Sunday Roundup

Say what? Posting on a Sunday Gail? What is that all about? Just in case you haven't heard, Tropical Storm Debbie is just off the Florida coast in the Gulf of Mexico, primarily just causing gloom and doom at this point. The weather forecast, here we go again, was 80% rain chance for the weekend which didn't exactly pan out on Saturday. Deciding that skipping the Winter Garden market was the prudent thing to do, barely a drop of rain fell yesterday, which according to Dana was THE topic with the vendors yesterday. Puzzling last night about what to do about today's market, my decision was to stay home if it was raining when we woke up. Well, it was raining, albeit mostly sprinkles, so here I am all cozy inside and blogging away. There's lots to discuss.

Writing about homes, such as mine is threatening to become, that get a little carried away with their outdoor decor, I realized that I'd given you no hard evidence of my observations. Let's change that shall we? These folks know the rule of odds--only five whirly things!

And then there is this home where it seems that the folks inside are interested in all manner of things.

They've got a horse thing, a gnome, angel and bunny guarding the property. To date, a gnome has been good enough for me.

Aha, I just realized that the above photo has yet another purpose. You see the patio furniture made of white PVC? Well, we used to have a version of that eight years ago. We then purchased new outdoor furniture for the pool area at the same place that makes the PVC stuff. Palm Casual is the name of the business, family owned and operated. Undoubtedly, regular readers have seen what we have now. Well, a few days ago I noticed a rip in one of the slings. Forgetting that I'd mentioned it, Mr. Bruce sat down and what was once a small rip became a gigantic one! Thus, a trip to Palm Casual was in order to have said seat replaced.

See the gray sky? Stayed that way all day long and hasn't changed a bit today. Anyway, on our way there I had to pick up some prints from Mr. Roger for both the Red Chair project, and for Michelle and Dave's bedroom. Michelle asked for something in sepia to go with their new headboard from Ethan Allen. Take a look at the link because it's a great headboard and I think you'll agree. Anyway, she was interested in copying the look, but the prices of the photographs--oh my!!! $689 each!!!! I studied the frames, and with them in mind, made a trip to Hobby Lobby to see what I could see. After much discussion we decided the ones they had would do just fine. Waiting until this week when the frames were half price, essentially a BOGO, I purchased them and here's the final product.

Not a great photo what with the reflections and all, but you get the idea. I'm so darn excited about these.   Unfortunately they have gone to the beach to see friends for the weekend so I won't see them up for a few days.

After dropping off library books we drove by the old arena to see if the demolition was complete which it is not. To do so we were driving on Parramore, which to those unfamiliar with our area, is not the best street in the city. Lo and behold, as we drove up to the intersection of Parramore and Colonial, I saw a sign outside a restaurant for Chicago dogs which is one of Bruce's favorites. As it was lunch time, why not?

Italian Beefstro. What a name, huh? Because they'd taken such care on the outside, I figured it had to be just fine and was it ever.

More than fine, the folks were friendly and the food delicious! As we scanned the wall mounted menu, the owner described all the dishes and then once we had the food, he kept making sure things were just right. It is such a pleasure to find a hidden gem amongst all the crummy food served in our city. Orlando friends--check it out! Bonus points for the reasonable prices.


Speaking of prices, Thursday night we finally used our Christmas gift certificate for Morton's from Dave and Michelle. Because their gift was generous, we decided to splurge on an expensive bottle of wine from a winery we visited during our only trip to Napa Valley, which after consulting just now with Bruce, was 12 years ago!! My golly, we were just babies in our middle 40's then!

The thing is, the volume of food served is what I think once would have been described as obscene. My spinach salad was delicious, however, it was more than I usually eat for an entire meal. Oh well, you don't do this kind of dining every day, and in truth, the leftovers have been terrific.


Forgive me for jumping all over the place but during our visit to Palm Casual, after picking out a spiffy green color for the chair, Bruce pointed out all the fake food on the tables, allegedly to entice buyers into purchasing said tables. What do you suppose this was meant to represent?

Guesses most welcome! The beer and popcorn looked more realistic, although this particular faux beer was suffering some fading from the strong Florida sunshine.

Be very glad that's all I'm showing you.


Do you think if I was really dedicated I wouldn't have let the sprinkles this morning keep me from my bike ride? Actually I've surprised myself at how easy I've picked up two good habits of late. One is the bike ride, which has been good for not only my body, but I think my spirits as well. I'm really lucky to have such a diverse group of neighborhoods to ride in, from the lovely five bedroom homes in Southern Oaks, to the tiny little houses scattered on the other side of Ferncreek. Here's a little one for you:

The basket on the front of my bike is where I carry my camera just in case something interesting presents itself. Can you even believe how this tree is nearly the size of the house??? In truth, I mostly ride fairly quickly, but every now and again I MUST stop and take a photograph.


My second good habit is the dish washing. I've discovered that I much prefer emptying the drainer every morning over unloading a full dishwasher. Don't ask me why, but I'm happy with this new way of doing things. Plus, there is the intended consequence of a declining roach population. 


Finally, you may be wondering about that green chair, and why we don't just go out and buy some new stuff. Mr. Record Keeper, who lives with me, found the original receipt and I was shocked to see that we'd spent $3,000 on said furniture eight years ago. Apparently, the price was well worth it because those chairs have been in the sun all these years and are just now getting thin, which seems pretty remarkable to me. Slowly but surely I'll replace the seats and hope they last another eight years.


Time to get Bruce out of the house before he gives into the temptation of answering emails. 


Stay dry Florida friends,
Gail