A New Year

I'm going to be honest with you, these past two weeks, while tremendous fun, are somewhat of a blur. With great brain effort, along with a little help from my photos, I will do my best to get it all down before it can no longer be retrieved. 

2023! 

Wow, just wow! 

The first post of the new year, one of 15 that I have welcomed in this space. In early February, 2007 I began chronicling our life, beginning while I was a student at Valencia College, battling a mystery illness, and starting a photography business. My how times have changed! While Matt and Tom were here, he and Bruce picked out a new laptop at Costco. Following the set up by Matthew, Bruce began reviewing old files, a few of which were my yearly sales. That was quite the trip down memory lane.

 Having thrown away all of my sales books during our downsizing, I'd almost forgotten that I did darn good for someone who didn't know what she was doing! Of course I had help along the way,  mostly Bruce, but also the man who did my printing, Roger, who never quite knew what to make of me because I kept putting out new stuff instead of just sticking with what I knew would sell. 

I just kept shooting more photographs, and to this day, I still do because I just can't help myself! I love it!

With that out of the way, while reviewing photos for this post, I came across this one which I thought held a good message 2023.

Taken in a little shop on Robinson Street, wouldn't that be awesome if we all tried being kind? I know I am going to remind myself of that mantra, especially when I get frustrated with clerks or the like. 

We went to Orlando Wetlands Park with Jonathan and Alissa, as we are wont to do when the kids are visiting. It's just such an enjoyable walk, different each and every time. The weather was gorgeous and we were especially interested in the new boardwalk that opened only recently. It did not disappoint! 

Being the lollygagger that I am, Jonathan and Alissa got a big head start on us which was good for them and bad for me. A nice batch of Roseate Spoonbills landed in a tree above Alissa's head and while I tried getting closer, the zoom lens had to suffice as they soon flew away.

While not a great shot by any means, their lovely pink color is hard to miss. During that visit, or maybe the one we did the following week with our London family, a knowledgeable person described the stand of trees below as a Cypress dome, a term that was unfamiliar to me. Did he make it up? Let's check.

Yup, it is a real term. So now we know.

One thing that was happening during this visit was a huge number of Barn Swallows flying in a pack overhead. We are talking a bunch!

Needless to say, I was going crazy! Speaking of terms, have you heard of "murmuration" before? While watching the Barn Swallows, I kept thinking that is what I was watching but according to this, that term refers to Starlings.  Do yourself a favor and click on that link for some incredible footage. Just astonishing how the world works. 

Because we used the boardwalk this time, our normal route was different; this time we went by the overlook, a path we'd not taken for a very long time. I am struggling to remember what day we went, but it was near my birthday so I climbed up on the small knoll and celebrated being older than my father who died at 68, and my sister Carol who died when she was 63.

Normally I don't get all crazy for my birthday but this year it just felt a little different. That said, we did not do much of anything so do not believe my pronouncement for a single minute!

We saw alligators, an eagle, loads of Black Bellied Whistling ducks,

as well as Purple Gallinule and Glossy Ibis in the shot below.

All very exciting encounters!! Returning to the center after our long walk, father and son took a little rest.

Two days after Christmas Bruce's sister Michele and her family came to town from St. Paul, MN. We had a lively dinner with them at Chuy's in Winter Park. David and Michelle were running late, but wouldn't it have been grand to have them, along with Matt and Tom in the photo? 

It was so great meeting her grandchildren for the first time. Cris, Bruce's brother who nearly died of Covid in the early days, joined in along with our niece Jessica who drove him there from DeBary. Here are the three siblings who rarely have a chance for a group photo.

Obviously they came to town to soak up some sun although it was in shorter supply than I was hoping for them. Plus, we had some chilly weather for a change. Maybe three days of it? 

On our way home from the restaurant we stopped by Lake Eola, we, meaning Jonathan, Alissa, Bruce and I, and absolutely loved what we saw. The city of Orlando outdid themselves this year.

The fountain lights were changing colors and dancing as was the Christmas tree in the distance. Photo ops were scattered around the lake, including this awesome one.

Along with this one.

We most definitely have to get out more at night! 

Finally it was the 29th, the night of the Florida State bowl game!! While that was exciting, even more so was that Matt and Tom arrived from London, landing at the new terminal for the first time. While Jonathan and Alissa went to the game, we picked them up.

Who's ever seen the airport looking this empty?? The setting sun made the new train terminal glow.

After dinner at El Porto on the way home, they caught their breath for a bit before heading down to spend the night at Mary's condo because there was no room for them in the inn. At least for one night anyway as Jonathan and Alissa returned to Austin in the middle of the following morning. It must be noted that one day she sorted all of my plastic and turned it into this. Perhaps if it is on the internet now, I will do a better job of keeping it tidy? You think?

Crazy impressive!

Before we leave Christmas behind, one evening we took Matt and Tom to see our favorite Christmas lights. Sadly we forgot to watch the show on ABC when they were featured. If they lost, I can't imagine the house that won!

They did the seemingly impossible this year and added another 250,000 lights to their beautiful display.

Although not nearly as elegant, this house on Peel did a remarkable job as well.

While there is more to recount, this will do it for today. 

What will this new year bring? 

It's a clean slate now, but who knows how long it will be before it gets messy, as it always does. That said, here's hoping that we all stay healthy in 2023, inflation decreases, PEACE reigns in all war-torn countries and, yes, let's all be kind to one another.

your friend,

Gail

p.s. Florida State won a thrilling ball game against Oklahoma. 

The Sister, The Woodpecker, and the Birthday Boy

Let's start with corn. I bet you already know this, but if not, here's something handy I learned a few years ago. When sautéed corn sounds better to you than eating if off the cob, hold the cob upright, scrape your knife downwards, and always have it on a clean kitchen towel.

This is the ticket for getting it into the pan with no muss, and no fuss. Rarely do I give photographic tips, but ask me about a whole host of kitchen tricks, and I'm your girl!

In that same vein, Thursday evening I decided to make an old favorite--a tomato tart. Those big boys I bought at the market were made for this sort of thing. Caramelized onions...now there is something that I find hit or miss. Love the taste, but getting them just right often eludes me. This time I used my small cast iron skillet with a little oil, and put a lid on it. Yep--a lid for most of the cooking. It worked like a charm this time.

Before putting the tomatoes in, I pre-salted them, letting them rest for about thirty minutes on the pictured paper towel to remove some of their excess juice. Better for the crust that way. Catherine came over to share it with me while waiting for Nancy and Bruce to arrive. Bruce, on time, Nancy not so much. Lisa was kind enough to drive her here from the Sanford airport as it is close to her home. We stayed up way too late....

Friday found Bruce working, while Nancy and I shopped. For dinner we went to her favorite, Linda's LaCantina for steaks and baked potatoes. Except, when the steaks arrived our server informed us they were out of potatoes. Seriously?

For the record, the steaks were just as delicious as we remembered.

Back in March, I wrote here about a woodpecker couple, or so I presumed they were. Well, obviously I can't be sure, but one day, I think it must have been Friday morning during a rain shower, I'd gone in to take a shower. Except, before closing the blinds, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a baby woodpecker on the feeder. Running to find my camera, I'd left in my bike basket. Surely, the little one would be gone before I got back...nope, it was still out front, not on the feeder mind you, but on the palm, pecking away.

While on the subject of woodpeckers, did all of you see this incredible photograph? A good example of why having a camera with you at all times is an excellent idea!

It's been a long while since I posted a squirrel photo, mostly because they no longer bother my feeders, but this one was trying.

The lack of much of a tail is what caught my eye.

For the most part Saturday is a blur, but I do have photographic evidence of Saturday night to remind me of that part of the day! After much discussion we decided to get a pizza at Metro Espresso on Central Avenue. Pizza however, was not ordered by any of us, instead we decided on spaghetti. Following our meal I suggested Nancy might like to have a look at the fountain, so we walked just around the corner to see what we could see. So will you.

Twilight is a lovely time to take photographs. :)

While standing there, I heard some music, wondering where was it coming from. We followed the sound, and lo and behold, in the circle, where the beer garden is on Sundays, we came across this group making sweet drumming music together. The Sounds of Africa is their name.

I bet you did not know how much I like African music, did you? So much so that when I heard the same in the morning after setting up my booth, I went in search of them again. Apparently they'd asked to play in the same spot but Allison said no. They found another place, drawing quite a crowd.

As you can see, the weather looked super dreary, with rain predicted. Happily it never materialized, with my sales reflecting the weather. Not great, but good enough.

I thought this photograph of a different part of the market turned out nice.

Then it was Monday, and we had a birthday boy in the house. An impromptu party was very loosely planned. As in taco salad for the group.

I had to laugh when both Bill and David showed up wearing their undershirts from work. Instead of a cake, I made Bruce's favorite, an apple pie.

I bet it's been a while since you saw anyone blowing out birthday candles on an apple pie! Earlier in the day, Cheryle and David surprised him by appearing outside his office window to sing Happy Birthday. It was all just lovely.

Finally, I've not gotten around to telling you how well Matt is doing. Five days a week, Michael, Angela's son, has been working with him doing simple exercises using resistance bands along with light weights. I'd gone over with another batch of cookies, and was delighted to be able to participate, trying each exercise after Matt did them.

He was in very good spirits I am happy to report. And I left the house feeling the same.

Enjoying life one day at a time,

Gail

Keeping it Fresh

Just as last year about this time I decided to change out my entire inventory, I'm trying to think of ways to keep Out & About Photography fresh in the new year. Changing the blog header is easy--changing the way I do business, not so much.

Working on my website is a good start. Jonathan helped me re-design it a bit, mostly just color changes, however, now I need to be more consistent about having what I'm currently selling on the site. I'm working on that. One thing we discovered is that there was a downloadable feature which made me freak out just a bit. Perhaps that's why I don't get much feedback--people were downloading what they liked? NO MORE! Turned off! When Jen gave Lisa some coasters using one of my photographs posted on facebook, I discovered first hand how easy it can be done. Precisely why I NEVER post pictures on this blog, facebook, or flickr that I think are good enough to sell. What you see is the documentary stuff, unlike what I actually sell. After nearly five years I have a slight, and I mean slight, notion of what folks might want. Wall art. I take no offense whatsoever when they decide to buy something from me that will look "nice" over their couch. Bring it on!!!

So, there's still work to be done on the site which I'll work on more thoroughly after Jonathan and Alissa depart tomorrow. Actually, they are tailgating as I type. Dan drove over from Boca Raton and Mike came down from Tallahassee to cheer on the Seminoles together. They all met while attending FSU nearly nine years ago. My how time flies and all that. Bruce is working from home, while I did laundry.

Yesterday we made a second trip to Florida Mall. Remember how packed I said it was? Here's what it looked like in the food court area:

Crazy huh? The economy is bad? These folks don't know that. Alissa needed to exchange a purse she bought as well as get a new phone. The sad news is that during their fun outing to Universal, her phone was drenched from one of the rides. Even after an overnight stay in a bed of rice the water ruined the insides of her former phone. As I type we are waiting on the FedEx truck to deliver her new white iPhone. Please hurry up!

Afterwards we drove down to the Church Street Exchange building to take a look at the space Dana wants me to occupy for a gallery. Still pondering that.

Walking just across the street I wanted to show Jonathan our new arena which is pretty spectacular. During construction I frequently sent him photos of the work in progress. In case you're wondering, Jonathan is a sports nut--loves them all. The Orlando Magic  began playing in 1989, the year Jonathan was 6. My goodness that's hard to imagine. Bruce and I, courtesy of his then employer, went to the very first exhibition game against the Detroit Pistons, who I believe were the reigning NBA champs. David is convinced that my ticket stub could bring in some cash. No trip to the area would be complete without a look-see in the store.

The crowd shot above, as well as this one of Jonathan are two of my better attempts at phoneography.  He is holding a new hat which, of course, was on sale. That's my boy!

Because Angela had her arrival time wrong when she called for an airport pick up, we were just getting back into the car downtown. They decided to take a cab rather than wait for me to go home and change cars. This allowed us to head over for our final mission of the day--seeing the peacocks. The first street only one was in sight, puzzling me, but not for long. As we rounded the corner, it looked like the food court at Florida Mall. Gobs and gobs of peacocks! When we talked to a couple of little girls that were climbing a big tree in their front yard, they claimed there were 50 of them. I swear it looked like more!

Coming home I grabbed my Panasonic to try and get some Christmas lights, instead a FANTASTIC sunset began and I'm letting you in on it!

Superb! Plus, I knew it meant excellent weather for the game this evening. The old red sky at night.....

I fixed two dinners, one vegetarian, one not. That new grill pan is also superb--the pork chop I fixed for Jonathan was picture perfect! They went out to meet Mike and Dan following dinner, I, on the other hand, took out all the Christmas garbage for today's pick up, heading to bed soon thereafter. We're having our first little cold snap and those covers felt good!

Speaking of night shots, I may have mentioned Bruce went to Lake Eola with me while I set up the tripod for another attempt at the fountain, skyline, etc. Arriving before sunset is the key. The tripod is a must because some of the exposures were 40 seconds long. I'm feeling pretty happy with this:

Still not perfect but getting closer. Perhaps in the 2012 I can work harder on understanding how the camera works?

I showed you the little bundle of Liberty fabrics which did them no justice. These prints are so charming...

I'm not sure what form they'll take;  another project for the new year.

Finally, earlier today Bruce closed out the books for 2011. Down. The worst in the last few years. That said, if not for the rain out at Winter Park, more than likely that would not have been the case. I mourned at the time and I'm mourning a little again. That show accounted for 20% (I think that's right) in 2010. Sad. Don't feel bad for me though, I'm still doing good, just hoping I can do better in 2012! I'm open to suggestions..

Incredibly grateful,
Gail