SUNDAY RIDE AND EAT

Today was a beautiful and sunny day here in Florida.

Jorge and I rode our motorcycles to church and afterwards,

we decided to explore the northeast part of Jacksonville.

We went to Amelia Island. What a beautiful place.

Because we were on the motorcycles,

I was not able to take pictures of the beautiful old houses that we saw.

Thanks to Google, I can share them here.

This is one of the houses that I fell in love with.

Jorge and I are going to definitely have to come back and spend more time here.

The last time I was on a ferry I got horribly seasick.

A severe thunderstorm caught up to us and we were

going back and forth and I was turning every shade of green.

This ferry ride was so much better.

No storms and it was sunny and smooth sailing.

At the end of the ride, we were greeted by pelicans.

Once we were on the other side of the St. John's River,

We were in Mayport, Florida.

We learned that Mayport is known for its delicious shrimp.

We definitely need to come back and try some.

This also serves as a naval base.

From the road, Jorge and I could see a carrier.

We have no idea what its name is.

This picture I took from Google.

There is so much to explore here in Florida

and Jorge and I plan on doing a lot more

field trips and learn more about this area.

FLORIDA GARDENING

Since Jorge and I are now living in Florida,

gardening here is very different than what it was back in Indiana.

When we moved to our house last August,

I already knew there were things I wanted to do in the yard.

For one thing, the property has WAY TOO MANY bushes.

I didn't want to pull any out last year because I didn't know what they were.

So I waited till now and found out what several of them are.

After making inventory of the bushes and what I have

I came up with a plan.

So far I have removed eight bushes.

Today's bush was the hardest one to take out.

It took me almost an hour to dig it out.

The bush I took out was a Japanese Boxwood.

It was right next to the house in the back.

The Elephant Palm I pulled out last year.

The Japanese Boxwood is to the right of the palm.

During all of the work, I found poison ivy.

Thankfully it did not touch my skin.

 It took me almost an hour and drinking a lot of

water but I finally dug out the bush.

 I put edging all around

 I also planted grass seed.

I had to add soil because since this is Florida,

there is a lot of sand.

 I went to Lowes and bought 20 bags black mulch.

I did have a young man load it all up in the Suburban.

I should have brought him with me to help me unload it all.

Three pots filled with flowers.

 Landscape fiber down and now the black mulch.

I'm very tired but very happy with the results.

I will need to go back and buy more potted flowers.

I'm learning new things about gardening in Florida.