a bit of island history

I told you that we visited the Historic District on Jekyll and that I would tell you more about it. So, here's a little history lesson for you.
Jekyll Island is one of only four barrier islands off the coast of Georgia that is accessible by a paved causeway. James Oglethorpe, who founded the Georgia colony, named the island after a dear friend, Sir Joseph Jekyll.
In 1792, Christophe Du Bignon, a frenchman, moved to the island. He and his family had purchased it to build plantations. As the years passed, the land was inherited and divided and purchase until by 1886, John Du Bignon owned the entire island. By this time, productivity of the plantations was down and he devised a plan to sell the island by tracts to wealthy families (for $600 a piece) as a place for recreation. This began the Jekyll Island Club. Families with names like Macy, Vanderbilt, Pulitzer, Rockefeller, Morgan, and Goodyear purchased tracts and spent much time on the island...biking, playing tennis (on the indoor tennis courts built by J.P. Morgan), horseback riding, and swimming. Some built mansions there...and called them cottages! The Great Depression and the beginning of WWII brought the Club era (1888-1942) to a close. In 1947, the state of Georgia, in an effort to to make the island a public recreation area, condemned it and purchase it for $675,000 from the remaining club members. The historic district covers 240 acres and is also called Millionaire Village.

One of the "cottages"!
(oops! I failed to get the name!)

This is the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.
Notice the turreted tower on the left.
This was the clubhouse where
many festive dinners and dances took place
during the club's "hey day"!
Today, on almost any evening,
guests are playing croquet on the front lawn!

This is the back of Crane Cottage.
It has beautiful grounds and is the site for outdoor weddings.

If you look to the left from where I was standing
to take the above picture, you see this.

Indian Mound Cottage...once owned by
the Rockefeller family.

Du Bignon Cottage.

Faith Chapel...another popular place for weddings.

Some of the low hanging branches on the
many live oak trees on the island.

Oleander blooms are abundant!

One of the best things about the island is that nature
is being preserved and development is
being controlled.
By Georgia State Law,
65% of the island has to remain undisturbed.
And for all of us who visit there, THAT is a good thing!

a week to remember!

We had a wonderful week playing and laughing, sunning and resting, eating and exploring! Jekyll Island is our beach of choice. Hubby grew up nearby, so we went there many times through the years while visiting grandparents. It is now our yearly destination for our family vacation.
I will warn you now...there are lots of pictures, but not much text. So, here's our week in review....the family picture was taken on Driftwood Beach. It is a sign of the erosion that has taken place on the island, but it is very scenic.

Rocks have been placed there to prevent further damage...
a good place to pose for daddy and girls.

And for the grands to be adventurous...which made Gran nervous!

We went to the beach everyday,
where we played bocce ball...

And (you can't really tell) but we had water balloon battles...
friendly ones!

There were lots of bubbles blown....

and a contest to see who could find the biggest hermit crab...

...which are not very big at all!
But it was fun and we discovered another use for the frisbee! -)

The grands made dinosaur prints in the sand....

...and made sand castles...with a little help from a sweet uncle!

We took walks...

side by side...

...and sat in the shade of our canopy.

The four guys used the 99 ft seine
(this picture gives you an idea of how long that is)
to catch...

a shark, which had to be released back into the ocean...
it's the law,

a few small blue crab which just get tangled in the net
and are not big enough to bother trying to eat,

and about 15 lbs of shrimp (what we were seining for)...
which I neglected to take a picture of!
Because I was more interested in these two
catching a ride on the shrimp wagon being pulled by Chief!

And the fun being had in the muddy sand!

There were putts to be putted.....

...and holes in one to be documented...me and my DIL...
back to back on the same hole!

We visited the historic district....
more on that in the next post...

...and took our annual mother-daughter photo!

At the house, balls were hit...

...dough was molded...

...pizzas were created on the night the adults had low country boil...

...ice cream was churned...twice...
fresh peach and fresh strawberry...so yummy!

Games were played...

...and there was always some snuggling going on!


But then Sunday came and it was time to head home...
over the Sidney Lanier Bridge,

the Brunswick River,

and the beautiful Marshes of Glynn.

Then a drive past the overlook park.

We are all safely home now...with a little more tan
and many more stories to tell and memories to treasure!

I'm coming!

The beach has been calling my name for a while now and tomorrow, I get to answer! Yes, it's time for our annual family vacation at the beach!

For the first time in several years, everyone is coming for the entire week, so we are all very happy about that.
The groceries are bought, the games are packed, and the suitcases are ready to be filled. I am looking forward to some fun in the sun and around the dinner table....especially the three nights someone else is cooking! :-)
So, I hope you all have a wonderfully blessed week. I'll have pictures to share when I return....rested and relaxed with sand between my toes! ;-)

charting the way

We have eight walls that hold thousands of current charts at the doctor's office where I work. They are filed alphabetically by the first two letters of the last name. Example: all the last names...Albritton, Alexander, Allen, etc..... have A and L stickers on the edge of their charts. Albritton would be first, then Alexander, then Allen. Okay, you get that....sounds simple, right? Well, sometimes people forget their alphabet (ha! ha!) and that's when the trouble starts! It only takes one chart misfiled to make a mess of things. Yesterday, I found a handful of Simmons mixed in with the Simons. Once the first chart is misplaced, others tend to follow.
One of our sons always had younger boys following him. They wanted to be where he was and to do what he was doing. He was kind and included them, so he was their friend and they looked up to him. I remember telling him how important it was for him to be a good example, "If those boys are going to follow you, you need to be sure you are leading them in the right direction." I knew that if he made a bad choice, they would be right behind him, making it, too. And they would all end up in the wrong place. It was a lot of responsibility for a young boy, but if God was going to use him to be leader, he needed to learn how important it was to be a good one.
The truth is.... we are all leaders. By the life we live, we are either leading others to God or away from Him. So, are our words and actions "filed"correctly...are they in order with God's character? Are our affections in their proper place or have they been "misplaced"? My desire is to be in my rightful place, so that those who come behind me will be in theirs!

from the field to the freezer!

We planted peas in our little garden, but we are only getting enough to eat as we pick. Since we like to put fresh vegetables in our freezer when we can get them, Hubby has picked peas and corn through the years at "U Pick" places. It's a bit of work but the prices are usually good. Those places seemed to have disappeared over the last few years, but just last week we discovered a new one. This morning, Hubby got a bushel of peas and two bushels of corn.

So, this evening, I had this in my lap.......

...and ended up with this.
Well, actually two of these.....
those pods were really packed!
It was too late to get them ready for the freezer,
so they will rest in the fridge until tomorrow.
We'll see how many quarts we get.

After the corn was shucked and silked and blanched and cut and scraped,
we had this....

...beautiful and sweet! Next it went into the containers.

This is a few of the 23 we put in the freezer...some quarts and some 1 1/2 pints.
I'll have to say, it wasn't exactly what I wanted to do
after a really long day at work, but....
it will be so good this winter!

"I'm proud to be an American...

...where at least I know I'm free.

And I won't forget the men who died
and gave that right to me.

And I'll gladly stand up next to you
and defend her still today.

There ain't no doubt I love this land.

God Bless the USA."

Lee Greenwood

I like to see a man proud
of the place in which he lives.

I like to see man who lives so that
the place he lives is proud of him.
Abraham Lincoln

Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion,
but the tranquil, steady dedication of a lifetime.
Adlai Stevens

This nation will remain the home of the free
only as long as it is the home of the brave.
Elmer Davis

This country will not be a good place
for any of us to live in
unless it is a good place
for all of us to live in.
Teddy Roosevelt

We should never forget that men
first crossed the Atlantic
not to find soil for their plows,
but liberty for their souls.
Robert J. McCracken

and on a lighter note.....

A real patriot is the fellow
who gets a parking ticket
and rejoices that the system is working.
Bill Vaughan

Happy 4th of July!

next project...

...turning this

...into this for three windows.

It seems to be the newest thing....at least in blogland! Folks are using them for curtains, cushion covers, etc. They are are a nice weight, durable and inexpensive. So, I am going to give it a try.
I'll let you know how it goes! :-)

Hope you have a Happy 4th or Canada Day
...depending on where you live! :-)