Family Time and More

Oh my word there is much to say and write down before my memory fades. Oh wait, I have photos for that! I am including a photo of the house the day before we drove down to Florida so that I can note when exactly the creeping phlox blooms. It looked oh so different upon our return; the profuse flowering was fading, however the Japanese Maple went on steroids in our absence.

Tat same day, Bruce's friends from his working days came for a visit on their way back to Tucson, AZ. As is our custom, after a visit at the house above, we walked over to the Murphy Chophouse about two blocks away and enjoyed lunch, followed by a bit of time visiting on the porch. Jim and Fern were delightfully entertaining and according to her, we met before many years ago, although you know me, I have no recollection of that meeting!

Look at us sitting outside!! Yes the weather was definitely warm enough, just in time to prepare us for the upcoming days. 

A few things for posterity's sake, I saw a Brown-headed nuthatch for the first time ever on the Riverwalk.

Super exciting as was the blooming of our lilac tree. Ancient, it does not produce too many flowers, but by the time we returned some were larger, but most were done for the season. They do smell as wonderful as everyone says!

I know it sounds crazy but I was worried about the garden, however, those worries were for naught as John came over every other day for watering and no critters bothered it, so that was very good news indeed. Checking my last post, that should you have missed it, you can catch it here, there was no mention of my potato plants because I did not even know they had come up until the morning of the day we left! I was flipping out and even more so now as there are like five plants, three of which are already seven inches tall!!!

Because we planned to stop in Valdosta we packed on Thursday morning and off around 9:30, avoiding the traffic in Atlanta by taking the beltway, followed by time on SR41 which afforded us some nice scenery as well as the town where saw this wonderful mural. So cheerful with a good message. 

In the morning before our four hour drive to Orlando, I roamed around the hotel grounds looking for birds and found wisteria instead.

When we arrived in Orlando, sadly our tree, while not looking any worse, looked no better!

Since our last visit they cut back all of the shrubs in hopes that they will come back. It seems unlikely that will happen with our tree but I guess we will find out.  

We were anxious to see Christian and our wishes were granted, He's looking at a book that Matt and Tom bought him for Christmas. I just love how he is already concentrating, something his grandmother has always had trouble doing.

 I sent a photo of the two of us to Fallonabout two weeks before our visit hoping she could show it to Christian a few times before our arrival in hopes that he would not cry when he saw Bruce. I think it worked!

Saturday morning we joined our friends from the complex for pickleball, including my sister Nancy. I walked to the courts and oh my goodness, for the first time in years, I spotted an eagle high up in the pine trees by the big lake!

Look who else I saw! Note that roof that is looking very weary. This morning I wrote the final check for our special assessment charge for replacing all the roofs in the complex. Whew! That said, the contractors are doing a very good job, helping to set our minds at ease. (juvenile little blue heron)

If there is anything I miss about Orlando, besides our friends and family, it is the big birds. Always a trade off though and I am learning to photograph the little ones because I practice nearly every day. Sounds pretty crazy when I type it, but it is the truth. :)

We drove to DeBary, about forty miles from where we live in Orlando, on Sunday at noon, for the celebration of Cris's life. Some years ago they moved to a small community on the St. John's River where there are plenty of folks who use golf carts as evidenced by the line up of carts beside the clubhouse when we arrived.

The crowd was large to honor both Cris and his wife Judy and the girls, Katie and Jessica.

Bill and Fallon, 

were able to attend because her Mom watched Christian, something she does at least once a week. 

David and Michelle came as well. 

When our boys were young, Cris (Bruce's brother) used to pull the boys behind his boat on inner tubes,  much to their delight. 

Our niece Mallory came down from Minnesota with her mom Michele, Bruce and Cris's sister.

When asked to speak, both Bruce and Michele told stories. Bruce talked about how proud he was when his brother became an Eagle Scout. I love Mallory's expression. 

At first Judy did not want to speak, but she gathering her courage, she talked about what a good Dad Cris was to their daughters.

Katie and Jessica are to her left. While it was hard to lose Cris, it was a case of being happy that his suffering is over. 

More cousins,

Lots of old photos were displayed and I took a few home. When I picked up the one pictured below, I could not believe it was Bruce on the left, and even though he says it is him, I am still somewhat skeptical! As you may recall, we have known each other for nearly sixty years.

Look at all those badges Cris has! They were two years apart. Bruce and his sister Michele, and Judy and her sister Margie. 

All four told stories from different perspectives and it was a joy listening to them. Cris and Judy married on August 11, 1972 and we married on August 18, 1973. Bruce's Mom and Dad always made a big deal of our anniversaries and the older I get, the more I cherish those memories.

The drive home was easier than the drive there and we drove through downtown on our way back to the condo which is about two miles from this spot.

The weather was the best of the three times we have been there in the last three months which was a blessing. No calamities awaited except the ice maker was frozen but eventually thawed. We did better with our meals, something we have learned how to manage over time.  All positives.

A hard freeze, the hardest anyone can remember, I believe happened in late January killing so much of the vegetation in our complex that is known for beautiful, mature landscaping. 

On this visit there were places with color, including along the big lake.

Something funny I watched was a squirrel carrying a large hot dog bun, presumably from a trash can?

And look who went fishing!

We saw the family two more times, went birding as well as a trip to Costco. I wish we had left one day later in order to see the Artemis take off but we didn't, however, we did see the nearly full moon for ourselves on our last night, over the lake in our backyard.

I spent many hours watching the sky over Lake Willisara, sunrises, moonrises, and birds, always birds.

Will I ever catch up? I'm certainly going to try.

your friend,

Gail

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.