Good Morning

I'm up super early, as in a little before 5:00. Of course, that can happen if you go to bed at 9:00, right?

Forgive me for backing up but we've got some catching up to do. It's the time of the year when it seems my brain is on overdrive thinking of things to photograph, either in a new light, or entirely new. Plus, there are the markets which provide an endless variety of subject matter. For the most part, all of the photos of the folks visiting the market are candid, however, on occasion I see something that is so perfect, particularly where children are concerned, that I ask permission. In this case, the little girl posed for me with her mother looking on with a big smile on her face.

According to her Mom, she wanted to bring the little basket to the market for shopping. She should be the poster child for the market with her sweet smile!! I was chatting with someone when I saw her, excused myself quickly, and got the shot. Seriously sweet.

Another woman I've become friends with is from an old Winter Garden citrus family. Their oranges, from both Winter Garden and near Vero Beach, are mostly sold for juice to a brand located in Lake Wales called Florida's Natural. Closer to home, as on her property, they grow pomelos, a citrus fruit for SE Asia. I finally tried one on Saturday and they are good. Big too.

As in, nearly twice the size of a grapefruit, which from what I've heard, is a descendant of the pomelo. (The link will be blank today as Wikipedia has gone black to protest legislation before Congress. I left it because I thought perhaps you might want to see the protest.)  I thought the contrasts of colors, not to mention textures, made this an awesome photo on the fly.

Friday was a busy day around here, with my prints finally ready. Oh my, there are a bunch. In the last two weeks I've sold 47 prints, so although this looks and sounds like too many, these should last me for a month at that rate.

Maureen graciously offered to help me--I'm no fool, come on over!! And she did, putting the stickers on all 100 of them. This may not sound like much, but believe me, with two stickers on the back of each print, it's an enormous help. Now, if only I can get them all signed.....

After the delicious meal at Armando's, I was anxious for Bruce to try the place. I'm not sure if I can write this properly but I'm going to try because it was such a crazy experience. I mentioned the service was abysmal on our previous visit. Well, this time as we entered the crazy busy space, a hostess came right up to us saying the only seats were at the bar. Before we had time to agree to that, a server came up to Bruce, saying with a very straight face, "You're not welcome here." As you can imagine Bruce was flabbergasted to say the least. In fact, he was tongue tied! Immediately, after gauging his reaction, the server said, "That man over there said so." Good one Steve Vaughn! A friend of ours pulled a pretty impressive practical joke on the fly wouldn't you say? After visiting with Steve, Kirsten and her sister Bee (remember them from the after Christmas party?), we made our way to the bar with Kimberly as our server. She was a delight, the food was delicious; what can I say, aside from the joke, it was perfect. Of course without the joke the story wouldn't be half as good. This was the first that we'd seen a person with a light attached to their glasses to read the menu.

You see the guy in the red shirt? Very interesting. The standing server in the white shirt was the deliverer of the joke. Further, the man seated to my right at the bar lives in David's condo complex and knows the twins quite well. A very small world we live in.

You saw the tree yesterday, as well as some leaves on the ground, but what you haven't seen is them in water with rain drops.

We had a super windy day recently which blew the leaves from the far side yard to the front side yard, landing in the birdbath. Speaking of which, I'm sad to say, rarely has the bath seen action. But when it does, I sure hope I can get a photo of the occasion!

I also took Baxter back to the park the other day for an afternoon walk. He goes pretty nuts when we pull up, whimpering to get out of the car. Spanish moss, remember how we talked about it spreading? The cypress trees near the lake are filled with it!

Pretty dramatic huh? Made even more so after the needles have fallen. The roses were looking spectacular in the mild weather.

The lake in the background was sparkling in the mid-day sun as if it were full of diamonds. Lovely.

Returning home I made some afternoon tea. Not just any tea mind you, but tea straight from London via Tom. Of course I couldn't just drink it, I tried out different still lifes using the clear cup Matt gave me a few years ago for my birthday.

Recognize the fabric? Liberty. Look closely and you may notice the individual tea leaves. You can't do that with most of the tea I buy. Pulverized tea leaves mostly. Bruce, staying within our Christmas budget, also bought me tea from Teavana called Golden Monkey. Despite the name Golden, it is a black tea with a very mild taste. The boys are spoiling me!

Not to leave the Sunday market out of the blog, it was chilly and sunny and crowded! There were the usual abundance of dogs, including this one my friend Kathy is admiring. Too funny that they match! What, pray tell, is the owner thinking putting a tutu on a dog? Make them stop!!!

Always willing to keep an eye on my booth when I take a bathroom run, my days at the market would not be nearly as nice without Kathy as my neighbor. Plus, they sell fantastic plants. A week ago she mentioned one of her Golden Retrievers was very sick, and in fact, she had to be put down last Monday. Kathy loves the dogs at the market like I love all the little children. It was not a good week for my friend. Nugget was her name.

Daylight is approaching which will allow me to work on the project I'll reveal tomorrow. Food, paint--right on.

Always busy,
Gail