A Tree Grows in Orlando

...and grows, and grows, and grows.

It must have been about two years after buying our present home, that, one Saturday afternoon the doorbell rang. It was a young man, well, maybe thirty or so, who introduced himself, and proceeded to tell me that he grew up where we were now calling home.  During our conversation he produced a photograph of said house without a tree anywhere to be found. Oh my, have the trees grown since that time. There are huge, and I mean huge pine trees, make that five, as well as a ginormous Laurel Oak tree in the front. Additionally,  there is a Live Oak which grew from an acorn, and, of course, the new oak tree. I mention the different varieties because to most people in the know, the Laurel Oak is considered to be somewhat of a liability. I can't tell you the number of tree people who question the safety of such a tree, as does Bruce. So, for a while now we've been thinking how to make it smaller. See how big it is?

Or, more accurately it WAS that big. Here's the opposite view from down the street.

As you can see, it plainly dwarfs our little home! So, while Bruce was at work!*, I heard some activity outside, and I went to check on what was happening. Across the street at Ellie's house, a tree was coming down.

I liked the size of the crew, as well as all of their equipment, not to mention their slogan which you'll see in a later photo. Speaking with the owner, he was a little kinder regarding the tree, however, he did say it was probably in our best interest to reduce the size by 25%, as well as remove the copious amounts of mistletoe. Calling Bruce, we decided to write the big check. GULP!

Included in the price was a bit of trimming dead limbs off one of the big pines. You would be surprised at how large those limbs are when they hit the ground.

Good grief he was way up there! Speaking with the workers I learned the bucket goes up 50 feet in the air. No wonder this kind of thing is expensive. Now, I'm not a great negotiator or anything, but I did manage to get them to throw in trimming the super tall Chinese Fan Palm.

He ended up driving that bucket truck on the yard up to my front bedroom window in order to reach it all.

The USA/Germany match was on while all this activity was outside my windows, but every now and again, I'd run out there to take photos, or talk to the fellows. One of them was concerned I wasn't happy BECAUSE I was taking photos, however, I assured him that I was very pleased, just an obsessive documenter!

Kevin's Tree Service--We Go Out on a Limb for You! Honestly, these were the best workers I've had in all of our years of needing tree guys. Following the clean up, I handed over the check, and then they went across the street to get paid for that job. I was still in the yard when Ellie's Mom handed over a check. Now, she did not just have one tree cut down, but all EIGHT of her trees trimmed. I joked with her Mom, asking her if she wanted to write one for my work. She told me it was Ellie's birthday gift (she's about 30), and I had to laugh at that. You know you are an adult when you are happy to receive a gift of tree trimming!

Bill gave the go-ahead on the shutters, so we made a trip to Home Depot to buy the lumbar. Only Bruce would go through every single piece to choose the best.

How may of you have seen this new fangled light bulb before?

Wonder never cease! Here's another wonder for you. For the longest time I've been meaning to share this but kept forgetting until I came across this image in my library this morning.

A wonderful young man who teaches elementary school art classes has purchased from me in the past and most recently he came to get a gift for his Mom. Rummaging through my prints, he came across one of this little figure I picked up at Goodwill for $1.00, because I thought it was super cute. Here's what he had to say about this little wooden doll: It is a Kokeshi doll, made in Japan, and widely collected. AND get this!!! Fisher-Price used this as a model for their little people--big head, no arms and legs, you get it don't you? It is remarkable what you learn from folks. We were a big Fisher-Price family for sure! One of my favorites was the bus with all the little spots for the children with the string pull in the front. Of course there was the "Corn Popper", but that didn't have any children. It saddens me to see so many children today "playing" on an iPad, but then again, my parents probably were sad to see our children playing with plastic toys! Time marches on....

In good news for our sons, Matt and Tom are official today with their new home, and Herbert, God bless his soul, began the spraying of the house trim, and garage door...we are getting there.

In case you are wondering, it won't be long before Bruce builds some sort of screening for that awful pump in front of the garage! Shutters are all made, primed, and painted, ready to go up!!!

*Bruce is doing some work for Dana on the Orchid Garden ballroom at Church Street Station. Some folks won't be surprised that he left for work at 7:15 in the morning, returning home at 6:30. He's there today, as well as most of this week. The side jobs are coming in faster than he can keep up! Or I guess they are no longer side jobs, a term we used back when the children were quite young. In those days, he worked as much as he was physically capable of to keep us all warm, and dry. :)

Picture Fest

Well, well, well. Things are looking up. As you can imagine, I was more than delighted to hear from Apple on Friday afternoon. All better now.

Plus, Bruce finally came home on Friday night. I'm bracing myself for more weeks like last one. This morning before he left I wrote down his slate of jobs which is extensive. 10, yes I did say 10 projects going on at once. One of those jobs is in Watertown, NY, the place of his birth. It just so happens to be one of the snow capitals of the United States. You get my drift? Alas, an unexpected pun!

The weekend was good. A movie and dinner date on Saturday night. I am, to put it mildly, a huge Robert Duvall fan so it was a given we'd need to see his latest in the theater. We were not disappointed in the slightest with Get Low. It's hard to imagine that RD is 79 years old. My, oh my. He just gets better with age, however, he was mighty fine in Lonesome Dove.

NEWS FLASH! I sold some things on Sunday. Except for a few drizzles, the weather was tolerable, with fairly decent traffic. Earlier in the day when Maria and Dominque came by we discussed that there are a lot of regulars and maybe they already have my stuff? Well, good thing for those regulars is what I have to say. A really nice woman brought a friend along and wonder of wonders, she bought a 20x30 canvas. Can you say delighted? Indeed.

As far as the title is concerned let's get to those pictures of happenings in the last few days. Here's one last attempt to show the glass before the new glass is installed. Maybe tomorrow?

Here's the way it's looked since last Wednesday:

I'm sorta missing my early morning sunshine.

In the last week it seems as if mushrooms have been popping up all over. Last week while walking Baxter along Pershing I came across this incredible display:

Yes, it really is that yellowy and there were many more. So big and strange.

Continuing the natural world theme. This morning while unloading a few groceries from the car I saw a hawk fly into Herb and Corrine's gigantic oak tree across the street. Naturally I ran inside to grab the trusty super zoom Panasonic FZ8 to see what I could do. If you look closely at the bird's mouth you will see blood---no wonder it stayed put for so long. I wonder what poor little creature became lunch.

Speaking of trees, the tree trimmers are cleaning up our place today. Both large oaks, a giant palm tree, and removing some dead limbs from another smaller oak that has grown up from an acorn in the last few years. It's totally astonishing to see it go from nothing to the present height of about 20-30' tall. As well, they are removing some ferns from the backyard to ready it for the new landscaping. Mind you, I've no real plan yet but not for lack of trying. That part of things is definitely a work in progress.

Moving indoors, remember last week how I was trashing all my school work? Well, here is the pile:

About the only things I kept were some papers. Don't ask me why I kept those because I've no idea. This morning after calling the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists my heart sank just a bit. I need 24 credit hours before 11/30. Six. That's what I've got now. Can you say discouraged? Indeed.

If you like female vocalists click on this link for a treat--

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127089755
Matthew introduced me to Tift Merrit some years ago. Apparently her style has changed somewhat but she's still terrific.

Big news--Bill started his new job this morning!! I know you join me in being thrilled.

Finally, here's a wonderful shade of Gerbera Daisy I found today at Publix:

You about tired of looking at pictures? I warned you now didn't I?

Unplanned

When you don't work, or if you're like me, a student off for most of the summer, days often start off as unplanned--things just unfold. Today was one of those days. I decided to go through my Picassa and get a bit more organized. I had 500 flower pictures in one folder, some good--some not so good. I went through the whole thing and sorted them by color, although I do have a separate one just for roses. The vast majority of my early flowers were taken in people's yards--I would just scout for color, stop the MINI, and shoot. I did this regardless of the lighting which I knew very little about. I still don't know much, but I am certainly more cognizant of the sun and how it can distort the color of a flower. I managed to ditch about half of them.

As well, when I woke up I had not scheduled a tree trimming, but as you can see, that is what happened. A week or so ago, a long limb fell down from one of our 60 feet pine trees landing squarely in what I affectionately call the jungle. I was hoping our yard guy would have taken it on Friday, however, no dice. My neighbor across the street was having some trees cleaned up and I went over and asked if they could take the branch for me. After agreeing, he suggested that he should cut off the part that didn't break, which seemed like a good idea to me. I then realized what a good time it was to have some work done on our live oak. We lost a huge amount of the tree during Hurricane Charley; Bruce was concerned that it was off balance. The tree trimmer agreed, and they cut off a huge limb that hung over the house. As well, he cleaned out the wound that remained from the missing limb--I use that term loosely--it filled half of our backyard when it fell, it was so huge. I don't know about you, but when I think limb I usually don't think huge.

My professor has reiterated the importance of practicing photography--with me, he is preaching to the choir. I took tons of pictures today--at present, I am hooked on the sunset. Uncharacteristically, tonight we had some clouds, and I knew they would present a whole different look to the sky. Our little Baxter was a sweetie as we waited lakeside for the sun to drop. I wasn't able to capture it, but my neighbor Mr. Sims had told me about an owl that resides in one of his trees. Alas, it flew right over my head; bummer, I wasn't quick enough--something else for me to obsess over!

I'm still feeling much improved especially if I keep moving. It seems as if when I sit for too long my body slows down and it's a challenge to rev it up again. I still can't seem to be rid of the retching, especially when I'm talking to someone--great, huh? Jonathan called when I was coming home from a few errands and of course, it came on. He says--"do you need to pull over?"
Oh no honey, I'm used to it by now--it's been nearly a year!

I got a call from the internship department at Valencia around 7 tonight asking if I was still interested. I told her I still had no resume, thus, I haven't gotten back with them. I'm going to go to campus tomorrow and get some help in the career center. If I do an internship it will give me a chance to see what some other workplace is like. I'll keep you posted.