Odds and Ends

It is no secret that I'm dying for the London Olympics to start. Although I told Maddie during her visit that I turn on the television once or twice a week, that is all about to change beginning July 27th. Because I "like" the London Olympics on facebook, I got to see this fantastic aerial photograph of the venues, and because I "like" you, I'm sharing:

If I were to guess I'd say that Matt lives in about the middle of the upper part of this photograph. I may have mentioned that he has tickets to nine events for the Olympics and several more for the Paralympics, which is very exciting indeed. Perhaps I've told this story before, and if so, please indulge me as I mention again that because Matt was born on July 5th, I was doing a lot of sitting, feeding, rocking, you know the whole taking care of a newborn thing. While doing so I watched as much of the Olympics as was feasibly possible. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that my beautiful little baby boy would one day be attending the Games.

So, the Olympics and I go way back. I love sport of all kind, and particularly the Olympics, because we get to hear so many stories and everyone knows I love a good story!  Furthermore, I love a good photograph and believe you me, this article with Olympic Photography Like You Can't Believe is really something. Plus, the swimmer, Ryan Lochte is from, not too far from Ponce Inlet!!

Remember I said I didn't only take eight photographs of the place, and you might have to see more from my little day trip? Well, here you go:

Clouds for Karen. :)

Jumping back to the Olympics, here's another great piece about former medal winners from the 1948 London Olympics which I found so very touching. Jane, Tom's Mum, sent me a fantastically long letter via email this week, catching me up on all the doings from her part of the world. One thing she mentioned is that both the press, and some of the Brits, are grumbling about the cost, and inconvenience of the Games, which apparently is nothing new according to the above article. That said, huge crowds have come out to watch the Olympic torch relay all over Britain. Jane and Ray lined the street in their town, and just today Matt posted a photograph of the torch in London. I LOVE THIS STUFF! Such a wonderful foil to all the terrible news from around the world. 


Thursday morning I took the new coverlet to the laundromat hoping to soften the fabric a bit in their huge laundry equipment. Of course I had my camera:

I love photography!!!!!!!!!! The softening idea--didn't really do much.


Another thing that pleased me from this week's trip was this cool tree taken in New Smyrna:

I've no clue what kind of tree it is but I "like" it.

A few weeks ago, around our new oak tree, I planted a bunch of marigolds that I purchased from the bargain table at Lowes. Originally the trays of maybe 18 small plants were $10. Small plants=small holes, just perfect for our space. I figured, for $2.00, if they don't live so be it, and if they do, all the better. Well, by golly, they have not only lived, but thrived, pretty much coming back from the almost-dead.

Woo hoo!!!

While Baxter and I were getting the morning paper Thursday morning, an osprey flew out of the tree right in front of us, landing atop the light pole at the end of our street, which is very short for those who've never visited in person. You've probably guessed I had a camera with me:

He/she is on the top of the pole, while the smaller birds hang out on the wires. I bet he sat up there, maybe twenty minutes without leaving, despite a mockingbird's attempt to get him to leave! As such, although I would have liked a photo of an osprey in flight, I don't have the patience for all the waiting that nature photography requires. 

So, I was happy as a clam this afternoon, after getting the mail, to see this baby bird sitting peacefully in the lady palms:

What is most puzzling about this is, that, although this baby was sitting about a foot from the cardinal nest, I can't imagine it is a cardinal baby. By now I've seen many cardinal hatchlings, none of whom looked like this. Because Mama Cardinal was not on her nest when I first discovered the baby, I didn't know what to think. Calling Bruce away from his desk to see it, neither of us could figure out this little avian mystery, especially now that Mama had returned to her nest while I went to get him! I just went out to check, and indeed, she is on the nest, and the cute little baby bird is nowhere in sight. The truth is, whatever kind of baby this is, it is way cuter than a tiny cardinal! Stay tuned.....

It is hot as the dickens today, however, there has been no rain for the last several days. Could this please be tomorrow's weather? PLEASE! 

Time to go make dinner folks--have a good evening and we'll meet again here soon.

Gail