Monday, Monday

I fully expected to be blogging yesterday, however, my day hit a snag. While working on updating my website in anticipation of something (which I'll discuss later), my iPhoto library went AWOL. Needless to say, I was a bit shaken. After an unsuccessful call to Apple, I waited patiently for Matthew to finish his workday before calling him for tech support.

Fortunately for me, he answered my FaceTime call, solving the mystery within an hour. Plus we needed to chat a bit. And then it was time for bridge class, which, believe it or not, I'm catching on. In other words, I'm not embarrassing myself too much. 

Several topics were on my mind to discuss with you. First off, let me show you this very cool glass egg that is iridescent:

I hope you can see that little glow from within provided by the afternoon sunlight streaming through the windows. I used these as part of my table decorations for our little dinner party. There's a cute little shop near our home, Foreign Accents, which sells all manner of interesting things, including the large sun and moon faces on either side of the garage. I'm not sure the photo is doing them justice, but believe me, they are neat.

Thinking of my sister Lisa, a confirmed chocoholic, I made Chocolate Mousse for dinner, which proved to be easier than I'd imagined, or at least the recipe I used certainly was. I'm hoping this photo of folding the chocolate into the cream makes Lisa's mouth water:

Okay--so here's the reason I was working on my website.  A lovely young woman we know is featuring yours truly in her newsletter. Now this is not just any lovely young woman, this is Anna, an interior design star. Comes out tomorrow. I'll let you know what she says.

Now that I'm back in business photo library wise, I had to take some spring photographs. Just a few doors down on either side of us, there is a blooming peach tree AND a nectarine tree. I'm just letting you know that flowering trees are very, very hard to photograph well. Actually flowers are as well, but we'll discuss that another day. Anyway, I hope you can see the incredible amount of blossoms on the peach tree in this shot:

 

 Notice the difference in the nectarine blossoms below?

 

I just love how the branches are bursting with possibility! The trees were also bursting with bees which made me really glad I had my zoom lens on! Every year they do the same thing and it never fails to thrill me. Unfortunately, oftentimes the squirrels eat the fruit before it has time to fully ripen. :(

Back to the weekend--

• The market was absolutely fabulous. If this were a separate post, I'd call it "Along Came Ian." He showed up, making my day by buying one of the large canvases, a print AND another canvas. You never, never know each day when you show up for work what will happen!

• We saw The King's Speech on Saturday afternoon. If you've not seen it, I urge you to see it at your earliest opportunity. There really are no words in my everyday vocabulary to praise it adequately. Angela called it "brilliant" and I think she's spot on.

You might be wondering why Gail is blogging at 7 at night. Or maybe not. Just in case you are, it is because I am waiting for my darling husband to arrive home several days early. You guessed it--snow conditions forced him to retreat to Florida. This news makes me very happy. This is sending me into the kitchen to make some comfort food for my road warrior.  Thanks for keeping up with me....

P.S. Today's tile might have made you wonder as well and if so here's why I used it. Yesterday morning before the photo library mess, my computer inexplicably randomly began playing songs, one of which was "Monday, Monday" which seemed just a little eerie to me.

Pictorial Roundup

I'd be the first to admit that I'm not much of a housekeeper. Sure, our home is generally neat, but clean, that's another story. Yesterday I finally got around to cleaning the floor, which if we weren't having dinner guests, would have been put off even longer!

I do like it when things are clean, I just don't enjoy the process. Bruce, upon his return from work last evening remarked that the house looked wonderful. Nice.

The nicer weather, aside from the stormy days, has me much in the mood for picture taking. Let's see what I've been shooting, shall we?

I can't get enough of this orchid I bought before Christmas. The color is really special. Funny how the oil painting I did above the lamp kinda matches. Confetti.

I don't know about you, but I seem to have a habit of losing things that I've put away recently. What I'm looking for lately is my old green wallet. After winning a new wallet at Amanda's shower, I moved some things over, however, I didn't move my Social Security card, which I've been carrying around since first receiving it in the eighth grade. I've looked everywhere to no avail. I can find things I've no interest in locating, but not the things I want. This prompted me to clean out my "junk" drawer which I'm very pleased to show off:

We'll see how long I can keep it looking so organized.

Regina has the most beautiful shade of amaryllis blooming in her front yard:

Seriously gorgeous!

Speaking of orchids, just after Christmas I showed you the marvelous orchid Ruth's parents brought. When last you saw it, there were thirteen buds ready to burst open any day. Most of them have opened, although there are a few left. Orchids do make such great gifts because they last for so long.

Because I like the box so well, I've used my birthday gift from Matt and Tom just once. So clean and elegant don't you think?

To go along with the excessive acorn drop, we have a bit of a stacked mushroom infestation in our beds; this is only one of the stacks.

Of course, if I can't find something natural to photograph, I make something up:

 

While we're on the subject of making, after all these years, I finally learned how to use the decorative stitch on my sewing machine. You saw this dress earlier in the week hanging on my chair which I got around to finishing on Thursday afternoon--gotta get my spring wardrobe made!

The weather tomorrow is supposed to be fantastic, and with that in mind, I've got a bunch more prints to sign, including these two which I'm showing up close so you can see the new look:

 

More often than not, when I photograph something out and about, I have someone in mind while doing so. Years ago, Matt introduced me to Olivia, the pig character in the snow globe on the left. I have a suspicion there is someone in my viewing audience who just loves Olivia. Or, should I say, let's hope so? We'll find out tomorrow.

What Shall We Make Today?

How about a terrarium? Recently I became aware that terrariums are all the rage these days, which doesn't surprise me; pretty much everything makes a comeback. I can clearly remember making one in a large brandy snifter during our first year of marriage, which for those of you who don't know, was 37 years ago.

Here's what I gathered for mine:

We had a hard time finding plants small enough, and to tell you the truth, these are a tiny bit larger than I would have liked. I bought some from Jim at the market, however, when Bruce was out and about on Sunday, he stopped by a garden center, buying me a few more, including the tiny little podacarpus I used. So, mine looks like this at the moment:

After watching this slideshow, Terrariums on the NYT site, I'm thinking I need to do better. I was lucky to find this lidded jar at Marshalls, however I think I'll be on the lookout for something more creative.

Monday night was bridge class. It was pretty good actually. In the afternoon I dealt out the cards as if there were four players, practicing my arranging skills before heading to class. No need to make a fool of myself. I'm happy to report that somehow, when it was my turn to be the declarer, I actually won my hand. Beginner's luck for sure. Trish is in the bright pink top in this shot taken before class started. I'm telling you, I'm definitely getting my money's worth with the class costing $100 for 13 weeks. Mind you, Mr. Perry Poole teaches the entire two hours, making the cost somewhere around $4 an hour. Now that is a bargain, don't you think?

There is but one student under 50 in the class! Some of the folks mean business, which is why I did my little home practice session.

Earlier on Monday I stopped to see my friend Lois who was in her yard gardening. Showing me around, she pointed out the tulips and daffodils peeking up through the soil, as well as the poppies and anemones. Showy days are coming! I brought home this incredibly delicate, and more importantly, fragrant pink rose:

After photographing it in the gorgeous light of my brand new office, I moved it into the kitchen for water. This morning I found all the petals on the counter, which knowing me as you do, means photography!

I absolutely love how the petals are shaped like little hearts!

After a somewhat busy day at the Polasek, and some errands following that, I came home just as the predicted rains began. Apparently, along with the rain, there were tornado warnings for late in the night or early morning, however, as far as I can tell, none materialized.

And I should know...reverting to my childhood ways, I stayed up WAY too late reading. Try as I might, I have not been able to get into The Girl With the Dragon Tatto. I know there are people who are wild about the series, however, after reading 50+ pages, I just didn't care enough to continue. What I did devour is this:

More than a year go my friend Linda suggested I'd like this book. Knowing our tastes are pretty similar, when I saw it at Borders for $4.99 I picked it up, and am I glad I did! Baxter, on the other hand, had no knowledge of my nocturnal ways, whimpering at his usual time. I'm afraid to pick it up today because I know I'll never get anything done. I remember reading another novel by this author, who is female by the way, titled Prep, which is just as much of a page turner.

Actually, for some reason my left heel is hurting very much, so I doubt I'll be going anywhere today. Sounds like maybe it is a good day to put up my feet and read...

An Anniversary of Sorts

Waking up this morning I immediately began puzzling about today's post. How best to summarize my feelings on the anniversary of my mother-in-law's death? Am I sad, or am I happy? Sad, because we'll not see her again in this life, or happy that she's reunited with her loved ones in a better place?

Both Bruce's brother and sister urged him to visit the graveside, which he did yesterday morning after setting up the booth. Returning in the afternoon, I asked him how he felt, to which he replied-- "mixed feelings." I know what he means.

Although my father has been dead almost half of my life, I've gone to the cemetery maybe three times. Mostly, because I know he's not there. Sure there's a marker, but it means little to me. I prefer to think of both the good times, and the bad, while he was still living. Have I ever told you how we had to polish our shoes every afternoon when we returned home from school? Shoe inspections followed when he got home from work with punishment meted out if they weren't done properly! I suspect today's children have not once polished shoes, however, if I were having to buy shoes for eight people, maybe I would have done the same. Times, obviously, have changed.

But I digress...

Taking the trash out to the can out front, I immediately knew what I would use. Why, of course, the Christmas cactus I brought home from her house. For two weeks or so, I've watched as buds appeared and wouldn't you know it--today the first one opened wide. Now, that's how I like to commemorate her life--with a tangible reminder of her. Serendipity? Maybe, but it sure speaks to me more than a headstone.

I can just picture her delight upon seeing the cactus, which, undoubtedly she'd babied throughout the year, come to life once again with brilliant fuchsia blooms. Furthermore, there was this in the Times on Saturday: Blog of Yesteryear If you watch the slideshow, you'll be sure to recognize one of the diaries. Pretty amazing to me that it showed up now. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Making her gingerbread this Christmas, (although I did not attempt the pinwheels because I lost the recipe) using her scissors when cutting threads on Matt's quilt, those kinds of things keep her alive for me.

Rest in peace dear Judy Ann Peck, you've left much good behind. Thank you, thank you, for giving me your son to share my life with, and be the father to my children. I loved you, and still do.

Let's Make Some French Bread

Shall we?

But before we get to that, let's talk spaghetti and meatballs. Around our house, while growing up, having spaghetti and meatballs was quite a production. On the rare occasions that I've mentioned my father in this space, you've probably gathered that he was picky. Make that extremely picky, down to the size of the meatballs my mother made. Don't ask me to remember his reasoning for only wanting very small meatballs because I can't, however, I know it was woe to my mother if they were too big. So......

Although I married a man who is similar to my father in some ways, being picky is not one of those ways. To say that he's easy to get along with is an understatement. Furthermore, he's always wanting to take me out to dinner when he's home. Mostly I say, no thanks. If you've ever been to a restaurant with me you know how challenged I am when it comes to choosing my food, always wanting to go last. It's that choice thing I guess. I'd mostly rather go with home made.

Because I know how much Bruce loves spaghetti and meatballs, and because he'd just gone through a hellacious week, I set out to make just that. I never knew until fairly recently that some people plop their meatballs into the sauce uncooked, did you? After forming all the meatballs my mom used to fry them in the cast iron skillet. I've gone somewhere in between; half cooking them in the oven before putting them in the sauce to finish cooking.

Please note the dirty oven and the clean pan, one of the new ones I purchased with my gift card Bill gave me to William Sonoma. Last post I mentioned I was busy and astute readers will recall that cleaning was not on my list!

At my age I've tried lots of things, one of which is bread making, although I've not attempted any in the last few years. Yesterday that all changed. Using a recipe I found online, which truth be told, I already knew the ingredients, I set to work. After mixing the dough here's what it looked like:

Mighty gloppy, if I may use that word, wouldn't you say? Let me just give a shout out to granite counter tops--they are the best. The orange Tupperware measuring cups must be nearly thirty years old by now. I do love color. Anyway, here's what it looked like after kneading for five minutes and then after a few minutes rest, another three.

The bowl in the foreground dates back to my wedding shower. I suppose it is cool all over again these days, what with the retro craze and all. On the back of the King Arthur Bread Flour package there were instructions for baking a rustic loaf which I followed, letting the dough rise only once, punching it down and forming the loaves. Next I placed them on a corn meal dusted pan, placing it in a cold oven with a pan of boiling water on the bottom rack. I turned the oven on to 400 and 35 minutes later here they were:

Pretty cool, huh? The recipe is entirely vegan down to brushing the loaves with cold water before baking. I can't wait until Matt comes home again to make some for him, but in the mean time, expect yours truly to be making more bread. Some people, judging by the amount of no-knead recipes, find kneading tedious, however I found it relaxing.

Finally Bruce came home, after four days away. I mentioned he'd had a horrible week earlier, but didn't tell you what happened. He left on Monday afternoon, flying into NYC, and driving from there to Kingston, NY. If that weren't enough, the next day he drove from Kingston to Watertown on the most treacherous highways you can imagine. Or maybe you can't. Cars and trucks jackknifing all over the road, with some landing along the guardrail. Snow, snow, and more snow. Plus ice, which is apparently worse. After spending time in Watertown, the next day he drove seven hours to his job outside Boston. Why, you ask, did he do all that driving? Mostly because he thought it would be quicker than multiple rental cars and flights, however, the dangerous weather he faced has him re-thinking that for next time.

Here's the festive table he found when he arrived:

Have I gone on too long? Are you bored yet?

I suspect you could care less about the bread, what you really want to know about is today's interview. Am I right? Here I am wearing my home made dress before I left:

I will be freelancing for a magazine named Central Florida Lifestyle when there are assignments to be had. In return, I will receive free advertising for my business. There are a number of freelancers already, however, they apparently like to have many to choose from at any given time. Keep reading my faithful ones.

Finally--I'm just about ready to call it a post! Nancy asked for a better look at my new table/chair and maybe you thought the same.

 

That's a denim dress I'm working on hanging from the chair. Although those fun pockets won't be seen, I'll know they are there. 

And that's all folks--another edition of Camera Crazy comes to a close. :)

Busy Little Beaver

Yep--that's me these days. I don't know about you, but I want to do more than time allows. Between cooking, taking pictures, my business, sewing, reading, and the list goes on, I am having to really discipline myself to get it all in! No complaints mind you, I'm a very lucky gal!

To top it all off, I went and signed up for bridge lessons with Trish. Monday afternoon, when she was dropping me back by the house after our session at Sherwin Williams, she mentioned she and some friends were going to lessons at the Bridge Center on Bennett Road. Gosh, I thought, that brings back memories of my parents. Why not? Well, I up and did it, joining about twenty other folks for group lessons. We'll get more into that as the eleven remaining weeks progress, but suffice it to say, when I left I thought--Gail, just what were you thinking??? Memory and strategy are the two most important skills needed to play bridge, which as we all know, I'm lacking in both.

So, here's the new table, along with the new chair on the left side of the picture. Bruce discovered it in Ikea and knew I would love it.

This, of course, was taken during my marathon print signing session. Better light soon. And just for fun, here's a neat little photograph of my sewing machine.

 

Get this: I've got a job interview on Friday morning. No, I'm not going back to taking x-rays, but of all things, I got an email yesterday asking me to set up an interview with the editor of a local magazine. For now, let's leave it at that. Hmmmmm.....

Although that stack of prints above looked like a lot, and it was a lot, it's not enough for me. 113 prints my friends. After preparing them all, I counted them. It struck me as kind of amazing that I sold 25 more than that whole stack at the Winter Park Autumn Art Festival. Because they were leaving the booth one by one, the sales figure was just a number. Seeing them stacked like that made it real. My long time readers, along with myself, can hardly imagine how far we've come in our journey. Above, I wrote that I was lucky, but what I really am is blessed, beyond reason.

Moving away from the serious for a moment, I wanted to share this little idea I read in a magazine the other day. The article was mostly about getting your cupboards, closets and drawers organized;  the author suggested freezing little ketchup packs, like you get with fast food, to put on little cuts/bites. Clever idea, don't you think? I have been organizing a bunch---gotta start the new year off right. Bill was over for a bit last night with promises to come clear out his old closet. I've heard that line before, so I'm not holding my breath. On the other hand, it would be nice.

In fact, last evening I had every intention of writing, but he hung around for a while which made me happy. Don't get to see my "boys" often enough.

This was my early supper last night:

I thought the colors were so pretty I naturally had to get out my camera! The napkin is one of two I made the other day out of some of the original fabric that was to be Matt's quilt. Once I'd sewn all the strips together I realized I'd made a mistake on my fabric choices. See below to agree with me.

To the left of the table is the large canvas of my food coloring experiment, one of two,  I'll be delivering this afternoon to the Church Street Exchange building to be hung in the window, maybe along the Garland side. With the opening of the new arena, there are more folks down there walking past the buildings. Turns out the mayor asked Dana if she could have some art hung there. Because I know Dana, and because she manages the complex is was pretty much a slam dunk. Actually, a woman named Lisa who once had a gallery space in City Arts Factory is the one who is in charge of it. After sending her some images, she chose some large colorful pieces (six total) that will hopefully grab people's attention. You'll be the first to see the hanging once it's done.

Rainy Day Monday

Waking up to gray skies on a Monday morning isn't my idea of perfect, however, the thunderstorms which came in soon thereafter are much needed. While driving to Ocala last week on a super cold morning, everywhere I looked I saw evidence of our unseasonably cold weather this winter. Brown, brown, brown!

Mostly true. Actually, my drive through the Ocala National Forest was wonderful. Mile after mile of stick straight pine trees planted in rows.

So, there was some green. And lots and lots of blue. The freezing weather--28 degrees in Umatilla, seems to bring out the blue of the sky, which in turns seems to turn every body of water ultra blue. You know how sometimes a lake looks either gray or green? Not so in the winter it seems.

The above is not just some random lake shot, no, my friends, it is part of our family history. Make that Matt and Bruce's history to be precise. When I saw the sign for Farles Prairie, I decided to see the place for myself. Taking a left turn off SR 19, I drove along a sand packed road for miles and miles with nothing but the sound of my car and when I felt like braving the brisk cold, I opened my window to hear an occasional bird song. Again, pines and more pines. Which brings me to the above picture. Eventually I arrived, and the above is was I saw. Clicking on the picture will enlarge the scene allowing you to see the rows of broken pines surrounding the lake. I've no evidence to prove this, but more than 15 years ago, Bruce and Matt, along with some other men from our church, camped in this location. I'm showing you the boat ramp where they launched their canoes for fishing in Farles Lake. Well, I can't remember all the details, however, I do remember that a huge storm, which, at the time they called "The Storm of the Century" came through. Remember I said I drove for miles and miles off 19? Imagine being in a tent in the middle of the forest during a massive storm! Maybe Matt will remember more of the exact details, but for my part, I recall that someone called letting us know they were all right. It was a very frightening experience for all involved. Which brings me back to the picture; perhaps the storm broke off all of those trees?

Continuing my drive I pulled into Juniper Springs, one of several swimming springs in the forest. Because of the extreme cold, I shared the park with two other hardy souls.

The glint of sunlight on the springs shows off the gorgeous color. Another pretty little feature there was a mill house which was closed at the time of my visit.

By now I'd been on the road for more than four hours, which tells those of you who know that Ocala is only 1 1/2 hours away, how many times I took sightseeing detours! Because my meeting with Desiree was not until 1:00, I stopped at one more place, Appleton Museum of Art and was I glad I did! For more information on this Ocala gem, click on the link. Seriously spectacular for a city the size of Ocala.

Bill would have gone crazy what with his love of all things made from natural stone--make that 80,000 square feet of Italian travertine! Sadly I missed a 200 piece photography show by a week, however, I've definitely a new appreciation for oil painting of which there was a lot.

Turns out Kimberly's Cottage was only a few blocks from the museum which was great because it's very easy to get lost in Ocala.

After a tour of the facilities, Desiree and I brought the pieces into the boardroom and that was that! As you can imagine from reading her email, she was a very enthusiastic young woman. For my part, I was happy to be of some help.

And then, I took the long way home, which I'm sure doesn't surprise you one bit! I thoroughly enjoyed my road trip, mostly the peaceful stretch through the forest, with barely another car on the road. I need to get out more often!

Moving into the present, the market was terrific yesterday. The day began chilly and gloomy, with few folks out, however, just before lunchtime, the sun broke through the clouds and all was right with our little market world. Pretty much my best sales day there in ages and ages. Hurray!

By the way, Jonathan and Amy, the purveyors of the fruit pictured above, both told us how thrilled their 13 year old son was to receive the bed and linens making Bruce and I very happy. We've never forgotten all the times we could have used some helping hands.

Heading into the kitchen now to heat up some leftover corn chowder I made the other night. Definitely a soup kind of day.