A tribute to a Heroic Dog

Our Tybee friends Dave and Sandi shared some sad news with us. Dave's guide dog Acme was put to rest because of rapidly developing very bad health. Dave and Sandi are very eloquent in their public and private lives and here is what they shared with us about Acme.

"A proud and sad day was experienced in the Postle household today. We had to put Acme to rest because of rapidly developing poor health. A proud day because of his 10 1/2 years of flawless service; a sad day because he will only be with us in memory.

The first day I brought him home from Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, California, on August 16, 1998, we took him to a large store in Springfield, Illinois. Acme was energetically leading me down a main aisle with Sandi at my side. As we reached an aisle intersection an older couple shopping to our right, noticed him and the woman said with some fervor, "Oh, Fred. Look at that gorgeous animal!" I replied without hesitation, "Thank you, Ma'am and what do you think of my dog?" Her response just as quick was, "Men!!!".

Wanting to show him off to Sandi, we went into the center court of the mall and I told Sandi to watch what Acme does in taking me to an elevator. I asked him to do so, he not only took me to the elevator, but took me to the side where the push buttons were located. What a dog!

On at least three occasions Acme drug me out of the path of three left turning vehicles, one in California, one in Springfield, IL and one on Tybee Island.

Once again, What a dog!

For these deeds he received the Georgia Hero Dog of the Year award in the spring of 2005 from the Georgia Veterinary Medical Association.

Sandi and I believe that God made some angels with four paws and I believe that Acme ranks right up there with Gabriel. After all his name, Acme, means "top-most, pinnacle or best".

Lord, he will be missed. "

Dave and Sandi, our thoughts are with you all, we know what a once in a life time dog this was for you...

Sea Turtles and Mermaids!

What a great Saturday morning! Mary Lou, Judy, Patrice, Caroline, Matt and even Carson joined me for the 5K walk/ run on the beach for the Tybee Turtle Trot. Then we all watched 4 rehabbed turtles be returned to the ocean. 2 Loggerheads and 2 green turtles swam out to the ocean after their stint at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center . The first loggerhead needed some help, he wasn't so sure he wanted to leave the care of his wonderful humans, but with some encouragement, he did swim off. Our own Tina Gann who owns Caretta Cottage ( latin for sea turtle) was one of the people who carried the first turtle to the edge of the ocean. Tina had a pretty darn great day on Saturday! We think Carson was the littlest runner in the race, even if mom pushed him in the stroller! We hope to have a much larger group of Mermaids running/ walking next year so start training now to join us!

Dutton Waller Cottage- Southern Living's Kitchen of the month!

We are so honored!!! Dutton Waller Cottage ( http://www.duttonwallercottage.com/) and her kitchen was featured in the April 2009 issue Kitchen of the Month. The story ran in the magazine as well as http://www.southernliving.com/ Thank you to our friends with Southern Living!

5th Annual Tybee Turtle Trot on Saturday April 25th!

We at Mermaid Cottages love our Tybee Sea Turtles!

Hopefully you'll join us for not only the 5K walk/ run on the beach on Saturday and then stick around for the release of two rehabbed Sea Turtles from the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. You can still sign up - just be at the Marine Science Center by 7:30AM ( see details below!)

For details about the two turtles being released on the beach following the walk/run visit http://www.georgiaseaturtle.org/ and then go to the "our patients" page. Blizzard and Snowball's stories are told here.

Who: Tybee Island Marine Science Center
What: Tybee Turtle Trot - 5k run/walk and release of two Loggerhead
Sea Turtles (Blizzard and Snowball) by the Georgia Sea Turtle Center
When: Saturday, April 25th, registration starts at 7 a.m., race starts
at 8 a.m., and sea turtle release is at 10 a.m.
Where: Registration is in front of the science center, 1509 Strand
Avenue on Tybee Island
Why: Fund raiser for the Tybee Sea Turtle Project and kick-off for the
2009 sea turtle nesting season

Contact: Maria Procopio
Executive Director
Tybee Island Marine Science Center
PO Box 1879, 1509 Strand Avenue
Tybee Island, GA 13328
912-272-5008 Maria@TybeeMarineScience.org

Guide Dog Puppy High Drama!!!

Those of you who don't believe or practise "social networking" need to read this story. And those of you who are addicted to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter- pat yourself on the back.

One of my Marriott friends, Sandy , who lives in Orlando and is now raising her 5th guide dog puppy called me this morning very worried. A guide dog puppy from the school we both work with- Guide Dog Foundation- was involved in a car accident and was lost in the streets of downtown Savannah. She asked me if I could call any of my pet rescue friends and I immediately called Lisa Scarborough, founder of Coastal Pet Rescue www.coastalpetrescue.org Lisa was already all over this- she not only had the story on her Facebook page, but had also "twittered", had contacted WTOC who ran the story last night on TV and then posted the story on their website www.wtoc.com, who then contacted the folks at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf Tournament in case they had seen the puppy ( who was supposedly been seen there) the connections just go on and on.

GOOD NEWS! The puppy has been found! Read the story below and thank you to all of you who twittered, facebooked and helped find this puppy!
"Missing guide dog found and re-united
('Wednesday, April 22, 2009 2:13 PM EST', '', true);
Apr 22, 2009 2:13 PM EDT

By Christy Hutchings - bio email
SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - The search for Ronin, a 14-week-old black lab and guide dog in training, is over. Ronin was re-united with the Guide Dog Foundation at the Christian Revival Center on 37th and Bull Streets thanks to Latoya Jones.
Latoya Jones found Ronin early Tuesday morning when the dog started following her. She took him home and Wednesday morning saw the story on WTOC. Wednesday afternoon she contacted the Guide Dog Foundation.
Ronin was lost when his caretaker was involved in an overnight with an accident on Montgomery Street and I-16. She was taken to the hospital, with non-life threatening injuries, Tuesday morning after being hit by a box truck while trying to cross the street. See: Accident sends pedestrian to hospital.
Witnesses say they saw Ronin running from the scene."

Walking with Ruby

On Saturday I was one of 3,000 fellow walkers who showed up for Savannah's first ever Susan G.Koman Breast Cancer walk. A glorious day in downtown Historic Savannah- blue skies, sunshine , no humidity and thousands of like minded people of all ages, sizes , shapes and physical condition. We began the race right in front of the beautiful Telfair Museum/ Jepson Center with Paula Deen kicking off the race. What a cheerful voice she has! When she yelled out Good Morning Savannah, we ALL yelled right back Good Morning! The walk took us through several of the Savannah Squares , weaving in and out of the streets, admiring the scenery and really proud of ourselves just to be all together and working to raise money so we can finally cure breast cancer in our life times.

Equally as inspiring was meeting Ruby. As a fan of several reality TV shows, I'd seen this great show last year and was THRILLED to literally look over to my left before the race began and there stood Ruby!!! Ruby is a Savannah woman who is on a huge weight loss journey- she's lost over half her body weight, but in the past year of the show, has lost over 100 pounds. Yesterday the My Style TV crew was there to film this year's season opener with Ruby walking her 1st ever 5K event. Ruby is beautiful, both inside and out and was so delighted that so many people recognized her and were coming over to meet her. She gave us all hugs, thanked us for all our good words and thoughts. She was surrounded by a number of women of all shapes and sizes there to also walk their first 5K and support ridding the world of Breast Cancer. After I finished the walk, I stayed around to be part of the crowd cheering Ruby on when she walked over the finish line. The roar was tremendous!! Visit her website to learn more about Ruby and her journey and let's keep supporting our local friends!

http://www.mystyle.com/mystyle/shows/ruby/index.jsp

I walked yesterday to honor my Mom who has now passed her 5 year mark as a Breast Cancer survivor and I walked to keep the research moving forward so we never have to keep dealing with this disease. Thank you to all of you who were out there walking and those of you who were supporting us all!

Mermaid Sighting!

I love this!!! Keep sending me your mermaid sightings! Here in her own words from one of our guests ...

"Hi Mrs. Diane! My husband and I honeymooned in the Mess Hall October 2008 and I have been following your blog ever since! I wish we could MOVE to Tybee! I am so inspired there, to paint and write and make things! Most of all, I wanted to contribute a mermaid sighting! My sister and I were in Jensen Beach, FL last week and I saw this really wonderful mermaid! I think, like you're sand sculpture, that it was meant to be a sea horse, but its a mermaid to me! Hope you enjoy this, and we hope to get back to Tybee ASAP!

Love you guys!

Love Always, Melissa Sherbon"

Prom Season is here....

We all want a man like my 18 year old nephew Ryan. Ryan is a true "guy"- he plays three sports in high school, doesn't talk a whole lot, but knows what's important in life. And even more important- knows the way to a woman's heart! This is what he thought up all by himself to ask his girlfriend to the Senior Prom! He took balloons and wrote "Wanna go to the prom with me"

Rachel being a very smart young lady wrote on a balloon - YES!!! Good decision young lady! Men like Ryan don't come around very often!!!

Respecting us Middle Aged Mermaids

I know I"m middle aged- 53 years old in anyone's books is middle aged. I went thru my closet recently and decided I needed some new clothes - not to be younger, but to be wearing something other then yoga clothes or shorts and a Tybee Bomb Squad Baseball Cap... I'm not sure what I"m going to start wearing, but I really decided I needed to spend some money on clothes.. I also have been looking at myself in the mirror and realized that despite taking good care of myself, my I do look middle aged. It's just how life is- you reach a certain time in your life where you're not young any longer.... When I was on Anna Maria Island I came across an artist who billed herself as a "Middle Aged Mermaid Artist" and I thought - yep- that's me- I too am a middle aged mermaid.

Then the 47 year old Susan Boyle came onto the world stage. In the past 24 hours, I've received from my sister the YouTube video , heard her on everything from The Today Show, NBC Nightly News and just now Larry King on CNN. There have been over 13 Million hits on the YouTube Video. She is everywhere... But you have to listen to her speak, not just sing. When she was interviewed today by Matt Lauer, she says that she knew she had talent, but just never had a chance to show the world what she had. "I just kept going because that's what you do in life. You don't give up, you just keep moving forward." Then tonight when Larry King asked her if she was going to change her looks- she replied- "Why should I? This is who I am!"

I, like the rest of the world, have a huge grin on my face hearing her sing, hearing her self confidence and best of all, knowing her middle aged life is becoming all she has ever wanted.

I've also decided what's wrong with wearing only yoga clothes, shorts and a baseball cap! I bet most working adults wish this is how they too could conduct business every day! Thank you Susan Boyle for reminding me to watch out world for us middle aged mermaids!

Take a few mintues and listen to this incredible YouTube clip of Susan...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z0h1NNk1Ik&feature=related

Things found on the beach on Tybee

The Beach of Tybee is so amazing! Look at all these fun things I saw on the beach today. These funny seagulls have little black tuffs on their heads. I know they are migrating North or South- maybe they are here for the winter and heading North sometime soon. I took a picture of this sand sculpture because I thought it was a Mermaid. But the more I look at it, I think it's actually a sea horse. And of course beach bikes with fat tires. I love having these bikes to ride all over the island, but especially on the beach. Big tires, big seats and a bike basket to hold your treasures!

1st Annual Tee'd Off Mini Golf Tournament

In honor of the Masters and to help our friend Hallie raise money for her Leukemia Team in Training, Mermaid Cottages was a sponsor in the recent Miniature Golf Tournament. What fun! Playing in the tournament was Daughter Katie, myself and our friend Susan. The course we played with the Island Miniature Golf Course right on Highway 80 right before you get to the Bull River Bridge heading off to Tybee. Great mini golf course and run by very nice people. Highly recommend when you need a break from the beach.

Hallie's walking to raise money in her first Marathon in a few weeks and we're happy to support her. Good Luck Hallie! We're cheering you on!

Danny is so in the dog house!! He ate the Peeps!

Danny the cupcake eating dog has added new things to be eating that he shouldn't. On Saturday he screwed up not once but twice!!!!!

He began the day as his lovable self ( and he truly is a loving dog). I had baked one of my sour cream peach pound cakes for the Bark Park Raffle at Seaside Sisters. Was running behind because it's such a busy Saturday for us and left the cake on the counter to cool. I thought I'd adhered to the 12" counter rule ( he can't get his paws past 12 inches on the counter.) but I was off by a few inches. Turned my back to do something else and sure enough that darn dog got up on the counter and within 30 seconds ate half that cake... Even though the raffle was a fundraiser for the dog parks, I didn't think that even major dog lovers could go for a half eaten cake by a dog.

But Danny's day wasn't done yet. I made a gorgeous coconut cake for Easter Brunch and some killer brownies for another Easter gathering ( who knew Easter was such a social event). Since it's Easter, then Peeps needed to be part of the decoration. I had waited till the last minute to buy my Peeps and only found some green bunnies and pink chicks at Publix- knew I waited too long! Guess who else was buying her Peeps today- Paula Deen and Michael! This is the second time in three years I've been buying my Easter candies the exact same time and place as Paula. Two years ago she was buying all her Easter candies at Wal-Mart when I was! She was in her celebrity disguise today, baseball hat and large sun glasses, but Michael was just himself so of course we all recognized her.

Back to Danny- I took Max outside to do his business and Danny wouldn't go which was unusual. He'd been watching me in the kitchen all evening and sure enough, when I took Max out, Danny got up on the counter and ate several of the Peeps from the box... When I came back inside, he was looking at me with green and pink sugar all over his muzzle... guilty didn't began to describe the look on his dog face. Or maybe it was just the sugar buzz from eating pure sugar bunnies and chicks.

Then I got on line and my sister had sent me this great photography contest- submit your pictures of your Peeps and places they have gone! I' m going to send in this picture of Danny and his remaining Peeps friends and tell his story. Danny the Peeps eating dog....

These are pictures of the Coconut Cake with Peeps. If you look carefully at the one picture , you can just see Danny's face peering up from the floor eyeing those Peeps.... To add to how funny all this is, I just opened my Easter Goodie Box from my sister and the card was this yellow lab dressed like an Easter Bunny talking about eating off the counter! Good job sissie! The other picture shows Danny and Max both eyeing the remaining Peeps in the box.

Check out this fun website on the traveling Peeps and if any of you are traveling with your Peeps this summer, send the pictures to me and we'll post them. Peeps on the beach, beach staying in a Mermaid Cottage, Peeps going to Seaside Sisters, Peeps buying shrimp.... the possibilities are endless!

http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2009/04/peeptastic.html

MBWA

When I was with Marriott , one of the things both Mr. Marriott Senior and the current Mr. Marriott always preached was MBWA : Management by walking around. They truly believed that the best hotel General Managers did not sit in their offices, but walked around the hotel seeing what the guests and the associates were doing. You can't manage your business from behind a closed door.

My Tybee version is to walk the dogs around the island around 6PM every day. It's amazing the people you see and the things you experience at this time of the day. Partly it's because the folks are coming off the beach, heading to dinner or just relaxing and walking themselves.

Here's all the things that happened to me today on my 6PM walk around the island.

• Espy found his bike! Thanks to everyone's assistance, the bike was found on South Campbell fully intact. He was riding his bike around happy as can be. He thanks everyone on the island for their help and in his words " This is why I love Tybee!"


• I talked to three separate groups of first time visitors and gave them suggestions on places to go and eat on the island. Also gave them Mermaid Cottages website so they can stay with us next visit. Wisconsin and Ohio visitors here on their first trip. They loved getting to hear the "local" feedback.


• Saw some of my wonderful team who had finished a great day of work. Everyone is so happy to be back working again after a quiet winter. We love our visitors and so glad season is here!


• Saw the beautiful brand new landscaping of the newest Mermaid Cottage- Breeze Inn... stay tuned for the pictures and details on this amazing newly restored beach cottage... Kelly our organic gardener created magic yet again!

Whee! All this happening in a 50 minute walk!

My stay at a1950's Classic Motel in Anna Maria Island

Our road trip up the west coast of Florida heading home included staying at a totally 1950's beach motel. For those of you who know Anna Maria Island, we stayed right by the Rod and Reel Restaurant which sits directly on the fishing pier and you literally eat sitting over the Gulf.

Our little motel was as classic as it comes, including the shuffle board court. Because this was a working trip for me, I needed to stay in touch and continue working on line for much of the day. Even though the motel had "wifi" the wifi could only be picked up if you sat right in the little gazebo outside the office. So there I sat, working in the gazebo with my lap top and cell phone. The view was quite amazing, looking past the shuffle board court to the blue Gulf .

We also ate a few meals at the Rod and Reel- I had a brand new culinary experience- Grouper Reuben Sandwich! Fresh Grouper with all the fixin's of a traditional Reuben! Yum!!! Great to experience a new place, but glad to be home!

These are a few of my favorite things....Cottages and Trees

What's not to like! Trees and adorable cottages from Florida's Gulf Coast Sea Islands. On the way back home to Tybee last week, Mom and I stopped at not one but two islands. Boca Grande and Anna Maria Island. Look at these pictures from our road trip. Life is good...

Another Book Signing at Seaside Sisters!

We had a wonderful book signing a few weeks ago- Polly Powers Stramm and Janice Shay have written a book celebrating St Patrick's Day in Savannah . And of course Janice is one of our favorite writers having written the luscious cook book on desserts in Savannah ( yes, the sour cream peach pound cake can be found there....) In addition to the book signings, we started our weekly raffle drawing for a home made sour cream peach pound cake as a fund raiser for the Tybee Bark Park. We raised $11 the first week, but then raised almost $30 the following week!

Tomorrow- Saturday April 11th is yet another book signing with our all time favorite- Mary Kay Andrews. She'll be at the shop and signing books from 11AM- 1PM. You can always visit her blog www.marykayandrews.com to see more details on the event. And yes, there will be another sour cream peach pound cake to be raffled off! Only $1.00 buys you a chance!

PS- these bike riders were some visitors who have learned the Tybee way of getting around- your bike can take you anywhere you'd like to go!

Espy's Bike has been stolen!

This is why we live on a small island. Most of the time, we have each other's backs.

One of our favorite chef's - Espy from the Hunter House had his bike stolen from the YMCA yesterday. Full blown alert on the Tybee Coconut Telegraph ( thank you Sundi and the Tybee Breeze!) and everyone is looking for this bike including Crime Stoppers! If anyone has seen this bike, please call Crime Stoppers 912 234- 2020 - a reward will be paid to any tips leading to the discovery of the bike.

Be on the alert and let's find his bike! He's been riding that bike for years all over the island and we need him back on the streets!

Mermaid Sightings

I'm on my last trip of the spring- bringing mom back home to Berkeley Springs from Florida. We stopped along the way and visited Anna Maria Island, Florida. Very much like Tybee but with that "old Florida" feeling. Here are some Mermaid Sightings from the island! More to come on the visit in future blogs.

Spring has come to Tybee!

The flowers are blooming all over the island! The azalea's are glorious in their color! Whites, pinks, corals everywhere!!!

Doodlebug Cottage and Tybee Tides sit side by side on Venetian Drive and have blooming color on all sides. Enjoy!

Tybee's Shop Hop was a huge sucess!

Susan Kelleher of Seaside Sisters created yet another spectacular event on Saturday! The first annual Shop Hop was all over the island including Seaside Sisters. We were lucky enough to feature two of our artists- Pam Martin and Sara Tetley. Pam brought yet another of her fully restored and totally "Pam" decorated Vintage Trailers. This one is all done up in Pink and was in her full spring glory.

Sara flew all the way in from St Louis for her first showing of her new beach house original art. We have both originals and prints available at the shop and of course she will always create a custom picture of your own beach cottage.

Fun, fun day!!!