Saturday, February 18, 2012

Going up... next stop Savannah



We were sorry to say good-bye to our Floridian friends, but we would now be traveling a bit north to meet up with old friends.  Lemmonhead (Jeff) from Pennsylvania, Kathy & Joe from Ohio, Miss Moneypenny (Susan) from North Carolina and our daughter Faron flew in from Kansas.  We had all made plans to gather in Savannah for a few days of friendship, sightseeing and spirits.  We all arrived at different times on Monday the 13th.  We descended on the hotel commandeering the commons, we sat around the fireplace watching the KU game, catching up on each other and sharing a meal.  Valentines Day found us shopping at the Paris Brocante, Paula Dean's, the Savannah Bee Co., SCAD shop and a variety of establishments in historic Savannah.  The Brocante is always my favorite as I dig through the antique French documents for artful imagery.  And yes I did find a stash as the cashier wanted to make sure I knew how much I was spending on the mere sheets of old paper before she totaled me out.

Paris Market Valentine Window

Faron, Susan, Lemmonhead, Kathy







French document
Upstairs at Paula Dean's
Notice the Y'all fan in the flowers?





The day continued with a tour of the most haunted house in Savannah, the Sorrel-Weed house.  
This house saw its share of death and murder over the years.  
Sorrel-Weed House, Savannah GA






basement
Just a note, there was no red light in this room.  It only showed up on the camera.

We tried to get cupcakes at Mabel Francis Potter's Cupcake Emporium on Valentines Day, but they sold out early so had to wait a whole day for our treats.  Yummy!  In fact, I'm finishing the last one as I post this blog.  



After we sugared up, we visited the Mercer House for a tour.  
This was the murder house from the book and movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil".  
Mercer House

And later that evening we went on a ghost tour with our guide Nicodemus.  We were surprised when we met and he wasn't an old black guy, but a young Aussie actor.  (ranked the number 1 ghost guide in Savannah)  Now we would get the real scoop on the murder mystery and not the polite version the the Mercer House guide recanted to us.  Stop by when I get home and I'll fill you in on all the dirty little secrets of murder, mayhem and voodoo. 

Bonaventure Cemetery is one of the locations for the murder mystery.  It is such a beautiful place that I always have to visit while there and take my camera.  Here a couple of the shots.



























The Colonial Cemetery is now a city park, but was closed at night in the late 90's as it had become a midnight sacrificial alter for the voodoo priests and priestesses to perform there rituals.






Friday, February 17, 2012

Traveling to the South...

I've been trying to find time to blog my travels to this point, but we have been putting in 18 hour days so the blogging had to wait for me to catch my breath.  We started our journey almost 2 weeks ago visiting our son and daughter in law in St. Louis, and of course the grand pups.  Continuing our travels we headed south to Jacksonville Florida and "A Small Cleverness".  Donna and all the Floridians so graciously welcomed us.  We taught classes Tuesday through Sunday.  We so enjoyed everyone and loved seeing what they created.  We got them started, but as you can see in the pictures, they put their own twist to the projects that went above and beyond.










Artful Illusions Stamps


Class Time

Mark at work.