Thursday, February 7, 2013

Out & About With Gail

During our conversation last evening Bruce asked me what I did all day. A good question for sure. Thinking that I'd tackled the stack of prints to be signed, he was all ready to congratulate me on getting them done when I had to admit that they are still on my work table. Soon, very soon. Instead I had some adventures, well to me at least. Nothing like this little note from Matthew:

Hey Mom
I started today taking photos on the beach, took a yoga class, then we had some late breakfast.
We then went to see some elephants, and I rode on one. After that we went and swam in the sea.
So all in all a pretty good day :)
M x

After reading that, my adventures seriously pale, nonetheless they are mine, and if you keep reading I'll take you along, or at least vicariously!
Yeah--my lunch yesterday afternoon! Bread baking on Tuesday afternoon with my new mixer. Do you think this is what they mean when the recipe calls for beating until the dough clings to the hook?
This time I added a bit more flour AND followed directions on how to form the loaf. Still, the mound wasn't perfect, but I just might be improving.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. After writing yesterday morning, I had some breakfast in the sunroom, although at that time of the day, the sun was nowhere to be found. As I was eating, a poor little birdie flew into one of the windows!!
I'm pretty sure this is the female red-winged blackbird who still has a seed in her mouth! Before you get all upset, I'll tell you immediately that after about five minutes or so, she took off again. Whew!

Off on my bike ride next to check for eagles. No dice, but I did see a pretty huge Osprey in the bare tree.
Yesterday morning's red sky never produced any rain, however, it did signal a gray day. While walking towards the fence, actually trespassing, the woman who lives in the house with the dead pine came to visit with me. Her name is Becky and she was a fountain of information regarding the eagles!
Although she was on her way to work, she took the time to tell me about the eagles habits, claiming that they would be nowhere in sight or the osprey would not be in the tree. Apparently, osprey and eagles do not get along. :) Furthermore, she explained that once an eagle nests in a tree, it dies, so rather than take the dead one down, they leave it to preserve their other trees. All very interesting. Next time she told me to get right up to the fence if you like, and knowing me, you already know I'll do just that!

Do you remember how early last year the impatiens were taken off the market because of a fungus? Well, it must have been about November when they resurfaced at Lowes. Buying a tray of them, in the bargain area, I planted them under the Nuttery.
That would be on the right bed in this photograph during yesterday's sunrise. Well, for a time they were great, adding lovely color to the bed. And then they died. Just like that. It was as if they melted or something. Anyway, I took a trip to Lowes for something new. While there I saw this lovely basket of pansies.
The color combination was so beautiful! I did not buy pictured basket, but I did buy a few other things. Sadly, the bargain area was mostly bare. I can't remember the last time I paid full price, but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do!

While talking to Becky she mentioned I have a good camera, and I do, but the zoom is nowhere near as long as needed for bird shots way up in a tree! Recently a friend mentioned pawn shops were a good place to get camera equipment, so asking Siri for a pawn shop, "she" replied, "There are 12 pawn shops fairly close to you." Good grief! Tells you what this part of town is like! I'd been told that Cash America was the place to go. Just down 436, I went into a pawn shop for maybe the second time in my life.
It was clean, neat, and overpriced. Next door was "La Familia" which was filled with loud Latin music and also overpriced. Across the street was "Cash Pawn", or something like that, which after looking at it from the car, I decided to forgo visiting. What I was hoping to find was a super zoom camera, one that goes crazy long for a reasonable price. Not to be found, or at least not on this outing.

After a lunch of the above pictured sandwich, I got to work in the garden. The thing about our yard is it is like three separate yards--the large front, side, and small backyard. There are times I would be happier without a corner lot! Planting, rearranging and the like went on until after 5 pm. Guess what this is:
Aside from the blooming snapdragons I should say. Those are the roots to my paper whites which are all pretty much done with their blooming now. Isn't that super cool? I also am conducting a little experiment with my petunias. Although it pains me to do so, I cut them back, hoping to achieve better shaped plants.
This is the before, and in about two weeks, we'll revisit and see what happens. I hate cutting off blooms don't you?

I learned yesterday that despite my nasty letter to the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce for not accepting me at last years Fall Art Festival, they aren't mad at me. An email came looking for submissions for the poster art for this year's festival in October. I know I'll never win, but it never hurts to submit something. What to submit is an entirely different matter.

As well, I heard from Audrey at Sun Dance and a company from Atlanta wants to license one of my images for a tote bag. How about that? The thing is they still haven't sent me the jpeg so I can't tell you what image it is! I'm pretty much dying to know. :)

Out & About is going to do just that right now. My bike awaits.

1 comment:

abellwillring said...

I'm glad you shared the info about Matt and the elephant! I'm waiting to see a pic of that on Instagram.

Great news about the tote.. looking forward to seeing what they picked.

A Week Ago Tuesday