Photographs and More Photographs

We missed the sunshine last week with most days being rainy or leaden skies that would not clear.

 We don't do grey very well here in Florida. And while we do have plenty of rainy summer days, generally the sun shines at some point during the 24 hour period. Nada...not a ray of joy to be found. As such, I spent several days, and I mean days, deleting photographs from what I thought was my photo library. I thought wrong. Without getting too detailed, the over 4,000 images that I thought I was taking off of my desktop, I was removing from the "cloud". Apparently there is a very big difference between my library and my photostream, meaning that I still have all 50,000+ photos in my library that are backed up on not one but two hard drives. In reality, I have about three other photo libraries with untold thousands there as well!

Someone make me stop!! 

It began with me looking for bird photographs to add to a folder I'd created. Instead of just looking, I began hitting delete, delete, delete. Although I crave sunshine and being able to play pickleball, I used my shut-in days productively which is more than I can say about those sunny days! Finally, after a week of no pickleball, the sun appeared bringing temperatures in the low 40's. SO, I put on a pair of tights under my skirt and had Bruce take my photograph because there were loads of our crowd that went elsewhere and if I didn't have photographic evidence of covered legs, they would never believe me. And why is that you ask? Well, unlike most of the ladies, I just don't get cold enough to keep my legs covered ,whereas they all wear leggings. Me, I like the cold! Furthermore, I wish I hadn't because once I started running around, I was cursing my decision!

It may look as if the ball is about to hit my head, something that happens to me with frequency as I am what is called a "ball magnet", it is behind me having been hit by Rhonda!

My deleting exercise took me all the way back to the beginning of the pandemic when we first encountered empty shelves. (3/20) (note the one jar of Claussens which remain in short supply)

And here we are nearly two years later with these photos taken on a shopping trip to Publix last week.

ONE package of cream cheese!! When talking about the shortage, David looked into it and seemingly it has something to do with factories experiencing cyber attacks? I wonder if the same holds true for the cat food shortage?

At the checkout counter there was a list of about ten things, none of them related, that were in short supply and had restrictions on what an individual could purchase. We have been through some strange times in our time on earth, but nothing like this before. Then again, most of it is inconvenient, rather than life threatening like people living through war time have faced. Easy for me to say when I don't have a cat, right? Yvette said she's shopping all over town in search of cat food. 

Here's another good one.

Wouldn't that be a welcome sight? I think I paid about a dollar more per gallon for premium which is what the MINI calls for. 

Thank goodness we aren't doing this anymore!

I did not get rid of documentary photographs so if in the future, one of my children is asked what life was like during a pandemic, they will have my photo library to consult. Oh wait, they won't want to do that!! 

I am awaiting the jewelers call as to when he has finished putting my wedding ring together again.

All of the swelling has dissipated, leaving only soreness behind, especially on these cold, damp days! Speaking of my wrist, I received a hospital bill the other day. Yes, that is right, nine months later. Calling to ask what it was for, after 25 minutes of pleading for an answer, I hung up. Too damn frustrating!

The salt and pepper parade on the top shelf!

I may have to re-think that shelf, but for now, here is what I have.

It all began with that sailboat set Matthew gave me a few years ago. Same for the cookbooks but that's a story for another day. Anyway, it is super cute as are my little fishermen. The former came from a gallery and the later from a thrift store. Nadal and Crystal knocked it out of the park with the orange birdies they gave me from a dog watching stint we did a few years ago. I don't know where I would have put that hot dog set, but I suppose where there is a will there is a way?

Speaking of that idea, Bruce discovered a tub full of remaining small canvases which he brought home from the storage unit. Where could we use more art?? Our walls may be pretty full but using the will/way logic, he made some beautiful frames and we found two spots.

Doing the market one Sunday, someone came to my booth, noted the displayed street art photographs and proceeded to tell me about this wall in Winter Haven. You can bet that Monday morning I jumped in the MINI and high-tailed it to Winter Haven. The rain just added to the already interesting wall.

Secondly, I took this one in London. Who doesn't love heart art? Say that fast a few times why don't you?

Growing tired of looking at images, I began playing solitaire, an unusual pastime for me. That is except for when the bird lover in me finds a deck of Audubon playing cards at Marshals and must use them ASAP.  Aren't they gorgeous?

While they may be gorgeous, I believe they are cursed! Hand, after hand, after hand, so many I quit counting, were a bust. Honestly I have never played so many hands of solitaire in my life and it was not because I was winning! Eventually I was so desperate to win, maybe a slight exaggeration but still, I got out another pretty deck to try my luck. Whew! London for the win!! It was those beautiful bird cards after all.

Using something tactile makes me so sad sometimes as I think of how much our world has changed. Instead of beautiful or interesting cards, people stare at screens. No more beautiful pens/stationary, notebooks, well, books for that matter, to savor another person's creativity or skill. Modernity doesn't always mean beauty, but it does mean convenience which some would say is very much worth the trade off. Am I being an old fuddy-duddy?

It is highly unlikely that next Monday afternoon I will be sitting at my desk writing a blog post. And why is that Gail, you ask? Sadly it turns out that our plumbing issue is far more complicated than I ever thought possible. Maybe Wednesday or Thursday morning, Harvey Baker plumbing showed up with this in tow.

Running those hoses under the house, they used a high pressure nozzle to blast out the sewage pipe that runs beneath our building. Then they hooked it up to a camera that looks like this.

Following that procedure they brought it inside, using it to look into the pipe that runs along the wall through the hole that was cut two weeks ago.

The only good news that I have to report is that so far the only floor that will have to be cut into is exactly where the ladder and that young man is standing. To say that we are a bit dumbstruck is possibly a bit dramatic because, truthfully, from the beginning, Bruce had a hunch that it was more complicated than your average problem. So the plan is for Herbert to come next Monday and he and Bruce will cut into the floor, followed by the concrete slab, in order to expose the underlying pipe. Hopefully the plumbers will follow soon thereafter to diagnose and fix the pipe. As you can imagine, I am sick about the upcoming mess, but things could be far worse. Always.

On that note, another photo I came across that made me so sad was this one of the Darden gang.

That would be Neil in the white shirt who thought he knew better about vaccinations and didn't get one. You may recall that did not go well. So, yes, things could always be worse. 

Finally, ending on an upbeat note, the new net arrived!! Denny and Ryan are christening our new baby.

Let the games begin!!

your friend,

Gail