Flowering Trees

Living in Florida is great for many reasons, one of which is the year long presence of flowers of one kind, or another. I know devotees of Northern living think we have no spring here but they are wrong. One of the first signs are the flowering trees and in particular tabebuia trees which come in both a brilliant yellow, almost like French's mustard, and a beautiful soft shade of pink.

While visiting my dear neighbor Regina Monday morning to revel in the beauty of her tree, we were treated to something more than just the tree. While chatting I noticed a bird fly into the upper branches of the tree which immediately sent us outside for a closer look. Unfortunately I had the Nikon with me, and although I had the zoom lens attached, it was no match for the height of this beautiful bird. I returned this morning with my Panasonic, which has twice as much zoom, hoping for another sighting, but no such luck. It is almost hard to see the bird for the flowers, but I think it is pretty nonetheless. Regina got out her bird book, then with a little sleuthing online decided it was an Orchard Oriole, which neither of us has ever seen. I can't claim to know to much about birds but Regina seems to know something about everything. We've decided it was a rare treat because they are seldom seen in Florida. To tell you the truth, it was pretty exciting.

As you can imagine when I'm driving places my eyes are darting to and fro looking for interesting things and often color is what attracts my attention. As such I was driving home from someplace (you know my memory!) and the sight of a flowering dogwood caught my eye. I know some places have loads of them but around here it is an uncommon sight, enough to make me park the car to get a closer look. What a beautiful tree! It was in the park next to Boone High School, a place that all of the Peck family spent some time, some of it happy time, some not so much. That's a story for another day. Anyway, the park is filled with gigantic pine trees so this beauty is a real stand out.

Sadly the blooms are such short timers so one must photograph them immediately upon sighting!

About half a mile from the house, on the way to Publix, a woman sells orchids from her garage. Although her yard is not particularly neat she seems to be able to grow unusual plants and trees. I saw that beautiful Confederate Rose I shared with you months ago in her yard. Right now she has what I'm thinking is a cherry blossom tree. I don't know this for sure but that's what I think it is. Flowering trees present a problem for amateur photographers like myself. Do you show the whole tree along with houses and power lines, or do you concentrate on the flowers? In this one it is sort of a two for one. In the foreground the cherry tree, in the background a blurred image of the pink tabebuia tree.

So it most definitely is spring here, in fact, one might argue today feels like summer because it is 81 degrees as I type this at 6 PM! The humidity remains pretty low though making it nice. This Saturday we return to Baldwin Park for another art show. I like that it is only one day, this way if people want to come they know not to put it off until Sunday. This means I'll be skipping my Whole Foods gig. Furthermore, it means our dear Bruce has his work cut out for this weekend. Fortunately his work load has diminished greatly so I don't feel so bad. We plan to go downtown on Sunday. Weather predictions for the weekend are for sunny skies and warm weather, a perfect combination. Notice I didn't say hot, that is for August when it is not nearly so nice to live in Florida!

If anyone knows how to turn a Nano off I'd like to know please. I love being able to listen to it in the car but I've not figured out how to turn it off. Thus, after only a few errands the battery runs out. We bought that car charger to take care of the charging, however, I'd rather know how to shut if off so I can listen to it for a week at a time. I've mentioned that I am hearing songs I'd never heard before and this week on the way to the museum I was treated to the song below from one of Alissa's favorite bands. Excellent song.

Maureen is still looking for work. Suggestions anyone?

Frankly, I don't understand how I'm still doing well. On Sunday I sold many small pieces that added up to an excellent total. When Bruce added it up I asked him to do it again because I couldn't believe it. Maybe people are spending small amounts of money to decorate what they have rather than move? Whatever the case I am grateful.

What I'm most grateful for these days however is that all of the Peck men are employed. It is getting ugly out there. Although both Dave and Bill's jobs are stressful, at least they are working unlike so many people. This time will be such a learning experience for young people that will influence them for the rest of their lives. I imagine my frugality bumped up a notch or two because we had Jonathan in the midst of the worst recession in modern times. This one seems to be going in that direction, but I'm heartened to know that if Gail and Bruce could raise four children during hard times, it can be done. I only hope that the pain will come to end soon.
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Listening to: The Charlatans - And If I Fall
via FoxyTunes

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Listening to: The Charlatans - Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over
via FoxyTunes