Passages

Believe it or not, we stayed home on Friday to work on our own house! Yep, we did the yard together, and finally got the mass of oak leaves off the bottom of the pool. The bird feeders are filled as well. I thought this photo was kind of cute:

I finally took time to notice my own beautiful, light pink azaleas in bloom:

So, while Bruce was filling multiple garbage cans with leaves from the street, I mowed the lawn, putting most of those leaves and clippings in my flower beds for mulch. While I was mowing Regina came walking down the street with Argyle. It had been more than two weeks since I saw her last, so she had no idea about Bruce. Her reaction--I hate passages, and this is surely one of them. You bet it is. More than 20 years of Bruce's life was spent either on the computer, a job site, an airplane, or a car. She went on to say how she just knew he would thrive, and that most certainly is his plan.

He met with an HR person later in the day to have some of his retirement options explained further. Once folks knew he was in the building, they all wanted to chat, which made him happy. What is really making him happy is working on Bill's house. This morning, while packing for one of his final trips to Miami, he told me he'd rather go take down a crumbling fence at Bill's place! South Beach--Bill's house, that's quite the contrast!

Saturday we spent all day over there, along with Bill and Herbert. Bruce worked primarily on building a soffit for the kitchen to cover the new duct work. Here he's building the frame,

which looked like this when it was mostly ready:

Actually, he had to make a bottom frame, followed by a separate box to go over the refrigerator, followed by covering it all in drywall. Before the front drywall goes on, Herbert will get the electricity to this side of the room sorted out.

Remember when I mentioned how the awful color choices the previous owners made for the exterior?Bill, as noted, is not one to jump into a decision he'll later regret. Then too, painting the exterior of this house will run into the thousands, so it is hardly surprising. BUT, and that's a big but, something had to be done NOW to at least improve things a little bit. The house is faded pink, and the front door, although nice, had a light gray and black color scheme going on. Well done, but awful. Taking matters into my own hands, I bought a pint of color for the door. Bill, of course was none too happy with me, but I told him I couldn't come into that house one more day without something happening to the outside! If he wants it re-painted, so be it. For now, I've changed the color to the shade of cayenne pepper, or maybe dark terra cotta might describe it better.

I finished just before dark so I'm anxious to see it fully dry with two coats in the daytime. Bobby is nearly done tiling the front courtyard, and I think it will match both the travertine there, and the eventual beige shade Bill chooses for the structure.

The market was terrific again--great weather equals great sales. Remind me of this later in the year when the weather turns hot!

Tell me, whatever happened to turquoise cars? What a joy to see such an exuberant color on the road!

Oh yeah, before I forget, the other morning, looking out the bedroom window I noticed steam rising from Lake Gem Mary, a few doors away. Throwing on my new uniform of a crummy sweatshirt and old Addidas pants covered with paint, I thought it was just too pretty not to photograph.

Finding the gate open at the vacant house, I used their shoreline as my vantage point. Pretty, huh? Well, while walking home, my neighbor Pete was out front of his house, and exclaimed, oh that's you Gail. Why, yes it is. He went on to tell me that his wife Terri, looking out her front window, told him it looked like a homeless woman was walking down the street and he should check on it. Ha ha--I'm pretty sure that's the only time I've been mistaken for a homeless woman!


Here's a new take on street art, or at least it is to me. I don't know who is hanging these clever birdhouses on the trees lining the South side of Central Avenue, but they make me happy. Here's a trio:

And a singleton:

Driving home from the market yesterday afternoon, the light was so alive,  I stopped to photograph the Performing Arts Center which is looking very nice indeed:

Super exciting for Orlando. Set for a November opening, time will tell, won't it?

Walking back to my car, I noticed someone keeping their trash off of the street:

What will they think of next?