A Place for Everything...

and everything in its place was something we tried to do for most of our married life. Of course there were exceptions throughout the years, especially when we had a houseful of four young boys, however, that was long ago and this is now. Frankly, I underestimated how challenging I would find this move on many levels, the least of which is I can't find things. Foremost is the fact that we spent so many years on Gem Mary Court making it our home, starting anew, well, it's definitely harder than I thought it would be. Just typing that sentence I realized that it is ME that has to adjust my attitude, not our situation, which is great, just different. Perhaps I am still missing Vancouver with the cooler temperatures, little humidity and wide sidewalks?

Wide sidewalks? What's that all about? Here's what it is about...riding my bike has been quite challenging, especially along Michigan which I must travel if I am to go anywhere. No bike lanes, and riding in the street is not an option what with the traffic barreling along at 40+miles per hour. I take to the sidewalk, illegal as that is, yet, the sidewalk is often less than two feet wide because some brilliant soul decided to put massive, and I do mean massive, power poles in part of the sidewalk. Then there are the bus shelters planted in the middle of the sidewalk. Oy vey!

The fridge is leaking again, and it is, once again raining cats and dogs. In fact, yesterday afternoon I sat down to write and then the storm came along,  prompting me to shut off my computer and Bruce unplugged it for good measure. Seriously loud thunder and lightening raged for several hours during which time Bruce had a conference call with his work colleagues in Vancouver who could hear the storm over the phone it was so loud. Count them amazed as no such thing exists in that fair city. Of course they do have serious fog, wildfire smoke, rain, and snow. Pick your poison, right?

Enough already. I sound like a spoiled brat, don't I?

Friday afternoon we paid a visit to Monica for Bruce to have his hair cut. Mine looks terrible, but as I explained to Monica, it will just have to do for now as I am swimming most days and the chlorine will do highlights no favor. Then again, maybe I am out of sorts because my hair looks bad? I didn't think of that before, but maybe I should. Plus, with the stormy weather, our fun afternoon visits to the pool have come to a screeching halt. But I digress. Why pray tell did I come along? Bruce is not enjoying the Orlando driving experience any more than I am so we take turns. As we'd not had a decent lunch, from there we went to one of our favorites, Chuy's where they have that crazy happy hour with a free taco bar included.
Although it seems crazy, somehow it works for them and us. Should you ever be tempted to think you have too much on your walls, pay Chuy's a visit and there is a good chance you might think to add more to your walls. Possibly mobiles too. Or maybe not.

Most every night you can find folks hanging down at the pool, not swimming, but socializing and doing some sunset watching. We joined the group on Friday night, but unfortunately I left my camera at home. That is until I saw that it was going to turn into quite the show, at which point I hightailed it back to the condo, grabbing my camera and walking back as fast as I could. While I missed the high point, it was still pretty darn good.

What I neglected to mention is that there is also a nightly show including a colony of bats flying out of the gazebo at dusk, and if you look very carefully, you will see I caught one of them in the top right corner of the frame. I vow to do better.

We interrupt this whiny post to say that, much to my utter delight, we have finally seen the otters in the lake. I was looking out the window as I type and, by golly, I saw the two of them moving all over, up and down, as they went fishing. It was all I could do to tear myself away from watching them from the shoreline! Unfortunately, I am shooting towards the sun, so we shall see if any photos are good. Another day.

Saturday Bruce tackled another small project on my request list. A few years ago I bought those mid-century type dressers from our friend Mary who found them at an auction. Baby blue, I used them successfully in my sewing room. Well, since that was not happening in our new place, I am using one in the entryway that looks like this with the chest moved.

Bruce set up his sanding and painting area in our little courtyard.

Necessity, being the mother of invention, he managed to find a way to make the small area work, one piece at a time.

BTW--still no birds, but I'm not losing hope yet! A small problem with this set up is the ever present possibility of rain, so once all the parts were painted, we carefully brought them inside for drying. And here you have it, although the color doesn't really ring true in this photograph!

Benjamin Moore, Deep Teal, I am thrilled, although looking at the picture, I'm going to have to do better with the stuff on top, something is wrong with the scale of things.

Saturday night, once again, found us at Pam and Glen's house, this time for a surprise 65th birthday party for Oren. Lisa somehow managed to keep the whole thing a secret, so much so that he hardly knew the party was for him, even after arriving. Of course, once they brought out a walker, he began to understand.

This group was having quite the lively conversation about college football; the season start is just around the corner. I am definitely looking forward to many lively conversations surrounding this topic.

Apparently there is a baker nearby that does a fantastic job as evidenced by the cake below.

Oren, Lisa, and Bunker, with candles that look like wine corks.

I certainly cannot complain about this aspect of being home as it has been so great being with our friends again. Speaking of friends, Sunday, as we were driving home from church, Bruce's phone rang and it was Jeff, asking if we would like to join he and Lori for brunch at White Wolf Cafe? You bet, so we turned around to meet them there. My heart swelled as I met Lori for the first time. For years, following the death of his wife, dating has been a challenge, to say the least, but if my intuition has any merit, I think he's found his match in Lori.

I missed my opportunity to meet her during our time home in March as my tummy kept me home. Now, there is no reason to not see them again soon even if they are die-hard Florida Gator fans. :)

In the afternoon, David came by for a visit, bringing along Grace, their almost one year old dog who is cute as a button. Bruce, David and I sat out back, enjoying the breeze coming in off of the lake. Not long after leaving, he called and asked if he could bring us dinner? Well, who says no to that? Having one of our sons so close is a real blessing for many reasons. Had it not been for David's help, our time in Vancouver would not have gone nearly as smooth. Hooray for Dave!

If the sunrise over the lake is not enough to keep a girl happy, the full moon the other night was so bright, I merely took the reflection.

On a side note, as I was coming in the back door after taking this, I called out to Bruce, please come quickly! A tiny snake lay on the tile, which goes to show you, you have to take the good with the bad, a reminder that I need to keep my focus on all things positive. Before long, things will all fall into place as they generally do.

your friend,

Gail

p.s. White Wolf was way better than I remembered.

Making it a Home

My sister Nancy expressed dismay regarding my continued blogging, saying, "we have become accustomed to fantastic images from Vancouver, what will you have to show us now?" I'll do what I can here is what I have to say about that. Back to the here and now as we work on making the condo our home beginning with filling the fridge and cabinets with food. Pretty exciting stuff actually.

Spending days gathering much needed items, I was thrilled to drive the MINI to Clemons and fill the produce drawers with the usual. I will say though that the traffic here is ridiculous, and I am still driving with caution.

I may have cooked on a fancy gas stove in Vancouver, however, this old version of stove works just fine. Although I made pancakes every few weeks, cooking them in a frying pan with high sides, not the easiest I might add, having a griddle again is like heaven. Plus, I get to see the cool creamer and sugar set Carol gave me some years ago. Oftentimes it is the little things that bring the greatest pleasure. Or, so I think.

Although a kitchen remodel is in our future, I know for a fact that new appliances are not nearly as reliable as old ones, having had both. Remember how we struggled with that three year old refrigerator, constantly battling ice in the bottom of the fridge? You don't? Of course not, but it is all detailed in photographs here. Wonder of wonders, that post includes some bird photos as well.

Because the big stuff is harder, we began with trying to make the patio and porch more inviting which involved trips to far too many stores looking for cute stuff. We are in what retailers probably call a transitional season, mostly all the summer stuff is long gone, replaced with back to school stuff. Bruce moved the bird bath over to the small area, along with the bird feeder, positioned so he can see it out of his office window. No birds to date, but hopefully soon. He also removed all the plantings and re-did it, nearly finishing, but not quite, in time for the biggest thunder and lightening storm to date. Holy Cow, we were stunned at the intensity, not to mention shocked that we did not lose power.

I'm still puzzling over what color to paint the shelving unit. Gray is just not cutting it. This morning, in the midst of two more storms, I found some stuff for the walls and will show you that once it is all set.

Other than shopping, fighting traffic, swimming, and the usual cooking and cleaning, things have been quiet here, in part because Bruce was in Boston for the first three days of the week. So, now that we are all caught up with the here and now, let's go back to the trip and more photos that you haven't seen yet.

When last we met, we were just heading into South Dakota with the intention of taking a winding road that went through Deadwood. The plan was thwarted soon thereafter, involving us turning around and heading to Rapid City first, because who knew how long this traffic jam was going to last?

One friend suggested we go to Deadwood, and now she knows why we did not. Instead we changed routes, dropped off our stuff at the hotel room, and headed back out to see Mt. Rushmore which was about 10 miles away. The sky was fairly intimidating, however, after coming all this way, we were going regardless.

The small city that has sprung up on the outskirts of Mr. Rushmore is called Keystone and it is as touristy as it can be. As we were only about twenty five miles from Sturgis, it is no surprise that there were bikers hanging out.

If Sturgis means nothing to you, and can't say that it would surprise me as I didn't know about it either, but there is information in this link, should you be inclined to want to know more about a rally of 500,000 motorcycle folks converging on a tiny town in South Dakota.

Seeing Mt. Rushmore from a distance was quite the thrill.

Because the weather was not ideal, although there were plenty of tourists, it was not mobbed in the late afternoon. After parking the car, you walk up to the monument amongst an avenue of state flags.

Oh look! Someone wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt, and if I'm not mistaken, that is the Florida flag facing us on the right. Well, friends, here it is in all its glory.

I'm not sure how I got it into my head that I wanted to see it in person, but we were both very glad we made this detour, especially after seeing how it was done, the reason the sculptor chose these four presidents, the equipment used, and all that sort of thing in the excellent information center. Although we did not have the time, I am sure the available films were excellent as well. All of it was remarkable including how they mostly used dynamite to make it. Plus, the workers had to climb 700 steps up to the top to work on it, followed by hanging in baskets off the mountain face!! 

As we were leaving, a troop of SD National guard were making their way in to attend a ceremony in the amphitheater that sits at the base of the monument.

We worried all the way back to the hotel about them getting drenched in the massive downpour that happened as we left. It was the kind that makes you think that pulling off the highway is a good idea. Which we and others did.

A lovely sunrise to begin the next day,

Our first stop was to be Wall Drugs, which I'd heard about from someone in the hotel elevator back in Montana. What pray tell is the attraction?

After seeing about thirty signs, one every mile or so for said Wall Drugs, we found out for ourselves. And although it is now a tourist attraction, we actually did some shopping for stuff like tooth paste and the like.

The story of this place is enough to make one believe in miracles! It goes on forever with some pretty crazy stuff, including this animatronic dinosaur that roars and shakes it's head.

There is more stuff than can be imagined; some of it is silly, while some of it is historical.

After purchasing some of their famous doughnuts for the road, we were off to the Badlands, a downright astonishing place that goes on and on and on. You exit the highway and pass through a large area of grassland called Buffalo Gap National Grassland; the name says it all. Suddenly, the earth seems to open up and it looks like this from a distance,

and this up close.

We were on the scenic loop and around every corner, well, there are barely any words to describe how you feel being amongst this strange landscape.

The formations are in peaks, rounded humps, and down into the ground. Isn't that sage in the foreground pretty?

From what I read, the colors in the rocks really stand out during sunrise and sunset, although even in the dim light of a cloudy morning, we could see the distinct bands of color. Here's what it is like to drive through it,

while this picture is taken at a little stop where there is both a restroom, hiking information, and the beginnings of various trails of different skill levels.

Finally, the sun peeked through the clouds.

Can you even imagine the early settlers coming across a place that looks like this? I can't. Here's all the info about the Badlands National Park, as well as the Black Hills, both places that we highly recommend visiting. I kept thinking about how awesome it would be to visit during a dark night when the stars would shine so brightly adding to the otherworldly experience.

Then, it was back on the highway, and a return to grassy fields too numerous to count.

Readers who are not merely skimming this will note the reflection of our atlas on my lap. Although we used our trusty iPad with GPS on occasion, there's nothing like having an atlas when you are on a big road trip. I marked an approximation of our route once we were home. I need to do the same in a different color for our route there, which took us through a few different states.

I'd also learned from another hotel guest that we should definitely stop in Merritt, SD to see the corn palace. What the heck is a corn palace?

You are looking at a corn palace on the left and not just any 'ol corn palace either.

Both of us marveled that birds did not peck away at all the dried corn, and other grains used to make the mural, of which you are only seeing one side. Too large for me to get it all in one photo! Naturally Bruce had some corn on the cob while we were there, although another tourist from Minnesota said it probably came from the grocery store because the corn this far North was not ready for picking, a sight which we became very familiar with on our next day. Stopping at a rest stop we got a preview of the massive fields of corn., seen on the left extending for what seemed like forever.

Friends, we had one of the best meals of the trip at this little place in Sioux City, SD.

They had me with the hanging bird, but it also was interesting that it has the same name as one of the best restaurants in Orlando, "K", this one being much more affordable!

A big day traveling through South Dakota which is full of surprises. There tourist tagline is "Great 8". We only saw a few of those but of the ones we saw we would totally agree that they were great!

Only a few more states to cover and the road trip will be over and the posts will become way shorter. Do I hear a sigh of relief?

your friend,

Gail

From Drab to Fab

I am taking credit for neither today's blog post title, nor, more importantly, finding this beautiful space we are now calling home. We can thank David for both, and we have done so with gusto. Apparently last evening they were walking Ginger behind our unit, and saw we were having company, so didn't stop. I was just so happy this morning I sent him a text thanking him for once again, finding a home for us, and he replied..."it is awesome Mom, from drab to fab." I will take that as a compliment any day of the week!

Don't get me wrong, I loved our home, but I now see the wisdom in change. All sorts of folks said that to us, "change is good." I am so loving the lakeside and all that goes with it. Meaning shorebirds and ducks, including this Momma Wood Duck and her little clan.

Plus, I love seeing the clouds reflected in the water. Further, there are so many tropical plants everywhere you look; I've never had a bird of paradise in my garden, but now I have one out my back door. Plus, I don't have to take care of a thing outdoors! Woo hoo! I've been doing yard work for the last 50 years and now I'm thankful someone else will be having the pleasure.

Speaking of back doors, here is Baxter in his new "back yard."

I'm not sure if it will get me in trouble or not, but I've put two folding chairs outside, what I'm going to call, from here on out, the sunroom.

Where Mr. Peck is now napping, I might add. He worked tirelessly to whip our new home into shape, and now he is doing the same with his paid work. His next project is remodeling an Earls in Bellevue, WA; Monday morning he is flying out there to have a look at the space. Accommodating his travel schedule is the reason we moved almost two weeks before closing, which is only six days away. Remember how I went to the retirement party for Judy and I told you she was a beloved teacher for so many years? Well, when I was chatting with the woman at the title company, she started to ask me if I was related to....interrupting her I said, "why yes I am." Nearly 40 years old, she explained that she had Judy at Edgewater, not only for a teacher, but worked on the yearbook with her as well! That is not the first, and undoubtedly won't be the last time I've been asked if we are related. I once had a young man tell me that he earned a "D" in her class, but she was still his favorite teacher. :)

So, I got the bathroom all tidied up.

That lamp is merely there because I had no other place to put it! We went from having a linen closet to a whole bunch of cabinets that are now storing linens. During the upcoming week I plan to go through our clothes, finding wintery stuff to ship to the office in Vancouver. Let's hope we don't need it too often!

Hibiscus blooming lakeside:

And here's that neat looking juvenile Little Blue Heron. I sound all official with this name don't I? Thanks to Candy who identified it from an earlier post. I can't get enough of this little one who I see daily.

I seriously cannot believe I am typing this while sitting in front of this massive window. My table remains messy for now.

Pictured is only half of the window which is nearly six feet tall with views of both water, grass, tropical plants, and loads of trees. We've talked about how everything came together so well, for which we are ever so grateful, and here's another example. One hard decision we had to make is leaving our massive staghorn fern in the tree at home for the new owners, however, if you can believe it, not only did someone attach one to a tree lakeside, but there is a huge one hanging within eyesight! Simply amazing.

Everyone is anxious to see the new place, so when Bill and Roxanne asked if we wanted to go out Friday night, I suggested they might want to come over instead. More art on the walls since Monday.

This morning I did a tiny bit of exploring and came across the start of ,what I suppose I'm calling the creek, behind David and Michelle's place. Lovely, with a bonus adult Little Blue Heron.

Mostly we are all settled, aside from me going through the box that contains our former kitchen "junk drawer," which is a task that will require me to be in just the right mood. It's the little things isn't it?

yours truly,

Gail