A Weekend Off

Before we go even one sentence further, I'm posting a photo for my purple-loving niece, Laura.

I learned early on that she is not alone in her love of all things purple, however, that holds true for lots of things, people are very passion about things such as dragonflies, peacocks, old doors, daisies, and the list goes on. Knowing that as I do, I try to find things that people will like, succeeding on occasion. I saw this super cool slideshow on the Washington Post website, and it inspired me to give my peacock feather another go, albeit without a microscope.

The intricacy is mind boggling isn't it? Bev, in particular, loving all things science, will find the slideshow fascinating.

Friday dawned with two events on my agenda. First Friday at FAVO seems to arrive in the blink of an eye. On the way to FAVO, I stopped for a moment at the house where the "pop-up" art event was happening, hosted by Sara.

She definitely knows some people with beautiful and expansive homes!

Although a cold front was on the way, it did not come soon enough as my room was HOT, despite a rotating fan. Eventually, about three hours into it, Bruce carried our stools outside to cool off.

You can see many of the folks in shorts, including Mr. Bruce in the black shirt in front of Room 139. For the first time ever, I sold nothing. Not one thing! Amazingly enough, talking to Sara on Monday I learned I sold at least one thing on the street corner. Good grief, you just never know!

Saturday morning, I re-arranged the stuff in my car, fully intending to head out to Winter Garden, when Bruce suggested it just might not be worth it as rain was on the way. Turns out he was right--Missy, my WG neighbor, kept texting me about the pouring rain. So, so glad I stayed home. After breakfast at the newish Peach Valley Cafe up the street, which was very average at best, Bruce did what he always does, and I spent much of the day watching football, waiting, and waiting, for the Florida State game. Except, I had a party to go to....

Having almost never watched Oprah Winfrey, I was not quite sure what to expect as far as a "favorite things" party goes. Well, now I know. The invitation read, bring a favorite thing unwrapped and a dish. Barb asked for what she calls, "your famous potato salad." So I guess that means I didn't watch football all day! Below you will see a crummy photo I took with my phone because, duh!, the camera I took had a dead battery after taking this one shot on the way.

The sky, after a full day of rain, was just too beautiful to ignore. Okay, so back to Barb with her "favorite thing."

What do you see in front of her? Why, you see a gigantic bag filled, and I mean filled, with "favorite things." You can bet I felt pretty stupid with a bottle of Kiehl's Creme with Silk Groom. All twelve or so women explained their goodies while standing up. Not a one of them had A favorite thing, instead multiple favorite things. You can guess what came next....choosing by number, (mine was 10), then exchanging and the like. My pitiful bottle came home with me. By now the game was on, and several of us were getting anxious when, lo and behold, the youngest woman there asked if Barb would turn on the game. Woo hoo! Get this, they have a 90" television! Crazy right? Bruce drove me out there as I dislike night driving,  and while the girls were doing girly stuff, he and Steve went to eat at a place near their home called Nona Blue, which I later learned is owned by Graeme McDowell, the golfer from Northern Ireland.  No wonder Bruce had fish and chips! I've said it before and I'll say it again, how I wish we had a cool place like this nearby!

Driving home at half time, we hoped the Seminoles would win, and win they did! In case you are wondering, my touchdown towel saw some use! When the 'Noles were having terrible seasons, I used to drink out of my "lucky mug" given to me by Bruce's mom. Mostly it did not work, but sports fans are crazy, don't you know?

Sunday, unlike Saturday, was picture perfect! Beautiful breeze, beautiful sun, beautiful light. Because of Fiesta in the Park, we got to actually just hang out! Well, sort of. I needn't tell you how Bruce spent much of the morning.

If it wasn't enough that our neighbor Wanda's husband died two months ago, she also had to put her dog of 17 years to sleep! God bless her, I don't know how she stands the loneliness! Anyway she and Frank own a big log house in West Virginia, and her daughter Donna drove her there to close it up for the winter. Along the drive home, she bought a case of apples, sharing them with the neighbors. Instead of making a pie, I made apple crisp from Cook's Illustrated. I swear the text makes me laugh; beginning the recipe he writes, "Simply stated, there is seldom anything crisp about a crisp." Well, he did indeed put the "crunch back in crisp."

Next, I might try to make this.

Later on we did a little shopping at the fully decorated for Christmas, Mall at Millenia, in search of some sandals for Bruce.  Never you mind that it is nearly eight weeks away!

Back when I was posting so many cardinal photos you wanted to scream, you probably figured that would go on forever, and frankly I hoped that it would. Where they have been lately is anyone's guess, however, I heard the familiar chirping out back and tried to get a shot...

Ha ha! Pretty good of the feeder though.

Sue loves collecting, whether it be old chairs, bottles, well, too many things to list. That includes animals. Although she has two dogs and a cat, she is having a hard time saying no to this stray kitten.

Who wouldn't?