Beautiful Week

An eclectic post...Here are two of the four Gertrude Hausermann cattleya orchid -- they're corsage size!










Steve Mercier, a friend from church, and I went riding today. Steve has an Electra Glide Classic Harley, and I rented (used my gift from last year's 5th grade class) a Heritage Softail Classic Harley. We started at 8 AM - a cool 50 degrees - and rode north on 436 to US 17 92 and Sanford. We went along the south side of Lake Monroe and then up to Orange City. We spent some time at Blue Spring State Park. There were 172 manatees this morning (so the park ranger said). We caught a beautiful morning, cool enough that the manatees were just swarming in the spring!





The scenery was exquisite at Blue Spring. We were in shirt sleeves by noon, and heading toward Eustis and Mount Dora. We came back toward Orlando on 441. I should have used my sun block!









The best part - Gayle went for a ride with me after we got back to Orlando. GB had been testing prospective kindergarteners at TCS this morning. GB is a good sport; she said that I go to quilt shows, so she can do this...and it was a great day to be outside.

Long Weekend

Last Saturday we went to a local sports pub (sounds better than bar) and watched the satellite feed of the Calvin - Hope basketball game. We had about 50 people - alumni from both schools there. Good game, good time with new and old friends. Too bad Calvin lost, but at least it was closer than last year!
We had MLK Day off from school so we used it well. Gayle had two doctor appointments and I cleaned the carpets and the cars. I hadn't cleaned the cars or the carpets in a while. Looks much better now!
We're looking forward to this week-end. Uncle Paul & Aunt Shirley are staying here for two nights. GB has to work at the quilt show in the afternoon and I think the rest of us will go to Leu Gardens. The camellias and roses should be pretty good yet.

Garden Additions

I made some changes to the yard over vacation. Gayle gave me a staghorn fern (upper right) which I hung on a hanger on the laurel oak in the back yard. I have a fern hanging from the same tree -- had it in Ft. Myers and it even survived Hurricane Charley! It is very large and was still in its plastic container. I was afraid that it would crack the plastic hanger that was attached to the pot so I got a new, sturdier pot and hanger. I was amazed at the weight and the root system. I had to smash the plastic pot to remove most of it; I was able to split the plastic rim but the woody root system of the fern kept me from getting it all. I'm guessing that it weighs about 20 pounds.

We took Bob and Emily to Lukas Nursery last Friday and Gayle and I saw a beautiful pink camellia there. It was a japonica camellia called Pink Perfection. I went back and bought it on Saturday! It's on the lower left -- what do you think? Is it not perfection itself? I planted it in the front next to our pink hibiscus, under one of our front yard laurel oaks. It's a little hard to see in the picture above; it's right in line with the tree trunk. Camellias like shade, so I think the location will work well. Our back yard camellia is a double flower and is in full flower right now (bottom).