More Pep in our Steps

 You can feel it in the air; more people are out and about with more energy and enthusiasm. Or, that is how it seems to me. For us as Floridians, the seasons are reversed; won't be long now that it will be getting hot in Orlando, staying that way until at least November. Other folks we know have made a trip to Florida this winter and raved about the weather as well they should. It was a darn shame we hit the worst weather of the winter in Orlando!!

That said, Bruce and I have stayed pretty darn peppy, in spite of the weather with more things to do than we have time for. My last post was a rushed one, although no one seemed to mind because who says no to colorful flowers? But I skipped several things that had meaning for us, so let us backtrack a week or so and go on what D'Anna called a Lenten walk. About seven of us met at the River Walk bridge.

From left to right, Mary, Gerri, D'Anna, and Esther. As you might note from the clothing it was a blustery morning.

We stopped every now and again and had some devotional time, but otherwise, like all groups of women, we gabbed and it was then that I discovered that Esther's husband was responsible for the River Walk!!

The first time I met Esther I asked her how she had spent her life and her response was something akin to "nothing much."  Nothing could be further from the truth! Both she and her husband were very influential in this corner of the world, including the fact that she was the director of the Folk School for seven years. But back to the river walk, she told me that she and her husband spent a month in a California city, the name of which I've sadly forgotten, but anyway, during that time they used a river walk and thought why not in Murphy and the rest is history! I had seen the marker countless times before, but never put two and two together. She is both beautiful on the inside and out.

Both Bruce and I love her! 

A day or so later, or so I recall, the ladies group at church held a fund raising auction on things that the group brought in, including this handmade beauty.

Proceeds will go to making Easter baskets for shut-ins with home delivery service. I bought this super cool William Morris candle donated by Robin.

Yet another outing was to a jewelry making session with the pickleball ladies. 

Saturday morning a pickleball tournament was held during more blustery conditions, with flower petals cascading down on the courts.

Mr. Peck played with his Senior Games partner, Cobby.

The group!

Then on Sunday, there was yet another fund raiser, this time for the preschool scholarship program. Miss Briget, the preschool director, led the children in movements and song, 

and streamers. 

After the service a salad and baked potato bar  luncheon was held at the old railroad depot and my goodness did that turn out to be fun. The folk school house band played and TClaw (married to Miss Bridget), called the square dancing.

Instead of dancing I took photos, but it sure did look fun for adults, 

and children alike. What was super fascinating to me were the Danish exchange students who joined right in,  pictured clapping in the photo above. A group of twenty were here for a week, spending time with various families. 

Our friends David and Sarah June getting serious!

So enough on the activity front, one day, Bruce and Dr. Dan did some painting on the church,

while I finally finished the quilt! Woo hoo! Just in time for the warm weather! 

Trees are exploding with flowers!

Such beauty!

It won't be long before the magnolias and forsythias are green.

Remember the teaser on the Lilac? It is going gang busters!!

Not only are they pretty, but fragrant too!

Here is a shot of one of the small rhododendron plants taken on the 27th,

and here is what it looks like today!

Here is our Japanese Maple coming back.

A shot taken down the driveway, with with all manner of growth going on. Note the violets on top of the lawn, such as it is. Mostly it is weeds, that also grow like "weeds". Robin told me they are called Bird Foot Violets, so while looking that up I came across another name and that is Mountain pansy. 

There are so many things popping out of the ground I can hardly imagine what comes next!! Tulips, hostas and who knows what else. With great difficulty we did manage to plant two beds filled with pansies.

I just cannot get on my knees very easily, so it is either bending over, or using a stool. I used both methods on my side which is pictured. Bruce still can get on his knees and he did a similar bed. The good news is we had a big storm that same night, so they definitely got plenty of water. 

What has proved so interesting is how fast things have changed. It is like once a bud appears, things begin to happen lightening fast, that and the fact that, for instance, bulbs are one and done. Daffodils for instance. Most of them are spent, but I did come across these beauties.

I did purchase a few pots of mini daffodils that I hope will keep on coming! 

Speaking of color...how red are these feathers??

While we fully intended to get back to Florida, things keep filling our days. Yesterday Bruce spent all day and some of today, helping Hank put together a Murphy Bed so he can have guests.

Hank is quite the inspiration working so hard at 83 years old, we feel like youngsters! That said, it is a good thing Bruce was there to help because it was totally a two person job. His company arrives tomorrow and will now have a nice place to sleep. The shelves on either side went in today in case you are wondering. 

Today is Bill and David's 46th birthday! No way in this world, when we learned that we were having twins, did I imagine things would have worked out so beautifully. Hallelujah! Speaking of the twins, here is an updated photo of the latest male in our family.

Those chubby cheeks!! 

Pep in our step indeed.

your friend,

Gail

A Blast from the Past

So, I'm trying to start another new routine. Who knows how successful I'll be but I'm giving a short bike ride in the morning a spin. Haha--aren't a clever girl? Or not. Yesterday I went three miles, today four. Just around the neighborhood; gradually I'll work up to more miles, but for now, these old legs of mine need time to adjust. When I saw this picture

in the old part of my photo library I couldn't believe how I've aged in the last four years! Good grief. I showed Bruce and his reaction wasn't quite like mine, but he did say, "Oh wow!" For those unfamiliar with my siblings, that is sister Carol on Bruce's left, followed by sister Lisa, and my only brother Pat on the end. You know Michelle by now. February 3, 2008. Winter dwellers may find it hard to imagine our clothing choices! Now they understand why, if Floridians travel somewhere cold, it is a mad scramble to find appropriate clothing. Or at least it is for some of us.

Thinking about the past, last night I played bridge with my friend Bev and two of her friends who are seasoned bridge players. I'm still a newbie, but I held my own--sort of. Telling us her granddaughter was doing a book report on a biography of Eleanor Roosevelt this morning, she described how she had to dress in character. Imagine a seven year old dressed as ER! Anyway, we got to talking about the orange biographies that were in school libraries when we were children and how we devoured them. I used to love to read about inventors, politicians, explorers and the like. I don't recall if our bookmobile had them or not. but I do have the fondest memories of the bookmobile coming every Saturday to the parking lot of the shopping center behind our home. While in Lakeland two weeks ago I spotted this behind their library.

One more reason to love Lakeland! I suspect most children are not nearly as enamored of reading as we were, but I hope some of them appreciate their local bookmobile.

Because Trish and Roger live downtown, their yard is pretty tiny. however, it sure packs a punch especially with the bleeding hearts blooming on their trellises right now. Gorgeous!

Another blast from the past is that years ago while roaming their neighborhood for the annual Historic calendar contest, I photographed their front porch with the hammock! It is indeed a small world my friends. The family photo above was taken by Mr. Roger during one of their Sunday walks to the market, which I am so glad is their habit because had they never strolled by my booth, who knows where I'd be by now. It can't be said enough that without Roger doing my printing I would be lost. Trouble is, he's gotten so successful with the business, he has way more work than he can handle what with his "real job" and all. As such, when folks ask me who prints for me, I remain mum.

Their little front yard is about the size of the tiny patch of garden we have in our back yard by the pool which is coming along pretty nicely these days.

It won't be long before the geraniums go kaput, however, I hope the salvia will bloom through the summer. The pot with the whirligigs in it contains Mexican oregano which had mostly died off and is now resurrected from the dead. I only wish I had more recipes which use pictured bounty.

Did I mention I got some new bedding? Because I'm getting old, I get hotter than when I was younger. The quilt which Bruce loves so much Angela deemed it "holy", was just too darn warm for the summer. After staying at the bed and breakfast I'd been thinking about getting a coverlet like the one we used there because I do like to sleep with something a little more than a sheet, but nothing too heavy. Nothing seemed right when I started looking around at my various favorite haunts for home goods. Because Bruce loves Crate & Barrel, he suggested I check there. Showing him our options online, if you can imagine, he chose the orange!!!! And you thought I was the only one who liked orange.

I tried various pillows from C&B, none of which seemed right. Good old Marshalls, or at least from a shopper's viewpoint, had the adorable middle pillow with the orange bird!! Fantastic and just what I needed to add a touch of whimsy to the room! I experimented with the old white curtains from my office, however,  Angela talked me into putting the former curtains back up which makes sense as they match perfectly. Not very summery I know, but cooler nonetheless.

When I can't go anywhere new to take photographs, I hunt thrift shops for stuff to make still lifes. Is still lifes even a word? Help from the grammarians out there please! There is nothing really original about this one except, darn that pool color looks interesting, don't you think?

Should they jump, or shouldn't they? That is the question.

If it is Thursday, it must be bridge day. And haircut day! I'm off and running. Talk at you later!

Industrious

Yesterday while I was wielding my new high pressure water wand on the house, cleaning off cob webs and such, Angela came over and called me just that, "industrious." Perfectly apt, or at least yesterday it was. You can probably guess what I was up to can't you?

This morning's drama centered around, would they, or wouldn't they? I'm referring to the Wednesday yard waste pick up guys, who by the way, work very hard this time of the year. Thank God for trash pick up! For some time now I've been requesting that Bruce get rid of the gigantic log pile, remnants of Hurricane Charley some 7+ years ago. Monday evening he did just that and set it out by the curb after stacking it oh so neatly.

Perhaps it's the time of the year but he got no takers. Originally he'd thought he'd have to take it directly to the dump, however, I suggested that we see what happened with the curbside pick up. Just as Bruce was leaving this at 7:30 this morning, the truck pulled up to our house. Although he was running a few minutes late for his general contractor continuing education points seminar (a mouthful!), he pulled over to help the guys load the truck. Peering out the window, I saw him in his dress shirt, slinging logs along with the two men. Apparently he recognized he was in their way and off he went. And so did the logs.

While he was unstacking them from the back yard, it was super gross with roaches and TERMITES in the logs. Yikes, am I glad they are long gone! So now that area is due for a perking up to go with the rest of the yard. If you look closely at the bottom right front of the picture you will see mega amounts of birdseed dropped from the feeder above.

They were stacked neatly against the fence for all these years, but with our mild winters we were never going to use it all. Besides, we have another small stack just in case this winter is an anomaly. I'm going to have to figure out how best to spruce this up; I've made a small stab already, planting some window boxes which Bruce hung on the fence. Those will make their appearance in Camera Crazy once they've had a chance to settle and bloom. Can't wait, can you?

My sister-in-law Michele, who lives in Minnesota requested a size adjustment on a photo she purchased from me years ago. Looking for it in my library, I came across this funny picture of me before the pool was redone.

That picture is a hoot! I also came across this one from 2008, which pictures, what I'm thinking is one of my very first video chats with Matthew while I was still using the other bedroom as my office.

That bulletin board was pretty messy wasn't it? Sunday, my friend Jessica shot this one of me with my phone at the market. It's a small wonder I can see out of those slits!

To my left is my friend Denver inventorying my baskets, writing it all down in hopes that it would help me order more efficiently. What a nice thing to do because there are at least one hundred, if not more, to record. In fact, it did help me tremendously. Jessica proceeded to put this photo on Instagram and facebook in a flash. I was absolutely amazed at how fast she typed on the phone. I'm fairly speedy on a regular keyboard, but a phone? No way!

And who amongst you isn't up for a little squirrel fun on the Nuttery?

Is it any wonder I fight them so? He's hanging on by his toenails!!! Just below the Nuttery, because the squirrels dump so much food as they flee once I yell at them, seeds accumulate, but not for long because the birds are just fine with getting their food off the ground. Here's a little bird that I can't for the life of me figure out what it is.

The Audubon guide leads me to think it is some kind of sparrow, but which type, I can't determine. A call out to my birder friend Linda should clear up the mystery soon enough.

I'm in that part of the week before a show when I'm a little bit anxious. Don't know when my order will be done, don't know how the show will go, and so on. There will be a big crunch when I do get the order trying to get all the prints ready, which will make me even more anxious, but by this time next week it will all be a moot point. I've been holding these back for the shows, hoping someone will like them. If not, I might use them myself because everyone knows how much I love orange.

Too funny that you can see my toenails which if this had been taken last week, I would have surely cropped them out of view.

Because the temperatures have remained cool I have been a busy little outdoor beaver-- trimming palms, cleaning the pool, planting flowers, watering, cleaning the driveway. Industrious indeed.

Black and White

It was only last Thursday that something occurred to me for maybe the first time. Imagine that--an original thought. Seriously though, while working on an online continuing education module (fancy word huh?) about processing x-ray film, both conventionally and digitally, that I realized one of the reasons I love color photography so much. Yep, you guessed it. All my life I spent taking pictures that were black and white! Now I can appreciate the world of color in all its glory.

I remember while taking my "Art with a Camera" class at Valencia that Professor Stout told us that everyone in school used black and white film, not because it was artier,  but because it was the only processing method schools could afford. That explains a lot. Kodachorme, Paul Simon's famous ode to color photography popped into my head, so like a good little blogger I found it for you so that it can run through your head like it's doing mine.

On occasion, I do sell some black and white photography, however, these days, shooting the scene in color, then converting to black and white is the recommended process. I decided to do a little experiment with a few images from the last few days. Ready? Let's take a look and you can decide for yourself how great black and white images are.

Here's some lovely bedding plants from the Winter Garden market:

Gorgeous colors right? Now let's see the black and white image:

How about this one of the Stars and Stripes taken during a little downtown walk the other day?

So, what do you think of the black and white version?

I had a few more examples but it's proving to more of a pain than I thought it would be. You get my drift no doubt.

Enough for original thought; let's move on to what's happening. You may read this at a normal hour, however I'm writing it crazy early Monday morning. Although I thought I wasn't overly tired from the weekend, apparently I was, going to bed at around 8 last night. Thus, when Baxter was making a few noises a little after 4 this morning I woke up with ease. My darling husband had to head back to New Jersey last evening in order to be on the job site at 7 this morning. A big wig is flying in; it wouldn't have done for him to arrive later than her. I was sad to see him go of course, but happy he was able to at least come home for the weekend.

Before he came home Friday evening I made a delicious pumpkin cake seeing as it's Fall and all. Finally, it felt like Fall around here with temperatures moving down into the 80's! Happy days for sure.
You can see my little mis en place for the cake making project here:

Although you can't see it, the recipe card in front of the baking soda is well worn; a gift from Bruce's Mom many, many years ago. It is, of course, typed, a real relic these days. As is always the case, the recipe did not disappoint, performing beautifully.

Looking at the photograph I realize now that some little sprinkles on top would have made it more festive. Another time. I still have some fall sprinkles dating back to the day I gave my demonstration speech about how to make vegan chocolate cupcakes while at Valencia. Speaking of which, about two weeks ago a young woman came to my booth that I recognized. Before long I remembered where--speech class. She remembered me as well. Naturally, in a sea of teenagers I stood out. She has gone on to finish her degree, getting a job as a curator at the UCF gallery. She is the one who reminded me of the aforementioned speech. What she recalled is how in my intro I said that it broke my heart when my son Matthew, aged 15, came home one day saying he was going vegetarian. Sounds silly right? Well, to this mother it was not one bit silly, in fact, as stated above, I was heartbroken. Wondering why? Here's why. As a mother the first thing you do for your child is feed him/her. As the years go by you pass on your food traditions, day after day, year after year. Then one fine day, everything you've held dear is rejected. Ok, I know that sounds melodramatic, but believe me, 20 years ago it seemed like a perfectly natural reaction to this mother. Vegetarians are mainstream these days, however, back then, not so much. Seventh Day Adventists were the only vegetarians we knew. My, how times have changed! Anyway, that's what she remembered most about me. Funny how that is.

While visiting Tom's parents, his adorable Mother gave me a lovely watercolor of daisies she'd painted. Finally it is ready for public display:

Wonderful, don't you agree? Although I have the proper mat, I'm still missing just the right frame for another gift from Tom's brother. I'm certain he is adorable too even though I've not met him yet. A very talented family that Tom comes from.  While fooling around taking pictures on my table I came up with this idea:

I'm thinking the idea is pretty good, just not perfect yet. Maybe adding a Golden Delicious apple and a Granny Smith for contrast? Comments?

So, how good was the weather this weekend? Really good. Enough so that people came to the market in droves, including the adorable Condon family:

Spencer is now five months old and full of spunk! My sister Maureen has a precious grandson doesn't she? Rich and Jen commented that they'd never seen the market so busy. All of the vendors were delighted with the crowds which translated into big sales for your favorite blogger. Finally, after enduring months and months of heat and humidity, we had a perfectly delightful day. Between both days I sold 34 items, which made me a happy little camper. On my work table there are stacks of prints waiting to be prepared for this weekend's big show. I start getting nervous the week before, hoping things will go well. Hopefully, the weather will be good, which is so important. Saturday Bill is my helper, Sunday is still open because my friend who'd agreed to it, had to cancel. Of course, I'm hoping I need a helper to do my transactions.....

It is still dark but I think I've gone on long enough. Once the sun comes up I'll be heading outside to plant some new flowers to replace these that have gone leggy on me:

They surround our new tree. Actually, my plan is to double up on flowers, removing the spent ones as the new ones get some size to them. I know this seems a little cheesy but it makes me happy to see this:

Bruce and Gail--the lovebirds you know.

Finally, during our memorable visit to London I bought this at the Geffrye Museum located in Shoreditch.

An excellent souvenir. Which reminds me, I never did show you the grounds from there. Sadly, my camera battery died so I don't have much to show you, but I can tell you that with my own eyes I saw great beauty there.

In the back there were lovely gardens. Matt and his Dad are having a little rest while chatting with Tom.

It was our first day in London after the overnight flight so you can imagine we were just a wee bit tired, however, that's the way to do it. Get out and get moving!

Happy Monday my friends.
Gail

p.s. I've been informed that on some platforms you are seeing two sets of black and white only--a shame because the color is oh so pretty. Don't know what the problem is as on my screen it shows the comparison. Perhaps I'll have better luck next time.
p.p.s. I think I fixed it. :)