Variety Show

While Bill and I were chatting last week, he asked when I was returning to the market to which I replied, I'm not quite sure if I will be going back. Surprised, he followed his earlier question by asking if I was going to stop taking pictures. "Not on your life!" At present, I may not be selling, but that does not mean I have quit seeing! Let's have a look now at some taken this week because I seriously can't help myself!

Who could resist capturing the sunlight/shadows on this house adjacent to the dry cleaners? Not to mention it is framed by a blooming Golden Rain Tree.

Yes, it is that time of the year when the trees are filling the skies with their brilliant yellow blooms.

I adore seeing them everywhere, made even more resplendent against a brilliant blue sky on a sunny day, of which we've had plenty this week. Hallelujah! For a few days I had the windows open, however, later in the week, the humidity got to be a little too much. Maybe a week from now I will open them, and they will stay that way for months? I sure hope so!

Driving to Leu Gardens on Monday, I took a street running parallel with Mills Avenue and came across this scene which left me wondering who are the people who have four classic cars parked like this in front of a building which is not a business? Not quite sure what it is, but it is fun to speculate.

That would be a Porsche on the left, a Ferrari, a Jaguar and finally a Riley. Never heard of a Riley? Me neither, but this link provides some information, however, this link is better, explaining that it was a British pedal cycling (!) company before making automobiles. Speaking of bicycles, I was super sad the other day when, while riding along Pershing I noticed that I'd lost my daisy! People think I'm observant, but where and how I lost it is a mystery to me. Maybe I'm losing my skills?

A few blocks from the car scene I saw this super cool dumpster.

At one time this image would have been a complete fabrication, however, these days I see nail polish in turquoise, and every other color of the rainbow! In fact, Tina, the nail girl I visited yesterday was wearing baby blue on her toes.

Wondering what she's doing in the photograph? Well, my big toe has either a plantar's wart, or something in it. Saturday Bruce, using a needle and tweezers, spent about twenty minutes poking around; Tina spent about twenty seconds, announcing there was nothing in it, or something to that effect. At times her English is just fine; other times, I've not got a clue what she says.

Back to the Leu Gardens trip on the free day, first Monday of every month, the roses were not only spectacular but oh so fragrant as well!

I've mentioned this before, but every visit I am newly amazed at the sheer number of Moms and their little ones. The sidewalks are clogged with strollers, and more often than not, they are empty as the children are running around. During my last visit the deck bordering the lake was closed, however, it is now open and brand new. These children were making use of the deck, running here and there. I overheard the Moms saying they were both sets of twins. Is that redundant? Can't decide.

Try as I might I can't recall the name of the girl twin in the striped dress, however, her brother in the red shirt is named ROMEO!! What are they thinking? For the record I was not eavesdropping, they just were talking loud. While some children were mostly running around, others were peering into the water at these guys.

There are loads of plants and trees in bloom at the gardens, none more interesting than this one.

Can you believe it....Indigoferia tincotria is the proper name. No, I did not remember it, I had to photograph the sign hidden below! Anyway, turns out this plant was the original source of indigo dye. 

Today's title suggested this post would be full of variety, and I've yet to disappoint you on that score, have I?

I also told you I was becoming obsessed with the horses...

Lest you think I'm entirely crazy, one reason for documenting them regularly is to see how this field changes now that the incessant rain has mostly stopped. Or, maybe we'll get a freeze this year? It's been quite some time since that happened...we are probably due.

Here's a change I can get excited about!! It must have been Monday, or maybe Tuesday, that I saw a truck with fencing arriving and two ideas came to mind. Either the fencing was going up to keep junk out, or maybe, just maybe, it was coming done.

Well, sure enough it was the later thought!

Will the corner once again be lovely? I sure hope so!

Finally, the calendar says it is fall, and along with dropping temperatures, well, just below 90 degrees, there are some Cyprus trees beginning to show their orange side.

This is along the shores of Lake Davis which is filled to the brim.

Mr. Peck is just about to board his plane to come home! We learned yesterday that the President of the company is delaying the opening for two days, so instead of Wednesday, the restaurant will open on Friday of next week. Why did I do that? You can do the math! Anyway, the good news is that it is not the construction causing the delay, but not quite enough staff for the "front of the house" as they say in restaurant lingo. Although this is the first time ever that construction has been completed on time, Bruce has made me swear I will not brag on him when I meet everyone at the opening party. Stopping short of swearing to that, I promised to do my best. I'll let you know how that goes...

Happy weekend to you,

Gail

I Didn't Actually Read it Alll

Good grief--if that's what the man who loves me more than anyone in the whole wide world says, I'm in trouble! I did, however, look at the photographs....

To be fair, Bruce has so little free time I can't blame him for not wanting to read my writing, but, it makes me wonder about the rest of you. Am I writing too much? Has my tendency to be considered, "chatty" shown in this blog?  Are you sick of me yet?

Comment update, not that you all have been storming this web page, but spammers have, and SO, I've once again changed the comment settings to allow only those within seven days of publishing to go through without the word verification misery. Get busy friends!

Now this article about how much stuff NBC learned about the viewing audience for the Olympics  
contains some fascinating information. It turns out, I wasn't the only one glued to their television!

Out & About we go on my bike rides.....

The other morning I was riding down Baxter Street and it would have been very hard not to notice this sign:

Agreed? What's really remarkable about this crime is that the house is set WAY back on the lake with a gate out front. An inside job perhaps? Friday, while heading out to do errands in the Pilot the sign was changed to this one:

It's a mystery to me how anyone steals tires and rims and then returns them...

Some days I ride down Summerlin, turn right on Sweetbriar and take this little passageway at the end of the street to ride into Southern Oaks.

It looks pretty with the sun shining through doesn't it?

Then again, sometimes I turn left on Sweetbriar, riding by Lois's former home, and end up on the street behind hers. Every time that I do, I love seeing how these red chairs on the lawn provide such a fantastic contrast to both the house and all the greenery. Bonus points for having a cat in the photo!

Those gigantic Golden Rain trees I was raving about? Here's one near the corner of Pershing and Ferncreek that is pretty darn gigantic.

A few days ago, while out and about with Mr. Baxter, we walked into the lake lot which is in sore need of attention. For years, one of our neighbors has kept the grass mowed, however, either he has quit a thankless task, or is a wee bit behind. I didn't stay long, not only because I was worried a bit about snakes hiding in the grass, but Mr. B. found it impossible to navigate the sea of grass!

Two days of markets and very little to show for it. That's what I get for thinking pretty good thoughts about my sales during our meeting on Tuesday. Actually, it was really pathetic, but I had fun nonetheless. This morning, Bruce did my sales tax data which I promptly paid, not wanting to ever again get one of those pesky $50 late fees! While he was in the spread sheet, I asked him how I was doing for the year, which is what interests me the most. I'm happy to say I'm $300 shy of last year's total, so with any luck, in the next three months, I'll break last year's performance.

The red-haired fellow is Bradley, the produce guy. His efforts were largely responsible for Winter Garden being named the best medium farmer's market in the country. If you look at the vote totals you can see that every last one of them was important!

As I sat at the market yesterday I realized that I rarely actually write about my days spent there which means I've been negligent. Tomorrow will be devoted to what a day at the market entails, from the setting up to the tearing down, and all the sweat in between!

I've got a dining room table covered with Polasek note cards which need sorting....

Short enough for you?

So is the Post Office

Apparently, I'm not the only one who likes using Out & About for business purposes.

Well, Mrs. Camera Crazy has been out and about the last several days; with cooler temperatures, there is no excuse not to!

Indeed, weather-wise, things are looking up around these parts. Fall? What's that most Floridian's ask, however, if you've lived here long enough you begin noticing some subtle changes, and before you know it, perfect weather will be here. A glorious sight in fall is the blooming all over the city of the Golden Rain Trees. Everywhere I look while riding I see them. From afar they are a beautiful tree, however, just like most things, they are a mixed bag if you have one in your yard. Lots of debris, and some pretty funky little bugs. Years ago, when we first owned this home, there was one smack dab in the middle of the front bed, an odd location if ever there were one. Anyway, because we moved here in the Fall, I began seeing not just a few, but hundreds of tiny little bugs with pink heads all over the side of the house. A visit to the Agricultural Center solved the mystery. Eventually that was one of several trees that we've removed over the years. But others have not, and I'm happy to show you one:

Look closely and you'll see a few of those magnificent passion flowers.

So, yesterday was our art group meeting again at the former Davis Park Motel, as seen here from the Colonial Drive side.

The part you are seeing is closed off, however, the back buildings are under renovation. To date, there are several artists using spaces with more to come once they solve their fire sprinkler system problems.

One of the artists has been busy! Not only was yesterday our late Mother's birthday, but it was Bethany's as well. Robin brought cupcakes to celebrate, and here's Brandy and Bethany, taken just after we discovered that, ever since she began eating cupcakes, Bethany takes the bottom off, puts it on top of the frosting, and makes a cupcake sandwich.

Brandy was so tickled by that she wanted to take a photo and post it on fb. The meeting was informative, focusing primarily on our sales goals. We were supposed to tell how much we'd sold in the past,  and how much we want to sell in five years, however, both Brandy and I kept our mouths shut. Suffice it to say, we're doing better than some.

Amazingly enough, one of the ladies, DLynn, began talking to me about some clocks she produces. On my drive home I began to put two and two together--I bought one of her clocks as a gift for Bruce from a gallery during my visit to Sanford earlier in the year!

Yup (Bruce tells me that's a trendy saying right now), there it is on the wall beside his television. Once I arrived home, I looked at the bottom front more carefully, and there is her name etched into the glass! My goodness it is sure a small world!

After lunch I went over to the Progressive Insurance office to pick up the check for Jonathan's car. Actually, they pay MINI, and whatever is left goes to Jonathan. Although some of the offices looked spiffy, Progressive seems to be saving money by going the bare bones route.

Located only a few miles from the Belz Factory Outlet Mall, or whatever name they are calling it now, I decided to scoot over to visit the Skagen store. There are a whole bunch of ladies my age who love jewelry, particularly expensive jewelry. I'm not one of them. What I do love are watches, particularly Skagen.

Don't even tell me you are surprised I bought an orange one. Can you believe my old hands? Good grief! That's one thing I've always said, no matter how young someone may look, either before or after plastic surgery, you can pretty much gauge someone's age by their hands. At least I'm not making you look at my bum cuticles!! When Bruce got his bonus in late July he brought home some mad money for me ,which had, until yesterday, gone unspent. I did get a fantastic bargain on the brown one---original price, $275--my cost--$80. The orange one, not so dramatic, but good nonetheless.

This morning I cashed the settlement check at one bank, which was basically in the same parking lot as Jonathan's bank, and deposited it in his account. As I type, he's looking for his first real car purchase, never an easy task for anyone, regardless of age.

Remember a few weeks ago when I took a little tumble off my bike, trying to get a crow picture for one of Bruce's superintendents? Cue: bike on sidewalk....

Turns out he didn't want to use that picture for his book of poetry, however, Frank did want to use a different crow picture I sent him. Using Blurb, he gathered his writing into a self-published book through Blurb. He was kind enough to send a copy to Florida with photo credit given to you know who.

 Speaking of reading, here's my summer reading on the left and what I was hoping to be some early fall reading on the right.

So far, the book of short stories is too maudlin, "The Cold Kiss"--way too scary, and I'm not sure I care to find out what happens to the characters in "The Innocents." I had to quit reading TCK, a thriller, because I just couldn't take the suspense, at least not while I'm home alone! Looks like I struck out on my library visit.

I'm still hard at work on the quilt, although the end is in sight. While watching sports, I stitch away. Saturday afternoon I decided to try and figure out how many hand stitches go into this kind of project. Using an inch as my guide, we figured out that already I have over, are you ready? 15,000 stitches!!! And there's still the binding to attach! Which, I think I'll do just now. Happy Wednesday dear ones.

Out and About

When last we met, I told you Baxter and I were going for our morning walk/drag. Don't let that alarm you, I really don't drag him, it's more like tugging. He is not the kind of dog that will help you get any exercise, that's for sure. He ambles, stopping every chance he gets to mark his territory. On occasion, he has to stop for me. Why? Well, by now, you know that I take my camera with me everywhere, sort of like some people do with their phones. My poor old phone loses it's charge pretty quickly, so is often plugged in when I go out, however, I always have a camera ready for anything. 

Who else will show you how things are out in the world? Like how the beautiful golden rain trees are in bloom right now:

We used to have one of these trees when we first moved in, however, someone planted it way too close to the house and it had to go. Now I get my fix from my neighbors.

Last year, while redoing the backyard landscaping I was very excited to buy a bougainvillea tree. My excitement lasted not very long, mostly because instead of gorgeous peach colored leaves, mine are all green. I am oh so jealous of people who can get theirs to bloom like this one:

It is a huge tree, jam packed with brilliant fuchsia blossoms. According to some garden websites I've consulted, I'm not the only one whose plant will not blossom. In fact, apparently it is one of the most common garden questions of all. Always helps to know you're not alone.

Sometimes while doing errands I decide on a detour to see what I can see. It used to be that when I felt like taking pictures I would often stop at the Sheriff Department's horse barn located near the corner of Bumby and Michigan, a few miles from our home. Sadly, they closed the facility, so my horse taking picture days came to an end. Yesterday morning while driving to WalMart I decided to check on the peacocks. Strangely, I saw no males whatsoever, however, I did see lots of mothers and the babies which are now looking a bit like teenagers. I wasn't the only one checking the peacocks out:

In the last week, I have seen more people out enjoying the weather on bicycles than I've seen in the last six months. That should come as no surprise; it's like all the folks who live in cold climates, emerging after a heavy winter. They've survived freezing temperatures, we've survived yet another blazing hot summer.

Looks like a teenager to me.

Wondering why I was at the hated WalMart? That pesky squirrel I showed you last week kept jumping on the feeder, knocking it around and dumping all the seed. I now have a new garden hook from which to hang the feeder, although now I need more feed because of that rascal. I also finally found a container to hold the extra baby canvases. Although Bruce was pretty insistent that I find a basket, I could not, opting instead for a plastic crate. It was the size that proved problematic during my basket search.

On my way home from errands it occurred to me to stop at the thrift store, looking for little goodies, otherwise known as props. Maybe two Christmases ago, Matt gave me an adorable, hand made salt and pepper shaker set, that looks like a sailboat. I found two sailor s/p shakers to go along with it for $1.00. Aren't they the cutest?

You would think that the white hatted fellow was for salt, however, it's the other way around. 

As well I found these funny little pieces; a $2.00 total investment.

Apparently the blank face was to be filled with a photograph, however, this way is even funnier to me. 

As well, there was a terrific chest that I'm not showing because it might become one for sale. Believe me when I tell you that I've no doubt it could do well, which is normally not the case. Typically I've been surprised with photographs that sell repeatedly. A construction locker I saw off Conway Road on my way to the beach has exceeded every expectation. I told one vendor that all I've learned in the last four years about selling photography can be summed up thusly: YOU NEVER KNOW.

Something else that caught my eye was a collection of cobalt blue bottles, one of which was marked $5.00 which I thought excessive. Not one to bargain as a norm, I mustered my courage, asking him if he could do better. $3.00 was his final answer. I held it up to the light once I got home:

Turns out there are hundreds and hundreds of these bottles floating around, however, not so many with a cork stopper rather than a screw cap. There's an interesting story connected to this bottle which I've found here: What ails you. I found other websites, but this one is the best because not only does it tell you about Bromo Seltzer, it also gives you the origin of Pepsi and Vicks Vapo Rub. It's kind of interesting to contemplate what products produced today will have the kind of shelf life these products have.

I spent the afternoon signing the 11x14 prints, organizing as I went. Whew--finally done with that batch! More coming in though which I hope will see me through the next month or so. Of course it would be good if that were not the case, but I'm not pressing my luck. 

Just as I'd finished with mowing the lawn in the late afternoon, which by the way, I didn't sweat one drop, the phone rang. It was Kristen calling to catch up. Deciding to make it a little dinner date, I picked her up and we went for pizza. A nice way to end the day.

Today is filled with cleaning-myself-up-a-bit appointments. Teeth cleaning in the morning; hair spruce up in the afternoon. I'll be a new woman when next we meet.