What's Not in Bloom?

Whilst a volunteer at the Polasek Museum for many years, whenever I had spare moments, you would find me photographing the gardens. That doesn't surprise you in the least no doubt. Because I had so many shots they began a feature in their newsletter/website called, "What's in Bloom?, using my photographs. So, I wore two hats, one as a receptionist, and one as their resident photographer. While riding around in the last week or so, it came to me that now that the weather has mostly cooled off, we have a whole new group of flowering trees and plants that are very happy, prompting the thought, what's not in bloom?, because there is a whole heck of a lot going on in the plant world.

Before we take a tour of what's blooming, we have some happenings to discuss, including a nice little walk to the polling place on Michigan. Apparently 46% of our precinct voted early, but we are old school, preferring to vote on Election Day with our neighbors.

Bruce, as you see, brought along his filled out ballot that he spent a good deal of time preparing beforehand. We were there and back within about thirty minutes. By the end of the day, I wanted to throw my phone at the wall after receiving so many texts about voting. For crying out loud, leave me alone, I've voted in every single election since I was able! Enough already!

The crown/filling went as well as could be expected, taking far longer than I'd remembered. Tuesday I was a satisfied patient. Thursday night, not so much when the temporary came off in my mouth. Although they were closed today, I managed to have it reinstalled, and am hoping this one will last more than two days.

Late yesterday afternoon, say around 5ish, I saw the otters again. Unprepared, because I was merely looking at the wonderful reflections on the lake, most especially the blue house that was recently painted, I have no photographic evidence. Take my word for it, okay?

Small as it may be, the lake still provides endless entertainment. Who doesn't love a mirror image? 

The above shot of the canal is taken by the big lake and I love this one as well, because the light is so interesting, but the grandaddy of my reflection photographs in this post is this one that I took of the sunrise the other morning. Lord have mercy, the sky was on fire!

Fascinating to see how shots taken at different times of the day, can look so wildly different. Thus, the constant entertainment value for this gal. What makes it all the better is that it has come as such a surprise. Never did I imagine that this would be a part of our condo experience! You gotta love good surprises, right?

Bougainvillea, with their, what some might term, garish display of color, are blooming all over the city.

Some sort of orange plant?

The Orchid trees are just beginning to flower,

as are the African Iris.

The Crinum Lillies, scattered throughout the complex, are either flowering, or about to do so.

 Here's a cute little patch of mushrooms I discovered.

And while we are on the subject of plant life, recently the 5:00 gang at the pool, told me about a florist on Grant Street that was worth checking out. While at Target, replacing my kettle that died, I drove down said street and found the place just across Division Street. Although they are wholesale, they sell to the public at purported reasonable prices. I'm no expert, so I can't be certain about that. What I was certain about was buying an orchid to replace the one that I had to leave in Vancouver because it was too delicate to transport. Perhaps you recall Matt and Tom sent it to us, two weeks after we arrived for our wedding anniversary? On its second blooming, it was painful indeed leaving it behind. Instead of white, this time around I bought this deep purple color. Not really purple, but that is the best description I can come up with.

Furthermore, they had a tray of succulents for only $2.00 each which delighted me as I am joining the succulent bandwagon of late, having purchased this super cool one some weeks ago.

As you know I am such a fan of all things retro so when I found these little planters I could not resist, in spite of having nothing to put in them. Now I do.

Left with one more tiny succulent, for now I'm using an egg cup from London as a holder.

It has been an expensive week in the Peck household, what with my portion of the crown and Bruce's care needing work done to the tune of $2,200. After dropping him off at the dealership yesterday afternoon, because I was in Winter Park, I decided to pay a visit to the newly opened Sprouts that filled the old Whole Foods space. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, they are a part of the new wave of grocery stores coming to town. Just prior to reading about them in our newspaper, Carol said she shops there in Los Angeles and thinks highly of their product lines. Here's the outside....

and here's what it looks like inside.

Apparently known for bulk foods and produce, I bought something in each category to check it out. Not that I will be going there very often as it is seriously out of our way. Brussel sprouts were excellent, however, Bruce and I are of differing opinions regarding the pistachios. In my humble opinion, all of the newcomers will be hard pressed to knock off Publix as the best overall place to purchase groceries. Then again, what do I know?

Driving home from the temporary crown replacement, I drove through the peacock neighborhood, wondering how big the male's tail feathers have gotten. My word, there are a lot of peacocks on those couple of blocks.

Definitely not my best parking job, I pretty much stopped instantly when I saw two males with their tale feathers, such as they are, held high.

The female completely ignored the males trying to get her attention. It was somewhat like how old age places are, lots and lots of women, and very few men. In this instance, I counted two males and 15 females!!

In the coming months it will be fun to check in on then now and again, and we will watch this amazing phenomenon together. Unless you tell me otherwise, that will be our plan. 

Finally, when next we meet, the kitchen will have a new countertop. At least that is what they tell me.

your friend,

Gail

Welcome to House Selling

Five days in and I'm already ready to have this over.

Because it has been so long since we've sold a home, I had no recollection what it is like. Of course, in those days there were lots of others to share my misery, as in the "boys." For most of this I'm in it alone as Bruce is back in Dallas after spending less than 24 hours here. He arrived with sandwiches he'd purchased at WaWa on his way home from the airport. Can't mess up the kitchen before an open house you know.

Here's a funny story about house selling that has surfaced lately. We once lived on a street called Gustin Place, in the home we purchased when the only little Peck in our family was Matthew. By the time we decided we needed to find bigger digs, we had not only Matthew, but Billy, David, and Jon boy. I remember getting a call for someone to show the house, and while getting the twins (6 years old) and Jonathan (2) ready to get out of the house, it must have been Jonathan who knocked an entire box of Cheerios onto the carpet!!! Can you picture me scrambling to pick up all of those tiny Cheerios in time for the potential buyer's arrival? Funny now, but not so much then.

Anyway, Baxter, Bruce and I took off for the duration of the two hour open house. Mostly we drove around, grateful that the rain was holding off. Not saying it was a pretty day or anything, but it wasn't raining, so that was a plus. Back at the house by 4, Lynn told us she'd had eight people come through which I thought was great given the short notice and all.

Then the restaurant called with the news that a brand new $5,000 piece of equipment burned out; they needed help. Dedicated as he is to doing an exemplary job, Bruce flew back to Dallas in the morning with plans to scour the city for a char broiler that would work until such time as the other one could be fixed. How he managed to do that on a Sunday is beyond me, but he did, and they were ever so grateful as there was a development-wide open house scheduled.

Meanwhile, I went to church and as the service concludes I look at my phone, probably around 11:15, and I see a text from Lynn, someone from the open house wants to come back at noon. Hightailing it back to my spic and span house, I grab Baxter from the bathroom where he has been gated in, heading down to Regina's house. Can we come in? Certainly.

Here is Regina regaling me with stories accumulated over her 82 years. That is Argyle on the couch.

The folks stayed for more than an hour and the feedback was that they wanted more garage space. I thought, I can understand that. A few hours later, I learned they were making an offer, which came through on Monday morning. Reading through said offer, I quickly became agitated as they said negative things about the house, but were still willing to buy it if we agreed to their $30K reduction.

It took Bruce, Lynn, and finally Pam to settle me down, reminding me that it is a business deal, and I HAVE to remove my emotions. Far easier said than done when I know how much of our heart and soul has gone into this house!

That morning, prior to receiving the offer, I finally took a bike ride; the weather has been dismal for that activity, not to mention I've been cleaning this place to within an inch of its life! Sunday evening I'd gone to Hills Happy Hour, and I wanted to return to get a photograph of Bunker's profusion of blooming Black Eyed Susans.

My how they brighten these gray days! Now that it has begun raining again, it does not seem to want to stop. The pool runneth over...

Monday afternoon another person from the open house returned for a second viewing, also an hour long, and Lynn received word they were putting in an offer. Except they didn't. Now they are merely considering doing so. We countered on the first offer, finally hearing back last evening with a response to our counter.

There was a showing at noon yesterday, and this time I took Baxter over to Cypress Grove Park, the scene of many a good time for him. He used to scamper all around that place; often I'd have to restrain him from jumping out of the Pilot, which as you can well imagine, that is way too high a jump for a little dog like him. Bruce thinks I am a bit of a slow walker; Baxter is much slower!

With more rain in the last week than the previous five months of the year, everything is growing and growing and growing. I'd mowed the lawn again Saturday morning before the open house, so when Tony returned on Monday morning to resume his duties, I had him do some trimming.

I know I can't be all that easy to work with, at least as far as some things go. Yup, I'll turn on all the lights before people come, have the house perfect, that sort of thing, but when it came to the photos of our home, I was not so happy with the front elevation photograph. Not really the photographers fault, except for the scheduling change, but we've had virtually no sunshine to give an outdoor photograph much life. Especially a gray house! Maybe it was Sunday morning, now the days are running into one another, but anyway, there were a few moments when the sun shone and I raced out front to get a photograph with a little life to it. Of course the pavers are wet, but at least it feels more alive.

I pleaded with Lynn to use one. Isn't that ridiculous? Nonetheless, she agreed. That said, Tony trimmed a bunch of those Lady Palms and now it doesn't look like this anymore. I told you I'm a bit of a pain!

There is some great news to report...we are closing on the condo this morning! Plus, another showing at 1PM today! Someone is bound to love this house as much as we have.

Remember how I mentioned my photographs are in a crazy order in my library? It seems that yet another, taken in 2013, is appropriate for this time in our lives.

Do the same for us if you are the praying kind. :)

yours truly,

Gail

A Charming House

While talking to Mary the other day, she reminded me of something that I hadn't thought about in a long time. Telling her that we had decided to put our house up for sale, she said, "we helped you move in there 21 years ago, we can help you move out."

The memories came flooding back of when we did move here, October 15, 1996 to be exact. And just how did we come to be the owners of this house, you ask? Well, our house in Conway proper had sold and we were struggling to find another one, when one day, David came home from visiting a friend on Appleton, and brought home a flyer for an open house, saying you might like this one Mom, the rooms are pretty big. Who buys a house during an open house?? We did.

By that time, the twins were 16, and Jonathan was 12. Matt was away at Florida State with no real plans of returning to Orlando. After church on that Sunday, we came straight away to Gem Mary Court, wanting to be the first ones there. I can still remember walking up the brick sidewalk to the front door, The flyer advertised the house as charming, and obviously, we thought so as well.

That brick is long gone, replaced by a newer version, but I am more convinced than ever that it is indeed a charming house.

We were immediately impressed with the kitchen, although I knew I would miss the awesome booth we had in our previous home, and the truth is, I still do. The floors were different in those days, but the wood ceiling really wowed us. My carpenter husband was not as thrilled because of the workmanship, but he took care of that many years ago.

I'm definitely feeling nostalgic now that we have actually decided to sell, remembering all that has happened in this house that we've made a home.

Another thing that sorely impressed us were all the backyard palms surrounding the pool. Little did I know at that time how they would grow, and grow (duh!), dropping those dreaded seed pods in the pool, but I can't say that I haven't enjoyed the tropical feeling of an open pool surrounded by palms.

Over the years we've done so much to improve our little slice of heaven, twice refinishing the pool, and once actually removing the whole concrete deck and replacing it with travertine. That darling shed? Handmade and designed by Bruce with some help from Bill. When we moved in there was a long driveway out front that was used by a previous owner for a boat. Although Bruce left the pad down by the street, he and Bill, along with the friend who lived down the street, broke it all up using it for the floor of the shed.

All that lovely green grass? It took us probably five years to achieve that as the previous owner, or so it seemed, did not believe in either a sprinkler system, or fertilizer! Our staghorn!! What will become of that? Bruce will think of something...

I mentioned that we walked up that brick pathway to the front door, but most folks never even think to use it, instead, opting for the door on the driveway side.

Over the years we have been constantly amused that canvaser types come to both doors; somehow it never occurs to them that it would be really, really, odd for two seperate houses to have a bright blue, terra cotta, spring green, or hunter green glass door. BTW--those are all colors I've used, changing probably every five years or so.

So that is a tiny bit about the physical plant, but what really means the most is the "heart" stuff, like my Mother's last birthday party here, Jon boy playing a computer game for four years straight, Bill becoming an outstanding guitar player, and Dave learning about the stock market by day trading before he was 20 years old. Matthew has come and gone from this house, never really having a place to call his own as we had downsized from a four bedroom, to a three bedroom. Then too, we thought it would be fine, thinking the twins would be moving on in a few years, however, that turned into quite a few more than a few! Bruce, well, he's been the steady one, building over 100 restaurants all over the country, whereas, during that same time, I have been a Mammographer,  College student, photographer, blogger, and now pretty much spending my days sewing.

So back to the day we moved in....it was Parent's weekend at FSU and Bruce, Jonathan, and I went to Tallahassee. As I recall it rained and rained during the football game. Before leaving we had a plan...about twenty friends were waiting at our old house when we arrived at five in the afternoon for the move three miles away. Cars, vans, pick up trucks, all filled with our stuff descended on Gem Mary Court; everything was tentatively in place by 11 that night. We spent a VERY restless Sunday night because, guess what? We had not officially closed on the house! By Monday afternoon everything was official. The next day I began my new job at Orlando Regional Medical Center, now dubbed, Orlando Health. Whew...it was wild and crazy, but we were young!!

We are not so young in body these days, but we've once again decided to do everything at once, except this time we found a place before we sold this one. Slightly overwhelming what with Bruce completing a restaurant, an elderly dog, a move to Canada, AND selling our charming home, HOWEVER, we can do it. Or, at least, I'm hoping we can. :)

yours truly,

Gail

p.s. I just took these photos of our home because Lynn, our relator, has someone potentially already interested. They will hire a professional to shoot the house, but these were to wet their appetite. YIKES!

Thunder and Lightning, Oh My!

While selling photography those many years, I was often asked if I had a photograph of so and so...butterflies, giraffes, elephants, cars, you know, all manner of things that captivated people. One request that came often was for dragonflies. I do have a lovely pink dragonfly, but I never had any that looked like this one perched on my clothesline the other day. Is this little guy cute, or what? Maybe it's a girl...who knows?

Let's see what I can find out about one that looks like this....way too many for me to sort out! Anyone else familiar with dragonflies?

Wonder of wonders, we finally heard the glorious sound of thunder last evening. I had to run up to Publix a little after six last evening, and I thought you would enjoy seeing this fantastic yellow tree against the stormy sky.

While talking to Bruce about twenty minutes later, I told him I thought it might just pass us by, however, much to our relief, I was wrong. Going to sleep to the sound of rain was such a blessing. I'm thinking we didn't get that much, but at this point, we will take anything the heavens offer!

Well, my friends, a lot has been going on around here. As you know Mr. Peck was not here for his birthday, but I went to his party nonetheless. Cheryle and David were having a get together, and when I told her that both Pam and Bruce had birthdays last week, we decided cake was in order. I made two, with the first one being this Ina Garten Beatty's  Chocolate Cake.  As you can see, mine looked nothing like hers!

Sort of a leaning tower of cake; at least the name of cake shared the last name of our hosts! The Beatty's do such a wonderful job entertaining, they put most of us to shame. The garden is always put to use in the centerpieces.

Having only just returned from a road trip to New Orleans, along with several of their airbnb guests, David had fun making Hurricanes, going so far as to use freshly squeezed juice.

Cake and ice cream is served...

How do you feel about serendipity? I'm pretty much a believer in it, while at the same time believing that everything happens for a reason. Last weekend, our son David called, asking me if I wanted to hang out with him on Saturday afternoon because both Bruce and Michelle were busy. Not something I ordinarily do, I agreed because, really, why not?

During our conversation David mentioned that a unit two buildings away from him was up for sale, and the owner did not want to use a realtor, relying on word of mouth. He claimed it was a fantastic unit that was fairly priced, as well as having a wonderful location in the complex. He suggested we think about it for an investment property, however, he also knew that his Dad has been talking for several years about us living in Lake Pineloch Village. So, David arranged a showing on Sunday afternoon. The moment we went in the front door we were pretty much sold because of the view of Lake Willasara. The folks who lived there spent 24 years enjoying that view, however, they never upgraded a thing, which turns out to be perfect for us because we can now make it our own. The view from the bedroom..

As are most of the lakes in town, it is low, but not nearly so much as some. The folks put in serious sliding doors against the screens so you can shut off the living area and open the sliders for breeze on the porch, but if it is too hot, you can shut them and open the others so it can become an air conditioned space. Pretty clever, I'd say.

It is smaller than our home, but not by much. Then too, I am so looking forward to having a larger shower. While I've become accustomed to a 1960's sized shower, I can't say as I haven't wanted more for a while now.

As if we didn't have enough to think about, now this, right? Bruce got home last Friday night after midnight, but he was up bright and early, so we went to see it at 9AM before signing any papers. What I neglected to mention is that both Bill and Dave looked at it with me last Sunday, and it was quite the show with both of them "double teaming" the owner on price. You had to have been there, but I will say, I could have never done what they did, negotiating about a 10% discount. :)

In Texas, Bruce's job is nearly finished, on time, and mostly on budget. The managers take over on Wednesday meaning any further work has to be accomplished over night. I am so proud of his team there because they have done an outstanding job, so much so that Bruce can almost say they walked across the finish line, something he is always striving for. Woo hoo! The opening is about three weeks from now.

In my last post I mentioned I was holding back some photos, but now is the time to share them. The green heron from my last post was quite the find, as was these Limpkin chicks who were valiantly trying to catch up with their parents.

Eventually they did..

We learned from an earlier post that they primarily eat Apple snails, and here is one of the parents with just that for the chick.

So all very exciting. This was on Lake Cherokee, situated a block from Lake Davis. I parked by the former, than walked over to the latter, where I saw an Ibis in breeding colors.

Those legs and face are crazy red this time of year! Lake Davis is SO low with all these weird circles along the shoreline. At least fifty, I'd say.

After walking around the whole lake, I'm thinking perhaps reeds were there and withered from the drought?

I saw a Mom on her nest in an oak tree.

As well, a heron that I'm not quite sure if it is a Great Blue, or not. Seeking all kinds of input from readers today, aren't I?

Walking back over to Lake Cherokee, I was struck by how much I oftentimes take our beautiful lakes and scenery for granted, having seen the same thing over and over again. Then too, most of the millions and millions of the tourists that visit our area yearly, never do see the "real Orlando."

Yet another puzzling thing I saw were quite a number of nests (?) amongst the reeds that looked like this.

I'm heading back over soon to see what is happening with these reed tepees. It is such an awesome time of the year for photo enthusiasts, that is for sure!

Days for Girls went well yesterday with quite a few volunteers in attendance including my friend Leslie who has taught me a thing or two.

She has been with Sharleen since the beginning two years ago. In another room, several women were putting together the 53 kits, packing them into boxes by panties size.

Should you be reading this blog for the first time, here is a link to Days for Girls International, obviously an organization I feel strongly about. We learned yesterday that there are five countries that now have woman making the kits to sell to their own countrywomen! Fantastic, right?

I'm still moving photographs, watching ten years of our lives pass by. The scrappy quilt continues as well.

As I type, the sky is a gray mass of clouds that we all hope will bring more thunder and lightning, followed by a big downpour. A girl can dream, can't she?

yours truly,

Gail