What Kind of Bird Are You?

I may be the only person who has never heard of DOPE, or maybe not. Every single Sunday someone tells me about something new, and in this instance, a woman told me about DOPE, a personality test that claims everyone is one of four bird types: dove, owl, peacock, or eagle. I'd forgotten all about it until I was handing my sales book over to Bruce to record, and noticed I'd written the acronym down.

Because we all know how fond I am of birds, I checked it out, linking it to my blog. Except at first I did not take it myself, then thought better of it. How could I convince you to take it if I hadn't done so myself?? While in the midst of answering the 40 questions, which really amounts to clicking your mouse 40 times, Angela called and I told her what I was up to. She knew all about it, claiming that I was a peacock. Really?

Well, guess what? She was correct, apparently I am a peacock, or at least 37.5% so. Following, it claims that I am 27.5% dove, 25% eagle, and a lowly 10% owl. Telling Bruce about it during dinner time, I suggested he take it as well. Well, can you guess what bird Mr. Bruce turned out to be? It was no surprise to me that his major bird, if you will, is an owl.

This little guy is from my Ponce Inlet trip, taken through the wire cage. Bruce's percentages were as follows: 40% owl, 35% eagle, 20% dove, and an even lowlier 5% peacock! Well now. I've always said opposites make the very best partners!

I had to click on "full of trivial conversation" if I wanted to answer truthfully!

Speaking of birds, I realized that some folks may have never seen an osprey before, so in the spirit of education, here is last weeks osprey and mockingbird.

Did you know the mockingbird is Florida's official bird? Well, now you do.

I bought some lettuce last week which was almost too perfect to be true. I'm thinking they put these heads into some machine to make them look so symmetrical.

It was such a cute little head! I got to thinking about the time I learned that baby carrots are not babies at all, rather, they are shaved down from life-sized carrots! Some of us are so easily fooled. :)

As well, while at the market on Saturday, I purchased some baby cucumbers with the intention of trying my hand at pickle-making. Around these parts, we love pickles, although, heaven only knows how these will turn out.

It will be about a week and a half before I know how they taste. Looking up some recipes online, I really wanted some mustard and dill seed, however, Bruce called me from Publix saying he could find neither, so we're giving pickling spices a go. Because I like garlic pickles, there are about four cloves in the bottom. Am I crazy or what?

Don't you just love cherry season?

Raniers are tasty all right, but expensive, so generally I buy the Bing cherries which are pricey enough! This photo was taken at the market on Sunday, which was not too bad, both heat and sales-wise. Plus, I  had early visitors--the beautiful Condon family. My great nephew Spencer has been walking for about a month now and he was pretty much loving testing out his new found freedom:

He's the cutest darn thing you've ever seen, and such a sweet spirit! I hope their luck holds out when baby boy #two comes along this fall!

Let's take a little stroll around the garden shall we? Our poor little gnome is showing the effects of our hot Florida sun, fading more each day.

He's still awfully cute though. I told you I re-planted the window boxes with red pentas and white lantana. The pentas are blooming just fine, the lantana is only days away:

And then there are my crown jewels, the dahlias! My word they are a gorgeous flower, and pretty soon I'm going to have more than you can count, as there are about 20, yes I said 20 buds on my three plants!!

Some are variegated, some are just plain deep red, or not really red--maybe pinkish red? Somehow this bloom has a little extra row of petals on the bottom. To be honest, I never dreamed they would even come back, let alone thrive like nobodies business!

Because Bruce has been home for a few days, I'm making meals of a little more substance then when I'm alone, thus, groceries needed to be purchased yesterday afternoon. Plus, I could not, for the life of me, find my box of "London Cuppa", which is my everyday tea; the whereabouts of my latest purchase is a mystery to me. Except most of the time they have it at Marshalls, so off I went, in spite of the threat of rain. Paying for my purchase I glanced towards the glass doors, and talk about a rainstorm! Good grief, the thunder and lightening were amazing, even setting off car alarms. Standing under the portico, I was convinced it would not last long.

Convinced and reality are two entirely different things when it comes to rain in Florida! Eventually I went back into the store to wait it out. Now, I love a good shopping trip to Marshalls, but not for nearly an hour! Finally, asking for a bag for my handbag, I took off my shoes, and made a run for it! Arriving home I found Mr. Bill visiting with his Dad, showing off some new boots purchased from eBay. Nice. The bank has him studying at home for yet another license. Have I told you he's moved over to SunTrust, joining his brother at the same bank? Well, he has, beginning last week. After Bruce took the bird test I asked him what he thought our boys would be. The twins--definitely eagles. Jonathan I'm thinking would be a dove, but it is Matthew who has me completely stymied. No clue.

In true peacock fashion, which means I'm willing to take risks unlike my owl husband, I tried parking my bike along a bit of an incline this morning. Not a good move Gail. I took a sideways tumble, landing in gravel on my left hip and ankle. The good news is that my camera, which I'd been holding in my right hand, suffered no damage. The bad news is that, in an effort to break the severity of my fall, I'm thinking I might have twisted my back. Then again, perhaps it's only temporary discomfort and it will be as good as new later today. That, my friends, is a bit of that peacock optimism at work!

Action Packed

At least our weekend seemed that way to a middle aged couple! Remember the party weekend several weeks ago? Well, the man of the house had a birthday--it was time to get out and celebrate! And so we did.

As you may recall, Bruce was having his struggles earlier in the day on Friday. Nothing like a date with your wife to put some of those frustrations out of your mind. Because it was my treat, I left the dinner location up to him. Where did he want to go? Well, where he wanted to go was Maxine's on Shine. And here my friends, is Maxine herself:

Orlando folks will remember this space as the former Bravissimo which then turned into Neighborhood Shine Kitchen, which then became Maxine's. Our experience was super fun with Bruce telling me he wanted to return next Friday night! We are always on the hunt for a place that serves good food, has a cool vibe with reasonable service. (More on that later) Speaking of a cool vibe, although we ate outside, I stuck my head in to see the new look, remarking that the lights were super cool. On closer inspection, they were not what I was expecting!

See what I mean? If not, click on the photo to make it even larger!

Instead of heading out to Winter Garden on Saturday, I headed to Lakeland with Bruce to visit his job site. While he was checking on things I went downtown to go to Hollis Gardens and from there I was hoping to go to a store called, "The Patchwork Pig," which sadly is closed. Although I'd found the store online, there was nothing to indicate as such. I always feel terrible for owners of small businesses that close for whatever reason. All of their hopes and dreams, not to mention large sums of cash, are gone.

While at the gardens I saw a few photo shoots going on--one a pregnancy one (I have no idea how this has become so popular!), and one for a Quincenera. The fifteen year old girl had not one, but both parents sporting cameras having her pose this way and that. The skirt on her long dress was a mass of this:

It is certainly a popular place for event photography as we learned while there for the show last weekend. Prom night was happening with loads of couples having their photos made in the gardens. My goodness the dresses I saw were pretty revealing which makes me wonder what the future holds for prom dresses as they couldn't possibly get any skimpier. Can they?

How I wish our gardens in Orlando were as beautiful, although having said that, Leu Gardens is a gazillion times larger. I suppose you can't have it all in this life...

While downtown I stopped by a funky little shop which was barely larger than a good-sized closet, thus they had some of their merchandise outside, including these beautifully colored bottles.

After a visit from Bill and Dave we met up with Bruce's brother Cris and his wife Judy for another birthday dinner at Brio. Sadly, although the company was good, that's about all that was. The service was deplorable and I mean deplorable. You won't have to read all the details; suffice it to say the manager made sure we had a new server. Oh and the best cook in the house.  Leave that other one to the rest of the guests I suppose? Yeesh--although we go out with frequency, Cris and Judy do not so it was all the more frustrating. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our visit and afterwards I took this of Bruce and Cris leaning on Cris's new truck of which he is very proud.

They look more alike side by side than I realized! On my desk I have the most adorable picture of the two of them when they were very little boys all dressed up in their suit jackets and bow ties. I adore that photograph. This one puts me in mind of that one for some reason.

Sunday was market day and if not for my benefactor, Dr. Sievert, the day might have gone down as pretty much a visiting day. Writing about my very first market day five years ago, I wrote that it was like having a party without having to provide the food and drinks. Ditto for yesterday, with so many visitors I can hardly recall them all. My first day at the market  I had to rely on my family to visit--rarely do they come these days, replaced by new and old friends who keep up with me there. Woohoo! Just got a call from someone who wants to come by on Sunday to pick up a baby canvas!

As you know, my photo library is filled to the brim with pictures of the market, Sunday after Sunday, year after year. Most of those photos are the people and products with a liberal sprinkling of the dogs. This little girl is 15 weeks old and so small you cannot image. Or, maybe you can?

Naturally, there are a gazillion photos of fruits and vegetables, most of which are forgettable at best. The bright cherries against the green make this one a cut above the rest.

If only it weren't so sunny, however I'm not complaining one bit. Earlier in the week, our trusty weather folks predicted precipitation. Wrong again--not a cloud in the sky all day long. Dana took Bruce out for a birthday glass of wine following the market, well, I went too, but you get my drift. If only we had stopped with the one....

So, now it is Monday and Mr. Bruce has gone to you know where. For four days no less. I'm afraid this is going to get old pretty quickly, particularly since he's been assigned four more California jobs because the project manager covering that part of the country is out for back surgery. I see some trips in my future.

Our social life has been action packed so why should our yard be any different? Just when I was thinking that the jatropha, planted all over the back yard, was supposed to attract butterflies and why wasn't it, when butterflies appeared. Beautiful monarch butterflies.

Typically the blue jays have not come to the feeders very much. They are kind of the bully birds, so I'm not unhappy with that in the least. Just prior to me taking this photo, the blue jay harassed the cardinal to let him in on the feeding action. Seeing this photo on the screen I was pretty shocked that I'd got him/her in flight:

In case you are wondering, those brown bean-shaped things hanging from the tree are the seed pods of a the tabebuia tree. Although Regina finds them attractive, after the beauty of the blooms, I feel they pale in comparison and just want them to fall off soon.

After such a busy few days, today feels very quiet indeed. I've got quite the pile of library books, I think I'll dive in and the hours will pass like magic.

Merrymaking

As of the writing of this post, there has been no merrymaking in the Peck household despite the fact that today is Bruce's birthday. All morning long he had nothing but work troubles to sort out, followed by a dash to the office for some afternoon meetings. He even had to cut short a birthday call from Matthew because he had to hop in the shower. No rest for the weary as my late Mother would say. That's not to say nothing good won't happen later though.

Actually, last evening he was indeed quite happy when I gave him his birthday gift a day early. During a visit two weeks ago to Blodgett Gardens I saw what I thought would be perfect. Once we discussed his birthday wish, I knew I had to return. If you live in Orlando, you may be familiar with Blodgett, after all, they've been in business since 1936, which is a very, very long time for any business in Orlando. What's more the link gives you a bit of the history, as in they opened on Edgewater Drive while it was still a dirt road. They know what they are doing, that's for sure. How inviting does this look?

They have fountains upon fountains, but for our purposes, I needed a small one for what was formally known as our sunroom--now officially Bruce's office. There were two to choose from--just perfect.

A very soothing little tinkling sound emanates now from the corner of the room. We've tried to surround it by plants, and of course, the little hula girl! The hula girl--not Bruce's idea but I think it's cute!

You've heard of Jack and the Beanstalk no doubt. Somehow, when Bruce was tying up my tomato plant, it came to mind. Good grief has that plant gotten tall!

Yup, almost up to the roof! Before he did this it was bent in two which couldn't have been great for fruit production as there are only about five tomatos on the whole vine. Perhaps, because it will be receiving more sunshine,  things will improve.

As I was mowing the lawn yesterday afternoon, which looks terrific by the way, I recalled the science project I did while taking Biology at Valencia. The assignment was given, and that's when I thought the professor meant business, to do some experiment. Mine was this: Is there a difference between mowing straight lines or diagonal lines, given all things are the same, such as length of time between mowing, dry grass, that sort of thing. Despite the fact that I was still quite weak then, I did my experiment. Duh--that professor never even acknowledged the assignment. Darn her. I suppose this all came to mind because while going through my continuing education folder, for some unknown reason, loads of my imaging reports were in there with lots of scary words in the reports. Thankfully, they were wrong. Given that, there's one more reason to be doing a little merrymaking now isn't there?

Indeed, the grass. Wonderful, right? What do you see in the grass? If you guessed foraging squirrels, you guessed correctly. Please note the Vaseline smear on the baffler which seems to be working. I'm not holding my breath though because they've fooled me many times before.

Now here are some birds you've rarely seen me post:

Yikes--it's vultures up in our pine tree yesterday afternoon! How dare they? As I was walking over to Angela's house her lawn guy, who used to be my lawn guy, pointed out the vultures in her neighbor's yard, eating away at something. I started to get closer to have a look see and then thought better of it. I'm curious, but there are limits to my curiosity!

You would think this was a bird blog, what with all the photographs of birds, wouldn't you? If you are stumbling upon this blog for the first time, believe me it is not, it just looks that way. The following photograph will not convince you otherwise! A quick little drive through of the peacock neighborhood on my way to Lowes and here you go:

Too funny!

Have a happy weekend my dear readers,
Gail

Beginner's Luck

While on holiday I used my iPhone every now and again to check my email. I used it for lots more than that for maps and fact checking like who sung what--that sort of thing--so glad I finally succumbed to a smart phone. But that's another story....

I think it might have been on Wednesday that an email came through from Etsy saying someone included one of my photos in a "treasury" which to my mind kind of predates Pinterest. Same idea really except instead of choosing from the whole web people choose things they like from Etsy. So that was kind of cool. It was the heart cloud.

I'm pretty sure it was the next day that an email came through with even more exciting news--a sale. The heart cloud. Coincidence? I don't know. What I do know is I was completely shocked and didn't know what came next. What came next was a call to David, giving him the opportunity to say "I told you so", something he is wont to do on any number of topics. Actually, his first words were "Congratulations Mom."

After struggling with the mailing process, off it went. And now nothing. No views, no orders. Totally beginner's luck. Now I need to learn the ropes on how to get people to my shop. Saturday the Winter Garden market was fairly slow for me but I did meet some folks who stayed and chatted for a good long while. After looking at some of my images the man asked me if I sold online. "Well, sort of," I replied. He went on quite a while about how he'd been selling jewelry on Etsy for three years and it is possible to get seen, it's just that there are tricks involved which he was only too willing to share. In fact, he claims he'll be back next week with a book to guide me through the process. We shall see now won't we?

In another new development, a week ago Sunday, just about the time we were closing up the booth, a couple came along and shortly after meeting, the woman started talking to me about their business. What kind of business you ask? Art publishing, or something like that. SDGraphics is the name. I spoke with her last week and sent her an album of requested subjects. She called just as I was sitting down to blog and had some complimentary things to say including the fact that she'd shown the album to someone else who said the same. Would I send specific images again? I answered yes. Here again, I have no idea if anything will come of it, but I won't know unless I try. Think the art you see in retail stores which in their case are HomeGoods and Kirklands. Apparently the way I would make any money out of this scheme is volume. Once again, time will tell.

I got a new car on Thursday--a Honda Pilot.

In a nutshell, the Element lease was due, we needed more space, and so we got this. Pretty plush when compared to the Element that's for sure. A bonus is that when the kids come to town we will actually have seats in our vehicle! Bonus round two--the shed has a lot more room in it now that the back seats for the Element have been restored to their rightful place. Did I really type kids??? They are far too old to use that term!

More importantly the cardinals have hatched and in fact have LEFT the nest as far as I can tell. So here is how I first saw them:

All snuggled up they were. You'll have to click on it probably to see the little eye in the front. I can't wait to see that nest up close what with the paper in it and all. The day we went to look at the car I went out front, watching the nest from a distance, when lo and behold, I saw this little one on the edge of the nest:

The original Mohawk! Actually he isn't on the edge in this one but before long he was.

Those wispy little feathers in the front are really something aren't they? I just knew he was fixing to take off and sure enough he did--a little jump onto an adjacent palm frond which is what you are seeing in front.

From what I can tell about timing, perhaps the eggs hatched while we were on holiday, one of the reasons I was so distressed that all the feeders were empty when we returned. The thing is, now I can't find them anywhere. I mowed the lawn today, which looks excellent if you really want to know, and there were no baby cardinal sightings. I'm slightly worried because, although the pictured chick looked good and ready, the remaining chick appeared to have no interest whatsoever in leaving the nest. Where have my little cardinals gone????

The yard is kicking into high gear what with the warm weather we are having. I'm beyond thrilled that the caladiums are popping up like mad. I took this picture on Friday and today there are even more!

Another very exciting happening around the Peck Casa are my blooming orchids. Forgive me if I'm repeating myself but my sister-in-law Ruth's parents gave me an orchid two years ago Christmas. After all the blooms finally gave up the ghost I placed it under what some might consider a tree. A month or so ago I began to notice blooms forming. If you can imagine, there are 29 buds!!!!!!

It's crazy hard to photograph it well because the stems go every which way and on each one there are gobs of buds and blooms. Fantastic!!!

And then there is this one I got from my market neighbors, Jim and Kathy:

The potential blooms on this baby are not nearly as impressive but still nice. There are birds and butterflies everywhere in our yard. So nice to commune with nature...

How cute is this little one:

I took this through the big window in the living room between the open blinds. I'm considering taking down the blinds so they are not in the way?

I began this blog post hours and hours ago. Happily I spoke with Matt and Tom on all matter of digital media--first FaceTime, then iChat, and finally the regular phone. Crazy I know but good. They both gave me input on the Etsy shop tags--a way for people to find my stuff. Agreeing that worn towels was not good, Matt changed it to just towels. Oftentimes you'll find me going on a bit about how technology isn't such a good thing; of course this is said when I'm not in need of the amazing things that can now be done with same.

Speaking of which, while we were gone, and I was eating out all the time, I couldn't help but notice that all sorts of folks would be sitting together at a table looking at the screens on their phone. This bothered me a lot. When we got to the market last week we learned that one of the vendor's husbands (our age I might add) died while driving a car at 80mph. A heart attack obviously. In the blink of an eye,  he was gone. Love the ones you're with my friends. Will you?

Juggling Act

I don't know about you but most days I feel like I'm in a juggling act. Should I do this, should I do that? I know, most folks are not so fortunate as I because work takes up a good deal of every day. I'm grateful that I don't have to earn a living, however, if you're new to this blog, there was definitely a time when that was not the case. Six people in a household takes lots of money; in our case very well spent.

In my former life, aka pre empty nester, I juggled the needs of four children, my own, Bruces, the house, the yard, the cooking, the washing, my paying job...you get my drift. Currently I have to decide. do I want to sew, read, garden, clean the pool, shop, cook, or more importantly take photos??? Some days I do all of them, others only one or two.

Along these lines, Monday morning I visited with Lois in the morning after delivering a print. You already know she's moving in a few short weeks. Before doing so. she wanted to give another gardener friend some vegetable prints as a thank you gift for teaching her much about growing vegetables. Because my time is essentially my own, I hung out for a bit, learning how she and Bob came to live in the house they are currently selling. During our conversation I learned that Bob, at one time, worked for Harris Corporation like our Dad. Such a small world! Of course, no visit to Lois's goes without some picture taking....

The monarch is feasting on her interesting shrimp plant. The bees were out in full force:

As you can plainly see, the sky was a rich blue. Our weather has been so delightful, a reward for  enduring the long, hot summer. This is why we live in Florida!

Before leaving, Lois cut this beautiful gladiola from her yard for me to enjoy at home. I may have shown it to you sometime in the past, but it's most certainly worth a second look:

In sewing terms, it looks like it is edged with white piping!

After lunch I ended up having to drive a print out to Bruce at the office. He'd promised a fellow to bring one; because we were chatting as he was leaving, it slipped his mind. You would think that all I photograph are pretty things, and mostly I do, but oftentimes as I sit at a traffic light, something will catch my eye. Never really know why, sometimes it's symmetry, sometimes irony, and sometimes light.

Because I was out and about, I decided to try another Home Depot hoping to find another pansy to fill out that area in the jungle. Ta da--success!

Returning home, I had every intention of planting my purchases immediately, however, as I got out of the car I heard Herb and Corrine chatting on their front porch. Both are hard of hearing, as all of us will be when we are in our 80's, thus, they talk loud enough for me to hear across the street. Because I hadn't had a long chat with her in a while, I decided then and there to head over and rectify that situation. Although she's lost at least 30 pounds, she looked quite good. Apparently she spent over $200 on new clothes from JC Penny and it showed. As is always the case, her nails were done beautifully, although this time she conceded and had it done professionally. I knew you would want to know.

Since last Friday night my desk has been covered with prints. That's not exactly true, they were stacked neatly, but there were a bunch, as in more than 80. I know, it's a good problem to have, but signing that many at once is laborious as we've discussed many times. Remember how I told you it was slow at Winter Garden? Well, I used my time wisely, finally alphabetizing my list of numbered prints! Previously as I came to each print I had to leaf through page after page, looking for the number. No longer my friends!! I spent three hours yesterday afternoon signing, however, this time it was decidedly easier. Currently I have 148 different prints that I'm selling--a lot to keep track of. Editor job is still available!


Bruce's travel schedule has wreaked havoc on my normal food purchasing habits. Rarely do I buy loads of groceries anymore, however, after pretty much cleaning out the fridge this last weekend I finally had to head to Clemons for vegetables and fruit. As I unloaded the bags on the counter, a still life unfolded in front of my eyes. Naturally, finding a camera followed.

Ok, so this isn't my counter. The brown of the granite just did not provide the contrast I was looking for. Isn't it beautiful? The colors and textures of fresh food are so inspiring. Speaking of which, while working on my sewing project, I've been searching for something to watch on tv. Looking at my handy channel guide I went to BBC America, only to discover Gordon Ramsay. My, oh my, is he something else or what? I've watched about four episodes of Kitchen Nightmares which is probably enough for me. I couldn't help but think what Gordon Ramsay would have had to say about the staff at Nick's Italian Kitchen. It was clear to us that something was amiss there.

Never one to pass up a bargain, I happened to notice on the discount rack at Clemons, large bags of peppers for only 99 cents. Carefully examining the bags, I also noticed that they were in excellent shape, unlike what you're thinking. Ditching my one 99 cent red pepper for the bag I brought it home, discovering so many peppers they would spoil before I used them. The count was 4 cubanella peppers, 2 each of red, green, and orange. Lots and lots of peppers. The solution--freeze them! Using the tray method I learned from freezing blueberries, I washed and cut them in strips, laying them like this on a baking tray before putting them in the freezer for some hours.

This way they freeze individually rather than in a big clump. After the marathon print signing they were perfect! Popping them in a freezer bag, they'll be ready for my next stir fry or whatever else strikes my fancy.

I don't know about you, but lots of times when I'm online, one website leads to another. Somehow, can't remember, I came across  Hey, that's my name! Yes, indeed, a book called Camera Crazy. How about that? Reading the description I learned his name is more appropriately used. In fact, I learned he's a COLLECTOR of cameras. Naming my blog nearly five years ago, I believe I owned one camera, maybe two. What I really meant is I was crazy about using a camera, and in fact, I still am!

Pluggging Along

I'm pretty whipped this afternoon after planting five trays of plugs this morning in the ongoing effort to restore a green surround. For the uninitiated in plug planting, each tray holds 18 small squares of sod, which once planted, spread to meet each other. As I told you recently, much of the yard is looking fab, some not so much, with completely bare patches mostly near the street. The helpful man at Home Depot steered me to a little tool called a bulb planter which worked like a charm, not to mention it was very reasonably priced. Adding today's total to my previous planting, I've now "sown" 144 plugs. Mostly this is done on my knees which suits me just fine. Because that re-run of Spring seems to be a thing of the past, I began this chore just at daylight to beat the heat. As I type it's in the low 90's outdoors. Whew! As well, after Bruce did some much needed trimming in the jungle, I planted 15 multi-colored caladium plants. Those will be shown sometime next week after they've had a chance to settle a bit. After all these years of green everywhere we looked, I'm adding as much color to the landscape as I can.

I wasn't working alone today. The best yardman anyone can find was out there with me, spreading top soil, trimming, watering and cleaning. My, how I love to have company! This is the second time I've seen this, a swallow tail butterfly hanging around dirt.

Normally, they are the hardest butterfly to photograph when amongst flowers, however, as I mentioned, they seem to like to light on dirt which baffles me. After Bruce spread the top soil, this butterfly kept hanging around. I wish I'd been able to get it a little better, however, I hope you can still appreciate the lovely blue on the wings.

I spent yesterday cleaning and cleaning. Our house needed it! To illustrate what kind of a housekeeper I am, when I moved a couple of things in the sunroom to vaccum, I found to my horror, that a mud dauber apparently made a nest in one of the fake trees! While it was out of it's normal position in the corner, I gave it a shake, my version of dusting. I turned around to find the glob of dried dirt with some little wasp inside on the floor! Yikes! Apparently I spoke way too soon about leaving those doors open!

Our friend, Anna Schmidt recently completed the interior of a new restaurant off Park Avenue in Winter Park, Cocina 214,  which we decided to visit last night. Because there was a wait, we had a glass of wine beforehand just around the corner at the Winter Park version of Eola Wine :

One of the reasons I took this is because one of Bruce's superintendents is named John Craig. Fun. Arriving I had to head into the restroom while Bruce did the ordering. Upon my return I asked him what he ordered, only to be told to guess. Looking at the menu, naturally under the Reds, I guessed correctly. How did I do it you ask? In what seems like forever ago, Bruce and I took a glorious trip to Napa Valley, specifically Yountville. We tried to visit all kinds of wineries, from well known to teeny tiny ones. Dutch Henry was one of the tiny ones, however, from the looks of their web site it may have grown since our visit. I was so surprised to see it on the menu, knowing immediately that that's the one he would order, despite the $17 a glass price. He's a romantic you know....

Instead of little gadgets that light up when your table is ready, they said they would call, and they did. Seating us on the patio was fine by us because although the interior is stylish as all get out, it is very, very noisy, making conversation difficult. We're old you know. We're totally over that when given the choice. The food is "gourmet" Mexican if you can imagine. A few glitches, like not hot enough food, but on the whole it was a good time.

Inserting this now to add a little spark to things. Sunflowers are so cheery aren't they? Good, you're cheery just when I have some serious news to report.

I didn't hear my cell phone ring in the noisy restaurant last night. Turns out, this morning around 11 when I came in from my plugging for a moment, I saw I had a voice mail from Trish on my mobile. Her message was that Roger is in the hospital with a pulmonary embolism! Calling her immediately, she answered only to say she'd call me back. Once I talked to her, I learned that the breathing problems Roger was attributing to allergies were instead blood clots in his lungs. A very scary business here my dear readers. A blood clot remains in his leg,  undoubtedly the origination of the clots in his lungs. He's on a regimen of blood thinners as I type, which hopefully will dissolve the remaining clots. I talked to him this afternoon and he seems to be feeling much better, but will have to remain hospitalized until the medication levels are right. Goodness! Keep him in your prayers, will you? I left out the part where he had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital after falling flat, and I mean that literally on his face in his home in the middle of the night. Lots of blood involved.

Crazy me, although I made Bruce a gourmet birthday dinner on Thursday night when he arrived home from his business trip, tonight I'm making him a second one of comfort food. Meat loaf, mashed potatoes and corn. Those potatoes need attention right now!

p.s. no editing--too tired.

Maybe I Didn't Know Much...

...but apparently she A Thing or Two does. I'm not certain if her lifestyle would work for everyone, however, I think you'll enjoy reading about it.

When I was working, occasionally I had patients who were well into their nineties. Naturally I was always asking them for their secret to a long life, learning for the most part that it was genetic. Several stick out in my mind; one I'm thinking about was the cutest thing, for one thing, she looked not a day over 70, secondly, she was so stylish! One thing I DO know is that if a woman is stylish when she's young, she doesn't change much as she ages. Those frumpy women I had were undoubtedly frumpy when they were young! Note to self--wear more makeup (not more per se, just wear it) and don't go out looking like a dog. I worked with a young cancer survivor who had a great attitude. She told me that while undergoing chemotherapy they encouraged everyone to try to look their best: "Look Good, Feel Good" was the motto. I think there is something to be said about that.

Now let's catch up a bit, shall we?

Friday we went with Dave and Michelle to hear Bill's band play downtown at the Social. I'd not heard the latest incarnation of the band; I was impressed. Mostly I couldn't get over how cool and calm Bill performed. When I mentioned that to him, he responded by saying he was never one to get too nervous, and even less so now that he is 30! Hard to believe he's been playing guitar for 16 years.

Fourth of July was quiet around here although I did go over to Dave's pool and visit with the gang. Can you guess what Bruce was doing? I knew you could. He worked his way through nearly 300 emails, finally quitting around 10pm. I was already in bed reading and listening to the fireworks of which there was a copious amount. In fact, they went on for hours around here. We fell asleep to the booming sounds.

It was nothing like July 4, 1976, that is for sure. I was heading to the hospital to have our dear Matthew about 10 that night; his arrival time was July 5, 1976, 1:36 AM. Nor was it like July 4, 2005, the day the doctor told Bruce I was in dire shape. Shows you what he knew!

Sunday I skipped the market to give Mr. Bruce a much needed day off. We started the day with a nice breakfast, drove to Winter Park to take the boat tour (very pretty and informative), had lunch at Season's 52, stopped by The North Face at the outlet mall, and saw "Public Enemies" at our new theater of choice. Now that was a fun day.

Today I took a little trip out to Salvia, a small community NE of town. There is a wonderful plant nursery there along with what they call a "Butterfly Encounter." My previous visit there were few butterflies, so few that they gave me a free pass to come back. That was last year some time so I decided today was the day. I sell very few butterfly pictures but as you know I love to practice and you just NEVER know if today is the day you will get something SO spectacular people will clamor for it. That was my attitude before I left the house, the reality did not match those expectations. I was, however, enthralled with this beautiful green butterfly:

I only saw one of these and he hung out on the yellow pentas during my entire visit. Sadly, I just couldn't get anything all that great.

Leaving the place, dripping with sweat I might add, I decided to wander just a bit. I'm fairly unfamiliar with that part of Central Florida, evidently so, because I got lost several times. I did pull into a spot labeled, Big Little Econ Canoe Launch. The storm clouds were rolling in so I took the Panasonic and walked the path to the river. Much to my surprise this is what I saw:

I hope the picture conveys how MANY shells were piled along the shoreline. I still can't imagine where they came from. According to my Historical Geology professor (you do remember I took that class, don't you?), Florida was under water for thousands of years, thus seashells are in river beds. Although he told us that I'd not seen the evidence for myself and I'm still not sure I have--it does make one wonder now doesn't it? Yes, I can't forget that class mostly because I chose my flickr name, bioclastic, from my textbook. I knew for certain that I wouldn't have to fight anyone for that user name!

I've had word on Ed, Mr. Roger's son. His surgery to remove the cancer in his sinus cavity took 13 hours with a team of three surgeons working. Today I learned that they are certain the cancer has spread to his eye. Not good news for a 26 year old man, not good news for anyone for that matter. He'll go back in about three weeks to see where they go from here. :(