Did She, or Didn't She?

That is always the question right?

Having a super tiny master bath shower makes it somewhat difficult to find an appropriate shower curtain. Like most things these days, the typical ones are mostly made for full sizes. Last summer while Nancy was here we commiserated and decided that cutting my current one in half would do the trick. And, it almost did, but not quite. Just big enough to fit the space but not so much for keeping all the water inside. Another problem is using a liner which makes our tiny space even tinier. I'd purchased that one at Ikea because it is waterproof and is often the case with Ikea, you can still buy the same thing a year or two later. Apparently, others did not share my enthusiasm for the one I had because they no longer carry it. The new one is dull but functional.

While there I thought perhaps the guest bathroom could do with a little pizazz. You know I'm a sucker for pizazz! I bought the wild shower curtain, thinking it might be just the thing. Here's the one I was thinking of replacing,

Don't you think it's a pain to put curtain hooks on? I sure do. Instead of doing that I hung the new one over the rod to take a gander. Just as I was backing up to get the shot it fell, however, because the camera was still set on the super fast speed, I got it mid-fall.

So, what do you think? Did I keep it, or is repackaged to go back to Ikea???

I don't know about you but I have plenty of clothes. Probably too many. As is often the case at this time of year, people write about organizing. This blogger read one such article and thought she fit the case study, primarily the ill fitting clothes waiting to do what? Go to Goodwill, that's what!

I began by pulling everything off our closet shelf, both sides. Bruce's side was worse than mine!

Poor image quality due to blogger's poor skills at using phone camera. Sorry. Actually this picture is my side. Too many jeans that make me miserable when I wear them. When I took down Bruce's side he had twenty!! t-shirts scrunched up there, some of them dating back quite a few years. I spent the entire afternoon redoing our closet shelf AND all our dresser drawers.

The best part about doing that is you find stuff that hasn't seen the light of day for some time, including this little gem:

Yup--that's the twins on the first ultrasound that showed them. Because ultrasound was so new back then, mistakes were made. I'd had one a month earlier when Connie could not see two babies despite the fact that I was about three months pregnant and miserable I tell you. Just miserable. Even with my poor memory I doubt I'll ever forget the moment when my friend Connie said, "Gail, I'm seeing two babies." I grabbed her arm exclaiming it couldn't be true! We all know it was and even though at the time I thought I'd never live through those days, I'm here and none the worse for wear. Our finances were drained after the move to California and back, not to mention we had one rambunctious little boy already. And then we up and did it again, having our little Jonathan, whose picture of his first day heading to kindergarten also turned up.

Good grief he was a little doll! At least to look at. In fact he was quite the rascal but you'd never know it from looking at this! When I showed Bruce last night he was wondering what the red thing was on the porch. After inspecting the photo I remembered it was his little home-made sleep mat made from red corduroy with what looks like little elephants on it?

Bruce's t-shirt drawer now looks like this--for how long is anyone's guess.

Rolling clothes is the way to go because you can fit so much more in that way. When it was all said and done, all of our drawers now look like this. I was pretty ruthless, weeding out twenty shirts of my own. Plus a few dresses, shorts and pajamas. All still in good condition but just don't work for me anymore. I had to make room for a few new things. As if I needed any!

While in my bedroom I kept hearing my cardinals. The weather was glorious by the way. I know I sound like a broken record, but this winter is a typical Florida winter---marvelous. Once again because the camera was set on Shutter Priority with a very fast exposure time I was able to get Mr. Cardinal scratching himself.

I don't know why it surprised me that song birds scratch themselves like shore birds but it did. Not bad for through the window. Which reminds me, if you want to do the same, just put the lens directly on the glass--works much better that way.

Staying inside all afternoon was hard because of how beautiful it was outside. Plus, this time of the year the azaleas are blooming! Pink, pink and more pink.

The garden side is looking pretty good as well although the grass still has a ways to go after the few cold days.

See that little bit of yellow on the right above the blue pot? Indeed, it is my tabebuia tree, blooming it's little, and I mean little, heart out. I wish I could say the same for my tulip which has pretty much bit the dust. Perhaps next year I'll have success. The caladiums are coming back up amongst the yellow pansies. You can always count on caladiums.

In fact, once the fog clears and I have some breakfast, I plan to work in the yard, trimming and weeding, both of which are sorely needed. I wish that's all I had to do, but alas, it is not. Before Bruce left we pulled the fridge away from the wall to see if I could find any reason for the leaking that has been going on.The web is your friend with all kinds of repair info. Now, if only the web could help me clean up the area.......

She Said YES!!!

My baby is getting married. Don't know when, don't know where, just know it is now officially imminent.

I think it may have been six years ago that Jonathan and Alissa met at FSU. As for all the details, I'm a little sketchy, but from what I recall, one of them was wearing an Oasis shirt. As in the band. Both of them were, and for that matter still, are obsessed with Oasis despite the fact that the brothers who were the band fought so much they disbanded. These days, High Flying Birds is brother Noel's band. All this is background information leading up to the big event which took place last night in LONDON during a HFB concert! Who knew my son was so romantic???

Once the tour dates were released, Jonathan and Alissa decided they had to go, and since they have a very accommodating blood relative and his boyfriend living in London, what was to stop them? Nothing as it turns out. They left Austin Friday afternoon, arriving in London Saturday morning. Brother Matt was kind enough to meet them at Gatwick. Such a good brother.

Here's the happy couple when they were home this past summer to attend Jonathan's long time friend Ryan's wedding.

Let us all say a collective--Aaaaahhh.....

Because of the time difference, I know very little at this point about the proposal and subsequent acceptance; the minute I do, you'll be the first to know.

I just got off the phone with another son, Bill, who was in a very, very good mood. Turns out he's receiving a sizable bonus in two weeks he knew nothing about. He called it money falling from the sky. Love, love to hear that kind of news.

So, I went on Saturday afternoon and this time the crowd was dressed much more conservatively, plus there weren't many of them. In fact, I had to be patient looking for opportunities. At one point I went up one floor on the outside steps and took this photograph:

 I watched none of the events by the way; I hope Orlando looked good. While waiting I saw this woman walking down the street.

That is a woman unafraid of color! When seeing all these woman dressed in super short dresses and skirts I kept thinking of the lyrics from a charming Cake song, " I like a woman with a short skirt and a long jacket." At these events there were no long jackets, only short skirts.

I've often mentioned Dana's son Cole, and now you can see what he looks like, pictured below with his very, very sweet girlfriend, Courtney who was serving as a cocktail waitress at the event.

I told you I was looking for bodies to photograph! My sister Lisa would have gone crazy if she'd seen these chocolate basketballs in person.

All I can say is I was very grateful Roger set the camera settings before I left their house because it might have gone poorly had it been up to my limited knowledge.

Although there was yet another party at the Cheyenne, Dana gave me the night off saying P. Diddy would not be coming on until way, way, past my bedtime. Hallelujah! Following my stint at the Exchange building I went by Roger's to pick up my order. Finally getting home, I made dinner and not long afterwards we took as long a winter's nap as was feasible. I say long, however, when the alarm went off at 5:30 Sunday morning I was wishing my sleep was even longer. Bruce popped right up, heading to the garage to put the wires on the back of the "baby canvases." I began signing prints. Obviously, this is not how we like things to go, but you do what you have to do.

Despite dreary weather all day long at the market, I was fortunate to do well. Hoping all those folks in town for the All Star Game would mosey around downtown before the game turned out to be wishful thinking. I am so, so fortunate to have repeat customers. I've never tracked the amount of customers I've had, only the amount of prints sold, so I don't have any real sense of the numbers, however, week after week, customers return, oftentimes with friends or family in tow. How lucky I've been.

These folks are not repeat customers, but I kind of liked how she held this print up for her friend.

Drizzly weather interfered with our usual takedown process, but with a project manager like mine, rest assured we arrived home with everything safe and sound.

My schedule told me that yet another party was slated Sunday night beginning at 9PM. Well now. Bruce packed his bags early, I made dinner, we ate while watching the Red Carpet business at the Oscars, both of us dreading the night. I hated to do it because I know how crazy she is but I called Dana to confirm. Fantastic news--they wanted no photographer in the house!!!! Big sighs of relief were heard at the Peck home. For sure. I said to Bruce, "You know what this means don't you?" Of course he answered "no", to which I replied, "I can get into my polka dot pajamas instead of another outfit!" Happy, happy.

This morning Bruce flew to Massachusetts, I did my market album and the Saturday gig album, and very little else. Sluggish describes how I felt. Kicking myself in gear after lunch, errands were on my agenda. Don't ask me how I did it, but somehow, while endorsing some checks, I got ink on my new handbag. Well, not brand new, but pretty new. It looked as if I'd doodled on it! Because my sluggishness wasn't completely gone, I didn't freak out, but I was far from happy. After the bank I went to the Coach store at Millenia to see if they could help me. They did. She assured me that if I'd waited, it might not have come out and I believe her. While there I left my Trinity ring at Cartier's to be polished. My goodness, it looks brand new it's so shiny!

While he was doing said polishing, I decided to check out the Gap. I used to love the Gap, buying loads of clothes there for the entire family. In fact, I used to say that our clothesline would make a great Gap ad, but these days, not so much. Mostly dull. To my surprise, today they had some great t-shirts, and I'm not a t-shirt kind of girl. Make that middle aged woman. You won't be at all surprised at one of the shirts I bought.

Apparently, Gap and Threadless have teamed up for these. Turns out I am one of the first people to buy these shirts at the Gap because they'd only just put them out an hour or so earlier. While at the checkout I said how I was delighted to find something really creative at the Gap. The cashier explained to me the collaboration and how each shirt has a meaning. Who knew? After checking out the Threadless website, I may, in fact, become a t-shirt kind of middle aged woman.

Thanks for reading,
Gail

Hot Girls and Alcohol

I didn't say that--he did:

I don't know who this rapper is but he pretty much sums up what the last two nights have been like. Oh my, oh my, the women are dressed to the nines. Or at least most of them are. The shoes, the sausage dresses which are so darn short! The fake breasts! The whitened teeth! The colored hair! The shoes!!!I don't know how they do it, but these three girls, which so totally reminded both Bruce and I of the "Robert Palmer Girls", stood by the door for hours last night looking glam? They preened and posed for pictures all night long.

I said to Cole last night, "there sure is a lot of money in clothes in these rooms," to which he replied, "and plastic surgery!"

To think that this video was made pre-Spanx! Actually, our ladies in red smiled way too much in comparison, but you see the resemblance I hope.

So, what has this all been about? Frankly, I know just about as much as you do, but I'll try to explain the little I do know. From what I'm seeing and reading, the NBA All Star Game is quite a bit more than a game. There are charity events, clinics, hospital visits, all sorts of pre-games and challenges. Furthermore, there is an art show. In this case, the floor used during last year's game was removed after said game and turned into art pieces by graffiti artists from around the country, including this one by Mr. Brainwash.

You too, can own your very own backboard from Mr. Brainwash as long as you have some cash. Lots of cash. The piece will be auctioned at Soetheby's in June with the bids starting at $35,000. If that one is not to your liking, you could go cheap, as in, say $15,000, and purchase this one instead.

If your bank account is really feeling the economy, why not buy one like this?

I'm pretty sure this one can be had for less than $5,000. So there you have it. Parties, put on by well heeled liquor distributors have been bringing the folks in by the hundreds. Maybe even thousands what with an open bar and all.

Because this is happening in the Exchange Building, managed by none other than Dana Brown, and I am her in-house photographer, there you go. With Bruce by my side, and Roger's lens and off camera flash, I'm having my first go at party shooting, staying up way past my bedtime. Plus, what to wear? Taking a trip to Nordstrom, I bought a few new things. I wish this photo, taken by Dana's son's girlfriend, had truer color.

Despite it looking like day glo in the photograph, the shade of orange is fantastic! Not something you can wear every day for sure. The blouse is navy blue with little white horses. The girls at Nordstrom showed me how to roll the sleeves on the jacket to show off the cool lining, but it didn't happen; I just couldn't remember what to do with the blouse sleeves! If you can imagine, I was the only one wearing orange. Plus, I was wearing flat shoes!!! Me and the men.

What Bruce and I kept saying to ourselves is, "Who are these people?" Pretty much everywhere we go we know someone-- not so on Thursday night. Mostly what I took were crowd shots with individual or groups thrown in the mix. I was super surprised how much everyone loved to pose for the camera. This one obviously is unposed.

On the other hand, this one is:

There were actually two parties Dana was hoping I could cover, one in the Exchange Building with the other one across the street in the old Cheyenne Saloon space. Trouble with that one is the guests weren't expected to arrive until after midnight! Does she know how old we are? Does she know how tired I get???

The music was pumping despite the lack of guests, thanks to that guy! Back in the Exchange Building Mr. Sandman was doing his thing to get the party going.

I sound like a broken record about the ladies shoes, but the assortment, not to mention the heel heights were remarkable to me. Sitting down for a tiny bit, I saw this group of ladies hadn't budged all evening. After saying as much to them they said it was because their feet hurt so bad. Oh, the price of fashion.

Meanwhile, back at the Cheyenne, this group of shoes for your enjoyment:

How about those third from the left?? I wish I'd had a closer inspection of those. The shoe shine man is unimpressed.

A Creamsicle bar? Say what? My thoughts exactly.

Fortunately we have a parking pass because let me tell you, it's crazy downtown right now. In fact, I have to head down there again after finishing this up. The temperature has dropped significantly making me wonder how the ladies will be decked out for this afternoon's party which, thankfully begins at 4 and ends at 7.

You may have guessed that I skipped my market today because of a few factors. One, I'm tired. Two, I was really hoping to get my order from Roger and sign a few things before tomorrow. Didn't happen. He's gotten so darn busy I'm having to wait in line. Last night he and Trish went to a show at the City Arts Factory and four of the artists had used him. To think he had only a handful when we began working together.....

You may also be wondering how I'm going to do Lake Eola tomorrow, then head out at 9PM for another round of parties slated to end at 3AM. I am too my friends. I am too.

Here She Comes Again

******Warning--no time for editing today*******

Finally I hope to be able to spend a little time writing. Between all this week's activities, I have barely found a spare moment and just when I was thinking I'd found the time the power went off. Seriously, I'm not joking! I was preparing that carrot and radish salad with the lime zest, which is delicious by the way, during what I thought was a pretty big storm for February. Thunder and lightening, high winds, that sort of storm. Poof, off went the power. I finished the salad by candlelight and then had a seat with Baxter in the mostly dark living room. About an hour later, we were back in business and by that time Bruce was home for dinner.

Anyway, here we are now.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Lakeland while Bruce was at the job site doing his thing. Along the median of the main road to his site, there are loads of gorgeous tabebuia trees filled with pink blossoms. Right then and there I knew it was going to be a good day. The trees are blooming everywhere including beside my first stop at Lake Morton.

There I met a man who was visiting from Sebring, a small town 60 miles south of Lakeland, just so he could photograph an eagle that he'd heard was nearby. No eagle appeared during my short visit with him. It's ironic that I've been to places where eagles have been spotted and seen nothing and then walking in my own neighborhood, an eagle appeared like magic! I roamed the streets that lead into the lake and my, oh my, are there some wonderful homes with character. Mostly they are old with a few new ones sprinkled in between. Because we've still been watching Friday Night Lights, and in fact recently had a marathon viewing, I had to shoot this picture.

FNL groupies will get it.

One of the newer homes facing the lake had the best outdoor decorations including all these silver and gold balls in the bare trees.

From there I went the few blocks to Hollis Garden, which I discovered from my walking tour brochure was given to the city by Mr. and Mrs. Hollis. It may be February but by the amount of beautiful flowers you'd never know it. Sculptures are included in the flower "rooms."

The grass was so darn green, I don't know how they do it!

While there I saw the most beautiful color of dahlia, a wonderful rich peachy shade, in the full sun. Not a good time to make a photograph. In fact, it was super sunny all day and warm. The bloom was about the size of a lunch plate and I'm not kidding. Even though I went back after lunch, I still could not really do it justice in a photograph.

Next on the agenda was a trip to the little downtown which is filled with a mix of restaurants, bank buildings, a general store, and antique shops. One such shop I went in was filled with only depression glass in the lovely pastel shades they used back then. The proprietor told me they have about half again as much in storage! I can't imagine how many collectors would have to come in to reduce their giant inventory.

I walked up to the second floor of another shop, wondering what was there. Well, what was there was a lot of stuff. Filling about six rooms, once again I was struck by what people collect. Have you ever known anyone who collected Asian figurines like the ones pictured on the bottom shelf?

 If so, send them to Lakeland, Florida. Most of the rooms were pretty dark, with only a smidge of light coming in on the sides of the navy blue curtains.

These lamps were kind of cool, but most of it I just don't get. Further on down the road I peered into the window of a bistro as it was nearly lunch time. What to my wondering eyes should I see but my friend Brandy Renee's artwork gracing the walls. The owner was kind enough to allow me to photograph them to share with Brandy, who it turns out, had not seen how they were hung. Here's one such grouping.

We became fast friends with Brandy while she was set up at the market a few years ago. She's outgrown our little market family. She freaked out when I sent her the photos.

Back to Hollis Gardens for lunch, and for the life of me I can hardly remember how the rest of the day was spent except for the drive home. See why I need to blog more frequently?

While we are on the subject of flowers, okay a few paragraphs back, but humor me will you? I am pretty darn excited about this:

It may not look like much at this point, however, I'm pretty sure it is one of the tulip bulbs I planted making it's way into the world!! I took this a few days ago so after inspecting it at first light today I see that it is even larger. Planting about ten bulbs I was cautiously optimistic, but not overly so as we all know it's pretty darn hard to get them to grow in Florida. Each day I inspect the area looking for more but so far nothing doing. I can hardly wait to see how it turns out!

Now I remember what I did on Tuesday evening--made a coffee cake. I was preparing to host a little tea party Wednesday morning. My friend Candace Martin along with her friend Katie came for a visit.

Both of them declined coffee, surprising me; I was only to happy to make tea. Not just any tea mind you but tea straight from the Motherland from Tom. We discussed at length an art show idea Katie dreamed up. She's young and enthusiastic for sure.

The girl with the big, big smile is Katie, who interestingly enough, is married to the head Blue Man at Universal Studios here in Orlando. Because they have young children in school they had to leave after a few hours. It's been quite a long time since I spent any time with mothers of small children. Candace mentioned she might hold her son back to repeat kindergarten because he is small. Say what? Apparently, and I trust Candace to know this, it is becoming an increasingly common practice. She called it trendy. My, how times have changed!

The afternoon was filled with errands including returning the red chair. Because I was already downtown I stopped by to see Dana who is mega busy right now. Between the NBA All Star parties she's hosting and the races this weekend in Daytona, I've no idea how she is going to manage. I suspect she'll find a way. My purpose in stopping by was to get the timing down for my part in all this. My part? All I really know at this point is I'm too photograph the big art show the NBA brought to town. I took a few photographs yesterday to test my camera settings but at this point I'm not sure I should show you what it's all about. Mostly basketball related with a street art influence.

There you have it. We're pretty much current. To be honest with you, I'm pretty nervous about today's photo shoot but knowing me you know I'll give it my best "shot."

Lucky Streak

We interrupt this regularly scheduled post to say that Gail has been busy working on a project today which included a trip to her Alma Mater, Valencia College.

This morning, after spending way too much time ordering, she took a trip to the Orange County office of Arts and Cultural Affairs to pick up a red chair. More info on this will be available at a later date. Said red chair was driven to the Plaza Live to sit in the parking lot which has free parking.

This all took more time than she might have liked, given that blogging was definitely on her agenda.

Tomorrow she will be traveling to Lakeland with her husband to see what she can see while he does the same at his construction site. After which time, if all goes according to plan, she will blog in more detail about what she's been up to the last few days.

Suffice it to say, she is on a lucky streak. Despite predictions of dire weather for Sunday, she was blessed with many, many sales and nice visits from folks. Once again, the weather folks had it wrong,
for which she was grateful.

Until we meet again,
Gail

Not One, Not Two, Not Even Three

Because of a miscommunication,  Bruce thought our field trip was on the calendar for Thursday. I, on the other hand, was geared up for a Friday adventure at the Gamble House. As it turns out, he'd scheduled a meeting with his contractor in Lakeland for Friday morning so plans changed. In a good way I might add.

"How about I show you the Wetlands Park and Fort Christmas I asked?" "Sounds good to me, he replied." So, off we went after breakfast. The weather was warm, the skies filled with white puffy clouds, and a cooling breeze was blowing.

Making our way down Fort Christmas road we saw quite a lot of buses at the fort, and I mean a lot. Hmmm...what's going on there we wondered? As we passed the fort Bruce reminded me that long ago, when he was a carpenter apprentice coordinator, his students built the fort. Well now, that's something I'd forgotten but was happy to be reminded of. He was good at that job.

With Bruce at my side I showed him the map and off we went on the proper birding trail.

It was so quiet and peaceful UNTIL Bruce's mobile rang. His friend and co-worker Jeff was calling to chat. It was while they were talking that I spotted our first alligator just off the pathway, and I mean just off!!!

We moved faster, although the chance of his moving towards us was pretty slim. So, there was one. Meandering along, after finishing his call, Bruce began describing the work situation Jeff was talking about. For once I said, "honey, I don't want to talk about work today. Let's just enjoy nature, shall we?" And he listened, never once bringing it up again.

As I told you last week there are lots and lots of birds wintering here. By Bruce's estimate we probably saw more than 1,500 birds. Moorhens were there by the thousands, gathering in groups on the water.

I'm still puzzled by the look of the trees. Perhaps they lost their tops during a hurricane?

Although we had a map, it didn't seem to do us much good. As well, there are sign posts every now and again with "you are here" indicated. Unfortunately several we came across did not have the red dot indicating where we were. Initially, after poring over the map, Bruce was fine and dandy with doing the 2 1/2 mile birding trail. He did not express the slightest interest in the 4 mile loop, and really, who could blame him? If you're not interested in birds, once you walk for a bit, it mostly looks the same. EXCEPT, for the alligator sightings.

We got pretty good at it. This one facing the path caused Bruce to tell me to get a move on! No wonder they don't allow pets here.

We could hear them before we could see them. A loud squawking was just ahead, but I couldn't place the call. As we rounded a bend, I saw a pair of my favorite birds--sandhill cranes. They have such wonderful color and bearing, not to mention they mate for life and have what is almost a red heart shape on their heads! Here they are yelling at something:

 They didn't scare easily, allowing me to get relatively close. Between the squawking one of them opened his wings:

I was really hoping the dance I once saw a pair do would follow, but alas. it did not. Instead he/she just pranced a bit.

It may have been around this time that we lost our way. Between my excitement at seeing both alligators and sand hill cranes, we just kept walking down the path without realizing that we'd missed a turn somewhere. We saw maybe one or two people the whole way so asking someone was not in the cards. Instead we finally discovered that we were on the opposite side of Lake Searcy:

which looks innocent enough until you look closer at the grass,

Yes indeed, gator sighting, number six!! I started to move closer to get a better shot, all the while Bruce warning me not to because although they don't look like it, they can move very fast. Ignoring his pleas I moved closer just as he did just that!

In a stroke of good fortune he wanted to swim rather than eat us!!!

Eventually, after hiking off the path through the forest, such as it is, we made our way back to the car, or rather the restroom for me! Do not, and I repeat, do not try this in the summer. I needn't tell you that you might just roast!!!

We stopped into the fort, which I believe I'll show you next week; suffice it to say that we shared the experience with 1,300 schoolchildren!

During our drive out there I suggested to Bruce we might want to have lunch in Titusville, which is really not too far from Christmas. By the time we finished touring the fort I was thinking perhaps it was too late but Mr. Bruce did not, and I'm very happy with his decision. Driving about another 15 miles, we ate lunch at Dixie Crossroads, an institution in that city. Having heard how great it is for years I can now add my voice to the masses, as in seating for 500!! Yes, you read that right;  our server told us on the weekends it does just that. After consulting with her, we decided on sharing three kinds of shrimp, coleslaw and cheese grits. We'd already been snacking on some delicious corn fritters sprinkled with powdered sugar which apparently is one of their signatures. Just as we were sitting down, Heather placed them in front of us. They are famous for rock shrimp, which we loved. As well, for about two months of the year they serve a red shrimp,  caught in very deep water.

Absolutely delicious and worth every penny! While chatting with Heather, in a very weird coincidence, we mentioned that we'd made our way there via Fort Christmas. She told us she was married there! Say what?

Isn't that something? Furthermore, as we were leaving Ft. Christmas, we chatted with a tiny little woman who told us her grandmother was the first cook at the school, so naturally she attended the school for her first eight years of education. Because she was a local, I asked her about Dixie Crossings and she said they charge too much for too little food. Good grief, that little woman is Heather's great aunt!! I think I have that right. If not, she's a relation for sure. Small, small world we live in.

On the other hand, looking at these spectacular photos of the Milky Way, you may not agree. 
I saw them on Google+ and I felt sure you'd love seeing them as much as I did.

Further off topic, I became aware of this blog called Advanced Style that I think is pretty neat. Imagine celebrating older women?? While doing mammograms for all those years, it always struck me that once a woman is stylish, no matter her age, she remains so. Once a frump, always a frump. I did have several patients in their 80's and 90's who would fit in quite nicely with the pictured group.

So, six wild alligators, thousands of birds, including my favorite sand hill cranes, and what is my favorite picture of the day?

My sweet Bruce, on top of the world. Well, really on top of the only hill on the property, but he stands on top of my world! You knew that already though....

Have a fantastic weekend my friends,
Gail