Holy Cow!!

Well, we missed all the excitement Friday night because we were out on a much needed date after Bruce being gone all week.

Saturday morning, Bruce went out front to get the newspaper, staying outside for a bit talking to our next door neighbor Pete. Assuming he was asking him to keep an eye on things around here in the coming months, I didn't think much about how long he spent chatting. Little did I know...

When he did come in through the garage, he said, "honey, you might want to look out the kitchen window" just now. Perhaps a hawk perched nearby was the thought running through my mind.

OH MY GOSH! What happened?

It only seems fitting that the white balance was out of whack on my camera when I took this because it was such a surreal sight seeing a burned out van across from our pictured mailbox!

Naturally I had to investigate for myself, wanting more details than Bruce provided. He's not nearly as nosy as I am! Pete's wife Terri saw me, and came outdoors with the scoop. Turns out, the girl living in the pictured house, was having a get together and one of the fellows parked the truck there around 8:30 PM. Pete and Terri were inside watching television when they heard a huge boom which caused them to jump up from their chairs to see what was going on. Flames were rising so high, Terri said it was super scary even with THREE fire trucks present. Glass was flying, and despite their efforts it took nearly an hour to put the fire out. Meanwhile the whole cul-de-sac was outside, turning the event into almost a block party. Look at what was once grass!!!

Bruce talked to the girl later in the day and turns out that fellow only bought the van on Wednesday for a trip to California with his dog for a new job. Yikes! Thankfully they towed it away later that day.

I'd heard from Terri that they were spraying the trees with water and Saturday it didn't look too bad, but by Sunday afternoon, when I went out again to access the damage, and although it does not show that well in the photo, the bottom third of the tree is dark brown. As you see, all of our trees are pretty intertwined, and I noticed that the fire missed our tree by about two feet!

So no one was hurt, thankfully. Pete declared that we missed the most excitement in our neighborhood in all 21 years we've lived here. Isn't that the truth?

What makes me so sad about this, is that I remember Miriam planting that tree following Hurricane Charely and it was turning out to be just beautiful. Looking out my kitchen window, I've watched it grow every day for years now, and I sure wonder what happens next. Further, for about eight years Miriam, whose husband built the house in 1962, had round the clock care, with the only movement from the house, the aides coming and going. The yard was immaculate, and all in all, it was a peaceful place. Now, with her in a home, not so much. When the black pirate flag went up on the flagpole, I feared it would not be business as usual. :(

One more piece of news that is not so cheery. When I posted all the photos from Lake Eola, I was thrilled to see the cygnets, however,

the last I heard, there are now only four left due to a heron and a turtle. Boo hoo!

And because I was trying to keep the photos down to a bare minimum, I did not show off this pretty corner of Lake Eola park with the lovely pots of annuals.

Winter Park is loaded with this kind of display, Orlando not so much.

Pam's garden, on the other hand, always has something noteworthy. Although she told me the name of this iris, I'm sketchy on it...something to do with Elvis, or maybe velvet? Anyway, it is a beauty, whatever they call it!

While we were chatting a Monarch came to feed...

It is not often that I post automobile photos, especially burned out ones, however, I've done that now haven't I? Rather than ugly, here are some awesome car photos I took while Bruce and I visited the British Car show at Mead Gardens. When we were driving in, the woman asked if we were putting the MINI on display! Speaking of MINIs, I asked B to take my photograph next to this adorable yellow MINI from the 60's. SO TINY!!

Don't I look like a giant next to it? Plus, a rare photo of me in shorts, which I rarely wear. In fact, I should have worn my usual sleeveless dress, as it was hot as the dickens!

I wonder if there are any photos of the MG our Dad had when I was in elementary school? I know I don't have any, except in my sketchy memory. Yes, amazingly, I remember a tiny bit about driving to Ohio in the MG with my Dad when I was maybe in the fourth grade? I've always had a full head of hair, and I remember this hair of mine whipping around in the wind. A convertible you know. This baby blue one was fantastic!

The one below caught my eye because Bruce's ancestors arrived in New England from East Anglia long ago.

I'd never heard of the car below either. Doesn't the hood look like a little face?

A beautiful Triumph, passed down a generation to a woman who used to drive it to FTU in the late 60's, now known as UCF.

A picnic basket!! Oh, who doesn't love a cute picnic basket?  Same for the Union Jack.

One thing that always stands out when you go to an old car show is the colors of the cars. Why can't they make them turquoise anymore?

In other news, I finished the quilting!! The binding went on fast, in fact I was so thrilled to be sewing a straight line that I did not heed the advice of our teacher; instead of it being a walking foot, at that point, it was a running foot!

With the addition of the binding, my thoughts have changed slightly. I'm thinking this quilt now belongs, singing, maybe in the back of the choir...

I got to work doing the hand sewing, sitting in the good light with our Baxie.

I managed to get three sides done before I needed to get busy in the kitchen preparing for today.

Remember, no fridge for two days? Coolers in the kitchen, and three bags of stuff in Pam's garage fridge. My attempts to find dry ice this morning were fruitless, let us hope Publix gets more in stock tomorrow when I have to empty the freezer!

yours truly,

Gail