run for their LIVES.

RFTL Online Commercial from Mauricio Belgrano on Vimeo.

If you live in the Jacksonville area, please consider participating in the Run For Their Lives 5k. And no, you don't have to run. You can power walk, walk, stroll, or if you're like me, crawl. Just kidding. My 85 year-old mother-in-law and I walk this route several times a week and it's quite enjoyable.

Proceeds of this event will benefit the crisis pregnancy centers of Jacksonville and please, it's important that all understand the importance of these centers. I volunteer at a local center and we see young girls, young women and older women who are in need of not only information, but a kind word, patient understanding. These are your daughters, even your sons, who come to us because they just don't know what to do, where to turn. It is by the grace of God that we are able to sit and converse with each client, hoping to find our way through the wall that many hide behind. We try to ask questions that will get a young woman and often, a young man, thinking. We provide information and resources to those who need it, along with free pregnancy tests. Homeless women who have been abused, young women who are in less than ideal relationships, young men who have impregnated a girlfriend...we speak to them all with the intention of empowering them to choose not what is easy, but what is right. Volunteering at the center has been both a blessing and a privilege in my life.

So please, visit Run For Their Lives to register online or for more information. Or, you can download the entrance form here. And if you can't make it the day of the run, there's a donation button right here. Please consider helping these beautiful babies and their mothers and fathers.

And I'll see you on Saturday, September 5th...if you see a woman crawling, please don't run over her. It's me and if you would, just jump over me. Thank you.

house in an orange grove.

The map of my Estate. Read it and weep, people!

After touring the Riverside Avondale homes, I began in earnest to look for affordable housing for myself and my family. And as luck would have it, I probably can't afford this house, either. Because it's the home of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, the critically acclaimed author of numerous novels, two of which are Cross Creek and The Yearling, winning the Pulitzer Prize for the latter . Isn't this house charming? It's a lovely little farm house. Small. Quaint. Breezy. With so much history and literary infusion.

This is the table at which the masterpieces were born, right out there on Marjorie's front porch, for all the world to see. Just look at the lovely grove of trees standing beyond the screen, inspiring her, encouraging her...

This is the garden area, just behind the house. Apparently Marjorie was quite the outdoors woman, spending much of her days hunting and fishing, planting and harvesting. Writing and rewriting. Entertaining interesting and famous people, way down yonder in Cross Creek. People like Spencer Tracy, Ernest Hemingway, Gregory Peck, to name a few.

This is the tenant house, which is probably more in-line with my budget. It comes complete with a clothes dryer. See it, over to the right of the porch? And apparently it comes stocked with a maid and butler. No, wait! Those crackers are my parents! Poor souls, they had to go to work on a farm in order to subsidize their social security. They're OK, they'll get breaks... I'll treat them right, s'long's as they don't take advantage of my generous nature.

OK, break's over, on your feet, get back to work!

little RAP!

Kathy and I just returned from the annual RAP Tour Of Homes, here in Jacksonville, FL. We toured 10 amazing homes, all of which were built in the early 1900's. It was a beautiful day for the tour and while I did not take nearly the amount of photos I had intended to, I did remember towards the end of the tour to snap away.

Here is where I call home. In my dreams. It's a lovely little homestead, don't you agree?

It was a perfect day for walking the hood in search of my dream home. The above house was a nice little place, had beautiful drapes and stunning chandeliers. The kitchen was amazing and the porch, which really is another room, was lovely.

Oh, my! What an amazing idea. Look at this bed's headboard, it looks like the back of a couch. It made me want to jump on the bed and cozy in to watch a little telly. But I didn't, Kathy wouldn't let me!

Mmmm, we stopped in at this adorable catering shop, for some free yummies. WOW! If you live in the Jacksonville area, check it out. It's not a restaurant, rather, "A full service catering and gourmet takeaway shop." She had some amazing goodies, like fried cheese and bacon appetizers, fresh out of the oven. There were some little pork tenderloin sandwiches on tiny buns, a delicious sour cream pound cake and dare I mention the butterscotch brownies?

This is my new best friend, Allison, the brains of the operation, along with her cousin/helper in the kitchen. Tell her I sent you, we've known each other a long time...like 5 minutes. But I think I can learn to love her...you will too, after you taste her delicious food! Here's her address, if you live in the area and need fabulous food for one of your fabulous events:

SHEFF'S

2251 Oak Street

Jacksonville, FL

904-387-9036

Now I'm off to bartend at baby shower my friend Suzy is hosting...that really doesn't sound right. Maybe it's a bridal shower. I'm not sure which it is, but I get to hang out at the bar, so I don't really care!

Riverside Arts Market, Jacksonville: Part I

You're acquainted with these two ladies...Ivy and Irene. Or is it Irene and Ivy? One is my mother-in-law, the other, her sister. I know who's who, but do you? I met them this morning, down at the Riverside Arts Market, a new "happening" here in Jacksonville. Today was the Grand Opening and boy, was it a huge success! Ivy is the unofficial mayor of this event. She knows every brick by name, every plant as it was planted. We checked on its progress at least twice a week and sometimes Ivy would sneak down there on her own, just to see what changes had occurred while she slept. It all takes place under the two bridges, complete with an open-air "theater."

Here is a lovely young woman, who's name escapes me. She makes extraordinary jewelery, tiny beads intricately woven into wonderful shapes and designs. She was very friendly and filled me in on the process of getting set up in the Market. She also has an Etsy store, lemongrove.etsy.com.

Here's another friend, I don't remember his name. Oh please, give me a break! I want to call him Clyde, I can't imagine why! He sells homemade cakes. What a smile! I couldn't resist him. He was as charming as his smile, I promise you that. Yummy cakes for sale, but all I could seem to focus on was his smile. Check out the sweet story of how this cake business came to be, right here.

OK. These are amazing soaps. And I did ask for a business card, but I don't think they had any. And the man was kind of grumpy, so I didn't take his picture. So there! That'll larn 'ya to be cranky with me! But the soaps were lovely.

So many, many people. So many, many dogs on leashes. Two twins. Two curious, lively & energetic twins. Need I even mention that we got separated? No, I didn't think there was a need for that...anyway, after searching high and low, I found the two darlings on a bench, eating some just-purchased English pasties and people-watching. I was tempted to sternly warn them about the dangers of walking away from my side, but they were so cute sitting there on the bench. So I sat with them and marveled at their treasures...

**Tomorrow, Part II of the Amazing Riverside Arts Market adventure.

mysterious contraption.

This is a familiar looking object, but I can't seem to remember what it's used for. Hmmmm...no wheels. No pedals. No engine. No steering wheel. Do you hang your damp clothes over it? Use it to hang clothes on? Stack boxes on it? What did you say? You walk on it?! At a high speed? C'mon, stop it! Why would I do that? WHAT?! Did you just say, "because you could use the exercise"???!!!!! You have some nerve, Reader-you! Humph!

work-out.

Do you know who this is? Of course you don't, so I'm going to tell you. This buff little lady is my mother-in-law, who is absolutely amazing. I am not allowed to tell you how old she is, but I will tell you that she once met Winston Churchhill's mother. We call this British little lady, "Granny." She is my motivation, my cheerleader and my friend. She also has an identical twin sister and they look identical! Imagine that!

We meet in a parking lot at 7:30 AM and walk about 2 miles till we get to the first bridge. This is where she starts chasing me up the bridge, yelling "move it, faster, girl!" Not really. But I know for a fact that she walks behind me, checking my butt to see if it looks any smaller. Really, she does. I'll put my hands over my posterior end and say, "stop checking me out!" We laugh. Then she says, "move it, missy!" No she doesn't really say that. She thinks it.

It was a cloudy day when I took this picture. It's taken from the second bridge of our workout. In the distance, you can see the first blue bridge we just came from. Granny allowed me to stop to take this picture, she thought it would be lovely for my blog. My break was up and she chased me down the bridge yelling, "run, girl, run!" No, she doesn't really yell at me on our walks, or ever. But Granny does want me to run. I told her that until the "little ladies" do some shrinking, running is just not in our plan. But you never know, one day I might be chasing Granny down the bridge yelling, "wait for me, Granny, you're going too fast!"