Some Old and Some New Photographs

Not to mention a few stories to go along with them!

As a follow up to my conversation with Joelle, I went in search of old photographs both here, and at Maureen's house, who is still not top notch, btw. At Maureen's I found nothing to speak of and at first I found not much to speak of here, that is until I remembered that Lisa brought over some photos.

Jackpot!!

The bottom right photograph, taken in August 1954, shows Joelle's Grandmother Ruth holding me. Please note the full head of hair on little miss eight month old! Anyway, what is so remarkable is that Joelle's birthday is only six days before mine, same year and everything, meaning not only did Ruth have a new step grandchild, she also had a granddaughter nearly the same age!

During our telephone conversation, Joelle talked about fishing with Grandpa Stahl in a pond on the farm...well, I guess so! With my sketchy memory, I have but a vague recollection of our trip to his farm in Missouri, way back in 1965. What I remember most is the fantastic tomatoes, which you could eat out of hand.

Above right, the Price girls during that trip with me wearing the dark blouse. Bottom left, the Price girls and their Mother in the middle of the middle row. Grandpa Stahl and Ruth are to my Mom's right, and his brother Ed and wife are on the left. I believe the young man in the foreground is named Eddie and you can guess who he belonged to. I wonder if he is still alive? We'll put Matt on that upon his return from Japan, where he and Tom are having a marvelous time, I might add.

I don't know about you but I LOVE old photographs. Just when you think your hair and clothes are the best, you go back, even ten years, and think to yourself...what was I thinking?? That said, I've been looking more and more like I am above, wearing headbands to keep the bangs back. I'm going to give it one more go over at Maureen's in the next few days, hopefully finding some more gold.

On with the new...make that a new project. that is anything but my best effort. and not because I did not want it to be. but sometimes the fabric has a mind of its' own. I wanted to try a new block called a half rectangle. finding an online tutorial that worked nicely. EXCEPT, and this is a big except, I could not for the life of me find anything about how to have the rectangles point the other direction. So, I cut up the lovely batiks given to me by Jane, Tom's Mum, along with some other fabric I already had, and here's what happened.

The two borders are now in place, the back is made (bottom left) and the binding (striped) waiting...next up, the quilting. We shall soon see how that goes.

Now here's something you don't see every day....

Yup, a dog on a Harley, dressed in leatherm which I suppose is fitting. The open zipper is for her head to pop through, and according to the driver, the goggles are to keep road debris from her eyes. I took this photo while having dinner with Sherri on Tuesday night at Johnny's Other Side while both Bruce and Jo were out of town. Before we got there, Sherri gave me either a late, or early, however you want to look at it, birthday gift, saying it looked just my style. What do you think?

Sadly, this morning, when I went out to ride, I discovered that I must have lost my flower yesterday. First I had a fake daisy, followed by a fake rose; I wonder what fakery I should get next? As well, this morning, no owls, no eagles. As always, it is hit or miss. Just when I thought I could not locate any of them on Tuesday, much to my surprise, one of the parents was out sunning, something I've rarely seen before.

Talk about sleeping with one eye open...

Mostly all I saw that day were pesky squirrels who are now having a hey-day with our brand, spanking new, recycling bins!!

Yup, they are chewing away on it, just as they did on Bruce's kayak, and our garden hose. Take a look at how they have gnawed away the green coating!

Some areas are much worse if you can imagine! I had the hose out because I was in the midst of planting more flowers in my "white" garden. I love the container which has some hints under the title, "what I need to succeed."

Wouldn't it be great if everything came with such handy suggestions? Looking at what I've planted, I've tried to mix flowers with both different textures, as well as greens. The New Guinea Impatiens have a glossy dark green leaf, the begonias, rather soft, and the new ones are what I guess I'd call, "regular green," if there is such a thing!!

New leaves grace the trees down the street in what I call, "spring green." So lovely.

Because my owls have gone AWOL for the last few days I've had to content myself looking elsewhere for amusement. Heading down the street to Lake Jennie Jewel, I discovered the bougainvillea are taking over everything, including the gate to our lake lot.

They, in the same vein as the yellow tabebuia, are somewhat gaudy in their show of color., don't you think? Blooming here, there, and everywhere!

As are these little guys which I think are really weeds; the bees sure like them, whatever they are.

Finally, in my last post I did not mention it because I was still in shock. Jordan collapsed. I read where, after the 12th hole, Jordan said to his caddy--"buddy, I think we are collapsing," which indeed describes what happened. So sad.

Dinner is nearly ready,

Gail

Some Serious Soakings

April showers bring May flowers? How about some late March showers? We knew we were in for some serious rain from these clouds on Thursday night.

Two inches fell, mostly in a very short time period; the rest came down softly throughout the night.

Fortunately for the cupola raising, the rain held off until around 6. Bruce worked from home so we could head over there by 1 PM, however, due to the terrible traffic we encountered on our way to Winter Park, it was already in full swing when we arrived. (no pun intended!)

Lifted by a skilled crane operator, the contractor is up there trying to make it fit just right.

New England Avenue was closed off for both safety and storage reasons. The copper dome was to go on next.

Except, the first structure had to be re-raised to get it on perfectly.

It was then that we decided to get some lunch on Park Avenue, a bad move on our part. Not only was the sandwich not so good, but the service was slow as well. By the time we walked back, the copper was in place. Soon thereafter, they raised a bucket to put on the finishing touch.

One last bucket raising with the pastor, the project manager, and the church administrator to bless the raising and it was complete.

With the storm clouds moving in fast and furious! Because we were so close, I asked B if he'd mind if we headed over to Kraft Azalea Gardens a few miles away. When you are a photographer, people are always suggesting places for you to go, for which I am grateful. Two friends made the KAG suggestion, so who was I to argue? The snowy egrets nest there, putting on a show year after year.

Because it is mating season, they sport the green mask you see by the bill. That said, there are plenty, and I mean plenty, of nests already, with parents keeping watch ,while others show off right next to them.

Spanish moss drapes from most every tree, both cypress and oak alike. Generally I don't think too highly of the anhinga, but this shot of one made me rethink that.

They too, are nesting in great numbers, generally higher up than the egrets. Did I mention how noisy it is with so many nesting birds? I should have, although Bruce napped in the car the whole time, so not enough to keep him awake. :)

Riding through Southern Oaks the next morning, the rain did a curious round up of all the fallen oak leaves on the streets, leaving them scrunched up like an accordion.

Then too, the rain did a number on all of the flowering trees, leaving carpets of blooms on both driveways and roof tops.

The blue sky you see was short lived, as more rain fell on both Friday, and Saturday. No drizzles here--driving rain totaling another two inches. The good news i,s after such a long dry spell, this should be great for both our parched lawn and my newly planted flowers.

Michelle brought us a sweet little Easter basket, the only candy to be found in this household!

Isn't it adorable? So cute, I hate to eat it!

About two weeks ago I decided to make a quilt for Fallon. Not for any special occasion really, but I know how much she loves the one I made for Bill a few years ago., loving to snuggle with it while watching television, even if it is not her colors. Knowing she likes all things blue, I began putting my fabric choices together, ending up with 23 different fabrics, many of which I've used in projects for others. After making all of the blocks I discovered it was getting way to big for this novice to quilt on her machine, so I had some leftover blocks that I put together in a baby quilt size. I began quilting and in a happy accident, I ended up with a quilting look I like. Really, I should tell you it was a dumb mistake on my part that I ended up being happy with.

Two lines of quilting adjacent to each other, followed by a space, which I'm sorry is not all that evident from the photo.

Finally, on my way to Wandering Stitches yesterday morning, I decided to check on the horses, finding only some cows. Now, before you think anything about my decision to post a cow photo, let me explain. In years to come, if anyone stumbles upon this blog, I've no doubt they will be hard pressed to believe that in the year of our Lord, 2016, cows were still present amongst us in Orlando. With the improvement in the economy, there is very little open land remaining. So there.

And you thought I only post bird photos! Well, cattle egrets don't really count, do they?

Happy Easter my friends! He is risen, He is risen indeed.

Not in my Easter bonnet, but a springy dress, in spite of the gloomy skies,

Gail

A Birth, a Death, and a Wedding

On Friday morning I went to a Mass of Christian burial for my friend Karen's Mom. Because I know at least five Karens you may be wondering which of those five this Karen might be. Well, she's one of the Karens I've known the longest. Apparently we met around 1982 when she first moved to Orlando from New Jersey. One of her first remembrances of me is coming to the hospital with all my little tow heads in tow. Haha--you will be hard pressed to ever read a sentence like that one again! Anyway, we both made x-ray our life work, well, she for much longer than I, but you get my drift.

For me, she is one of the first women I met who said she did not want to have children. At that time in my life,  I did not think a woman like that even existed! Coming from a family of six children, Karen had had her fill, while growing up, caring for her siblings while her Mom worked nights as a nurse. At the same time we met our friend Jeannette. Working at a small hospital we bonded over our love of reading, along with Karen's quick wit which is legendary. She always kept us laughing. Remember how I wrote about going to Mama B's last week? These are the girls who once we were all working together again at the small outpatient center got subs form there. I had Karen's baby brother Terry, take this shot of us, along with another friend, Joni.

Gail on the left, Jeannette, Karen, and Joni respectively. I had not been to a Catholic Mass since our Mom died in 2003 and I'd forgotten how lovely it can be. Plus, there was a killer soloist! What was so touching about this funeral is that the priest knew Karen's Mother so well. It is always sad when you can tell that the priest/pastor has no clue who the deceased is, don't you agree?

So, that was on Friday. Saturday afternoon I attended a baby shower in Kissimmee for Leslie and Tim's almost here baby, Leila. Leslie and Tim have been married for 15 years and for many, many of those years they tried to have a baby. Unlike Karen, having a baby meant so much to Leslie. Everyone was overjoyed when the dream finally became a reality. Now this is nothing against Hispanic folks, because I count many, many as my friends. That said, their sense of time is not my sense of time. Arriving at the appointed hour of two o'clock, the room was practically empty. Thank goodness Karen and Laura were there! Karen (!), was the receptionist of our x-ray department at what was then called Sand Lake Hospital, renamed since to Dr. P. Phillips Hospital. Because my mammogram room was adjacent to the main office we became great friends, despite our age difference. Well, perhaps our age difference is why both she and Leslie called me "Momma Gail." Although it has now been at least ten years since I worked there I've never forgotten the good times we had together. Laura took this of Karen and I in the nearly empty room twenty minutes after the start time.

I do believe I now have discovered someone who rivals me in the super squinty eyes when smiling category! When I quit working Karen's little girl Stephanie was but three years old. She's grown into quite an interesting teenager whose dream it is to be an astronaut!

What was super great about sitting beside Stephanie is she loves college football nearly as much as I do and kept checking her phone for scores of the day's big games for both of us to stay in the know.

Laura, a life long friend of Karen's, also had her struggles with having a baby. She, too, spent nearly ten years before she had her miracle baby...Gaby.

Aren't they beautiful!! Not just one miracle baby, but two, her eighteen month old son Matthew was born when she was 44. The wonders of modern medicine never cease to amaze.

Finally, right around 3:00, Leslie arrived along with 70 or so of her closest friends. Overwhelmed with emotion, she gave a heartfelt speech thanking everyone for their support throughout the long journey.

Going around greeting everyone, she especially loved up on Laura who, of all people understood what this pregnancy means to her. Not to mention Laura encouraged her for years!

So, can you guess what gift I brought to the occasion? Yep, I made a baby quilt. On September 29, I purchased the fabric,

working on it for a month. Originally I'd intended to go for pinks, but finding the cute little owl fabric at Hobby Lobby, I used that as inspiration for the other fabrics; knowing Leslie's love of purple, I used that for the backing. Piecing it by machine, I hand quilted the rest. As you can imagine, I was delighted to finish a week ahead of schedule. Here is the finished product from the front...

and from the back....

In spite of the fact that I'd spent a month working on it, I left before Leslie opened her gifts. Can you believe it? Hearing from Karen later, she said they finally left at 7:00! Leslie and Tim's baby girl will never lack for attention given the outpouring of love I witnessed on Saturday. :)

And then it was Sunday morning and time to get ready for the drive to St. Augustine for Monica and David's wedding. If you've ever been to East End Market here in Orlando, you probably have met them in person at their spot called Houndstooth Sauce Company. Maybe six or so years ago, Monica came into my booth at the market, and we immediately hit it off. We've had a mutual admiration society going on ever since. She has purchased pieces from me, and both Bruce and I have had her doing our hair for years now. A fun factoid about Monica is that she once was a stylist/makeup artist on the tour bus for NYNSC back in the day when Justin Timberlake was one of the members. David went to Alabama, thus the name of his company, making him a perfect fit as far as her Mom was concerned being from Alabama and all. Before leaving I realized that the Crate & Barrel box wasn't going to cut it for the wedding gift. Checking my stash, I found a paper that looked sort of weddingy, and began wrapping the box until I got to the ends. Bruce, being the expert wrapper that he is was called into action. Just before he came into the kitchen, putting my glasses on, I then discovered that it may have looked weddingy without them, however, with them on, it was wedding SHOWER paper. Now what? Green is what. Barely any ribbon in my stash, Bruce did what he could.

We took the highway as far as Flagler Beach, exiting so we could drive along A1A to see what we could see. It is still so warm there were plenty of folks at the beach.

And there was an ice cream shop directly across from this boardwalk making for a nice treat for the driver. The clouds you see darkened the further North we drove, turning to rain just outside of St. Augustine. Not great for an outdoor wedding. I imagined Monica stressing out with worry as the start time drew nearer.

Well, the rain held off, even if the dampness and humidity did not. David, with both his Dad and stepfather, looking down on the group.

Just before leaving, my friend Sue posted something on facebook about everyone taking photographs at a wedding, interfering with the ceremony. I took notice, and only have a few to share. Holding my camera low to the ground, most of them were out of focus, however, I do like this one of Monica with her Dad.

I wonder what the heck surprised her so? Here they are releasing butterflies at the conclusion of the ceremony.

The reception room was opened, and in we went to enjoy the remainder of the festivities. Seated at table seven, Monica put us with the Thomases. You may recall from the bridal shower that there are some long standing connections between our families. We had a ball with Tres and Teddie on this side of the table.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, unbeknownst to Monica, we also had a long standing connection with the family seated there. Talking to Maria, the matriarch of the group, our conversation somehow turned to the subject of twins. When I mentioned I had them, she asked me their names. Both of us about fell out of our chairs when we discovered how we were connected. Her daughter Carolina was one of David's first true loves in high school!!!! I can't remember why she broke up with him, but she did. He knew all of the girls in the family very well, so when they returned to the table their jaws dropped when they heard who I was! They agreed to a photo...

Carolina was not there, but on the far right is Maria who knew Matt. Can we just say it is a SMALL world after all?

What a joy this weekend was, celebrating with old friends, new births, both in heaven and on earth, and hopefully, until death do them part.

Now wasn't I a good little blogger keeping the words and pictures to a minimum? I can't promise there won't be more to come from this weekend, but for today, this is enough.

Rarely succinct,

Gail

Another Year, Another Merry Christmas

I don't know about you, but I was excited to give Christmas gifts this year. Lots of years I struggle with what to give, however, this year I felt pretty darn good about things. Although, I will say, with the internet replacing so much, gift giving has become way more difficult. Or, at least that is how I see it.

The stage is set:

When the children were young we had way more traditions, however, as years have gone by, mostly we just do what feels right at the moment. One thing that has stayed pretty much the same is the watching of "Love Actually", at some point or other before Christmas. This year, that watching fell on Christmas Eve, with the usual tears of joy at the end. Although we'd planned to go down to Lake Eola for a stroll with Jonathan and Alissa following said watching, the heavens opened with a big rainstorm. Instead, we watched another movie called "Stardust." Have you seen it? A very interesting fantasy romance.

Then it was Christmas morning; before long Matt called via Face Time from Melton Mowbray where he and Tom are spending the holidays with Tom's family. Well, that was fun, and modern too--opening gifts in front of the computer while Matt and Ray, Tom's Dad, watched. Tom and his mom Jane were intermittent guests on the call as they were mostly busy in the kitchen preparing a very ambitious menu planned by Tom. Mostly we think of grocery deliveries being done in big cities, however, it happens in small towns as well, according to Matt. Tom prepared the shopping list, and Sainsbury delivered. How cool is that? The dinner bell rang, and we signed off to begin the gift giving in Orlando.

Mr. Bruce opening a biggish box with small goodies:

In an effort to keep this post manageable, I'll show you more about that in a few days. Meanwhile, Alissa opened her new LOMO camera!

I was so excited when I found it at Nordstrom back in July making the wait for her reaction a long one. There was talk about buying the film needed for this cool camera, that is up until she opened another little bag with five rolls. As well, I found a place in Austin, coincidentally very near their home, that develops film. So, a gift certificate for that as well. She takes fantastic photos with anything she gets her hands on, so I can't wait to see what she does with this.

Jon boy is hard as the dickens to buy for--his take away was not great, but he did get a few fun gifts including this neat little thing I found.

Unfortunately he's purchased a larger phone so this is mine inside. There is a little stand to hold it up--super fun.

Around two in the afternoon, the twins and their lovelies came over for round three of our gift exchange. When they came in David asked Michelle if she wanted some champagne--taking him aside, I asked that he wait just a few minutes, and he would then see why. Remember the tree flood? Well, one of the gifts requiring re-wrapping was the one to Dave and Michelle from Matt and Tom, and I knew it was champagne flutes. What I did not know was how incredibly chic they were because I only glanced at it when Bruce was wrapping it again. Well, Michelle went crazy for them....

The reason you can't really see the glass? It is because it is BLACK like her sweater! With a gold stem no less. What's most remarkable is that when they were purchased in London, Matt had no idea that she was going to a gold and black color scheme in their living area! Why I should have been surprised that they were going to be chic was just plain dumb; anyone who has ever received a gift from Matt will concur on that.

I, on the other hand did know about the scheme, and with that in mind, I made them a quilted throw for their sofa. As you can imagine, I was dying for her to open it. The main pieces are machine pieced, with the quilting and binding done by hand.

I'll tell you what--that quilting kept my hands busy while I watched some of those close FSU football games! Otherwise I would have been a nervous wreck!

Our son David has a massive wrestling card collection, so anytime I find something new to add to his wrestling obsession, I buy it. He seemed to be pleased with a new book.

They brought along Ginger who was "dressed" for the occasion.

Bill and Fallon asked me to take their photograph by the tree--one of the only posed photos I took throughout the day.

You may have noticed that all of the men are wearing short sleeves with the ladies in long. The weather was mostly dreary (what else is new this winter?), but it was much cooler than the 80 degree weather of the previous day, thus Bruce built a fire, enjoyed by all. Fires are generally few and far between.

For the most part, I'm not one to buy things for myself while shopping for others. This year I made an exception. While looking for a big blue pot at Palmer's Garden Center for Bill, I came across a super cool vase that I just had to have. It is pictured on the windowsill, along with a fantastic card from J & A purchased at MOMA this summer while they were visiting New York. Alongside that are some adorable English egg cups from Matt and Tom. Will they be used for eggs? Probably not. Will they be used to brighten my mood every time I look at them. For sure.

After that it was time to head to Lisa's house for the extended family Christmas which is a post for another day.

Happy two days after Christmas 2014,
Gail