Ceiling to Floor

I know you've all heard the term floor to ceiling, however, today I'm flipping it the other way around. Why, you ask? Because that's just about how Nancy has me cleaning. Yes, today I'm getting around to posting about the here and now, not the lovely London trip. There's still more to share in that department, but let's catch up with what's been going on the last week or so, shal we?

Nancy stayed with our little Baxter in our absence. Plus, she's been busy getting our house organized. As has been well documented in this blog, I'm not a great cleaner. Sure, things are neat because I don't like it any other way, but clean? No way. Yesterday, while Nancy worked mostly in the hall bathroom, I tackled ours, going so far as to clean the exhaust fan! Plus, washed all the light fixtures, changed bulbs, washed the walls and the list goes on. In the meantime Nancy cleaned my blind, scrubbed the tub and shower walls until they look better than I've ever seen them. Furthermore, she even took all the knobs off and bleached everything! Did I sleep well last night? You bet!

Today, on the other hand, I took a break from cleaning and went to play bridge. Surprisingly I hadn't forgotten everything I knew. It was great to catch up with the ladies although truth be told, much of the talk concerned all the sick people we know. When you are young that topic rarely comes up; our age--way too often for anyone's liking.

So I mentioned the market the other day which was great. Sales, not so much, however, the visitors I had were wonderful. It was very good to see the fountain back in business:

The company responsible for renovating the fountain was under strict orders to have it operational by the 4th of July for the annual fireworks display. Rumor has it that it is beautiful, although I've not seen it at night just yet. Silly me because we went out to eat on Monday night and I should have checked it out!

Now and again I've found time to go swimming in our beautiful pool. The other day I couldn't help but head inside, getting my camera to photograph the tiny little red flower from the jatropha plants surrounding the pool which sometimes make their way INTO the pool.

On Saturday night we went to Barb and Steve's for dinner at their new condo in Lake Nona. We had a marvelous time, made even more so by the wine they served. Steve is not a wine drinker; nevertheless, sometimes people give him wine which he hoards for special occasions. I'm so very happy our visit qualified for a special occasion. When we arrived Barb said she wasn't so sure about the 1983 bottle of French red wine she opened because the cork was so crumbly. "Here taste it Gail." Which I did and promptly pronounced it amazing! Cork be damned! Seriously, it was so complex and just plain terrific. Turns out, after further investigation, that if you were to try and buy that bottle it would cost $499!!!!!! Can you imagine paying that for a bottle of wine? I can't but I'm very, very glad someone did.

While at the market on Sunday I saw Richard, the head of the Historic Preservation Board, and asked him if the annual calendar contest submissions were closed. Yes, they are Gail, but if you have something and can get it to me tomorrow I'll consider it. So I did. As you may recall I took those photos back in June. Trip planning got in the way of following through. Mr. Roger was kind enough to print them Sunday night and I dropped them off at City Hall after passing serious "security measures." Before getting back in my car I saw this display in front of the construction site of the new performing arts center. I can only assume it was from an art class somewhere in the city.

Just as we were leaving for the aforementioned dinner date, some warning lights came up on Bruce's dashboard. Monday afternoon he dropped it off at the BMW dealership and here's what I have to say about that. Thank goodness for extended warranties! What was a $2,000 repair cost us $53 deductible. Anyway, I took him to the airport Tuesday morning at 6AM and took this on my way home:

There is still just a little bit of rural land left in Orlando--this is taken off Judge Road.

Today I did a little Christmas shopping after bridge, coming home to make a delicious quiche from the Agnes & Muriel cookbook. When Nancy returned from Zumba, she was glad there was a cook at home.

Street Art

This story from the New York Times published in yesterday's edition is most timely. I'm pretty certain that if I had to be one of the people charged with painting over graffiti I might feel differently about the merit of public expression. For the most part I'm a serious rule follower, however, having been involved in a small way with the art community I know it is very hard to become known, or for that matter, have anyone take you seriously. Frequently,  as in many occupations, it is about who you know.What we learned while taking the Street Art London Tour was that oftentimes the artists want to be noticed.

After taking the bus to the meeting place, Bruce and I mingled with the other attendees until our leader Griff arrived. He is pictured on the left with his bicycle which he wheeled around the whole four hours.

Once again we followed the leader through the side streets of East London, mostly Shoreditch and Brick Lane. When we got back to Matt's flat he told us that, although Griff may be leading tours right now, his education is quite different. Ironically, he's a lawyer.

By far, we were the oldest of the group:

See the gray haired man in the dress shirt with folded arms? You know him! He's standing in front of a commissioned piece, or so we learned from Griff, by Ben Eine who paints large, as you can plainly see, colorful typographical letters on walls and shop shutters. In Orlando we don't have shop shutters, but you see them everywhere in London. Essentially, they are like garage doors often painted bright colors. Ben Eine is one of Matthew's favorites with two framed prints gracing his bedroom walls. Which brings us back to the story from the Times. Art or vandalism?

Depends on what it is. Remember I told you that street artists want to be noticed. Well.......turns out that once they become well known, show in galleries, and sell art, their compatriots in the street art community think they are sell outs! It seems as if they can't win.

Mobstr, another witty street artist gets it:

Without street art my sales figures would be decidedly different. A conundrum for sure.

Griff also explained that there is a code of ethics concerning tagging over another artist's work. Sadly, the tagger that ruined this Banksy piece wasn't aware of the rules.

Actually this piece is in Matt's neighborhood and knowing my interest in the subject, he took us there on our very first day in London. One of the reasons I think Banksy is so popular is because, not only is he a very good artist, he's also quite witty. The caption on the wall next to this piece says, "Anyone caught vandalizing this vandalism will be prosecuted." Clever man that Banksy.

What you can't see in this shot is a Banksy piece, hidden under this wedge shaped plywood cover. 

What's going to happen is that the entire building is slated for demolition except for this wall. When you read about a new hotel concept, Art Hotel, remember you heard it here first! This wall will be the main lobby wall behind reception. Pretty cool huh? Tell me please, why I think that little mouse is so cute in paint. but have no affinity for the real one in my backyard?????

Have any of you seen this film?

If so, then Space Invader will be familiar to you. Here's one example of what he's done around London:

As Griff explained, Space Invader numbers the tiles for easier installation, shown clearly in this photo. If you've seen the film you know that the man who becomes Mr. Brainwash is the cousin of SI. We saw several of his pieces around town. SI, not Mr. Brainwash.

Alice Pasquine, from Rome, was in London with her French boyfriend C215, for a gallery showing, however, before the show they got out in the streets, painting many pieces during our stay. Griff knew where they all were:

The other day I mentioned Stik who is interviewed here. The striking simplicity of his work says alot to me.

Next up for the pictured man was a Harry Potter tour with his wife, who was actually carrying one of the HP hardcover books the whole time. Interesting huh? What you can't see very well in this one is all sorts of baby stik figures. I'm thinking the two large figures represent parents, or maybe the government, saying no to all kinds of activities. My interpretation anyway.

Roa, a Belgian street artist did incredible work, mostly rodents and birds, with a few other animals thrown in for good measure. We learned he does it entirely from his head using no stencils, starting first with the white and then filling in the black. Because the pieces are so intricate, and take several days to complete, he has permission from building owners to bring nature to the urban landscape.

This is somewhat atypical, most of them have fur or feathers, however I thought it was so remarkable I'm posting this one. What you can't tell from this picture is that it is high up on the side of the building. What I hope you can discern is how big it is. Amazing! Remember what I said about tagging over work? Mostly the taggers leave Roa's work alone.

I can't recall who did this cute little guy:

So there you have it. We followed Griff and his white Cannondale bicycle for four hours down alleyways and major streets, marveling all the while at the creativity displayed on the streets of London. Have I convinced you that some street art is okay? I hope so!

p.s. off topic, but I got a very exciting email yesterday--I'm IN for the Winter Park Autumn Art Festival again!

Talk About the Weather

Leaving Florida on Friday at 1, here's how it looked through the plane window:

Pretty ominous wouldn't you say? Apparently, there was much, much more of the same during our absence. According to the paper today, 6" of rain has fallen this month, however, that may or may not be accurate because the rain gauge just since we've been home contradicts that figure.

Friday I did our laundry, unsure if hanging them on the clothes line would work because of the afternoon rains. Well, it did. Around 3:00 I noticed the sky turning darker so I headed out back to take them off the line, hoping they were dry. And they were. Just as I was taking the last items down, a few sprinkles began. Shortly thereafter, a sunshower started.

I'm not sure if this phenomenon happens everywhere, but here in Florida, the sun can be shining brightly with rain coming down in buckets at the same time. And then it stopped. But, boy howdy, did it start again, eventually dropping 3.5 inches in about three hours. And we were worried about the rain in England!

Which never really materialized, except for our time in Bath. Before we left I'd worried about the weather in England; I needn't have. Aside from the chill during our visit to Stonehenge, I was very comfortable. Despite the drizzle, we roamed around Bath, taking in the sights including the Royal Crescent.

With the gray sky and wet bricks you can tell it has been raining and might do so again, however, we trooped along just fine. I never thought I'd be saying this, but I actually didn't mind the lack of pure sunshine all that much. Now whether a steady diet of grayish skies would ever work for me I can't say, but for ten days it was somewhat of a pleasure never really knowing what the weather would do. From May to October there's really no reason to consult the weather forecast because most days it is HOT with afternoon showers expected.

It also rained during parts of our tours, again though, only for brief periods. This Costwolds village, Castle- Combe, looked even prettier after a shower:

According the the Castle-Combe website, it has been called the prettiest village in England. Although I'm no expert on the subject, I will say that it is charming in person. Ironically, we learned that the village was closed down for a month while Steven Spielberg filmed .
Speaking of which, seeing "War Horse" at the London Theater was amazing. When you see those giant puppets at such close range as we did, thanks to the terrific seats Matt purchased, you can't help but be in awe. Although WWII gets most of the attention, this story is set during The Great War, a time when horses were still used in battle. After seeing the play, Bruce purchased a used book on the subject at a market on South Bank, reading it a good deal during our flight home. Tom, naturally, knew more than all of us put together; I suspect having an historian for a father will do that for a bright young man.

I can't say often enough that I'm not much of a true photographer, never really knowing how best to use my cameras. I get by is what I do. After our trip to Melton Mowbray on Sunday, a very quick shower came down that evening. Have I mentioned how long the days are in England? Long, very long. The sun comes up around 5, setting between 9-10. So whether it could be called evening or not, I'm unsure. At any rate, I thought the rain puddles looked cool and as it was dark when I went out front, I tried very hard to set a long exposure which is a trick photographers do at night. Try as I might, I couldn't figure it out. So why am I including this photo anyway?

Mostly to show you the neighborhood and one other thing. Any guesses what that other thing might be? Since I can't hear your reply, I'll tell you. In our city it is illegal to park both ways, however, it seems as if in London you can park any old way you want. Plus, if you can imagine, this is a two way street!

Things are returning to normal around here. I did the market yesterday, Bruce has gone to the office, and Nancy is at Zumba class. You should see what she's accomplishing in the cleaning department! More on that later.

Continuing the Journey

So, if you thought we were done with the trip, you thought wrong. If I don't write about it, I'll remember only how great it was, not the details. Thus, let's get to some of those details.

As you can imagine we were a bit tired upon arrival in London. Matt was kind enough to get up very early to make the journey out to Heathrow, guiding us every step of the way through the maze of people. Taking two different subway lines, we got to Matt's stop in about an hour. Here's one of my favorite pictures of the trip:

As you might notice, he's pulling my bag for me. Of course, I was able to take this photo because I was lagging behind, something that would be repeated throughout the trip!


July 5th was Matt's 35th birthday. Imagine our boy that old! Seems like only yesterday.....blah, blah, blah. Because we were to be in Bath on the actual special day, Tom brought over an amazing peanut butter cake he made complete with re-burning candles. To say that Matt was both pleased and surprised is an understatement. In fact, he claimed it was the best cake ever to which I say Amen!

Can you believe how cute it is? Anyone who knows Matt knows he has a major sweet tooth and this vegan cake fit the bill! Knowing how a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is Matt's go-to meal, Tom found the cake pan on Amazon. What a clever young man.


In fact, he's so darn clever, there doesn't seem to be any subject he can't explain. His mum described him as "knowing how the world works" from the time he was a baby. Before boarding our train back to Leicester, we took a little stroll after lunch to see Melton Mowbray.

In this photo he's leading the way through the streets where he grew up. Visiting England in the summer is the way to go because there are flowers everywhere. The extremely long days of summer lead to extremely short winter days so I imagine folks make the most of the growing season. Coming from Florida, the growing season is all year, however, with the extreme heat and thunderstorms of summer, our flowers decline in June, July and August. Just as our geraniums are petering out, there's are in full array.

As in this display in front of Buckingham Palace. The queen did not show her face in case you're wondering.


Several mornings I walked about two blocks to Columbia Road, seeing this along the way:

My mission was to purchase pastries for breakfast--wonderful croissants and pan au chocolate for extremely reasonable prices. Adjacent to a small park I cut through, wild poppies were popping up throughout these wildflowers. (Completely weird sentence, however, don't know how else to say it.) I was amazed at how many I saw during our road trips through the country side. Lovely, lovely.


Something else that struck me were the colorful doors everywhere. The city of Bath is pretty much made of a limestone material called, appropriately enough, Bath Stone, a warm honey colored block. I can only imagine the colorful doors are a way people express their personalities, because most of the buildings look exactly alike. Reds, greens, blues, yellows, and even this color:

I'm pretty sure this is a shop front which most likely has residences above. Here's what I mean:

This was a bit of a gray day, shortly after our arrival. Unlike here, the rain does not prevent activities, you either put on a rain jacket or use an umbrella. Yesterday, in the span of about three hours, 3.5 inches of rain fell in very violent fashion, complete with huge cracks of thunder and lightening. I'd gone to check in with Corrine, pretty much getting stuck until I remembered Herb probably had a gigantic golf umbrella! She is no better, but the good news is, she is no worse than when I left.

As I mentioned in my last post, the streets are a crowded jumble of people from all walks of life, wearing all manner of clothing. If there are fashion trends I don't know what the are; I've never seen such an array of shoes, handbags, tote bags, jackets, pants and shirts. Notably lacking were shorts, however, as in the top photo on occasion some people wear them. Mostly we walked as fast as we could to keep up with Matt, Bruce doing a much better job than myself. He's pictured, or at least his back is, on the left leading us through the great crowds near Trafalgar Square:

The city life is ever-changing, exciting, and vibrant, not to mention it seems quite convenient to walk or have others drive you around, yet in my mind, there is something to be said for the quiet life we lead. Sounds silly perhaps, but I think at our age, living closer to nature is right for us. I can't tell you how thrilled I was to discover a new nest out front on Wednesday after mowing the lawn. Thursday morning mama cardinal was busy pulling off bits of a frost bitten palm frond to increase the nest size. When I showed Nancy the nest Thursday afternoon, it was twice what it was on Wednesday. That sort of thing makes me happy.

Where to Begin?

I imagine by now you are all dying to know about the trip. Well, here we go.....

Yesterday morning Bruce and I awoke at 4:00 EST; apparently our bodies were convinced it was 9AM GMT. First thing I did was look at my pictures, which truth be told, are not terribly exciting. For one thing, with London's busy streets it is hard to just stop and take a photo. Furthermore, mostly we were on missions, either following our London tour guide (Matt) or the three other tours we took. Because we'd never taken a tour before it was a new sensation--following the Pied Piper. Did I mention I could not keep up with our city boy? It was a darn good thing he wore some very colorful shirts!

Instead of a true narration, I'm going to divide this into three sections. Sights, impressions and photographs. Ready? This could get long.....

Where we went and what we saw:

• Broadway Market
• London Fields
• Hackney Museum
• Saw where Matt works 
• Spitafields
• Poppies Fish and Chips for dinner
• Banksy work in Matt's neighborhood
• Regent's Canal
• Geffrye Museum
• Columbia Road flower market
• Independence Day picinic
• Soho for dinner
• Monday is mostly a blank for me except for dinner at Pizza Express and Tift Merritt concert
• Paddington station to Bath
• Royal Crescent in Bath and other sights
• Celebrated Matt's birthday at Demeuths (wonderful meal)
•  Stonehenge, Avebury, Castle Combe
• Our only iffy meal of the whole trip at Crystal Palace
• Cotswolds Discovery Tour
• Transport Museum
• Buckingham Palace
• Mayfaire
• Green Park
• Dinner at Leon
• Street Art Tour with Griff
• Dinner at Nandos (fantastic)
• War Horse at the National Theater
• Drink at Princess Louise pub
• St. Pancreas station to Leicester
• Wonderful lunch and conversation with Ray and Jane Flude (Tom's parents)
• Gifts galore
• Dinner at the station--another yummy meal
• Remembered Monday--London Museum
• South Bank
• Courtald Gallery
• Westminster Bridge crossing
• Docklands
• Olympic Park

Impressions:

• The food was SO MUCH better than I expected!!! 
• After a few days, Bruce discovered that we paid in pounds, what we pay in dollars.
• The buses, trains, and underground were all amazing in their efficiency. We even navigated one day on our own.
• You have to move fast or you can get run over! As mentioned above I was usually lagging behind but no one was pushy or rude. 
• It's possible to live in a quiet neighborhood a few bus stops away from the center of the city.
• Bikes are wildly popular.
• Matt and Tom are terrific together.
• London is a wild, vibrant mix of people.
• The English countryside is beautiful in person. I've seen a hedgerow for myself now.
• Flowers! Flowers! Flowers!
• The weather changes hourly, although, there was more rain in Florida during our absence than there was in England.
• Matt's flat uses space so cleverly.
• It is hard to underestimate how old much of England is. Seeing the Roman Baths is mind boggling.
• I'm no good at breezing through museums, which Matt discovered for himself. We probably spent more time in the Museum of London than most folks. Thousands of years of history will do that to a curious person. 
• Service in all the restaurants was terrific, unlike here where the staff usually has attitude.
• A very noticeable lack of tattoos and breast implants.
• Bruce remarked on the beautiful complexions he noticed.
• Very little honking on the streets which is striking because there is a wild jumble of buses, taxis, cars and cyclists all sharing very narrow roads.
• London feels very safe. It may not be, however, we were never concerned even at night.
• Street markets are very, very popular.

Photographs:

You can well imagine I took a lot of photographs. Indeed, 1224 on my two cameras. Some on Bruce's because one evening my battery died and I'd neglected to pack a spare. As I imagined the majority are typical tourist photos with no saleable future. I'm posting some with explanations today, however, you may be seeing more in the foreseeable future as I spend more time looking at them. Off we go.....

The obligatory Stonehenge photo. Although most everyone has seen a photograph before, in person it is extraordinary.

 

These are not in order of appearance btw. One of our favorite street artists, James Cochrane from Australia.  Imagine doing this with spray paint!

 

Bruce and I disagree on the street artist Stiks whose work is pictured below. I love the simplicity, he thinks it's silly. Nevertheless, he makes his work with only six lines and color and to me the expressiveness is extraordinary.

Matt attempted to photograph his parents on several occasions with me spoiling most of them. At any rate, here's one from Bath.

Although Matt had a blow dryer for me to use, I didn't make much use of it, thus my hair is kinda crazy. A light sweater or rain jacket over my sleeveless dresses was all I needed.

A darling picture of Matthew with his birthday desert at Demeuths in Bath, which serves vegetarian/vegan fine dining. Next time I'll show you the extraordinary cake Tom made before we left London.

Years ago I was a collector of David Winter cottages which prepared me for our Costwolds trip. Now that I've seen the area in person I realize all the more what a great job he did replicating the darling homes and businesses of the region.

This is an example from Bibury. A lovely stream held some swans, ducks, and what I learned from Tom, a morehen, or at least that's what I think I remember. We were both amused and amazed by the antics of one of the mute swans as he harrased the ducks:

A regular terrorizer! Here is the morehen with a brand spanking new little chick, actually there were two newborns and some unhatched eggs as well.

We had lunch in a traditional pub dating back hundreds of years (my memory escapes me) and after my ploughmen's lunch I wandered a bit on the two streets of the village coming across this charming place:

The English love to walk in the country with multiple footpaths marked. We took one through a
sheep meadow which was just delightful as long as you watched your step! That husband of mine is just so darn photogenic isn't he? He was making sure I was coming along:

That was our foray into the countryside and I can't say enough how delighted I am we took those tours. The sole problem for someone like me is I had very little time to take anything but tourist shots.


Back in the city, this kind of display is in front of shops on each block near Matt's flat:

On our last night there I finally stopped buying about a three pound basket of nectarines for one pound. Having just returned from a little visit to Clemons this morning, I can tell you that it would have cost about three times that here. Curious, however, I suppose the competition is great.


A walk on a Thames bridge over to the South Bank offered this view of London which is jam packed with cranes. Construction projects everywhere which was a nice bonus for Bruce.

We enjoyed lunch then meandered along the Thames. This charming scene is of little beach shacks, decorated by local artist which are set up for the summer.

There is a really cool water jet fountain, which apparently if you are very clever, can be stood in without getting wet. This young boy wasn't that lucky! 

After this relaxing walk we headed out to the site of the Olympic park which offered us this view:

The red sculpture is being constructed for the games, an Anish Kapoor design. Tom is working on the transport for the millions of expected visitors. 


Speaking of Tom, our trip to meet his parents was delightful. The comfortable train trip was just under two hours, followed by a taxi ride to their home. And what a lovely home it is! The hospitality shown by Ray and Jane was tremendous, as was the vegan lunch. Everything about the inside of their book filled home was charming. Double doors lead out to a wonderful, controlled chaos garden as described by Jane.

 Tom loving up one of the cats:

I now understand more fully Angela's garden obsession. I'm freely admitting to a bad case of jealousy! I only wish this were the size of our yard.

Jane and Tom must be pointing out something very interesting to Matthew!


After our trip to the London Museum, Matthew had to have been thrilled that I wanted to go to the Courtland Gallery because there was virtually no way I could spend hours there. Although their collection included works by Picaso, Degas, Renoir, Manet, Monet, Serault and Pisarro, what really sticks in my mind is this interesting piece shown in the Gravity special exhibit.

Suspended by what appears to be fishing line, these are bricks collected from the shoreline of the White Cliffs of Dover from the lasting remnants of houses that have collapsed into the sea over the years. Really, really cool.


After seeing War Horse at the National Theater we went to one of London's prettiest and oldest pubs, The Princess Louise:

We were not there for too long because when it's time to close, they are very serious. Ringing the bell for last call and within the half hour, the bell rings once again and it's time to leave!


By now you may be exhausted reading all this and frankly I'm exhausted writing it! Seriously, I do know it's a lot and believe me, I won't go two weeks without blogging again. Our flight home was made all the better by the special treatment Bruce receives for being a gazillion miler with Delta. Here is the appetizer for lunch:

Can you believe that? Looks like lunch to me! Watching movies, eating, drinking, reading and sleeping our way home, we finally arrived around 9:30 at night. The first thing Nancy said when she saw me was, "You poor thing, you look so tired!" She was right, it had been a very long day.


Forgive me my errors please; it has taken me so long to do this I can't go back!

One Carry On

The other day I went in search of either a larger suitcase, or an additional one. Eventually I found something I thought might work, however, I was still open to suggestions. Returning from the office on Monday evening, Bruce said he was very tired and just wanted to catch up with the trial. I was not pleased because, as you well know, I don't care a whit about CASEY ANTHONY! Convincing him to come to the store with me was not easy. Nonetheless, he came, and together we found something we both thought would work, although he was unconvinced of the necessity of another bag. Silly, silly me.

What had me stymied was thinking about 12 days of clothing rather than six days or so. It isn't like Matthew doesn't have a washing machine. Duh! Yesterday morning in preparation for packing, I remembered I'd seen a flight attendant, either a slide show or a video, demonstrating how to pack one carry on for a long trip. Using everyone's friend Google, I found it. No surprise there. No surprise either that I'd seen it on the New York Times website. If you are packing challenged, you may want to look through this.

Following her tutorial, here's my version:

The packing list:
2 pairs of shoes-- one closed toe and one sandal
4 dresses
Three short sleeved shirts
Two long sleeved shirts
1 blouse
Pajamas
Bathing suit
2 pairs jean type pants
2 capris
Underclothes
Rain jacket
2 sweaters

Here is everything rolled and ready to pack:

And here is the packed version:

Pretty cool huh? As you can see, everything is either white, oranges, royal blues and black. Woohoo!
I still have the whole meshy thing on the lid I could put stuff in, as well as the front. So, there's your packing primer.

Regular readers will know that about our lawn struggles. No more, no more! In fact, I told Bruce we may have created the green monster what with how fast it is now growing. The summer rains have definitely arrived which hopefully will help my utility bill by bringing down the temperature AND providing free water for irrigation. As I type, the sky outside my window is gray and gloomy. The utility bill arrived two days ago asking for $333.00. This made me unhappy mostly because it is only June and we have months and months of HOT weather ahead of us.

Speaking of growing, the jatropha plants out back are growing like weeks, as our late Mother would say. Sorry Nancy. Rather than wait another two weeks, I did this yesterday after the packing:

Every single one of the pretty red flowers are gone, at least for now. Have I told you that Rogers' son Eddie, the one who had cancer, is marrying Beth in August? A cruise ship is the site of the wedding, which will then wisk them away on their honeymoon. As such, they wanted a pool party reception upon their return. You guessed it--they are having it here. Thus, that is one of the motivations for having the yard look its best. Hopefully, by mid-August, the red blooms will be back in all their glory!

Because I've been such a good girl and am already packed, I'm off to play bridge. Talk to you soon--or should that be AT you soon?

P.S. Although I did not find the will, the call to the attorney's office proved fruitful. They have the original. Sorting out of this matter is planned.