That's That

It was around this time, 11 years ago, that Bruce thought I might be able to sell my photography, something that had never occurred to me. By now you all know the story of how we began selling at the Orlando Farmer's Market when it was a teeny tiny thing, hanging around  for the next eight years, and had success beyond our wildest dreams. That era came to a close today my friends. SunDance still sells my stuff, but Out & About Photography is officially closed for business. That, of course, happene,d maybe two years ago, except we still had all of our inventory. Late this morning, we made a trip to the storage unit, came home, sorted out what we thought we might want,

and then drove to Central Street and made a gift of it here.

After giving a few canvases away in our parking lot, I bagged everything up and off we went to officially close that chapter of our lives. It was a darn good run.

We kept our storage tubs and after lunch, we filled them with closet things, lots of old photos for example. I came across this one of me, now nearly 50 (!) years old, taken by the local Melbourne newspaper as part of an article about how I was making my Mom's dress for a charity ball!

Oh how I loved that sewing machine and I probably cried the day they told me that it would cost more to fix than to keep. I used it for the following twenty plus years after this photo was taken, making clothes for myself and the boys. I totally still miss that knee lift.

While we are still on today's activities, as I sat down to write this post, finding the photos, etc., I kept one eye on the sky because we'd had a light rain followed by sunshine. When the sky looks like this, you can pretty well bet that a rainbow will follow.

Lo and behold, it did happen, and even more wonderful than I could have hoped for. Photos in my next post, but I will tell you that it remained, first one, then two rainbows, for nearly thirty minutes!!

So, what else has been happening? Maureen remained in the hospital until today and now she is back at Westminster Towers, hoping that this time the antibiotics will work! I talked to Carol briefly and her report on Lisa's visit was that it was wonderful.

Must have been last Friday night that I was planning on heading down to the pool for a chit chat with the gang when David and Michelle, along with Grace, were out front chatting with the neighbors and yours truly. For my far away friends, I thought I'd show this because it gives you a better understanding of what our place looks like.

Earlier Bruce had gone down to fish and when he didn't come home, I went looking and found him with some of the other stragglers.

Something super cool happened as we were preparing to leave. A large owl flew past us barely above our heads!!! Although sure he'd flown into one of the nearby trees, not a one of us could locate it.

Saturday, on my way to see Maureen, I detoured once I saw an estate sale sign and am I ever glad I did!! Down the street from the sale, well, seriously, need I explain?

Seeing the blooms on the trees is fantastic and seeing them on the ground is a bonus.

Our friend Sandy's nephew has opened a brewery behind Cecil's bar-b-que, just off Orange Avenue, a block from Michigan. The whole LPV clan went to support his efforts on Saturday night. Here's some of the old folks and that would include me had I not been taking the photo.

The young folks sat at another table..

Should you be in the area, be sure and check out Rockpit Brewery! From there we went to a place that Guy Fieri should visit the next time he comes to town. Our sweet friend Brittany was moving back to her hometown in New York the next day and a bunch of folks gathered to wish her well. An offshoot of Johnny's Fillin Station, Johnny's Other Side attracts all sorts of folks with good food and live music.

And then it was Sunday. On our way home from church, traveling South on Bumby Avenue, for some reason, Bruce turned off onto Vine Street and then turned left onto Francis Avenue. Long, long ago, his Grandmother lived in a tiny house on that street. His parents held onto the property for years and my sister Nancy once lived there as well. We checked out the street, continuing on toward Curry Ford Road and whoa Nelly, we came across this house with the lift used to paint it still in the street.

Can you imagine? I could not. Sadly it was gray and rainy so Monday, on my way to see Maureen, I drove back by to see it under sunny conditions. Amazing! Well, count me shocked when I traveled down Vine Street and came across this amazing creation. Unreal that the artist's first name is Maureen! Plus that these cool things are in that neighborhood.

The creativity is astonishing! Although you can't tell it from the photo, some of those circles contain little mirrors. Love at first sight.

A smattering of Robins continue to visit and just yesterday another batch of Cormorants came through.

Super active on the lake this time, while some of them kept flying around, some of them towards me!

I do love my ducks, however, the two that swim in the big pool are quite the nuisance leaving evidence of their presence behind all too frequently.

Do you see them alongside the pool?

I'm hearing from Jackie all about the huge snowfall in Vancouver. Boo hoo! I wish it had snowed that much whilst we were there. That said, it is 22 degrees, and that, my friends, may have been more than this wimpy Floridian could have handled for days on end. Then again, you only live once, right?

Giving that all away today was a little sad, but that's that. Onward!

your friend,

Gail