Crab painting and chocolates

Bay Hideaway RV  Our Winter stop
Bay St Louis, MS

Surprised with some heavy rains today,but we are all safe and sound here while we watch the tornado devastating Georgia, bad KY storms and the nasty ice farther north.  Yesterday evening  9 of us gals went to Picayune, MS to April's gallery for a session of painting.  April is an old high school pal of Michele's, the owner of Hideaway.  It was a fun time and something I so enjoy but never make time to do at home.  Several told me that Joanie,  another MN snowbird who is undergoing  her continuing chemo while here,  is an artist.  She and I shared a table and not to brag but I did not think she was any better at this task than myself; I would have preferred doing a seascape, shells, or???  but April, our host and instructor for the evening had determined that we would be crab painting and so it was.  She is quite patient and was a delightful instructor.  While doing this I learned a  bit about the crab and it's 5 appendages, what resembles our hand with the knuckles, and how it crawls and withdraws. 

My Crabby masterpiece

 I will use this as a conversation piece,  what do you think that is hosts in the bottom right corner?  In my opinion it is not what April said it is, the technique to construct that was not what I'd have done if I'd know she wanted that painted.  On neither hers nor anyone's completed paintings did that stuff in the lower right look like what it was supposed to be.  So there's my question for you, what's it? 

Well as if the painting class was not enough, the gallery includes chocolates by April for sale.  You can imagine that 9 women are not leaving without buying some chocolates.  I indulged in  several turtles, as the following photos show, the largest I have ever found anywhere.  The ruler is to give you an idea, this is not photo shopped.  Her dark chocolate turtles, she calls gators, and used that theme a top.They are over two inches wide and nearly one inch deep.  Jerry and I split one when I got back home to the coach, and even at that we only ate half of it between us.  Ummmmm.  Such a tough life we enjoy on this trip.

Aprils turtles and gators

Turtle, we shared half last night and have half for tonight

Rain has stopped and we must go get a local newspaper and see what's happening.  Due to  the downpour I did not get my laps in this AM, but later the sun is coming out and I will catch up. Tonight another Wednesday bingo for RV'ers occurs; my food prize donations were a hit last week so off to WallyWorld for  the same contributions--nuts, cookies and candy. 

Bambi's relatives = Devastation

I am still pouting and plotting revenge on the 4 legged  marauders who ravaged my rose garden last night.  Bambi's relatives have struck again. I know Bambi didn't do it because the tracks are too big, so I think this is the work of Bambi's relatives, the dad or brother as men have such little respect for finery and  there have  been multiple sightings  in our 'hood of a large buck!  One afternoon I was backing out of our driveway and noticed a big buck across the street standing in the neighbor's pines.  I stopped and waited not wanting to encounter it in my car just in case he decided to come across the street.  He did not.  Likely he was eyeing the rose garden guaging just when he might come for a treat. 

Bush trimmed

 I have been anticipating the blooms of 3 buds about 3 inches each on the Melody Parfumee rosebush. This is quite a big deal for this time of the year and for this area when we have had a hotter summer than normal.  Besides the MN  rose blooms just don't match CA size but I thought that this triplet just might.  I will never know now.   Such a devastating sight, 3 buds gone, trimmed before they ever had a chance to bloom, cut down before their prime. Maybe there is a poem somewhere in these words but the words I had this morning were not poetic.

Overnight, the marauders came and nipped all  the buds, chomping them like candy and further adding insult to injury by leaving their calling card, piles of skat in the lawn where I have  walked barefooted!  Fortunately this morning I had on flip flops and was not indulging my tootsies in the  morning lawn dew.  If you haven't seen it, here is just one deposit, I mean how rude,  they could at least have left this as fertilizer in the rose garden, don't you think?  Dine and dump has to be their motto.  When Jerry and his friends  deer hunted in the mountains on horseback in CA, I would stay at home and hope they didn't bag any.  When I was a little girl, and my uncle and others shot deer I would think it so mean and had to be reassured that it was not Bambi nor Rudolph.   So I have been a deer advocate but with the experiences here in MN, I have changed my attitude. 

In all our years in Newcastle, CA where we grew over 400 roses on 7+ acres, in the country we had no deer problem. But here in MN we live in the city limits no less and have wildlife issues! Deer are the bane of the existence of my rose gardens.

Chomped to the middle

 

I  did buy some a spray, Tree Guard developed at the University of Iowa  that local farmers use and that does seem to  turn them away, but I used the last of it around the bottoms of the bushes because we have been over run by  bunnies this year and the bunnies  chomped on all the bottom leaves.     This is our  2nd year  without the foxes in the hillside, they went to Florida during a harsh winter and never returned.  We enjoyed the fox and we had no problem with rabbit population but they have left us to battle the bunnies alone.    

 Meantime, I  did find a way to extend my  decor with wine bottles into the rose garden, shielding the bottoms from the bunnies.  It seemed to work, but nothing stops the deer who seem not to look down but prefer the eye  level tall buds and blooms.  

Wine bottle Bunny repellent

Melody is not the only rose bush they have enjoyed, Kiss Me along the drive was devastated a week ago, nipped in the bud too.  I will now wait for several more weeks for this bloom. 

Kiss Me in recovery

So with this start to my day followed by a good work out at Curves, I went  on about my errands in the heat and decided to seek solace in the Aldi's European dark chocolate bar.  While there I discovered a new cookie line they have added, Benton's which includes various flavors but one of which is  chocolate mint, which reminded me of my all time favorite Girl Scout cookie, thin mints.  I have never yet found an Aldi's product that I did not like, so I added both these to my cart and brought them home.  One more errand involved a trip to Woodman's to replenish my wine racks and browse their massive alcohol offerings.  A new mojito mix looked inviting so it  made it's way home  with me.  Colonel Wally, my laptop and kitchen TV bear welcomed the set up for my own little afternoon party. 

Wally welcomes the party

A trip to the local farmers' market, would take up the rest of my afternoon but  I did have  time for some refreshment, a  tall mojito and a few mint cookies.  Ummmm, delicious, my mood is now better.   

Afternoon break time

Tomorrow I will post my trip to the farmer's market, because my blog writer is acting up and I am beginning to get annoyed with the spastics of trying to post and add the photos.  Besides, it is evening and time for a nibble of the Aldi's chocolate bar!  G'night.