Yet Another Camera

As if I don't have enough of them on my table right now! Bruce was looking for something in his old work bag and found a point and shoot Panasonic camera, one made in Japan before all of the manufacturing went to China.  Just like the original camera he gave me for Christmas back in 2006! Actually not just like it because we knew it was newer than that, just how new was the question. 

Looks like it is brand new, right? It was hard to know because, try as he might, he could not find the battery charger, however, with the magic that is Amazon, I was able to order a suitable battery charger. About four days later it arrived, and it was time to see what we could see.

For starters, it was made in 2011, so despite its advanced age, because Mr. Peck is far more careful with his gear than his wife is, you would never know that it is 11 years old. Secondly, post-full charge, we were treated to some fun photos from a long time ago, beginning with ones Bruce took of his Yardhouse project in South Beach. There was a photo of our living room when the thrones were new. If you are new to this space, the thrones are the brown and white chairs that I just had re-done.

Gosh I wonder what I did with that rug I loved so much! Along with the above photo was one of the sunroom where Bruce had his desk. Looking back at it now, I can't believe that he let me paint it that color scheme. Seriously, not one of my best ideas.

The shed that Bruce built without plans, just an idea in his head. He and Bill beat up a concrete driveway in the front yard leading to the adjacent gate and turned it into a floor.

So many, many projects over the years that we did to make that house our home. On occasion, I miss the yard, but then I remember just how much work it all was. The pool too! The giant palms were always dropping seed pods that ended up in the pool cleaner.

Bruce is still at it, working on Bill's house. Talk about so many projects! The latest of which is the new fence that he and Bill worked on together. It is 96' feet of board-on-board and way more work than it looks. Over the years of working together on his house, Bill has learned a lot from his Dad, one thing of which is when to let Dad take over as he is here, making cuts in the fence to house landscape lighting. I will say that Bill did a whole bunch by himself, including all of the painting beforehand. He used his birthday money to buy the paint. Have you seen how much paint costs these days? As with everything else, the price is shocking.

The hours Bruce has spent working on that house are likely more than he had time to do on ours because he was always working, working, working. More often than not, that meant 80-90 hours of week, much of it out of town, getting up crazy early for flights all over the country. Thus, retirement is sweet for Bruce. Finally he gets to pick and choose what projects he works on! Hurray!

That said, his work life has made our retired life comfortable, so neither of us have any complaints. A crazy thing happened recently involving a letter that came in the mail. Said letter was cryptic to our eyes, but after a phone call he learned that we have nearly $40,000 for health care costs, including our Medicare Part B, that we knew nothing about. Now that was the very definition of a surprise. 

So, back to the baby camera....it works beautifully! Super convenient to carry around in my purse just as I did with my original camera. I took it the courts the other morning and was delighted with the results. A few weeks ago a new friend, Shirley, gave me the History of Pickleball to read. Wait, I've already told you that, but I did not show you what the cover looks like.

The paddles were originally made of plywood in a garage, whereas now paddles can cost over $300! For the record ours are not that expensive, but you get the idea. In a crazy happening, one of the women pictured in the above book has begun playing with us while she is in Orlando. She knew the founders and played on the original court in Bainbridge Island, Washington. 

Trying out my newest/old camera. Technically it is Bruce's old work camera, but what is mine is his, and the other way around!

I took it down to the lakeside pool to check out the absence of a huge oak that was taken down last week, adjacent to the fountain.

I am mourning the loss of that oak tree which provided a bit of shade during parts of the day. Once a large limb fell down, it was determined that the tree was not safe, and when you live in a community you just have to accept that things will happen that you don't like.

It also came along when we went to Lake Davis to check on the cygnets. We were not disappointed, although it is somewhat surprising that there are only two, albeit a very cute two.

Here's a close up of their cute faces.  (not taken with the baby)

On the other hand, this one of these ducklings was taken with the baby camera.

The moral of the story is the best camera is the one you have with you, something I learned a long time ago that most people have now discovered with the advances in mobile phone cameras. 

From there we drove over to the nearby wetlands park looking for more ducklings. We came up empty in that department, but we did see something very curious. From afar I thought the heart was carved into the tree, 

however, on closer inspection, 

but of course, it is a cat burial site! Not something one comes across everyday in a public park.

Usually once a week Bruce meets our friend Keith for lunch at Johnny's Otherside near the house, located on the corner of Michigan and Ferncreek. It's been a while since I was there; Friday I joined them  and was surprised at how much they had updated the place with new paint colors on the outside,

and on the inside. It's a popular local restaurant that is nothing fancy, just comfortable with decent food.

This would be Keith who is listening intently to one of my dear husband's stories.

Have I told you that Cynthia is roping me into helping her with the church flowers once a month? She and her current partner made Sunday's beautiful arrangement.

Cynthia has more faith in me than I do, but with her partner spending the summer months in Maine, she had to ask somebody for help!

Every Sunday Bruce wants to go out to lunch as has been well documented in this space. I know it sounds silly, but I am not as enthusiastic as he is in this department because, more often than not, I am disappointed for one reason or another. Unfortunately, when we tried going to Dubsdred it was full, so we ventured down Edgewater to find something else. Well we found something else, but I'm hesitant to recommend it. Called Thai Farm Kitchen, it has been open for a few months. The patio was very attractive,

drenched in bright red paint, done very well, I might add. The owner was super friendly, there was a singer, and there were very few customers. Our server was very, very attentive.

One thing, and I hardly know how to describe this, but the table, pictured above, had a finish that caused everything to stick to it, including glasses and flatware. Eventually I asked for additional cloth napkins and we used them as placemats. Maybe the food was too authentic? We won't go back.

While on the subject of food, another photo on the camera was this one of our kitchen following the massive paint job we did on the cabinets.

Paint job? It was far more than that , and I have a blog  post to confirm that! Actually there were many blog posts as it took us three weeks to transform those knotty pine cabinets into something more modern. While I am perfectly content in my present kitchen, there are a few things that I really miss, one of which is a real exhaust fan. Secondly drawers, I had a lot of drawers! Plus, Bruce had added lots of pull out drawers, say for my cooking pans, in the cabinets under the stove. Lest I forget, I very much miss my wall oven. 

I suppose though, life is full of trade offs, don't you think? It is how you adapt that counts, or so it seems to me. Seeing the pictures of our former home, I am feeling very nostalgic, however, shoot, if we had stayed there, we might not have ever learned to play pickleball! 

your friend,

Gail

20 Seconds of Fame

Thanks to Jonathan, we will have this memory for as long as this blog remains. I wish that this brief moment highlighted something that I'm actually good doing, however, beggars cannot be choosers, so me playing pickleball with Bruce on the evening news is our shot at brief fame. Actually Barbara filmed it off her television, shared it to our Dover Shores group, and somehow Jonathan turned it into this.  If we are friends on Facebook you've already seen it, but there are a few out there that might find it interesting. Shot on Wednesday, while we were at the courts for the ribbon cutting ceremony with Mayor Dyer and the city commissioner of that district doing the honors. What does that look like you ask? Well, it takes far more than the mayor, as there were loads of people from the city, as well as several television station film crews. A bunch of players came out to witness the historic moment.

Using a podium, there was a brief speech, followed by...

Indeed, they actually use scissors. Mr. Peck is behind the mayor on the left,

which, to tell you the truth, I did not even notice until I looked at my photographs! While there were all those cameramen around, filming when playing resumed, it was quite the surprise to wake up the next morning and see the video. While the video seems to indicate that I can play well, don't be fooled, I'm still mediocre!

Come to think of it, this is actually not the first time we've had some television fame. I found this post from 2016 that tells the story of our last brush with fame filming a tiny segment for a show called Zombie House Flippers. Almost six years later, we still get texts from folks saying they just saw the episode, something at the time, I never imagined! Mostly it is Bruce in the show and I'm his sidekick!

Well, it's been hot although I think something had to be slightly amiss on this reading from the Subaru yesterday afternoon when we were heading to practice with Bill.

It must have been the heat build up which caused some incredible lightening last night. Wow was it ever spectacular.

Fortunately it was last night and not Saturday when I was trying to get a good shot of the rising Pink Moon. I got a shot that, while not great, documents the beautiful occasion.

Rising out of the trees, it was a seriously glorious sight. That pine tree on the left is where the Great Blue Heron's nest is located at the very tip-top. Impossible to see the nest, but if you have a serious zoom on your camera like I do, a treat awaits. 

When zoomed out that far, the photo quality diminishes greatly, but I'm just going with it because I've never seen a heron eating a fish that big before. The other parent is flying off,  presumably for his own meal. Conjecture on my part is all that is. 

A few days ago, while thinking about this post, I realized something that I hadn't thought of before. Everyone gets a kick out of me stopping play to watch a bird, but the truth is, once you are a bird enthusiast, you have to look. It is that simple. Unlike some passions that people can turn on and off, if a bird person is outdoors they are going to be noticing all of the birds they encounter. Once you start looking, they are everywhere. You would think that once you've seen one Wood Duck you've seen them all, but it just doesn't work that way for me, and I suspect, others as well. Each bird is unique. There is no other Wood duck that looks exactly like this one.

All the colors of the rainbow in one bird! Astonishing really. With that in mind, expect to continue seeing birds in this space.

I think it was Tuesday that we took a walk around Lake Davis to see if the swan's eggs had hatched. Indeed they have with two cygnets still on the nest. I've since heard from Candy that she has now seen them out on the lake, so I'll be going over soon, hoping to see them for myself. Speaking of Candy, she tells me that the ducklings we were hoping to see at Lake Como were rescued by someone after the parents were hit by a car!! 

"Let's go to Lake Eola and check on the nests there honey!!"

 "Must we?" 

"Yes please!!"

There are a lot of swans at Lake Eola. Gobs of them in fact, and not all the same. Five different types actually, which we learned from some new information panels. What we also saw was very interesting, at least to me. A fellow on a motorized cart drove past with three buckets in his cargo area. 

Apparently the swans know what is up when he arrives. Donning some rubber waders he was there to fill the feeders.

Still only eight, but once he was in the water, they came from far and wide!

So that was fun to witness. Continuing the circular route, we were next treated to a turtle convention!

It was crazy how many turtles there were! At one point we counted over twenty, the most I have ever seen in one place!

The next treat was the pictured island which the Anhingas and Egrets use as a nesting spot. It gets loud the closer you get. The Amphitheater is looking mighty fine with a new coat of paint.

Once around we began talking about lunch. Where to? Deciding to see what had taken over a spot that has been occupied by many different restaurants over the years, we turned onto Central and something caught my eye. Can you guess what it was from the picture below?

Turns out the space is now called F&D Cantina or something like that. A Mexican  restaurant owned by the same folks that have an Italian version using the same F&D in the name. Quite the changes have been made to the decor, it also has a cozy outdoor covered seating area as well.

We'll have to keep this place in mind for when our London family returns as there were several vegan options to choose from. The same goes for Lazy Moon Pizza, a place we visited two weeks ago. Now that is a place where you most definitely get your money's worth. This is ONE slice of pizza.

We did not share the same enthusiasm for our lunch following church yesterday. Mostly it had to do with it not being what we expected. While technically this is a slice of quiche with broccoli and grape tomatoes,

well, you get the idea. We learned the new chef is from BITHLO and his roots show in the menu offerings with a heavy emphasis on field greens and the like. 

That said, while that was a disappointment the Easter service was glorious with the choir in fine form and in robes which made me happy. Having worn a uniform during my working life, I can't help but be a fan.

One of the traditions of this congregation is a flower cross near the entrance which is used for Easter memories. Naturally we had our picture made too.

The white shoes may have been a stretch, but they do nearly match the dove pin on my dress that I have committed to wearing until the madness in Ukraine ends. The horrors continue unabated. I'm pretty sure the pin came from Bruce's Mom and is meant to be a Christmas pin, however, promoting peace is welcome anytime of the year. I am even wearing it on my pickleball tops and it is somewhat surprising to me how few people have asked why in the heck I am wearing a pin on my tops?

We've finished a series on Amazon recommended by our friends Keith and Patty. Set in England, while it was very slow to grab me, once it did, well, it is totally worth watching.  Called The Village, if you can think of something that humans can do wrong, it's there. Adultery, infidelity, murder and madness....sounds like fun, right? To temper that binge, we are now watching Great Canal Journeys which is a balm to our souls after all the grittiness of the previous series!

We would probably watch more series, however, we do spend a ridiculous amount of time watching pro pickleball. We know the whole cast of characters, so when one showed up today at the courts, I was freaking out. Meet Catherine Parenteau who was gracious enough to let me photograph her.

Honestly it was so shocking that she would come to the courts (she does not live here), but come she did with a coach and watching them hit the ball so hard and fast was a treat.

A few days ago I had to run back into the house for a camera. Bruce asked, "what do you need that for?" Answering, "you just never know" and today was an excellent example of that.

Closing this post, what a blessing it was for this perfect rainbow to appear on Good Friday, late in the afternoon.

Remember how I said every bird is different? The same holds true for rainbows, some more brilliant than others and as is the case with the one above, some much lower to the horizon.

Aside from man's inhumanity to man, it is a beautiful world out there.

your friend,

Gail

What Have We Here?

The answer to that question? We have a lot, is the short version. All sorts of goodies in fact, I hardly know where to start. Oh yes I do...the most important story of this time in history.

Leaving the Dover Shores courts, I asked Bruce to drive us to Lake Davis for a check on the swan's nest. No sooner than we had traveled in that direction, I asked if he would mind turning around and let me check on some ducklings at Lake Como that we'd seen on our way to church, a few days prior. On that day I'd seen pure white ducklings, however, as time was of the essence that day, we continued on our way. Circling the lake in our car, we saw not even one duck, yet, not content with the initial viewing, Bruce pulled onto a side street for me to walk over to more thoroughly investigate. Well what should I see first but the memorial bunny decked out in the Ukrainian flag colors which really touched my heart. We all feel so helpless watching the people's suffering. whether it be on the news or in print, the latest atrocities are here. 

Because we feel so useless, many are doing small things such as the bunny, or every single light post encircling the lake to show their support and concern.

Easy to miss when you are traveling in a car, but very powerful in person. As to the ducks, they were there if you knew where to look. Unfortunately I was too late for the ducklings, their whereabouts are unknown, although if I had to guess, they were either a meal to a big turtle, or a raptor.

Speaking of knowing where to look, you just knew I would be going back in search of those owlets, didn't you? But of course you did! Just past sunrise, before pickleball, I drove over, parked alongside the sidewalk and began scanning the trees. Not an owl in sight. I even ran into the husband of the friend who was attacked with him describing a few places he'd seen them, particularly near sunset. Still no luck. Well, the kindness of strangers was on full display because as I crossed the road towards my car, a couple asked if I'd gotten any good shots? Explaining my futile attempt, another man from the group spoke up saying he'd heard from someone else, another place to look. By golly, he was spot on!!

Although he thought there might be four in attendance at this owl party, I felt very fortunate indeed to find three in one tree! I share the above to put this all into perspective size-wise. The other parent was AWOL.

Let's have a closer look, shall we? 

If I had to guess that is the female owl, but because the only real difference between male and female Barred Owls is their size, without a comparison I'm not entirely sure. What I do know is the lower branch is one of the little fellas. Let's call him the least adventuresome because he stayed close to the parent, whereas the girl (?) left her perch up high,

landing on an even higher perch looking just about as cute as it gets.

Can we all agree that the fluffy front is just fantastic? Of course we can! If we still lived just across the street, you can bet I would be over there day after day to watch their progress, however, I am trying to restrain myself because it now entails a car trip rather than a bicycle.  While I could actually still ride my bicycle over there, it is now more about time BECAUSE nearly every day is pickleball day around this household. Several days a week we are going to Dover Shores, loving the game on a dedicated court. 

As with most things in life, while the courts are terrific, there is very little, and I mean very little in the way of shade, something we very much enjoy on our "home" courts. That said, we are meeting more "pickle people" continuing to add to our enjoyment of the game. 

Gifts from heaven my friends. A sliver of a moon,

wonderful cloud formations,

along with very defined sunrises. It's just wonderful watching it come up out of the trees.

Speaking of the skies, much of the week it has been not only hot but very, very windy. Friday night during the birthday party for Sandy at the pool, the wind was crazy strong, causing lots of movement of said pool water.

Many in the crowd had to walk home for jackets to warm up when the sun went down.

Amaryllis sighting, a sure sign of spring, although with temperatures hovering near 90 on some days last week,, it won't be too long before "Greater Summer" begins in earnest.

While checking on the swan's nest, which btw, she was still on a few days ago, although this house across from the lake has graced this space in the past, it is just so good I have to share it again. That Bottlebrush tree! The glorious Bougainvillea goes without saying.

It almost looks too perfect to be real, but real it is. While I do love symmetry, I'm still a fan of the wildflowers that sprout up this time of year too.

Our tiny garden is looking quite striking if I do say so myself.

It's all Bruce, so I take not an iota of credit for the design. 

Yesterday was the annual Palm Sunday, waving of the, you guessed it..... palms!

What is most notable is the amount of people in attendance, probably the most since the pandemic began. Whether or not they attend post Easter, remains to be seen. Although our minister tells us that people are still watching online, I, for one cannot imagine doing so when the threat of infection has diminished so much. But then again, I can't imagine driving a truck nearly four times the size of my MINI Cooper like the one parked next to me at Publix. The moral of the story perhaps is that it takes all kinds!

On our way home we stopped at a newish store in town, located on the corner of Fairbanks and Mills Street, otherwise known as 17-92. If you live in the area, have you tried Wild Fork?

We've yet to try the items we purchased but one thing that spoke to me was their slogan of Frozen is Fresher, something my Mom always claimed. Despite the fact that it has been nearly 20 years since our Mother died, her words continue living in my head! 

So, if all the above weren't enough, this morning while playing pickleball I had to call a time out! And why was that you ask? High above the courts, in the trees three Swallow-tail Kites perched after putting on a beautiful arial display. Even my not so in-love-with-birds friends agreed that it was a magnificent sight.  Pretty sure this is my first photo bombed bird shot.

While that was pretty neat, something more happened a little later.

Yup, the mating game on full display! I learned a lot about these beautiful birds here, including the fact that they actually breed here in Florida, then fly to South America for their winter. Even the mention of migration just thrills me every time, thinking of how the heck they can travel so far. I get it, wings, but still it is so remarkable to me, even more so having just finished reading this article from Audubon.  (for the real bird geeks amongst you!)

Lastly, I wonder if kites got their name from these birds, or was it the other way around? 

your friend,

Gail