Choose Your Own Title

Over the years, I have been known to be very enthusiastic about things that I like. Take for example the time that Bruce bought me an Oreck vacuum cleaner after seeing some infomercials while he was on the road for work. Unlike me who needs mostly silence while I am writing, Bruce used to always have the television on in his hotel rooms while he was catching up on email, which means he saw a lot of products advertised. Anyway, the Oreck replaced a super heavy Kirby so I was ecstatic, telling  everyone I knew about what a great vacuum cleaner it was, and still is for that matter. Thus, my enthusiasm for pickleball follows my usual pattern of over excitement, according to some. My darling son-in-law is bemused at my behavior, teasing me during a lengthy facetime call with he and Matt the other afternoon. I did my best to convince them to turn on the television during our conversation so they could see what it is all about to no avail. They were somewhat skeptical that it was even played in England, however, it did not take long to discover that it is not only played in England, but get this, there was a charity pickleball tournament held at the Wimbledon Racquet and Fitness Club. It is no surprise that they have their own Facebook page! With a little more sleuthing on his part, he discovered that 10/10/20 is World Pickelball Day. While I am not nearly as athletic as some ladies, I am improving, and that is good enough for me. In the meantime I will continue to tell anyone who will listen what a fun sport it is to play!!

Before I delve into a little field trip we took this week, I have some better news on Cris's condition. He has begun to eat a little and they have lowered his oxygen levels. As you can imagine, we are applauding these baby steps. Jessica, as young and fit as she is, has not had a totally smooth recovery, however, she is mostly improving every day. While the cases in Florida seem to be leveling off somewhat, we now have a major storm in the Atlantic that everyone is watching. What next? Locusts?

A few days ago, don't ask me what day because they are all the same to me, we went to Bok Tower, an outdoor activity not on a court! It is so blazing hot, it's not the best time to do that sort of thing, but I was dying to get out of the city. Located in Lake Wales, or near there anyway, we began our journey, once again on Interstate 4, this time in the opposite direction.

This section is in much better condition than going East and with the theme parks drawing so few visitors, driving through that area was a breeze. We read in yesterday's paper that Universal has seen a 94% decrease in visitors!!! Gosh what will the future hold for our region? It is so scary.

Back to the trip, getting off on Hwy. 27 we mostly followed it there, arriving around 10 in the morning, meaning it was already close to 90 degrees.

Masked, we handed over our $30, and drove the one mile to the parking lot with orange groves flanking the roadway.

 Immediately I was captivated with the tower of Caladiums.

Under the covered portico, there was this cool display of insect catching plants, sometimes known as Venus Fly traps.

 A beautiful motto to live by greeted us as we made our way to the tower.

It is a fairly short walk that for those who have mobility issues would generally be made easier by a tram that was not operational due to the virus.

I'd taken my walking stick because we planned to do some walking while there. Here is a crazy photo that I took by accident that includes it. That my friends is not why I'm including it here though; it is to show off the new Lily dress that fits and was super comfy in the extreme heat!

So here we are beside the reflecting pond which is pretty, but man that gold door steals the show! For the most part people were totally great about social distancing aside from the group of students on the other side. That said, I'm not judging them because I don't know their situation.

The Koi were quite interesting and seriously active, particularly when someone is willing to drop the food right into their mouth.

While we have visited here a number of times over the years, I feel like this time is the first that I really noticed the intricate detailing in both the stone, and the pretty colored metal. At 20 stories tall this was as close as my zoom would allow.

Did I mention it was blazing hot? Of course I did, don't I always moan and groan about the heat? It was getting to Bruce, so he laid down for a rest.

 As to the details, of which they are numerous. this sundial features the zodiac. Dedicated in 1929, just seven months before the stock market crash, here's a link with some very interesting facts. 

 The carvings were done by the same sculptor who did the Atlas at Rockefeller Center in NYC.

The stone work is so beautiful and while I admired it, I was soon blown away at the sight of these giant water lilies, that I now know are named Victoria, growing on the reflecting pond.

With the carvings fresh in your mind, imagine the details of these beauties that look as if they have been carved, rather than grown in water.

Aren't they simply astonishing? I read that in a botanical garden near Gainesville, they grew some that were eight feet across!! Finally a super cool blooming succulent.

There is an onsite restaurant selling sandwiches that we took advantage of under the covered outdoor patio. Sharing a sandwich, we spent most of the time chatting with an 80+ year old couple that live nearby, visiting weekly for lunch and a shared bottle of wine that they cork to take home. Very nice folks even if the woman said tennis players look down on pickleball players! Ha ha.

Closer to home, Bruce had to trim the tree the other day because it is already outgrowing the provided space. It broke my heart watching him cut off the beautiful branches so I saved some of the fronds for the house for however long they last.

Our new neighbor Sherry took advantage of a BOGO at Publix, sharing a dozen roses that were gorgeous. Even though the sunny yellow blooms were fantastic, for some reason I thought of Maureen and we dropped the vase off at Westminster Towers and I mean that literally. I handed them off to a security guard assuming he would deliver them, and by golly he did. Maureen was ever so excited when they gave them to her after a 24 hour quarantine. I only recently learned that we could do such a thing. For those interested, she sounds better than I've heard her in a long time. So, good news on the Maureen front, and we shall hope for continuing good news on the Cris front.

We are working on a new puzzle I ordered, and I do mean we, as Bruce joined in early on. Once it is done, I'll show it off.

 Limpkins live on a diet of Apple Snails.

The drought from earlier in the year is mostly a thing of the past, with rain coming most afternoons. Followed, if we are lucky, with a rainbow. Aside from the rainbow what is interesting about the photo below is...can you guess?

Should you have guessed an airplane you would be correct. Why so remarkable? While travel is picking up somewhat, it is still down over 60% and I suspect even lower numbers of arriving passengers since those numbers were published.

And yet, in spite of it all, there is still the rising and setting of the sun every day to be grateful for.

We shall see what the next couple of days brings. If I were to have any say in it, nothing happening is fine by me. We welcome rain, just not too much. 25 mph winds is more than enough too.

Closing in on 2,000 blog posts, a decent title eluded me this afternoon. Any ideas?

your friend,

Gail

Holy Cow, it is August already!!