Vacation

And here we are, halfway through our Christmas vacation. We had a great time in Denver with Em, Beth, and Bob...and Hal the cat and Inu the Dog With the Golden Eyes. All five of 'em were well behaved! We didn't get to Denver quite as soon as we had hoped. We were scheduled to leave Orlando on 12/22 at 1:15 PM, but because of a broken oil cap on the Airbus, we had to wait for a new one to be delivered. From Kansas City. Where the planes were socked in by weather. We finally left at 11:30 PM and got in to Denver after 2 AM Mountain Time. We did get to know many of our fellow travelers-in-waiting, which was kind of fun. Fortunately, the the one man who visited the bar way too many times during the 10+ hours we were stuck was not allowed on the plane. But then, he could probably have flown to Denver all by himself -- he was a mile high already.

We enjoyed worship on Sunday at Beth's church and at night we saw the outdor Christmas lights at the Denver Botanic Center. Beautiful displays! We had snow on Christmas Day and again last Thursday; shoveled snow twice! That was the first time in many years, and we still had the knack. We enjoyed a great Christmas dinner together, talked, played games, read books, saw Bob's Old Navy store, and rested.
We left Denver on Friday. It was 3 degrees Friday morning before we left, and a humid 72 degrees when we landed in Orlando at 11 PM Friday night. Yesterday was just plain warm; we turned the AC back on last night! What a contrast!
Yesterday we worked on projects and got caught up with some things. A palm tree in the back yard had grown too close to the back wall and was close to pushing the wall footings out. The homeowners' association review board agreed with me, so I cut the 15 ft tree down. I didn't like doing that; it was a royal palm with a beautiful shape. I also pruned back the bougainvillea next to the palm. I think I cut out about 2/3 of the bush. My arms look like I've been herding cats, all scratched up from the thorns. I dropped a branch and it bounced into my right leg just above my ankle. A half inch thorn hit a vein straight on; I thought I was at the blood center making a donation for a couple of minutes. Gayle came to my rescue, patched me up, and I kept going. Can you see the difference from the picture in the previous post? Lots more light right now. I want to plant some bamboo in the open area by the wall.
This week I hope to build a couple of gates for the fenced area on the west side of the house. The old gates are tired and falling apart. I also want to do a little stucco work on the ledge in front of our kitchen window. There are dips that catch and hold water, and I will put a little slope to the ledge so the water can run off. Getting ready for school in a week is also in there somewhere. Should be fun...

Almost Winter

We had a storm front go through this morning. Lots of wind for a half inch of rain, but we're grateful for whatever we can get at this point in the year. Central Florida is about 9 inches below normal for rainfall; we've had about 38 inches of precipitation this year, and the concerns have begun already about drought and water usage. Kissimmee and St. Cloud were put on 2 day/week lawn rationing this week, which brought them into alignment with the rest of us.
The back yard is looking lush, so now I'll rework a little along the wall. I got permission from the homeowners' association to remove the Royal Palm. It's grown too close to the wall; if I leave it

alone, it will push the wall over. The bougainvillea will also go. I want to put in some bamboo in the room that we'll then have. The fishtail palms have given us the green barrier from Michigan Street that I had hoped, so the loss of the tree (other than we just love Royal Palms) is OK. We will lose the color of the bougainvillea by the wall, but we can't see it from the house anymore.

The camellia is beginning to bloom. This is the first of at least 50 buds on the tree.

After 18 months, our paphiopedilum 'Pinocchio' orchid has begun to bloom again. Not bad, eh, Bob?

Sooo, with all that green and flowering beauty here, we will be en-wintered in Denver in a week. And looking forward to it! Just one week of kids to go, and an early dismissal on Friday.

Sunday

We had a wonderful Sunday. We have a communion service every first Sunday of the month, and then have a fellowship lunch afterwards. This month we had our Christmas dinner in place of the lunch. Gayle got up at 2:30 AM to put a turkey in the oven...it was done to falling-off-the-bone perfection by 8:30. We had a great time eating and fellowshipping together!
The picture shows Gayle on our deck Sunday, December 2, mid-afternoon. I don't think we have to say anything more...
We took a ride at sunset for about an hour. Riding through residential areas under live oaks that overhang the road and drip with Spanish moss is just amazing.
We found a new favorite ice cream. Publix has a decadent concoction called Chocolate Trinity. It has chocolate chunks AND Mackinac Island fudge in the chocolate ice cream. Whoo! Tingling taste buds...life good!