That is the question of the hour. In Orange County, it sure seems that way with hospitals reporting fewer new cases of Covid-19. The governor has allowed restaurants to re-open with strict guidelines as to how many can be served at a time along with servers wearing masks. It's a start folks! Now if only the library would open I would be happy as I've only got about a half of a book left to read!
While we are waiting for life to return to normal, we are doing what we can to stay active, including a trip to Moss Park late last week to ride our bikes. While it seemed like a good plan, most of the park was closed. On our way into the park, we drove through Isle of Pines, a development near the park that once was considered out in the boondocks. Now, however, it is but one of an amazing amount of development off Moss Park Road. Wow, how times have changed! That said, it is still pretty wild in places as evidenced by the gator Bruce spotted beside the road.
That's Florida for you! The only fishing allowed in the park was along the canal because the boat ramps and docks were closed.
We knew that the campground was closed to camping, but did not expect the trails through it to be off limits, however, they were, meaning we could only ride a few times around the vast parking areas. We pretty much had the place to ourselves, a rare treat. So peaceful and quiet, along with ideal weather.
We'd brought a picnic lunch, enjoying it under the shade of the large oak trees. I was sad that it had been two months since last we sat at a picnic table. Nevertheless, we have nothing to complain about as we've not been sick, nor do we know anyone who has been. While we were eating we had a visitor on one side of the table,
and another one on the other. While we were in Vancouver I kept remarking on how large the crows were, thinking ours were smaller. You be the judge of that.
I think not as this guy was huge! There were tons of wading birds along the shore where once there was a swimming beach.
And although it is well documented that Wood Storks are not my favorite birds, they sure look great in flight. You can't go wrong with classic black and white!
Just before we were leaving, I spotted this little guy along the shoreline near the dock where the crew teams practice. (they were earlier!)
The traffic, normally pretty brutal was a breeze coming home. There are definitely some advantages to this whole shutdown.
My phone arrived as I was typing my last post and it's a little beauty, although a tiny bit larger than I was expecting.
Of course, I was clueless that there even was a new iPhone when I decided to finally take the plunge. My old phone was an iPhone 5s, one of Bruce's cast offs and it served me well these many years until the battery just would no longer hold a charge. The new one is the inexpensive model, iPhone SE, because I'm not usually one who is tied to my phone, so spending a bunch was unappealing to me. Anyway, I've had it for some days and it works just great.
Another day I finally sat down at my sewing machine, making a new little "plant mat". Never heard of one? I just made it up! Maybe it should be called a plant coaster?
It is always noteworthy when I spend a day cleaning, mostly because I am so proud of myself for actually tackling something I am not thrilled to do. Anyway, on this particular Saturday, I tried something new. And what would that be, Gail? Tea for a floor cleaner! Have you heard of it before? I had not, but thought it was worth a try because I was hoping some of the tannins would stain some of the scuffs on our floors.
Apparently it is a thing.
I brewed about six tea bags and let them sit for about 15 minutes, then put the tea in the bucket along with some cold water and I must say, it worked beautifully! Now, if I could only get myself to do it more often instead of taking photographs!
I can't stop myself from taking photographs because stuff is always happening, like the Mallard ducklings getting so big! They came right up to the back door again before heading back to the lake.
Before much longer they will be as big as mom who, btw, still keeps them with her at all times. I mentioned we've had some front porch visitors too, including this Downy Woodpecker, and a Tufted Titmouse at the same time.
The Cardinals are coming again, and we've even had the occasional Blue Jay, although they are mighty big for a feeder of this size.
Sunday we went for another bike ride, this time more successful than the last. Parking at Lake Ivanhoe park, we rode on the Urban trail to Mead Gardens. You know, I told Bruce that it is possible to send messages to anywhere in the world through thin air, yet bicycle seats remain uncomfortable. How can this be? Anyway the best thing we saw on this little journey was an Osprey nest with two babies, only one of whom I could get in the picture! How fun, right?
Driving to the park, we stopped first at Lake Cherokee because I'd heard there were some cygnets, and by golly, there were!
Which begged the question, were they the same ones from nearby Lake Davis? And the answer is no, they are not, however, we were saddened to see that one of the original four Lake Davis cygnets was gone. Watching the remaining three waddle down to the water was quite the sight, what with their feet being almost too big for their bodies at this point.
Absolutely amazing how low the water is!
Which brings us to the end of the photo show. Around here, the neighbor's construction continues with miscues daily. One day they knocked out the water to our building. Another day, in an attempt to miss the contractor's truck and trailer, the garbage men tried going around it and pulled off about a six foot tree branch, and breaking one of the carport tiles along the way. The next day they filled our newly-emptied dumpster with the old cabinets.
My friends are encouraging me to lighten up, which is something I will have to learn with practice as this will be going on for about a month. The funny thing is that today I read an article in the paper about some residents of Arlington, VA who live across from the under construction new Amazon headquarters. The presumption was that during the heavy pile driving phase, most of the residents of the high rises would be at work and the noise would be no problem. And then along came Coronavirus, keeping them all at home where it is driving them crazy with the noise, going so far as to petition the local government to make them stop. The moral of the story is, it can always be worse. And, of course, we will be having to ask forgiveness ourselves if we ever get around to doing the other bathroom! And to think that we put it off so we could do the entire camping season!
Which reminds me to say that they are opening some of the state parks again, however, none of them are ones we are interested in so our supplies remain in storage.
We had a great birthday chat with Jonathan who had a wonderful day courtesy of some special gifts from Alissa. Ours were entirely practical and I will leave it at that. Won't be long until Mr. Peck celebrates his as well.
So, I would most definitely say that we are inching closer to good times once again. Then again, that may be the optimist in me. Only time will tell, as it always does.
your friend,
Gail
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