It Ain't Over Yet!

My friends, the fat lady has not finished singing!

Bruce took off early this morning for the DC area, and I was up with him. About two weeks ago, I gave away my secret to my former Valencia Geology professor. And what secret might that be? The owl location. Probably I shouldn't have because with his huge lens, his owl photos have put mine to shame. Plus, he comes earlier. With that in mind, and two visits in two days with NO sightings, I pedaled over around 7 this morning. Amazingly, along the way, I ran into the woman who tutored me for my Algebra final at Valencia while she was out riding. Knowing my destination, she declared they were not only not there this morning, but probably had moved on. She is in more of a position to know as she lives in the immediate neighborhood.

My sadness, hearing this news, was great. I know it sounds crazy, but it has given me such joy the last two months or so, that I could not imagine it was coming to an end. And guess what? I found one of the babies, as well as one of the parents!! Woo hoo! Except their locations were such that the photos are rubbish. Especially after seeing his stuff! I was happy.

It was during my breakfast that I got to thinking about my zoom lens for the Panasonic Micro Four Thirds camera. Well, after doing some sleuthing on the internet, I discovered, after maybe two years (!), that whatever numbers are on the lens, as in range, are to be doubled to match the lens on my Nikon. So what? Turns out my range with the Panasonic, my favorite camera, is greater than the Nikon. Still about half the lens the professor uses, but still decent. How did I only discover this now? Well, duh!

With THAT in mind, on my way to the garden center, I drove back through. After some initial disappointment, I found a parent, then a youngster, and then the sibling. My attention focused on this little one, way, way up in the oak tree.

I think he trusts me at this point the way he's looking at me. Good grief, he flew down about three feet in front of me!!!!

My gosh, I about fainted! Then little guy looked me straight in the eye.

After rooting in the bushes for a moment or two, he flew back into a lower tree to enjoy his snack.

That wing span is pretty big don't you think? It's unfortunate I'm not a real bird photographer, but I do what I can, and it makes me happy.

In other news, Cheryle has taken over a friend's studio at FAVO for the summer, and Friday night was just the beginning. In a nod to what I experienced multiple times, a massive rainstorm began just at opening time.

It poured and poured. The covered walkways sure come in handy at a time like that. She met Will for the first time and had a nice chat outside his studio.

Because the entertainment had fallen through, another familiar tale, Catherine brought along a small guitar and sang for the folks, in this case, only me.

Those are Cheryle's pastel paintings on the wall, and if you think of it, come see her work in July. Don't worry, I'll remind you closer to the date. :)

It made me so very happy that the husband of one of my former co-workers at the hospital thought of me when he was inviting folks to Suda's surprise birthday party. Although she is a sonographer, our work stations were adjacent to one another so this mammographer got to know her pretty well. That said, we've only kept in very loose touch in the nine years since I last had a good paying gig. So, while Bruce was recovering from his red eye flight from the West coast, I joined the group wishing Suda a happy 55th birthday. I convinced Gary and Suda to pose like this:

I so prefer a couple looking at one another rather than the camera....

Is there a better time of the year for watching sports? I filled the rest of my day doing just that, moving from golf,  to the Preakness, to the UF vs FSU baseball game, to the Stanley Cup, and finally the Orlando City game. I tell you I was in sports heaven. Never before have I watched hockey, and I've been missing something...talk about fast paced!

The market was finally good to me on Sunday after weeks of really anemic sales. Plus, the weather is still quite mild; very surprising for the first week of June.

Before you know it, it is Monday again and another rainbow graces our sky. Not the double rainbow sighting following that Friday rain blast, but lovely, nonetheless.

Finally, remember at the outset of this lengthy post, that I was going to the garden center? Well, that I did, and while roaming around looking at flowers at WalMart, I tripped over a pallet mover that was left in the middle of a walkway. Flying to the ground with a caladium in hand, I landed pretty hard on my right knee. In good news, I did not try and break my fall, thus my wrists were spared. Another customer saw me on the ground, got the management, we filled out an incident report, and here I sit with a pretty sore knee. Which is to be expected, right? They gave me information on their insurance should I feel the need to seek medical attention, which I'll hold on to, although I don't think it will be necessary.

Then again, how will I be able to bike over to check on "my" owls tomorrow?

thinking positive,

Gail

p.s. While scanning through some photo albums to make some color-themed collages for SunDance, I came across some owl photos from last June. You may recall that I have a horrible memory and this just proves it! Check that link out for a good laugh on me!