So Long 2020

I would say it has been nice to meet you 2020, but that would be only partly true. Who wasn't looking forward to my birthday this year, what with it being the last day of 2020? And now that the vaccine roll out has begun, dare we imagine that when my 68th birthday rolls around, we will be back to "normal." Let us hope so.

As is always the case with us, there is a lot going on and I suspect the same holds true for everyone reading this blog post. So, where do I begin to document the final days of 2020 and the start of what we hope will be a happy new year? 

Why not begin with a favorite topic in this space which all of you know starts with the letter B? 

Patty knows my favorites and her generous Christmas gift was a welcome one. Beautifully illustrated with loads of interesting information, it is a real gem of a book.

We played pickleball in the morning of my birthday followed by lunch. So? Well, I'd asked Bruce not to get me anything, saying instead that I wanted a sub from Jersey Mikes which was as delicious as I'd hoped, followed by a mini carrot cake from Publix. 

The book in the foreground is a gift from Jonathan and Alissa and it, too, is a real gem that I've already learned a lot from. As well, they gave me a set of two pickleball paddles which we put to use right away.

As a matter of fact, they were a big hit with several of the ladies who tried them out as well. I neglected to mention that when we returned to our condo, a beautiful arrangement was waiting from Bill and Fallon.

Meanwhile David and Michelle were showering me with gifts including alerting Bruce that they had put in an order for pizza for our dinner. Seriously? We did not open the MAGNUM of 2012 Cabernet to go with our pizza, a treat for another, dare I say, week? Several days anyway!

Adding to all of the above excitement, the Robins returned and brought along a few of their Cedar Wax Wing friends!!

I was thinking it was early for them both, but checking back in my blog, my thinking was off. There was a cacophony of bird song as hundreds of them were flitting through the trees.  As you can well imagine, this blogger was stoked! The same holds true to seeing the otter who has been mostly absent for a while.

Speaking of absent, I was thrilled and worried when I saw the American Kestrel pair at the site of last years nest that the chick fell from. One of these days I'm gong to get a super good shot of them!

While I am on the topic of being worried for a bird, while out photographing the sunrise Sunday morning, I was seriously dismayed to see another Anhinga with a compromised beak.

I watched for a while as it tried to free itself by rubbing it on the branch,

however, no success was forthcoming. The day was gloomy, albeit very warm, and for a while I forgot about it. That is until about one in the afternoon when I thought to go check it and there it was, in the same place. I put a call into Audubon explaining that it was on a branch hanging over the lake. She had me call Orange County Animal Welfare; after waiting for a person for 16 minutes, I explained the situation. They said because the beak was effectively closed that it was an emergency and they would send someone out within the hour. They were true to their word, however, when she arrived with a net on the end of a short pole I knew it was a waste of time.

Amazingly, it is three days hence, well, really, almost four, and the bird is still alive, but for how much longer is anyones guess. Should he ever come onshore we will do, and that we actually means Bruce (!), what we can to save it. I'm guessing, since this is the second time we have come across this, it is fairly common for these birds with a crazy sharp beak. 

Oops, I forgot to warn you that there are loads of photos in this post!! Carry on...

As is our custom, on new year's day we took our tree down and frankly, it was not a moment too soon as the branches continued both dropping needles and drooping so low the ornaments were on the ground.

Needles galore!!

Together we removed and packed all of the lights and ornaments, followed by Mr. Peck cutting about a foot off the top of the tree. (10' ceilings)

He then grabbed the trunk, pulled it out through the sunroom and out the back door with force,

leaving hundreds of needles in his wake!

Aren't we lucky we have the grass behind us? Some units are not quite as fortunate.

While he was hauling it out front and putting it atop of his car to take down to the site where they are collected, I did the clean up, at the same time doing laundry. We do love beginning a new year with a clean slate, however, I am no longer the worker I once was. Between the tree, laundry, and several hours of pickleball, I was pooped and finally sat down with a glass of wine to rest. While I did love that tree, it was nice being able to, once again, see the lake. 

The Edison book, pictured on the table, has been so interesting that I'm about half way through it already. 

Don't you just love winter clouds?

I would say that for the last two months, our duck population has been almost nonexistent, a fact that had me in a bit of a snit, however, I am happy to report that while typing this I have seen about a dozen out of my bedroom window. Yup, the ducks are back! 

The air is dry and chilly and in other good news, we finally had a Cardinal come for refreshments!

It had been seemingly forever since a Northern Cardinal visited, making me especially happy to see this bright red gentleman. Hopefully he will bring his lady friend soon.

I'd planned on more photos, but how about I save the others for a rainy day? 

Edison is calling. 

your friend,

Gail

Year Ten

On the first day of the New Year, Mr. Peck mowed the lawn.

Not that he wanted to, mind you, having done so only two weeks ago, but this warm winter has kept everything growing at an alarming rate. Not alarming as in scary, more so, alarming as in, "damn, can we get a break from looking after the yard?"!

Meanwhile, Mrs. Peck busied herself with returning the house to it's pre-Christmas decor. That silly husband of mine takes forever to get into the Christmas spirit, so it always surprises me when he is dismayed when the holidays are over. 😞 I can't say as I blame him because our tree this year was wonderful, however, it was time, as the poor limbs were drooping and brittle. Perhaps because I kept it lit non-stop for three weeks? 700 lights baby!

You know what a home body I've been of late, but when you have company, it is time to break the routine. During Jonathan and Alissa's visit we saw, not one, but two movies, having seen none by ourselves during the last eight months. One I was wild for....LaLa Land, the other was a stretch for me. My first ever Star Wars movie, and, as you can imagine, I was terribly confused throughout.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

One of the bright sunny days, we drove to DeLand to visit Blue Springs in hopes of seeing the manatees. As it is on the way, we stopped first at Ginnie Springs in DeBary. Seeing this photograph you'd be hard pressed to think of it as a spring, but indeed, that is what it is.

I know, it looks like a lake, right?

Arriving at Blue Springs, the guard at the gate said there were no manatees seen that day. Warm temperatures =warm river=no need for the manatees to come into the springs to warm up. Well, now what? Having driven the 35 miles there, we decided to visit anyway. Look what we saw!

And then there was this:

Here is a young woman who likes to take photographs as much as I do.

So, the title of today's post is "Year Ten," which might confuse some of you. Here's the thing; this blog is soon to be celebrating ten years of existence which is sort of mind boggling, isn't it? In year one I had a little point and shoot Panasonic that Bruce had given me for Christmas two months prior. The story is familiar to most of you, but to those of you new to this blog, I started selling photography in March of 2007 at Bruce's insistence, showing photographs taken with my "baby camera." At the time it was practically a sin to sell photography shot with a point and shoot camera. Fast forward ten years, and much to my amusement, every where you look people are using essentially a point and shoot camera and some are even celebrated for doing so!

While admiring the scenery, standing along a deck railing, you know who, let her sunglasses drop out of her hand! Yup, those prescription ones. "Honey", I called out, "I need help." Mr. Peck to the rescue, climbing through the fencing, he crawled down the ten foot bank, snatching them up for his longtime girlfriend.

Having accomplished our mission of seeing some manatees, albeit a very small number, we headed home, stopping along the way at the Maitland Art Center. Having been there before many times, I got ahead of the pack, and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but this coolness!

It never ceases to amaze me, how clever folks are. Who would have thought of making a metal dress? I guess it has been done before, armour comes to mind, but seriously, too good for words. Eventually the youngsters found it too.

Oh wait...one of them has his eyes toward a phone screen, a familiar sight all week!

Okay, who can believe that our son Matthew made this sweater?

I had Jon boy take my photograph (cringe), to show it off! That is not the only orange gift I received though. How about this snazzy new ironing board from Bill and Fallon?

If you could have seen the one this replaced you would laugh at how wimpy it was. I am well aware that some folks would think this is an unlikely Christmas gift, however, I asked for it, and they delivered. Anyone who sews knows just how vital a good ironing surface is to their craft.

Fashion Square, where we saw Rogue One, continues the steady decline of the last ten years. In the photo below, can you spot the three people who are visiting together?

Actually, it is really sad to see a place, once so vibrant, become a shadow of its former self. That said, you cannot beat the movie ticket prices.

Following the movie, we stopped for lunch at the newly located Se7en Bites, a spot that is sort of Austin-like. As expected, they liked it. How about this? Me taking a photograph of Alissa, taking a photograph, while a muralist is at work.

She is so darn good with her iPhone, whereas I'm terrible, preferring my Olympus every time over my phone.

Just when we think our computers are so smart, this comes up on my desktop. If I closed it, would it mean I wasn't having my birthday the next day?

Should you be a college football fan, like those residing in this household, you know what I'm talking about--lots of football to watch last week, including our own Florida State Seminoles who played a thriller, winning in the last second over Michigan. Oh my goodness, what a heart stopper! Actually, the opposite is true--our hearts were beating fast during those final moments!

After opening my fantastic birthday gifts, of which there were far too many, it was time to say farewell.

They look pleased to be heading home, and who can blame them after spending a week with the old folks? Hopefully it will not be two more years before we see them again!

We ended the year with a picture perfect weather day; a gift I freely received. Earlier in the week Mr. Peck asked where I wanted to go for my birthday, and you probably already know the answer to that question.  A birthday balloon, courtesy of Michelle!

We had a wonderful time, heading home way before midnight which is our custom. As is also our custom, we were asleep before midnight in spite of the sounds of fireworks drifting in through the open windows. Can you believe how prevalent they are these days?

For those of you who have been with me throughout my ten years of blogging, I thank you ever so much. For those of you new to this tiny spot in the blogosphere, I hope the coming year there will be content that you find worthy of your time.

And with that, a Happy 2017 to all!

Gail