Oh My My

I stole today's title from this NPR Song of the Day by a Canadian swing singer named Jill Miller who has a very refreshing sound. Take a listen if you like that kind of thing.

So, why plagiarize? The title, not the song subject matter, seems to sum up my sales weekend. I already told you how good Winter Garden was for that market; despite 20 mph winds, temperatures hovering just above freezing, Sunday was awesome. When I arrived to finish setting up the booth with Bruce he was far behind his normal schedule. Fighting that kind of wind off the lake will do that to even the strongest person. Plus, those poles were so darn cold. He put up our lightweight sides, not the seven pound numbers, but the ones that are featherweight. They did a fine job blocking the wind and combined with the heater he set up I had a pretty cozy little space. Plus, the sun was shining for most of the day into my tent making the weather part pretty tolerable. Of course I was dressed for it, never once taking off my coat and scarf.

On one of my trips to the bathroom by the playground I met this young woman who told me her mother colored her hair. Formerly it was pink, however after some tinkering around they managed to make it a multi-colored.

She agreed to let me take her photograph, actually kind of blushing. Asking her how her mother felt about it she said that as long as she keeps her grades up her hair can be any color she wants. I liked her.

One of my first customers was a young man who goes by the name of Papa Squat. Okay. Once we began chatting I discovered that he is the one responsible for placing chairs in public, oftentimes at bus stops for people to either take, or use. I wrote about the chairs when I first saw them on Mills Avenue;  as a reminder here are a few of his creations.

A lemon colored and decorated chair placed beside a bus stop in front of Loch Haven Park,

I took these back in May (they are long gone), and coincidentally, on our way to Hillstone the other night I saw a bunch more. It was fun meeting him and talking about his mission. Of course he bought a photograph of some London street art. :)

As Bruce was leaving me to finish setting up, his final words were, "Good luck honey, you're going to need it today!" Well, he must have sent some good vibes or something because, drumroll please......I had my second best day ever selling art at Lake Eola!! In about a month from now it will be five years since I set up my booth hoping to sell photography at the Farmer's Market. So, that's saying quite a lot don't you think?

Whenever I meet a new vendor they typically ask for advice. Normally I tell them three things: "be friendly, have the best product and set up you can, and be consistent, coming in any kind of weather because customers are counting on your presence." I follow that with this: "You never know what kind of day you will have." It's so, so true. Seriously I was stunned!

My friend Karen was pretty happy when I showed the old stuff at Fort Christmas and just as I promised in my last post, we're going to visit there a bit more. In this photo I'm standing way back to show you the one room schoolhouse and the adjacent lunch building.

Now you see those stormy skies! Looking at the photo you might be saying to yourself, that doesn't look like a one room schoolhouse to me, let alone an old one. You would be partly right thinking that because in reality, the school had an addition which I'll show you the room in a moment. As well, the roof and flooring of the school were replaced due to our spate of hurricanes about six years ago.

1906-1969. Think of all the schoolchildren who sat at these desks. Amazing. One of the artifacts that brought back a lot of memories for me was this:

Perhaps you aren't familiar with this gadget? Taking a look at the chalkboard above you will see how it was used to make the straight lines for writing lessons. Before I go further I'll remind you that at any time you can click on the photo and see them larger for more detail. Okay, now that we've got that out of the way, let's have a peek into the lunchroom.

So, I guess it's not the lunchroom, but it is a pretty cool stove, of which I saw quite a few.

I also went through the replica of the old Fort Christmas post office. Those who live around here undoubtedly know some family who would make the drive out to Christmas, fancying the Christmas post mark on their Christmas cards. December was a busy month for the little spot. I thought these old p.o. boxes were mighty fine and so sturdy looking!

Fascinating how instead of numbers they used letters on the dials.

I'd also forgotten all about the art of punched tin which turns this china cabinet into something special.

It was a really good day to be taking photographs with the muted light and my prime lens. There were only a few windows in some of the houses, mostly without glass. Apparently they closed outdoor shutters at night to ward off both mosquitos and the cold. I can hardly imagine how they stood the heat, but stand it they did. Of course, until the age of 16 we lived without air conditioning, however, having a swimming pool was the only thing that got us through our long hot summers. There was a creek nearby which if they found any leisure time perhaps they used that now and again as relief from the stifling Florida summers.

More quilts..

This one was on a rack, waiting for quilters to finish it up. The patterns they used without all our modern tools are really striking. Little triangles within triangles below:

Another bedroom scene:

Nearly every day people complain about how busy they are. Busy? Yes, but probably not so much as people back then who had to make, build, hunt, fish, cook, clean more than any modern person can imagine. It took me a pretty long time to hand quilt the ones I've done recently; I can't imagine the time spent making the multiple quilts a large household would need.

In addition to the old houses there is one home from the 1950's. Well, to some people that's old as well, but you get my drift. Here's a look into the bedroom:

A chenille bedspread. In pink, no less. The docent informed me that the area did not get electricity until 1947, long after other areas. Thinking about this house I realized that mine was built only a few short years after this one. What must the rooms have looked like in 1960 when it was brand new? As I type this I'm trying to imagine who used this very bedroom.

The field trip is giving me all kinds of ideas on how to use my Liberty fabrics. I need to take them to Hobby Lobby and find a unifying solid color. Karen was kind enough to describe how I can make the block I showed in my last post and that might just be the one. I need a circle color for that one as well. We shall see.

Guess what? Yesterday while I was at the market Bruce tells me a red winged blackbird flew into the house!!! Aren't you amazed I've done two posts now without any bird pictures? Don't get used to it my friends.


We began the post with a song, how about we end it with everyone's favorite (excluding Jonathan) songstress? I even managed to stay up late enough to see it. She looked oh so glam!

Happy Monday,
Gail

p.s. I've done my best to fix the video problem, however, seems as if my best is not good enough. It was a thought!

Highlight Reel

I can't believe I have not updated since Tuesday. What's wrong with me??? Lest I forget what the heck I've been up to I decided to post just some highlights of the week. *Warning!! Massive amounts of photos ahead!

Starting with today and going backwards, I had a great day at Winter Garden this morning. Wow, and I didn't even want to go! Originally morning rain was in the forecast, however, the weather was great, albeit windy and slightly chilly. Allegedly, tomorrow is going to be super cold, but we'll see won't we?

Yesterday morning, well make that all week, I was dying to go on a field trip. My original plan was to visit the Gamble Place in Port Orange which I read about in last week's newspaper. Because it is only open on Friday and Saturday, for obvious reasons, I was planning on Friday. Not to be, and for good reason. Mr. Bruce has agreed to accompany me next Friday, so, for that I will wait. Instead, I headed out to the Orlando Wetlands Park to see what I could see. Leaving way too late to really see all the birds wintering there, I went nonetheless. On the way I came across a store, located on East Colonial called Garden Ridge. Because it was new to me, I pulled in. Now that was fun. I bought the whirligigs that I'm now using for my header there, as well as a darling little bird house to hang in the tree. I had to stop myself before our yard gets too "cutsie."Apparently the store is from Houston, Texas and is the first in our region.

I arrived at the park under a leaden sky, after seeing this bull along the main road.

His coat was drenched so apparently it rained prior to my arrival. This orange tree confirmed my suspicions.

The first thing you notice when you begin walking on the path is the sound of birds. Lots of birds. Problem was, I just couldn't see them. I did see lots of palm trees though.

Well, I said the skies were leaden, but you wouldn't know it from this picture, now would you? After walking for more than 1/2 mile I discovered I was on the wrong path. Duh!! I started to take the path back through the woods only to hear the sound of my honey in my head--"be careful Gail." And so I was, opting to walk back on the wide sandy road. Eventually the sun came out, illuminating the ponds and foliage. The last visit I made there was probably two years ago and I saw not one soul. This time I saw three "birders."

Well, they are tiny, but you can just seem them in the middle right side of the photo. I could tell they were birders by their binoculars.

Deciding it was getting too late, not to mention I was hungry, I headed out of the park. On the road in one passes Fort Christmas Historical Park. Now, I said I was hungry and I was, but I thought to myself, "self,  you don't come out this way very often, perhaps you should stop." I listened to myself and pulled in and boy, howdy, was I glad I did. I skipped all the fort buildings, opting instead for the one room schoolhouse and the seven "cracker" houses dating from 1870-1930. It was so great! Fortunately I had some crackers and peanuts I'd brought with me so that had to suffice for lunch. Water bottles quenched my thirst.

There is just so much to say about the place I hardly know where to begin. Mosquito netting! Iron beds, quilts galore!

Each and every home had a sewing machine and all kinds of other tools for pioneer life. What really struck me was that they made all of their stuff, from houses to furniture to bedding to rugs. I'm thinking those pioneers could never imagine that 100+ years later most everything we have in our homes is made in China.

Flour sack curtains hung from empty spools. Did I mention the quilts? Why, I guess I did, but some of them were so striking I couldn't keep from photographing them. I'm crazy for this one:

I have every intention of trying to figure out how to make this pattern. What you quickly notice is that the older and more worn the quilt, the better.

One of the buildings is a ranch house where the boss lived. When I was a girl the main enterprise of Florida was cattle and citrus. Tourism figured in there, but still, it was cattle and citrus. I like how the curators put the rancher's hat on the wall:

Another awesome quilt!! And then there was the chiffarobe with the precious hangar and smocked baby dress. Oh my!

Chifforobe, for those too young to be familiar with, is like a free standing closet and dresser. I was spelling it with an a in the middle, and it was coming up as incorrect, however, in To Kill a Mockingbird,  Harper Lee spells it with an a, and if it's good enough for her, it is more than good enough for me. There is a ton more about the place I want to write about, including the school, but I'll save that for the next post. I can't tell you how awesome it is. Go if you if you have the opportunity.

On my way back to East Colonial I came across a pasture with horses. U-turn!

Such a beautiful horse! Eventually I got home and not a minute too soon. I wanted to help Bruce out by making an appointment for an ultrasound his doctor has been nagging him to have. I called my old stomping grounds. I was on the phone with the young woman from central scheduling, giving her all his info, and at some point she asked my name. Okay. After a time I mentioned that I was familiar with the procedure having worked in radiology etc... It was then that she made my day. She said, (if you can imagine,) that even after SIX years of being away from the hospital, woman were asking to make their appointments with me. What she really said was something along the lines of, "Are you the Gail who worked at Sand Lake? You get the picture. It was an unexpected happy moment in a day that was already super.

And it got better. Because Bruce is traveling on Valentine's Day we had an early dinner out at a terrific restaurant in town, formerly known as Houston's. They've changed the name to Hillstone, but it's essentially the same.  Great ambiance, service, and food. Marvelous time.

Remember a few days ago when I talked about our waterproof sides? Here's one of them drying on the fence.

I also mentioned how heavy they are. Weighing them, it turns out each one is a little over seven pounds. Think trying to fold sheets that weigh seven pounds each! Plus, see the orchid on the bottom right. Moving into the house proved to be not such a great idea; buds fell off. I put it right back where it came from and new buds are forming every day. Plus, if that weren't great enough, I have another orchid forming buds!! Lightening strikes twice.

Plus I've been raving about that great new grill pan Bill gave me for Christmas. Wonderful marks on my grilled cheese and tomato sandwich for lunch. I don't know why I like the marks so much but I do.

I want you to know that I played the first hand at bridge on Thursday with a bid of four hearts. I stunned myself by making it. Beverly was my partner and she proceeded to play most of the other hands like a pro. Unlike the previous week when I lost about four hands, Thursday was a success.

And finally, before you head into photo overload--oh wait, that's probably already happened. Okay, for those of you still with me, I thought it was pretty neat how most of what I bought at the market the other day was red. Not just red, but shades of red.

Pretty amazing to me. Designers need look no further than nature don't you think?

My golly, it's just about my bedtime.

Good night dear readers,
Gail