This and That

Before I delve into the last few days, I've been meaning to pass on both a recipe, and something I've learned recently. For my birthday, Fallon gave me a subscription to Cook's Illustrated, and in said magazine they test ingredients, among other things. I was amazed to find that they suggested that when you are baking it is perfectly fine to use imitation vanilla which is good news because vanilla has become so expensive. I made oatmeal cookies to test the theory.

 What imitation did they discover to be the best?

It is crazy cheap friends, and I don't think there was the least difference that we could taste. Good news---I found someone who was happy to have some of our cookies; Connie claims it is the best oatmeal cookie she'd ever eaten. So, here's the recipe, one I copied down from the web when I was in Vancouver from Ricardo, a big name in Canada.

You might give it a try if you are a cookie person like I am! Love them, and Michelle always makes sure she includes cookies when she is lavishing me with gifts as she did on Mother's Day. Holy cow, were those kids good to me. Well, not kids, but in my heart they will always be kids. Fallon surprised me with a "brunch" from Harry and David. A giant cooler arrived with a quiche, English muffins, Canadian bacon, jam, and a mini Poppy seed cake. Arriving on Saturday afternoon, we could not wait for Sunday morning. But, we did.

The gifts began with the ring of the doorbell on Friday afternoon when one of the most wonderful floral arrangements was delivered by In Bloom, sent by Matt and Tom. Both of us were dying over how beautiful it was, and mostly still is. The mini roses are spent, but most everything else is still in good shape.

Yesterday I called the florist to say how much we loved it and you can imagine their surprise because I suspect the only calls they get are too complain. I hope I'm wrong about that.

Mr. Peck has been helping out around here because we are down a maintenance man. Of course, he's doing only the jobs he wants to, including retrieving our pressure washer from Bill's house and doing our sidewalk and our neighbor's stairs,

along with the carport structure which attracts plant matter due to the large number of trees on property.

And spider webs, can't forget those as they were numerous. Our neighbors were delighted. However did I get so lucky?

The Mallard ducklings are so big now as to be almost indistinguishable from their Mom. While sitting on the bank they enjoy spreading their wings and isn't the structure so very interesting?

We took a little day trip the other day to ride our bikes on the West Orange Trail, beginning at the end, otherwise known as Killarney Station. The weather, always a factor here, was ideal. In an effort to help the economy, Bruce had a trailer hitch put on the car, all while staying safe, then ordered the new bike rack online from Orange Cycle. They installed it that same day as he kept his distance while wearing a mask. We hated to buy a new one, but the one we had was putting dents into the back of the car, so that was not good. Duh! Of course it was not good. Anyway, this one works like a champ.

It is such a pleasant ride although I will admit to just a twinge of uneasiness as we crossed over the Turnpike.

The reason we started at this end was because I wanted to visit a place I'd seen online, the Oakland Nature Preserve.

Indeed, it is all nature, but at one time much of it was citrus groves. Anyway, we parked our bikes and walked on a trail that led to a 3/4 mile long boardwalk.

There were only a handful of folks that we saw which was good. I am reading Cross Creek at the moment, never having read it before and seeing so much of this area in the natural state helps to bring the book to life.

Much of it was over dry land until we got closer to Lake Apopka. Peering down into the water, well, there was a snake swimming along.

And some baby gators that I forgot to upload that I might share in this space. It was a good stop along the way, one that I can safely recommend as to social distancing.

Another neat thing we saw was this, although I saw only a couple of birds in total during our walk.

Oh how I wish I'd see a Blue Bird!

Back on the trail, we came across a home that was all decked out in bicycle decorations, including this near their roof line.

They also had a super cute chicken coop, as did the folks across the trail from them. We rode until we got to a lovely park, part of one of the MANY new developments out that way. The park is lovely with water that looked almost aquamarine from a distance.

There was a substantial dock as well and I asked Bruce about riding on it to which he was game. Signs were posted about alligators being present, and by golly, as I got to the end of the dock, sure enough, one emerged.

It's always kind of neat seeing a gator, but what really piqued my interest was the sound of baby birds. Most years it is fun to go to Gatorland to see the rookery and the multitude of nesting birds, however, as is the case with most of our routines, that was not to be this year. Instead, by pure chance, we saw about seven nesting Egrets, or Little Blue Herons right alongside that dock. Most were so hidden in the Cypress trees I was not able to photograph them, but it was fun watching. One was in fairly good view and it looks as if they hatched many weeks ago.

All practically on top of one another, I would be lying if I said they were cute! Speaking of cute birds, the saddest thing happened the other night. Connie came downstairs, while Bruce was reading on the front porch, that there was a dead bird on her porch and would I come see it? She said it was small so I assumed it was a Carolina Wren. Boy, was I wrong. It was one of the cutest birds that I've never seen before, a Northern Parula. We can only assume it flew into her window, however, there was not the slightest damage, so who knows?

The battle for who is right and who is wrong continues concerning the pandemic.

In my mind, there are two words that have gotten overuse during this time---experts and heroes. I wonder if Floridians are more skeptical of experts than folks from other parts of the country because many of us have spent a lifetime listening to "experts" regarding the weather? Hurricanes happen, no one would argue that, but we've been told we are getting hit more times than I can count and more often than not the experts are wrong. Just thinking out loud here.

Who knows really? In one country you are required to wear a mask, another thinks it is not necessary. We wear them when we go into a store but outside we don't. Whether that is the right thing to do or not is yet to be determined.

your friend,

Gail

Global Big Day

While I'll acknowledge that this post will not be for everyone, it will be a good reminder to me about what I've seen this past week as it pertains to birds. Furthermore, there are probably few amongst you that have any idea where today's title comes from. Well, now you will, as I briefly explain its meaning.

In the birding community today is the big day that people around the world, in said community, will report the birds they see on this date to eBird, an electronic reporting site brought to us by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Whew, that's a mouthful, right? Basically what they call, citizen science, a pretty neat concept if you ask me. Sort of like crowdsourcing except there are projects of many types, not just birds. For instance, you could, if it pertained to you, participate in collecting data on lead pipes to share with real scientists. Who knew that this is Citizen Science month? In case this sort of thing piques your curiosity, this radio broadcast of Science Friday might interest you on how you might become involved during the quarantine.

Anyway, they are hoping to get a count of birds seen throughout the world and I, for one, look forward to the results. As such, I counted birds this morning after having a lovely Facetime chat with Matt for Mother's Day. I'd show you their gift, but in honor of the bird business, I'm limiting the photos to birds today. Out back I counted ten different types in a few minutes time. Pretty awesome for me, don't you think? They were duly reported through eBird.

Aside from birds, let's talk about Thursday's Flower Moon and how awesome it was should you have been lucky enough to witness the magnificence in person. Wow, just wow!

I knew it was coming as I'd marked it on my calendar at the beginning of the year, having consulted a site like this so as not to miss anything. Watching it rise above the trees and subsequently shimmer on the lake was mesmerizing. How did I get so lucky? For the record, even Bruce was amazed and that is saying something!

What I'm showing you now is a series of photos, some terrible, but it puts across the point in a way that I could not begin to describe to you in words. On Monday a new camera arrived, one with a longer zoom than I've had because, let's face it, I want to photograph birds and it is well nigh impossible without a super zoom, as they call it. This is a point and shoot camera, so not fancy, but it is my favorite brand, Panasonic. As such, I'm looking for opportunities to practise using it. On my way home from the store, I drove through the "peacock neighborhood" where I witnessed two males in what might be called, "a stand-off." They stared, they paced, and then they pounced!

As you can see, they were in total shade under a tree with bright sunshine behind them, casting long shadows on the fence. I need way more impressive photography skills to capture something like this, so I'm just going with what I got and hope that you find it interesting.

Those trains make fighting somewhat challenging, or so it appears to me.

Finally, they moved into the light for one last bout.

Pretty wild, right? I've watched these, or their cousins, for years and this is my first time witnessing something like this. Now I've watched both swans and ducks fight it out. Adding peacocks to that list now.

Another day I went over to a new park in Dover Shores and it turned out to be a real hidden gem. Called Demetree Park, I discovered that it has been there since 1988, and this is the first I've heard of it even though it is fairly close to us. I plan on showing more photos of the place soon because there are things about it that puzzle me to no end. Putting those questions aside, while there on my first visit, there were ducklings, so cute and much smaller than ours that were too cute not to photograph.

On Thursday Bruce came along and while he was trying his hand at fishing, I roamed around, seeing much closer than before, a Great Crested Flycatcher, a lot of name for a very small bird.

Here and gone before I knew it! On the other hand, an Osprey flew down from above and stayed nicely in place for a photo.

Three times gorgeous Swallow Tail Kites flew overhead, and although exciting to see in person, it will remain but a memory as there was no way I could get a photograph.

Apparently, at one time there were Peking Ducks on Lake Pineloch, however no more, so it was fun seeing four of them there. How do you suppose she got all the bare spots? Preening? Fighting?

Duh, can't be preening on it's own neck! A bit of a mystery it shall remain. There are several lakes in the park, one of which, for the moment, was home to this Tri Colored Heron.

It is the white belly that gives this identification away. For some reason I struggle with the heron family, confusing one for another!

Seemingly, there are two new additions to our lake family, only one pictured below.

How great would it be if the Common Gallinule pair would produce some of those adorable black babies? Should you be curious, the ducklings remain in excellent shape The orphans joined up with the newer family making 11 ducklings following along after the Wood Duck parents. Out the window as I type, the Mallard family are clustered together, swimming away from our shore.

There are loads of Red Winged Blackbirds, a noisy bird if ever there were one. The males seem to hang out more in the trees than the females.

Here is a first in the annals of Camera Crazy. I give you, what I think, is an ugly bat.

Here's the scoop on having a bat in the blog----our new neighbor has been conducting her business as to her remodel in our now, shared backyard. She's on the phone a lot or working in her notebook while sitting in a chair beside the bushes. I looked up to see her opening our back door to tell me that she'd seen me with a camera and thought maybe I'd be interested in seeing it. You bet I was! So crazy watching it climb all over the split leaf Philodendron during the day! In a stroke of good luck for me, the contractors have been made aware, perhaps by the complex management, that the only projects allowed on Saturdays are quiet ones. Woo hoo! Two days of quiet!

Enough of birds, at least for this post.

I've not mentioned a thing about the virus, mainly because things seem to be quieting down a bit, at least in our area. Hair salons are now allowed to open with limited capacity and strict guidelines, added to the restaurant openings from last week. Nancy's store will be opening in the Atlanta area and from what she's told me, it is no easy task getting ready, what with more regulations than you can imagine. Our newspaper has once again been running stories of murder and mayhem, so you know they don't have as much to write about Covid-19. Another piece of good news is that the unit Fallon works on has been returned from a Coronavirus symptoms ward to a regular PCU ward. She explained to me, when I called her to thank her for their amazing Mother's Day gift, that the newer tests results return far quicker than when this first began. Our dentist sent an email that they too will be back in business. As well, the state forests are now open for camping because they are not nearly as popular, or well equipped, as the state parks. For now we wait to see what comes next.

Finally, it is sad to think that tomorrow would be Carol's 65th birthday, which, on occasion, fell on Mother's Day. If there is any silver lining to that, it would be that she was never a Mother so there are no children to mourn her passing. Friends, a loving husband, and her siblings were more than enough for our wonderful and talented sister. We all miss her so. I cannot begin to imagine what she would have made of these past two months.

your friend,

Gail

Are We on the Upswing?

That is the question of the hour. In Orange County, it sure seems that way with hospitals reporting fewer new cases of Covid-19. The governor has allowed restaurants to re-open with strict guidelines as to how many can be served at a time along with servers wearing masks. It's a start folks! Now if only the library would open I would be happy as I've only got about a half of a book left to read!

While we are waiting for life to return to normal, we are doing what we can to stay active, including a trip to Moss Park late last week to ride our bikes. While it seemed like a good plan, most of the park was closed. On our way into the park, we drove through Isle of Pines, a development near the park that once was considered out in the boondocks. Now, however, it is but one of an amazing amount of development off Moss Park Road. Wow, how times have changed! That said, it is still pretty wild in places as evidenced by the gator Bruce spotted beside the road.

That's Florida for you! The only fishing allowed in the park was along the canal because the boat ramps and docks were closed.

We knew that the campground was closed to camping, but did not expect the trails through it to be off limits, however, they were, meaning we could only ride a few times around the vast parking areas. We pretty much had the place to ourselves, a rare treat. So peaceful and quiet, along with ideal weather.

We'd brought a picnic lunch, enjoying it under the shade of the large oak trees. I was sad that it had been two months since last we sat at a picnic table. Nevertheless, we have nothing to complain about as we've not been sick, nor do we know anyone who has been. While we were eating we had a visitor on one side of the table,

and another one on the other. While we were in Vancouver I kept remarking on how large the crows were, thinking ours were smaller. You be the judge of that.

I think not as this guy was huge! There were tons of wading birds along the shore where once there was a swimming beach.

And although it is well documented that Wood Storks are not my favorite birds, they sure look great in flight. You can't go wrong with classic black and white!

Just before we were leaving, I spotted this little guy along the shoreline near the dock where the crew teams practice. (they were earlier!)

The traffic, normally pretty brutal was a breeze coming home. There are definitely some advantages to this whole shutdown.

My phone arrived as I was typing my last post and it's a little beauty, although a tiny bit larger than I was expecting.

Of course, I was clueless that there even was a new iPhone when I decided to finally take the plunge. My old phone was an iPhone 5s, one of Bruce's cast offs and it served me well these many years until the battery just would no longer hold a charge. The new one is the inexpensive model, iPhone SE, because I'm not usually one who is tied to my phone, so spending a bunch was unappealing to me. Anyway, I've had it for some days and it works just great.

Another day I finally sat down at my sewing machine, making a new little "plant mat". Never heard of one? I just made it up! Maybe it should be called a plant coaster?

It is always noteworthy when I spend a day cleaning, mostly because I am so proud of myself for actually tackling something I am not thrilled to do. Anyway, on this particular Saturday, I tried something new. And what would that be, Gail? Tea for a floor cleaner! Have you heard of it before? I had not, but thought it was worth a try because I was hoping some of the tannins would stain some of the scuffs on our floors. Apparently it is a thing.

I brewed about six tea bags and let them sit for about 15 minutes, then put the tea in the bucket along with some cold water and I must say, it worked beautifully! Now, if I could only get myself to do it more often instead of taking photographs!

I can't stop myself from taking photographs because stuff is always happening, like the Mallard ducklings getting so big! They came right up to the back door again before heading back to the lake.

Before much longer they will be as big as mom who, btw, still keeps them with her at all times. I mentioned we've had some front porch visitors too, including this Downy Woodpecker, and a Tufted Titmouse at the same time.

The Cardinals are coming again, and we've even had the occasional Blue Jay, although they are mighty big for a feeder of this size.

Sunday we went for another bike ride, this time more successful than the last. Parking at Lake Ivanhoe park, we rode on the Urban trail to Mead Gardens. You know, I told Bruce that it is possible to send messages to anywhere in the world through thin air, yet bicycle seats remain uncomfortable. How can this be? Anyway the best thing we saw on this little journey was an Osprey nest with two babies, only one of whom I could get in the picture! How fun, right?

Driving to the park, we stopped first at Lake Cherokee because I'd heard there were some cygnets, and by golly, there were!

Which begged the question, were they the same ones from nearby Lake Davis? And the answer is no, they are not, however, we were saddened to see that one of the original four Lake Davis cygnets was gone. Watching the remaining three waddle down to the water was quite the sight, what with their feet being almost too big for their bodies at this point.

Absolutely amazing how low the water is!

Which brings us to the end of the photo show. Around here, the neighbor's construction continues with miscues daily. One day they knocked out the water to our building. Another day, in an attempt to miss the contractor's truck and trailer, the garbage men tried going around it and pulled off about a six foot tree branch, and breaking one of the carport tiles along the way. The next day they filled our newly-emptied dumpster with the old cabinets. My friends are encouraging me to lighten up, which is something I will have to learn with practice as this will be going on for about a month. The funny thing is that today I read an article in the paper about some residents of Arlington, VA who live across from the under construction new Amazon headquarters.  The presumption was that during the heavy pile driving phase, most of the residents of the high rises would be at work and the noise would be no problem. And then along came Coronavirus, keeping them all at home where it is driving them crazy with the noise, going so far as to petition the local government to make them stop. The moral of the story is, it can always be worse.  And, of course, we will be having to ask forgiveness ourselves if we ever get around to doing the other bathroom! And to think that we put it off so we could do the entire camping season!

Which reminds me to say that they are opening some of the state parks again, however, none of them are ones we are interested in so our supplies remain in storage.

We had a great birthday chat with Jonathan who had a wonderful day courtesy of some special gifts from Alissa. Ours were entirely practical and I will leave it at that. Won't be long until Mr. Peck celebrates his as well.

So, I would most definitely say that we are inching closer to good times once again.  Then again, that may be the optimist in me. Only time will tell, as it always does.

your friend,

Gail

A Very Pleasant Surprise

I know what Bruce would tell me right about now if he were home. "Just don't listen." To which I would counter, "that is impossible for me!" The condo next door was sold and the renovations began this morning. For the nearly two years we've lived here, it has been quiet, hearing our upstairs rarely, and certainly not next door. It began this morning at 9, two bathrooms being demolished. Yikes! I'm am constantly amazed that Bruce can tune noise out. Perhaps some of it will rub off on me?

On the last day of April, in the time of the Corona pandemic, it is raining, something to be very grateful for as we've been in such a drought. The first few days of the week, the weather was beautiful, warm, but not too warm, prompting me to go on a little mission to Leu Gardens. In the early days of learning photography I went there countless times to photograph whatever I could find that caught my fancy so I know that place like the back of my hand. Early this week I learned that they were not only open, but that Mayor Dyer declared it to be free. Or, at least that is what the head of the place told me. Not that I knew he was such, but seeing a super interesting and unknown plant, I asked the closest person I could find, who was wearing a mask when he came closer.

Amazing, right? This is a Mexican milkweed, planted adjacent to the butterfly garden. But of course.

It almost felt illicit to be strolling the grounds with hardly anyone there when I arrived a little after opening. Of those there, everyone was super respectful about keeping their distance. One of the most exciting things to happen was this:  as I was standing beside a plant, camera in hand, I noticed a woman coming toward me that I was sure was my friend, Bev. She read my expression as horror that a woman was coming close! Only in the time of Corona my friends. We had a long chat, catching up and hearing each other's stories in this crazy time. Most of the folks I see regularly I'm good without hugging, but I sure wish I could have hugged Bev.

As you can see, it is easy to keep a safe distance. Taking my time, I explored not nearly enough before it was time to leave. Rarely have I seen the gardens looking so good.

All of it was wonderful,  however, the orchids, tucked into the crook of some of the trees, really stole the show.

Oh my, the color of the one below!! Captivating.

The one place where it was harder to stay apart was the butterfly garden area which was sad because there were so many butterflies to watch. There was a man with a lens about a foot long that hogged the space, much to my chagrin!

 Lucky for me, when I went into the nearby vegetable garden, not only was it empty but a Monarch was quite cooperative, enjoying the nectar of a lovely Gerbera daisy for a long while.

Count me surprised when I walked through the visitor center to leave, lo and behold, there was a new Dorothy Gillespie installation. If you missed my last post, that won't mean a thing. If you are one the wonderful people who I am humbled to have read my blog regularly, you will remember Bruce standing beside one of her sculptures at the Orange County building last week.

Speaking of Orange County, the governor is allowing some businesses to reopen, beginning Monday, however, how much of that order will translate to our county, I'm not so sure. Still no hair salons, which is a shame. Even when they finally do open, having my hair colored and cut probably still won't happen for a while because it takes hours and even though my level of worry is low, it seems prudent for me to wait a while longer. Seriously, everyone is going through the same thing, so in that overused phrase, "it is what it is!"

We are doing our part to keep the economy moving, what with my new phone, allegedly arriving today, and Bruce is having a trailer hitch put on the Subaru for a new bike rack that will better suit our needs. In an excellent move on my part, I went to Publix today, finding most of what I wanted. Plus, that kept me away from the construction noise, so there's that.

Bruce is getting many folks vote for "neighbor of the month" on our street. Not only did he wash the Packard that was completely covered in yellow oak pollen,

He washed a neighbor's car that has been an eyesore for what some folks have told us, nearly three years! First the Packard because we use the parking space of the folks who own it while they are away for most of the year in North Carolina. Hesitant, in order not to offend the man, Bruce knocked on his door, asking if he could wash his car. When the man asked, "how much?", Bruce told him there is no cost.  How dirty was the car? Dirtier than any I've ever seen.

The entire car looked similar with some places even worse!

He washed parts of it, not once, not twice not....five times!!! trying to get the grime off. Car washing is actually not allowed in the parking lot, but folks turned a blind eye to that because they were so delighted. I can't tell you the number of people who have stopped him, thanking him for doing so. The owner is 90+ years old and in no shape to do it himself. That man of mine is something else!

We are having some birdies!! Life imitating art, or should I say, the other way around?

There's more I'll wait to share in an upcoming post. Tomorrow is our dear Jonathan's birthday and he is inching closer to 40 all of the time. He, like Bill and David, will remember this particular birthday for a long time to come. The number of cases of Covid-19 in some parts of the country are very puzzling to me. You would have thought, what with our huge number of international tourists, and domestic, for that matter, that we would have been overwhelmed, but it seemingly is not the case. As I type, there are 1,268 deaths in Florida with 33,690 reported cases. Texas, where Jonathan and Alissa live, has only 759 deaths, and about 600 less reported cases. I wonder why that is when Texas is way more populous? And why does Massachusetts have so many? There seems to be no rhyme or reason, but I suspect in the future there will be studies galore on every aspect of this pandemic. For now there are more questions than answers or that's how it appears to me.

A couple of things worth noting....

* The newspaper reported that in some parts of the country, stores are out of sympathy cards. :(

* Some staffing companies were offering nurses up to $10,000 a week if they would come to New     York and work. I wonder how that made the regular staff feel?

* There is a lot of generosity happening for those less fortunate. Hurray for that!

* I must admit, I felt a bit guilty when buying the last bag of flour on the shelf.

Finally, I managed to get some decent photographs of the new Wood Duck family while they were on coming on shore. Not all of them mind you,

this little one was the renegade, preferring the water.

It won't be long now that there will be no more new duckling births. Sure hope it won't be too long now before we are not talking about death on a daily basis.

your friend,

Gail