It Takes Guts

Well sort of. I bet you thought my market sales couldn't go any lower didn't you? Well, if so, you were wrong. Sunday, they were cut in half and then some. I mean half from my dismal sales total. Week after week now, I muster up my courage and head to the market, hoping someone will buy. They don't. They look, they compliment, then they walk away. Except for those cheap people who slyly pull out their camera phones, trying to photograph individual pieces on my walls so they can print them at home. Pathetic. What's even more pathetic is that I found myself saying sorry to those folks who tried yesterday. You know what they said? We're from out of town, we didn't know it was stealing. Well, they didn't say stealing, they said wrong, but really, it's out and out stealing. As well, they said, "How do we know we want to buy it?" Not my problem folks!

With that out of the way, let's get to some thrilling news shall we? Recently I told you about Bill studying for his "Series 7" exam. I am most happy to report that Mr. Bill passed with flying colors this morning. 300 questions! When he began I questioned him about getting distracted studying at home, which he claimed would be no problem. His claims were not exaggerated, he studied and studied, taking lots of practice tests before today's final. I invited him out to a celebratory lunch when he called. Five Guys sounded just right to both of us. Here's my boy:

I can hardly believe he let me photograph him in this get up, however, he agreed. To say that I'm so pleased and proud is an understatement! Meet Wells Fargo's newest private banker, Mr. William Peck.

Because Bruce had to leave again last evening, he felt he had to work most of Saturday, well, make that pretty much all of Saturday. He worked at his desk, I worked, (if you can call it that) in the kitchen. Although I only purchased these tomatoes on Thursday, they were beginning to go red on me. As you know, fried green tomatoes are one of my favorites. I like to make things while Bruce is home that he most likely won't get on the road where he's been eating far too often of late.
The prep part:

The delicious finished product:

Bar-b-que chicken, biscuits, cucumbers in vinegar and boiled new potatoes rounded out the meal. One of the best parts? There are leftovers!

Yesterday on one of my trips to the bathroom I came across this mother swan on her nest:

The weekend after next I'll be heading to Lakeland for Mayfair where I hope my fortunes will turn to the good. Anyway, while there last year I was asked if I had any swan pictures. Why you ask? Just as the peacock is the city symbol of Winter Park, the swan is for Lakeland. You would think that if I can't sell what inventory I have I would quit taking more pictures, however, sometimes it just makes me want to take more. Practice, you know? This morning, just after 7, I went back to Lake Eola before the sun got too bright to see about getting an excellent swan photograph. I might just have done what I set out to do, but as is pretty much always the case, I rarely post any photographs on my blog that I plan to sell. I do post photos that I hope you'll find interesting, although since I rarely hear from anyone, I may not be doing so good on that front. Nonetheless, mama swan was roaming, leaving her eggs uncovered long enough for me to photograph them. They are pretty darn big aren't they?

I will most definitely be watching for the cygnets soon.

There were three sets of baby water fowl, two black swan cygnets, about six ducklings, and two of this little darling:

What an adorable puff ball, which unfortunately, will grow into a kind of ugly duck, you know the kind with bumpy red beaks and black necks? I had to shoot about twenty shots to get one decent one I'll tell you that much. Never, ever think that I get it the first time! The parents were keeping them mighty close and who can blame them?  I overheard someone say they were only days old.

Here's one of the ducklings just coming up from a dunking:

It was so much fun watching the little ones swimming, splashing, and dunking under every few minutes with only their little tail feathers visible above the water line.

Some of you may already know that the New York Times just recently instituted this--Paid Subscription I got the message on Firefox that my twenty free articles for the month were up and what did I want to do about it? Nothing just yet. Fortunately, it came to me that I might be able to read this article, Bridge Class using Chrome, which is what I did. Who knew I was onto something?

That said, I don't want to steal from the Times. I think I may subscribe to the paper and then online is free, or at the very least Sunday's paper which is so great, it can keep you busy reading all week. Free content on the internet may become a thing of the past, or maybe not. Hard to imagine what the future holds about anything, don't you agree?