A Visit to the Marina

Hi friends!  Today we are getting things ready for our 3rd annual "Capture the Flag" race at the sailing club.  This  is a fun filled event where we adopt our pirate, privateer and buccaneer attitudes in an attempt to capture the flag and claim bragging rights for our dock.  Water balloons, water guns and pirate gear are all allowed for this event.

I am hoping I will get plenty of fun action shots this year, but again you ladies know me.  I tend to get to caught up in the fun and not the camera so wish me luck.  I am going to take an additional camera this year that is easier to see what I am focusing on while taking pics.  These digital cameras are very hard to see when your out on the water.

Yesterday, the Mr. and I took the sailboat over to the Marina in order to get it ready for todays events.

I thought you might like to come along for the ride and see "one" of our local Marinas.

These photos were all taken using my camera, a sony cybershot, 7.2 mega pixel.  I love my camera but it is so hard to see what I am photographing, so I tend to rapid fire photos while I am on the water.

This is Lake Murray Marina.  It is one of the larger marinas that houses all sorts of boats.  It also has gas, a store and Restaurant.    The restaurant is currently closed because the marina is undergoing construction updates due to a large condominium project being built on the property as well.  

Just look at all the houseboats that are docked here.  The funny thing is you really do not ever see that many houseboats out on the lake.  There are a few, but not this many!

We are heading around towards the other side of the marina.

The blue building shown here is the restaurant. 

First we have to past by a few more "BIG" boats.  This one is called the "Cocks Roost".  We love our gamecocks here in SC y'all!

Check out the multiple levels on this one!

Now we need to maneuver around this boat too.

This one of two boats that tour boats on our lake.  

Here we are, this is the side we are going to.  This is where the gas pumps are, only we are not here to gas up.  Nooo, not us, we have a sailboat for crying out loud!

Look there's the other tour boat parked and getting things ready for the weekend.

We pull right up into one of the stalls.

I am enamored with the fact that we are parking right next to Southern Patriot.

As you can imagine, it's rapid fire photo shoot time again!

Look closely, do you see this man swabbing the decks?  At least there was a nice breeze for him yesterday.

It was a nice breeze because it was slightly overcast with an impending evening thunderstorm again.  And boy, did we get a good one last night!

Ahh, there's my captain!  We are here for the dirty deed of pumping out the head.  In laymans terms, that means we needed to pump out our toilet.  LOL!  We have a bathroom in our boat and you have to pump it out regularly.  I personally love it when we do because I get to see all the marina and all the other stuff going on around here.  Though we always wait for the least busiest time before going because the Mr. doesn't care for the crowds.

We head home now before the storms hit.  Here are a few shots of some homes around the Marina.

Sorry for the blurry photo again I cannot see what I am shooting but I was trying to catch the boat that is shown in the right corner of the photo.

Terrible photo but I wanted to show you this because this was one of many jet boats that are also going to be out on the lake today for a Poker run.  There are actually two Poker runs going on today one sponsered by the Shriners and one is sponsored by Wild Ducks Unlimited.  That's the one that is bringing in all the jet boats.  We have quite a bit of those on our lake already but we are sure to have quite a bit more visiting jet boats today too.  This should be an interesting day!

Just around this corner is the cove to the sailing club.  Luckily we are very near two marinas and can make a quick trip over when we need.  We don't frequent the marinas though because they are major hot spots for a lot of activity.

Well, I gotta go I really need to start getting things ready for the race at 1:00pm today.

Hoping for better pics today.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend!

Mary

Dining in the Tropics

Man has it been HOT!  Summer has definitely arrived here in the midlands of SC, bringing scorching temps at just over 100 degrees for several days.  Thank goodness we have also had several evening thunderstorms roll through to bring those temps down to the mid to high 90's. 

This type of weather has me thinking of the tropics alot lately.  So last night I decided to set a little tropical setting   outside on the screened porch.

Oops!  Didn't mean to get in the picture there!

Before we get into my tablescape, please tell me what you think of the placement of my shutters, okay?

Many of you already know I bought and repainted these shutters recently and promised to show you where they would end up.  I intended for them to mount right next to my window here on the bottom window.  I tried several different types of heavy stick on hooks and velcro only to have them crash down during the recent winds of the storms.  I was trying to avoid putting more nails in my siding.  I already had nails where they are hanging now with other things.  Do you think they look okay where they are?  Or do you think they are too far apart and look to random..seriously, would love some honest feedback.  Thanks!

Okay, now on to the good stuff.

I wanted to take some of my colors from the runner that I made several years ago but realized I really don't have many dishes with those colors.  

So, I just used what I had.

I started with my deep lime green plates that have a touch of brown around the wheat.

Then I added one of my newest dishes, the small brown recycled salad plates.

Then I topped it off with my somewhat tropical looking blue green dessert plates.

I used brown napkins to bring out the browns in the runner and dishes.

Multi-colored butterfly napkin rings hint of the tropics to me too!

I was so excited to bring out my newest tablescape purchase.

I finally found a set of this wonderful bamboo looking flatware at an affordable price from Home Goods on our recent trip to Charleston.

I just love them!  The set came with 4 soup spoons and four teaspoons.  So...for you seasoned tablescapers, which one is proper for me to use in my setting.   Do I use the teaspoon as shown here?

Or the soup spoon as shown here?  That soup spoon seems so big to me!

Then to bring out more blue I chose to use my blue iridescent goblets.

I love how the iridescent quality also reflects other colors of the setting.

Because my table is smaller I kept the centerpiece to a minimum.

 I used one of my willow candle holders with a votive.  Here it is shown all lit up later.

Cute little birdie salt and pepper shakers.

This time instead of using this basket for flowers I used it for a wine caddy.  

Eventually it gets late enough to dine outside in this heat.

Is it hot enough for you yet?

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my tropical tablescape, for

Tablescape Thursday. 

 Please check out more beautiful settings at the previous link above as well!

I'm looking forward to hearing your advice on both questions.

Have a great day!

Mary