Stormy Island Tea…

so much can happen in a day and before you know it three weeks have passed…

 I am eager to catch up with everyone and hope that you are well…

our beach getaway was full of the unexpected…

most of it wonderful and some of it a bit challenging…

certainly a memorable time…

midway I broke my pinkie toe by banging it on the wood frame of a bed…OH! it hurt like crazy (if only I’d put those shoes there from the beginning…house slippers are my favorite shoes just now)…

even with being on ice and my foot elevated for three days I did not miss much because it rained and rained and rained some more (dubbed “Ocrasoak” by the local newspaper)…

out of our thirteen day vacation we had three glorious sunny days that we were most grateful for…

we were cozy and comfortable in our rental home away from home with windows on three sides situated beautifully on Silver Lake Harbor with boats and nature coming and going…

and the Ocracoke Island Lighthouse captivated us from every view and angle again this year…

in past years we enjoyed the brilliant sunsets from our screened in porch and we did manage to see a couple this year in spite of the very wet weather…

I have some traveling tea cup adventures to share with you next week…

Hurricane Joaquin sent us packing a day early with a state of emergency and mandatory evacuation for all visitors from the island…

I woke up at 4am on our last day wondering how our stormy 2.5 hour ferry crossing would go…

reminding myself that it is never the things you worry about that usually happen…

we waited in line for hours to secure a place on the Swan Quarter ferry watching the water rise all around us as we were entertained by a large flock of American White Ibis…

it was a memorable vacation and we really have no complaints except perhaps about the design of that ding dang protruding wooden bed frame…

after a really long day of travel we arrived home safe and sound finding a good five inches of much needed rain had fallen here in Virginia while we were away (Ocrocoke Island remained closed for another week but is now open to visitors again)…

here’s wishing you a very happy T day along with everyone over at Elizabeth’s Altered Book Lover…

 

 

Venida rules the waves …

in going thru some of my paper stash(es) lately I have come across some perfect bits for a couple more pages in one of my gesso journals (I am recycling lots of paper in the process too!)…

torn bits of tide chart and map from one of our favorite stateside beach getaways…

the lovely Venida is from the cover of a vintage hair net package that I picked up one year on a trip to Florida…

joining in with Art Journal Journey’s “The Sea” challenge again before it is time for a new theme for June…

I do enjoy the sea especially when I can find a bit of shade…

… the ocean’s tides

a page for my loose leaf art journal with a collaged and painted background…

a piece of torn fusion paper brushed with gold paint made a nice backdrop for an image I had floating around…

joining Art Journal Journey for “The Sea” challenge (the computer generated quote I used is anonymous)

Mudjin Harbor and Dragon Cay T…

 the last couple of Tuesdays I have been sharing photos from our March Turks and Caicos trip (the beautiful book below was in our room … I played with tiny shells we found on the beach to compliment the photo collage…some of the shells were as little as the tip of your fingernail)…

as part of our adventures on the day we took a short ferry ride from Providenciales to Middle and North Caicos Islands we made a point to visit a spot recommended by a friend…

she said it was one of the most beautiful places she had ever visited…

we paused at the cliff top Mudjin Bar & Grill to take in the view and enjoy a glass of nice cold lemonade (it looked like a great place to eat too!)...

if you use your imagination you can see the rock formation resembling a sleeping dragon (someone lost a hat so we propped it on a post in case they came looking for it)…

we enjoyed walking on the paths made of natural materials which led us to a staircase down through the limestone cliffs to a surprise secluded beach …

we had the traveling tea cup along for this little adventure too…

a day trip was really not long enough to take in all the sights but we felt we made the most of our first visit to this treasure of a place…

wishing everyone over at Elizabeth’s Altered Book Lover a very happy T day while part of me still has sand in my shoes…

 (as an aside Mr Magpie and I hardly ever print out photographs anymore so having a selection of travel photos here and on my Flickr page gives us virtual albums to visit…hope you enjoy them too)

Believe nothing you hear…

our local mixed media art group is having a round robin and this month I got a book with the theme of “The Life and Times of Edgar Allan Poe” …

I knew right away that I wanted to use some of the black patterned envelopes that I have been saving (I have made a vow to stop saving them so using some felt extra good!)…

outlining the edges with a black Stabilo pencil and brushing with a stiff brush dipped in white gesso gave some color and texture to the background along with some bits of vintage paper and book text…

the image on the left is of a book cover printed onto a torn out page from this book…the red beer bottle cap on the right has been smashed flat and waiting to be used for some time now…

I had no idea this quote was by Edgar Allan Poe but it had always been a favorite of mine (seems Poe is misquoted quite a bit and the way I originally knew the quote was:  “Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.”)…

trying out various fonts and positioning…

until I was happy while having some fun channeling my dark side…

paint and pencil scribbling along with stamping on tissue paper and a piece of poison washi tape that I secured with gel medium…

some spider web washi tape at the top that I extended with black pen down the page (I intentionally left the spider out as a bit of a creep factor…if there is a web there must be a spider  but where!)… a piece of my faux resin paper and a golden flimmerstern that I trimmed randomly with scissors behind the bottle cap…

I am also sharing these pages with Art Journal Journey’s “Favorite Poems and Quotes” challenge…

Travel makes one modest…

before our trip last month when I should have/could have been packing I played with my tea cup art journal adding this page using one of my gelli prints as the background…

bits of napkin and a postage stamp from my collection…

created my art journal page full of anticipation…

little did I know then just how blue and stunning the water … sky and beaches of Turks & Caicos would be…

I printed out one of the photos that Mr Magpie took of me with my traveling parasol on a secluded beach on Middle Caicos Island…

adding highlights and layers that are a bit tricky to show…

using various acrylic paints and pens for the layers (including a little aqua gelato)…

a favorite quote from Gustave Flaubert “Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” speaks for me…

More Turks & Caicos Island T …

Mr Magpie experienced his first ever driving on the left side of the road (TCI is a British Territory even though they use American currency…let’s just say he was glad there were very few vehicles on the road and just a couple of circles)…

it was a short ferry ride from the island of Providenciales where we were staying to North Caicos Island where we rented a car (make that an old beat up Jeep with a great Caribbean music mixed CD to carry us along the rough and ready roads)…

there is a causeway between North Caicos (population approx 1,400) and Middle Caicos (population approx 275) which led us to some beautiful secluded places…

we enjoyed a tasty lunch of fresh red snapper at Daniel’s Cafe By The Sea (the owner Daniel and his son are really nice and friendly)…

we had hoped to see some of the many flamingos that are drawn to this area… in the end we were grateful to see this lone ONE…

impulse sent us down a road to a wonderful spot called Bambarra Beach named after the local rum…

we spent a fair bit of time relaxing in the shade and combing the beach for treasures snapping oodles of photos with our traveling tea cup and parasol (those sea fans were really tempting me…happy to have lots of photos at least)…

from there we took a narrow road that ran parallel to the water and came upon a rusty barge and equipment that we later found out were leftover from a failed attempt at making a cargo port (aqua and rust are such a wonderful color combo!!!)…

our next stop was recommended by a friend and wowee was it ever magical there…

since this is getting a bit long I will save that for another day…

(if you’d like a closer look at any of the photos you can click on them)

here’s wishing you a very happy T day along with everyone over at Elizabeth’s Altered Book Lover…

Turks and Caicos T …

back from our visit to the British West Indies Islands of Turks and Caicos

feeling relaxed and rejuvenated with so many special memories…

we stayed at a beautiful resort right on the beach…

with a heated salt water pool and beautifully manicured grounds…

if you are curious to learn a bit more about the Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI) you can visit here for some facts…

all of the staff were so cordial and gracious they really made everyone feel pampered and quite at home…

they went out of their way to learn the guests names which we found to be quite impressive…

this trip goes down as one of our all time best beach vacations…

we are already dreaming of a return visit someday…

the photo above was taken from our balcony looking through a sun glass lens which gave it an interesting look (good sun glasses were a must)…

even though the sky would darken sometimes off in the distance we never had any rain…

 we brought the traveling tea cup along…

our balcony had a very nice view and it was a good respite from the strong midday sun…

 we never got tired of the sound of the water that was so crystalline clear and  impossibly blue…

here’s wishing you a happy T day along with everyone over at Elizabeth’s Altered Book Lover…

Beach Treasure T…

if you have a few minutes won’t you join me for a little more day dreaming on Ocracoke Island…

stands to reason that after spending a couple of weeks there we have quite a few photographs (you probably already know that you can click once or twice on the photos for a closer look if you are interested)…

posting here on my blog serves as a visual journal for Mr Magpie and myself (I find I go back and refer to my links now and then for information or helping determine “when” something happened)…

we made an exciting discovery along the beach of tree branches trapped in the sand that had a few shells washed up at its base which inspired us to gather seashells and bits of beach treasure to add to the branches each time we visited…

about midway through our vacation we noticed that other people were adding shells and even some extra precious things like necklaces and charms which moved us to call it “the Spirit Tree” (shells with holes in them were perfect for hanging and made special clicking sounds in the breeze)…

who knows if it will be there next year when we return…

walking back and forth to the beach on two separate occasions enjoying the sand between our toes we encountered some good sized ghost crabs  (the “frown”on this one’s face might be because of the fright of almost being stepped on…try to imagine the look on my face and how high that close call made me jump)…

we did get some nice photos of them as they froze in the sand for a bit…

if you are still with me let’s head for our home away from home on Silver Lake Harbor so I can share some T treats with you (marked by two seashells above since I couldn’t find an arrow to add to the photo) …

would it surprise you to know that I only had tea one day out of the fourteen we were away…

the days we did not make coffee at home in the morning I enjoyed a cappuccino from the local Ocracoke Coffee Company (I am a cheap date and one cup of half caff usually does the trick)… we discovered some scrumptious Fig Cake at the Ocracoke Seafood Market of all places on our last day on the island (there are lots of fig trees on the island)…

each day was pure delight with time in between to slow down and just be…

not easy to leave…

here’s wishing you a happy T day along with everyone over at Elizabeth and Bleubeard’s oxo

 

beach tea …

it feels like I have been away from blogland for a long time…

(the house above was on NC 32 near Edenton…not on the island we visited)

I am joining everyone over at Elizabeth and Bleubeard’s for T today sharing some of our beach getaway with you…

our traveling tea cup came along and got to enjoy some sun and sand…

we had a bit of rain too which resulted in some wonderful puddle reflections in yards and on rustic roads in the village…

along with pretty patterns on the beach…

we visited Ocracoke Island around the same time last year and enjoyed it so much we booked a two week stay this year…

from our rental on Silver Lake Harbor we had views of the lighthouse and enjoyed the boats and ferries coming and going from the Pamlico Sound…

the sunset views are something we looked forward to daily…

each one special and different…

I look forward to reconnecting with everyone again and hope that you have been well…

Rinda’s 2014 Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt: Final Part 3

many thanks to Rinda for another great scavenger hunt this year…

to see my items 1 – 14 you can visit here and here and below you will find the remainder of my photo finds:

15. A juggler … a juggler remained elusive so I have substituted with Alternative B: a bird house  (I almost shared some photos I took from the television of a medieval fire ball juggler) 

16. A sign in a language other than English

Starbuck’s found in China Town, Washington, D.C.

Karaoke in the suburbs of northern Virginia

17. A lamp post

Lake Anne in Reston,Virginia

so many lamp posts!

18. A water fall

Great Falls Park, Maryland is a beautiful spot and we found a Great Blue Heron enjoying the view while waiting for his lunch to rush by

19. A public garden

Bartholdi Park in Washington, DC is one of our favorite “secret gardens“

it is part of the US Botanic Gardens tucked away across Independence Avenue in the shadow of the US Botanic Garden Conservatory… most enjoyable in every season

20. A bus (not a car, truck, lorry, camper or RV) with a picture painted on its sides.

Washington, D.C.

21. A photograph of you with something representing the season (recognizing that the season will be Winter for our friends in the southern hemisphere). Note: you may not use a substitute for this item.

for the last couple of years we have visited the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens outside of Washington, DC to enjoy the Loti and Water Lilies…there I am with my camera taking a photo of Mr Magpie taking my photo

If you find something on the list too difficult, you may substitute one of the following items for anything on the list, except for Item #21:

Alternative A: A kite, hot air balloon or blimp

kiteboarding is a popular sport on The Outer Banks of North Carolina… we enjoyed watching the boarders fly across the water rising up into the air now and again

Alternative B: A bird house substituted for a juggler at the beginning of my post

in case you were curious about the Medieval juggler I mentioned at the beginning of my post 😉 this photo was snapped from our television screen…

this is a scheduled post… I look forward to catching up with everyone soon… 

whatever floats your boat…

Conny’s Mix it Monthly challenge this month is using a lovely color palette along with the theme of sailboats / boat …

I knew I wanted to use a fancy slipper/shoe image for the boat along with the float your boat words …  the three cherubs were taken from a Christmas napkin with touches of color added…paint and stencils…gesso and assorted papers and some pieces of German scrap…

such a fun challenge…be sure and visit Mix it Monthly to see lots of inspiring creativity and of course you are most welcome to play along

Happy Birthday to my Mr Magpie…

celebrating the wonderful man in my life especially today…