The Good along with the Bad

Life sure takes some unexpected turns, doesn't it? Early last week, I heard from our sister-in-law, Ruth, that her father was gravely ill and not expected to recover. It came on suddenly, and within a week or so, he died from congestive heart failure. Her dad, Jack, was a good man, always ready with a joke or a funny saying, one of which was that every time you greeted him, asking after his well being, he responded by saying, "I'm vertical and ventilating!" Apparently, we were not the only ones he said that to because when the funeral mass began, the priest had all 200 folks stand up and said out loud to Jack in his casket that we were all standing for him and were "vertical and ventilating!" That brought on a good laugh from everyone.  We took Maureen with us, and sister Lisa and her husband Danny were there, as was, of course, our brother Pat.

Jack told his family he was more than ready to go, having lived a full life with no regrets. When it is time for me to go, I hope to be able to say the same as I know you do as well.

I'm going to be all over the map today, so bear with me!

Friday night I got to meet several more of the Earl's girls in town for the convention. We had a wonderful dinner together, at, you know where!

They were all super friendly, and nice to me, with offers to hook me up with things to do while we are in Vancouver. I'm getting more excited by the day!

That said, I won't have all of the wonderful friends that I have here, including Bev who alerted me to an estate sale held at the home of one of her friends from church. Sewing stuff she said. I scooted over to Winter Park Saturday morning, arriving early, not only because I thought it would be crowded, but also because of the early afternoon funeral. From the photographs posted online, I figured she must have owned a fabric store at one time, and my suspicions proved true. Who else would have a room full of zippers? Honestly, there must have been ten boxes, at the very least, filled with zippers of every color and size.

There was a closet full of velvet, a room full of lace and trims, a back porch with fabric galore, including many unfinished projects housed in clean pizza boxes and plastic bags.

I shopped fast and furious, coming away with all manner of things, including a vintage dress pattern. Yippee!

That second stack from the left hand side has something of interest. I found a bag, that when I peered inside, looked to me like Lily Pulitzer fabric, mainly because it was so crazy bright. Cut into 9" squares, I wasn't entirely sure I wanted it, but good sense prevailed.

Coming home from the sale, an unfamiliar light appeared on my car dashboard, and sure enough, I had to take it in on Monday. Bruce took a late flight to Dallas on Sunday night, following the thrilling Masters tournament, so I went to bed early, and got up super early. On my way to MINI, I stopped by the cemetery and found Mama up in the tree, which was kind of weird because I've not found her there of late, aside from feeding times.

It was only myself, and the only woman who is a constant there that does not carry around a camera. Instead, she is a real birder with binoculars. She thought perhaps Mama was on the lookout because the mowers were going underneath. Now I'm not so sure that was the total explanation, as you will soon learn.

It took more than three hours at MINI which ended up being fine because it forced me to sit still and finally finish a really good novel, Miss Jane.  Also under warranty which was nice too.

I'd only just arrived home at maybe 1:30; after getting the mail and caring for Baxie, I realized I'd left my phone in the car. Lo and behold, there was a text from Sally saying the owlet was out of the nest!!!! Naturally, as one who is obsessed will do, I raced back to the cemetery, and here is the little puffball.

Cute, cute, cute!! A local celebrity, otherwise, how else to explain the nature paparazzi I found later in the day when I returned for the feeding time?

Later I got to thinking that perhaps the owlet had "branched" earlier in the day before I arrived, and that is why Mama was on the lookout? Hard to know.

In any case, Tuesday I stayed away, instead all I did was eat, and sew. After working so hard on my last project, I wanted to make something simple. In good news, regarding that quilt, my friend Mary Whitaker suggested I layer it over my existing ivory quilt, and I am now very happy with how it looks!

The ivory quilt is oversized, and mine is undersized, so it's a happy medium!

During Sunday's golf match I sorted through those Lily squares, (there are tons of them,) pulling all pinks, and a green for some cornerstone blocks. Here's what I made with them:

I'm hoping to find a green and pink stripe for the binding, and probably a solid pink for the backing. I had no notion of what I was going to do with it, however, I received an email from Ann at the church asking if I would donate some photography, or a quilt for an auction she was putting together for the fall.  Winter Park + Lily Pulitzer is a win-win! Plus, I'll still be contributing while I'm away.

In the evening Pam fed me using a recipe from Christoper Kimball's new magazine, Milk Street.

Having spent the day with pink, naturally I was attracted to her pink roses which are blooming like crazy!

So all of the above was a mixture of both good, and bad, however, the rest of this post is all bad news. Up early again this morning, I could not resist visiting the owls after yesterday's absence.

Why not?

 When I arrived, I found it so strange that Mama was way low in the tree, allowing me to get within maybe twenty feet? See her on the left ,and Papa up in his usual spot on the right?

Much to my delight, it was only me, and the birder woman. Standing under that beautiful canopy, I admired the beautiful owls up close. Life was good. Eventually, I heard a lot of bird commotion, and looking behind me, I saw a hawk jumping around between the headstones with the birds and squirrels scrambling for their lives.

Try as we might, we could not find the owlet.

Turning back around Mama looked so majestic above the nest hole, a place I'd never seen her. So two strange places in one day.

Ms Birder and I watched her go down the hatch. Using her binoculars, she was able to see inside the hole, and observe what looked like some feeding. There is still one owlet to branch, and we also wondered if perhaps the one I saw on Monday had gone back into the nest.

Around twenty past 8, I decided I needed feeding myself, and I told her I was calling it a day. She said she planned to stick around till at least 9, and I wished her good luck. Now, my friends, I've learned from another owl enthusiast that not 10 minutes later, following my departure, Ms. Birder found the owlet, dead on the ground, behind the tree. As you can well imagine, I am heartsick. Two days of freedom from the nest, and now it is all over.  Does Mama look sad to you? I bet she is. 😢

yours truly,

Gail

p.s. I've been meaning to write about this for a week or so...we are participating in an AIDS walk, Saturday evening, April 15, and if you would like to support us, we are under the banner of First Congregational Church of Winter Park. Here's the details...

Mostly Owl Related

Some friends on facebook saw a photograph of Mama Owl and baby in their upstairs/downstairs rooms a few nights ago and I promised to tell them more so here we go!

First, though, I'd said the Tabebuia trees were a bust this year, however, I was wrong because in the last week the shockingly yellow trees are blooming like mad! These two, across Lake Gem Mary, are always a highlight for me.

If you can believe it, they look even more beautiful now, as I took this a few days ago. Looking down most any street you are sure to see them in all their glory.

Then too, the Monarchs are making their warmish weather appearance in gardens everywhere.

Shall we get to the owl situation? Let's do!

Bruce had a church men's dinner on Thursday evening, so little Missie here, drove over to Greenwood around 6 that night. A whole bunch of cars were lined up along the drive and here's only a handful of the photographers there. Fourteen at last count!

Milling around, folks were chatting and staring straight ahead, hoping for some action and that is what we go my friends! Before too long, the larger of the two owlets went up in what some were calling the penthouse! Oh my goodness!

When I saw the owl in that same spot around two months ago, never did I imagine what treats were in store in April. Actually, the little one stared at us for a while, then began testing her wings. I'm calling it a her because she is the larger of the two and that is about the only difference in male and female Barred Owls...their size. Anyway, everyone was enthralled and excitement was in the air.

Lo and behold, look who flew in!

Woo hoo! I must note that as far as sighting the owlet up top, it was a first for everyone. So Mama is showing little one how those wings work! Because I don't have a tripod, well, make that more like refuse to use one, I have more flexibility than most of those folks. I'm able to move around more, in this case to fight the setting sun and enabling me to see how she was attached to the tree.

Although it seems as if they are staring at us, and indeed, maybe they are, I've learned that their pupils are fixed so unless they are trying to see elsewhere, which requires turning their head, their gaze is fixed forward. Someone in the group got a much better shot of Mama taking leave but here's mine anyway.

Papa was way high in the next tree, and in spite of looking into the blinding light of the setting sun searching for her, she was nowhere to be found. Little one decided to test those wings a bit more.

Can you even stand that adorable fluffiness? Before long, it was downstairs for her.

Do you suppose she is wondering what life will be like when she leaves the nest? Curious little girl anyway. The smaller of the two, as far as I know, has not been spotted upstairs yet, however, I've not been back since Thursday due to some social engagements which will be featured during the week as I'm trying to get this up before leaving for church. Palm Sunday, you know. :)

So folks were chatting amongst themselves, in my case I was meeting some of the photographers I'd not seen before when all of a sudden, this happened!

Dinner is served! She popped downstairs with the mouse and before long popped back up. Little one did not seem too interested in dinner though; probably still curious about the crowd.

Isn't it astonishing how much Mama blends in?

I can't tell you how exciting it is to watch all of this in person. In fact, I suspect even if you aren't a bird enthusiast you would be thrilled as well. I can hardly wait until both of them appear upstairs and if it hasn't happened already, maybe this week if we are lucky.

Wasn't that some good fun?

yours truly,

Gail

Who Doesn't Love Spring?

Seriously, is there anyone of sound mind that doesn't love Spring? What with all of the beautiful flowering trees and plants, not to mention the darling little babies being born, what's not to like? Of course, you aren't as obsessed with the bird thing like myself, or, maybe you are.

I know I'm not the only one as each time I head over to Greenwood I meet new folks, both male and female, who can't get enough of the owls, or the eagles. I might venture to guess, some of those same folks are even more obsessed than I am, going there daily, rather than every couple of days, as is my practice.

Of course, that was before this happened yesterday morning.

So, here's the scoop....

After Bruce left for his Dallas flight early yesterday morning, I thought to myself, "it's been a few days since you were last at Greenwood, why not go now?  Why not indeed? Parking the MINI around sunrise, I was hoping I would see both of our bird families, and I was not disappointed in the least.

Do you see what I see in the upper branches of the lone Pine tree?

You may remember me talking about the "golden hour" and here's quite the example of that.

From talking with other enthusiasts, who are more knowledgeable than I, this is probably the male eagle, watching the nest from afar. I had the place all to myself, or so I thought until I walked closer to the nest,  seeing the eaglets testing their wings.

It was there that I ran into Jack Rogers, my former Historical Geology professor from Valencia, who had driven over before school. We talked about the owls, and he told me he'd seen the owlets already.

Say what?? Oh my gosh.

Walking over to the trees, we spotted both parents, the Mama was perched behind the nest amidst the Spanish Moss, while the male was in his usual location in the adjacent tree. After a bit, she popped on top of the crevice and there she was as pictured above.

I was pretty much freaking out at the action before my eyes! The cuteness of this was making me crazy! Plus, I felt so blessed to witness nature in action.

Down she went...

and the action began, with her feeding the owlets a rat. Curious, every now and again, they would look out into the wider world.  Glancing at my watch every so often, I had to take my leave because I actually had something important to do. I left Jack with his tripod...

Once home, I made a mad dash to get ready for Days for Girls, finishing one of the quilting lines before packing the sewing machine, as the quilt was still under the needle. We had a real treat during our time together. Make that more like huge inspiration from Helen, our partner, who actually distributes the kits to the girls in Malawi. Look at that beautiful smile!

She absolutely radiated goodness! Her descriptions of the dire conditions facing the people of Malawi brought tears to my eyes. Passing around a scad of photographs of the young woman who actually receive our kits was enough to get all of us inspired anew. She claims, and I don't think she is exaggerating one bit, that we are changing girl's lives with our work. On her last trip she distributed nearly 800 kits from our group, which may not sound like a lot to you, and I'll grant you it is a drop in the bucket of  the needs, however, each kit takes so many steps to make, I think it is miraculous! Should you care to know more about the mission of Days for Girls, please click on this link.

Pictured below are the two dynamos that make it all happen, Sharleen, in the foreground, and Helen in the back.

When I got home, I set up my machine to keep working on the liners, although Baxter sure seems to have other ideas about me using my chair!

Actually, I pushed him closer to the back and sat down anyway, sewing about ten more liners together before the pull of my bird obsession proved to be too strong. Back I went to Greenwood in the late afternoon, and naturally, I ran into others that I know. John,  is the one who originally told me about the owls. The middle woman is Kim, and Sally in the mustard pants, is one of our Hill's Happy Hour group. Having told her about the eagles and owls, a few weeks ago, she is completely hooked as well. That said, we only saw the eaglets hopping around in their nest.

Good grief, I went back again this morning!! Forgive me for showing yet another photo but in spite of the hundreds I've taken of owls in the past few years, it is only just now that I am loving those marks on her inside tail feathers. Very retro actually. (apologies for the poor lighting)

Aren't they cute? This morning there was not a repeat of yesterday's action, however, I met a woman named Candy who was not only a lovely person, she was also a fount of information. Go to Lake Eola and see the baby swans was her advice.

You might be surprised to learn that once I quit doing the market, I don't think I've been back to Lake Eola ever since. Weird, isn't it? Throughout my years there,  I would always see the swans hatching, well, because I saw them every week. Heeding her advice, I drove the few miles over, and began walking around the lake. I came across this display which is very important to our son David who will be attending over weekend. My sweet twins will be celebrating their 38th (!) birthday on Saturday. Because of Dave's plans, our plans with them will probably have to wait until the following weekend.

If you've been to Lake Eola, you know the swans are plentiful, which means you have probably seen many images of them on Camera Crazy before. That aside, I could not resist another of this graceful bird.

Lo and behold, as I made my way past the Wrestlemania sign, look what I saw...

Holy Cow they were cute as can be!

I suspect, just a few months ago, the lake would have filled the area where they were sunning themselves, however, because we are now considered to be in a mild drought, the lake is very low.

So, I kept walking and YIKES, more cuteness!

Let it be known that choosing what photos to put into this post was extremely difficult. As in excruciating, because there are so many cute subjects. 😀

On we go over to the area adjacent to the swan boats..and, here they are!

While standing there, a darling young woman from Ohio stopped to take photographs, and we oohed and aahed over them together. How could you not?  Eventually, they went for a swim as swans are wont to do.

This may or may not have been the right move, going to Lake Eola, because that was a bunch of cuteness all in one place;  clearly, I have enough obsessions at the moment.

Seriously, how can I help it when Spring provides such a bounty of photographic opportunities?

Tearing myself away, I stopped to buy more thread, as I've used up an entire spool on the quilt, and there is still a half to go, as well as picked up our taxes in Winter Park, gladly paying our bill.

And now, my friends, it is time to get back to work on the quilting, that is, until the arthritis in my hand forces me to stop. A camera doesn't hurt it one bit.

yours truly,

Gail

At the Weekend

Or, at least that's how they say it in Britain. When last we met, the weekend was in full swing. For homebodies, like ourselves, we had way too much fun at the weekend, that's for certain.

I had my first Uber experience on Saturday, and if our driver was any indication of other drivers, it could very well be my last! Meeting at Dave and Michelle's condo, we brought Baxter along to keep their dog Ginger Rodgers company while we were gone. Michelle did what you do to get an Uber driver, and we all piled into his car. Well, most of us did anyway. They were all in, and I had one foot on the floorboard when the driver started to pull away!! The Peck men simultaneously cried out STOP! So, after I was in, he wanted to take I-4 to get to downtown. Those of you who have been to their home know that is about the silliest method to get there that you can think of. I will say he followed David's directions, and we arrived on Orange Avenue safely. So, there's that.

Walking to the stadium is, at least for now, the most expedient way to get there, as they have little to no parking nearby. Actually, it was great because Church Street was packed with people, either going to the Orlando City game, or the NCAA basketball tournament featuring the Florida State Seminoles in the first game, and the Florida Gators in the second. So, loads of energy! Stopping into the Rusty Spoon for a drink, where, btw, I had a Cucumber Martini that was fab, we stuck ourselves into the corner of the bar at the only remaining seat. Well, who should be sitting right there? Jim and Carrie whom we met when we did that Ronald McDonald event. They were just as much fun this time as the last time we met them.

Drink done, and we were once again off the races. Make that the stadium! Michelle led the way, and fortunately, both she and David were wearing colors we could spot in a crowd. In other words, not purple. (We are walking by what eventually will be parking areas.)

Purple shirts, purple hats, purple everything, including the smoke bombs that go off when the Lions score.

Looks like we are pretty close, doesn't it? Yup, David's seats are eight rows up from the pitch, so it feel like you are sitting court side at a basketball game.

Lions win! And the crowd went wild!

Sunday we were back in the pews at First Congregational, and glad to be there. The day was spectacular for the art festival, however, we skipped that because we are not currently in the market for art. I know it is fun to roam around looking, but I also know how hard every artist has worked to be there, and when there are only lookers, it is so frustrating. Generally, these days, I don't want to add to anyone's discouragement.

Instead, Bruce convinced me to go to Vanberry's on Orange Avenue across the lakes from us, and what should we see from our table? Why, an Osprey nest!

And Dr. Parillo, pictured with the white hair and green shirt!

This falls under the category of should you care to know: the biopsy results were just fine. 👌

After dinner over at a friend's house Sunday night, you can imagine how partied out we were. So, Monday, bright and early, chores took center stage, including this again!

Not only did I have a frozen bottom of the freezer, the same held true for under the vegetable crispers. You can see what we did all yesterday morning. Plus, we're unclear whether the problem is fixed or not. From what I've read. there is a class action suit against Samsung due to a faulty design. This is one way to force yourself to toss out food hidden behind other food in the refrigerator!

I have been making some quilting samples to try out a few of the designs from the fantastic book I purchased at the class.

Another very important thing happened yesterday afternoon, just as I had finished bringing in the laundry from the clothesline; Matt called to chat. And chat we did over Face Time, like 2 1/2 hours of chatting. At various times, Bruce and Tom joined the conversation, adding to the fun. I so count myself blessed to have sons that actually enjoy chatting with me. They had a wonderful time in India, although my Uber story would not even register mentioning compared to the rides they took in India. Matt stopped short of giving me all of the gory details. But, all's well that ends well, so there is that to be grateful for.

This morning on my bike ride I went to visit "our eagles." Just as I was going through the gated area to enter Harbour Island, I peeked into a construction site for a new home on Lake Conway. Well, although I was pretty far away from the nest, there it was in plain sight, with not one, but two eaglets in view.

I cropped it a bit, hoping you could see the one standing, and the top of the other one's head. Naturally, I kept going and had myself a little treat.

Some of you will see it immediately, while others who couldn't care less, may not see the flapping wings of the eaglet. I never did see both of them when I was closer, but how about this identical pose?

I always forget that most people are not reading this on a computer with a large screen. Hope you can see it on your phones!

Naturally, this led to a little detour while doing errands...

There sits the cutest car on the road!!! I not only love driving it, but was changing the time to DST, ever a breeze!

Mama Owl is still on the nest..

While Papa, who I could not easily find, was napping and scratching. Sounds like a man, right?

There were three other photographers near the eagles nest, but we didn't even need to check that out, did we? We have our own!

It was bird city there, with tiny birds chattering all above my head. Look at this cutie...

Oh drat! You are on your phone, and may not see it! I believe it is a Black and White Warbler, which I've never seen before. I have, on the other hand, seen Tufted Tit Mouse before, but never have I seen one eating a caterpillar! Holy Cow!

Small birds are really hard to get good shots of in the wild, much harder than large shore birds which were out in force at Lake Greenwood. It is times like this that I do so wish I had a longer zoom lens!

I would have LOVED to get a closer shot of that Great Blue Heron!

It seems live everyone's orchids are blooming like mad this year. I am loving mine, that's for sure.

On this one plant there are three more stalks with blooms, or whatever you call them. Don't really know. Do you?

Enough with blogging, time to head into the kitchen to make this Blueberry-Lemon cake! I'll let you know how it is.

yours truly,

Gail