Fast Track

Before daybreak this morning, I heard the familiar song of the Northern Cardinal in the gigantic oak tree out front. Rarely have I seen him, it's only his song that tells me he is around. Not even once, in the 5 1/2 months that we have been back, has he paid us a visit which surprises me because I fully expected any number of Cardinals to feast on our feeders. I used to take them for granted at our home as they were so plentiful. It's easy to do that, isn't it? Taking things for granted seems to come more naturally than savoring every experience. Just thinking out loud here....

One thing we all took for granted was Maureen's hip healing, or at least the incision. It has not. Fully intending to write a post on Thursday afternoon, I visited Maureen in the rehab center in the morning during which time I learned that her hip was infected and she was going back to the hospital in an ambulance. While there the aide told me she really needed more clothes that were easy to get on and off, so, while she was heading to ORMC, I went shopping at the nearby thrift store. Clothes that are too big is what I was looking for. Putting them in the washing machine when I got home, I had some lunch, then it was back to her room at Westminster with the pants and shirts, followed by a trip to the Emergency Room where she was learning her fate. Let me just say that Brian, her nurse, was the finest example of a health care worker I've seen in years. Attentive, kind, efficient, I could go on an on. Maureen asked me, "how many times have we done this?" My answer? Too many.

So, this morning she is to undergo a procedure to either clean out the infection, or worse case scenario---start over. Pray for the former.

While waiting with Maureen, Bruce texted me with some horrible news. His great friend Jeff is in Florida Hospital with a diagnosis no one ever wants to hear. Devastated, I left Maureen in Brian's care and went home to brood. Friday, while I was with Maureen in her regular room, Bruce and Steve visited Jeff and he is doing as well as can be expected for a man who just proposed to the lovely Lori on Christmas Eve. You met the two of them here on Camera Crazy a few months back when we were out to brunch. And that my friends is where today's title comes from. It seems as if we are living life on a fast track with the months speeding by. They say that happens when you get older and I believe them. (Who is they, or them, anyway?)

Enough with the bad news, let's do some birds and I do mean some birds. Lake Willisara may be small, but oh my, the action! I was bemoaning the lack of a space for a bookcase, going so far as to rearrange the living room, hoping to find some. That didn't work. Then it hit me, how about if we use this spac,e and by golly it did work. We got the little bookcase out of our closet and I finally unpacked the last of our boxes!!

I can't tell you how many different colors that bookcase has been throughout the years but for now it will remain brown. Anyway, out the window I saw an amazing sight. Grabbing my camera, first I saw this on the shoreline:

Talk about biting off more than one can chew! This, however, was not what I was out back looking for, merely a bonus, because on the lake there was a gigantic flock of migrating Greater Cormorants, probably at least 50!

For some reason, this attracted other birds, more than I've ever seen before. So funny watching them watch the water.

Tearing myself away, I went back to unpacking the books which I first put in like this:

I'm certain I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but a bookcase looks way better when you arrange books by color.

At least, that's how I see it. Doing this made me so happy! Now, down to the big lake to see where the birds went.

Migration is such an awesome thing to contemplate, don't you think? Truly amazing. While I was down at the big lake, I made sure to photograph the beautiful pink Camillea adjacent to the bar area. The other Gayle tells me that she has never seen it look so lovely.

After rescuing Maureen's succulent garden from her room, I drove over to Edgewater High School to drop off Jonathan's yearbooks. Along the way I came across the florist Matt used to send that fantastic arrangement. Cool building, great flowers.

Driving back to the hospital, I took Westmoreland and had a nice surprise. Years ago, in the area now used for the soccer stadium, there was a little complex with some amazing street art. Torn down, I thought that was the end of cool murals in our town. Not so fast Gail!

Winding my way around the building on foot, I finally found the entrance, and had a chat with the curator who asked me to take his photograph, dog included. Bad lighting but what can you do?

Explaining that artists from all over are represented, I also learned I missed a street art festival a few months back. Probably paying too much attention to our kitchen remodel and birds. :) Speaking of which, after much deliberation and searching, we found our pulls and knobs. As well, Bruce is working on changing out all of the hinges, a job that is nearly complete. Plus, again, after a ridiculous amount of deliberation, I picked a wall paint color and began the job Saturday afternoon, finishing Sunday afternoon. It is not the first time I've had a yellow kitchen, but I think it will be the last. Anyway, now the walls are not fighting with the tile.

The lamp, on the other hand is. Smokey Taupe by Benjamin Moore is the color and we could not be any happier. Troy, our cabinet painter is, as I type, on his way here to put up some samples for the cabinets which we hope will be in the works next week. Can I get a big YEAH?

Back to the street art, on the corner of Central and Westmoreland, one of the things I found the most striking was this display of cans. I know, I'm weird.

The pattern on these doors would make a great quilt wouldn't it?

Lordy, we are back to the lake again! During a much sunnier part of the day, the Cormorants returned, but this time what caught my attention were these ducks that I cannot identify for the life of me. Are they Mallards?

I wish they were closer so better to see them! Ducks, like identifying a white paint color for cabinets is a challenge. I do remember a time before the internet when I would just pick a paint color and go with it. Sometimes more information is not what its cracked up to be.  Do you agree?

Finally, after cleaning up my paint gear, I walked down to the big lake where this scene is a nightly fixture. It seems as if I'm not the only one obsessed with the sky!

Now, off to check on Maureen.....

your friend,

Gail
                 

Loose Ends

I realized over the weekend that I was remiss on updating you regarding the refrigerator. No doubt, you spent days wondering if Gail had added appliance repairman to her repertoire. She has not. After cleaning the disgusting side of the fridge which faces the stove, not to mention the floor and vacuuming the back, I discovered that, although the internet was a handy guide to what was wrong, I had no idea how to go about finding the drain. Well, that's not entirely true, Bruce pointed out on the back what he was sure was the drain but left before telling me how to dis-attach it from the fridge. Maybe that's not even a word but you get my drift. A call was made to Conway Appliance, a repairman came out within hours and after the easiest repair in the world we are back in business. So darn easy I only had to pay the $69 fee for him coming out. He yanked the drain plug off the back of the refrigerator, stuck a tube down it and dislodged a piece of ice. Voila!

Furthermore I never told you if I kept the shower curtain. I did not. After having such a classic stripe for so long, the wild print seemed just a tad too much. Instead I bought this one in Cocoa Village that, if I'm honest with myself, probably goes too far to the side of cute.

Still wondering if I can live with it!

We had some very unexpected good news around these parts that I've been meaning to share. About two weeks ago, as I was going to the mailbox, pictured here blown down by the weekend's sever winds,

a white Orange County Code Enforcement truck pulled up. I asked him what was going on. Apparently he was in our neighborhood for some other reason when he saw my next door neighbor's truck alongside his house. I tried hard to conceal my glee. You see, for the last, maybe ten years or so, he has had this ungodly diesel truck that he hauls vehicle engines in, basically parked outside our bedroom window. Perhaps I've mentioned before how he left at 4AM two days a week, invariably waking me up? If that's not bad enough, he is hard of hearing so all his clanging and banging related to said truck, seems not to faze him. Because our weather has been so glorious we've had open windows for months now so you can see my problem. Moreover, because of it's huge size it was just plain ugly to look at. I have no idea what code he was breaking, aside from not being a good neighbor, but it's gone now. Wherever he's parking it now is fine by me!

A carolina wren, a red-winged blackbird and now a dove have all flown into the house this winter. Yesterday it was the doves turn. Bless it's heart, it was confused, flying first into the big window in the sun room before heading into the living room to perch on the television. Thank goodness for small favors that Bruce was home! Looking around he found a box that he eased the dove onto and walked slowly towards the open side door.

I took this moments before he flew away, no doubt hoping that would never happen again!

He was eating contentedly at what we are calling the "house feeder" as it is hung from the eaves just outside this window:

And there you have it--another nice little purchase from our Sunday excursion. I love how it reflects in both windows and of course I'm a sucker for how colorful it is. The tinkling sound it makes is nice as well!

I don't know about you but I sure have a hard time finding appropriate rugs. I may now have solved my problem after finding this rug:

My only problem was trying to decide if the palm trees should face in or out! Jellybean is the name of the rug line. Made of 35% recycled soda bottles, or so I'm told, the packaging says it washed better than your favorite pair of jeans. With all the mess outside I was delighted to find this at the little shop in Cocoa Village. Because I rarely shop anywhere besides Marshalls, Ross, and Nordstrom, I just haven't seen what's out there. Apparently more than I realized! It feels great on my bare feet and for sure I love how vibrant it is.

A mess indeed. The high winds tore off not only the brown "furry things" from our neighbor's oak tree but new leaves as well. Only a few days ago I had the pool looking beautiful only to have it fall prey to the wind.

As of this morning it looked great, but once again we're having windy conditions which I suppose only makes sense as it is March. Who knew daylight savings time was coming up again? Not this blogger. I'm avoiding looking out back!

Here's our cute little new lamp made from leaves. Orange naturally. Don't be fooled by what looks like a bird egg next to the lamp; the nest is for real, the egg not.

 More azaleas Gail? Why not? Old Orlando is all aflame in pink these days and frankly, I can't get enough of it. Our new oak which is now home to this little bird house has not lost it's leaves. We keep wondering when it will happen because the majority of the oaks are sporting their new spring green coats.

Last, but not least, is a new little companion for our garden sign which we bought last summer in London. The new piece is from this side of the Atlantic.

In my spare time, which there seems to be little of lately, I've been reading a wonderful book, A Good American. I'm not sure what made me pick up this book about Missouri, written by an Englishman, but am I glad I did. In a word, it is sweet and not in a saccharine way. There's real optimism which is certainly rare in literature. I'm nearing the end and wish I wasn't because it's been a really long time since I felt I could recommend a book. I came across this blog entry from Alex George, the author. If you don't have time for the book at least read the post because it is darn good! I keep wondering if there's any way in the world that this Oxford educated Englishman who practiced corporate law in both London and Paris might have once worked for the firm that employs Matthew. Now wouldn't that be something?

I also came across this piece about phone typing made easier from the NYTimes. Information I can definitely use, however, I'm getting a little better all the time. Not that I use it that much. People would laugh at my phone bill because I'm using up maybe a quarter of my allotted usage plan.

Yikes--where has the afternoon gone?? I must leave immediately to see Miss Monica about my hair. I'm such a procrastinator when it comes to my hair, it needs some serious attention!!

Just thought I'd end this with something pretty taken using phoneography,

Gail