Private Caller

That's what the caller id said on the kitchen phone which rang while I was fixing my dinner. There was a baked potato in the oven, with green beans roasting alongside them on my favorite baking pan. The cast iron skillet was sizzling with a small rib eye. Answering in my most cranky voice because I thought it was a telemarketer, I heard a small, sweet voice say, "Gail?" Warily I replied, yes. It was then that I realized it wasn't a telemarketer at all, but Linda, a woman who bought one of my canvases at Baldwin Park. Hoping it wasn't a request to return the piece, I said Hi!

It wasn't long after that exchange that I had a big grin on my face. No, she wasn't calling about a return, what she was calling about is that she wanted to encourage me. Say what? Turns out, she found my blog a bit ago, began reading, and, dare I say, is now hooked? Thus, she knows all about my April struggles. By now, my dinner was finished cooking; I just put the skillet in the oven, keeping the door ajar, and we chatted. It turns out we have lots of things in common, one of which is we both experienced a weird illness. She's better now, although if you can imagine, she's thinner than I am. It was such a pleasure to have a random phone call. Claiming she wouldn't know how to comment online, she decided to not keep her thoughts private at all, for which I was very, very grateful. Hurray for nice folks. :)

Bruce called while we were chatting and I returned his call just as soon as we'd finished. You'll be pleased to know that the inspection in Hanover went very well. You expected that didn't you? Me too, although you could never convince Bruce! Today it's on to the Boston area before he returns tomorrow evening. Hurray again!

Before I go any further with my ramblings, I wanted to update you on a few things. Corrine is improving, with the preliminary tests disproving my worries. As to the ladybugs, I'm not seeing any on the bushes, however, the aphids are not getting any worse, so it must be working. While I'm on the subject of plants, over the last couple of years our sago palm has suffered from a scale problem. Somewhere I read that if you put coffee grounds under the plant it will kill the scale. I did just that and it worked! Our triple-headed palm has never looked better. Again, on the plant front, I just adore trumpet flowers, don't you?

How about this hibiscus? The moment I saw it, I fell in love. The color is SO rich.

 Here's my one and only tomato.

I think the photograph makes it look larger than it is. Please, please creatures, do not eat this before we can!

This week at the Polasek the annual "Paint Out" is happening. It's a great event with free admission and painting demonstrations every morning. Yesterday there were maybe six painters on the property making art. Although I bought a piece last year, I'm trying to hold off this year because we need to save money for our trip to LONDON! I told you about the concert and play, now Matt is suggesting I might want to do this. You bet I want to do that! My customers will undoubtedly thank Matt for the idea.

On my way to the museum yesterday I saw something for the first time. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I cannot believe the audacity of some people. It may be hard to describe this, but I'll try. Orlando folks will get it. I was at the intersection of Mills and Colonial, the first car stopped for the light. Right in front of my eyes, a crummy little car rear-ended a car in the middle of the intersection. Not a bad crash, but a crash nonetheless. Something fell off the car that was hit. To my astonishment, the offending car went a few feet, did a U-turn in the middle of traffic and sped the other way. The nerve of some people! Good grief. Anymore, with people texting while driving on the interstate, hit and runs, and pedestrians jaywalking in the middle of six lane highways, it's murder on the roads. No pun intended.

Because I was already dressed nicely, I decided to go to Florida Mall to return a few things to Banana Republic. Upon my return, the little girl I told you about from down the street was walking with her Mother. She immediately wanted to play with Baxter and come in to look around. Having a little experience in this department, I've no doubt she's gifted. Call me a snob, but I like to be around gifted children with their insatiable curiosity. She claimed she hadn't seen the whole house on her last visit so I brought them into the office. You know what's coming don't you? Yes, let's do a little photo session why don't we?

Adorable, right? That wonderful perfect skin! Here's a funny one with her mom, Francis.

I can see that there's all kind of fun ahead taking photos of Meghan.

Francis and Meghan arrived in our neighborhood via Match.com. Increasingly I'm hearing of people hooking up online. In fact, our next door neighbor Eli married for the first time about a month ago. I'd seen his girlfriend sporadically over the last year, never really knowing what the scoop was. I talked to her last week and it turns out she lived in Ft. Lauderdale, met Eli online, and was lucky enough to get a transfer to Orlando. No wonder he spiffed up his house!

Today is lawn care day although at the moment it looks like rain. Better get out there.....