dogs out for the sunny day

 The weather here is warm and sunny and pretty today....."everybody and their dog" is OUT! lol

I thought this dog was a STATUE when I first saw it! LOL

Sitting pretty!

This sweet doggie was peeking through the gate!

"hello.....come over here and pet me!" LOL

This big magnificent dog was sitting in a jeep, waiting for his person to come out of the grocery

this dog was enjoying a warm day out by the water

.....and this dog peeked at me through the porch.

dogs on walks and dogs on RIDES in baskets!

....and on golf carts!

And plenty of dogs peeking out of car windows!

gorgeous face!!

Charleston is a dog friendly city, and I love getting to see them all out enjoying their day!

Mepkin Abbey

 

We went to visit an Abbey.

It's 3,000 acres, and way out in the country. The land was originally granted in 1681 to the sons of Sir John Colleton. By the eighteenth century, it had become a big rice plantation  of Henry Laurens. He was President of the Continental Congress way back during the Revolutionary War.

This is now the home of  a community of Roman Catholic monks. They live here and work the land here on three old plantations,-- Mepkin, Clermont, and Washington.

These carvings are made out of fallen live oak trees from Hurricane Hugo, 1989.

and there are statues:

Lots of statues and big old trees

peaceful sunshine along the river

Many flower remembrances left on this wall.

It was a very interesting place to visit!

Hearts and candy

 the day before Valentines day, I took my doll Tracie out to make pictures. It was cold and windy!

the red shawl was my Mom's, so I love wearing it

I always have fun making pictures of my dolls!

pretty red cyclamen in full bloom

Tracie Gale--perched up on a wall

Valentines day was WET, DRIZZLY, COLD, DREARY! LOL

well, we weren't going to let THAT spoil our day! LOL

lots of puddles........

Mr. Front Porch gave me two dozen of my most favorite cookies! And pretty cards---with summer seeds tucked inside.

my favorite candies!

..........and a big bouquet of cheery red balloons!

Valentines the girls made for their Daddy!:

Bindie Jolene and Tammie Jayne

(below)--the back of the cards

Around here, even THE DOLLS get valentines! LOL

Here's Tansy with hers:

and here's Tracie showing hers off:

their valentine greetings were from Tracie's identical twin cousin, who lives in Florida!

I decorated our fireplace  mantel with these sweet little Victorian cards

sweet shoes for my dolls!--these sweet "little girl" shoes for Tracie, and tiny blue high heels for Tansy!--(because you know---Tansy is "sophisticated" ha ha LOL

I got books for Valentines day! These look good, can't wait to start them! There are a couple of more as well, they have not arrived yet.

Mr. Front Porch also found this old vintage Raggedy Ann and Andy book:

It has pretty illustrations:

I love the old fashioned Raggedy Ann dolls ( I have a small collection of them), and made sure Fairy Granddaughter has one too.

Then, out of the blue, these four books arrived. They were a late Christmas present from a dear friend and were totally un-expected and I was so excited to receive them!--I have plenty of books to read all Spring now!

Valentine goodies for Fairy Granddaughter:

a pretty Valentine dress, with lots of red velvet, red satin, and fluffy, swishy skirt layers

..............and...........SPARKLES! LOL

the picture below of the lace makes the dress look light blue--this is the actual color--a deep sapphire blue

the sparkly lace

fun socks! "embroidered" up the sides

Valentines and a fun spring gardening book:

Some American Girl books:

Here I was trying to "roll" these fluffy dresses with the net crinoline type underskirts---to fit them into the box! ha ha LOL.

I didn't make pictures, but Mr. Front Porch made us a delicious supper on the grill, outside on a rainy night. He made steaks and smoked salmon and baked "taters". We had that good Biltmore Vanilla Cheesecake for dessert. It was all so GOOD! I was stuffed, and he made alot extra, so we had plenty of left-overs for two more nights!

It truly was a lovely Valentines Day. Rain and all.