It is My Job to Notice Things!!

Wednesday, after dropping Cheryle home after our trip to Costco, where regular gas was only $2.88/gallon by the way, I noticed hundreds of these fuzzy balls in her driveway.

They even outnumbered the fallen acorns, which is really saying something. Imagine my surprise the next day to come across this in the Orlando Sentinel. If you click on the link you'll learn more about them, including that they harbor baby WASPS! Who knew?

Meanwhile in her backyard the Plumeria tree has a gorgeous multi-flower bloom.

It goes without saying, well wait a minute, I'm saying it....anyway, the fragrance is just as marvelous as the appearance.

The other day I remembered that my Panasonic has some settings I've not explored for some time, including a retro setting, which I used to photograph Sunday's market just to change things up a bit.

I tried it around the house after making a pumpkin bundt cake.

You know what we've had for breakfast today!

Yesterday, on my way to pick up some prints, I was compelled to turn around after driving by this scene. Honestly, a truck as tall as a house?

Apparently they put the giant out front, reserving the side driveway for the mini car? There is just so much that contradicts in the above photo that I had to document the sighting. You just never know about folks, an old VW owner with a truck half the size of a house? What are these giants called anyway?

Furthermore I noticed this on a residential fence near the corner of Virginia and Bumby.

Occasionally when people discover,( usually by my telling them,) that I've been writing a blog for nearly eight years, their first question is "what is about?" Well, anything that you can think of? Seriously, I never really know how to respond. Any ideas?

I've got a few clever Halloween yards to show you!

From across the street I did not even see the skeleton in the hammock! This one, while not so clever, holds interest as well.

Our daughter-in-law joined the Junior League of Greater Orlando this year to be more involved with our community. To tell you the truth, she is the first person I've known to be a part of this organization which once held the reputation as a place for debutantes. Do debutantes still exist? Anyway, that reputation is a stereotype that has been shattered around here. Thus, because everyone else in the family were participating in the Halloween Hustle, Bruce and I decided to join them for the 5K on Thursday evening. We met the gang at a field adjacent to Lake Baldwin. Our niece Katie, and my sister Lisa, as we waited for the race to begin.

Katie is the pro in our family, having run in both the Paris, and New York City, marathons in the past. Lisa, while not on Katie's level, also has experience running, whereas you already know that neither Bruce, nor I, are runners, however, we can walk, and walk we did.

There was a good sized crowd out to raise money to combat childhood hunger. The weather was absolutely perfect with a slight chill in the air. I didn't hear the first place winners time, however, second place was 17 minutes and something. We managed to walk it in that time PLUS 40 extra minutes! Afterwards we went to Gators Dockside for food and drink where a good time was had by all.

The great thing about having such a long running blog is multi-faceted. One feature I see, but you don't, is a place where I see what posts people are clicking on for whatever reason. I'm oftentimes amused at the key words that people type in that bring them to my blog. Then there are the titles I see that people are reading. I, too, can search, and most recently I did a search for unusual acorn drop which I knew I'd written about before. Sure enough, I discovered one in 2010, a month or so before the coldest winter we've had in anyone's recent memory. I would link to that post, however, I've discovered another post that I'd obviously forgotten I'd written, although looking back, it was pretty good, AND, without a single photograph, if you can believe that! Written before helping Jonathan and Alissa with their move from Chicago to Austin. As to the cost of gas? I recently found my notebook with the log--I was pretty darn close--$79.00. (By the way, I never include a link that I don't find worthwhile. :) )

So, that's what's been in my radar for the last couple of days. What's been in yours?

Busy Little Beaver

Yep--that's me these days. I don't know about you, but I want to do more than time allows. Between cooking, taking pictures, my business, sewing, reading, and the list goes on, I am having to really discipline myself to get it all in! No complaints mind you, I'm a very lucky gal!

To top it all off, I went and signed up for bridge lessons with Trish. Monday afternoon, when she was dropping me back by the house after our session at Sherwin Williams, she mentioned she and some friends were going to lessons at the Bridge Center on Bennett Road. Gosh, I thought, that brings back memories of my parents. Why not? Well, I up and did it, joining about twenty other folks for group lessons. We'll get more into that as the eleven remaining weeks progress, but suffice it to say, when I left I thought--Gail, just what were you thinking??? Memory and strategy are the two most important skills needed to play bridge, which as we all know, I'm lacking in both.

So, here's the new table, along with the new chair on the left side of the picture. Bruce discovered it in Ikea and knew I would love it.

This, of course, was taken during my marathon print signing session. Better light soon. And just for fun, here's a neat little photograph of my sewing machine.

 

Get this: I've got a job interview on Friday morning. No, I'm not going back to taking x-rays, but of all things, I got an email yesterday asking me to set up an interview with the editor of a local magazine. For now, let's leave it at that. Hmmmmm.....

Although that stack of prints above looked like a lot, and it was a lot, it's not enough for me. 113 prints my friends. After preparing them all, I counted them. It struck me as kind of amazing that I sold 25 more than that whole stack at the Winter Park Autumn Art Festival. Because they were leaving the booth one by one, the sales figure was just a number. Seeing them stacked like that made it real. My long time readers, along with myself, can hardly imagine how far we've come in our journey. Above, I wrote that I was lucky, but what I really am is blessed, beyond reason.

Moving away from the serious for a moment, I wanted to share this little idea I read in a magazine the other day. The article was mostly about getting your cupboards, closets and drawers organized;  the author suggested freezing little ketchup packs, like you get with fast food, to put on little cuts/bites. Clever idea, don't you think? I have been organizing a bunch---gotta start the new year off right. Bill was over for a bit last night with promises to come clear out his old closet. I've heard that line before, so I'm not holding my breath. On the other hand, it would be nice.

In fact, last evening I had every intention of writing, but he hung around for a while which made me happy. Don't get to see my "boys" often enough.

This was my early supper last night:

I thought the colors were so pretty I naturally had to get out my camera! The napkin is one of two I made the other day out of some of the original fabric that was to be Matt's quilt. Once I'd sewn all the strips together I realized I'd made a mistake on my fabric choices. See below to agree with me.

To the left of the table is the large canvas of my food coloring experiment, one of two,  I'll be delivering this afternoon to the Church Street Exchange building to be hung in the window, maybe along the Garland side. With the opening of the new arena, there are more folks down there walking past the buildings. Turns out the mayor asked Dana if she could have some art hung there. Because I know Dana, and because she manages the complex is was pretty much a slam dunk. Actually, a woman named Lisa who once had a gallery space in City Arts Factory is the one who is in charge of it. After sending her some images, she chose some large colorful pieces (six total) that will hopefully grab people's attention. You'll be the first to see the hanging once it's done.

The Big Night has Arrived!

October 13, 2009 is arguably the biggest night of my new career so far or at least it has the potential to be. It's nearly 4 and here's what I feel like:

Actually after returning from the museum I went out back to tidy things up a bit. The trees are dropping all manner of berries, leaves, and needles and the deck was getting a bit messy. Finally I've gotten the hang of the pool cleaner which does a terrific job on the bottom but the top of the water still requires attention. While removing some of the debris I noticed this large leaf twisting and turning in the water. Naturally, yours truly had to get her camera. The pool is the backdrop of countless photos, so why not a leaf, I ask you? Anyway a little later I was viewing what I'd taken and thought it might have the makings for an interesting collage. And yes, I feel a bit adrift with swirling emotions at the moment.

Everyone I know is telling me to just be myself and all will be fine. Oddly enough, when I arrived at the museum today, Karen was hanging the latest show which happens to be a photography exhibit. I only have seven pieces showing at the Comma Gallery, whereas this man has 25. The difference is, he's been at it for 30 years--not 2 1/2! Anyway we were critiquing his stuff and that's what will happen for me tonight which I'm unaccustomed to. Oh well....let the evening begin, the sooner the better!

Three Faces

The weather was gray and dreary yesterday morning during our set up with rainstorms predicted during the day. This always makes one leery of setting up but set up we did. Bruce put up the sides just in case. This always takes longer than you want. As well Mr. Roger was a bit behind in getting me some new baby canvases. We planned our display including them and hung the walls accordingly. Mr. Roger arrived and Bruce set to work putting wires on them. He has to use our table to do this so the browse baskets were on the ground or in a chair. Much to our surprise people started coming to the market early, going through the baskets wherever they were. I had six sales before we were even ready. As you can well imagine I was not complaining!

One of the buyers was a woman who loved the picture below. She was returning to Philadelphia later in the day so couldn't purchase it. Additionally she really needed a portrait orientation piece. Of course, I'd taken it that way and our agreement was for me to email her the image and if she liked it we will ship it. It is one of my most popular images and I don't think you've ever seen it.

As we've discussed in the past I'm always having photographers want to talk technicals, an area I'm woefully unqualified to discuss. They ask me how I got this image etc., etc., etc. I think some of them don't believe that I don't have any special lighting, photoshop, or that I take so many pictures with a point and shoot. You can see for yourself how this was accomplished--very professional, huh? While looking for the portrait version I found this:

So now you know my secrets.

Arriving home after a good day (no rain!), I found two new shelves over my desk Bruce installed during my absence. I was surprised and thrilled. The light is poor right now or I'd show you my new set up. Bruce is so great at displays as you can see from the picture of his desk. He set mine all up and it is wonderful! What a man!

He's off to Pennsylvania this morning, heading to both Erie, and Pittsburgh. He plans a side trip to Falling Waters, a place he's always wanted to see. Unfortunately the tours are not running during the week in the winter but hopefully we'll be able to head there when the weather warms up a bit. When Matt lived in Chicago he made sure we saw all sorts of great places, one of which was Frank Lloyd Wright's studio in Oak Park. We didn't have adequate time to tour the studio, however, we will have to get back there on a visit to see Jonathan and Alissa.

Speaking of them--they are way, way over this winter. It seems interminable this year. The snow of last year was a great novelty for Florida kids--this year not so much!

I wonder what photographic opportunities will come my way today?

Finally, for Valentine's Day Bruce surprised me with a super cool vase and silk orchids from Crate & Barrel--another addition to my office space. My stomach hurt big time when I returned from Saturday's market and stayed that way all evening so we stayed home. No worries--it is VD around here all the time!

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Listening to: Snow Patrol - How To Be Dead
via FoxyTunes

Many Hats

Here is the hats and glove I promised--very cool right?

Yesterday I wore many hats, unfortunately pain was one of them. Boo hiss!
Neverthetheless, here's what I was up to:

Student--I started the day this way as I was hurting too much to do anything else. I did not go to Speech class as our professor was speaking at a conference. We were to research topics for our upcoming speeches. She told us about a website--whysanity.net that has lots of movie monologues. I printed out about eight and I'll choose from those. As well we have to give a historic speech which we also have to bring in. I think I will do Conan O'Brien's commencement address to Harvard. Jonathan shared it with me some years ago and it is hilarious. It is probably too long but we'll see what she thinks. It certainly fits the situation. First thing about giving speeches--know your audience.

Homemaker--Fridays are when I do my housework. I only do laundry once a week, vacuum, change the sheets--you know what I'm talking about. I managed to get it all done albeit a bit slower than sometimes. I did some ironing as well.

Patient Advocate--What do I mean by that? A neighbor's daughter-in-law has just been
diagnosed with breast cancer and she asked me if I would chat with her. She came over and we visited for a while. What a nice woman--she is 39. Let me just say right off that she does not have breast cancer that kills. She has VERY EARLY breast cancer which complicates decisions she must make. We had lots in common so I think she felt comfortable with me. I talked to her just like I used to talk to my patients--basically giving her the inside scoop. I feel terribly sorry for people who must navigate the medical maze without help. I gave her my e-mail address so she could write me if she has further questions. I was happy to help.

Photographer--Maureen came over to buy the print for the wedding gift. I picked up my order on Thursday morning and was quite pleased with what I got. I hope the recipient is happy with her selection. As well I had to sign all of them which takes awhile. Let us hope that some get sold tomorrow.

Lastly Wife--We normally go out on Friday nights but I was just too tired. I made a very simple dinner of Parmesan chicken breasts with a pasta dish with broccoli. I was doing ok but when we went to bed violent retching took over my body--you guessed it, had to take some medicine. DAMN!!! Please forgive me for any errors in this post.