Spring Sightings

I hardly know where to start I'm so excited about so many things...

Perhaps a good place to start is the pink Tabebuia blooms?

And really, why not because they are so beautiful, and before we know it, they will be gone.? Now it seems as if I've given short shrift to the yellow blooms, which are actually my favorite of the two. I wish this were a photo of my tree but, alas, it is not. Mine is still puny with nothing like the profuse blooming of this tree.

What I love so much about the yellow is how garish it is, as in really, really, intense yellow, unlike any other bloom that I can think of. My sister Carol once taught me that contrast in art is the key, and I believe that holds true for nature as well. What is noticeable about the pink blooms is the yellowish/orange center, whereas the yellow are just plain yellow, through and through.

Trees that are not found often in Orlando are Dogwood trees, but every year I seem to scout out a few to photograph. I like them for their soft nature.

Speaking of flowering trees, Matt and Tom are going to Japan for a vacation soon, and you know what that means...cherry blossoms! Lucky guys.

Sunday, after church, I convinced Bruce to go to a dive bar for lunch, or that is what we assumed it was. You don't suppose I would go there just for the heck of it though, do you? Somewhere I'd read that The Hideaway was pretty good, and we found out that is indeed the case. The hamburgers, priced at $6, were some of the best we've eaten at a restaurant. A very nice surprise.

Keeping the restaurant theme going, Sherry called on Tuesday afternoon, asking if we'd like to meet her and Jo at the nearby Johnny's Other Side for dinner. Because I'd been so busy, I'd not seen Sherry for ages, so we quickly agreed. While waiting for Bruce to come home from the job site, Bill called and when I told him our plans, he said it was half price on Tuesdays and it would be super busy. He was not kidding!

With a live band, and packed house, it was a lively evening. Plus, the weather was perfect!

Yesterday morning, instead of eagle watching, I had to take something to Bruce at the job. Remember I told you they were taking that corner of the mall apart? Well, here you go...

I talked Bruce into letting me get a photo of him in his hard hat, something I've not see in quite some time.

That is an old hat, one from his days at Waltree Construction where he worked about twenty five years ago, back when we had a full house of boys. Here's another look at the hoarding, as well as their website.

The outdoor patio will soar over the top of PF Chang...the left side of the photo. From the drawings I've seen, it is really going to be something.

What caused me to turn my car around when I saw this building,

is the paint color, which is pretty darn bold. Once I had a closer look, I got a laugh at the sign which says, The House Brothers. Think they are trying to ride the coattails of the popular HGTV show, Property Brothers?

Our new neighbor, in Angela and Matt's old house, told Bruce he saw us on television again last night. I'm sure he was impressed with all the "Wows" we said. NOT!

This morning I went out early to see the almost full moon in the morning sky positioned over the lake. Yesterday when I got up I was looking everywhere, at least from the backyard, and because of our big trees, could not figure out where it was. Somehow this morning I did see it, and went to have a closer look.

It was just before sunrise so I rode over to Lake Gem Mary, facing east, and the sky looked like this:

Those same clouds, or more of their ilk, began moving over the moon.

I so wonder what that red line was....

After getting some breakfast for Bruce, and because it was not too chilly, I decided to go do a little eagle watching, and was not in the least disappointed. Oh my! When I first arrived, one eagle was standing guard, which was all I could hope for. Having the second one swoop in with a fish, was even more so. Unfortunately, I was unable to capture said swooping, however, two white heads was good enough for me.

Which now leads me to believe that there are indeed two eaglets because we have seen two black heads in this post. No sooner had the one flown in, then it flew back out.

Don't you just wish I could do a better job? I sure do!

Oh my gosh...I nearly forgot to show you something that was very exciting for me. The other day, after a fruitless rime searching for an eagle, I was riding home down Waterwitch and saw a flock of birds fly from one side of the street to the other. Because they weren't all that close, I had no idea what kind of birds they were. Once I unloaded my camera card, I was thrilled to see that they were Cedar Waxwings, a bird I'd only seen before in a guide book. I know it is hard to tell, but believe me there are a whole bunch in this tree.

An old friend, Peggy, commented on my last post...have camera, will travel. That's for sure!

Because the job is so complicated, with problems arising seemingly every day, Bruce has set up an office in the space to better solve the little problems before they become big problems. Today, however, he is working from home, and in just a little bit we are heading over to Winter Park to watch the crane raise the cupola onto the top of the church. Doesn't that sound neat?

Mailbox money just came--always a good thing.

Happy Spring,

Gail

It's Been A While

It's been quite a while since last I saw the two eagles together. Try November 2012! I never ride into the neighborhood along the shores of Lake Conway without checking the "eagle house," and on occasion I am treated to the sight of one of our magnificent National birds. It must have been Monday morning that while riding up, I noticed one in the high pine tree and, you won't be surprised to learn that I pointed it out to a woman walking on the street. Stopping my bike I was gazing up at the tree when she, who had not stopped, called out that there were two..."come look here", she said. Well by golly....

Heading into the back yard, where the folks have given me permission to roam, I watched as they perched 75 feet above my head. Before long, the one on the right took off, followed shortly thereafter by the second one. Talk about good timing!!

It's also been awhile since Pam has sewn, however, after our visit to the quilt exhibit she left totally inspired to ferret out her long abandoned project. As in nearly twenty years of abandonment! During the time she and Glenn lived in New Zealand, she had every intention of making a quilt, going so far as to cut the pieces, however, that is as far as she got. Too, she thought her machine wasn't working properly, so I suggested she bring it over and we'd check it out together. Following a little tinkering Monday morning, she was off and running!

Because it had been so long since last she sewed, we agreed to start simple and small. Let me tell you, she took to it like a duck takes to water. Before leaving for the day she'd gotten this far.

Isn't it neat? The black adds so much drama! Wednesday she returned for session two, finishing the back and the machine quilting, leaving with not only satisfaction, but a thirst to make more. Sewing is so much fun to us, however, back when Isaac Singer patented the sewing machine it was used for more utilitarian purposes. You might be interested to know that one of his partners, according to the link I've provided, built the Dakota apartment building in Manhattan, in the 1880's, such was the wealth of the company. As well, the Singer building in NY was, in 1908, the tallest building in the world! In days gone by, every girl knew how to sew, whether she liked it or not. Today? Does any young girl know how to sew?

I remember when our pool remodel was completed in October 2010, there were tiny frogs on the beautiful new mosaic tile running along the top edge of the pool. Well, they were back in full force this October...

Actually, I can't be sure it isn't a toad, but anyway, the other day there must have been nearly twenty of them! Well, I don't know where they have gone, but we are once again frog-free. And did I tell you it has been sweltering? So much so that the pool temperature has been on the rise again. Warmer than our natural springs! Will it ever end?

Because my last post was so lengthy I called it quits before I showed you another neat place we stopped.

I'm not so sure I saw many artists, but there were lots of interesting things spread over two buildings. We visited only one on this trip as I was pretty well starving.

It may very well have been a while since last you saw only the front of a VW. Right? So, we went to Crate & Barrel last week to buy the wedding gift for this weekend's upcoming wedding. We saw a red cooler Bruce thought was pretty neat. Well, we saw the original at Trader Mae's.

Pretty much a replica at C&B, Bruce said the old guy was much better made despite the wear and tear. But you knew that, didn't you?

Perhaps I mentioned that the quilt show is spread over two venues? If not it is. We thought our friend Lisa was going to be in the area, so Pam picked me up, along with Jennifer, to start again at the show we saw last week. No need to worry--we loved it just as much the second go round. In fact, I wanted to show you a gorgeous quilt not pictured before. From what we could gather this is watercolor on silk, with quilting so wonderful it is hard to imagine.

Jennifer thinks she painted the flowers on the hand dyed silk, followed by quilting. Seriously so good.

Turns out Lisa was not able to join us, so after re-living our previous visit, we went the few miles over to the nearby Crealde School of Art, to see the remainder of the quilts in this really fine show.

Interestingly enough, or it was to me, the quilter of the above piece was formerly an x-ray tech like yours truly! Pam pointed out her use of our mediums color scheme. If you've no interest in quilts you may not be interested in the rest of this post, but perhaps you are interested, and want to go further?

Let's do it!

The thing is, it was hard to pick a favorite, and the truth of the matter is, why would we even try? Human nature I guess. The above, a Y pattern, consists of thousands of cut pieces and an amazing color palette, not to mention that it looks as if you are looking down upon loads of buildings set closely together. There's that dramatic black again. White too, adds drama...

As in the above middle quilt. Such an interesting and colorful pattern. On the right you see a huge, and 28 pound (!) quilt, made entirely of folded triangles attached to a king size sheet backing!! The quilt on the left was also made my hand...so amazing it is hard to imagine the quilter sitting for hours on end hand quilting the piece.  Whereas I am often too lazy to get up and go, I am grateful Pam finally gave up her gig at the Polasek museum so she can plan outings!!

As well, she drives us in her Chevy Volt. It's a good thing she had a good charge going because it has also been a while since last I sat in a serious traffic jam. In fact, the last one I recall was coming home from the DeLand Art Festival with Matt and Tom on Sunday with a packed vehicle from the show. First it was raining, dark too, and we were going nowhere on I-4. One of those times when you have no idea why traffic is not moving. I recall we sang some Christmas carols as it was the weekend after Thanksgiving. Last November I guess. Anyway, Tom regaled us with witty stories of the Christmas pageants of his youth in Britain, seriously making the wait somewhat tolerable.

I hope some stories I told this afternoon made the wait on SR 436 more tolerable for Pam and Jennifer. I felt it was my duty as I'd suggested the route as fast; we were planning on a visit to Wandering Stitches now that Pam has the bug. NOT TO BE. Jennifer had her iPad and checked the traffic delay, which was considerable by the time she looked. We inched our way for miles. According to the map, the traffic eased up when we got to Curry Ford Road. Well, now we know why that would be. It was CLOSED to traffic. Once we finally got to the detour to CFR, we had scrapped our plans to ogle at fabrics, instead heading home to care for pets.

Turning on our local news when I got home,  it seems as if there was a hit and run accident involving a pedestrian. Hideous.

It's also been a while since I've eaten, and so that's what is up next. Bruce is making a quick trip to Houston to pick out the granite for his Orlando job, leaving me to dinner for one.

Leftovers, here I come.

Gail

Exposure

One of the things I always loved about taking x-rays was my exposure to people of all ages. Unlike a nurse who often spends days with the same type of patient, pediatrics, geriatrics, surgical, that type of patient, during my days of taking general x-rays, my patients were from newborn to in their 90's.  Of course, once I began only doing mammograms, that changed somewhat, but stil,l the ladies, and occasionally men, were extremely varied.

You might think that my job was boring, and if not for the age differences, it might have been. Every morning, arriving at the hospital by 7AM, I started by checking the day's schedule. Oftentimes I could guess my patients age by their names; Margaret, for instance, usually meant the woman was in her 70's. Debbie, on the other hand, was a dead give away for someone my age. Hearing life stories from woman in their 80's, and even 90's, gives one perspective on life's struggles.

I couldn't help but think of that time in my life after chatting with Corrine after they finally returned to their home after four days. Unlike a younger person who might be complaining about the cost of the storm damage, she only wanted to be back home. Here's what the back of their house looks like with the new power box, which, by the way, cost $1,100!

I had no idea that the power company did not pay for that! Plus, the part of Wanda's tree that fell into their yard was their responsibility as well--another $750. At their age, 87 and 84 respectively, Corrine and Herb have experienced it all, and just as you do, they have keep going. In our younger years, someone mentioned to us that if you can fix a problem with money that's a good thing; at the time I did not realize how true that statement is. Losing a spouse, a daughter, your hearing, those problems are not so easily fixed nor forgotten.

In the last few days I've had some super wonderful experiences, from seeing a bunny during our bike ride in Baldwin Park,

to meeting a super cool 80 year old woman named Dee.

Although she insisted she didn't look good enough for a photo without her makeup, I disagree--she looks great! On my way to Roger's house, Friday afternoon, a bench on what I later learned was Dee's front porch caught my eye.

Knocking on that pretty red door to ask permission, I was slightly startled to see the Christmas tree, covered in what I estimate to be 1,000 ornaments, just inside the front door. After explaining that she is a collector of loads of things, she invited me inside to take a look. The robe? Baking Easter cookies and cupcakes all day. Guess what? She has a daughter named Gail, who I immediately knew had to be close to my age--see above.

Seeing only the bottom floor, I was impressed with how nicely she displays all her various collections. Here's another look at that tree:

Simply astonishing! Remarkably, because her husband has undergone three brain surgeries, she manages everything by herself, including the yard! Our vist was cut a little short because she had to take him to the doctor for a shot, with only 45 minutes to get dressed and get her makeup on. Before I left though, she insisted on showing me all the rooms, including the guest room. Much to my surprise she has a Kermit the Frog obsession as well.

My sister Lisa would appreciate one thing she said to me, "I'm a thrift store, garage sale, and pick up by the side of the road shopper." I feel pretty confidant that her open invitation for a repeat visit was genuine.

Then too, earlier in the day, while on my bike ride I saw both eagles again!

Day after day I've been watching and waiting; finally after maybe four months my wish came true!

Thursday, while riding with Bruce on the Cady Way Trail, we ended up in Baldwin Park, riding along Lake Baldwin,

we continued until we got to Fleet Peoples Dog Park. Although we've read about dog parks, this was our first exposure to one in person. This guy was quite the instigator,

racing around with the other dogs, and even swimming!

Bruce's comment about having "lost touch with reality" rang a little true. Working non-stop for years and years has a way of insulating one to what is happening out in the world. Although I'd never stopped to check the park out, at least I knew it was there!

Returning to our car that morning I asked Bruce if he knew how far we'd ridden--he was most surprised when I told him 12 miles. Good for him; I've had time to work up to that, he's just a newbie, however, he enjoys riding as much as I do so I see lots of it in our future.