From Here to There

I'll say this much about myself, I would not make a very good farmer! Several times a day, as well as first thing in the morning, I've been checking on my volunteer sunflower plants. The other day the largest plant looked like this.

I cannot imagine, if you were to growing a large crop of something, and waiting day after day for the payoff. The birds are getting a little confused as the plants are starting to interfere with the feeder.

Any day now, any day...

Just when I think I've seen everything that could happen in our yard, something new appears. Today, while putting fresh water in the red bird bath near the pool, I noticed something strange. Well, I guess it was strange. Oh my! Not what I'd intended when I had Mr. Bruce hang the bird house on the fence.

The dreaded Cuban Treefrog strikes again! Earlier, as I was putting the lawn mower away, I heard the unmistakable call, but had no idea where it was coming from. Now I know. Perhaps there is a lingering smell to the new house paint, because since we've had it done, no CTFs have messed it up with their droppings. May it ever be!

Have I told you that most Fridays, when Bruce is in town, he meets his old work buddies for lunch? The crazy thing is that he probably sees them more in person now than when they were workmates because everyone traveled, and worked from home! Anyway, when he got home, I called him out back to see the above. As you know, extermination is the preferred reaction to a CTF sighting, however, the frog snuck back inside before B could snag it. Although he feels bad, he stuffed the hole, and we'll see what happens.

So I think that wraps it up around the homestead.

A little further afield, yesterday was a busy day for me. My friend Pam has made the hard decision to retire from her role as Garden Volunteer coordinator, and Board member at the Polasek Museum after eight plus years of extreme dedication. Not only did she coordinate, she also worked her butt off in the gardens, three days a week, year round, no matter the weather. So what does that have to do with me you ask? She wanted her very own photos from the gardens as a keepsake, so yours truly arrived there a little after 8 in the morning, to help her out with that desire. As you can imagine, I took way more than was necessary! One of my favorites was of this bird of paradise. Something about the color and light just seems a little out of the ordinary.

As some of my local readers know, an old home was moved to the Polasek property last year, and with that came a new look to the lakefront. Did they come by my house before picking the blue paint?

From there I went to visit the Strombergs, however, I had a little time to kill beforehand, so I stopped at Mead Gardens along the way. Something about the light in this one struck me as kind of nice.

You will be happy to know that Matt remains pain free, however, he is under some slight sedation these days as he was, how shall I put it?, getting out of hand. By that I mean he was ripping the bedclothes uncontrollably, his own clothes, and anything he could get his hands on. The hospice folks are doing a magnificent job, as areMatt's parents who come from Seattle, staying weeks at a time to help out. Angela and I had a good long chat while Matt slept peacefully. I sat bedside trying to get him to wake up with no success, however, just as I was about to give up, he opened his eyes, and I'm pretty confidant he knew who I was. It is only a matter of time. Picture taking out of the question.

Guess what? I bought myself a little toy! Tommy Toot is from England, and he comes to me via HomeGoods for a mere $3. When you blow into his little bowler hat, he whistles. How fun is that? I'd seen photographers put little LEGO figures in situations before, and thought it was very fun. Although we still have quite a few of Jonathan's LEGOs in the garage, I decided that instead of being a total copycat, I'd use my own little figure. Expect more of this in the future...

Isn't TT cute, all ready to jump in the pool? Here he's observing my volunteer garden flowers that just so happen to match his little cap.

I'm only disappointed I forgot to let him tag along with me on my adventures yesterday!

Not long after returning from the Stromberg visit, Sherri called to ask if I'd like to come down to her house to keep her company while she prepared for dinner guests. Well, why not? While she did some chopping, I snapped about two pounds of green beans. And we chatted. Once her girlfriend arrived, I headed home to cook dinner for my boyfriend, who was returning from his business trip.

So, we were meant to eat a little after six, however, that got pushed out a bit, as in 8:00, because of two things. When Bruce took Baxie for a little walk, I encouraged him to stop and tell Regina that I used one of her note cards for Matt Stromberg. Well, if you're smart, when Regina invites you in, you say yes. And so he did. Meanwhile, the doorbell rings, and it is Nadav, the neighbor who bought Angela and Matt's house across the street. Perhaps he felt the same way about talking to me because it was close to 8:00 when he left. We are helping them this weekend with Max while they go on a cruise.

You know what? I was pretty near talked about by day's end. Amazingly, the dinner survived the delay.

Finally I've got a few culture ideas for you....

• Chef, showing now on Netflix, is a wonderful film with incredible food photography. I believe some people might call it "food porn." Heartwarming is one word to describe it.
• Antartica, a documentary now showing on Netflix, is neither porn-like, or heartwarming. Instead, it is flat out incredible! Scenery, check. Penguins, check. Weather..you got it. Sky...no words to describe that portion. 
• The Truth According to Us, a somewhat cumbersome title if you ask me, is pretty good. Overly long, but most definitely worth a read for some. I have a thing about excessive use of apostrophes, and while this book did not include that, it did use italics as a flashback mechanism that began to irritate me at around page 400. But, that's probably just me.

I hope you don't feel so weary after reading this as my favorite sculpture from the Polasek does!

Happy weekend friends,

Gail