Yet Another Camera

As if I don't have enough of them on my table right now! Bruce was looking for something in his old work bag and found a point and shoot Panasonic camera, one made in Japan before all of the manufacturing went to China.  Just like the original camera he gave me for Christmas back in 2006! Actually not just like it because we knew it was newer than that, just how new was the question. 

Looks like it is brand new, right? It was hard to know because, try as he might, he could not find the battery charger, however, with the magic that is Amazon, I was able to order a suitable battery charger. About four days later it arrived, and it was time to see what we could see.

For starters, it was made in 2011, so despite its advanced age, because Mr. Peck is far more careful with his gear than his wife is, you would never know that it is 11 years old. Secondly, post-full charge, we were treated to some fun photos from a long time ago, beginning with ones Bruce took of his Yardhouse project in South Beach. There was a photo of our living room when the thrones were new. If you are new to this space, the thrones are the brown and white chairs that I just had re-done.

Gosh I wonder what I did with that rug I loved so much! Along with the above photo was one of the sunroom where Bruce had his desk. Looking back at it now, I can't believe that he let me paint it that color scheme. Seriously, not one of my best ideas.

The shed that Bruce built without plans, just an idea in his head. He and Bill beat up a concrete driveway in the front yard leading to the adjacent gate and turned it into a floor.

So many, many projects over the years that we did to make that house our home. On occasion, I miss the yard, but then I remember just how much work it all was. The pool too! The giant palms were always dropping seed pods that ended up in the pool cleaner.

Bruce is still at it, working on Bill's house. Talk about so many projects! The latest of which is the new fence that he and Bill worked on together. It is 96' feet of board-on-board and way more work than it looks. Over the years of working together on his house, Bill has learned a lot from his Dad, one thing of which is when to let Dad take over as he is here, making cuts in the fence to house landscape lighting. I will say that Bill did a whole bunch by himself, including all of the painting beforehand. He used his birthday money to buy the paint. Have you seen how much paint costs these days? As with everything else, the price is shocking.

The hours Bruce has spent working on that house are likely more than he had time to do on ours because he was always working, working, working. More often than not, that meant 80-90 hours of week, much of it out of town, getting up crazy early for flights all over the country. Thus, retirement is sweet for Bruce. Finally he gets to pick and choose what projects he works on! Hurray!

That said, his work life has made our retired life comfortable, so neither of us have any complaints. A crazy thing happened recently involving a letter that came in the mail. Said letter was cryptic to our eyes, but after a phone call he learned that we have nearly $40,000 for health care costs, including our Medicare Part B, that we knew nothing about. Now that was the very definition of a surprise. 

So, back to the baby camera....it works beautifully! Super convenient to carry around in my purse just as I did with my original camera. I took it the courts the other morning and was delighted with the results. A few weeks ago a new friend, Shirley, gave me the History of Pickleball to read. Wait, I've already told you that, but I did not show you what the cover looks like.

The paddles were originally made of plywood in a garage, whereas now paddles can cost over $300! For the record ours are not that expensive, but you get the idea. In a crazy happening, one of the women pictured in the above book has begun playing with us while she is in Orlando. She knew the founders and played on the original court in Bainbridge Island, Washington. 

Trying out my newest/old camera. Technically it is Bruce's old work camera, but what is mine is his, and the other way around!

I took it down to the lakeside pool to check out the absence of a huge oak that was taken down last week, adjacent to the fountain.

I am mourning the loss of that oak tree which provided a bit of shade during parts of the day. Once a large limb fell down, it was determined that the tree was not safe, and when you live in a community you just have to accept that things will happen that you don't like.

It also came along when we went to Lake Davis to check on the cygnets. We were not disappointed, although it is somewhat surprising that there are only two, albeit a very cute two.

Here's a close up of their cute faces.  (not taken with the baby)

On the other hand, this one of these ducklings was taken with the baby camera.

The moral of the story is the best camera is the one you have with you, something I learned a long time ago that most people have now discovered with the advances in mobile phone cameras. 

From there we drove over to the nearby wetlands park looking for more ducklings. We came up empty in that department, but we did see something very curious. From afar I thought the heart was carved into the tree, 

however, on closer inspection, 

but of course, it is a cat burial site! Not something one comes across everyday in a public park.

Usually once a week Bruce meets our friend Keith for lunch at Johnny's Otherside near the house, located on the corner of Michigan and Ferncreek. It's been a while since I was there; Friday I joined them  and was surprised at how much they had updated the place with new paint colors on the outside,

and on the inside. It's a popular local restaurant that is nothing fancy, just comfortable with decent food.

This would be Keith who is listening intently to one of my dear husband's stories.

Have I told you that Cynthia is roping me into helping her with the church flowers once a month? She and her current partner made Sunday's beautiful arrangement.

Cynthia has more faith in me than I do, but with her partner spending the summer months in Maine, she had to ask somebody for help!

Every Sunday Bruce wants to go out to lunch as has been well documented in this space. I know it sounds silly, but I am not as enthusiastic as he is in this department because, more often than not, I am disappointed for one reason or another. Unfortunately, when we tried going to Dubsdred it was full, so we ventured down Edgewater to find something else. Well we found something else, but I'm hesitant to recommend it. Called Thai Farm Kitchen, it has been open for a few months. The patio was very attractive,

drenched in bright red paint, done very well, I might add. The owner was super friendly, there was a singer, and there were very few customers. Our server was very, very attentive.

One thing, and I hardly know how to describe this, but the table, pictured above, had a finish that caused everything to stick to it, including glasses and flatware. Eventually I asked for additional cloth napkins and we used them as placemats. Maybe the food was too authentic? We won't go back.

While on the subject of food, another photo on the camera was this one of our kitchen following the massive paint job we did on the cabinets.

Paint job? It was far more than that , and I have a blog  post to confirm that! Actually there were many blog posts as it took us three weeks to transform those knotty pine cabinets into something more modern. While I am perfectly content in my present kitchen, there are a few things that I really miss, one of which is a real exhaust fan. Secondly drawers, I had a lot of drawers! Plus, Bruce had added lots of pull out drawers, say for my cooking pans, in the cabinets under the stove. Lest I forget, I very much miss my wall oven. 

I suppose though, life is full of trade offs, don't you think? It is how you adapt that counts, or so it seems to me. Seeing the pictures of our former home, I am feeling very nostalgic, however, shoot, if we had stayed there, we might not have ever learned to play pickleball! 

your friend,

Gail

When We Were Young

Let me begin with thanks to Adele for my blog title today. Because we celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary this week, I'd been thinking about writing about our early life, however, a title hadn't come to mind. Well, now it has. I know that most of you reading this blog, already know our story, however, it never hurts to revisit a love story, of which ours is one.

We've been together now for most of our lives, having begun our relationship when we were very young, like 12 years old young. Now I'm going to tell the story my way, but I bet if Bruce were to tell it, there would be a few different details. He swears I first caught his attention when I was in the 6th grade, so that would have made me about 10 or 11 years old, having started 1st grade at just 5 years old. My sister Carol and I went to a summer program at Lake Como Elementary, or so he tells me, and he thought I was pretty cute.

A few years later, while we were attending Howard Junior High, we met for real at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in their Youth Group.  As was super common back then, we began going "steady", but "broke up" a few months later. As to how we got back together in the 9th grade, I'm a little sketchy, but I do recall that the date was September 25, my Mom's birthday. That was convenient wasn't it? The year was 1968.

Because he lived only a few blocks away he became a fixture at our home. By then my brother Pat was in the Green Berets, making Bruce the only male in a sea of girls! Even then Bruce was so kind, a quality that has only gotten stronger as we have aged. If you can imagine, I was still a bed wetter back then, and when I finally got the nerve to tell him, he did not even flinch! My Dad had been commuting to Melbourne for nine years when, in the summer after 10th grade, he came home one day, announcing that we were leaving Orlando and moving to Melbourne. Well that was a blow, but somehow we managed, with me riding a Greyhound bus back to Orlando to visit him on some weekends. His Mom, bless her heart, even had a rubber sheet she put on the bed for me. Other weekends he would drive his VW bug over to Melbourne! Remember how expensive long distance calls used to be? He would save his tips from being a bus boy at the Robert Meyer Hotel restaurant to call me, sometimes from pay phones. In spite of the distance, our relationship never faltered.

Try as I might I could not find the one photo I have of us in the 9th grade, but here are a few of us when we were young...

Thinking hard about how couples get together, and stay together for that matter, I suppose the first attraction is how a person looks. Of course I have no experience to prove that other than our own, but I suspect it is true to some extent whatever your age. He was darn cute wasn't he?

Only about a month after graduating high school I high-tailed it back to Orlando to begin x-ray school at Winter Park Memorial Hospital. During my first year I lived with Maureen, and when she was tired of me, I moved in with Judy and Cris, newlyweds themselves! People often wonder why we married so young, but I wonder why we would have waited! Our plan was that once I graduated and began earning some money, we would make it all official. Unlike most couples today, we never lived together, and were darn anxious to do so.

Looking for these photos I came across the album for our 25th anniversary with pages devoted to various aspects of marriage including one page entitled "Our Story." Re-reading it, I had to chuckle that I wrote about Bruce asking my Dad for my hand in marriage. I wrote that TL grilled Bruce on how we was going to provide for me. Poor guy, because TL was not known for being either kind, or subtle!

I went looking for a wedding dress by myself at the now gone, but never forgotten, Jordan Marsh, the nicest department store in town. My parents were willing to pay $100 for a gown, and that's where I began my search. Somehow or other a gown had been left in the dressing room I chose, and that was the only one for me! The price was way too high, but I just had to have that dress.

On my hourly wage of $3.25 hr it took me a long time to pay them back!! The other receipts are for the veil AND our honeymoon night in St. Augustine!!! As a newly hired x-ray tech and a carpenter, we spent only one night there, but we made the most of it. I know some of you have heard this story before, but it's a good one so I'll write it down. Our first night of marriage, after the wedding and arriving in St. Augustine, all of the restaurants were closed at 9 PM, aside from McDonalds, which is where we ate. I so remember gazing at my wedding ring while asking Bruce if he thought anyone could tell we had just gotten married six hours earlier!

The rehearsal dinner was held at the Peck's home...

That would be my Mom up top, and Bruce's down below.  Here is one of us opening a wedding gift.

Amazing how similar our hair was!! So, back in those days it was a big deal to have a wedding announcement in the newspaper. This one is from the town in upstate New York where Bruce was born and lived until he was 6 years old.

I even have more that I won't bore you with, however, one even included minute details about my dress, which I still love btw! Pale pink, in case you are wondering.

Aside from the 25th anniversary album, most of the photos above are from our wedding album. How about these gifts??? I am so touched reading them. So amazing that the crew at Sea World, where Bruce worked as a carpenter building the Shamu stadium, gave us a bottle of champagne and SEVEN dollars.

That bottle of champagne, btw, blew up in the back seat of our VW fastback while we were touring around St. Augustine on foot!

Our reception, held at Grace Covenant, consisted of a receiving line, cake, and punch, and I'm not entirely sure what else. As well, I have no clue who took these candid snap shots, but I'm glad they did.

And so we began our life together, moving into our first apartment, then a second one, and within a year, our own home! These were our kids back in those days, Wally and Benny, or so I think...

I can still remember Bruce buying me that blouse for Christmas with me crying when I opened it! Another noteworthy thing about this photo is my watch...love interesting watches now, and it looks as if I loved them then.

Fast forward 43 years of wonderful married life together---Bruce worked super hard on our anniversary so we just ate at home. Bruce did, however, give me one of the sweetest cards ever, that friends on fb have already seen, but should you have missed it, here it is.

Cheryle and David just stopped by for a chat (B is at work), and we were taking about all manner of things, one of which is being satisfied with what you have leading to true happiness. Brilliant, right?

People often ask us the secret of our successful marriage, and sometimes I'm at a loss because we don't really have any secrets aside from the idea that we began our lives together believing it would always last, and it has. Plus, we are still crazy in love, and continue writing our love story every single day.

Till death do us part,

Gail

p.s. should you care to see the photos larger I believe you just click on them....

So-So Sewing

Do I sew better than some folks? Definitely. However, there are far more folks that sew better than I, which is what is challenging me to improve. There was a time when I could make just about anything. It may surprise you to learn that in spite of having all boys, I made clothes for them as well. But that was a long, long time ago. The ensuing years brought less of a need to sew because you could buy clothes on sale, and then too, what boy wants to wear something homemade when they are 10 years old? Not mine! I think you've seen this photo before, but I came across it (long story) and thought it was worth a second look. Jonathan just turned 33 a few weeks ago.

The machine on the left is a serger, and the one you can't see, aside from the red dot, was the Elna Supermatic I got from my Mom.  My sewing table came from Bruce's Dad who got it while working on the VAB, at Cape Canaveral. It is in our bedroom when we lived on Whistler Drive. I so adore that sweet little face on Jonathan. Sorry for how choppy this sounds, just some background info!

But, long before I sewed for the Peck family, I sewed for the Price family. Here's a picture taken at our Grandpa Stahl's farm the summer we brought our brother Pat home from the Viet Nam War. He flew into San Fransisco and then on to St. Louis where our Dad met him and brought him to Grandpa's farm before we all drove back to Florida in a car without air conditioning. All seven of us!!!

Nancy tells me that not only did I make my little outfit, I made both hers, as well as Mom's dress. As to Carol's dress, I'm not so sure. Remember how I just became acquainted with Joelle? That's her Grandmother Ruth in the very middle. I can almost remember making all those scallops on the hem and neckline of Mom's dress with our Dad critiquing all the way.

So, it is with great frustration that I am not very good at sewing any longer. My ripper has seen more use in the last few months than it had in the previous twenty years. The last time I made a dress with set in sleeves I did a remarkably poor job. Furthermore, what once was second nature, now takes me forever to get right. The hours fly by when I am sewing, so I can't say how long it took, but I am finally happy with the end result of this sleeve installation.

I finally got to the point when the sleeves go in after spending a stupid amount of time getting the front placket right. For those who are lost with this lingo, it is the white bands on the front of the nearly finished top below.

I kept fiddling and fiddling with it to make it lay down better!

Hey, here's how basket looks like "on road."

I have been such the home body it is incredible...aside from my bike ride, I've hardly gone anywhere. If not for Bruce's birthday and such, well, who knows when I would have gone out? As it turned out, Abbe, from Vancouver, got into Orlando at 3AM, and was too pooped to go out on Wednesday night. Well, I'd canceled the family dinner before those facts became available, so just the two of us went to Santiago Bodega for a flavorful meal, ending with some croissant donuts and a candle.

On our way home I asked Bruce to pull over so I could take this shot of Lake Ivanhoe at sunset.

Thursday night, however, we went to Hillstones with Abbe who was tasked with seeing it while in Orlando. What a delightful young woman she is!

Of course I like anyone who praises my honey to the hilt. While B was in the restroom, she gushed over how much the girls in design love Bruce, as well they should is what I have to say about that! In very good news, the review of the plans for Plano went very, very well.

Actually I finally did leave the house on Thursday to return some library books. Who leaves the house in a driving rain? Me, that's who.

Actually, by the time I was at this intersection, the rain  had slowed down quite a bit, but what a storm before this! Blowing wind, and driving rain, are not ideal driving conditions, as you well know! I finally finished "The Girl on the Train" and what a thriller it was. I'm pretty sure my friend Bev told me to read this last year sometime; I should have listened to her then. Interestingly enough, the book, published in January 2015, is already a movie set to debut in October. Seems like that is a pretty fast turnaround to me.

Believe it or not, I'm still taking photographs like a madwoman, particularly while on my bicycle. Cheryle's garden is just spectacular this time of the year.

Everywhere you look there is a feast for your eyes. A few weeks ago I was made aware of something that just blew me away. During a Hill's Happy Hour, the talk turned to the tortoises on the same street. Say what? Well, I learned that the folks who bought a second lot behind their home, Dr. Yonfa's family, have for years and years housed a male and female tortoise in their lovely back garden. Immediately, upon hearing this news, I marched down the street to see it for myself. No dice that day, nor the ensuing days that I stopped to look. Well, finally I saw one of them on Friday afternoon.

Crazy, right? I'm pretty sure I heard Catherine say their is a baby tortoise as well. Unreal!

And finally I saw the owlets again. Last year, almost any day of the week I could find them readily but they have been so elusive this year.

Aren't they getting big? This was kind of fun to watch...

Pretty much all those downy feathers are gone now. In other wildlife news from Southern Oaks, last evening I got a text from Lisa about bats at their home on the other end of the street from the owls. What next?? She wondered if I wanted to photograph them for my nature photo challenge over on fb. Hmmm....maybe not.

I never did get into the discussion of sewing pattern sizes..good grief, no relation whatsoever to sizes that we all have come to know and love. Vanity sizing has not hit the sewing industry!

Trying to improve with practice,

Gail

No One

In the recent past, having a conversation with someone who will remain nameless, I asked "who cleans your house?" The answer--"no one," said with a straight face. Chuckling, I thought it wasn't too far off from an answer I might give! However, on occasion, I get my butt in gear, and make an attempt at cleaning, which is what I did very early yesterday morning. I like to think our home is tidy which is the way we are content. Putting away the everyday decorations, I got a little carried away with tidiness and when the time came to put everything back out I could NOT find where I had put multiple items, which was driving me pretty much crazy. During my searches for said lost items I came across these two amazing photographs of Bruce's Mom, and Dad.

Aren't they fantastic?? Doesn't he look like Elvis? Uncanny! Another thing I'd misplaced which was causing great chagrin was a box of tea Matt brought home from Bath, England. I'd searched high and low, as had Bruce. Apparently not high enough though; it was hiding in a bowl on the top shelf!

Good morning indeed!

Thinking of Matt, how cute is this box of notecards???

From the Library of Congress, they are copies of the original cards for famous literature throughout history. Not only are the cards fantastic, the envelopes are as well. Just large enough for a quick note through snail mail. Have you made your resolutions for the new year? If not, consider one where you send someone a personal note every month. It will make their day.

A blast from the past this blog post called Why Blog? is. What I wrote in December 2012 still holds true. Coming across it on my statistics page, what is really interesting is that I'd already planned to add a squirrel photo to today's post. This guy sat for the longest time on my bird feeder pole, waving his tail every which way. I thought it was to maintain balance, however, when I knocked on the glass door, he ran down that pole as quick as a wink!

Most of this week has pretty much been taken up with quilting. Since September 1987 I've kept these pages from Family Circle, but now they have found their way into the trash bin. And yes, they were this yellowed.

Called them modern back then, wonder how these blocks would be received today? The reason for the bin? The measurements on the card trick block were not accurate, thus my struggles. I guess I finally found the time to test it out? Speaking of modern quilting, the runner I made for Tom's folks is a version of this.

Taken at Wandering Stitches, the quilting is to die for--computer generated it is.

Monday night Pam and I attended a quilt guild meeting at the Marks Street Senior Center (!!). I forget sometimes that I AM a senior! Anyway, who knew there was so much to talk about?

Turns out there is a lot to talk about, including many opportunities for sewists? That, by the way, is the latest term for people who sew. (!) A representative from the VA hospital was there to receive beautiful newly made quilts from some of the guild members. As well, the woman below, whom Pam met at Master Gardeners, is giving a demonstration of the English paper piecing method. 

There were other demonstrations as well, including one on traditional piecing which is really what I've been doing this week with some fabric I'd purchased, who knows when. My intention is to give it to Project Linus. Should you wonder what that is all about, click on the link.

Although I've been making quilts for a very long time, I was by no means an expert. I may never become expert, but I do want to improve, which means taking my time. In the past I did not pay enough attention to all facets, beginning with the cutting. Accuracy really matters. In a book of patterns I chose the one Bruce most liked-- you can see it open on the table.

And, although in the past I've not been much of a pinner, I was this time. There are 21 large blocks, as well as 6 half blocks to make, which I did by chain piecing after pinning.

This is where that thread cutter shines--no chance of nicking your block with it! In truth, I was hoping not to make it quite so large as my machine quilting skills are in their infancy. So, I made about 15 blocks, setting them out on our bed to dream up a pleasing arrangement.

Not so fast Gail! Showing Bruce, he questioned me, after looking at the picture, and was he ever right! To make it all come together with the white forming another pattern, I had to make them all. And I did, finishing them late yesterday afternoon. The entire top is put together, and then it was time to figure out the backing. How I am every going to quilt it is beyond me, but I am going to give it a go. Not today though, as Pam, Lisa, and I, are going to the World Quilt Show at the Convention Center in a few hours. Will I be inspired or discouraged? We shall soon see.

I thought you would be happy to know that I called Corrine in Alabama and she is doing quite well under her daughter's care.  How is Herb you ask? I don't know, but the moment I do, I'll fill you in. It is pretty lonely in our section of the neighborhood with two empty houses across the way. Yesterday afternoon, when the weather warmed up a bit for a ride, I picked one of Corrine's hibiscus to put in my bike holder.

Bruce had to fly up to DC yesterday morning for the installation of some new wind screens--the former ones were too wimpy for that location. His job here in Orlando is in the demolition phase which should go on for another couple weeks. It is a really nice change having his job so very close!

Some of you know that son Bill is an amazing guitar player, having practiced like nobodies business for the last 20 years. Approached about doing some online guitar lessons on a website, they have been going very well. By day he is a banker, by night he is both a teacher, and a pitchman. Watching the video, I was struck by what a natural he is. Check it out!

Did I mention that my new table placement is amazing? An oversight on my part if I did not. Being able to work from both sides of the table is a game changer...

In the year 2016, perhaps when asked who cleans my house I will be able to say, someone? :)

Working on improving,

Gail