A Week of Sunshine

Or so it seems. Usually by this time of the year, we Floridians are complaining bitterly about the heat and humidity, cocooned in our air conditioned bubbles, be it our car, or our home. No one knows why this is happening, but the weather this week has just been glorious, with all of our windows open to catch the beautiful breeze. This morning, during my bike ride, I came across a stand of sunflowers climbing high up in the blue, blue sky. Well, make that about 10 feet into said sky.

There is nothing quite like a huge sunflower to make me happy. Well, that's not entirely true. Running a close second is the fantastic fragrance in the air from blooming magnolias everywhere,

as well as the confederate jasmine surrounding both our mailbox, and covering one large part of our backyard fence.

That week of rain I was complaining about? Turned everything super green. So, it's just beautiful right now, and although the temperature is rising as each day passes, I'm still hoping that this weekend's weather in Lakeland will be tolerable. You may recall that one year we nearly died it was so hot while setting up that show on Friday afternoon. That, my friends, is hardly an exaggeration!

Tuesday, because the weather was so beautiful, Bruce and I drove over to Port Canaveral to see the El Galeon. Built about four years ago, the replica of a Spanish Galleon ship sailed for 17 days to make it to Florida, part of the 500th anniversary of Florida, beginning with the landing of Ponce de Leon. The wooden ship is quite remarkable, as are the sails.

Using my zoom lens, I was able to get the close up shot showing off all the zig-zag stitching. I was so impressed with all the rigging,

that I could not quit taking photographs of it.

Whomever dreamed up this intricate system was brilliant. Now, if only we could see it with the wind in the sails!

Following a lovely lunch at Rusty's we made the obligatory pilgrammage to Ron Jon's Surf shop to re-stock Bruce's t-shirt inventory. Someone told us there is a second boat ready to come into the port once El Galeon leaves and lo and behold, when I stepped onto the beach I saw it in the distance.

When I haven't been gallivanting, I've been either working around the house, ordering prints and signing them. Oh my! The stack on my desk was monumental! As you know there are five steps to preparing each print (is it any wonder my children tell me I should charge more?), so facing 100 prints is quite daunting. There are now complete with only one small order of some favorites coming in tomorrow. Now my task is finding a way to store them all! I'm going through my baskets in the garage, removing some prints that have been slow to sell, adding new ones, or old favorites. Let us hope it is all for naught. The last few years, the people of Lakeland have been good to me, so I'm hoping they still like me. :)

I'm so excited because my friend Brandy Renee is the poster artist  for Mayfaire, which is quite the honor. Tomorrow night, during the kick off party, she will be introduced to the patrons, and in general made a fuss over. As well, all the promotional material has her painting featured, including the programs, posters and t-shirts. How great is that? Undoubtedly, she'll have a killer show. Geez, I nearly forgot to mention that the Polk Museum, the show's sponsors, bought a billboard on I-4, halfway between Orlando and Lakeland, promoting the show with Brandy's painting featured!!!

Yesterday morning I stopped by Sue's house to catch up a bit; she has been busy with her daughter's college graduation and we've not talked for a week or so. I came home with this fantastic basil filling my bike basket.

Some days there is not a whole lot going on during my ride, but I can always count on the neighborhood cats for entertainment. This one, across the street from my sister Maureen's house could not decide what was more interesting, me and my camera, or the bird in the tree.

The bird won in this instance.

Checking back on my blog, here's the post from the show in 2012, 2011, and then there is this from my first time there in 2010.

Off to the garage for sorting those prints, a great excuse to get out and enjoy our week of sunshine.

A Done Deal

At 1:56 PM on April 6, 2012, I edited the Google Document by typing my name on the line. The contract seems to be a done deal. Good Friday indeed.

Of course, only time will tell, but at the moment I'm thinking positive and why not? After I hand over the discs with images, my part is done. If they sell anything, we are both winners. Seriously, is this crazy or what???

When I received the contract on Wednesday, or maybe Tuesday, can't remember, I was pretty much paralyzed, not knowing what to do. Whenever that is the case, I go to the folks who are smarter than I, namely Bruce and Matthew. Because Bruce was out of town, his ability to help was limited. Somehow, Matthew made time in his busy schedule to not only read the contract, but sent it along to a friend of his who is a copyright attorney. He also happens to be a very nice guy because he then looked it over, suggesting a few changes, followed by Matthew actually making those changes for me in the document. I'm pretty much clueless when it comes to all this.

They accepted and so did I--let the games begin!!

Because it seems as if I've spent so much time of late on the business side of photography, this morning early I told Bruce I'm heading out to see what I can see. Sometime recently I'd seen rows and rows of beautiful flowers planted at Lake Eola so I made that my first stop.

Early and overcast with the sun just beginning to peak through the clouds. Nearby at the amphitheater some folks were setting up for a Good Friday service, testing the microphones, preparing the stage and so on. There were teenagers involved and whenever there are boys, they oftentimes will harass the animals. Don't get mad thinking I'm generalizing, which I am, but tell me when was the last time you saw a girl hissing at a swan to make it mad?? This one would not take the bait!

Speaking of birds....Guess what? The other evening, only an hour or so after finishing my blog post saying how I was worried for my baby cardinals, we saw one of them. Sitting by the pool finishing our dinner, we saw a little bird flurry. Baby cardinal flew into the big windows of the sunroom, landing on the pool deck! My heart sank, in fact, I felt a little sick. I won't keep you in suspense, as far as we know he/she survived the accident. Because baby was not moving, Bruce got closer to check for injuries. This got our little birdie going, but not far--another run in with the window, landing just below this time.

Looks pretty good after taking two hits, don't you think? Cute as a little button if you ask me. Eventually, he flew into the bushes and that's the last we've seen of him. Just when I'm least expecting it, I'm sure he'll surface again. There goes that optimistic streak again!

After leaving Lake Eola, I drove the few blocks to the old Amway Arena. About two Sundays ago, they imploded the building with dynamite, or so I think that's what they used. The middle caved in leaving the rest behind.The workers were at it, tearing down what is remaining.

It is so weird seeing the entrance sign on the right--see what look like white sticks with entrance written on them just above the creati sign is. The plans call for something called a Creative Village which sounds somewhat interesting. We shall see what comes of it.

Did I tell you yet how much I like my new vehicle? What's not to like? There is actual carpet, as well as  Bluetooth, which is particularly cool. It is so amazing that even though my phone may be in my purse, it makes no difference. Well, duh Gail--that's what Bluetooth is. Anyway, very cool that music plays like magic.

Another thing I've neglected to mention is that Bruce is officially moving his office to our home. I am none too pleased about it but that's what Darden wants, and that's what Darden gets. I'm waiting patiently for him to run to the store so I can vacuum. I told him he could have my space, but he is happy in the sunroom. He promises to keep his voice down during phone calls if I promise not to vacuum while he's on a conference call. Will do.

It seemed as if it would never happen, after all, the oleanders have been in the ground for nearly a year, but finally they have bloomed. The orange color on the fence is the setting sun the other evening.

Oleanders normally bloom almost all year; the same can not be said for the Confederate Jasmine which visits just once a year, filling the air with their wonderful perfume.

This afternoon we finally got an excellent rainstorm which we sorely needed. Bonus factor--a cold front came with it as you might expect. Cold is a relative term here--the temperatures will retreat from the 90's down into the upper 70's which sound fantastic indeed.

Bruce just left for Office Depot so I must run to get my vacuuming done for the week. Because I work weekends, that is not an option for me. :)

Happy Easter dear ones,
Gail