Christmas Cards

Generally, I like to have my cards done by now, but what with all the decorating, selling, and shopping, I only just began the other evening, getting about ten done before calling it quits for the night. But, while doing so, I came to a name that I swore I must have misspelled in my address book. Because we receive cards from these folks I knew I might still have one from a previous year that I could check. You see, it is hard for me to throw the cards away. Often times they sit in one of the end table drawers for a few years, then I go through them, reminisce, and only after that am I able to put them in the recycling bin. Much to my delight I hadn't thrown them all away, and what a treasure trove I found. Here's one I'll probably always keep just because it is so wonderful.

The truth is that most of the cards for purchase use poor quality paper, with both silly images and sentiments. It is very hard to find a memorable Christmas card, or at least it is for me. The stack contained some other gems, including one from Bruce's mom that I will never throw away either. Furthermore there was one from my Mom's best friend that's a keeper too. As it turns out, I did have the correct spelling of Neil which does not follow the "i" before "e" rule except after "c."

More and more people are skipping the tradition, and I think that's a shame. Some might be doing so because of the expense, but even at our poorest, I always sent cards. They tell the story of your life, and those you know and love. As does my address book. Years ago I finally realized that penciling in the names and addresses was the way to go because some folks move a lot, including our son Matthew who since leaving home has lived in Tallahassee, Atlanta, Chicago, and now London where he has remained the longest; I can't see him leaving London anytime soon! I've yet to erase those who have died, or for that matter, divorced. Perhaps I should, but it is all part of the story...

Probably because of the poor quality of available cards, more and more people are sending their own including multiple photographs of either themselves, or their children. One that came this year was from Bruce's former boss who nearly died of Lymphoma. He's his former boss because he's taken a new position at Darden. The photographs show he and his wife enjoying a trip to Italy, something that seemed like an impossibility a year ago.

Have I made my case? Probably not, but what the heck, I tried!

In other news, where do you suppose pictures go that don't load into Picasa? Last night, uploading some from my Nikon, which included some photos of shutters I want Bill to use on his new house, they simply disappeared. I've re-booted multiple times, thinking perhaps they got caught up somewhere, but no dice. The card also contained some amusing decorated yards, which seem to be lost in cyberspace. Good thing I had taken this one with my Olympus when I went to get orange juice. Located a few blocks from Red Hill grove, it is astonishing to me how they fit so much onto one yard!

Because I took it out my car window, and because I had a fixed lens, you are only seeing the half of it!

I don't know why it is that I so like cute snowmen, having never once seen one in person, but I do. Dropping off some shirts at the dry cleaners the other day I came across this,

except it was only on the red counter. Because my Olympus is always in my handbag,  I had to get a shot of it. Trying my best not to include the clutter of the surroundings, it was not working, until, and that's a big until, this nice young woman,

said, "I have an idea, I'll hold up one of our bags behind it!" Now that's a plan! Remember the old Cheers song about where everyone knows your name? That would be the folks at Spencers Dry Cleaners who are all just as friendly as can be. I was reminded of something that happened about four or five years ago. It was the day I took an image at home that I thought was SO GOOD that I actually printed it on my home printer, something I never do, and took it with me to show them!!! Basically, Bruce must have been out of town, and I was so excited, I wanted to show it to somebody! I just checked my book, and my hunch was right--it has sold more than 60 times. Now, if I could just do that again!

Strawberries are in season again,

taken this past Sunday at the market. You can pretty much always buy spinach and green onions, but I thought this turned out nice, so I'm including it as well.

Something is going haywire with Blogger today, and frankly I've had enough of it. Perhaps it is because they want to make all my photos, "Auto Awesome", or so the notification states. Thanks Google, but I just want my photos back!

Because this is such an odd post, I guess I'll throw this one in for good measure. A sunflower that has seen better days:

I just checked the preview of this post and I don't see one sparkly image amongst them, making me think Google is having a bad day. Hope you have just the opposite.

Now, off to begin the wrapping marathon......

Slowing it Down

For what seems like months, I've been moving in the fast lane--busy, busy, busy. This week, or so I hope, I'm slowing things down a bit. You might be tempted to think I have a full time job. Well, to tell you the truth, sometimes it feels that way only there is WAY LESS pay involved!

Here's our  little guy who definitely knows how to live the slow life:

Sniffing around the beds is about as hard as life gets for Mr. Baxter. Before her last visit, I asked the groomer to cut his hair a little short around the face, and she definitely took my instruction to heart, so much so that, if you can imagine, he did not look nearly as cute as you've come to expect. The leaves are falling like mad, and although the yard looks wonderful after Bruce spent two full hours on it yesterday while I was at the market, the pool, not so much. Tomorrow I'll tackle the house and pool after about a week of neglect.

Are you wondering how FAVO went? Wonder no more my friends--it went well. Looking at my watch during the night I was surprised it was already 8:35. Why's that? Well, when you have loads of guests, the time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking into your future.....

Earlier in the day Bruce, mostly with me watching, hung the pieces while I set up the table for the snacks. Granted, not a fair trade, but hey, he's much better at it than I am! Plus, he likes to do it. You don't see me much in jeans, but the morning was chilly.

Oftentimes when I'm having "guests", I over-think the food. In a rare instance, I thought: brownies, roasted pecans with rosemary, a new delicious recipe, and a big bowl of ripe strawberries, speaking of which check out the amount of strawberries Bradley (the produce guy) had for sale at the Winter Garden Market on Saturday:

There is a little bit of someone's head peaking out--do you see it? All gone in a few hours! But, I digress....

They prefer that we not serve wine at FAVO; while chatting with Matthew, he suggested some Italian fruit sodas, which I purchased, served chilled, and everyone seemed to like very much. Good call Matt! After filling the bowls, I took one little walk around the village to see what others were showing. Brandy, my sweet friend, is encouraging me NOT to take her photo:

Behind Brandy you see the tables where the visitors eat their "food truck fare." Bill, David, and Michelle came and thought the food was great, the atmosphere and space nice. Whew! It's always good to have your children's approval. After everyone left, we took it all down, packed the vehicle and got home around ten at which time I had a glass of wine. :)

Dragging myself up in the morning I did Winter Garden, came home, did my photo album, and an order, the bane of my existence!  After last weekend, and Friday night, a few of my baskets contained some very slim pickings. I was in bed by 8, asleep by 8:30 and did not get up until 6:30 Sunday morning. Now that is a long time to sleep isn't it? I rue the day that I ever have trouble sleeping.

Sunday was nice weather, slow sales, all to be expected. I tried hard not to think about how the same time last year I was selling like mad at the Mount Dora Art Festival. :(  The Super Bowl party we were invited to canceled Saturday afternoon, and truth be told, I was fine with that because Bruce had to leave early this morning. The game was pretty dramatic in more ways than one! I'm no fan of commercials, no matter how clever. The half-time show--a big blah to me. Those girls need to wear more clothing in my opinion. There was a time when if you wanted to see girls dressed like that while performing you had to go to Las Vegas. I'm not going to get all preachy, but seriously, impressionable children watch the game...

Before I left for a litany of errands this morning, I got back on my bike. You've already guessed the weekend was a bust in that regard. Well, drum roll please....

So, I'm riding along Pershing Avenue, noticing how close it is to turning over, so I stop to take this photo. Well, duh--here's what happened when I got back on a pedaled a bit:

So, I begin again....by the time I arrived home, the odometer reads 1.4 miles. I wonder how long it will take me to get the second 1,000 under my belt, or maybe I should say, under my bottom?

On my way to the library today I took this photo of the performing arts center which is coming along. Once completed, it may be fun to go back and take a look at some of the photos I've taken during construction. I'm super curious to see how the roof feature turns out.

Dearest ones, I'm still tired. I'm calling it a post, eating some dinner and heading to bed with a book of short stories from Ron Rash. He's the bomb.

Gail

p.s. Matt and Tom arrived safely yesterday, today--who knows with the time difference. They are here. In a short message, Matt said he had loads of fun reliving his childhood while body surfing in the Arabian Sea--a far cry from Cocoa Beach.

It's Good to be a Peck

People have asked me for years if I miss having a daughter. Of course, you can't miss something you've never had, but they ask nonetheless. I'm from a family of five girls, and one brother, so I knew more about girl stuff when I was young. Now I know more about boy stuff; it has been a wonderful education.

In our family everyone has their specialty, or obsession, some might say. Bruce, of course, can invent and build anything you could ever want. Matt, well, he can do just about anything he sets his mind to, but his obsession is music. He has probably been to over 200 concerts in his short life and with living in London now, well--it's paradise for a music lover. Bill can play guitar like nobodies business, thus www.bill-peck.com. He got so fabulous because as a young teen he would play for eight hours a day. Hmmm..tough on the family sometimes but..that's what families are for. David is our finance guru; he can, and does, talk the pants off anyone about stocks, options, annuities, well you get the picture. And then there is Jonathan, our little computer wizard. He is always there when I need an answer about the computer. So you see, what more could a modern girl want in a family.

Speaking of Matt, he turned us on to something called Last.fm. It is a site where you can personalize your musical tastes and it will play music you like on your computer all day long. Get it?--the last fm radio you will ever need. Now that I'm not doing math homework I like to listen to his personal station imagining him listening in London at the same time.

Yesterday I heard a song on there called, Too Tough to Die. I guess that about sums it up for me. Naturally, when you are told by a doctor that you have a terminal illness it is a real blow, even if they are mistaken. Those are words that tend to stay with you. We all know it is inevitable, but still we don't want to hear it!

Some beautiful Plant City strawberries today--the last of the season.

How about that Internet?

In Humanities we have been studying the period when Gutenberg invented movable type and the impact it has had on history. I'd say we are in a period like that right now with the influence the web has made on our times. In the future, students will be studying our use.

I have been working on a little grouping of growing fruit; Bruce wanted me to add strawberries to the mix ; I went to Google to searchfor a farm nearby. Sure enough, I found one in Oviedo, a suburb of Orlando. It used to be all farm land and such, however, that way of life is almost a thing of the past as people move further out of the city center for affordable housing. Anyway, it is the country to me, and I took advantage of what is left of the rural life. I not only picked strawberries--something I have never done, but I came across horses and cattle that I photographed. I might as well before it is all gone!

On my return trip I stopped at a sandwich shop called--Big Apple Bagels. The counter help had an Irish accent ; I asked her where the name of the shop came from. She explained it meant New York, to which I replied: yes, I'm aware of that, but surely you are not from there. She explained that she and her husband were living in England and found the shop to buy on the Internet. Who knew that folks would leave the safety of their homeland to buy a bagel shop in Oviedo? The Internet is surely changing the way we live.

Tomorrow is Matt's departure.