What's New

For someone who doesn't have a real job anymore, I seem to stay pretty busy. I suppose it is because I am involved in so many things that are new to me. My new friend Becky taught me this saying--"Fake it till you make it." That's pretty much my MO these days.

Bruce worked a bit from home yesterday because he had gone to his remodel job site well into the night. I never ask what time he gets home--that falls under the category of "what I don't know can't hurt me." If I knew how little sleep he had, I would worry all day. We went on a few errands related to my little business then had lunch at a charming little bistro on Park Avenue in Winter Park. For those of you not from this area, WP is where the money is in our area. I mean the old money. There are scads of sports stars, and other celebrities that live out near the hospital I used to work for, but they are pretty much the nouveau-riche. OK, so the point of me telling you about the bistro is because they have some photography on their walls from a local. I asked the manager if they ever changed them and he said they did, in fact, they had space for two new ones. "Could I bring in some of my pieces to show you?" "Of course."

I took this photo at the sculpture garden where I'm having my interview next week. We roamed the grounds a bit so Bruce could familiarize himself with the place. Re the interview--I found some lovely black closed-toe shoes today. I have scads of shoes but they are primarily sandals of some height or another--no stylish flats in the bunch. Of course I got them at Marshalls where the price was about a third of what they would be at Nordstrom. I want to make a good impression after all. If anyone has any tips about interviewing I would be thrilled to hear them as I'm a newbie. Another case of "faking it."

Matt called this afternoon--hurray! I hadn't heard from him in ages even though he's been in the States. Busy man is all. He had a fabulous weekend in New York, then on to Las Vegas for a conference. He's flying back to London tonight right in the midst of the new terrorist scare. I wish I knew nothing of that--you know, the old head in the sand routine. He plans to go to Wimbledon when he gets back if the weather is good. It is great to have a son who makes the most out of whatever city he is living in.

Speaking of sons, Bill is playing tonight with a famous guitarist, Michael Angelo, at Sam Ash. I think they are going to be putting on a clinic of sorts. He called about 4 asking if we were coming and naturally we are. We have supported him any way we could for all these years of his music career; we're not stopping now. Hopefully I can take some decent pictures and I'll share one with you, however, I may get too excited and screw it up--we'll see.

Sweet Sarah from Chicago answered my plea for a contact for Jonathan in Chicago. He is flying up week after next to look for an apartment. If anyone has any job ideas, let me know please!

The Mail

Here is my brand new tea kettle. It's pretty red isn't it? Hmmm....

The mail today, both snail, and e-mail, was interesting.

• A brochure from the state entitled: "Beginning Your Relationship with the Florida Department of Revenue. I'm sure Matthew is laughing as he reads this as he knows what a pathetic record keeper I am. Apparently, I've got to do better. For some reason we do not have to charge sales tax at the market; since we've just decided not to pursue the huge show in the fall I'm not sure just yet when I'll need my tax number. Fiesta in the Park, I wonder who made that name up eighteen years ago. It might be lucrative, maybe not. In any case, Bruce's workload will be crushing him at that time of the year (November), and I will be in the midst of my last semester at Valencia. Wow--hard to imagine. I'll have to decide what is next.
• Additionally, I received an itemized statement from the hospital. Previously they sent me a bill saying I owed some money. I wasted a stamp, yes, but I just wanted to let them know I don't pay bills without knowing what it was for. Here's the scoop: When I had those ten tubes of blood drawn in March they tested me for--get this--mercury, arsenic, lead and cadium, whatever that is. I must not be the victim of some weird poisoning.
• My friend, Amaya from Seattle, sent me a note--surely I took more photos than two on my field trip yesterday--where are they? She has me pegged. I took at least 150!! That is the beauty of digital my friends. You can compose all different shots with the lighting coming from the side, back, or front for a different mood. Heck, I laid on my back on the porch of one of the buildings trying to get the entire lighthouse in one shot! I took three that way. Bruce tells me that it is the equivalent of a 20 story building. Is it any wonder that I was in bed by 8 last night?
• Lastly, I am now scheduled for my internship interview. I sent an e-mail stating I was free anytime and let the curator pick the time. It's next Tuesday at ??? I already forgot--no worries, I never delete e-mail.
• On that note, I'm going to get cleaned up a bit-- at 3, I'm heading to get a mani/pedi, as they call it. Waxing--the dreaded waxing of my brows, and mustache too. I do so hate that, but it's been MONTHS!
  

Up Before the Sun

This is a warning--do as I say, not as I do. I took this photo through the windshield while driving on I-95 at about 6:45AM. After reading an article recently about Ponce Inlet, I decided to take a field trip. On the East coast, it is about 55 miles from home. Because Bruce was going to be up so early for his meeting, I decided to do the same. I was out of the house before 6--no traffic going that direction.

There is the second tallest lighthouse in the United States in Ponce Inlet, unfortunately they do not open the area until 10; it was no wonder the gentleman looked at me funny when I pulled into the parking lot around 7:15. First, I had stopped oceanside--my, what a lovely sight with the sun just coming up. The water sparkles like diamonds, and of course, you can even see the sun's rays.

It's really a small island, situated between the Halifax River, and the Atlantic Ocean. There is a nature trail with an observation tower looking over the river flats. If you've never been to Florida you may not know that the nature trail is filled with what we call scrub. Mostly palmetto palms, and pine trees; in other words, not really what most people would call beautiful. Nonetheless, it was peaceful at that time of the morning. I moseyed around taking photos of pelicans, the lighthouse, and the boats docked on the river.

The lighthouse--there's the draw. If you can imagine, I made it all the way to the top--203 steps! Fortunately, for me and others, there are several landings for resting. I brought Elmer along but after struggling for about 10 minutes in the heat, trying to get the zoom lens on, I left Elmer in the car, and took my trusty Panasonic. There was a woman on the grounds of the lighthouse with some model of Nikon DSLR and she looked at me with disdain--a point and shoot--you can't be serious. Little does she know how serious I am!!! I found out how serious she is--I asked her if she was on flickr and she said: "No, we are on Walgreens." Teehee.

As you already guessed, I was wiped out. I put the MINI in drive and we were home before 1. I'm super happy with lots of the pictures.

I know how excited you'll be when you hear that there was a message from the curator of the museum; she wants to meet me to discuss a fall internship. Thank you Professor McNair!! I know it was only because she intervened that I'm getting this chance. Now for the interview!

Bruce has gone to Boston for a quick trip; he'll be home tomorrow evening. I'll probably have the lights out before 9 around here to recover. I think it's good medicine to take field trips.

Sufjan Stevens (Matthew interviewed him, I might add), and The Killers kept me company in the car.

Summer Heat

To say that the market was hot as blazes, and slow as molasses, would be my mother's description. Those are certainly some old-fashioned terms now, aren't they? The good news is that they are giving us a buy one, get one free deal through the summer trying to get the vendors to hang in there during the slow time. Who can resist a deal like that I ask?

Fortunately, there was a native Orlandoan, about our age, that set up a table for the independent bookstore down the street. We had loads in common which we chatted about all the hot day long. We spent most of the money we made on:

• Two books, one a gift, one a new cookbook
• Lemonade
• Kettle Korn
• Diet Coke
• Cold Water
• Bar-b-que sandwiches
  
• Corn, red peppers, baby greens
  
• Grilled chicken for dinner
  

Probably something more which escapes me right now. I did make a new contact that might become a buyer. They live in the Sanctuary (new downtown condo), and were looking for two complimentary pictures of flowers in the same frame. They asked if I had more flowers than I was showing, I laughed. You bet I do. I've got hundreds of flower pictures!!!

To answer the question about what we did before computers is impossible. One thing I know for sure--it sure has made life easier in so many ways. One of the biggest, which I think encompasses so many areas, is that we are now so much more in control of our lives. We no longer have to read, or view, anything we don't want. It's the ultimate channel surfer for sure. All that said because I was able to put together a web album of flower pictures for them to view at their leisure while sitting in air-conditioning! That should put anyone in a good frame of mind!

Our new market manager asked me if I might take some photos of the market; naturally I had to get a few patrons, as pictured above.

Even when it is hot I still drink lots of hot tea, however, today I managed to leave the tea kettle on high for way too long. It has never had a good whistle, and of late it has been hit, or miss. Today it was miss, and a new kettle must be purchased before tomorrow. I can't abide tea with microwaved water.

I scooted over to Leu Gardens this morning and I now have even more flower pictures.

Moving On

After yesterday's self-pitying post we are moving on. We're not going to let some silly undiagnosed illness stop us now are we?

I saw this cute Olivia music box at Ross the other day. If you've not heard of the wonderful Olivia books you should check them out. She's got an indomitable spirit-- just what we all need. Matt introduced me to the Olivia series a few years back and we love her--thank you Matthew. I'm trying to remember what museum we saw some of the original drawings in. Whenever we visit Matt he always takes us to the top museums in the current city of his residence. As well, he always has other great activities planned, not like me, just falling into stuff.

If you can imagine I left home without my camera last night!! I almost had Bruce turn around but I suffered through the withdrawal. We had dinner with Michael, and Jane which was super fun. Fifi's has half-price bottles of wine for the month of June, and we started with champagne. I was feeling puny when we arrived, but the fun company distracted me. They regaled us with tales of their first cruise. Please don't take offense if you are either a bowler, or are covered with tattoos when I tell you how Michael described his fellow cruisers. He said it looked like they emptied out many bowling alleys, putting the tattooed regulars on the same ship. My objection to a cruise has always been the cattle call thing. I know that airplane travel is somewhat like that, but the idea of thousands of people all boarding together has always been a huge turnoff to me. Maybe you have to be young when you first go on a cruise because Jonathan and Alissa loved it.

Here's some news--I got my Florida sales tax number today in the mail. I applied on line only about four days ago; maybe with the recent property tax cuts they are anxious for sales tax to make up the difference, thus the speed with which I received it.

I've had my Itunes playing for most of the day; I had gotten out of the habit of listening during the semester. I had to do my math homework on the computer, therefore I needed no distractions. At any rate, my music library currently has 5,052 songs, many of which I've never heard. Every time Jonathan is home he downloads more, and more, music. Some standouts from today's listen--Neko Case, Winterkids, and Peter Bjorn & John. Good stuff.

Nearly Spent

Forgive me if you know this story, some readers are new to the sad saga. About exactly this time last year I was chatting with my friend Judy in the gym parking lot. I got in the car and thought, hmm...is my back hurting? I was still finishing my first short summer semester, taking a math class that I wasn't half bad at. I have never had a backache in my life that I can remember, so it seemed weird. At any rate, I started the new semester, this time taking college algebra that I abhor. Matt had advised me to take it in the six week deal--four days a week to get it over with. The problem was that by now it was clear it was my side that hurt, and I was beginning to get very weak. In a nutshell--I finally went to the doctor, started on a steroid, had a seizure twice, and was hospitalized. They discovered that my heart had developed a weird rhythm as well. One week in the hospital, eight specialists, every scan that you can imagine, including a heart work up. About day four the attending physician revealed that they had done blood work that included tumor markers. Unfortunately the one for pancreatic cancer was five times what is considered normal. As well, they had seen things on the scan that made them think of metastatic cancer. All in all, a horrible time. They did not see cancer in my pancreas, so there was no explanation for the results. I was discharged with no diagnosis, and that is where I stand today. A medical mystery, which is a bad thing to be. I have sworn off going to the doctor for a while.

The problem is that my side still aches most of the time, I have dry heaves almost daily, and still have limited energy. A friend of my sisters asked how I could take so many pictures if I felt so bad. The thing she doesn't realize is that most are taken within a few mile radius of the house unless Bruce takes me. My camera has meant so much to me--it allows me to focus on my surroundings instead of myself. I have thanked God many times that my home is not terribly large, thus not so much to manage. Bruce has been unbelievable through it all, as has the rest of family including my siblings! Lisa stayed with me the first two weeks after I left the hospital, even shaving my legs because I was too weak. Maureen came over many evenings to help me get some food together for dinner when Bruce was out of town. I can't say enough about how so many people have encouraged me.

I force myself to get out, keep going to school, and in general trying to lead a normal life--I can tell you it's not always easy. Nevertheless, I know others have things much worse. It's just hard to tell people you don't know what is wrong with you, only that something is amiss with my body.

On a more positive note, I had an idea this morning that I'm going to consider. My hair has gotten pretty long primarily because I just don't take the time to get it cut. My niece donated her hair to Locks of Love--maybe I'll just let it grow for a while and do the same.

While taking Baxter for a walk this morning I found this trumpet flower on the ground--it sorta looks like me--a bit withered, but there's color remaining. I knew you got the connection already though.

Calendar

Maureen called the other day to tell me about a photo contest of sorts here in town. The Orlando Historical Society puts together a calendar each year showcasing some of Orlando's historic neighborhoods. Four black and white submissions are allowed per photographer. Because I live close to this area it is a natural for me to attempt. Yesterday I roamed a few streets on foot and noticed things I hadn't previously. Almost all of the houses are great with their own personalities. I noticed this pretty kitty on one of the houses porch railing and couldn't resist. We no longer have a cat, but they still fascinate me. So quiet, and regal.

A few years ago I thought about retiring from work because Bruce is able to support our household without my income. A patient asked--"What will you do with yourself?" At the time I said, "I'll think of something," however I never would have dreamed up what I'm now doing. I am basically re-inventing myself. Most people don't get that opportunity, either because they are frightened of the prospect, or they don't have the financial support. Not to mention the psychological support. Bruce is my biggest cheerleader, encourage me every step of the way. The boys also indulge me.

Speaking of which, when Carol and Hank were here she was mentioning how interesting it was to see what the Peck boys have become. It is truly amazing to me. People used to pity me because I had four sons in seven years--no longer. I have free computer, decorating, financial, educational advice, and really, just about any other help you could think of. I could have never gotten through some of my classes without their help. Matthew critiqued my papers for a while, pointing out my penchant for too short sentences, and passive voice. I worked super hard trying to correct those problems. I am one lucky girl.

We seem to be having a vegetarian week around here. With the okra the other night we had, corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes, and boiled new potatoes. Last night it was a frittata with some of that lovely basil, sun dried tomatoes, and jalapeños with an arugula salad. The night before, broccoli and gruyere soup. Bruce is trying to lose weight, or at least stop the forward progress.

Jonathan and Alissa are home from the cruise and are dead set on moving to Chicago to experience big city life. Jobs and apartments are being sought as I type. Keep your fingers crossed for them.