Blessings Amongst Sadness

Are there things in your home that need attending to, not emergencies or anything, but stuff that for one reason or another you just don't get around to? One such thing in our home was my beautiful copper clock with the pendulum that quit swinging, and worse yet, quit telling time, maybe two months ago. It has been a very stressful week, but I can now check that off my list. While B was at Habitat, before going to see Maureen, I finally put that beauty in the back of the MINI and went to see my friend at the Swiss House. He fixed it before. Actually it was 2015 according to the sticker he put on the back. And you know how long it took him? About five minutes MAX. No charge either.

And although it has been stressful, there have still been blessings such as the annual blooming of Orchid trees,

and the beautiful Tabebuia trees that have just begun filling the sky with their multitude of pink flowers, enough to raise anyone's spirits. Plus, the weather has been grand!

Do you want the good news or bad news first?

Perhaps you have been wondering about Maureen, so let's start there. This is the bad news part. I wrote that they might replace the newly installed hip prosthetic, and indeed that was the case. Arriving at the surgical waiting room, they told me she'd been in the operating room for about 45 minutes. When my name was not called for another hour plus, I presumed the worst and so it was. Eventually they did call my name and I met with her Orthopedic surgeon who explained that it was not as unusual for this to happen as it seems. Sometimes the body rejects it and the site becomes infected as is the case with her. They cleaned it all out, followed by a much longer incision this time in order to remove the one month old hip. Lots of misery has followed including the news that she will be receiving IV antibiotics for the next six weeks FOUR times a day! Although her mind is clouded, she did have the wherewithal to remember that she already has a port and could they use that? Why yes they can. And they are. She returned to rehab at Westminster on Thursday evening to begin the slow process of recovery. I wish I were more optimistic.

Secondly I heard from Carol who is often too tired to talk. The phone rang at 6AM and when I saw the caller ID on our house phone, my heart sunk, fearing the worst. Thankfully she was merely calling at 3AM PST because she could not sleep. All I can really say is that she is not improving in spite of her many treatments. And while all of this is no fun for me, imagine how they feel with no end in sight?

Well, that was sure a downer, right?

Let's do some happy stuff, shall we? Like Troy coming with paint samples!!

Four whites, chosen by moi, none of which is the one.

 I know it is ridiculous, but did you know that between the major paint manufacturers there are about 300 different whites? Blue undertones, pink undertones, really too many choices!

Like my personal handy guy, not only finishing changing out all of the hinges, but drilling all of the holes for the new hardware.

And yes, he is wearing sandals with his cool weather clothes--a true Florida boy! Actually, today the high was 80 degrees. When I check the weather for Vancouver or London, the high stays pretty much the same all week. Mostly in the 40's. In the winter here, the temperatures are up and down the scale. One day 80, one day 65. The only thing you really know is that it won't hit 90, unlike the looming months ahead when it won't be any lower!

When we went to get our cabinet hardware, we went to a warehouse off of Sand Lake Road, just past John Young Parkway, at a place called Richelieu. A Canadian company actually. Unfamiliar with the area, I turned in before we got there and guess what we found? Amazon warehouse! There was a guy directing traffic in the parking lot with Amazon vehicles everywhere. Well, Thursday, instead of going to see Maureen, we did some much needed shopping together. Beginning our day at Bob's Restaurant, recommended by a friend who knows I am a bird lover. The owner photographs birds, and as we learned patrons also give her photographs, the walls are lined with Florida birds and wildlife.

Sitting down, B said he recognized the woman in the shorts. Who could she be? Well, here's the scoop. 25+ years ago, when he first worked at, what was then called General Mills Restaurants, she had a diner across the street from the office that the guys would frequent for lunch! Another reminder of what a small town Orlando is!

Anyway, on this day, driving down Sand Lake ready to turn into Lowes, I noticed an Amazon van drive by, and then another, and then another...

In all I counted 10 heading to that same warehouse. In case you are wondering, the vans are Mercedes Benz.

In order to not lose my mind, during my many trips to either the hospital, or the rehab, I stop and photograph birds.

Cypress knees, Sphagnum Moss, and Ibis---very Florida. Continuing my new found duck obsession:

Below are Blue Teal ducks, although the name makes no sense watching them paddle around.

When I see a bird I am unfamiliar with, I naturally turn to our best friend, Google. I type in something like "duck with white stripe on face", and voila, there's the identification. I actually took the photo below in late December; while seeing the open wings, now, the name makes more sense. Although I wouldn't exactly call that color teal, but what do I know, I'm struggling with picking a white paint?

By the time we meet again, the cabinets should be underway and maybe I will have some better sister news. Or, so I hope on both accounts!

your friend,

Gail

p.s. Another blessing this week was Bill started with a new bank downtown. This mother has been a nervous wreck with him having to drive on our, everywhere under construction, interstate. Now all he has to do is drive down South Street; with so little traffic, he will now be adding nearly and hour and a half to his non-working day. Perfect.

Fast Track

Before daybreak this morning, I heard the familiar song of the Northern Cardinal in the gigantic oak tree out front. Rarely have I seen him, it's only his song that tells me he is around. Not even once, in the 5 1/2 months that we have been back, has he paid us a visit which surprises me because I fully expected any number of Cardinals to feast on our feeders. I used to take them for granted at our home as they were so plentiful. It's easy to do that, isn't it? Taking things for granted seems to come more naturally than savoring every experience. Just thinking out loud here....

One thing we all took for granted was Maureen's hip healing, or at least the incision. It has not. Fully intending to write a post on Thursday afternoon, I visited Maureen in the rehab center in the morning during which time I learned that her hip was infected and she was going back to the hospital in an ambulance. While there the aide told me she really needed more clothes that were easy to get on and off, so, while she was heading to ORMC, I went shopping at the nearby thrift store. Clothes that are too big is what I was looking for. Putting them in the washing machine when I got home, I had some lunch, then it was back to her room at Westminster with the pants and shirts, followed by a trip to the Emergency Room where she was learning her fate. Let me just say that Brian, her nurse, was the finest example of a health care worker I've seen in years. Attentive, kind, efficient, I could go on an on. Maureen asked me, "how many times have we done this?" My answer? Too many.

So, this morning she is to undergo a procedure to either clean out the infection, or worse case scenario---start over. Pray for the former.

While waiting with Maureen, Bruce texted me with some horrible news. His great friend Jeff is in Florida Hospital with a diagnosis no one ever wants to hear. Devastated, I left Maureen in Brian's care and went home to brood. Friday, while I was with Maureen in her regular room, Bruce and Steve visited Jeff and he is doing as well as can be expected for a man who just proposed to the lovely Lori on Christmas Eve. You met the two of them here on Camera Crazy a few months back when we were out to brunch. And that my friends is where today's title comes from. It seems as if we are living life on a fast track with the months speeding by. They say that happens when you get older and I believe them. (Who is they, or them, anyway?)

Enough with the bad news, let's do some birds and I do mean some birds. Lake Willisara may be small, but oh my, the action! I was bemoaning the lack of a space for a bookcase, going so far as to rearrange the living room, hoping to find some. That didn't work. Then it hit me, how about if we use this spac,e and by golly it did work. We got the little bookcase out of our closet and I finally unpacked the last of our boxes!!

I can't tell you how many different colors that bookcase has been throughout the years but for now it will remain brown. Anyway, out the window I saw an amazing sight. Grabbing my camera, first I saw this on the shoreline:

Talk about biting off more than one can chew! This, however, was not what I was out back looking for, merely a bonus, because on the lake there was a gigantic flock of migrating Greater Cormorants, probably at least 50!

For some reason, this attracted other birds, more than I've ever seen before. So funny watching them watch the water.

Tearing myself away, I went back to unpacking the books which I first put in like this:

I'm certain I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but a bookcase looks way better when you arrange books by color.

At least, that's how I see it. Doing this made me so happy! Now, down to the big lake to see where the birds went.

Migration is such an awesome thing to contemplate, don't you think? Truly amazing. While I was down at the big lake, I made sure to photograph the beautiful pink Camillea adjacent to the bar area. The other Gayle tells me that she has never seen it look so lovely.

After rescuing Maureen's succulent garden from her room, I drove over to Edgewater High School to drop off Jonathan's yearbooks. Along the way I came across the florist Matt used to send that fantastic arrangement. Cool building, great flowers.

Driving back to the hospital, I took Westmoreland and had a nice surprise. Years ago, in the area now used for the soccer stadium, there was a little complex with some amazing street art. Torn down, I thought that was the end of cool murals in our town. Not so fast Gail!

Winding my way around the building on foot, I finally found the entrance, and had a chat with the curator who asked me to take his photograph, dog included. Bad lighting but what can you do?

Explaining that artists from all over are represented, I also learned I missed a street art festival a few months back. Probably paying too much attention to our kitchen remodel and birds. :) Speaking of which, after much deliberation and searching, we found our pulls and knobs. As well, Bruce is working on changing out all of the hinges, a job that is nearly complete. Plus, again, after a ridiculous amount of deliberation, I picked a wall paint color and began the job Saturday afternoon, finishing Sunday afternoon. It is not the first time I've had a yellow kitchen, but I think it will be the last. Anyway, now the walls are not fighting with the tile.

The lamp, on the other hand is. Smokey Taupe by Benjamin Moore is the color and we could not be any happier. Troy, our cabinet painter is, as I type, on his way here to put up some samples for the cabinets which we hope will be in the works next week. Can I get a big YEAH?

Back to the street art, on the corner of Central and Westmoreland, one of the things I found the most striking was this display of cans. I know, I'm weird.

The pattern on these doors would make a great quilt wouldn't it?

Lordy, we are back to the lake again! During a much sunnier part of the day, the Cormorants returned, but this time what caught my attention were these ducks that I cannot identify for the life of me. Are they Mallards?

I wish they were closer so better to see them! Ducks, like identifying a white paint color for cabinets is a challenge. I do remember a time before the internet when I would just pick a paint color and go with it. Sometimes more information is not what its cracked up to be.  Do you agree?

Finally, after cleaning up my paint gear, I walked down to the big lake where this scene is a nightly fixture. It seems as if I'm not the only one obsessed with the sky!

Now, off to check on Maureen.....

your friend,

Gail
                 

A Much Needed Field Trip

Not too dissimilar from how we spent January 2, 2018, we went on a field trip to see some birds.  Well, actually that is not entirely true as on that day, it was crazy cold, and instead of seeing Roseate Spoonbills, we saw hundreds of Snow Geese. Plus Bruce drove that day in keeping with my no driving while in BC policy.

Now, however, I am back to driving the baby car, and because this field trip was my idea, I offered to drive to Blackpoint Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island. Because the best time to see birds is just after daybreak, we took off at 6AM in the pitch dark, driving down Colonial Drive until we hit US1 in Titusville. I was a nervous wreck most of the way; at one point I said to Bruce, "I'm losing my nerve honey," however with encouragement, I made it, driving across the causeway at daybreak. I pulled over to not only catch my breath, but to witness this scene up close and personal.

We were rewarded with not only seeing the dim sunrise but also DOLPHINS swimming! Off to a good start, we found the entrance to the drive, and began the seven mile trip at 15mph, hoping to see, well, birds. The weather, while not technically pretty, was perfect for bird watching because it was so overcast and remained so until around noon. It is a marshy area with many ponds where birds gather. Whether or not alligators gather, I don't know, but we did see one.

Don't you just love seeing sun rays? I sure do.

I expected to see more cars than we did as we made our way slowly along the earthen roads.

Just as I was feeling a bit discouraged, oh my gosh, there they were--Roseate Spoonbills! Here's a caveat my friends, there are places all over the web with much better bird photographs than mine, but what I lack in skills, I make up for with unbridled enthusiasm. Pulling the car to the side of the road, I did my best.

With all the standing water, I am here to tell you there were mosquitos galore! One of the things I loved most about BC is the lack of biting bugs, although they have them there as well, just not in the city, or so it seemed. And although it never gets cold in Vancouver, like most all the rest of Canada, it seems to be enough to keep the bugs at bay.

I think it is their shocking pink color that is so appealing because it most certainly is not the beak, or that's how I see it. In all that grey, PINK!

Slowly we kept going without seeing anything else. Bruce understands perfectly how it is like fishing for him--some days are good, while others are not. I was just saying the same to him, when, holy cow (!), we came across a pond with a whole bunch of shore birds. Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Little Blue Herons, Ibis, were all jumping on one another, and in general, raising a ruckus. A Spoonbill flew into the mix, and the birds just kept on coming.

The location was not ideal for photography, but it was super ideal if your idea of fun is seeing at least 50 shorebirds in the same little pond!

All good things must come to an end as the loop road joined back up with the main road back to either Cape Canaveral National Seashore, or Titusville. While the former is a grand place to visit on a sunny day, it was dreary so we chose the Titusville option where we walked a bit in the small downtown after enjoying a tasty and reasonably priced breakfast. Aside from our good food, the highlight was peeking into the Episcopal church that has stood on that corner since the later part of the 19th century. I would definitely attend there if I lived in Titusville!

The drive in broad daylight is a piece of cake, and before long we were in the outskirts of Orlando. Part two of our field trip was a trip to the business Costco which moved in after the regular Costco moved to the Millenia Mall area. Thank gosh, because the other one is SO far out! A month or so ago, while I was filling up my gas tank at our, now convenient, Costco, my card didn't work well in the machine. Calling the attendant over, she explained that my card was so old perhaps I should replace it and she knew just the place. Yup, the one on South Orange Blossom Trail which she explained was never busy. Let's do it, we decided, although it did mean some serious traffic. That said, everywhere in Orlando there is serious traffic, enough to make a person crazy!

Should this trip interest you, the hours there are different, as in they open very early and close around 5 or 6 PM. And yes, she was right, there is hardly any shoppers, which we later learned was because most businesses order online and either take delivery, or pick up. They carry all sorts of cool stuff including large restaurant equipment. There is a huge walk in freezer, and I do mean huge, with vacuum sealed meat among other things. We wandered through the whole store, only buying a few things. Should you need a very large can of Coleman's Mustard, I know just where you can get it.

So, that was fun, but what has not been fun is my continuing computer struggles. Too boring to describe, but I do now have a friend at Apple, Chris from North Carolina, who has given me his email address and when I'm ready to tear my hair out, I email him and he calls me!

Another thing that was not so fun was a trip to a Urologist last Friday. In early December I had one incident of blood in my urine (don't worry!) and our doctor insisted I make an appointment, although it has not happened since. I've done loads of kidney x-rays in my lifetime, and I know this happens more often than you can imagine. Nonetheless, while there, a crazy thing happened. While we were driving back from Titusville I told Bruce that every time I'm in that vicinity, I can't help but think of four of the worst days of my working life that occurred in a little office in Titusville. Because of our large family, oftentimes I would take either part time jobs, or work per diem, meaning I would get sent anywhere they were short a technologist. This was a long time ago, and I was trying to dredge up the woman's name who ran the company. Marsha? Well, yes that is her name, as I learned when I was called to have a renal ultrasound by Heather who I worked with at ORMC!! I no longer work, and she works for Marsha!!! Small world, right? While the ultrasound is painless, my palms were sweating because he wanted to do a Cystoscopy while I was there. I'm not a huge baby when it comes to medical procedures, having delivered three of our children with no drugs, however, the memory of a performed cystoscopy when I was thirteen has lingered all of these years. In the office with a metal probe and no anesthesia. Not a fun time for a thirteen year old girl. In the second instance of having to get up my nerve in one week, he used a tiny, flexible scope and thankfully, it was over before I knew it, with an absolutely clean bill of bladder health the result. Whew!

One result of all these computer problems, mostly with my photographs, is that it has me thinking of returning to Google. One thing about having a massive library, aside from it making your computer run slow as molasses, is the memories, many of which are shown below in the albums I already have with Google.

It does make me nostalgic and seeing the photo of Corrine and Herb makes me sad as we watched their health decline, both mentally, and physically. Corrine, as you may recall, passed away while we were in Vancouver. Speaking of which, before our time there, I doubt I would have recognized the Snow Drops, beautifully illustrated in a calendar Matt and Tom gave me for Christmas.

Apparently they are coming up early in London, and I've heard from Jackie that the daffodils are coming up along the seawall in Vancouver. The beauty of nature. :)

So, it turns out that Saturday was National Bird Day and what better day to go bird watching, especially when it is so close to home? While Mr. Peck was busy with this,

Mrs. Peck was walking around Lake Davis. I've seen two different types of migrating ducks there in the last week, which while exciting to me, probably would bore you. Or, maybe not? While I was lakeside, I heard this happening almost before I saw it.

Talk about walking on water! Then, it came in for a landing...

looking all the world as if it were water skiing! A nearby woman saw me with my camera, remarking that it had put on a show for me. Nice.

The post yesterday contained a small package from Dale, written weeks ago. The Canada Post strike is over but mail delivery from there remains slow. That said, how timely, right? Beautiful too.

Wouldn't I just love to see a Scarlet Tanager in person. Why, yes I would!

One final thing. Have you ever wondered about those scrubby things you use in the shower? As in, how they are made? Wonder no longer, my dear Camera Crazy readers, as I'm here to show you what happens when one falls apart. Literally in my hands!

Now there's a first!

your friend,

Gail

Among Other Things, I Turned 65

I had every intention of getting off to a good start on my blogging, however, my computer woes continue. Just when I'd decided I could not take it anymore and was going to buy a new computer, of all things, the Apple guy talked me out of it! Plus, he made all kinds of calls to help me which, of course took hours. And it ain't over yet, but I'm closer to a resolution. Enough so that I am giving it a go now. And what exciting things I have to report! Or, perhaps I should say they were exciting to me!

Seriously though, I wonder if I'm getting too old to have a blog? I hope not because when the computer is working as it should, I still love writing and sharing. What the heck, 2019, here we come.

In my last post, gifts from Matt were shown off because I said they had come the farthest, however, that was wrong by a long shot. Alissa and Jon, during their fantastic trip to Iceland, bought a beautiful blanket for me, carrying it back in their luggage to Austin, followed by the same to Orlando. Without further ado, here is the well traveled blanket.

Such a fantastic match for our quilt, right? One thing about them is they are seriously low key, happy to just hang out for the most part. We spent a lot of time watching college bowl games, doing crossword puzzles, and occasionally eating out. Here we were at 7bites using the gift card Fallon and Bill gave them.

That look on Jon boy's face says a lot about how in love he remains. :)

While they were getting some much needed rest in the mornings, I took to my bike, looking for birds and was not disappointed during a visit to the Orlando Wetlands off Mills Ave. I showed you a Limpkin before, but I think it is such a handsome bird, here is yet another shot. You decide.

As I continued my walk, along came a man coming towards me carrying a tripod on his shoulder with the biggest lens I think I've ever seen in person. I asked him if he'd seen anything and indeed he had. A pair of owls, which he kindly pointed out amongst all of the Winter cypress branches. Gray and gloomy, paired with more branches than you can count, makes for a mediocre photo, but, well you know me and owls....

Unlike the multitude of bare trees we saw in Vancouver, here there are but a few that lose their leaves, and in this instance, needles of the shedding Cypress trees which litter the ground.

The photo below of the Wetlands Park, taken ten days after the start of Winter, is about as "Autumny" as it gets in Florida, or at least in our part of the state.

On the 30th it was time to take the tree down. Not because we weren't still in love with it, but many of the needles were brown and it just seemed the prudent thing to do. In addition to our Christmas boxes, we also got three big tubs of mementoes belonging to Jonathan from our storage unit. He made himself comfortable and began going through the boxes while we dismantled the tree.

Both outcomes were good--Christmas is a thing of the past in the Peck household, and Jonathan was able to donate one tub of pristine books to the Orlando Public Library's young people department because he knows one of the librarians there and called to see if they would be interested in his collection. So exciting that they will be of use!

While not nearly as cheerful as the former occupant of this space, Alissa put together the awesome pole lamp I received as a Christmas gift from Dave and Michelle.

December 31 arrived and with it, the end of my time as a 64 year old. It was a super warm day, as they all have been for the last week with the air conditioner running full time. Yeesh! I want some chilly weather! Jonathan bought us subs for lunch, thus I've now had a Publix sub three times. Troy came with the fan deck of paints for me to choose the kitchen cabinet color, a bit of a daunting task, but I am so ready for it to be done, I won't mess around choosing. Unfortunately, he won't start the job for a bit now, but the end is in sight.

In a fantastic coincidence, while I was having a lovely birthday chat with Mat via facetime, the flowers he'd ordered arrived and boy howdy, is it cute, and clever too. I've never seen anything quite like it before. So great to be able to show him how cheerful it is in real time!

Then, the unthinkable happened--a surprise birthday party, hosted by Dave and Michelle, for you know who! Carol called while we were getting ready for what I thought was a New Year's Eve party, making us a bit late, so I sent Jon and Alissa down first. I was never so shocked when they opened the door, greeting me with huge balloons reminding me that I'd turned 65! Do I have much photographic evidence? Sadly, no because the lighting was very dim and my camera could not keep up, however, I will show you what I have.

Michelle went all out on the decorations, the food, and oh my gosh, a chocolate birthday cake to die for. It even had gold sparkly stuff on it to go with the glam theme!

Plus, there were gifts as seen beside their tree. Oh my goodness it was so nice of them.

Other folks took plenty of photos, however, I've not figured out what to do with them as they are on my phone. Here is a link to some Michelle took should you be interested. At one point, I was sat down in the chair you see beside Jonathan and my family all said a few words about me including, a video made by Tom of Matt from Trafalgar Square! We all watched in amazement as Michelle played it on their gigantic television. If I can find it again, I will share it next time.

 There was shrimp, sliders, cheese, cookies, champagne, and well too much to name really. Pam got to meet the other Peck family members and I think she's smitten. Oh yeah, hats and noise makers too. And I can say with confidence it is the first time I've worn a tiara!

Honestly, it was so wonderful, there really are no words. Bruce said the next day, how could we ever thank them enough? I don't really know.  Because of the date, I rarely pay much attention to my birthday and certainly there are no parties specifically for me, the last one being when I was in elementary school and Maureen was in charge of the party. To say that I am humbled is putting it mildly. :)

And now we are nearly caught up, that is except for a January 2nd field trip that I will show you soon. I sat down to write this yesterday, however, the hours spent on the phone with Apple kept me from finishing. But now I have, and it seems as if between three different Apple folks, I might be back in business. Time will tell.

Happy New Year to one and all!

your friend,

Gail