Suddenly it is May

 My word, I have no idea where to start. 

Firstly, there are a lot of birds in our new yard, so much so that their songs fill the air from morning until night. And here's something--last night was our first one in the house on Campbell Street and it was one to remember because storms raged throughout the night, including a tornado in the next town! Fortunately we had no damage but others are without power or water along with downed trees/limbs. 

We closed on the house last Friday, the 3rd of May at a downtown law office. We met our realtor Donna there and David Cowan, the attorney who is in practice with his dad. It was all so easy and sweet if you want to know how it is in a small town.

The transaction was complete when he had his assistant come in the room with a check for $50 as a thank you for using their services. Unreal! Immediately we drove the two blocks where Donna took our first photo, probably soon to be many photos, on the front steps. Looked okay on a tiny phone, but not so much in this space but you get the idea!

As is our wont, we immediately went to work, moving things trip by trip from the cottage.

We both agreed that we have accumulated more than we thought! Our time at the cottage was so special that I have to admit, more than once I was teary eyed while packing. We just so love Laura and John and the family. The deer!   

I was really feeling nostalgic when the closet, once packed looked like this. Those would be my pickleball shoes that we left there because I participated in ladies doubles yesterday, late morning when it was hot as the dickens. Let's just say that Lori and I improved with each successive game! 

I still have the refrigerator to clean at the cottage, but for the most part we are moved out. Bittersweet would be a good way to describe our feelings right about now. 

Last Saturday it was raining, but still our friends Cobby and Diane met us with their truck at the nearby antique marketplace to transport the dresser we bought to use as a buffet. Bruce worried like mad that the raindrops would damage it, but all's well that ends well.

I may have mentioned that the living room at the cottage looked like a lamp store? Or did I? Anyway we had seven lamps clustered on the floor, mostly bought at TJ Maxx or Homegoods, and above are two of them. Generally,as you well know, I am more of a colored lamp person, but we bought what we could find. I've yet to even show you how pretty that drive to Cleveland, TN was. Hopefully I will get there once we are more settled.

It must have been Friday after the closing that we went straight to Walmart for any number of things.

Excuse me a moment, I must go down to the basement to get something out of the dryer as it keeps reminding me to do so. Amazing that I can hear it in the new office upstairs but it has been relentless. 

The fact that I typed the above sentence is almost unimaginable, or so I would have thought a year ago! The porch cushions were in there for drying after last night's monsoon. The big rugs we bought are now drenched! Hank came over Sunday afternoon for a visit, bringing us a housewarming gift of an azalea. Unlike the azaleas at home, here they are absolutely laden with blooms unlike anything I have seen outside of Vancouver. He is doing so well here and is brimming with enthusiasm for this little town he's called home for two years now.

Tomorrow will be a hard day for him as it would have been Carol's birthday, although as the years pass it becomes easier.

Bruce had a fellow come change the locks on Monday,

and while he was still here, the furniture arrived, minus the dining room, which is still in transit.

Before they walked in the living room looked like this:

After delivery it looked like this:

Can you even believe that Japanese Maple out front? It is glorious and a haven for birds.

Now we were ready for company! Mark and Mary Beth arrived, followed soon thereafter by John and Laura. Bruce insisted John try out his new chairs! which are in what we are calling the parlor, adjacent to the living room. Lots and lots of small rooms my friends.

We have been absolutely saved by the previous owners who have left all manner of small tables. Seriously, maybe ten? We did pay for them, but we very much got more than we paid for. The little table between the chairs has a cupboard and a marble top. Perfect! While Bruce was touring John and Laura, Mark and Mary Beth rested in the new "thrones" after just returning from five weeks away the night before. It was very sweet of them to make that effort! 

I'm giving advance warning that their will undoubtedly be plenty of house photos in the near future and that is because it seems as if the light is very nice inside.

I was a little leery of the size of the kitchen, but I've cooked dinner two nights now and it is working just fine. I figured if I could prepare meals at a picnic table I could do so most anywhere. Plus, the refrigerator is nearly new and takes magnets! Hurray! Art work was also left in every room.

We are leaving the cottage just when the irises are blooming alongside the front steps.

And for the first time ever, there were Rose-Breasted Grosbeak at the feeder.  In spite of one not looking like the others, it is the female version that has the brown coloring. 

Honestly I was flabbergasted because before last week I'd never seen one in my life! During our time away in Florida, most of my small birds took off to parts unknown. It was a sad moment when Bruce put the screen back up! When I got up to check on the dryer, passing through the long hallway,  I could see birds on the front porch! Where the feeders will go here is ytbd. One thing is with the super old glass, I won't be taking photos through the window because it is, while crystal clear, a bit wavy.

The good news is we have peonies! Two bushes. Along with a lilac tree, hydrangeas, hostas, and a whole host of goodies that I know nothing about, including the fact that the peonies are SO fragrant. 

Slightly droopy after the storm, but still hanging in there! We have met most of the neighbors and the first thing each and every one of them have said is how much they love the neighborhood. 

Bruce is already a regular at Lowes where he bought the lumber to make the shelf that is holding all manner of shop supplies. 

The car this trip was about two-thirds full of tools and that brings me much joy to see him in his element once more. Seven years ago when he divested himself of so many tools in order for us to move to Vancouver it was painful so all these years later we are in the process of healing that wound. Speaking of wounds, Bruce is suffering from an seeming out of the clear blue, onset of carpal tunnel syndrome which has made some of what we've been doing very painful indeed. He left me to either walk home or get a ride yesterday in order to go to the doctor in nearby Blairsville, hoping to get some relief. They ordered a nerve conduction procedure which does not thrill him in the least. We shall see what comes next! Turns out Linda drove me home with Nancy accompanying us to see the house. After the tour you can probably already guess where we spent our time visiting. If you assumed I meant the porch you did good.

A few other things worth noting: both of us are going to probably be losing weight what with all of the steps needed to navigate the house between all three levels. For those worried, both of us are being very mindful of our limitations and are keeping safety at the forefront of our minds. Were we crazy to do this at our age? Maybe but so far it has been fun! Secondly it cannot be stated often enough how grateful we are for both the opportunity to own this historic house AND how clean and tidy they left everything!! When Linda was here yesterday, as she cleans houses when not playing pickleball, she remarked on how perfect they left everything. We agree! Plus, they left us this gorgeous tree!

Just when you thought I had fallen off the face of the earth, here I am, once again sitting at my iMac, using fantastic wifi, I might add, writing stories about life whatever it may bring. So far so good!!

I remain,

your friend, 

Gail

Three New Friends Take a Walk

Bruce has been out of town for three days now,  and for part of that time, I've been slightly out of sync. Monday was a bit gloomy and I barely left the apartment. So, when Jackie suggested the three of us go walking on Tuesday morning, I was totally game. Especially because I was going to be able to show them something neither of them had heard of before.  It was going to be my pleasure to lead them to "Two Spirits." Although Dale has lived in the West End since the early 70's, until I asked him about it, he had heard neither hide nor tail of it.

We are an old group, me in my 60's, Dale in his 70's, and Jackie is 81, although not for a moment would you know it as she is probably the liveliest of the group. An overcast morning was perfect for a walk in the woods. Meeting Jackie in front of her building about two blocks from ours, we then went another block or so and met Dale along Beach Avenue to start our walk, beginning along the seawall. Dale, a former middle school teacher, still loves teaching so he delights in pointing out things he thinks I should know. Mostly I am a willing student, and you'll see what I mean by that later in this post.

The tide was out further than any of us had ever seen, revealing the algae-covered rocks that are normally hidden from view.

Ambling along until we arrived at the Beach Avenue entrance to Stanley Park, this would be almost the only color, aside from green, that we would see for most of our walk.

And although I had walked crazy far in search of the sculpture, I discovered it was almost ridiculously close to Second Beach. At this point, I had taken charge of our mission, leading them into the woods. Just as wonderful as the first time I viewed it, they were both thrilled seeing it for the first time. I had them stand around so I could give you a size reference.

Now it was time for Dale to take over and we followed our leader, all of us marveling at the sheer volume and size of the trees.

Dale led us to Ferguson Point, a scenic overlook that I'd yet to discover on my previous wanderings. The tide was still crazy far out...

On the point is Siwash Rock and the trees above it are where I went last week when I was overlooking the seawall. Back onto the forest trail, I had Jackie step inside one of the hollow trees and she is slim enough to do so.

There are lots of folks who shy away from talking to strangers, however, I am not one of those because strangers often end up becoming friends, as is the case with Jackie and Dale whom I met back in late March, detailed in this post. I have learned a lot from the two of them and only wish I'd met them sooner!

It was loads of fun for me having the two of them to photograph. I may have told you that Dale is somewhat of a Luddite, with no computer or mobile phone, however, he does love a good letter. Because it is uncommon for him to have his picture taken, I will be printing some of these when we get home, surprising him with a letter. I especially love the photo below with Jackie acting like a little girl.

You feel mighty small amongst these giants and most of them are not even first growth for two reasons, one being the storm, and two, logging.

The notches in the moss covered stump are remnants of the logging days. Jackie, well, I told you she was as nimble as a cat!

Handing my camera to Jackie, I had her photograph me in one of the many hollow trees. BTW--when we left for this walk, my hair looked much better!

Seeing this moss covered tree, I thought it could not get any better on this walk,

but it did. That pictured green? It is the real thing with no editing whatsoever. There are so many shades of green that when something is colored otherwise, well, darn, you notice it big time. And so it was, when one of us spotted this, what I've since learned is an edible mushroom called, "chicken of the woods", well, it was as if there was a caution flag laying around.

Squealing with delight, I had to get a close up of this amazing feature in my favorite color.

I am trying very hard not to march there again today for another look! Unreal, right? These mushrooms, while interesting, pale in comparison and that's a pun intended!

We had been walking on the "Lovers Walk" trail, however, when we walked over top of the road that leads to the North Shore, it became the "Lake Trail" merging with what is called "Beaver Lake" trail. Those faithful readers with good memories know why we were going that way.

One of the things they seem to like about me is my enthusiasm for their city. Recently I was gushing over the water lilies in Beaver Lake, and since it had been a very long time since either of them had been there, I was anxious to show them my discovery.

We were not disappointed as you can see, the water lilies were still going crazy and perhaps there were even more of them than before. That is, if such a thing is possible! The beavers remain active felling one of the trees since last I visited.

I told Dale he was behaving more like a straight male when he would not let me get my map out to find the restroom which by now we were sorely in need of! I also told you he was a Luddite, but I did not know that included being map adverse! Eventually we made our way to the Stanley Park pavillion restaurant,

where we dined on soup and sandwiches. Of all things, as we waited for our food, I spied something that definitely captured my attention. Indeed, when the woman came out of the washroom, I did see what I thought I saw...she was wearing a backpack with Orlando Health on it! Speaking with them briefly, I learned that she and her friend were in Vancouver for a few days following an Alaskan cruise and she did work at ORMC. It's a small world indeed. (my former employer, should you not know)

In front of the pavillion, new flower beds have been planted and Jackie identified the deep burgundy small flowers, on the left side, as ones that smelled like chocolate. Although I've forgotten the correct name, she was right...very chocolaty. Furthermore, she said there is a flower that smells like peanut butter so...well, sounds like a match made in heaven, right?

After a stroll through the rose garden, we made our way past the flower gardens where I was finally able to get a shot of these crazy huge plants. Other attempts, made on sunny days, did not work well to show you just how huge these leaves are.

Someone was kind enough to leave a bicycle there for scale!

After paying for our lunch, I told Dale that I got to be the leader, so I took them around Lost Lagoon and to the fantastic community garden on the hill.

There were more blooming succulents there,

oh so fragrant Sweet Peas,

and a flower Jackie could not recall the name of, something with either balloon or globe in it because the buds are shaped almost like an hot air balloon!

Eschewing a bus ride home, we continued down Beach Avenue and by the time I'd parted ways with the two of them, my trusty phone app showed another seven miles in the book.

Who says getting old can't be fun?

your friend,

Gail

The World Keeps on Turning

Emailing with Jane the other day, thanking her for solving the Matthew gift dilemma, I mentioned that I often write about the weather, not only because of how it affects our daily lives, but also as a record of what was what on the day that I wrote. More often than not, or at least I know it is true for me, I remember something one way, when in fact, the memory is faulty. With that in mind I decided to go back in the Camera Crazy archives and include a post from five years ago about this same time. Well, wouldn't you know it, I did not write about the weather but I did write that it was my 701 post. Five years later I'm on post #1429. That is a fair amount of time writing, for sure.

Well, it has taken me about three years to do it, but this morning, after riding up to Publix to drop off a crazy amount of plastic bags for recycling, I glanced down and lo and behold, I was pert near 3,000 miles on the odometer. I could not find the post when I began riding, but this one shows 100 miles ridden. You would think by now I'd be way bored with the scenery, however, it just seems like there is always something going on worth noticing.

I wonder if I should name my bike? Any thoughts on this?

So, continuing my consistent ways, once again, I entered the city calendar photo contest. Not nearly as excited as I was in the past, I took some photos about two months ago and let them sit. They have to be black and white in an 8x10 format which requires cropping to size, something I rarely do. Then too, you have to put the address of the house on the back. Thinking I could easily locate the houses I put to print, that was not the case at all. In fact, in spite of looking, looking, looking, I never could find the house that turned out the best. Nonetheless, I entered three, using some cute little note papers Jon and Alissa brought back from their Japanese honeymoon.

Dropping them off at the Historic Preservation board offices on the 6th floor of City Hall, I had remarked to the guards that it was going to take me longer to make a badge and go through security then it was to leave my photos. I've been through this before. Making use of the time spent creating said badge,  I decided to head into the art gallery on the first floor before leaving. Was I ever delighted to see that our sister-in-law Ruth, married to my brother Pat, had entered the employee art contest and here are two of her cheerful photographs on the wall!

Aren't they great?? Furthermore, I'm an Altoids girl, not to mention a clock girl, so this brought a smile to my face.

Parking on Rosalind, I walked through the Performing Arts Center courtyard and was somewhat surprised that, although the umbrellas are on lock down, the table and chairs are not. Strange.

Speaking of government offices and such, who amongst you can believe that I need a license to sell photography while an Uber driver needs nothing to drive folks around?

Obviously $30 is not much, but still.....

So many photos of papers today, my goodness. Here's one more. Making biscuits again, although I could have gotten the iPad for the recipe, after all, you all were so kind to share your secrets, I decided instead to use a cookbook from Bruce's Mom. Called "Country Cookbook", a compilation of recipes from folks in Henderson, New York to raise money for the Henderson Free Library, I checked the index and turned to page 5. I did not tell Bruce until we were eating that I had used his Aunt Helen's biscuit recipe!

Let's just say this, a good many of the included recipes would not face muster today! Not a single one includes Kale! Which reminds me, recently I read a list of healthy greens somewhere on the WWW, can't find the same one but here's pretty much the same list from a different site.  Watercress, we should all be eating watercress. Romaine lettuce and spinach are up there too!

As you might remember about two months ago I bemoaned the tearing down of Lucerne Hospital and the vast parking lot that faced Orange Avenue. The big mountains of debris? Sound familiar? Now it is well established that I will go to great lengths to take a photograph, however, yesterday was perhaps even a bit much for me! Driving to downtown I noticed a STOP sign left from the parking lot. You'll understand shortly. Anyway, returning home, I took a right on Gore, looking for a place to park. Not so fast. Eventually, I parked across the street, put my keys in my back pocket, and ran across the four lanes when no one was coming. Much to my horror, the keys fell out of my pocket in the middle of the road!!! Not only do I have my key fob on my chain, but the one for Bruce's car as well. It doe not take a rocket scientist to imagine what came next. YES, you are right!! A car ran over them. But, and this is a big but, only the corner, thank God!! Watching from the curb I was dying!! All to show you what a crummy job they did dismantling the parking lot!

Visitors parking too! The sun was beaming down leaving the harsh light, but you get my drift. Apparently they used some sort of grass seed. Well, all's well that ends well and the keys, once I dashed back out to get them, were just fine. Don't tell Bruce about this, okay?

Forgive me if I've run on too long, but there's more that needs recording. Those owls have just about won everyone's heart, and as I've mentioned before, people are ready to chat about it. Well, late last week I was stopped on my un-named bicycle, scanning the trees for what seems to be the only owl left. No one has seen the parents, or for that matter, the sibling for weeks now. :( Anyway, a very nice woman, walking her dog, stopped and asked what was capturing my attention? Long story short, Sherri and I had a super chat. Learning that she'd very recently purchased a home on the far end of our street, I vowed to become acquainted. As such, when Catherine was gathering the ladies over at Cheryle's for supper, I invited Sherri. I'll tell you more about her in the future, but let's put it this way---she's got one of the brightest smiles I've ever seen. (pictured on the left)

Two weeks from now, Catherine (r) will head home to the Isle of Wight for the next six months. We will miss her exuberance, to say the least.

I thought you'd like to know that Bruce's job is going gang busters. I mean really well. The grout problems are all sorted out, and according to him, the tile work is some of the best he's seen in 25 years of project managing. What, pray tell, will he worry about now that things are going so super???
Let us hope and pray that the answer to that is----NOTHING!!

Thanks for reading,

Gail