Waiting for Matthew...

On behalf of my hubby and myself I would like to thank everyone for all of the beautiful, warm well-wishes and congratulations we received from my previous post about our new home.  We are truly blessed to have such an amazing system of support from friends and family.  We look forward to sharing all of our future adventures here at Arching Oaks with all of you! 

Speaking of adventures...I think we're in for a big one.  As I write this, Hurricane Matthew is churning its way towards us.  This will be our first Florida hurricane and, considering how many big ol' trees surround us here...well, we're a little nervous.  We've done everything we can think of to be prepared so now we just wait.  The skies are getting very dark and overcast and the birds are making quite a bit of racket outside as I imagine they are nervous, too, and can sense the impending storm.  Keep us in your thoughts as we ride this out....

Each day is a good one here at Arching Oaks.  Ava and Chico and I are enjoying (almost) daily walks to the mailbox.  Maybe "walk" isn't the right word...more like "stop/starts" as Ava likes to pause every ten yards or so to dig sand piles along the driveway and Chico pees on every fence post.  It's only about a 1/4 mile there and back, but we're usually gone for at least a half an hour. 

Last week we finally ventured to one of the many local farmer's markets in the area.  Wow! Why didn't we go sooner? I walked out of there with a dozen farm-fresh eggs, 6 roma tomatoes, 5 poblano peppers, about 3 pounds of white onions, a big chunk of ginger, and a sample of homemade patchouli-lemongrass soap...all for about $10.  I was excited to see several bee farmers with their golden wares on display.  I'll be back to visit them when allergy season comes along...consuming local honey can help alleviate symptoms.

Ava got a free banana from one of the vendors so she's now a farmer's market fan for life.  Look at those beautiful tomatoes!!!

Twelve little beauties.each slightly different from the others...perfectly imperfect and so much better in flavor than store bought.  Already made a killer frittata with some. 

We were occupied with storm-prepping this morning so I didn't make it back to the market today, but we are looking forward to going often in the future. 

Well, the rain has started here.  Matthew is making his slow, but steady entrance.  Thank goodness we've stocked up on batteries, water, food, books, and movies.  I'll post again soon with pics of the "aftermath."  Here's hoping that everyone in the path of the storm stays safe and dry.