One Week In

While this time away from Orlando will be far shorter than our previous year in Vancouver, there are some similarities when it comes to getting adjusted to a new home away from home. Of course our accommodations could not be more different-- one set up in the sky, and this one set in a forest. John and Laura have a small orchard in front of their home, thus not many steps from ours. For now I have no clue what this is except for pretty. 

In the above linked post it was my first time tackling the garbage, something we did here late last week. Turns out that our landlords do not have garbage pick up, instead taking it to what John called, the convenience center which turned out to be just that, very convenient. On our way back this was the view of Murphy.

The convenience center looks like this....same as Vancouver with countless receptacles, so many that some are not pictured. 

One week in, things are going well. The kitchen is good but I have had Bruce order a toaster from Amazon with some of his Father's Day gift because I am having trouble getting our toast the way we like it. 

So, so happy that I brought my knife.

Here's something funny. Note the potato peeler that I brought from home. Also note the lone radish in the bowl. Radishes were exceptional, something we've not had for some time and get this: Charlotte (Laura's mother) had the same peeler in the drawer already!! Better having two OXO peelers than any other kind! Another thing to note is that we have purchased the most delicious corn on the cob that we've had in years. 

The river walk is proving to be an excellent place to exercise while Bruce is in the gym. Some of it is leafy green,

and other parts are in the wide open. Interestingly enough, the dam above Murphy is opened by the TVA for the summer to raise the level of the river for recreation; in some places the water goes way up the tree trunks as shown below.

I'd never before seen a Groundhog in person, but now I have! 

As I was walking along it just stayed put, munching on grass. After seeing this interesting critter, I had to learn a little more about groundhogs. I learned, get this.....when hibernating their temperature drops from 98 to 37 degrees!! Not only that, their heartbeat slows to five beats a minute. Never think that reading Camera Crazy is a waste of time when you can learn stuff like that.

Deer are seemingly everywhere! While on our way to visit someone's home, as we were driving in...

Did you catch that? We were invited to someone's home on Saturday!! Unreal. More on the visit in the next post.

Also, and this is super exciting, a fawn crossed the road in front of us, trying to catch up with his/her family.

We watched as it worked hard to climb the bank alongside the road to catch up. In person it looked very young.

One day their were wild turkeys crossing the yard out front.

Which looks like this:

So we are at the top of the driveway on the right and the driveway heading left is to our landlords beautiful home. A much larger version of the one where we are staying. We have already fallen in love with this little house with the light and bright interior. With the 22' ceiling in the living area, it feels far larger than the square footage sounds. 

At the bottom of the drive and to the left is the pond where there are plenty of fish.

Outside the bedroom window the hill rises with a bunch of daisies growing on it. I have not come to any conclusion yet as to whether or not they are multiplying.

Maybe it was Thursday, or maybe not, but in any case, some day of the week, I was walking on a part of the designated river walk when I came to a fork and decided to go off said walk and turned onto a neighborhood road adjacent to the proper walk. Not only did I come across a cemetery with some pretty seriously decorated graves,

I saw this in front of what looked to be a residential home,

and just down the way a bit, a home with a beautiful apple tree with abundant ripening fruit.

That is my kind of recreation, a photo walk seeing what comes into view.  Lots of little birdies that got away. :(

Sunday morning we visited the downtown Methodist church, arriving before most everyone else.

The group that plays pickleball here are serious indeed, even having a treasurer to collect funds for improvements to the courts. The new sign, an example of player funded improvement, was installed last Friday while we were there. The lighting isn't the best, so in case it is illegible it reads, Valley River Picklers. 

In yet another thing that falls under the category of "if you can believe it" is, that while we were grocery shopping at Ingles yesterday, we heard a man behind us saying hello Bruce and Gail.  Turning around we recognized John. You guessed it, we met him while playing pickleball! It was pretty surreal. 

More neat stuff to relate, but for now I will sign off, however not before this final bit.

Longtime friends and readers know that I am a sucker for nostalgia. While watching the pickleball tournament I began reading the cookbooks on the shelf in the living area. Color me tickled to death to find this Betty Crocker cookbook from the year after I was born. I plan on leaving it open on the little island to peruse while waiting on water to boil, that sort of thing. 

That nostalgia thing....I was given a BC cookbook for my wedding 50 years ago in August. So there's that aspect, but too, I am feeling a bit of kinship with Charlotte using all of her cookware and dishes. I hope she would have liked us. We sure are feeling at home in her home.

your friend,

Gail

p.s. I brought those clippings from home to make the place homier.