On Backorder

Calling the appliance repair folks following lunch yesterday, my expectations were low which proved to be a good state of mind going into the marathon call. At first the woman said the part was to be delivered to their office today, except she had the wrong person. Did she have any news at all? Nope. I called Whirlpool and was on hold for nearly 40 minutes with the same result...no news on when the elusive parts would arrive. To say that it frustrates me is a bit of an understatement because there is seemingly no way to have my questions answered. What exactly does it mean that it is on backorder and how is it that NO ONE seems to have any tracking number? Without my new little Vortex I don't know how I would still have all of my hair because I was on the verge of tearing it out!! The saga that began on September 16th continues....

More recently, as in last evening, I finished a novel, The Snow Child, that captivated me from page one. Oh my goodness! Perhaps I enjoyed it so much because I was transported from pool side in Orlando to a fantastical snowy landscape? And yes, I was in the pool on October 29th, the latest I can ever remember. Not especially saying a lot due to my memory but it sure seems late to me. After a week in which we watched the temperature soar to 91 degrees, a "cold" front came through overnight and today we will not reach 80! Hallelujah!

After somewhat of a sunrise drought (can that even be a thing?) surprise!

When last I wrote, new projects were mentioned but went unexplained, so today let's talk about that. Many years ago, as in six, which I only knew because I found the post about it here, racing home from my bike ride, I
convinced Bruce to follow me down the street to pick a neighbor's curbside trash. Although he was very skeptical he went along with my idea for using said trunk in our sunroom as a coffee table

Never a fan, periodically he would say, I'm going to paint that, except other stuff took precedent. Well, my friends, should you be so inclined, click on that link to learn about it in real time. Should that not be to your liking, here's what it looked like after he did some sanding.

Using paint we already had, he painted the chest, along with the individual brads and hardware.

And then there were three pieces of furniture in the Peck household painted teal!

The other project was the dust ruffle that I had put off for far too long, thinking maybe I would wait until Nancy arrived last Friday to help me with it. Alas, with Bruce's help it is done. Nancy had given me the great idea of buying a fitted sheet for the box spring and sewing the fabric to that in order to keep it from slipping around. I made French seams, sewing eight panels together along with the stitching to make the gathering. Note, the sew line made with Magic marker.

Even though I'd measured everything carefully I was holding my breath after sewing, hoping it would be the proper length. Hurray--it worked!

And now, my dear readers, after nearly a year of on again/off again work, it is finally complete.

The Volkswagen print is from our recent trip to Pine Mountain. Isn't it cute? Both of us had a VW as a first car, mine was a '63, and Bruce's was a '65. 😀

Before Nancy arrived I asked her what she wanted to do while here and her reply was telling....play pickleball and not wear a mask all day! She has gotten her wish, however, there was one small glitch, an injury on the second day! Rolling her ankle, she fell gracefully to the court as everyone stood around in disbelief. The good news is that although very bruised and swollen, she did not break it and in fact, she's been back on the court already, beating her sister with Bruce as her partner, two games to one! On Tuesday, her birthday, we had lunch out at The Capital Grille, eating outdoors on the patio. As is often the case, she's visited with a few friends as well as our brother Pat. PLUS, she cut my hair and did my nails!

Speaking of family, I received an odd message recently from a woman who told me that about some land in Fancy Farm, KY that our Mother was a part owner of back in the day. It is way too complicated for this space, but one thing of note is that she explained that she'd been paying the taxes on the property for 30 years, thus, she wanted all of my siblings to sign over our rights to repay her. Our son Bill called the property assessor's office there, learning that last years tax bill was $38 on 2.75 acres. Imagine that! Because we cannot visit Maureen yet to explain the matter, I've requested that we sort this out post Covid-19. Sadly, when that will be is anyone's guess. We had a nice long chat with Matt and Tom, learning first hand how things are in Britain. What a mess we are in! 

I made a quick trip to the mall last week on a Saturday afternoon and was I ever surprised to see folks lining up to go into the Gucci store. Apparently some folks are still making money.

Interestingly enough, they are standing in front of what will become a revamped Tiffany store. 

Because of the family matter in the previous paragraph, I began sorting through drawers and folders of old papers. Coming across records from my time in x-ray school, is it any wonder that I find offense when health care workers look so sloppy? It was ingrained in me all those years ago! Can you even imagine this happening these days? Of course you can't!

What really puzzles me is that grade of 3 in hygiene. Was I not ironing my uniforms? Perhaps there were runs in my stocking? My white Clinic shoes weren't shiny enough? That couldn't possibly have been it as shining shoes was as natural to me as waking up in the morning. And you wonder why that is? Because from the time we were able, all of the Price children were made to shine their shoes daily and woe to those who did not comply! Emotional status???

Ha ha! When this was written I was 17 years old! About those grades, wanting A's on my report card? Yup, that was a thing in our household too, anything less than a B was grounds for six weeks of restrictions! Discovering all of my old report cards during this paper shuffling, I must have been on restrictions more than I remembered. I even got a D in 10th grade English! In today's paper there is an article about Seminole County wanting the state to allow NO grades for this year. Imagine that, eh? 

Just the other day I was telling someone that seemingly no one has been unaffected during this pandemic even if they have not contracted the virus. Backorder indeed! How about you, what has been your experience? By the way, Claussen pickles are still hard to come by. 😞

David is coming along nicely following his surgery and Cris is showing baby steps of improvement so the news is not all bad. I will leave you with a shot of the lovely Angel Trumpet tree in full bloom.

Pickleball is calling....

your friend,

Gail

I'm Softening the Butter Right Now

I'm not sure what you will be most interested in today, so let me just start with the topic the title refers to. Yesterday morning, while talking on the phone to Nancy about how fantastic "Bloodline" is, Angela called through. I told Nancy, "let me get this, no telling what's going on." And so I clicked over to Angela who sounded downright cheerful while asking me for a favor. "What do you do really well Gail?" she asked. Because I know that she has a somewhat elevated opinion of my photography, I felt sure she wanted me to run over with the camera. Much to my surprise, she said Matt was requesting cookies again! In yet another example of how he keeps defying predictions, he can nibble a bit, and wanted some chocolate chip cookies. "I'm softening the butter as we speak." And so I made some cookies.

Later in the afternoon, following a much needed visit to Monica, I brought the cookies, as well as the photo of the owl holding the tree that Bruce printed earlier for that purpose. I was hoping to bring a smile to Matt's face with that little cutie, and it worked! If you can imagine, I forgot my camera altogether, however, Angela recorded the moment on her phone.

He looks pretty darn good for a dying man doesn't he? We spent about an hour visiting in their gazebo; Matt likes the heat, and I don't mind it a bit either, especially with an overhead fan! He remains cheerful in spite of all that he is going through. He cannot eat very much, most of his nutrition comes through the feeding tube, but the fact that he can eat at all is a great improvement. He just keeps hanging on, which is what I wrote on the photo. :)

So, while I was making cookies, and getting my hair cut, the guys were outside working. I was glad to keep busy because this kind of environment makes me a wee bit crazy.

Told you it was weird!

First they painted the trim using a cool little machine.

Actually that is the house color the tube is running into which looks a heck of a lot lighter in the pail than on the house. Here's your last look at what used to be, and still is in the photo, a sunny yellow house.

Now, it looks more like this following a massive rainstorm this morning.

So, that is the side view, and here's the front of the house:

Along with a view of the back:

As you can see, there is work yet to be completed, however, today was not that day as it rained like a son of a gun around 10 AM. The window sills, the screws on the shutters, the trim around the doors--that sort of thing is what remains to be done. It was suggested to me that I might spring for a better doorbell and I did just that as well as new house numbers.

Because I was not looking to change the light fixtures, I tried to find a match at Lowes with no success. Amazon Prime to the rescue! Herbert snuck these on in between showers, and will do the touch up tomorrow, or so we hope! You might have noticed that I painted the little sun thing on the front porch yellow because it did not look good the way it was against the new color. Nor does the one in the back, however, I'm not sure I'm sold on the yellow so I'm going to ponder that for a few days.

What do we think of the color? Love it, although a few of my older neighbors, including Corrine, were not so sure. Except, this morning, just before the biggest storm, Corrine called out to me to tell me that now she thinks it looks swell. It's good to have neighborhood harmony isn't it?

I'm sure you can guess where I went first on my bike ride today. Yup. Just about to leave because I could find not one of the owls, lo and behold, there were the two babies. And, at one point they both were on the same limb, HOWEVER, that picture turned out terrible. But, you knew already that I only post the good ones, didn't you?

I'm not sure I can tell them apart just yet, however, I think one of them may be a little darker than the other. When one of the began walking a bit on the limb, I knew something was coming.

Well, I sure did not expect this!

There was some thunder rumblings beginning so that was that for my owl visit. On my way home, I stopped for a moment to talk to Cheryle, whose Angel Trumpet tree rivals the one I showed in my last post.

I cannot remember a time when the trees were so loaded with blooms. Magnificent!!

Because I returned home too late to fix supper last evening we went out for a bite to eat. Nothing memorable but on the way home, driving by Lake Jennie Jewel I noticed the setting sun. Brucer, I'm coming right back down to the lake. When I see beauty, I'm going to enjoy every moment of it. Not a particularly memorable sunset, but I do love a tiny crescent moon.

And, really, who could complain about more babies?

Hopefully, tomorrows sunny forecast holds up and Herbert will get his money and we'll have a completely different home. Talk about a dramatic change, huh? If you have any suggestions for improvement, I am all ears.

Time to spruce up for this evenings event--a fundraiser for Parkinson's Disease. I hope for Tanya's sake, it is a resounding success.

yours truly,

Gail

Not Just One, But Two!!

Last evening, following a delicious supper, I decided to run up to TJ Maxx, except, while doing so, I had to take a little detour due to a fallen tree across the road. Must have been caused by the massive rainstorm a few hours earlier. In some parts of the world, the whole "April showers brings May flowers," may ring true, however, in our little corner, the rainstorms usually arrive in June. This year has been a big exception to that as just last week I measured over 4 inches in our back yard rain gauge, which is momentarily out of commission due to the painting which is taking place as I type!

After getting around this roadblock, I discovered that the sunset was phenomenal, except the only place I could photograph it from was the inside of my car. Still awesome though.

What with all the aforementioned rain, it was a miracle that our boating trip on the St. John's River came to pass. Bruce's sister, Michele, along with her granddaughter Annabelle, are visiting from Minnesota. When we first arrived, we were all delighted to see the resident family of Sandhill cranes roaming in brother Cris's back yard.

When I say delighted, I seriously mean delighted, as it was the first time I've been close to a juvenile crane, and they are cute as a button.

That is if you like the scraggly look!

In truth the weather was just right--partly cloudy and warm, not hot. Cris loves taking people out on the boat, as well as his dog Jackson, who seems to like it pretty well too!

Michelle and Fallon preferred the shade.

This, my friends, is the real Florida.

Green, green, and more green. Not to mention lots of water. Having lived on the river for more than a year now, Cris also knows the little side waters, which is not the official name, but I can't think of any other way to describe them. One little detour off the main river took us to what Cris called, "birdhouse lane", although he said only a little while ago there were hundreds of birdhouses, removed recently by a curmudgeon I suppose. There are still a few sweet little ones left.

Birdhouses, along with the ever present Spanish moss. That said, if I see one tiny bit of it anywhere in our yard, I remove it instantly because once it starts in your trees there is no stopping it! After just a lovely afternoon on the river, we dined at Swamp House Riverfront Grille, located a few blocks from Judy and Cris's house.

By now Judy and Katie joined the group.

Seated below the hanging gator, some at the table enjoyed a gator table appetizer, however, I was not one of them. :)

Sunday, the rain held off until I was turning down our street with a loaded car. People who've never been to the market have no idea what they are missing! On any given Sunday you are more than likely to see something like this:

Yeesh! Monkey lady was back, and so too were some cygnets!

My friend Bev warned me to be careful around the owls, and I'm trying; by now I know better than to get too close to a swan and her babies!

Following the market, while at Hill's Happy Hour, our friend Lisa, who lives on Sweetbriar, home to the owls, told me there were TWO owlets, not just one! Are you kidding me? You know where Mrs. Camera Crazy went first thing Monday morning. Looking, looking, looking, I finally found them highly camouflaged in the Magnolia tree.

Oh my gosh!!! I watched for a while and I don't know if you can see this or not, but Papa Owl is beginning a meal.

What it is, I have no idea but he seemed to enjoy it.

How do I know this is Papa? Apparently, the male owl is smaller than the female, whom I saw way, way up in the oak tree over the poop splotched driveway. After swallowing whatever that was, he gave a little nuzzle to baby #1.

We are all obsessed, and can you blame us?

I just got off the phone with Dana who had only a moment to share some horrible, and I mean horrible news. The boyfriend of one of our vendors, Tim, fell terribly ill about three weeks ago. I was sick--Alan is ill, and in a big way. Bacterial Meningitis took over his body, and is apparently, still wreaking havoc, in spite of what I thought was a positive progress report on Sunday. Both legs are, at what I can only hope is, at the knees, being amputated today. I feel just sick even typing it. How old is he? Only 54, and what appeared to be, only a few weeks ago, in excellent health. Further, Matt Stromberg was back in the hospital with pneumonia and a pulmonary embolus. The latest MRI shows the brain tumor growing once again. All treatment options have been exhausted, so it is only a matter of time which I also hate typing, much less thinking about. :(

Why share all that horrible news Gail? Well that just makes me want to celebrate life every single day, as one never knows what tomorrow will bring. Yes, I know that is a overused, however, it still rings true. So, I'm obsessed with the owls? Good. How about you? Loving every beautiful thing God puts in your path? I hope so!

Which leads me to this glorious sight seen on my ride this morning. BTW--I was vacillating between using site or sight in that sentence until I read this.

Now that is one heck of a lot of Angel Trumpet blooms, isn't it?

As I type, this is how the house looks with every single window covered up, leaving me using the lamps for now.

Yesterday they pressure washed everything, including.....drum roll please....

Oh my gosh the driveway looks brand new! After covering all the windows, the trim is now nearly done, with the body coming next. Woo hoo! Cannot wait to see it, not to mention, I hope I like it!!

Making the most of today,
Gail

High Hopes

High Hopes

She's got high hopes,

She's got, high, apple pie, in the sky hopes.

That's me folks. I've been preparing for the best show of my career this week, or may I be redundant and say I HOPE it will be the best show?

This is no apple pie in the sky, but it is a jet, which seems sort of appropriate as well. 

Seems to me like a jet can travel considerably further than an apple pie in the sky don't you agree? By the way, some of you may know this already, I was not among you. The above song is one by Frank Sinatra. Another famous line from that song is, Whoops there goes another rubber tree plant! I learn something new each and every day.

I took this photo while taking the clothes off the line. I know, I'm crazy to always be thinking about taking pictures, but you knew that didn't you?

Now you see what I mean by maximum sunshine. Actually, I'm merely showing this to segue into this sweet little poem Bruce forwarded to me from someone else. Apparently, before there was "social media" there was the clothesline.

A clothesline was a news forecast, To neighbors passing by,

There were no secrets you could keep, When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link, For neighbors always knew

If company had stopped on by, To spend a night or two.

For then you'd see the "fancy sheets", And towels upon the line;

You'd see the "company table cloths", With intricate designs.

The line announced a baby's birth, From folks who lived inside,

As brand new infant clothes were hung, So carefully with pride!

The ages of the children could, So readily be known

By watching how the sizes changed, You'd know how much they'd grown!

It also told when illness struck, As extra sheets were hung;

Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe too, Haphazardly were strung.

It also said, "On vacation now", When lines hung limp and bare.

It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged, With not an inch to spare!

New folks in town were scorned upon, If wash was dingy and gray,

As neighbors carefully raised their brows, And looked the other way.

But clotheslines now are of the past, For dryers make work much less.

Now what goes on inside a home, Is anybody's guess!

I really miss that way of life, It was a friendly sign

When neighbors knew each other best... By what hung out on that line

Nowadays, most folks have fences around their yards, but I dare say that wasn't always the case. I can't imagine what inspired someone to write a poem about a clothesline, but then again, I can't imagine what inspires me to photograph what I do!

Finally the prints are done. Or almost anyway. I loaded up the twirly thing only to unload it!

After sorting through my baskets, stocking my inventory in the large plastic bin, I discovered I had room, thus, I decided to take it all with me. I told you I had high hopes!

What I didn't have was an adequate supply of Smarties, the candy I have on my browsing table at shows. Let's just say they are hard to find these days. At one point I ordered 80 lbs. from the Smartie store. After checking at Walgreens, Publix, Dollar Store, and Big Lots, I've decided perhaps I should do that again. From nearly our very first time at the market, I've had a small candy dish with Smarties for anyone who likes them, and let me tell you, there are plenty of people who do. Count me super surprised on that, however, Bruce knew as it was his suggestion. From their site I've learned that the inventor came to the United States in 1949 from England after the war, opening up a factory with two machines in a rented space. I love to hear those kinds of success stories. Apparently, he too had high hopes. (finally found some at Target.)

Fiddling with my prints is not my favorite part of the business. After a time I need to move and walking Baxter is a good way to do so. I mentioned a few weeks ago that the peach tree on our street was beginning to blossom. A few houses down two nectarine trees are doing the same.

See the tiny little moon down on the bottom right? While driving down Pershing the other day I noticed that the Angel Trumpet flowers are going crazy right now. This tree is cascading down the wall around Southern Oaks, the fancy neighborhood across the street from us.

Looking at the mass of blooms it makes me think of petticoats. The color of both of these blooms, the purple and the delicate shade of orange, is outstanding! Indulge me as I take you closer.

Fantastic right? As I type this I hear our cardinals. HaHa--our cardinals. Actually I've discovered that there are two pairs hanging around. Imagine if we have two nests! If I happen to walk outside and find them nearby I talk to them. That's right--I talk to them gently, hoping they won't be frightened and fly away. It may very well be working because Mr. Cardinal was kind enough to just watch me from his perch in the new tree while I tried and tried to get a shot of him amongst the branches. Fortunately some of the leaves have fallen allowing me a better opportunity. May I dare say that I'm pleased with this one?

They say it's best to get the light in the eye of your subject which is why I'm so pleased with this shot. Some might argue that this red is even better than the orange and they very well might have a good point. Picture me with the zoom lens on my Nikon, head bent way back, looking into the viewfinder trying to get the shot. The camera is a bit heavy, my neck is getting older, and it's nearly impossible to use the automatic focus. I switched over to manual, adjusting the ring until the camera focused on you know who. Happy days!! All the while I calmly thanked him for sitting so still for his portrait. I think what also makes this a nice shot is the blue sky behind him bringing stark contrast to the scene. Here's another view:

Which is your favorite? The lighting in the first is the best, but I do like how his comb is up in this one.

There are a few things I've been meaning to mention. One is that the space I photographed for Dana will be the site of nine NBA All Star parties! She's already so darn busy I have no idea how she'll manage, but knowing her as I do, she will. As well I finally read a novel!! Fanfare here. It's been far too long since I've read one and I'm happy to report that I can recommend In the Sea There are Crocodiles. Talk about having hope! My word, the hero went through so much it's hard to imagine how he survived. Based on a true story, the author recounts the tale of a 10 year old Afghan boy whose Mother abandons him in a city to get him away from the Taliban. In our days of relative calm, it's easy to forget how much of the world lives a daily life of struggle. Novels like this one remind me of the ease with which I go about my days. 

Speaking of which I am joining the ladies for bridge in a bit; a play day before "Show Time!"

Hopefully yours,

Gail