Early Spring

Here I go again, matching the flowers at church! 

Both Cynthia and myself were admiring the arrangement when she asked about taking my photo and I said, "why not?" It's not half bad, unlike most of the photos I am featured in, precisely why I am more often than not behind the camera!

While we were up there I noticed for the first time that the Bible on the lectern is in large print! Now that's a darn good idea, isn't it?

Although I'm still not sure I would be able to read it without my glasses!  

Another Mother's Day is behind us, marking nearly twenty years since I was a motherless child. Funny though, in spite of the fact that mine was far from perfect and I mean FAR, memories of the woman who gave life to me are mostly of the later years of her life. What will my children remember about me? If later years memories are most prominent, then I suspect pickleball will enter into their thoughts. How it has made us very happy to be active nearly every day. Not to mention meeting all kinds of nice folks. In the last week or two, a man has been coming to the Dover Shores courts most mornings without a paddle yet wants to play. Each day someone will loan him a paddle and tirelessly help remind him how to play the game. Bruce has been so kind to David who we think is struggling with dementia. And it's not just Bruce, any number of players, who were all complete strangers to us a few weeks ago, patiently endure the games when he plays. It's a really sweet sight to witness.

So, back to MD, Matt and Tom both called and sent a gorgeous floral arrangement. 

David brought the orchid along with other goodies that undoubtedly Michelle picked out. Speaking of which, there were two new 1,000 piece puzzles in the bag. Yikes, I never do 1,000 piece. Earlier, while eating lunch, I hatched an idea and that is to get her to help me with them!! 

With a little help from Bruce, I finally finished this one that has been on the table for a few weeks.

Bruce got me the cutest card ever. Well ever is a bit of a stretch, but darn cute.

He washed my car, fixed up the front of our place with fresh mulch, AND made a frame for the heart above the door.

I had to chuckle a bit while looking at the photograph above. In this small space we have more art than many people have in their whole house! And how do I know this, you ask? Selling prints for ten years will teach one a thing or two! I cannot tell you the number of people who told me that their walls were empty. Yikes, that would never work for the two of us. In fact, each time we have moved, the minute the furniture is placed, the art goes on the walls. 

That reminds me, five years ago on Mother's Day, while Bruce was in Plano, TX with a project, the twins took me to lunch, followed by a viewing of the very space you are seeing above, arranged by David. Not that it looked like the above, as every thing in the whole place was varying shades of vanilla, but you get the idea. The two of them, after we did a Facetime with Bruce, pretty much dictated the price and the rest is history. Woo hoo!

Bill and Fallon brought pizza, and David and Michelle were there for a little while before leaving to visit  her Mom in Kissimmee. Jonathan called, so it was four for four! I must have done something right. Late last month he sent me a beautiful National Geographic coffee table book that is just as wonderful as it sounds. As is common with us, we talked about good stuff to watch on television. I began telling him about a series we had just completed when he reminded me that it was he who had recommended it! Hell to get old! Anyway, Clarkson's Farm on Amazon Prime was highly entertaining. 

Can you believe it? Almost half a post without a single bird picture??? We'll see if I can resist? I certainly could not in my last post that if you missed it you can read here. 

A trip to the library was in order last week and I saw two things of note during that drive. One is the torn down building at the corner of Rosalind and Central to make way for the Lake Eola expansion.

Secondly, on the drive home.....a distant fire!

Taken at the intersection of Gore and Orange Avenue, it was hard to tell where it was coming from. I tried calling Michelle, thinking it was perhaps on Michigan, however, it went to voicemail.  Heading south on Orange Avenue,  I was relieved it was not on Michigan, but sad for whomever's house on Miller Street was up in flames. 

Finally, after nearly two months with flowers, we have the tiniest geranium bloom that I am hoping with fill out in the next few days. 

Somehow I agreed to head the Resident Relations committee here in the village which had actually gone pretty well for the last two years because we had nothing to do because of Covid! That time is past and our committee is in the process of planning a big 4th of July party down at the pool beside the lake. With limited funds to spend, our property manager came up big time for us by asking some of our regular vendors for donations. With a wonderful response, the pieces are falling into place. She'd found a caterer that also has a little spot in a food hall in Avalon Park. Since none of us had ever heard of the barbecue place, Bruce and I drove out there to check it out. Before this visit, Avalon Park was a mystery to us as it is located a good ways east of the city. With all new buildings, it looks very fresh indeed. The food hall is also new and cute.

There are about ten different choices ranging from Cajun to barbecue, and lots in between. Here's what we were looking for.

We were happy to report to the committee that it was very tasty indeed.

One evening we went over to Johnny's to celebrate that windfall I spoke about recently. The money we didn't know we had to refresh your memory. I tried a tiny bit of whiskey just for fun.

That too turned about to be very tasty! 

The weather. Always something to be said about the weather, if only for posterity. Last week was broiling! Not as hot as it has been in Austin, according to Jonathan, but plenty hot. Fortunately it has cooled off a bit with highs only in the mid-80's. Thank God! I absolutely hate the heat anymore!

Okay, above I made no promises, so it is bird time! Remember how I've explained that when you hear a bunch of Blue Jays screaming that oftentimes it means a raptor is in the area? You should have watched this poor hawk getting a dressing down from about three very loud Blue Jays.

Eventually, after countless "dive bombs", the exasperated hawk flew away.

And here we have a Cardinal youngster that stopped in today.

Mom was in our tree while Dad is in the Magnolia tree outside the gate. Super exciting!

Another thing we did last week was visit Maureen who is not doing well at all. Today would have been our sister Carol's 67th birthday had she lived. There were once five Price girls, now there are four, and sadly we may be down to three in the coming months. Or maybe not, is our hope! Heading over to see her once I hit publish!

your friend, 

Gail 

A Crazy Few Days

It all began last Thursday when I received the new condo information from Steve. After researching the location, I thought to myself, I bet I have a photograph of that building, or at least the area, from my visit to Vancouver two years ago. Those photos are stored in Picasa, the Google place I used for the previous nine years.  I've been having problems with it for a while now, however, I tried once again to view my photo history with no success, even though I'd shut down everything else on my computer. Remember when I joked about how many photos I had a week or so ago? I lied. I've got more like 200,000!

So,  because Picasa was freezing on me,  I decided to call Apple Care which I paid for when I bought this new computer about 18 months ago. First I spoke with a young woman for about 45 minutes, and when she had no success, she transferred me to Will in Oregon. It is a long convoluted story, but the upshot is that it is still not working, in spite of hours upon hours of conversation, during which time I learned everything there is to know about Will, who is 25 years old, btw.

And you know what? I think I see the building in this blog post!!! Deep into the post, if you see a photograph of the Granville Street Bridge and some buildings across the water on the right hand side, I'm thinking it is in one of those. We will be on the 20th floor, so not quite as high as the other. When we get there, I will be sure to post photographs of our surroundings. But you knew that already, didn't you?

In between time spent with Will, I did a few things, but not much. Perhaps I'll go backwards in this post. Bruce was only home on Friday, and left again Saturday morning. Guess what?? We actually had rain Saturday afternoon, much to everyones relief. We are 9 inches behind normal rainfall this year. Hopefully a new trend has started, but no one is holding their breath.

Bill and Dave took me to lunch on Mother's Day at the newly renovated Julie's Waterfront.

We learned it was purchased by a restaurant group from downtown, and the new menu reflects that change. Our food was scrumptious!

I began Mother's Day with a Facetime call from Matt around 7:30AM. While I was chatting with him, and thanking him for the lovely bouquet that arrived on Saturday afternoon,

Bruce called from Dallas. No sooner had I'd hung up the phone with Bruce, telling him I'd call him back after my visit with Matt and Tom, then the phone rang and it was Will apologizing for not calling on Saturday. We spent most of the next five hours on the phone. Finally I told him I needed to get ready for my lunch date and we agreed to get back together when I got home. That did not happen because I was gone for so long, but maybe on Thursday when he is working again we can pick up where we left off. Yeesh! I will say, at least I learned a bunch about how my computer works during these marathon sessions.

Bruce came home because we were having blinds and shades installed on Friday afternoon. It was a crazy scene with four men here, including the sales rep of the remote control devices. He's the big guy...

With this heat wave we've been having, the sun room was SO hot in the afternoon, that I am absolutely thrilled with the new shades. Bruce and Mike making preparations..

Now, it looks like this:

The shades are tucked up into those little headers for most of the day. Woo hoo!

Irene had a friend, her former sewing teacher, Susanne, visiting from Portland. They both are wearing sundresses with patterns made by Susanne. Pam, Lynn, and I shared a lively dinner with them at K Restaurant in College Park.

It might have been that same morning that I went out early in search of my birds, and I was in luck, but before I rode over there, I rode down to the lake after seeing the beautiful morning full moon. Not to mention that it was shining on the lake as the sun rose.

That was just crazy good. Eventually I found the youngsters on the same branch, taking care of one another.

There's just something about this shot that I love.

Driving down Pershing recently I noticed a sign advertising an event that is either good, or bad, depending on how you look at it. Yes, another long-time elementary school is being torn down to make way for a new K-8 school.

If we had any kids on our street this is where they would attend. Personally I'm always a little sad seeing history wiped away. Then too, I thought this sign out front was utterly ridiculous.

Since when do we need to give parents a gold star for just doing what they should do anyway? Is it any wonder our schools are in trouble if the parents are like this? Never one to shy away from voicing an opinion, I believe that school success rests not on the teacher's shoulders, but the parents. If you are going to have children, you have a responsibility to do everything you can to help them succeed in life. At least that's what we did. Do I sound like a curmudgeon? Sometimes I guess I deserve that description!

I was so fortunate to quickly find some guys to cut the seed pods out of our palms, which are the bane of my existence because they drop into the pool, clogging up the cleaner. It is not good when I'm here, but disastrous when I won't be.

I finally got out on my bicycle today. This is by no means a great photo, but I finally saw the hawk babies. Use your imagination...

I suspect it won't be long before they leave the nest.

Finally, here are some super cool shots, or at least I think so, of that hive I showed you in a previous post.

I'm pretty clueless about hives, but I'm thinking this is full of honey? Absolutely an amazing transformation from the last time I took some shots.

I wish I could find a better way to shoot it though,  but it is high up in an Oak tree, with poor lighting. I suggest you click on the above photo to view it larger. Of course you may not have any interest in nature in action, but I'm pretty confidant that for my readers, that is simply not the case.

Another long week without my honey, but it isn't the first time. That said, it is getting closer every day to being the last time. :)

yours truly,

Gail

Thank You For Being There

I love my boys, and I'm fairly confidant they love me back. With that in mind, being the modern Mom that I am (haha!), I sent them a text with the following message:

I'm letting you off the hook for Mother's Day. A card would be nice, but my real gift is how wonderful you all are.

Or something to that effect. Can't check just now as my phone died. In any case, I only heard back from Bill. One of the reasons I did so was because I can remember, only too well, how hard it becomes to find a gift for one's Mother. Or, at least it was for me. And really, I do love a good card as much as anything. Boy, did I get some beauties!

And you know what? Three out of the four said essentially the same thing--thank you for being there for me. How sweet is that?

I can assure them, I am going nowhere. Unlike the protaganist, or one of them, in a novel I read yesterday called Etta and Otto and Russell and James, reviewed here.

Bruce left yesterday morning for most of the week, so instead of what I usually would be doing when he's home, I read and read and read. Drawn in by the title when I saw it on the shelf at the downtown library, it is hard to know what to say about this book, but I think I'd recommend it if you are one who can suspend belief for a bit. Etta is 82 and walks most of the way across Canada with a coyote she names James as her companion. Can you buy into that?

Saturday, following the yard mowing, I was watering my very sketchy flower garden when I saw a van pull up in front of the house. The postwoman was here at the same time, not only delivering the mail, but picking up the bag of non-perishable food we'd put out for a food drive. I think that is a clever way to collect food, however, most of my neighbors, or at least the young ones, must have felt differently. It was just us old folks that had bags hanging from our mailboxes. Anyway, the lady in the van delivered a beautiful dish garden of flowers from Matt and Tom.

Not only are they lovely, but fragrant too! Later in the day the twins and girls arrived with Dave and Michelle bringing enough food for an army, or that is what my own Mother would have said! Plus they brought more flowers and a Bloomingdales gift card. Bill, knowing his Mom, brought wine.

So much for no gifts. :)

David loves grilling, and he loves his meat. He'd marinated the chicken thighs, and filets, and massive rib eye, before coming, then fussed with it all when he got here.

In a funny coincidence, he brought artichokes to grill, wanting to make them like they do at Hillstone, a nice Winter Park restaurant. Not more than a month ago, Cheryle tried to do the same at her house. Anyway, he got all excited because I have a steamer which proved to be the trick. Before too long Charles and Scott also arrived, bringing, you guessed it....more flowers!

It was all so lovely and fun, I felt like someone special. Ginger, Dave and Michelle's dog, came along to keep Baxter company.

Although we ate inside, because it was hot, it began to cool off just a wee bit. I'd asked Bill to bring the corn hole, but sadly we did not get much play time in because of the looming darkness.

At least we did not have to throw it across water! Then, with the torches burning, the music playing, and the pool light changing colors every few seconds, we had some good laughs and fun on the patio. You know what? It was still hot, prompting both David and myself to jump in the cool water. Whew--that felt good!

Michelle asked me about dessert earlier--what was my favorite? Of all things, I told her eclairs. I'm not sure why because I rarely eat them, but boy was it tasty when I got around to eating it for breakfast on Sunday!

Having slept on my hair wet, it looked like crud, but I was in no mood to fix it. A ponytail and hat had to suffice for my market day. I wish I'd stayed home and gone swimming. Slow and hot, all day long, in spite of my mega fan. When I say slow, I mean slow--$23 in sales by 3:30 in the afternoon. OUCH! Finally a couple came by, helping me almost reach $100. Naturally this brought thoughts to my head--can I really make it through the summer again? Probably.

Hill's Happy Hour was fun, but I was so hot and tired from the day, I'm not sure I was very good company to our friends.

How hot was it at 6 in the evening? 90 degrees!

How tired was I on Mother's Day? So tired that I was in bed by 8:00!!! Jonathan called, but I did not answer because, to tell you the truth, I was grumpy. As to the 8:00 bedtime--do not judge us! Some people take naps, some fall asleep on the couch, I say--let's go to bed and sleep!

After all that great sleep I felt like a new woman yesterday morning. Because I had about twenty minutes left on my parking meter, I walked across the street from the library to Lake Eola, to see what I could see.

Teenagers perhaps?

Baxter and I will be holding the fort down until Thursday evening when both Bruce, and Nancy arrive. You know what Bruce will be doing (working); Nancy, she hopes to be swimming, biking, and in general on vacation at the Pecks. Let us hope the weather is good.

Always there for my boys,
Gail

Mother Love

Around our house we called it Tosca's cake. Not that you'd ever find the recipe under that name in any cookbook as I discovered years ago while leafing through a McCall's magazine. No, this particular cake  mostly goes by the name of "Texas Sheet Cake" or "Mexican Chocolate Cake." While preparing to celebrate Carol's birthday Monday night, the memory of this cake resurfaced, and I decided to make one. Did I tell you that this cake is delicious? That description does it no justice. Think of the word you use to talk about food so wonderful that it is hard to imagine, and that's how good this cake is.

So, being the modern middle aged woman that I am, I did a quick Google search using not the family name of course, but one of the above listed titles. Plenty of search results. Gourmet, All Recipes, Paula Deen, Southern Living, they all have their own version. Sometimes I'm amazed at the modifications people make to recipes. In this case, readers of the Gourmet version added coffee and cayenne, although for the life of me I can't imagine why. Did they even try the original? What is it that makes them want to mess with an already superior recipe?

At any rate, I soon realized that I had our Mom's recipe box and quite possibly it was included. Well, really, I thought it MUST be included. Dragging a little stool from the garage, I fetched the box from the cupboard over the refrigerator. Because it is stored there, I've rarely delved into it's treasures, however, I've left it on the counter so there may be more recipes forthcoming. Let's see--Bacardi Rum Cake, Italian Cream Cake, Peanut Butter Cake, Buttermilk Pound Cake, Praline Cheese Cake, Fresh Apple Cake, Ginger Cake--all good I'm sure, but, oh yes, there it is.....Tosca's Cake...even handwritten, not typed like the majority of them! And I was off.......not just cooking, but heading down my sadly worn memory lane.

Before we travel that worn path, I'll post the recipe. The only changes I made were to use butter in place of the oleo (margarine), and toasting the nuts prior to adding them to the frosting. I just don't keep margarine around these days..

Ta Da....

Tosca's Cake

Sift 2c sugar and 2c flour in bowl
In sauce pan mix and bring to boil
1 stick oleo
1/2c Crisco
4T cocoa
1c water
After boiling pour over f. & s. (our Mom's abbr.)
Add
1/2 c sour cream
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 t soda
1 t vanilla
1 t cinnamon
Mix well--pour into 16X11 pan
Bake 20 min. 400 degrees

Frosting
Melt together & bring to boil
1 stick marg.
4 T cocoa
6 T milk
Remove from heat & add
1 box conf. sugar
1 t vanilla
1 c chopped nuts
Beat well & spread on cake while still warm

So while preparing the cake, the potato salad, and the bar-b-que sauce, all recipes from our Mom,  I felt like I was, in some ways, bringing her to the party. We were only missing one of the Price kids, Nancy. Of course, our Moms are always with us, whether in person, or in our persona. Remember how I told you the other day about Pat and Maureen's recall of all things related to our young years? When asked who Tosca was, they both instantly recalled her as a petite Indian woman whose husband worked for our dad.

In our case, childhood was far from idyllic. Our father was volatile, our mother, the same. While our father beat us with a wooden paddle, our mother used her hands to not only pinch us, slap us, but scratch us as well. We were expected to toe the line, and woe to those of us who didn't.

Through the ensuing years, I've tried to imagine what life was like for our parents. Not only did they have the big family secret of both having been married before, but they brought issues from their own childhoods to the marriage. My father, an only child, was socially awkward, to say the least. Our mother lived with Catholic guilt forever. As well, neither were suited to raising six children. Really, who is?
Imagine if you will, no air conditioning, a tight budget, not enough love between the parents, six wildly divergent children, and no shared faith. Our mother was, undoubtedly suffering from depression which today would be easily treated. How do you manage with those stumbling blocks. In our parent's case, not very well.

So, instead of focusing on the negatives, I've chosen to focus on the positives. While raising the boys, I did my utmost not to repeat my parent's mistakes, and on occasion, I succeeded. As my siblings love to repeat, I had a fierce temper when young, which, with Bruce's help, I managed to tame. There's no telling how our boys might have suffered if not for the love of a good man. Although our parents were socially deficient, their intelligence was fierce. Our children take their smarts (and looks!) for granted, however, without the inherited genes, learning might have come much harder. And that's another gift from our parents, a lifelong passion for learning. Which, by the way, I'm learning a new blogging editor, so please bear with me as we go forward.

Ironically, Michele sent me an email on Monday afternoon, asking something about the cemetery. As you've realized, Sunday will be her first Mother's Day without her mom. She stated that she is just now feeling the orphan thing, which I'd mentioned during her stay in Florida. In response, I told her I was making the cake, the one way I knew how to keep our Mom in our everyday lives. Just like this Christmas I'll be making Mom Peck's gingerbread cookies.

And speaking of cooking, although when I was 13 years old, making dinner for six, and hating every minute of it, I now realize what a gift that was. Don't get me wrong, I sure didn't see it that way when I was young! But now, on reflection, I see how much that helped me while raising the boys. I feel sorry for people who don't know how to cook; the joy of taking separate ingredients, and making something wonderful to eat with your own hands is a skill I cherish.

Would I have rather have had a Mother who got up in the morning to send me off to school, not one who you had to peek your head in a darkened room and beg for lunch money? Back then, you bet! Now I just see it as learning through adversity, which truth be told, life is full of troubles. Lots of platitudes I could quote regarding that subject, which I won't, because you already know what I mean. The statute of limitations for our parent's crimes ran out long, long ago. Our Mom's love was far from conventional, but I like to think that she did the best she could.

This Mother's day, when I am in misery from the expected heat at the show, I'll use the skills I learned as a child, getting through difficulty, maybe not without complaint, but I can do it.

And with that, I think I'll go have a piece of that cake, along with some ice cream for breakfast.

The Weekend

Craigslist Defense
During our dinner out with Bruce's mom and Judy and Cris I told them about Craigslist. Funny that this article should appear today. Essentially I mentioned that it works like a charm and it was putting a strain on the daily newspaper's advertising revenue. Craig has something to say about that. The dinner was nice--both company and food.

We didn't end up going out on Friday night because our Mr. Bruce was just plain too tired. He's been traveling four days a week; while on the road it is not unusual for him to put in a fourteen hour day if you can imagine.

Another Mother's Day is behind us. I kinda have this thing against what I call "card company" holidays. Funny thing is, I do like to get a card on Mother's Day although it's not mandatory. This was my first Mother's Day when I got a text message--guess who sent that. I tried to get David to come to the market, but he declined. In fairness he was all set to come over after dinner, as was Bill but I declined. I had a decent day at the market which was a VAST improvement over last years. I wish our Matt could see me now. Last year he flew in from London for two days during which time he taught me a lot about my camera. But back to the market---he said maybe if people were there they might buy something. Our new manager has made incredible improvements to the scene. Her background is marketing which she has put to good use. The traffic is up at least ten fold! As well, I now have regulars who visit. One young man keeps bringing friends to buy the graffiti print. I've told folks that people of all ages love it although this is the first time a toddler has approved. She was so cute, just ran right up to it, touching it and squealing with delight. Notice her precious little shoes will you? Her heritage is Icelandic. What a cutie!

Forgive me, I digress. I was just too tired and was sound asleep by 8:30! I slept till 6:30 this morning, and drug myself out of bed to go to the little market. Because Bruce has built Olive Gardens all over the country, I always have something to talk about with the customers. More often than not, they've been to one of his restaurants.

While there I read an article in The New Yorker about the preservation of folk music, a term I'm using very broadly. Here's a quote: "Fame in folk music can be less a matter of talent than of opportunity.." Isn't that pretty much the way it is in all endeavors? Matt related that Madonna put on a good show, exciting the crowd with her presence. She's a good example of not that much talent, but boy does she know how to entertain!

If anyone can remind me how to make a picture my desktop I'd appreciate it. I want to put our little Baxter on there for now.

Lastly, I think I'm no fan of Mother's Day because I no longer have one.
Listening to: Pete Yorn - Murray
via FoxyTunes