Practice, Practice, Practice

For five years now I've been taking photographs most every day. To some folks that may sound crazy and it probably is, however, I've been on a learning curve. Even though I know how to take photographs, just as an athlete practices every day, so do I. A slight exaggeration in the previous sentence--I'm still pretty clueless on how the camera actually works!!

Nonetheless, I've managed to amass a huge amount of photographs of a multitude of subject matter. Seriously huge. Truth be told, I have no real idea how many I have, but believe me, it is a lot!! Which actually may work in my favor if everything goes well with Sun Dance Graphics. Yesterday I received the contract which is having a going over by an attorney friend of Matthew. WHO CAN BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING TO ME????? I can't. Oh my, oh my!

Between the Etsy business, my every weekend gig, the new car and vacation, my blogging schedule has been so erratic for which I apologize. As well, Bill and Dave turned 33 on Sunday with little fanfare I might add. When your children are all grown up as mine are, gift giving becomes somewhat difficult. Adding to that, when your children earn more money than the parents things get very tricky indeed. That said, this year both Bill and David had a gift in mind. We are renewing David's membership in a card grading group--don't ask me the details they are so crazy.

Bill, on the other hand, wanted a palm tree for his front courtyard. I knew just the place--Palm Gardens where we purchased all our landscaping plants when we remodeled. Because Bill is taking the week off from work, he and I drove out there in the new car. I say car but really it's a big boy. Sort of like a taller version of the old station wagon I drove when all the boys were at home. For those of you worrying about the gas mileage, it's not great but it is better than many vehicles of the same size. Moreover, I drive so little that it should be of no real consequence. Feel better?  I knew you would.

They had the palm but couldn't put it in the ground for two more weeks. Bill, taking matters into his own hands, rented a truck and put it in the ground himself today with the help of two of the maintenance men from his condo complex. Why would he need help you ask? The palm weighed 600 pounds!!!! I ran over earlier this afternoon to take a look:

Bill is wearing the black shirt on the right. Once a mother, always a mother. The temperature today was 94 and black is not the color of shirt to be wearing in the sun. "Bill honey, can you change into a white shirt?" I know, I know, he's 33!!

Monday afternoon Matt called to catch up. This is one funny picture here:

Four layers, or make that five? The blue is my computer background, the orange writing on the left is the blog dashboard, Picasa is next over that and then Face Time over that. Note the large glasses Matthew is wearing--the next trend and you saw it here!! Finally, there is your favorite blogger taking the photograph! Tom is in the background on the right looking very spiffy indeed. The two of them were helping me with Etsy ideas. Is it any wonder I'm a bit of a crazed woman these days??

My poor Bruce has an infected leg, so much so that he had to go to the doctor for antibiotics which are slow in doing their work. I took this photo of him at the market on Sunday.

That's a cute little shirt he's wearing that I found at Ross. I was hanging and he was resting his leg. Lately he's not had to travel much, amazing I know, but this week he left on Monday. As I type he's heading home from the airport. I'm anxious to see how his leg is coming.

I've not shown you the world's cutest dog for a while have I? The scarf lets you know he's just been groomed:

Take a look at that orchid I mentioned which is going plum crazy!

It was so top heavy with blooms that I had to wrap it a bit around the umbrella pole.

When the dog groomer was here last Thursday she had some kind things to say about our home which is always nice to hear. I think one reason people like our place is because there is a lot to look at.

A crazy mix of things, new, old, organic and whatever suits our fancy--that's mostly what we surround ourselves with and it seems to work. The morning sun always lights this table up. It seems as if the current bird nest has been abandoned so very soon you'll be seeing it. Still no baby sighting which worries me some.

When I visited the Whiteds two weeks ago I came home with a plant stand covered with rust. Well, that's not entirely true, some of it was, some of it was weary. Taking it out in the yard, I primed it and then spray painted it white.

Ten pot holders in all! Although I looked for some plants to fill it all up nice and pretty, I couldn't make up my mind just yet.

All in all, it's nice to be busy, just not this busy. Be sure and remind me of that when I don't have much to do will you?

Bruce is home, his shin looks pretty bad, and he's soaking it in the swimming pool as I type. He had a mole or something come off, and somehow, infection set in. Two full days of antibiotics haven't changed it much, but hopefully, tomorrow will be a turning point. Unpacking his suitcase, he handed me the USA Today. I said, please no article on Trayvon! He knows me well--a lengthy piece on Anne Tyler, one of my most favorite authors of all time. I can't wait to read it.

Maybe it was serendipity, don't know, but this article from the New York Times seems like it was meant for me. The recent developments around here are not in the same league as the authors but it is nice to have someone else recognize the work you've been doing. Thank you Sarah. Perhaps she will be my publisher?

I'll keep you posted....
Gail

p.s. No editing today--dinner time.

Kittens in the Shower

Lord knows, Bruce and I have hosted many parties, both big and small. Each one holds special memories, whether it was me getting crazy drunk one time or Bill's bloodied face at another. Now, that's not fair of me is it? Bill having a bloodied face--what in the world could have happened?

This story goes back quite a ways, in fact, all the way back to when Bill and Dave were in the 8th grade and having their first boy-girl party at our home. Bruce and I tried to stay in the background, however, when trouble arose, we were Johnny on the spot. You may find this hard to believe but, it's a true story! Back then Jolly Rancher candy was quite popular. As such, I placed some bowls strategically around the party area. Well.....the kids began throwing said Jolly Ranchers with one making an unfortunate landing on Bill's hairline. Someone came running saying Bill's face was covered in blood. Can you imagine his embarrassment? Because there are so many blood vessels on our faces, any cut tends to bleed profusely. Thank a razor nick gentleman. Poor Bill--I put him over the kitchen sink, eventually getting the small cut to stop. Now that's a party story for you! It still makes me laugh.

Saturday's party will be remembered as well. Friday afternoon I spent time organizing things inside after mowing the lawn in the early morning before the heat became unbearable. Where to put the plates? What about the food? Centerpiece? That sort of thing. Because Bruce was working from home, once the lawn was done, he put up my tent. One thing off the list.

Although I get most of the credit for hostessing, without Bruce there would be no party. He does all the behind the scene work such as putting out trash cans, filling torches, getting extra chairs out and the list goes on. In this case, while I was at the market on Saturday he put up Beth's tent, moved the tables, and got everything ready to go. Once I returned around 2, after a quick dip in the pool, I finished things off. Trish arrived around 3:30 with fruits and vegetables for trays.

Although the party was scheduled for a 5:00 start, some guests traveling from St. Pete couldn't wait, arriving at 4:30. I was still in my bathing suit! I threw on some clothes, no makeup, nothing done with my post swimming hair and it began.

Between replenishing the food and cutting the cake, I took a few pictures. Presenting the bride and groom:

I must say that we have an excellent layout for hosting parties, with guests having multiple choices of seating and in general moving around. This particular party, each and every room saw some action.

I was surprised at how many people went swimming:

It made us happy that so many folks were able to enjoy the water:

There were children:

 and old folks, or at least one of them. This is Mr. Roger's 82 year old mother:

This cute boy told me he wasn't allowed to swim because of bad ears, however that didn't seem to keep him from having fun.

Then there was this young girl who was too shy to have her picture made:

Although we had the tents set up in case of both rain or heat, the weather cooperated beautifully with only a very few sprinkles around 5, followed by clear skies and a drop in the temperature.

By now you must be wondering, if you pay attention to my titles, what could today's title possibly mean. Pretty much what is says.

As the party continued I saw quite a number of people heading into our bedroom which surprised me just a bit. If the guest bathroom is in use, by all means use ours, however that was not the case when I saw this happening. I discovered that a couple brought some very tiny kittens in a carrier to the party. Wondering where they would be safe, Bruce suggested they put them in our SHOWER! Count me flabbergasted on that one!

Soon thereafter, a couple asked if I would mind if they set up a portable crib in one of the bedrooms for this little guy who wore himself out:

That was fine by me, however, some of the guest had used that room for changing so before he could go to sleep I thought I'd moved all the clothing to my office.

A little later yet, I saw a young man heading to our bedroom while the hallway bathroom was vacant. I was, once again, flabbergasted when he said he was going in there to take a shower. Say what? A shower, he replied. All I could say was that he'd have a problem in my shower because there were kittens in there! Furthermore, I neglected to move his shirt from the room where the toddler was sleeping. Oh my! Opening the door I discovered he was lying there awake peacefully listening to the sound machine they brought. Fortunately I was able to grab the showering young man's shirt without incident. What next?

I'll tell you what was next--after cleaning up the kitchen, putting my counters aright, I went to bed!  Bruce, by this time, was dozing in his chair. I told Beth and Eddie to wake Bruce up when they were ready to leave so he could extinguish the candles, the torches and lock up. Because I was dead asleep I never heard a thing.

5:30 Sunday, there was my darling husband in the back yard taking down the tent to load it for market day. Once again, without Bruce, there would be no Gail, Out & About Photography. Instead, we might just be home on Sundays enjoying that pool together. Now, that's a thought!

I hear the garbage truck out there emptying the four giant cans, the last of the evidence of what I hoped, was a good time had by all.

Reading Time

Thank you very kindly for spending a few minutes reading time with me; I do appreciate your kindness.

This blog post will undoubtedly be all over the place as I feel like I'm bursting at the seams with things to write about. Before I launch into things, let me just tell you that I finally got around to watching ADELE at the Brit Awards and if you don't watch it yourself, you are really missing one of the great talents of the day. Here's a few things I love about Adele:

• She's sort of big. Not grossly fat or anything, but regular size.
• She wears false eyelashes so well.
• She's got great hair.
• Did I mention her lips?
• She appears to have her own breasts.
• Her laugh is a cackle which doesn't seem to embarrass her in the least.
• Saving the best for last, that voice! It gives me either the shivers or tears.

Several years ago Matt gave me her first album which was excellent, however, this new one blows me away. In fact, I have to ration my listening because I can't get the songs out of my head! Mostly she sings about heartbreak, which I've mostly avoided, so go figure why it gets to me so. Although I've talked to Matt several times since he last saw her, I keep forgetting to get the low down on the concert. She was small time when he saw her several years ago, wonder how she's handling things now? From my observations, she sounds even better live.

One of the best parts about my bridge playing adventures is the ladies. I've told you that before haven't I? Anyway, I'm sad to say that one of them, Debbie, has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. Calling her this morning for an update, I was delighted to hear how well she's taking the news. Preliminary tests show that it hasn't spread, which I don't have to tell you, is great. Apparently she's got a "super" husband like I do and he's supporting her like nobodies business.

Speaking of husbands, today is my sweetheart's 58th birthday. He's traveling; it's Wednesday after all. While mowing the lawn this morning I was thinking how long we've been best buddies. A long time my friends. 44 years. It's been heaven on earth. Seriously. Mostly I don't dwell on us getting older, however, there's no denying that we are. I hope we have lots and lots more birthdays to celebrate together.

While getting gas for the mower on Sunday, Bruce called me at the market saying he'd found this:

Surprisingly, it was only after I showed him this that he realized she was naked.

Can I just tell you that we are having a re-run of Spring? Glorious day today. Greater Summer was sneaking up on us, however, Spring reclaimed the day. Thank God! Lawn mowing today was a pleasure, especially so now that the grass is filling in. There's nothing quite like the smell of newly mown grass is there? With such low humidity(30%!!!),  I've been keeping the windows open, enjoying not only the cooling breezes, but the sounds of the birds. When we were little there was no way you could leave the doors wide open because of the FLIES. Every Florida home had at least one fly swatter because invariably flies would follow children inside when they came in from playing outdoors. I can still remember them lighting on the screens by the dozens! Seems like our fly population decreased as our people population increased.

So, what have I been up to?

A visit to Eric's house around the corner to see their wild jungle of a yard. In a crazy incident of Orlando being a small town, last Thursday, while I was imprisoned at the Apple store, Bruce went to the Agricultural Center to ask some questions regarding our new tree. The volunteers turned out to be none other than Eric, AND, a girl we went to high school with. Plus, her husband works with David! Small town life folks. Anyway, Eric came by the house to look at the tree, and was he ever surprised it was ours. He told me they found a lens that I must have dropped in their garden on one of my last visits. What it was is kind of like a poor man's macro lens; you screw it on the front of your lens and it magnifies the image. Thus, I went over there Monday morning and have the bites to prove it! This picture is not great, however, you may be interested to know that this is the flower they use to make the wildly expensive perfume, Joy.

Eric, like most of the master gardeners I know, love the challenge of growing exotic plants.

I just got an email letting me know that my submission for the Winter Park Autumn Art Festival poster contest was not selected. I'm not surprised in the least, however, I figured I had ZERO chance unless I entered. 

Pictured above is my work table filled with crazy art projects. Make me stop!

Finally I finished As Always, Julia and was it ever terrific! Can you imagine working on something for ten years? That's about how long it took for Mastering the Art of French Cooking to be written and published. Oh my, the ups and downs! Interestingly enough, the publishers dreamed up the brilliant title. I may have touched on this earlier, if so, please put up with me for a moment, the letters were so informative on so many topics of the day, chiefly politics! Bruce spends what I consider an inordinate amount of time watching CNN. What struck me so while reading the book was that the more things change, the more things stay the same. Insert the names of today's politicians and they would fit right into the 50's and 60's political scene. You think bi-partisan politics is something new? Think again. Particularly if you are of a certain age, you will really like this book. 

Occasionally, when I look at other blogs, I'm almost embarrassed that I don't have better photos to share with you. That said, this blog is mostly about words, with pictures filling in the gaps. I try to show you, and my future self, what my life is like on a week to week basis. This blog is invaluable to a person such as myself with a VERY faulty memory. I do so hope it stays put. Last week when there was the outage, one of my posts disappeared completely. I would be very sad indeed if they all did; they help me keep track of time, which seems to be moving as fast as the grains of sand in this hourglass.

We're Almost Off

The prints are ready:

 And, thanks to Bruce, the panels are all nice and fresh:

Once he gets off a conference call, we will head out to Lakeland. This morning, just after 5, Bruce packed the truck, but not before he vacuumed it!! Can you believe he vacuumed this morning? Neither can I. He wanted me to ride in style. :)

I am booth 61:Mayfaire
Last year, it was the very best show that I'd ever done before. Then I did Winter Park....
I will be oh so happy if I do nearly as good as last year. I know what I want for Mother's Day.
This cat could care less how I do:

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in my little reading circle.

P.S. I told you those plants were growing like nobodies business.

He Drove

and drove, and drove, with your blogger spending nary a moment behind the wheel, for which she was ever so grateful.

So, are you ready for some photographic evidence of all that driving? Believe it or not, I didn't take that many photographs because we were always on the move. Here's the best editing I could manage.

Let's get started then:

Turns out I discovered there was a hole in the sole of the black shoes, so they stayed home. Instead, I wore sandals on the way up. You should have seen the looks in the Detroit and Chicago airports!

The evening before we left, a new lens I'd purchased from Amazon arrived. Here's one of the first pictures taken with this amazing lens of Bruce working feverishly preparing for our departure:

We'll talk lenses another day.

While Bruce was working, I had a little chat with Jonathan making sure things were ready for our arrival. Well....he mentioned in passing his kidney was hurting. Not good.

Early the next morning, 5AM to be exact, the phone rings. It's Jonathan. He sounds bad. Real bad. He's spent the night in excruciating pain from a kidney stone. Like father, like son. Years ago, during his last attack, he managed to pass it after spending some time in a warm bath. Didn't work this time. Hour after hour he refilled the tub, hoping and praying that the pain would subside. Naturally, we were heart sick thinking of him in such pain, but what could we do? Nothing.

Boarding the plane we were both very anxious. There are some perks involved with being married to a three million miler with Delta, such as flying first class. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, boarding the plane first is really, really great. Having food and drinks served on china is nice as well.

Astute observers will note Bruce is not working! He's fiddling with iTunes. Yeah! So, we had a layover in Detroit, which turns out to have one of the nicest airports I've visited. Wonderful to look at and the design seems really, really functional.

The light tunnel is pretty fantastic too! Another perk of being a frequent flyer is club memberships. What, pray tell, is that Gail? Well, lovely rooms with snacks galore, comfy chairs, and quiet surroundings. Because we were hoping Jonathan got some sleep, we waited until we were settled in the lounge in Detroit. Yes, he had finally fallen asleep soon after we spoke. Can you imagine his anxiety thinking of the move the next day? We were heartened that his voice was not one filled with pain during this conversation. Soon, we'd be in Chicago.

And we were. Changing into my Uggs, donning a coat and gloves, we headed to the train station. The day was gloomy and cold. Typical Chicago weather. The kind of weather Jonathan and Alissa are sick of. In fact, as we were walking to their apartment, there were some snow flurries. Did I mention it was windy? It was.

Their apartment building is famous now for two things: the architect, and the flood of 2010. You'll remember that they were displaced for three weeks this summer due to said flood. Here's the atrium, I guess you'd call it, taken from their 10th floor landing:

Most of downtown Chicago was closed for the holidays as evidenced by this photo taken at 3 in the afternoon just as we exited the train at LaSalle and VanBuren:

There were a few hearty souls out and about, but not many. I managed only a few quick shots before Bruce was imploring me to get moving! That lens is amazing is what I have to say. Anyway, after our arrival, we assessed the situation. What was left to do? Where, pray tell could we eat? Even our hotel restaurant was closed! Turns out, when Bruce and Jonathan went to his office, the restaurant on the ground floor was open serving Thanksgiving dinner. And what a dinner it was! Wonderful food and service.

Those green beans were SO good. As was everything. In the above photo, you see that both Jonathan and Alissa are doing their best to have a good time, although right about then, neither one was all too happy. Jonathan in pain, and Alissa worried about the truck. Dropping us off at our hotel, Bruce and I snuggled in to watch a little football before the big day. This didn't work out as planned. Soon after snuggling, the phone rang. Once again it was Jonathan with bad news. Upon their return to the apartment for their last night in Chicago, they discovered Tia, their cat, was dead. Yes, you read that right. Although Tia was 12 years old, she'd not been sick, so it was completely unexpected. What else could go wrong?

As you've already guessed, there is no easy way to bury a cat in downtown Chicago on a holiday night. In fact, I suspect, it's never easy. In any case, after receiving the call from Jonathan, Bruce called information, something he frequently does with great success. After consoling Alissa the best he could, he and Jonathan put Tia in a box and found a place to have her cremated.  How they got any sleep that night, I'll never know.

So, what else could or did go wrong? Nothing, absolutely nothing went wrong! The truck was ready to be picked up on time, albeit in the worst part of town, the movers showed up, and baby it was SHOW TIME! While waiting in all my winter gear outside by the truck while the movers were upstairs I took this of the building:

Cool, but I hope they won't miss it at all. Once the truck was loaded, we were off! At least Bruce and I were. Finishing up the last few details Jonathan and Alissa motored on out of Chicago to start their new life.

Here's how I got most of my shots! You might note my hands in camera in the bottom mirror.

Once we left the city it was smooth sailing. Well, sort of. Bruce battled winds once we were in the Illinois countryside, but he gripped the wheel and kept the pedal to the metal.  For the most part, we left the gloomy skies in Chicago, and the serious cold stayed there as well, although just before sunset we began to see some light snow along the roadway. While stopped for a little break, I found this behind the rest stop:

I was in awe of the sky as the sun was setting. I was also pretty much in awe of this cross beside the highway! That little dark thing just below the cross is where you'd typically have a rear view mirror. Anyway, I took this through the windshield as we whizzed past.

We made it to Marion, Illinois, had dinner, and within minutes after checking into our hotel, our driver extraordinaire was fast asleep.

Saturday morning we were up at the crack of dawn. Make that way before the crack of dawn. Climbing into the truck with our hotel hot beverages, off we went, arriving in Missouri just as the sun was beginning to make it's presence known. A not too scary bridge over the Mississippi River:

Before this trip I had no idea Phillips 66 was still in business. Silly me. Here's one from Portageville, MO, population 3,200.

By this point we were about a third of the way there. The miles kept adding up, with Bruce calling out each 100 mile milestone. Every now and again we'd talk to J &A, however the cab was too loud for me to hear them very well. Sometimes I felt like I was having to shout just to make Bruce hear me! We didn't even have the radio on! You may have noticed in my first picture the atlas in my suitcase. That was so very handy, letting us know well in advance where each rest stop was located. Not to mention tons of other interesting facts.

Arkansas was very pretty, with plenty of color still left on the trees, although the roads were the worst. Our good weather and traffic continued!

Somewhere in Arkanasas, during one of our many, many gas fill ups, I saw this amazing sight:

Yes folks, that's a motel for $19.99 a night, with cars in the parking lot no less! I suggest you make it big.

Another one taken while on the move. Those green, green fields were really something. We don't know what they were, but it was almost startlingly green.

And then we were finally in Texas, stopping once again for gas:

Mr. Bruce is walking just behind the truck, probably looking for me! On this trip I took photos for reasons. This one is because there is still an S&H green stamp sign just below the trucks top sign. Long story short, Judy, my sister-in-law, is always reminding me of the year we were all so poor we used green stamps to buy Christmas gifts. Too bad that option isn't still available for cash strapped folks these days.

The sun was making it's descent just as we were heading into Dallas, making it almost impossible to see:

The cab grew silent with Bruce doing his best to remain calm and concentrate. Shortly after taking this photo, we approached the beltway around Dallas. Bruce suggested I not look. I didn't. I would have gone into a panic if I'd watched us approach a flyover, about four highways up in the air! There was one more to come. Once I again I ducked.

Finding a hotel that night was harder than we'd have liked. Suffice it to say, we drove nearly an hour longer, finally finding a hotel in Hillsboro, TX. The kids stayed on the other side of Dallas. I had my first Texas nachos that night--man they take their spices seriously! After driving 700 miles, Bruce once again fell asleep within minutes, as did his navigator companion. I did, however, wake in the night, worrying myself sick over J&A driving through Dallas. Misplaced fears my friends. They sailed right through it!

It seemed like the last 150 miles were the longest, but finally we arrived, finding their apartment with the help of our handy GPS. Nice. Very nice. Before long, they pulled up and the unloading began.

More than once, we marveled at Bruce's strength. We all pitched in and before long things looked like this:

It looked even better some hours later, however, the parental units were bushed, falling asleep in a heartbeat on an air mattress set up in the living room. Morning arrived, and after much hugging and good wishes, Jonathan drove us to the airport. While Bruce was photographing Jonathan and I, a nice man stopped, asking if Bruce wanted to join us. Of course he did!

Good grief do I look like a hag or what? Yikes! You would have thought she drove! While waiting, we enjoyed some of the famous fare from Salt Lick in the airport. Delish!

Flying on Southwest was about a 360 degree difference than our flight to Chicago, but it got us home:

And there you have it folks, a tale of three journeys. Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Good Times

Yes, that's right, it was a perfect weekend in every way. No, the market wasn't so great, however, I wasn't shut out. In fact I sold nine things, which truth be told, with so many, many people out of work in Orlando, I count myself fortunate. Fortunate indeed.

Before we go much further I wanted to share this lovely post from our dear son Matthew:http://www.fiftyfivehundred.org/post/856967812 
Make sure you click on it to see what he's all about these days. I can hardly believe it's been seven years since  last we visited London, but it has. A 50th birthday celebration for my darling husband was the occasion. It was an amazing trip, including flying first class on Virgin, which can't be beat. Arriving in London, one of the first sites we saw was a spectacular building under construction. We roamed the city until we got close enough to see what it was all about. Bruce was so enthralled that he had one of his photographs enlarged, and framed, keeping it in his office until the recent downsizing to a cubicle. Next time you're here you'll see it in the hallway.  Here's what I'm referring to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/30_St_Mary_Axe These days it's apparently affectionately, or not, nicknamed The Gherkin building. So, the other night the phone rang ,which in itself is pretty rare these days, and who should be on the line, but Matthew. Well, he was more than delighted that Bruce was home so he could personally tell him he'd just had dinner at the top of the Gherkin! I can tell you this much---seven years ago when we saw it, we NEVER in our wildest dreams would have foreseen that OUR son would be hobnobbing around London, and dining there like nobodies business. Simply amazing.

Continuing the son update, here's what's going on with Jonathan:http://cbs2chicago.com/local/river.city.flooding.2.1825286.html 
Saturday afternoon while driving home from a kayaking trip (Bruce paddled, I drove) Jonathan called sounding mighty desperate. If you've clicked on the link you can understand his consternation. Fortunately a friend's father has a furnished townhouse in a suburb of Chicago to which Jonathan and Alissa have fled, along with Tia, their cat. Rumors are flying about as to when the building will be habitable again. Miss Alissa will turn 30 this week, and the recent turn of events in her life were highly unexpected. Jobless and now homeless, not to mention someone ruining her camera recently, is taking it's toll on her psyche as you can well imagine. I'm so sad about all of this.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating, that I cannot believe how many capable and hardworking people I know are jobless. What, oh what, is the answer?

Well, let's talk about something fun, shall we? Here is Mr. Bruce preparing for his eight mile trip on the Wekiva River. Arriving just after 8 on Saturday, he put in here before the crowds came, fishing his way down the river. Driving into the place, we saw a mother deer and her baby crossing the road. Merely saying I was excited at the sight doesn't really do it justice. Camera fogged by ac, alas, no picture!

First stop for me was Wekiva State Park. The weather was a bit cloudy and things were still damp from Friday night's rain. I suppose with the number of stairs to get down to the springs, you'd imagine it is almost a sinkhole. My sons will remember some good times at the springs.

I roamed around a bit, however, I'm too much of a wuss to go into the springs these days. Mostly I read in the car until the humidity got to me. I do like those orange life preservers though.

Wekiva Island is the new name for a place once was called Wekiva Landing. Just down the road from the state park, I headed there hoping for some shade, only to find there was none to be had. Changing into my bathing suit, gathering my book and camera, I headed to the river. Look what I found:

Arriving several hours before Bruce's ETA, I settled in. After a bit, the heat was so extreme, I got up my nerve and jumped into the river, finding it oh so refreshing. Between the wonderful book I told you about, swimming, and all the activity surrounding me, the time passed quickly. Eventually Bruce paddled within sight and I went to meet him with the car. Excitedly he told me he caught (and released) more fish than he could count. To say that he was happy is putting it mildly. Did I mention he was also hot and tired? Well, he was. Once we were home, and things were mostly put away, we both took naps. Bruce loves a nap, me not so much. As you well know, I'm a world class sleeper and once I'm out, I do not wake very easily. Because we'd had a late lunch, dinner was popcorn.

Arriving home from the market I found this on my desk:

Actually I took the photograph this morning as I prepared to eat it for my breakfast. The mug is one Matt gave me some years ago from the Columbia Road Flower Market in London, which as of tomorrow, will be in his neighborhood! After reading my blog post about cookies--can you imagine he didn't know this already?--when he saw this at Eisteins, he knew I'd be a happy girlfriend. He was right.

After finishing unpacking the car Bruce asked if I want to hang out back. There's really nothing that cools off a market girl faster than a dive in the pool, so I agreed. During my absence he'd put up a both a bird feeder and some new torches which delighted me to no end. Needless to say we ended up eating out there, but this time we were much more careful about our wine consumption!

Normally this time of year the afternoon rains keep us from eating out back, and swimming late in the day. Well, this year is far from normal. Freezing cold in the winter, and now almost NO rain. We are going days and days without it. Oh yeah, before I forget, we had our lawn people out last week; fortunately Bruce was home to talk to them, and what we think went wrong is, the first guy to put fertilizer and weed killer on the grass this year. It seems as if he got carried away, thus large portions are dead. When I say dead, I mean no grass at all. Large, ugly spots of bare dirt. It only took us about ten years of care to get us where we were which really makes it all the more discouraging. HOWEVER, they are taking responsibility, and if come September things are not vastly improved, sod will be placed at no cost to your friends, the Pecks.

Digressing, digressing, digressing. The pool temperature is perfect right now--- here's your favorite blogger's dear husband with the newly shorn Mr. Baxter on Sunday evening:

He may look pretty calm here, but he likes swimming about as much as he likes walking!

Today's post title is from a popular photograph I sell, but it definitely fits for this weekend. We also went to a downtown Irish pub on Friday night, returning home early enough to watch State of Play, a film we both thoroughly enjoyed. Often people ask me about my photo editing, and mostly I tell them I use the Picasa feature, "I'm Feeling Lucky," which pretty much sums up my life. I only wish it applied to all my loved ones.....