Almost Perfect

That my friends is how I would describe yesterday-- Monday, March 12, 2012. The kind of day where everything goes according to plan including the gorgeous weather. Why, oh why it couldn't have been like this on Sunday???

That there is Mr. Bruce heading out to the vehicle with a basket of prints under his poncho. I won't dwell on it except to say it was not much fun setting up the entire booth only to take it down about 45 minutes later. Enough already.

Instead, I lollygagged all afternoon in my pajamas, watching first FSU beat North Carolina for the ACC championship, followed by golf. Popcorn and FaceTime chat with Matt thrown in for good measure. I know you'll be happy to learn that he and Tom are thriving. Although Bruce did not change into pajamas he lollygagged right along with me if you can imagine. Even more shocking is that he did absolutely no job related work all weekend long!!! Saturday, while I was at Winter Garden, he met up with Bill and Dave at the gym, showing off his improvement, followed by lunch. Nice to get together with your boys.

Which brings us to yesterday, the already described almost perfect day. One teeny thing kept it from being perfect. I don't mind admitting that I've held out a wee bit of hope that somehow I would get to exhibit at the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival this coming weekend. I know it is silly of me, however, as an optimist, I can't help myself. Anyway, after blogging early yesterday I checked my status on the web site. For months now I've been #3 on the wait list. Imagine my surprise when there was no numeral attached. Could it be that my number was almost up??? The short answer is no, it could not be. Throughout the day I kept wondering if I would hear back from the email I sent asking for an explanation. Finally, around 7 in the evening, the call came through letting me know that there was an error and I in fact am still #3. Maybe next year?

As Bruce was leaving for work yesterday morning he asked about my day plans. I answered that laundry was on my agenda. I couldn't wait to try out this little sample that came in the mail:

That's quite a tag line they have there--"Give the Revolution a Spin." All very clever. Because I've been using this kind of thing for the dishwasher for a couple of years now I'm surprised this is the first I've seen the pod being used for washing clothes. I've been using liquid for years now and try as I might I always have some dripping going on. Revolution indeed. The weather was perfect for drying clothes on the line. I give you "His and Hers."

I got to find out first hand how great my new little Jelly Bean rug washes as well.

Baxter, as you may already know, is pretty much a perfect dog. Easy to get along with, cute as a button, and marginally well trained. There's one little thing about Baxter that isn't quite so great and that is his penchant for pooping on the patio by the clothes line. Before you get all grossed out, remember the mantra--small dog, small poop.

The doorbell rang at 8AM. The technician arrived to do the semi-annual air conditioner check. Nice young man. Everything went smooth as silk. Except for the small patch he left on my new rug as he re-entered the house after checking the outdoor compressor. I tossed the rug in the wash, came out perfect and the BEST part is that it dried outdoors in about 30 minutes--I kid you not. No more proof is needed to validate their claims of excellence.

I got all kinds of things done including: mowing most of the yard, planting more grass plugs, watering my flowers and making banana bread. I also ran up to the bank with Jonathan's car payment and took the pool water to be checked. I was delighted when he said it was perfect as I've largely ignored any maintenance for months now.  Finally the tree guy came. Tree guy Gail?

As I was driving home from getting my fresh orange juice last week  I saw a crew and truck in front of a house. Let's just say this was a very good find. He agreed to come and clean up the palms.

These Chinese Fan palms have gotten just plain too tall for us to manage them ourselves. So lots of brown, empty seed pods, and general all around mess. Furthermore they have been suffering from some sort of disease which, in the words of Gabriel from Arbor Vision, skeletonizes the fronds.

In fact, he used all sorts of terms we'd never heard of, talking like crazy about trees. An Arborist will do that you know. Along with the clean up, he applied liberally a fertilizer which includes something that will help the tree fight off the disease. Wait--palms aren't trees we learned--they are grasses. Now you know.

He climbed up a huge ladder and sawed away.

Surprising how much had to go. I was kind of mesmerized by the new seed pod thing he removed.

A neat spring green color and so intricate. Problem is they end up full of fruits that rats like to eat. To date we've avoided any rats in the house and I'd like to keep it that way. While he was sawing away I was folding the clothes as I took them down from the line. I said something to him about the rat problem and seconds later a rat ran along the fence right in front of my eyes! Please go away!

He carefully cleaned the one out front as well, promising not to disturb Mama Cardinal nesting in the lady palms below (see bottom right.)

Lots of big trees around these parts that's for sure. I'm thinking he's up there about 40' in the air. So, it all looks very good now:

The big Queen Palm also got a tidying up. I am most pleased at my roadside find and the $280 was money well spent!

Mr. Bruce left this morning for a couple day trip to check on projects. Because he's been home so much he was not terribly excited as you can imagine. Not long after he left I made my fourth trip out to Valencia in the last few weeks. You'll recall I agreed to participate in the Red Chair project which I'm doing for free. No problem with that except I had no idea it was going to take me so many tries to complete the assignment! First time I went to scope it out the campus was closed for a teacher work day. Next visit I shot the interior of the gallery with the red chair, and an outside shot, but they wanted another one inside the main building. Okay, I can do that. Drove out there last week and it was Spring Break. Darn!!! Surely it would work today.....yeah right. The gallery was closed to hang another exhibit!! I got what I could and re-shot the outside because the flowering tabebuia tree adds so much life.

So, that's that. As I was driving to my next destination I noticed some purple. Park car, get camera, and here is one of the first irises of the season:

I am becoming more and more enamored of purple flowers including these deep purple salvia I planted around the new tree:

 Are they ever going to be gorgeous once they grow up!!

Birds, flowers, caladium bulbs coming up......Spring has sprung my friends.