown glass was left, decorative flowers that light up. No Ladybug, too bad.

Afterwards we went to the health food market to get the vitamins and other supplements and elixirs I use. This is the store with the unusual and beautiful cut flowers. Cannot afford their flowers but I love seeing them. 

Brilliant exotic Proteas.

masses of orchid branches!

Armloads of fragrant cut freesias and hyacinths and deep blue out of season hydrangeas. 

Chartreuse pompoms of unknow variety. Sorry for the blur, but you can see the unusual color and get a hint of their cuteness.

A pint bottle of the iron elixir is over $40.oo. Yeesh.

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Yesterday to de-stress after a medical appointment, my friend L and I stopped into the Dollar Store in town. You may recall it replaced Pier One and when it first opened was a bit disappointing. Recently big For Rent signs are in the parking lot, so we thought the $ Store was gone, but No. Good news, it was open and had much better stock. The bad news it is is quite expensive, not a dollar item to be found.

The sidewalk was lined with racks of colorful clothes. Nothing says summer like masses of adorably exotic beach dresses whipping in the the breeze on a sunny day.

The dresses were great, speaking boldly of sunnier warmer climes, blue indigo hand-blocks, batiks, white Mexican wedding frocks, Lots of spaghetti straps and ruffles. Aloha sundresses and muumuus, flowing pants in Indonesian rayon batik. Even tiny toddler sized hibiscus Hawaiian print dresses for tiny beach babes. It all made me so happy, bringing back wonderful memories of trips to resorts in the Caymans, Guadeloupe, Cozumel, the DR. Good times.

Inside, aisles of tempting items, it was hard to stay frugal and choose.

....

I settled for much needed spools of ribbons, to tie up etsy packages, a new colander, a bag of marbles to reseed the sand next winter, and a yummy unheard of indulgence of a bag of M and Ms to reboot my flagging energy post doctor appointment. Total : $16.89, the ribbons cost twice what they go for at  Michael's.

                                   

I didn't get but a good find, they had small folding maple tables. 19.99 I have been wanting one for puzzles and winter hand sewing by the ocean window. I don't need one right now, but will prob go back and get one for next year. (This is not Dollar Tree, it's a NY chain that is called 99 Cents. Hahaha.)

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Of course I cannot resist online shopping. Leafing though a fabric store can be very relaxing, I find. On Hobby Lobby's site I found this wonderful tall lantern! It's huge, at 39" high, that's above waist height.

You may recall I am envying my neighbors' lantern on their front steps. I want one to display my tiny quilts. Theirs is a LOT cuter though.

And lookit that price tag! At HL! Pass.

HL also has the pickup trucks to use for table decor, or as a planter w seasonal flowers or succulents, fill with baby pumpkins, whatever. HL's was $49.oo so the nursery's price of 75.oo when lavishly filled with plants and decorations is not as absurd as it seemed.

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Back home, all April Mo and I monitored the slowly emerging bulb flowers, All seemed to be thriving, they liked the months of deep snow cover!

Snowdrops bloom late here, mid April.

Classic daffs, prob King Alfred. Showy and hardy in these salty conditions.

Not much flowering trees this year, though. Last week just as they were in bud and early bloom, we ha a hail storm with high winds. Poor pretties, all broken and lost. 

As the snow melted and the sun warmed the earth, we noticed the mossy fairy boulders are greening up and even have minuscule red and bronze ''feelers''/ tiny flowers? 

This rock intrigued us. Note the housekey left in a crevice. This is an a prominent walking area, in public landscaping. Someone is trusting. It remained for a week or so and then was gone.

Here are April's weird finds.

Monetary total is 47 cents, assuming the very thin indecipherable coin is a penny.

And as we travelled further afield, we said hello to folks unseen for more than a year, nodding acquaintances. Some new babies arrived during lockdown!

Hope springs eternal. Did you know pregnant moms can be vaccinated!? And then the infant presumably has some immunity too. A miracle.

More soon!

love

lizzy 

gone to the beach...

Mo on night deck, looking for the pink moon.

today's photos are courtesy of Nicky in SA, via blog friend Penny.