Happy Halloween!

These guys were more interesting than what I saw on my walk today...

Greenway Walk

I took a nice long walk on the
Greenway this afternoon and I had it all to myself for an hour except for these two raccoons in a tree (way up in the top left - click on photo for a better view)...




...this graceful egret...




... this Halloween type path...




... these windswept marsh grasses...



... a gillion polliwogs in this pond...




... and this sign put up by the Friends of the Greenway announcing Greenway Day this Saturday. They'll do a better job than me with the explanations...

The Flags Are A-Blowin'

We're getting another nor'easter today; very unusual to have two in a month. In fact, we rarely get more than about one every couple of years. These storms have a tendency to cause some pretty serious beach erosion but our tourism council has a budget in place for such needs. In the meantime, there's some pretty good kite flying going on this week.

Cat Shack

This little shack in town used to be a used-book store. The kind hearted owner fed and watered all of the strays that hung out around her shop. She closed her shop three years ago but still comes back every day to feed and water whoever is still showing up (most of the same ones). I say "hello" to the kitties on my walks but they're quite skittish. It's always fun to watch Cara drive up at feeding time and they all come out of the woodwork when they see her car. Even she says that she can't pet them but they'll sure stand next to her when she's filling the bowl. That's some hard earned trust right there. Since the property has been on the market for several years now, it wouldn't appear that these cats are in danger of losing their shack anytime soon.

House of Possibilities

Through next weekend, you'll be able to tour one of the houses in the Silk Stocking District that is never open to the public. The House of Possibilities is a decorator show house fundraiser for the Barnabas Center, an organization that helps families in crisis to get back on their feet. Many talented Amelia Island decorators have donated their time, talents and materials for this worthy cause. There are always some nice decorator items to buy at this event too. We've still got rooms open if you'd like to come stay for this event.

P.S. Georgia won. The fans are beginning to return to the island from Jacksonville. I can hear the horns from here...

Florida/ Georgia Weekend is Heeeeere

The world's largest cocktail party has begun. Actually, that's how this big football weekend has been billed for years and years, but it's more about the rivalry. At the inn, we always like the Friday nights and Saturday mornings of these weekends because everyone has hope. By Saturday evening, somebody has lost and the new friendships are severed by breakfast Sunday morning. Until the next year........ when everybody has hope and they're all buds again.

Riverfront Promenade

This is part of our new promenade that will eventually run a few more blocks along the riverfront. In fact, there are plans for a new Welcome Center, along with an upgraded marina and a band shell. The natural tendency of most folks is to be drawn to water and our city fathers have finally figured out a way to organize those tendencies. There will be much construction, consternation and teeth gnashing over the next several months while the plans are finalized because of the inevitable tug-of-war between those who love the old and those who think it's useless unless it's new. All of the plans that I've seen so far indicate that it's going to be a pretty good balance. In these days of megastores making every town look the same, we're proud of our unique character. We'll be enhancing our features rather than trading in for the new model.

Missed One

I couldn't help but add this great window display at Eileen's Art and Antiques shop to my Halloween blog shots. I'm not sure how I missed it the other night; I must have turned the wrong way. The eerie red glow drew me down the street tonight. You can click on the photo to enlarge it. My favorite so far...

Affordable Eats

Amelia Island is known for our many, many truly great fine-dining restaurants but we've got affordable restaurants, as well. This is the signboard for the specials at "Canopy Moon," a cute little cafe and coffee house open seven nights a week from 6pm to midnight. Some of you who follow my blog will appreciate the "Big Boomer-ito," named for one of our favorite carriage horses. Boomer has his list of friends around town and he stops by for a visit (read: "treat") at every one of them. He usually grabs a latte at Canopy Moon midway through his rounds so he's been rewarded with a meal named for him. I don't know if he's sampled it yet but, after reading the list of ingredients, I'm hoping that for the sake of the carriage drivers, he has not.

More Signs of Halloween

Belated Cruizers Car Show Photos

With technical difficulties apparently solved, I present photos from Saturday's car show.

Beautiful Day for the Amelia Cruizers Car Show

I got some great shots of the Amelia Cruizers car show today but Blogger won't let me upload any photos tonight so I'll try again later or tomorrow. This show has come quite a long way. It used to be quite local with a handful of nice street rods for the local car club. Now it runs the entire length of Centre Street with a few side streets catching the overflow. Some of the cars that were shown would look right at home at the Concours d'Elegance in March. That's the queen mother of classic car exhibitions for those of you who haven't heard of it. We're sold out for 2008 but we're starting our waiting list for 2009 if you're interested. Let's hope that the weather for Concours is as perfect as it was today.

Yes Please

Love this dress in the window of Twisted Sister. This post is of no value to you other than to remind you that we've got some fun shopping on Centre Street - even if you're just window shopping on your walk, like me.

Almost Halloween Too

Almost Here

It's just over a week until the annual Georgia/Florida or Florida/Georgia football game and cocktail party. The merchants on Centre Street like to hedge their bets by featuring items in both teams' colors. Interestingly, even though we're in Florida, Amelia Island becomes a sea of red and bulldogs game week. Georgians have been vacationing on Amelia Island for years so they just return with bigger gangs for the game. Some of you may be wondering where our stadium is on the island. It's in Jacksonville. The game is held in Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, home of the Jaguars. It is considered "neutral ground" since neither team plays there at any other time (since neither team goes to the Gator Bowl). But mostly, it's an extreme rivalry and a big party. And we've got two rooms available FYI.

Still Ice Cream Weather

Ice cream shops do pretty steady business year round in Fernandina. "Vacation thinking" allows our visitors to stray from their rigid dietary rules in a happy way and the weather is pleasant enough that even the locals need no excuse for an extra scoop of chocolate peanut butter fudge with nuts and......... uh-oh..... wish me luck.

Another Perfect Evening

We've got quite a string of 76 degree evenings with beautiful skies and light breezes going. I don't have anything to say about this shot. I just liked the way that the sunset was making its way across our pretty historic buildings.

Youth Center

Many of the churches in the area have active youth centers/ coffee houses/ karaoke nights. We've got several in town that have programs a few nights a week. Friday nights are big, big, big but they try to run as many progams as they can. This one is right on Centre Street in the old Waas Drug Store. Tonight was apparently ping pong night.

Taste of Amelia

As if you needed another reason to come here in the Fall, our annual Taste of Amelia, a sampling from all of the area's best restaurants, will be next Friday, the 19th, at Amelia Island Plantation. It's always a really great event and it's for the benefit of the Nassau County (Florida, not NY) Volunteer Center. I don't have any figures to back it up, but I'm betting that Amelia Island has more per capita volunteer hours logged than any place in the country. It's absolutely astonishing how many people turn out for any cause worth doing.

All that Jazz

The main concerts of the Amelia Island Jazz Festival are this weekend. What a beautiful weekend for outdoor concerts. This concert is going on as I type, in the courtyard at St. Peter's Episcopal church right at the foot of Centre Street. It's 70 degrees without a cloud in the sky. I haven't figured out the night time photography features on my camera yet so I apologize for the fuzzy nature of this shot, but, hopefully, you can still tell that a fun time is being had by all.

On Golden Pond

I am privileged to be on the board of directors of the Amelia Island Chamber of Commerce and we had our annual planning session today at our local community college campus, FCCJ. The meeting was held in the brand new votech building with this enticing pond outside of the meeting room. I managed to stay focused on the business at hand but headed straight out there for my walk during breaks. Beautiful setting on a gorgeous day. By the way, those white flecks that you see on the water aren't birds, it's the sunlight glistening.