The Quilted Bromeliad

Summertime 2009

2009-07-15T14:15:00.000-04:00

So we're past the halfway point in our summer break-from-school time. A little poignant, but Gayle and I are already thinking about the coming year and the new crop of 3rd / 5th graders. This is the week between stuff -- last week was 5 days away from Orlando for both of us, and next week Gayle is teaching summer school to rising kindergarteners while I'm doing some house projects.
Last week Gayle went to Manhattan with Emily for 5 days. While Emily had seminars for plays, Gayle visited museums, parks, and buildings. And went to two Broadway plays. They also had some sight-seeing time together, notably riding in a pedi-cab around Central Park, touring the Cloisters, and a boat trip around the Statue of Liberty & a tour of Ellis Island.
I brought Gayle to OIA Wednesday morning about 5:15 AM, got home, hopped on the motorcycle, and rode north to the Great Smoky Mountains. I spent a delightful three days in the mountains enjoying God's Creation and some really fun "twisties"! I covered the Cherohala Skyway, Route 28 / Fontana Dam road, US 129 / The Tail of the Dragon (318 curves in 11 miles), the Foothills Parkway, Little River Road & US 441 in the national park, and the Blue Ridge Parkway. My rain gear paid for itself several times over -- stopped for a couple of thunderstorms and drove through rain / clouds several times. I had temps in the 50's on Saturday morning when I was near 6,000 ft elevation on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Got back early afternoon on Sunday, and picked Gayle up at the airport in the evening. Traveled over 1,500 miles!
We enjoyed our time away, and were glad to be back home again, safe & sound!

Rt column pictures:
#1 Broadway outside Gayle & Em's
hotel
#2 Ellis Island
#3 Statue of Liberty
#4 Brooklyn Bridge
#5 Manhattan from the top of the
Empire State Building

#6 Pedi-cab & driver who took
Gayle & Em around
Central Park

Left Column pictures:
#1 Rob @ the state border on the
Cherohala Skyway
#2 Fontana Dam
#3 Tree of Shame @ Deal's Gap, NC
at the beginning of the Tail of

the Dragon, an 11 mile run from

NC into TN w/ 318 curves
(Those are bike parts from
accidents along that road!)
#4 along Little River Rd in the
Great Smoky Mountains NP
#5 Rob & bike @ an overlook
on US 441 in GSMNP
#6 along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Travel, Teaching, & Liquid Sunshine

2009-05-23T10:25:00.001-04:00

I took a picture of mom after her knee replacement surgery, after she came to Brookcrest for rehab. She looked good and the reports this week are that she's making good progress. My 5th graders made get well cards and they came in the mail on Saturday before I went back to Florida. Mom enjoyed the messages! Spent the week in Michigan with brother Tim & Pat. It was good to get caught up with them again, and be there for mom.

This week has been full -- 20 parent / teacher conferences nested within the busyness of the last full week of school. I ended the week with a sore throat and a cold. Good thing we have a long week-end; my voice is in the basement.
And then there was / is the low pressure system (non-tropical) that stayed like Fay last year. This time pretty much everyone in Central Florida got soaked. Daytona and Flagler County had over 24 inches of rain, and it's not done yet. We have had over 16 inches of rain and we expect a wet Saturday. I already got soaked running from Home Depot to the car this morning. No riding today...maybe Gayle and I can go for a breakfast run Monday morning.

No ducks yet, but beaucoup frogs! Finally the brush fires are out and things are greening up again.

Solo Run

2009-04-25T17:50:00.001-04:00

I took a 5 hour cycle trip to Leesburg, which is about 50 miles NW of Orlando. The town is hosting a bikefest, and thousands of bikers came out today. It was a beautiful day for a ride -- low 80's, low humidity, and a nice breeze. Drove on the Florida Turnpike to get out of Orlando, and got down the road quickly. Took a county road north from the Turnpike through Howey-In-The-Hills (love that name!) to the Yalaha Bakery. This is a German bakery that has a loyal customer base because of the great pastries, tortes, breads, and Danish that they put out. I enjoyed a raspberry Danish and coffee in the outdoor seating area.

The numbers of bikes in and around Leesburg was awesome! I got to park in the middle of Main Street; the sides of the street were already full before 10 AM. Lots of interesting bikes; the bikes show the personalities and priorities of their owners.
I took a scenic route back home along the west shore of Lake Apopka. Rode through towns like Astatula, Ferndale, and Montverde -- old Florida, beautifully scenic drive. Under six hours total, 115 miles, great little trip!

Spring Break Trip

2009-04-01T16:10:00.000-04:00

We left Monday morning for the West coast of Florida and Cedar Key. This unique little town is on several small islands / keys in the Gulf of Mexico and is part of the Cedar Key National Wildlife Refuge. Temps were in the low 70's, blue sky, and no wind -- a beautiful day to ride! We had a leisurely ride west on the Kawasaki, staying off the interstate & turnpike. Took US 27 north to Leesburg and then state road 44 all the way to the Gulf and Seven Rivers. We stopped at the Crystal River Archaeological State Park; there are a number of Indian mounds along the river several miles from the Gulf and the tidewater region. Interesting, informative little park. Coming in to the park we saw a couple of wild hogs and their 6 piglets along the access road to the park, and when leaving a bobcat loped across the road! Another 30 miles north and 25 miles west to Cedar Key.

We stayed at a condo rental recommended by our lower division principal, The Island Place, right on the bay. Sat on the porch, read a book, and watched the birds & fishermen for a while. We ate at seafood restaurants both evenings...shrimp, grouper, and clam chowder! On Tuesday we took a 3 hour tour (reminded my of Gilligan's Island!) by boat around the keys to see the birds. Our guide was very knowledgeable and we enjoyed ithe trip immensely. Saw over 2 dozen different species of birds and I got 12 new ones for my life list. Marbled godwit; Forster, Royal, & Caspian terns; oystercatcher; black skimmer; dowitcher; long-billed curlew;semi-palmated plover; whimbrel; laughing, herring, & ring-billed gulls. As well as many white pelicans, 3 pairs of bald eagles and one young one, and pods of dolphins. Our guide also talked about the tidewater region, grasses, trees, migratory habits of birds, the local multi-million dollar clam industry, and the reason that Cedar Key was first populated -- J. Eberhard Faber harvested the local red cedars for his pencils.
Had about an hour of light rain while coming home this morning, but we were warm & dry by the time we pulled into the garage. Saw deer, wild turkey, a small burrowing owl, and while we were stopped along a road in the Ocala National Forest a Sandhill Crane walked by across the street. 335 miles and 42 MPG!
By the way, we have dozens of flowers on the grapefruit tree, as well as 3 orchids in full bloom -- 2 purple & white phaelenopsis and one Miltonia (with the Calvin colors).

Smaller shore birds & White Pelicans

I caught this dolphin in mid-jump as he was playing in the wake behind our boat.

Week-end Fun

2009-03-30T07:30:00.000-04:00

We went to the Bay Hill Invitational on Saturday. Weather was partly cloudy and rather windy for Orlando, but it did get warm! We sat by the par three 7th green and watched all 31 pairs in the field go by. One double bogey, 6 bogies, and 6 birdies! Tiger Woods parred the hole...huge gallery following him. We watched the end of the day on the 18th fairway, about 150 yards from the green. Saw the last 10 pairs go by. Tiger stuck his second shot in the grass along the water and couldn't find it. Had a half-dozen people, including a cameraman, looking for the ball. He ended with a spectacular putt for a bogie 5...amazing player!

We had a bonus just after 2 PM -- a sonic boom from the re-entering space shuttle rattled the trees! We saw the contrail of the shuttle heading east. That was special, seeing the launch and the re-entry.

And we actually had some rain Sunday! Just a quarter inch, but much needed. Central Florida is waaay behind the annual average and really dry. We've had some brush fires already...

Think Pink!

2009-03-22T17:13:00.003-04:00

Gayle's third graders were involved in a great project this week-end. A mom in the other 3rd grade class, Angela Petrucelly, died of cancer several weeks ago. Her daughter, Victoria, was in Gayle's kindergarten class 3 years ago. Victoria and her friend Jesse, who IS in Gayle's class this year, decided several months ago that they wanted to sell pink lemonade to help raise awareness for breast cancer to help her mom. After mom died, it turned into a fund & awareness raiser for cancer and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center here in Orlando. They picked this week-end because Jesse lives across from the Henry Leu Gardens and the Leu Gardens has its annual plant sale. They knew that many, many people would be in the area! So both classes of 3rd graders and a great many others got involved. Weather was great! TV stations came, the head of the Cancer Center stopped by, Chik-fil-A donated lemonade and lunch for the kids, people were generous, and the kids raised a whole lot of money. Victoria had said that she hoped they would make "$50." Waaay beyond that! Way to go, kids!

Victoria is on the left in the pink hat; her good friend Jesse is on the right.

Teachers & parents a-plenty!

Lunch, Launch, & Auction

2009-03-16T15:15:00.000-04:00

We took Friday afternoon and all day Monday off from school to enjoy a visit with Uncle Hank & Aunt Marideen Holtrop. They were in Central Florida for 2 weeks at a condo with some friends, and we caught the back end of their trip before they went back to Michigan. We showed them around school and downtown Orlando, and had lunch across from Lake Eola at some outside tables of a restaurant. Weather was perfect -- low 80's and low humidity.

On Saturday night Gayle and I attended The Christ School annual Mane Event dinner & auction. The theme was Night of Stars and the challenge for attendees was to dress like a movie star. I forgot to get a picture of my lovely Gayle - she really got into the dressing up - borrowed a designer dress from a neighbor across the street, found a great pair of fancy high heels to wear, and simply looked like a million bucks! The best I could do after the fact was to get a picture of her shoes...Her 3rd grade quilt was the highlight of the evening; it went for $2,700, the highest bid item of the night! Gayle and the head of the auction held it up on the stage during the bidding. Two of the 3rd grade dads went after it like bulldogs; I think the bidding went on for 10 minutes! I was really proud of her work and the benefit she brought to our school.
On Sunday we enjoyed sharing Conway Community Presbyterian Church with the relatives. After an early supper - grilled chicken, broccoli, & sweet potato fries - we drove 45 minutes east to a small boat launching ramp / park on Hwy 50 at the St. John's River for the evening launch of the shuttle. This area is in the middle of a huge grassland where the river meanders, giving over a mile of clear viewing toward the coast. Sunset was about 7:35; the launch was right on time at 7:43. We had a great view for 20 miles away! And after a few minutes we could hear the rumble of the rocket engines! The sunlight on the exhaust trail was spectacular, and because the shuttle went toward the north we saw the complete arch of the exhaust trail.

We waited at the ramp parking lot for about a half hour and then watched the International Space Station track from NW to NE about 30 degrees up in the northern sky for about 3 minutes. If you go to the nasa.gov web site, you can find your way to the ISS sightings page and key in your specific location. Sightings are always up to an hour before sunrise or an hour after sunset. Sometimes the trees or clouds get in the way of sightings, but once you've seen it you'll go back for more. It reminds me of the time mom got us boys up to see the ECHO satellite one late summer evening...

We took Uncle Hank & Aunt Marideen to the Henry Leu Gardens this morning -- what a bargain! Free on Monday mornings. We shared the park with a LOT of young moms; it was story hour and then they pushed the babies around the park. Another beautiful day, sunshine and low 80's, a real chamber of commerce special. Lots of camelias and citrus in bloom, but the roses were done and trimmed back. Many different kinds of amarylis in bloom, which sort of made up for the lack of roses.

We're taking the relatives to the airport mid-afternoon. They should be back in West Michigan at 8:30 tonight. A great week-end! So good to see the relatives again!

Early Spring

2009-03-01T14:15:00.001-05:00

Saturday was one of those early spring days that just wink and beckon you to enjoy. Sunshine, temps in the low 80's, and lots of people on the roads enjoying the good weather. Actually lots of motorcycles on the roads -- it was the beginning of Daytona Bike Week. Gayle and I rode out to see some of the hoo-haa and enjoy the day together. We took I-4 east and got in to Daytona around 9:30 AM. I had counted about 50 bikes on the road and when we got in to the city stopped the count. There had to be thousands (tens of thousands?) of motorcycles on the roads, parked along the roads, stopped at restaurants, and gassing up at the corner stations. We guessed that the median age of the crowd was about 50. The good weather surely drew many of the locals out on their bikes, but we saw license plates from all over -- Arkansas, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Connecticut... You get the idea. There didn't seem to be much of a recession going on yesterday! And most of the bikes use premium gas.

We first stopped for about an hour at the Daytona International Speedway. The north parking lot was filled with displays by the major motorcycle manufacturers and you could take test rides around the Speedway on the latest models...we didn't. We then rode down Main Street, lined solid already at 10:30 AM with parked motorcycles and people walking around savoring the moment. The moment seemed to be heavily flavored with leather, head scarves, and tattoos. Gayle thought briefly about a tat but then decided not. Hah!
After the Main Street excursion we went north on A1A past Ormond Beach and then circled back on the Ormond loop. It's a 20 mile jaunt along the Halifax River that takes you along the Atlantic and then back through a two lane Live Oak canopied road that is simply a joy to ride through. Several state parks are along this route and the land is mostly wild yet.

We then went up US 1 to where the road intersects I-95; there is a huge collection of motorcycle oriented businesses there, anchored by a large Harley Davidson showroom and J & P Cycles merchandise showroom. Plus vendors galore, there especially for the Bike Week crowd. We walked the shops, ate some lunch, did some people watching. I think that for some, the biker thing is sort of an alter ego and the way they dress (or so) shows what altar they are kneeling before. Interesting, very interesting. There did not seem to be a recession on at that place. And they had something for everyone...and everyone's pet.

We took a scenic route home toward Orlando. We did hop on the tollway once into greater Orlando -- it's a much quicker route home, and on a warm day sitting at a traffic light and moving slowly with many other vehicles just didn't appeal to us. About 7 hours and 190 miles, and glad to be safely home again.

Today a front went through -- a tiny bit of rain and the temps dropped from 69 to 51 degrees in about 30 minutes. The sun is shining again but it's the mid-50's, breezy, and will be cold for the next two nights, with temps in the 40 degree range. I know -- that's nothing to you Northerners, and you'd take 40 for a high! I'm not complaining, but I do wish I had bought that neck gaiter I saw on the rack yesterday. The morning ride will be chilly tomorrow!

Start the Week-end!

2009-02-14T10:00:00.000-05:00

Gayle and I had one of those really really busy weeks. On Monday GB had a dinner with last year's quilt guild board. We had a Kdgn - 5th grade meeting after school on Tuesday, and our small group Bible study on the book of James Thursday evening. We had two practices for our Grandparents' Day program during the school day on Monday and Thursday, and Grandparents' Day on Friday. We both had Valentine's parties with our classes on Thursday afternoon. It was great to meet the students' grandparents and special friends after the program on Friday, and it was great to say adios to the kids at noon. We did have to stay and work in our rooms Friday afternoon, but we both have the coming week taken care of, so that was good.
So, how to decompress after an intense week? I had gotten us tickets to Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba, which performs year round at Downtown Disney. We went to the 6 PM show and it was and hour and a half of non-stop amazing entertainment. We laughed, clapped, shouted, said "How did they DO that?". It was funny, heart-stopping, weirdly wonderful. The physical acrobatic control of these performers is astounding. At times, I thought that the sets were like M.C. Escher's drawings come to life. Here is the web site for La Nouba; there is a video clip you can watch to at least get a taste of what we enjoyed... http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/lanouba/en/intro/intro.asp Youtube also has several videos; the one with the three little Chinese girls performing is outstanding!
So, today is a stay at home and get stuff done around the house kind of day. We had a little more frost damage with the second wave of actual freezing temps last week, but nothing that can't be trimmed and grow back. We hope to go out for breakfast on the cycle on Monday -- thank you, Mr. Presidents for a vacation day!

Two Springs and a Breakfast

2009-01-18T14:30:00.000-05:00

We had planned a bike ride Saturday -- it was the middle day of a long weekend. We did have some in-service activities mixed in with report card work on Friday, but a day without the kids is almost like a vacation day! And we have Monday / MLK Day off as a true vacation day. Saturday was 100% sunshine, but it was a bit cool to get down the road on a motorcycle. I know that after this past week you Northern folks can talk real cold, but I've been there...and I didn't say "cold"; I said "cool". We did leave at 9 AM on the bike, with layered clothes, an extra sweatshirt, and Thermolite gauntlet style gloves. We took the short route north on I-4 for 30 minutes to get to Blue Spring State Park. Blue Spring has a spring (duh!) that pours out thousands of gallons of 72 degree water year round. Its waters go into the St. Johns River, and when air temps drop, the manatees swim upstream and hang out in Blue Spring's relatively warmer waters. Hundreds of people thought just like GB and me, and it was worth the trip. We saw more than 100 manatees in the spring waters, more than we have ever seen before! All of these giant gentle mammals in a truly amazing corner of God's creation takes your breath away. After reveling in the sights for more than an hour, we rode a half hour farther north to DeLeon Springs State Park. This park also has a freshwater spring, somewhat smaller than Blue Spring, but it has panache! It is named for Ponce DeLeon, the Spaniard who went looking for the Fountain of Youth. If this was truly what he found, it was a doubly poor choice. Ponce died when he was 47, and the waters at his namesake have the unmistakable smell of sulphur! John Audubon came to this spring 300 years later while on a Florida bird painting expedition and claimed that the sulpher smell made him ill. 200 years after Audubon, it's not that bad...I did dip my hand in the spring water to feel the temperature, which was warm compared to the air temp, but my hand doesn't look any younger today.

Actually the water was just a distraction; we went to this park for the food. The Old Sugarmill Restaurant is on the park grounds and sells a wonderful breakfast all day long. You cook your own pancakes on a griddle built into the table, and the building is a former mill with a huge waterwheel (unused) on the side of the rustic building. When we pulled up to the park entrance at noon, the sign on the ranger station said that there was a 2 hour wait to be seated at the restaurant. It was fairly accurate; we sat down at 1:50 PM! But it was worth it! We were hungry and it's always fun to pay to make your own meal right at your table. Two different kinds of pancake batter, blueberries to stuff into your pancakes, thick sliced bacon, and all the coffee you could gulp. A side benefit was that our legs were nicely warmed by the electric griddle. We took a scenic ride home through back roads west of Deland down to Sorrento - saw a large farm producing orchids - and west almost to Mt. Dora, and then south to Orlando. About 7.5 hours and 130 miles for a thoroughly enjoyable day.

A Little Jaunt

2009-01-01T12:45:00.003-05:00

Gayle and I decided to use a day of vacation this week to visit Sanibel Island. We had not been back to the island since we moved to Orlando and thought it would be fun to practice our "Sanibel stoop" again. We checked to weather reports and decided Tuesday would work, so we left at 6 AM Tuesday on the motorcycle. Weather was cool - mid 50's - and traffic was light. We enjoyed watching the sun come up as we rode. We took I-4 down to US 17 to get as scenic a route as possible. We were on Sanibel by 11:30; went to the Lighthouse Park close to the causeway because of the high traffic on the island. It was a joy to walk the beach and find many of the familiar Gulf side shells. Many people were scouring the beach, but there still were nice specimens for the finding...if you knew how to look! The names of the shells did come back also. The lighthouse was decked out in Christmas ribbons! This was the first time we saw and drove over the new causeway; no more waiting for the drawbridge.

We had called our Ft. Myers friends Jim and Ardith Smith last week-end; thought we could visit with them before we went back to Orlando. Turns out they were up in the Pittsburgh area visiting family and didn't get back until Monday evening. Jim called us when we were in Ft. Myers and we went to their house after the beach. We had a wonderful catch-up-on-family-and-events time with them. They invited us to spend the night, which we had not planned on. Their hospitality prevailed -- and they had an extra tooth brush! We spent a delightful evening with them and slept in their cabana/guest room. We left their house about 9 AM and rode by our former house on Beechwood Trail. Apparently the owners were not interested in maintaining the bushes and landscaping we had. The neem tree is gone, as well as all of the hibiscus, angel leaf jasmine, bird of paradise (all in front of the knee wall), crinum lily, and crepe jasmine that was on either side of the garage door. The Silver Bismarck palm in the front was 8 ft or more tall. The yard needed work but the house itself looked good -- had been repainted. We could see the Weaver's bamboo in the back yard that we had planted was doing well. Ah well, different strokes for different folks...
We took Palm Beach Blvd. to LaBelle and then US 27 north to Haines City; then US 17-92 north to Orlando. It was a little breezy (for Florida) but the ride was great. Back home by 3 PM -- sore buns, but a beautiful trip.
After this, our longest bike trip to date, I came up with some Rules for Riding:
1. Dress warmer than you think you need. Wind chill is nasty and you can always take a layer of clothes off. Can't put on what you don't have.

2. Take a tooth brush and extra socks. You never know what a road trip will bring...

3. Bring an extra bottle of water. Riding dehydrates a body.

4. Riding time is longer than driving time. Biking makes the road personal, more intimate, which then takes more time.

5. Good friends are a treasure. No explanation needed!

Denver Christmas

2008-12-28T08:50:00.000-05:00

We spent a week in Denver / Aurora with Beth and Bob over Christmas. The 12/20 plane flight was elongated by weather moving through the Atlanta area; we sat on the ground in Orlando for 45 minutes and then flew in a circle north of Orlando because of the queued planes over Atlanta. Had 3 hours between flights so that worked out well. We got into Denver an hour late - midnight! - and then waited an hour for our luggage, so we hit the sack after 2 AM Mt. time...long day!

The weather was cold, but no snow. Beth and Bob had a nice activity list for us. We saw the Colorado Ballet production of The Nutcracker, which was outstanding. We visited the Denver Zoo and saw the Christmas lights. We went to the 4 PM Christmas eve service at Colorado Community Church. On Friday we drove to Winter Park and went tubing in the afternoon and had a sleigh ride at night. Beth even gave us a "special" scenic drive in Winter Park which allowed us to meet some really nice young men with a 4-wheel drive pickup! And in between these activities, lots of good catching up with the kids which made a thoroughly delightful week.

The flight back yesterday went smoothly. The contrast in 24 hours was striking. Friday night during the sleigh ride the temp was -5 degrees. We landed in Orlando to 74 degree temps and had to open up the house because it was stuffy!

Picture Perfect

2008-12-20T09:00:00.002-05:00

Last blog before we head out to Denver for a week with Beth and Bob...We have had a wonderful couple of weeks! Weather has been warm - lows of about 60 and highs in the upper 70's. We had a half day of school yesterday to close out 2008 and took the motorcycle to a large shopping complex about ten miles east of us for some last minute shopping (small stuff) and supper outside at a Panera Bread. Hard to believe we'll be freezing our tootsies in Denver tonight!

I took last Friday off to "supervise" the two contractors who installed our replacement Andersen sliding door in the back of our great room. My little part in that was to stain the wood transition strip they installed to cover the gap between the door and the tile, and trim a half inch off the vertical blinds so they would hang above the wood strip. While they were working inside, I put together my wooden puzzles for my fifth graders. It took me about seven hours total to make 45 puzzles, but it was worth it! I gave them to the kids on Thursday and within 20 minutes six of the kids had already figured out the puzzle and gotten the two pieces apart. The other kids were in various states of confusion and knotted-ness. I spent much of Friday morning getting puzzles untangled, which is why I gave the puzzles out on Thursday. Some things are a given...
Gayle and I had such joy with our students. Her kids were told that there were several families at TCS who were really in need this Christmas, so the third graders collected four large boxes of food and $200. My kids wrote letters to servicemen, collected $105 in pocket change for two local organizations that help needy families, and assembled bags of necessary items for homeless folks. Their parents donated $1,500 for these items - socks, washcloth, toothbrush & paste, bus pass, etc. All this in addition to the fun of exchanging small gifts with each other and great class parties. Our children were very generous to us - snacks and treats, gift cards and ornaments. My class put my gift cards on a rosemary "tree" which I have planted in the back yard. It smells great! My favorite card from one of my fifth grade girls had this hand written note: "Dear Mr. B, Thank you for teacher me. Merry Christmas. You Rock!" Good thing we have another semester to work on her sentence construction! A favorite gift from Duke and his family, who were instrumental in giving me the original Harley rental 3 years ago when Duke's sister was in my class. Check out the last picture...
Time to go vacuum the lawn before packing. Our oak trees are shedding leaves and acorns at a phenominal rate, so I need to get them up and bagged before we have little oak trees in the lawn...

Thanksgiving

2008-12-08T22:11:00.000-05:00

So, it's a little late. I think the pictures are worth the wait, but then I'm really really prejudiced! We had a great time in DC with the kids and grandkids. Weather was a bit cool, but that's November in Maryland. I-95 was smooth with not too much traffic. Such fun to see Luke and Erin growing and progressing well. And they love being read to -- apples and trees. I gave Luke a head scarf I had; he always talks about a fire bike, so I thought it would fit. He seemed to like the scarf, and of course Erin had to try it on also. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner -- thanks, Katie & GB!

And thanks for the tile advice, Alec! We made our cut Saturday, straight and no chipping.

Birthday Week-end

2008-11-17T15:38:00.000-05:00

We have had a grand four days! Friday night we went to the opening performance of Verdi's Il Trovatore. Wonderful music, some really impressive soloists, and incredible sets. Saturday morning, GB's birthday, we left on a long week-end jaunt on the motorcycle. We had bought a small piece of luggage that fit behind the sissy bar and on the luggage rack. GB had made cloth bag totes for the inside of the saddlebags, so we fit everything we needed into those three places and tooled down the road. We rode east to Titusville and then north on US 1. At Ormond Beach we stopped at a huge biker store, J & P Cycles, which is right next to one of the larger Harley dealerships in Florida. Didn't go there but we did get GB some new riding gloves and I got some good cold weather riding gloves with Thermolite in them. Had a few sprinkles near Daytona Beach, but the rest of the trip was dry. We cut over to A1A and followed the coast up north. We stopped at a beach about 20 miles from St. Augustine and just enjoyed the beautiful weather and surf. GB found some keyhole limpets and small barnacles on rocks that the outgoing tide had exposed. Our destination was the Augustin bed & breakfast in St. Augustine, where we stayed Saturday and Sunday nights. Our room was on the second floor on the side of the house, and we could step outside on to the balcony -- had our own 2-seater swing! We took a personal day of vacation from school on Monday so we could enjoy a longer week-end. We did a lot of walking, window shopping, enjoyed the town and the great fall weather. We visited Castillo de San Marcos, the fort that the Spanish completed in 1695, and saw the beautiful Catholic Cathedral of St. Augustine, one among many old buildings in St. Augustine. Flagler College has some incredible architecture among its buildings also. Henry Flagler, Rockefeller's boy genius, also put up two amazing hotels on the north and south sides of King Street. One is now used by the college and the other is

home to the city offices and a museum. We had a glorious ride back to Orlando; the weather was in the 40's and clear. We were glad for our warm leather jackets and chaps! Four days of school left for us this week, and Friday hardly counts. It's the annual Walkathon fund raiser at Lake Eola, and a 12:30 PM dismissal for the students. GB and I hope to be on the road by 1 PM, heading for Katie, Alec, Luke, & Erin's for Thanksgiving. The spire on the right is the Cathedral of St. Augustine, and the building on the left is the Wachovia bank.

Ahhh! Week-end!

2008-11-08T14:40:00.001-05:00

GB had her Bernina sewing machine in the shop for the past two weeks because the light bulb burned out and we couldn't get it out. She also had the machine tuned up -- first time in the 20 years she's owned it. Got it back this week, so she's sewing up a storm this afternoon! I ran some errands this morning, potted a shoot from our Rangoon Creeper for friends from church, and am just enjoying a mild afternoon -- sunshine and temps in the mid-70's. It's so nice to have the windows and slider open! This afternoon is especially appreciated; we had a busy week and an intense Friday.
I have averaged four parent / teacher conferences for each of the past 7 school days. They have been good, rewarding times with parents but they are intense and wearing. We have been required to do a Student Learning Plan for each student this year. It's a wonderful idea for communicating what we're doing with the students to their parents, and it is great for me to hone in on what exactly I can do to best help my students. We (my co-5th grade teacher and I) put in a couple of math and one or two reading goals, and the processes we will use to achieve them. Preparing these SLP's has been a lot of work, but they seem to be much appreciated by the parents. I think next year we should add a spiritual goal also...
So Friday we were moving nicely through the day, and then GB found out that her class had to have a head check for lice. The person who is in charge of our clinic did the check on all of GB's kiddos and then sent one little girl back with a shower cap on her head to get her books and then go home. The clinician said she didn't know if GB's third grader actually had lice or dry scalp but she wanted to be careful. GB was furious! She took the shower cap off her student's head right in the hallway. Couldn't believe how insensitive, heartless, and thoughtlessly cruel this woman was to her little girl! Might as well put a dunce cap on her head and shame her on the street corner...How stupid! Yes, kids, we do use the S-word once in a while. It fits, too!
And I had an e-mail from the mom of one of my 5th grade girls. Seems the girl had her foot stomped on by one of my boys. My kids have been following the political campaign and of course they took sides. The girl thought that the Dem was a good role model and was writing a paper on him. The boy was a dyed-in-the-wool conservative and couldn't stand that thought, so he walked back to her while the class was standing in line and stomped on her foot. He's a big, strapping young man and she's a thin little whippet. So I had to work through that discipline action, talking to the students, my co-teacher, my supervisor, and the parents. I think I spent an extra two hours on that little episode alone. I left school at 5:50 PM last night and was soooo ready for the week-end. The parents have been most supportive and appreciated my compassion and willingness to turn even this into a teachable moment for godly virtues.
We're going out for supper tonight with friends -- it's Garibaldi's Mexican food tonight! And they have a Mariachi band...Woohoo!

T'Weeks

2008-11-02T14:43:00.000-05:00

It's been a quiet week in...no, wait! That's been used before. Anyway, it has been a couple of fairly normal weeks since the last post. Two Saturdays ago Conway Community Presbyterian Church had a "Welcome to the Neighborhood" party. It was a year ago that we became a particular church in the PCA, and about six months since we had begun worship in the new church building so we decided to throw a party for the neighbors. We had a bounce house, obstacle course, table games, craft table, the story lady (that's GB reading to a couple of little girls), hot dogs & hamburgers.- biggest question was, "...and we don't have to pay anything?" It was fun to say, nope, just enjoy our thank you to the neighborhood! We had about 30 church members helping during the 4 hours we were open for business, and had many, many Conway neighbors enjoy our hospitality.
We've had cooler weather this week -- the summer is over! We had temps in the 40's a couple of mornings and I had to wear my leather chaps to keep the wind chills down. We've turned the AC off and it's just nice to be able to open up the windows and let the breeze in again.
Report cards went home this past Wednesday. It was mostly good, except for a couple of parents who hyperventilated over a C in math. Kathy W. and I have conferences with parents over the next several weeks.
We had our fall parties this past Friday. Lots of black & orange decorations and a lot of fun for the kids! The class picture is GB's 3rd grade famous characters. We enjoyed another mild night Halloween-wise in our neighborhood. We had less than a dozen kids. Waaay too much cheap candy left over! Not much of a temptation for me...very little chocolate.
I cut the lawn and trimmed the edges for the first time in over a month. Also put down some fertilizer / weed killer. Good timing -- we've had some light rain yesterday and today. Before the spritzers, I had washed to car and the bike. It's a known fact that motorcycles drive better when they're clean and shiny!

Bikes in October -- Festive!

2008-10-18T22:26:00.000-04:00

Gayle spent today working on quilts with ten of her quilting friends. They were putting quilts together for Russell House, which provides care for atypical children. Biketoberfest was rolling in Daytona Beach this week-end, so I followed my curiosity and rode out to the coast. I stopped for a half hour at Daytona International Speedway. A bit of the parking lot was used by all the major bike manufacturers, who had demo bikes available to try out. They were also allowing you to take your demo ride around the Speedway. I didn't do that -- I'm content with my bike and I didn't want to spend the time waiting for my turn. Lots LOTS of people waiting to ride around the race track! I rode up A1A to Ormond Beach and then went up the Tomoka Park road for about 10 miles. It's a beautiful ride on a two lane road between rows and rows of Southern Live Oaks that arch over the road, like riding in a green tunnel. I stopped at the Bulow Oak, a really large Live Oak that dates back to the time of the Bulow Plantation, pre-Civil War era. I then caught I-95 back south to the huge Bruce Rossmeyer Harley showroom / J&P Cycles store...and much more! Many vendors willing to mount your new pipes or seat or you-name-it right there. Many tents set up to service bikes. And of course, food and more food. It was a short quarter mile from the Interstate to the stores, but it took me 10 minutes. I was in a long slow line of bikes, two by two, moving to a huge parking lot. There had to be a thousand bikes in the lots, with bikes coming and going all the time. I was impressed! Can you find my bike? It's there, front row, sixth bike down. This was just a small corner of the parking by J&P Cycles store.After taking in the scene for a while, I drove south to Hwy 40 and went west for about 20 miles to Barberville. In that 20 miles, there had to be about 200 to 300 bikes that went by, heading to Daytona. I stopped in Barberville at the kitchy statuary place -- they got rid of the 12 foot tall chicken! I stopped by the Big Tree Park south of Lake Mary -- good pictures of the Senator, one of the largest bald cypress trees in the world. It's 17.5 ft in diameter. Got home after 6.5 hrs and abou 175 miles. Beautiful day to ride. Fun time!

The Senator, all 50,000 board feet!

The trusty Kaw!

Frog Bane

2008-10-11T13:17:00.001-04:00

We had an unwelcome guest on our slider this morning -- a Cuban tree frog, one of the larger ones I've seen around the house. It's an invasive species, will eat just about anything it can get its mouth around, including insects, indigenous tree frogs, small birds, and even its own kind. GB wanted to catch it for her science kids at school, but I put my foot down. So to speak. After giving it a once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunity, I gave it a choice of paper or plastic. The frog didn't seem to care, so I caught it in a plastic grocery bag, put it out of our misery, and dropped it in the trash can.

It's really not surprising that we have an abundance of frogs around here. We have been blessed with a greater than normal rainfall this past week. Huge thunder and lightning storm on Wednesday. The high water mark was Thursday evening -- 3.5 inches in about two hours. The retention pond behind the house, which was almost dry again ten days ago, now has ducks paddling around in about 4 feet of water. We're at 50 inches of rain for the year, which is 8 inches above normal.

We had our One Great Day of Service at TCS yesterday. The kids did very well. My 5th graders worked at the Salvation Army cleaning, serving lunches, washing windows, and weeding. GB's 3rd graders bundled thousands of pencils at A Gift For Teaching, a non-profit organization that collects school supplies so that teachers can get free supplies for their students. (Orange County Public Schools now has 60% of its students on free and reduced lunches.) The non-profit also provides resources so teachers can give birthday gifts and Christmas gifts to their students. They also provide music and art lessons for disadvantaged students. We had many parents who worked with their children as chaperones and steadying hands. We ended the day with an all-school chapel. Each grade level gave a brief recap of their day and we celebrated together God's blessings.

This coming Wednesday the elementary grades will go to the Bob Carr Auditorium for our annual youth symphony concert. The concert hall is just a few blocks away so we take the free bus service, Lymmo. Buses run every 5 minutes downtown, but with 225 students we tend to clog up the system. Every year it's a SRO operation; other folks who are waiting at bus stops en route step up to the open bus door, take in the wall to wall kids, and step away...Even if there is room, they don't want the buzz of elementary age kids talking and finding joy in the moment!

Cause and Effect

2008-10-02T21:47:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago GB and I went for an afternoon ride to the Orange County Convention Center to see the annual home show. We enjoyed a couple of hours walking around and checking out the displays. Lots of green energy conservation approaches to home ownership...and the cooking / food / knives / cookware venues. We did buy some arch supports for GB; she loves 'em! We also got a set of Egyptian cotton 400 thread count sheets (one fitted) with 4 pillow cases for $20. And we have an appointment with the Andersen window folks to see about a replacement slider for our great room. It was a hot afternoon and when we got home GB saw that she had melted the sole of her shoe on the muffler. The foot peg, which is right above the muffler, had been feeling warm for GB but this was too much. I ordered some passenger floorboards and installed them last night. I think they will do the trick, give GB comfort and more freedom of movement on the bike. And they look good! The same week-end I had gone on a 190 mile trip with Verne. He does the scoring for the Florida CMA Bible Quiz meets. The first one was at Dunellon - we rode up the Florida Turnpike to I-75, north 12 miles, and then west for about 20 miles. I had my E-Pass transponder tied to my handlebars but it didn't work. Hope I don't end up with a ticket for running through the toll booth. Turned out that the battery was low, so I got that fixed, but I wanted something that was a bit more convenient than shoestrings on the handlebars. I found a leather windshield bag that was reasonably priced and - amazingly - made in the good ol' USA. I installed that tonight. Both the floorboards and the leather bag were well made and had everything to easily install them. So now I have cooler feet for GB and a nice little place for my transponder, garage door opener, sunglasses, etc. I did have one weird thing while I was installing the floorboards. I had opened the locked door that hides the tool kit and must have done something to the key, because this morning when I was ready to go to school, I couldn't get the key to turn the ignition on. I had to call GB, who had just left, and she turned around, picked me up, and took me to school. I hustled home this afternoon and tried to get a replacement key for the bike, but the locksmith didn't have the proper blank. I asked him to try to straighten the key, which he did. Now it works again. Go figure! I think I will have a second key made however. Just in case...

Living Life

2008-09-28T13:49:00.001-04:00

BJ's blog comment from the movie Stranger Than Fiction got me thinking. I put "Harold Crick lived his life" with a closing line from another movie I like, Secondhand Lions: "So they really lived?" "Yes, the REALLY lived!"
How do we live our lives? For many of us, it is mechanical, non-thinking, habitual. We are focused on fun and excitement and simply look ahead to the next big event. No plan, no pain, no passion. Confusion abounds, because we are looking - not at long or short term goals, but on the next week-end, the next vacation, new house, retirement. The focus is on self and that is a small, sad world.
Many Americans have missed the point of the life God has given to them - it's the little things, the journey itself that is important. It is each moment that is the key. The few major decisions that we actually make are driven by the groundwork we have laid in the everyday. Because so much of our lives are in the mundane, everyday routine, it is the rountines that actually shape our lives.
When we come to understand this, we see that even the small, everyday decisions and routines are golden. These seemingly small events have an affect far beyond the moment. This gives great meaning and purpose to everything that we do. it makes our lives high quality every day, every moment. And then we really live, as God intended.

Plants and Fun

2008-09-14T09:33:00.003-04:00

We had another one of those "long/short" weeks...stuffing a great deal of activity into the days God gives us. Tuesday evening we had our annual Open House for parents at The Christ School, so GB and I commuted together, had supper on campus, and got home after the open house program around 9 PM. We gave two 25 minute presentations about what we do during the day to parents and used our technology. TCS is gradually converting all classrooms to high tech -- Audio Enhancement and Smart Boards. Parents are impressed; it's fun stuff and meets the kids where they are technologically. These are not silver bullets, but do bring the internet, PowerPoint presentations, and electronic versions of their texts to the front of the room via a digital projector. Our school head, Dr. Powell, highlighted these things at the whole group meeting that began our open house and noted that because of the cost per classroom ($4,250) we were gradually incorporating the technology. He invited casually invited parents who wanted this for their child's classroom to write a check and then moved on. Three parents did just that! So now, three more classrooms can get the new stuff. We have amazingly generous parents!
Friday evening we were treated to dinner by our friends Steve and Pat. We went to the Hawk's Nest at the Marriott down by Disney. We got there at 7:45 and didn't leave until 10:30! One of those relaxing, enjoy the courses as they come, talk all the time meals. The down side was I didn't eat again until 1:30 Saturday afternoon! Saturday evening we had my co-fifth grade teacher, Kathy, and her mom over for supper. Fun as usual with them; they are both good friends.
We are helping with the TCS golf tournament on Monday -- have to be at the Orange National Golf Center by 6 AM. GB and I will hand out goody bags to the golfers and then I get to use the school's new Nikon D40 (with a 55-200 mm lens!) to take picture of the golfers. I ride around in a golf cart all morning and shoot 'em up! We had to do the usual lesson plans for subs, but it is fun to be able to help the school.

We had a surprise yesterday; our Angel Trumpet has a flower! It is starting to set it's roots and grow. Our pampas grass is in full flower also; it looks rather jungle-like with the Rangoon Creeper in the foreground and one of our fishtail palms on the left. The plants are doing what I had hoped -- creating a green barrier between our back yard and busy Michigan Street. By the way, the water in the retention pond behind our house is going down nicely; just a foot or so of water left for the frogs and water bugs. I've also included a picture of the spectacular influorescence of one of our bromeliads -- it an aechmea blanchetiana. This is one of the few bromeliads that does well in full sun and is at the corner of the house by the deck in the back yard.
Just before Labor Day I traded in my Suzuki for a Kawasaki. I had been looking for something a bit larger and found a 2007 bike at the Harley-Davidson store. They like getting rid of the metric trade-in bikes so the price was right, and it only had 827 miles on it! It is about 125 pounds heavier than the old bike and a 1600 cc engine, so it has enough power to get down the road with both of us on it. It is very quiet--I do not like loud bikes!We've gone out together several times and enjoyed the ride, and I've been commuting to school on it just like I've done for the past year. It came ready equipped for touring with a windshield, passenger back rest, and saddlebags. We hope to take some longer day trips when the weather cools a little. Yes, we always wear our helmets!

2008-08-31T14:05:00.002-04:00

My students led chapel this past Friday morning. We had practiced for a few minutes Monday thru Thursday, and did a walk through Thursday morning. They are quick learners and did very well. We used Psalm 51:10 and the idea of God being steadfast -- dependable, trustworthy, and unmoveable. We were the first class of the year, and I think we set a good example. We had one curve ball; one of my girls caught the chicken pox

from her 3rd grade sister in GB's classroom! The billbergia pyramidalis are in bloom. They don't last long, but are spectacular. We have six influorenscences this year. The close up shows the complexity of the flowerets -- some deep purple at the tips and a gold stamen. The bromeliads are stoloniferous, which means that they will sort of "climb" the laurel oak...up to a point. The net result will be a dense border of plants around the tree trunk. This is from one plant we took with us from Ft. Myers, so this has done well in four years! We had 4.5 inches of rain this past week. Fay left a great amount of water and when the afternoon thunderstorms got going this past week, there were tremendous amounts of moisture for the storms to feed on. We had a couple of real cloud bursts -- spectacular, roaring downpours. We got our rain yesterday courtesy of Gustav. Even though we were 450 miles away, Gustav was pulling moisture bands from the Atlantic across Florida all day, to the tune of 1.6 inches of rain! The effect on our community is that the St. Johns River continues to be in flood stage; over 400 homes are under water. Our retention pond behind our house has water in it as high as it was after the three hurricanes in 2004! There were three pairs of mallards feeding in it this morning, and from the sound of things the frogs are really enjoying the water also. Tropical Storm Hanna is behaving in a confused manner out in the Atlantic east of the Bahamas. It seems like it will stay at tropical storm or minimal hurricane status. We should know by Friday what is what with Hanna. It looks like another rainy week; we're over 10 inches above our yearly average (45.03 inches of precip to date). The last two years were below average -- that's how averages are made!

Quiet End to a Rowdy Week

2008-08-23T16:17:00.000-04:00

Well, we made it. We had another .6 inch of rain last night, but our total since Sunday night was about 7.5 inches of rain. Certainly nowhere near the 26+ inches of rain that Melbourne had dumped on them. The problem now is flooding, especially along the St. Johns River. As the water pushes downstream other communities will struggle with the water also. This afternoon we have some thundershowers -- yup, bands of rain streaming from the south, compliments of Fay. At least we had sun and blue sky this morning. I was able to clean up the tree leaves and small branches that the wind had trimmed and left on our driveway...2 garbage bags worth. No large branches, which was fine by me. The plants, bromeliads, and orchids were fine and our two bamboo each have a new shoot. We did get enough water to end a three year dry spell in the retention pond behind our house. Our homeowners' association has 9 retention ponds, and they all have water. Maybe we'll see some wood ducks again! We only missed one school day - Tuesday - even though the Orange County schools were also off on Friday. Squally weather combined with no electricity in some of the public schools put them down for the count. We each had a couple of kids out, but ended the week well. Kids had good attitudes, worked hard, and got the year off to a good start. My kids even cheered a couple of times Friday afternoon when the sun peeked out briefly! Gayle and I both have colds, so we're grateful for the quiet Saturday afternoon we're enjoying. I guess the kids were too willing to share with us...As you can see from the picture of the deck, my plan has come to fulfillment -- we have a green barrier blocking off busy Michigan Street from our view. Our two fishtail palms have really grown this year, and the Rangoon Creeper is simply ridiculous with its growth. The third picture shows the back of the house where an hibiscus used to be on the corner and the cut down bougainvillea. Lots of room for the pink grapefruit to grow. The small shrub in the foreground is a datura, also known as an Angel Trumpet. It's scientific name is Brugmansia, and is in the Nightshade family. It has spectacular trumpet shaped flowers about 9 inches long. This particular variety has a creamy throat with a pink bell. Kay Mason, a neighbor down the street who shares my love of plants, gave me this plant which she had grown from a seed that her full grown Angel Trumpet had tossed on the ground.

A Ho-Hmmm? Start to School

2008-08-19T11:07:00.002-04:00

We have had seven in-service days preparing for the new school year. Last Friday afternoon we enjoyed meeting parents and students in an informal "Meet the Teacher" event. Most of the students came, as well as former students popping in to see the refreshed rooms and greet us again. I had a number of former students trying to cadge M&M's - had to shoo them out after a while! GB and I were ready for the students, and enjoyed a calm, quiet first day with what seem to be really nice kids. GB got a Chinese dwarf hamster -- really cute! Her 3rd graders voted on a name for him. Bob got two votes, but Furry won out. Wonder how long the calm and quiet of the kids will last...And here we are at home today on what should be our second day of school, thanks to Tropical Storm Fay. Fay turned out to be fey, changing from a menacing mass of of weather related trouble to a mild lump of breezes and rain sodden clouds. We should have some wind, 40 MPH or so, from about 3 to 9 PM and will get several inches of rain, but we have endured worse in New Mexico and Iowa. And it's nothing like four years ago with Charley. The news media and emergency preparedness personnel were decrying the casual attitude of many Floridians toward the impending storm. I think it's that many of us know what we have to do to prepare for a real storm and are waiting to see just how bad and where -- all of the hype notwithstanding -- the storm will be and the track it will finally take. There is also the mixed message that the media gives, with reporters reporting live from Ft. Myers Beach as their L.L. Bean all weather rain gear flaps in the wind and rain, telling us how bad it is and how we should be inside with the windows boarded up. If Jim Cantore from The Weather Channel shows up, it can't be good...I really got a kick out of Al Roker in Naples four years ago, reporting from a balcony about Hurricane Charley. He had a man holding on to his knees to keep him upright, but he fell over anyway and it took several crew members to drag him in. We all knew it was an awful storm; why the histronics? So tomorrow we'll (probably) go back to school and pick up where we left off. In once sense it's almost like two years ago when we had a Friday half-day with the kids and then began with a full week on Monday. The good thing is we can always use the rain!

Busy B's

2008-08-08T23:00:00.000-04:00

We've had a full four weeks. We left Orlando early on July 12 and traveled north -- spent a week with Emily. We camped in Coles County, IL (Abe Lincoln area) at Fox Ridge State Park, fixed a few things at Em's condo, and enjoyed worshiping with her. The second week we spent in West Michigan, visiting friends and relatives. We were able to spend a significant amount of time with Mom and Art, for which we were grateful. We enjoyed an amazing providence one evening -- we were going to take Mom and Art out for supper, but Art had a handful of coupons to the Grand Villa, so we went there. As we walked up the sidewalk to the restaurant, we saw Uncle Harry, cousin Peggy, and her husband Joe sitting inside. We got a booth next to them, started to get caught up with things, and by the time we had our menus, another group of Bosschers was walking into the place! Uncle Art, Aunt Helen, and Uncle Howard and Aunt Doris - all unplanned. So we pulled four tables together and enjoyed the company! By the time we left Michigan, we were emotionally drained. We had not anticipated that visiting for five days would be so difficult. We were able to visit most all of our uncles and aunts, who are getting on in years. Each time we see them, it's a gift from God, and we are grateful for the moments shared. Our third travel week we spent a couple of hours at Gettysburg again and then some great times with Katie, Alec, and the grandkids. Very restorative! This week was spent finishing a few things around the house and some time at school before the meetings and busyness of the beginning of the new school year. I pulled out the overgrown hibiscus behind the bathroom and replaced it with a pink grapefruit tree. while we were gone, the bougainvillea next to the hibiscus fell over and I had to radically trim it. So the back of the house is very different now. The bougainvillea will grow back within a year, but it is strange to see so much of the house right now. I finished the tile project also. We've had two in-service days at school to end our week. New teachers and a new administrative structure -- leaner, which is good for the school's budget. Good meetings, well run which makes for a positive beginning to the year. Mixed in with the continuing prep next week are several meetings for both of us with parents who want to be proactive for the children. So we meet, listen, and encourage. Next Friday afternoon we have a 3 hour Meet-the-Teacher time when students and parents can come to the room, drop off their supplies, and check things out. Here are a few pictures of the past month...

7/8 Done

2008-07-05T17:27:00.005-04:00

Yesterday morning GB and I left the house around 7:30 and took a two hour ride. We went south on Highway 15, following the east shore of Lake Toho for about 15 miles. We then picked up US 441 west into St. Cloud and had breakfast at a Village Inn. We then kept going west into Kissimmee, took OBT (Orange Blossom Trail) north, ducked over to pick up Orange Ave, and took that north back to Conway. Traffic was light, temps were in the mid-70's, and the humidity was fairly low for a Florida summer morning! We also took the bike out yesterday evening to downtown Orlando and Lake Eola for the city's Red, White, & Boom celebration. We parked under the Angel Wing by The Christ School and walked three blocks north to Lake Eola. We saw a great display of fireworks -- 20 minutes of whoosh-flash-boom! The fun thing was that, with the bike, we were able to scoot out easily and were home 20 minutes after the end of the celebration! We saw on the evening news that most of the 150,000 who attended were stuck in a huge traffic jam...not us!

GB and I spent over 3 hours this morning setting the last of the shower tiles. I had spent about 8 hours laying out and cutting the tile for all of the area above the tub. I did a pretty good job -- had just one full tile left! Now we'll let the mortar dry for several days and then put on the grout. Last - but not least - we'll seal the grout, so we should have no mold problems. I think we'll be able to get this done before we leave for the North, but we probably won't be able to use the shower until we get back from vacation. GB took the curtains down for cleaning, so the room looks really light. I will remove the hibiscus bush you see through the window. It's really overgrown and was a runway for our pesky ants to get from their nest in the laurel oak in the backyard. I'm going to take it out on Monday (yard waste pickup is Tuesday) and we will put in a grapefruit tree. We've missed the home grown citrus we enjoyed in Ft. Myers. I also want to clean out the "river" in the back yard so we can use the fountain again. Too much debris in the channel right now! And that should wrap up the summer projects...

Project Mid-point

2008-07-02T21:28:00.002-04:00

This has been an interesting project. I've been waking up in the middle of the night and thinking how best to do this or that with the tiling. One 3 AM inspiration solved my angled step problem that I had been wrestling with, so I guess it was worth the sleep interruption. I ended up buying a 14 inch tile scorer and cutter -- it's really accurate and for straight cuts, it saves loads of time. I still did a fair amount of trucking to the garage to use the wet saw for the little nibble work, but it's working. I got the front tiles cut and ready to set today, which is most of the fussy stuff. GB helped me set the tiles late this afternoon, so we're more than half done! I've been barking my shins on the top edge of the backer board just in front of the tub; it's sharp! Good thing we got the tile on it now. While I was working this afternoon, I had a visitor in the back yard. A young great blue heron was on patrol looking for lizards. I think he walked between my yard and the neighbor's for 2 hours, looking for lunch.

Summer Project

2008-06-25T18:02:00.002-04:00

I'm in the middle of a summer destruction / remodeling project. The tile in the shower area of our tub is 18 years old and tired. The former owners had moisture issues because the let the grout go. Problems have continued for us with mold in the grout; I've pulled out and replaced sections of grout several times. On Monday I began to rip out the tile and backer board. As with any home project, there were curve balls. I found three ant colonies in the wood; I guess they liked the damp wood. Terminix is coming tomorrow to dry out the wood with a dessicant, and we are now on an every three month cycle for pest treatment. I didn't anticipate the glass-like quality of the ceramic tile splinters -- I went through a bunch of band aids for finger cuts! I also broke one of the marble window sills while I was trying to clean the old mortar off the back, so I guess we'll get new sills. Good thing they're not expensive! Everything is back to the studs and I should have the backer board up by Saturday. Next week I'll get the new porcelain tile up. The old 4 inch tiles had a large curve on the bullnose edges. The tile setters had put 1/2 inch plywood under the backer to bump the whole project out. I plan to put the tiles flush with the wall.

JADIP Part 2

2008-06-18T10:20:00.000-04:00

We continue to have great weather and our week at the beach continues to be wonderful. Beach time is dictated by the afternoon thunderstorms that roll by, but we adapt well. Morning with the sand and water, and afternoons with a good book or a little sightseeing. We have enjoyed breakfast on the balcony, watching the dolphins feed. On our evening walks, we watch the snowy egrets feed in the shallows -- we can get quite close to them as they look, run, snatch, and swallow minnows. Shells on the beach are different from the Gulf; lots of coquinas, some scallops and arcs but no roller types. Waves in the middle of the day are nice for body surfing.

We took a short trip north to Ponce Inlet yesterday afternoon while the thunder rumbled. We toured the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse, tallest in Florida at 175 ft. It has been beautifully restored and was well worth the $5 admission. We were fortunate to be able to go up to the top -- it was closed because of lightning in the area when we arrived and again as we were leaving. The fresnel lenses are huge and amazingly complex; they shoot the light out up to 20 miles in a specific pattern for each lighthouse along the coast. The picture is the original lens for Ponce lighthouse that was restored; it's about 9 feet tall. The characteristic of the Ponce lighthouse is 6 half second flashes in 15 seconds and then a pause for several seconds.
Monday night we used the 3rd grade class gift card to Garlic, a wonderful Italian restaurant. We ate in the garden, an open air area. We were under an overhang and enjoyed really comfortable temps as the afternoon rain ended with a drizzle as we ate. Live music, plants all around, great service, and wonderful food. Yesterday on the way back from Ponce Inlet we stopped at a Mexican restaurant near the condo and had an excellent meal. GB said that the lighthouse and the Mexican food would be good end points for a bike excursion with friends.
We're ready for some beach time...

Just Another Day in Paradise

2008-06-15T16:26:00.000-04:00

The title of this blog is on a decorative plaque on top of the entertainment system in our condo on New Smyrna Beach. We're about 3.5 miles north of Canaveral National Seashore and maybe 4 miles south of the main part of the town. We got in just before noon on Saturday, got settled, and enjoyed a warm afternoon on the beach. Our condo is on the fourth floor, right on the Atlantic. We've enjoyed an evening walk on the beach as the sun was setting and a 7 AM walk this morning. We body surfed in the waves this afternoon -- great fun! It was interesting to wake up last night and listen to the waves. I just had to get up before sunrise this morning and catch some pictures of the sunrise. Straight east across the Atlantic is southern Morocco...whoa! What fun!

The top picture is a view from our balcony to the north.

The second picture is this morning's sunrise...

Third pic is of our condo -- it's the tall one on the right side.

The last picture is an interior shot -- GB working on one of the projects she brought along.

First Week of Summer

2008-06-12T16:18:00.000-04:00

We have had rain almost every day this week, and enough so our rain sensor turned off the sprinkler system this morning. 9/10 inch yesterday evening will do that!
My new bamboo culms are like rockets. The Asian Lemon is over eight feet tall, and my Black Timor (not even four weeks old) is more than 8.5 feet skyward. Amazing stuff...
GB and I rode the bike to school today. We both had a few things to do and it was such a nice morning to ride! GB is now in Sanford at a quilt shop searching for fabrics for a 2009 wedding quilt done in Bargello. I have no idea what will come of this, but I have a hunch that it will be spectacular. (Just saw the 20 colors -- all I can say is, "Wow!")
We continue to meet on Wednesday evenings with our three young Christians - supper together and then a couple of hours of Bible study. We're working through a series of seven lessons on a Christian world and life view using an overview GB got to know at Providence Christian School in Cape Coral. It's a great way to cover the big ideas - who is God, who am I, where am I, what's wrong, what's the remedy, how do I know? Our friends are not bashful about asking questions, which makes both of us grateful for the good grounding in the faith that we have had.
Sean McKenna is coming for supper tonight. His wife Vanessa and 2 yr old son Jonathan are in Mexico visiting Vanessa's family so Sean is batching. GB had compassion on him...

School's Out!

2008-06-08T17:11:00.000-04:00

Friday was the last of two in-service days; we had the students for the last time on Wednesday. We had some wonderful days...the end of the year parties were amazing! We have some very generous parents who can get really creative. GB and I are spending a week at a condo on the beach in New Smyrna, FL. It was arranged so we could do that over our 35th wedding anniversary, which was really thoughtful! GB also received anniversary wine glasses (along with 2 bottles of wine), a monogrammed tote bag, a gift certificate to a restaurant in New Smyrna, as well as gift certificates to Barnes & Noble and Joann Fabric. Yes, the parents really appreciated GB's hard work with their children this year! My 5th graders enjoyed an end-of-elementary celebration at a local park. We had games, food, pictures, and more food. And they were very generous in saying thank you to me, also.
Last Friday evening we had a date night with George & Linda Bruneau from church. the Henry Leu Gardens sponsors this every other month during the summer. We took our picnic suppers and set up on a large lawn with about 200 others. After sunset, we watched Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster in Maverick. No mosquitoes either! We got home after 11:30 Pm but it was great fun. We fell into bed, tired and ready for summer.
One of the problems with falling into bed tired is that I was not in my end of the day routine. GB got up early Saturday and started the laundry, and I got ready to take the car in for an oil change. I couldn't find my cell phone, and realized that I had left it in the pocket of my cargo shorts...the ones that were currently in the washing machine. #@%^!!! Water and phones just don't mix. So I had to get a new phone. The good news was that we were almost to the end of a two year contract period; I signed up again just a few weeks early and got a new phone free. What a deal!

Oops

2008-05-31T22:05:00.000-04:00

I did a little current events with my 5th graders last Thursday. I had seen an article on a Tennessee woman who had polio as a baby and lived for 58 years in an iron lung. I talked with my students about this amazing thing -- the gift that the family gave to this bed-ridden woman, taking care of her and nurturing her for nearly six decades. I talked about the dangers of bed sores over such a long time and the incredibly physical work of taking care of someone in an iron lung. I tied it all into my experiences with my dad.
I had forgotten that I had one girl, Morgan, who is acutely sensitive to strong stories and images. It affects her and makes her ill. (B, you are 180 degrees in the opposite direction from Morgan!) After we came to the end of the story it was time for recess. As the kids were lined up and heading out, one girl said, "Morgan what are you doing?" She had bumped into another girl and then bumped into the door jam. I was a couple of feet away from her and caught her as she fainted. I lowered Morgan to the floor and sent another student to get some help. When Morgan regained consciousness, she was mortified that she had fainted. I think it was worse that she got so much attention. She is a very quiet, reticent young girl. Mom came and took her home, and she was fine.
This was a first for me. In 35 years, I have never had someone faint like that! I felt badly that my comments had caused such distress in young Morgan. Morgan's mom expressed appreciation for the tender care we gave her daughter, and Morgan was just fine the next day. So now I can add to my resume that girls swoon in my classroom!

Wet & Wonderful

2008-05-26T18:25:00.002-04:00

We drove to Canaveral National Seashore today, along with many, many others. The parking and the shore were as full as I've ever seen, but then today is Memorial Day. The day was just about perfect for the beach. It was a little cooler than it has been, down to the mid-80's. There was a good breeze from the east, so the waves were spectacular. The water temp is warming up, but it was still refreshing rather than tepid. We played in the waves a couple of times; we needed a break to recoup from getting slammed around by the surf. We didn't go out too far; the rip currents are on-going and can really pull you out quickly.

We could see the shuttle Discovery on the southern launch pad. Launch is this Saturday in the late afternoon. (The shuttle is on the pad just above a palm tree on the left of the picture.) Good thing it's a few days away; the Canaveral National Seashore would have been off limits just prior to the launch and we would have missed a great day. We did see a roseate spoonbill as we drove through the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on the way to the beach, which is always a good thing! Because it's the end of the dry season, many of the lagoons were dry or at very low water levels which meant not many birds.

What am I?

2008-05-25T13:45:00.000-04:00

I took this picture in our yard this morning. We had rain last night, which brought our total for two days to over a half inch. I know it was at least a half inch because the rain gauge held that much, and our automatic shut-off actually kept the sprinkler system from going on early this morning! It cuts out the irrigation if we have had a half inch of rain within the last several days. Nice to know it works!

Sooo, what is in my picture? Get your guesses in by Wednesday. I'll clue you in then...

Growth

2008-05-19T22:35:00.000-04:00

Other than a lack of rain in the afternoons, we are really close to summer. The temps are in the upper 80's and the lows are in the low 70's. We did have some rain Sunday morning and a brief shower this afternoon, but it was next to nothing in the rain gauge. However, the plants and flowers are spectacularly beautiful. The second of our gardenia bushes is in full flower. If the scent were edible, it would be completely decadent! Our Rangoon Creeper (what a misnomer - it doesn't creep, it lunges!) is flowering also. Flowers are white in the morning when they first open and by afternoon they are pink. The second day they turn red and maybe last a third day. I have already trimmed it back once, and it will need more pruning in another week. A neighbor down the block gave us a small datura. They are in the brugmansia family and related to nightshade. The bush can get 10 to 15 feet high and has bell shaped flowers about nine inches long. This variety has a pale throat that shades into pink on the bell end. I planted it in the back yard near the west end; it's close to the laurel oak but will get sun in the morning and late afternoon. I'll post a picture when it blooms, but for now check out this site: http://www.abads.net/

The bamboo we planted in early January have both sent up new culms. The Asian Lemon culm is about 3 weeks old and over six feet high. I noticed a new 3 inch culm for the Black Timor today and it is no more than two days old. Each succeeding culm will grow higher than the older ones. Asian Lemon grows to about 25 feet high, and the Black Timor can reach 40 feet...we'll see about that!
We have 11 days of school left with the kids. They are hanging in there quite well. This is the last full week of school. Man, this year flew by quickly!
Gayle and I are hosting a Wednesday evening Bible study for three young Christians in our church. We have supper together and then look at some themes by way of verses. We're trying to get at a Christian world & life view. Last week's topic was Who is God? and this week we will look at Who am I? We had a work morning at the new church last Saturday, and a couple dozen volunteers spruced things up nicely. We still have many things to do. When a new group comes in with fresh eyes, there are a great many things that can be done...a little at a time. We will have two adult baptisms in a couple of weeks, and we continue to have new people come to our service on Sunday.

The new Black Timor culm is a little hard to see, but it's on the left side of the picture. A caladium shoot is between the culm and the two original canes.

Next Step

2008-05-04T15:04:00.002-04:00

This has been quite a week for our church. Conway Community Presbyterian Church has been meeting for the past 3 3/4 years in the cafeteria of Lake George Elementary School. We began as a mission outreach of the Central Florida Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of America. We have grown from about 35 faithful members that first year to three times that now. We served 87 for the Lord's Supper today, plus children and guests.
A Presbyterian USA church -- nearly 50 years old -- had dwindled and merged with another USA church two months ago. We were offered a year's lease of the building and classrooms. The classrooms are also used during the week by a child care called Small Blessings. We signed the lease for a church building this past Thursday, and moved our stuff from the elementary school to the church building. On Saturday we cleaned and prepped the sanctuary for our first service, which we had today.
It was fitting that our first worship service in our new place was on the first Sunday of the month, when we celebrate communion and have a fellowship lunch after the service. It was so much fun! The accoustics of the sanctuary are great, and the musicians have a comfortable spot in front to lead our congregation. It was fun to be in pews again after years of plastic stackable chairs. We had a time of celebration and thanksgiving at the beginning of the service.
Our lunch was unique. The sanctuary has large overhangs so we put up tables and chairs on the west side of the building and enjoyed the shade. It was in the 80's but lower humidity yet, and very pleasant. Across the yard from the sanctuary is the lunch room and kitchen. We had a buffet line through the lunch room and around the large counter in the center of the kitchen. People could then eat on the low tables in the lunch room or go to the tables in the shade of the overhang.
I had a sense that this was a unifying moment for our church. We are finished with the beginning stages and are now ready for growth and building Christ's presence in Conway. God has led us to this lovely spot just west of Conway Road right in the heart of Conway. We're standing on tip-toe to see what God has in store for us!

Food line!

Shade, food, & fellowship...

Our new sign in the heart of Conway. The church is next door to Conway Elementary School -- high traffic!

It's a Go!

2008-04-29T19:55:00.000-04:00

We heard today that CCPC has been approved by the USA Presbytery to lease the old Conway Presbyterian Church USA site. We have a few little details to take care of yet, but we hope to be in by this Sunday. Lake George Elementary's cafeteria has served us well for over 3.5 years, but now it's time to grow into a new place. The new site is less than 2 miles from where we were, and a mile closer to our house. We may have a moving bee Thursday evening. I did take some pictures at our service last Sunday -- I thought that it could well be our last time in the cafeteria, so I wanted a pictoral record of the service. God is so good! More to come...

We Beat the Feet

2008-04-25T22:15:00.003-04:00

Thursday evening we were two of a two dozen contingent of TCS people at the annual OIA 5K Run/Walk. We were a small part of a large race; 10,600 people participated this year. GB and I did our power walk / jog around the slower folks in the road and did last year's time 5 minutes better -- 42 minutes! We were beaten by the 7 year old TCS first grader in the middle of the front row; little Lawton really has a motor! One of the fun things about the evening (from my point of view) was to walk across major roads and see all of the traffic stopped. I've been on the other end also, so this was fun payback! We slept really well last night...
This morning we took the 4th and 5th graders to Boone High School's track for our annual track & field day. My favorite was the 100 meter dash. My personal 4th grade favorite, Jordan rolled to victory on her scooter. I love her attitude!
GB gets to go to Wicked tomorrow with one of her third graders. Both parents had other obligations, so "Oh, twist my arm" Gayle said she could find the time to do this little thing! What fun!
One last thing...On my way to school this morning, I saw a bald eagle

flying toward me, about 50 feet overhead. And being chased by two crows! Not even the nation's symbol can dodge the raucus birds.

Bowling Green Tires

2008-04-19T16:08:00.002-04:00

This week Wednesday, Jeff Hague (computer teacher at TCS) and I made good on our TCS auction offering and took six 5th graders Bowling With the Big Boys. The really good stuff was we got out of school in the middle of the day to do this. No one got over 110 -- not even Jeff or me -- but we had a great time. The boys were good, enjoyed a hot dog & fries for lunch, and we were back in time for the kids to go to Spanish class. They were not happy about that last little thing! We were just too punctual!
Next week we have to give our classes the SATs. This has got to rank toward the top of the most boring things to do as a teacher. School practice is that we do not give any homework, so any teaching time has to be with in-class practice of concepts only. I know that ability tests are necessary...but I don't like doing it!

I spent a couple of hours today cutting the grass, edging the lawn, and weeding in the back yard. I wish I could record the mockingbirds who serenaded me while I was outside working, or capture the perfume of the Confederate Jasmine that's blooming along the driveway. That would be an excellent blog! The variegated ginger is just starting to put out blooms; you can see one waxy white cluster on the end of a stem toward the left of the ginger clump. The pinkish/reddish plants in front of the window are Fire & Ice hibiscus; the sun was on them, so they seem a little more intense than they actually are. As I was working, I noticed that one of my bromeliads, an aechmea bracteata Rubra, was beginning to bloom. You can see from the inflorescence that it's bracted and has red sheaths -- hence the name. This plant will get small red flowers and then seeds on the ends of those bracts, which are very stiff. And if you look at the second picture, you can see why I keep this plant in a back corner away from traffic! It is a wonderfully unusual plant, but it has really nasty 1/4" spines on the leaf edges.

This past Thursday on the way to school I heard a small pop, like I ran over a packing bubble. Didn't think much of it until I got ready to leave in the afternoon and found out that my back tire was a bit flat. I was able to ease my way home and then found that I had picked up a staple, the kind you use to hold Romex up. I made an appointment with the bike shop on Saturday morning and rode to school with GB on Friday. This morning I tried to pump up the tire, but apparently the staple had done a really good job of messing with the inner tube -- no go. So I called a towing company that specializes in motorcycles and they got me to the bike shop on time. For $91! Man, am I glad I have towing coverage with my insurance! Turns out that the tires were getting on up in the miles and showing wear, so I now have a new inner tube and two new tires. They look good and ride well. I hope that I've seen the last of the flats for a long while...

We're off to the new Orlando IKEA this evening. Time to go exploring!

Spring Break

2008-04-03T16:22:00.002-04:00

We spent four wonderful days in College Park with the kids and grandkids...and Emily was there! Except for Wednesday afternoon, the weather was cool and cloudy but that was fine with us. We just soaked up family time! Stayed up late, got up late -- for us, took some walks to the park, read to the kids, read our own books, Em sporadically worked on a term paper for her grad course, enjoyed church and adult Sunday School with the W's, and had a great meal at a Greek restaurant that Katie & Alec have come to enjoy. The baklava for dessert was almost too much. Many of the ornamental trees were in bloom, as was the forsythia and cherry trees around the Tidal Basin, but not the dogwoods. Luke is talking more and more and Erin is a busy little girl -- standing up around furniture and crawling all over the place.

We took Amtrak up to DC and back...did the coach-sleep-in-the-chair on the way up and rented a roomette (really a glorified closet) but it had 2 chairs that reclined, a sink, and a toilet, and the chairs came together to make a single bed and another single bed slid down on tracks from the ceiling. Meals were included as was steward service, which was nice. It was good to be away from the general noise of the coaches, and the personal rest room was really nice...even if it was right next to one of the chairs! We would travel this way again, understanding that you have to be flexible. Amtrak's motto should be The Journey is a Trip! We were delayed for a number of reasons on both legs of the trip; 4 hours northbound and 3 hours coming back to Orlando. We figured that it's just part of the package. We've certainly done our share of waiting through delays with airlines and even driving. We just brought our own music, books, magazines, games, and snacks to see us through!

Blessed Easter

2008-03-23T20:30:00.002-04:00

We had a great week-end. Long too! We had Good Friday off, so I worked on the lawn and yard for the first time in about four weeks. We're coming to the end of the oak leaves falling and we're in the middle of the oak blossom and pollen season. I put the bagger on the lawn mower and vacuumed the leaves and grass clippings. I also trimmed the areca palms in the back and whacked back the newly leafing Rangoon Creeper in anticipation of its 9 month growing season. I also helped a single friend across the street; she needed some leaves cleaned off her roof. GB spent the day in the house -- some cleaning, some school stuff, and some quilting. We had a Good Friday service in our pastor's house in the evening with about 25 people. On Saturday we had a practice for the 8 people in our little choir and then met about 30 from our congregation at a church about a mile from our house. We've been looking for another site for some time. The school cafeteria has been good for us, but it's off the street and we don't have a really visible presence. This site was the home for a Presbyterian USA church for nearly 50 years, but the congregation got older and dwindled down to about 30. They have since joined with another Presbyterian USA church a few miles away. They want us to lease for two years and then they want to sell. We believe that God has been moving and preparing the way for us. We've been in the Lake George cafeteria for over 3.5 years and it seems that -- in His time -- we have a next step. We will have a congregational meeting in two weeks about this...This church and property is right in the heart of Conway. The sanctuary was built in 1962. It's got a strange roof but it's weather worthy. There is a child care of about 90 kids (6 wks to pre-K) that uses some of the classrooms during the week. Lots of possibilities!

Saturday evening we drove about 30 miles -- south and west of Disney -- and took Ruth & John Ippel out for supper. We had a good time with them; learned a new card game from them also. I think we've had a new card game from the Ippels every year for the past four years!
We had a great service this morning. First a brunch and then a great service. Our little choir led the singing well!

Moving Day

2008-03-15T20:37:00.001-04:00

Saturday is "Moving Day" in a golf tournament, because you have to move up in the standings on Saturday to be on top of the tournament on Sunday. We left the house at 7:30 AM this morning and were on the grounds of Bay Hill Golf & Country Club by 8:15 for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Arnie's tournament raises money every year for the Winnie Palmer Women and Children's Hospital in Orlando. We parked ourselves by the second green and saw 2/3 of the field play a rather difficult par 3. Only 2 birdies but 8 bogies for the 47 players we watched...After Tiger Woods went by, we grabbed some lunch (got an Arnold Palmer Tee -- iced tea/lemonade in a unique bottle), and followed Phil Mickelson around. He had the best shot that we saw all day. We were sitting on the right side of the 8th fairway catching some shade and Phil pushed a drive past the tree line almost to the cart path. We stood on the back of the cart path (Phil said, "You may want to get back a little; it's going to be close.") and watched / heard him sizzle a second shot through the trees about 200 yards that ended about three feet from the pin! What fun! We were impressed by the fitness of many of the golfers, Tiger in particular. And it was Moving Day; Vijay Singh double bogied and Tiger was 4 under, so the two of them and four others are tied for the lead. The day was perfect -- upper 80's, partly cloudy, breezy to keep things feeling a bit cooler. We came home sunburned and with a much greater appreciation for the golfers and the huge infrastructure that makes a tournament happen and look good on television. The galleries were absolutely polite -- quiet and respectful at all times, not only of the players but also of other onlookers. It reminded us of the Gallup Intertribal Indian Ceremonial before the Saturday parade...really really quiet and then a cheer or groan or roar of approval! Just one picture because cameras and cell phones were prohibited. Lots of memories and the hope that we can do this again!

A Little Travel

2008-03-06T19:19:00.000-05:00

We drove down to Hutchinson Island / Nettles Island on Sunday and visited with Uncle Hank & Aunt Marideen. It was a beautiful day, travel was easy for the 2 plus hours on the road, and we had a great time with the relatives. GB and I walked on the beach for the first time in a long, long while. We even found a few shells! There was quite a breeze from the east and a number of Men-of-War were tossed up on the beach. The ocean was a beautiful blue-green color, the waves were wonderful, and the water temp was not-too-bad! We even got a little sunburned! (Thought that the GB / Aunt Marideen picture was appropriate - did you ever see Aunt Marideen talk without moving her hands?)

On Tuesday we (middle school math teacher Rich Magee and I) took 26 TCS kids to the Christian Schools of Florida math competition in Tampa. We fielded two teams -- a middle school team and an elementary team of 3rd, 4th, & 5th graders. It was held at Cambridge Christian School and 5 Central Florida Christian schools participated. We had a coach that had 47 seats, so we had 15 parents join us. We left just after 7 AM and were back at school before 3 PM. The middle school team took fourth place, but my elementary team was the 2nd place team! We had practiced weekly for the past 7 weeks and it was good to see all of that hard work pay off!

We Love Presidents' Day!

2008-02-18T09:21:00.002-05:00

Today is like an extra Saturday, an especially long week-end bonus. We had a really busy week with the usual meetings for church and school. My 5th graders had the responsibility for chapel this week, so we practiced for our chapel on Thursday. The really nice thing was that by giving the chapel on Thursday, the topic was a lock! It was easy to tie in Jesus' love for us with Valentine's Day! We had another all-school program on Friday; it was Grandparents' Day. It was one of those good-but-tiring times. You're always "on" meeting the most special people in the students' lives, which is enjoyable but we're grateful when it's finally finished. The kids were gone by noon and we had a quiet afternoon to prepare for the short week ahead.

Saturday I "vacuumed" the yard, i.e., put on the grass catcher and sucked up all of the oak leaves while cutting the grass. I had not cut the grass in six weeks, so it was time. I'm also in the process of repairing the ledge in front of the kitchen window. It's about 24 inches deep, fairly flat, and was rough stucco so it trapped rain water, which then begat mold. I've been filling it in and smoothing it, and giving it just a little slope to easily drain water. One more thin coat should do it. I also have to trim the hibiscus by the bathroom window. Little squeaks and scrapes on the window when the wind blows tell me that it's been growing again.

Yesterday we had a celebration for Vanessa McKenna after church. She became a US citizen this past week. We all wore red, white, & blue to church and her in-laws brought a cake for us all to enjoy. In the evening about a dozen of us met at Don & Tracey Bailey's house. I led a SWOT analysis on Conway Community Presbyterian Church. We need to get a focus for the year's challenges and opportunities. This was a good way to begin that process. We spent about two hours talking through the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to CCPC. Next step is to develop some strategies that will, in God's good grace, effectively move us forward.

Gayle finished her class quilt for the TCS auction on March 1. Every one of her students did a square for the quilt. She's working on her wall hanging and some other stuff today...I hear the sewing machine! After I get the outside stuff done, it's time to do the taxes...Tomorrow I will attend a seminar put on by Christian Schools of Florida. The topic is teaching from a Christian worldview. It's being held in Maitland at Orangewood Christian School. It should be a good day.

Home Project Theorems

2008-02-17T16:31:00.004-05:00

After talking with Em twice in two days about sink drain problems, I thought I should share what I've learned about home projects over the past 35 years. So here goes...
1. There will be surprises.
2. Every project will test my creativity, persistence, stamina, and patience. Not necessarily in that order.
3. Plumbing projects take 3 trips to the hardware store. Minimum. If you do get done in less than 3, dance in the street.
4. When you're in over your head, know which friend to call.
5. The learning curve can be steep.
6. While planning for the cost of a project, add 10% -- and then cross your fingers.
7. A new project is a good reason to get another tool.
8. Measure twice, check once more, then cut.
9. I don't pay myself by the hour; slow and careful is OK. I still have all my fingers...knuckles have taken a beating, however.
10. God blesses good stewardship.

If you can think of more, let me know!

A Good Saturday

2008-02-10T14:33:00.000-05:00

Gayle and I had busy days yesterday. Much of the day was down separate roads. Gayle stayed home and made cinnamon rolls, chocolate chips cookies, cleaned and rearranged the great room furniture. She needed more light when doing needlework in her chair! GB also did some shopping and put together some necessity bags for street people. We have a significant number of homeless around school and we are regularly asked by them for help. We do not like to give money to these unfortunates. One of our friends told us of something positive she did that did not use money. She put together small bags of soap, clean socks, small snacks, raisins, and packaged fruit to give when a homeless person solicits. So now Gayle can give something rather than just say no when approached by a homeless person.

Gayle also worked on her paper piecing quilt. GB went to a paper piecing quilt seminar last Saturday and this is what came out of the sewing room! Spectacular, eh?

I went on a bike ride with friend Verne from church. Verne keeps score for Alliance church Bible competitions that are held in Florida during the winter months. There was a competition in Punta Gorda on Saturday and I rode with him down US 17. We left at 7 AM and got to the Punta Gorda church about 9:45. I kept on going another 30 minutes to Ft. Myers to friends Bruce & Pam Stanley. We had a nice visit and then around noon I left; thought I'd check out the old neighborhood before going back north to join Verne. A flat tire precluded that idea. Bruce found a hand pump and the Yellow Pages, so I rode farther into town and ended up at a motorcycle shop. They said they could fix my tire, but I had to ride to another shop a couple of miles away to get the inner tube. Nearly 3 hours later I was on my way with a healed tire. The good thing in this was that I was able to get it fixed and I found out that the owner of the shop was a man I knew -- he had a daughter at Summit Christian when I was there! We had planned to be back in Orlando around 5 PM but we finally rolled home at 6:45 PM.

I put on about 350 miles in less than 12 hours. The ride was a true Florida weather day -- we started cool and cloudy, went through drizzle and fog, and had hot and humid afternoon in Ft. Myers. I saw a rainbow in the afternoon and gorgeous, spirit soaring sunset on the way home. A motorcycle ride can be like smell-o-vision as you go down the road; I understand why dogs ride with their heads out the window! Near Haines City there was the old burned smell of a brush fire. We smelled orange blossoms as we went by citrus groves, and in Bartow there was the strong juice and pulp smell of a citrus processing plant. The earthy, muzzy smell of cattle -- lots of cattle -- for miles along the road south of Arcadia thanks to the Ben Hill Griffin cattle ranches. The smell of warm rain on the asphalt, diesel truck exhaust, and the yeasty bread smell of the Merita Bread plant as we came off the interstate into familiar south Orlando territory.
A friend at church said that he was going to ask how the trip went, but when he heard of my flat tire, he knew it was not good. I disagreed with him. I refuse to let an inconvenience like a flat tire define the whole day. Yes, I would rather have spent the 3 hours doing something else. Seeing God's serendipity -- Bruce Stanley helping me, meeting a former student's dad, getting the tire fixed on a Saturday afternoon -- brought a different perspective to the day. I know that I am not in control of most things in my life and I'm comfortable with that. Fun, and joy, are there for us. My duty is to control my attitude and then enjoy the ride!

B-ball and Orchids

2008-01-26T19:55:00.000-05:00

This afternoon we went to Gators Dockside in Ocoee to watch The Game. Calvin lost to Hope -- again -- but the best part of the afternoon was finding Ed and Ginny Ubels, who were at Calvin when we were in the early '70s. Ed works at Wycliffe and Ginny is a music teacher in an Orange County elementary school. Interestingly, they just started attending First Pres, where we teach. We got caught up with jobs, family, and acquaintences and found out that they have many similar interests.

I think the caption on the picture of Ginny, Ed, and Gayle should be, "Man, those wings are HOT!"

In other news, we have 5 orchids blooming and 2 more within days of blooming. This picture is a cattleya named Gertrude Hausermann. It's bloom is as big across as my hand, and it has a delicate scent.

Completion

2008-01-22T17:49:00.000-05:00

Now that we've enjoyed cooler weather for a while, Gayle was able to finish the quilt hanging that we had intended to use in our bathroom. The summer was just too hot for GB to have all of that quilt on her lap! We hung the quilt yesterday. It's a 9 footer, but fits well with the high ceiling. The colors compliment the room and nicely set off the shower/tub area from the rest of the room. Cool beans, huh?

We Thought We Were Back in Michigan!

2008-01-19T16:35:00.000-05:00

...but then the sun came back out. Yes, we actually had 2 1/2 days of overcast skies. The sun did come out for a while this afternoon and I went for a bike ride. Had to take advantage of the good weather; later today we have thunderstorms forecast. We will be much cooler and windy tomorrow before we get back to the more normal January temps of highs in the 70's.

I finished repairing / replacing the two gates on the west side of the house. I borrowed a neighbor's pickup truck, got a 4'x8' sheet of white plastic lattice (no rot this time!) and installed it last Saturday. I raised the bottoms of the gates for clearance so they swing well clear of the ground. Yes, I have to paint the treated lumber yet.

We have had ant problems lately. We have these little black ants, less than 1/8" long, that are all around the perimeter of our house. I've even had them in some of my plant pots. Had a nest in an orchid pot in the lattice house and also in a hanging orchid and my staghorn fern, both hanging from the oak in the back yard. I sprayed the house perimeter with Sevin this morning, and I'll give it another shot next Saturday. I don't like to use such powerful, potent insecticides but enough is enough! Too many ant caravans running around the house for dozens of feet. Or thousands, if you count all the little ant feet...

Both of our camellias are full of blooms right now. The Pink Perfection in the front is particularly eye-catching. And right next to it is the red hibiscus, which blooms all year round. We also have a cattleya orchid blooming -- three wonderful flowers with a remarkable creamy lime (limey cream?)with purple. Spectacular! I had to wait until today to take some pictures outside so I could catch this unusual color.

Woo Hoo!

2008-01-12T21:24:00.000-05:00

Finished the gates, mulched the new plantings -- both red cedar and the two bamboos, and did some bush trimming. And watched the Packers beat the Seahawks 42 - 20 in the snow at Lambeau Field! Double woo hoo! I wore my new Favre jersey for the game. Thank you, Elliott Hammond, for a great Christmas present!

Great Week-end

2008-01-06T21:28:00.000-05:00

I finished the two new gates on the west side of the house...actually, I have to get a sheet of lattice yet and screw some to each of the gate fronts, but we're close. Gayle got a small red cedar from her kids, and it was loaded with cards and gifts. She took the goodies off and we planted it next to our bathroom window. We drove out to Groveland Friday afternoon; it's about 30 miles west of Orlando. There was a bamboo nursery there and I had my eye on a variety to replace the palm tree I had cut down. This nursery was about 15 acres and neatly put together. When we got on site, I had the feeling that there was a whole 'nother area of plant life that was waiting for me! I was looking for a clumping bamboo called Black Timor. It has black culms and gets 45 ft tall. The proprietor, a woman, asked some questions about the space we had, what our yard was like, and the led us on a tour of a number of bamboo varieties. She explained the pros and cons of each and steered us to a number of more upright varieties -- one was the Black Timor. Gayle caught a glimpse of a yellow variety with a green stripe called Asian Lemon. So we got one of each, Black Timor and Asian Lemon. The Asian Lemon gets about 25 ft high and grows quickly. The Black Timor is a slower grower and is somewhat sensitive to cold. All in all, I think we have a good combination of bamboo for a small back yard.

Saturday we took a trip on the bike with three friends. We left at 7 AM and rode north to Orange City and Blue Spring State Park. Because of the cool weather the previous few days, the manatees were back in numbers; we saw over 50 in the spring's waters. We rode north for another 30 minutes to Barberville, the kitsch capital of Florida. There is a business on the corner of the main road that has more statuary and goofy welded stuff than any two other places I've ever seen. Our friends were suitably awed and we moved on east to Ormond Beach. We had Elevensies and then rode the Ormond Loop, a 23 mile trip up the beach and then back down along the Halifax River on a two lane road lined with Southern Oaks that have overgrown the road...beautifully Kodak! We then drove south on US 1 to New Smyrna Beach and then back to Orlando. We had rain a few times, but it did nothing to dampen a great day. Got home around 2:30 after 185 miles, tired and happy.

Vacation

2007-12-30T15:05:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-16T19:30:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-03T21:45:00.000-05:00

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!

Thanksgiving

2007-11-25T17:45:00.000-05:00

Here's a fast look at our 5 days in DC with the kids & grands...

Scary Luke!

We even saw some great fall color!

All that color meant leaves falling, so we raked 'em. And played in the piles.

Happy Luke.

What big eyes she has! The only time Erin really cried was when Alec was working on some trim in Luke's room and gave Erin a small piece of wood to play with. Erin promptly hit herself in the head with the wood and howled!

I read so many books to Luke I had to re-adjust my glasses.

Grandma time!

Family time...

Our World Is a Little Flatter

2007-11-11T14:03:00.000-05:00

This was on the plastic bag that held our Sunday paper today. People will be allowed to begin lining up at the door at 9 AM on Monday -- prizes for the first 2,500 in the door, etc, etc, etc. The Orlando Sentinel had a hilarious article by columnist Mike Thomas on the IKEA experience... check it out! The Big Blue Box is just south of the Mall at Millenia, which in itself is a ginormous place. I'm guessing that the traffic will be truly awful for the next few weeks, and then get really bad once the Christmas season gets rolling. That's in comparison to the normal Orlando traffic of "We've been waiting to turn left for 3 lights; how many CD's did you bring along?" Mike's column is:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/columnists/orl-miket1107nov11,0,39259.column

We had our annual walk-a-thon at TCS this past Friday. The kids raised over $38,500 for the school! The weather was as nice as we've seen it on a walk-a-thon day, with temps in the 60's. Cool! Another really nice thing about the day is that the kids went home after lunch, so we teachers had a fine afternoon for planning and prep. Really cool!

200 Days & a Week-end

2007-11-03T22:08:00.000-04:00

Tonight's low is forecast to be 56 degrees. The last time the temperature was in the 50's was 200 days ago, on April 17. It's been a long, long, looong time and we're ready for some cooler temps in Central Florida!
The high was 77 and the sky was New Mexico blue today - a perfect day for an outside adventure. We went with our friends from church, George and Linda Bruneau about 45 minutes northwest, through Howey-in-the-Hills (love that town name!) to Tavares and the Lady of the Lake Renaissance Faire. We saw jousters, falconers, a bagpiper, players, musicians, and the queen and her court. We thoroughly enjoyed our day in an anachronistic corner of Florida.

Falconers worked with Harris Hawks. The hawks work as a team to catch prey.

Human chess game...the field clears when one piece attempts to take another, and they fight it out. Like medieval WWF.

The jousters had a script, which was funny. They were skilled with the lance and their lip.

It was easy to get into trouble - wish we could have one of these in the classroom!

The lords and ladies were present and personable throughout the day. Most of them did keep in character. One of our favorites was a man with a fancy pillow for a hat!

En Garde!

2007-10-26T19:12:00.000-04:00

Gayle has been getting up just after 5 AM lately to do some power walking before school. It's dark yet, so she's been walking on the sidewalks lit by the street lights in our neighborhood. And yes, she's careful. I'm still abed, catching my last few winks until the alarm goes off again and I get up just before 6 AM. Gayle picks up the paper from the driveway as she comes back in the house and quietly begins her breakfast. A couple of days ago Gayle came back after her walk; the kitchen was still rather dark -- she was being kind to her sleeping husband. And...spotted a roach on the kitchen table. The only weapon at hand was in her hand, so she whacked it mightily with the morning paper. When Gayle turned up the lights in the kitchen, she saw that she had killed a raisin. I had grabbed a handful of raisins as a late night snack and had dropped one on the table. So Gayle beat the snot out of an already dead grape, and didn't even get a drop of juice for the effort. But she was able to pick it up and put it in the garbage.

Growth

2007-10-22T20:10:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday Gayle and I trimmed the hibiscus and bougainvillea next to the back of the house in between the rain showers. That got me thinking about the way things looked just a year ago when we re-worked the backyard triangle between the house and the waterway. Just look at the difference a year makes! Gotta love that Florida growing season...all 12 months!
In related news, we had our particularization service for Conway Community Presbyterian Church last night. After more than three years as a mission of the Central Florida Presbytery, we have become a bona fide church in the PCA. We have about 50 charter members - those who have gone through the new member classes - and about 18 baptized children. We also have around 40 regular attenders, so that makes for a good fellowship on Sundays. We had a number of guests from other area PCA churches at Sunday evening's service. There were three pastors and four ruling elders present who constituted the commission for particularization. In addition to the regular service, we had a vote by the charter members to call Don Bailey as our teaching elder, and a vote to accept another man and me as the initial ruling elders. Don and I were installed (I am already a RE in the PCA from a term in Ft. Myers) and Brian, my fellow RE, was ordained. A charge was given to Don, Brian, and me for our work with the members, and the charge was also given to the congregation. We had a fellowship time after the service. It was a thoroughly delightful time!
I'm going to my first Presbytery meeting with Don next Monday; I'm taking a personal day from school. There are about 35 churches in the Central Florida Presbytery, from Dunellon, Ocala, and Lecanto in the west to Ormond Beach, Port Orange, and Vero Beach on the east...and many points in between. We're meeting in Longwood, about 15 miles north of Conway, so that should be an easy ride. We will have our organizational Session meeting next week also. And then the work really begins...

Good Times

2007-10-07T20:55:00.000-04:00

We had supper with Tim & Pat Tuesday evening. They were here in Orlando enjoying the largesse of Tim's employer's house in Keene's Point Golden Bear Club south of Windermere. It was good to see and visit with them again. Apparently Tim was overwhelmed to see us...
Saturday we took friend Meg Givens from church to Sarasota -- she had never been there before, and we wanted to let her see some possibilities for her yard. We left at 7 AM and got to Tropiflora around 9:15. Tropiflora had their annual plant sale and we spent two wonderful hours perusing the plants and enjoying the festivities. I had a large gift certificate from last year's 5th graders, and I was able to put a good dent in it by the end of the morning. GB got a neoregelia and a wonderful little pitcher plant for her desk at school. We also found a Tiger Boston Fern; it has a variegated leaf pattern that is marvelous! I found a couple of aechmeas, two cryptanthus, and a little billbergia that were new to our house.
After lunch we drove a few minutes to Marie Selby Gardens. The orchids were as marvelous as ever, and the gardens were magnificent. We came back to Orlando by way of Longboat Key. I don't think there is a more beautiful body of water than Sarasota Bay. I love the green color. We got home around supper time, grateful for safe travel and fun times.

On the left is theobroma, my favorite food group...a cacao tree loaded with blossoms & a seed pod.

Some of the banyan trees were really aggressive!

Quiz of the day: Do you recognize the fruit of the bush on the left? A preparation of the fruit is a favorite of the couple on the right!

2007-10-07T20:05:00.001-04:00

Bromeliads

2007-09-16T14:04:00.000-04:00

It was past time to switch out some of my bromeliads - several of the ones inside needed to go outside again. I took several pictures of a couple of my favorites.

This one is my all time favorite bromeliad. It is a Billbergia 'Hallelujah'. The mottled cream spots on glossy dark green leaves which can be tinged with pink give an idea of why it got its name! I got this as a bare root little cutting from Tropiflora a few years ago and it has pupped regularly since. As if the leaf coloration isn't spectacular enough, this ridiculously wonderful inflorescence in red, white, & blue comes popping out. It first shows a red sheath and then there is this amazing and patriotic display for a few days.

This cryptanthus is Fosterianus 'Elaine'. I love the markings and coloration on the leaves. There are 5 or 6 pups in this 8" pot.

Labor Day

2007-09-03T12:56:00.000-04:00

After consulting with Meg Givens -- Gayle's friend from church, fellow Bible study-er, and our eye on decorating -- we did a little more painting in the great room and rearranged the furniture. The idea was to draw the eyes toward the kitchen with the color up high on the wall of the great room, so we added the mineral red to the wall above the front door and the end of the kitchen bulkhead. We think it works! And it only took me a couple of hours.

Gayle is working on a tee shirt quilt for a TCS eighth grader. His mom works in the school office and saw the tee shirt quilt Gayle made for the TCS office manager's daughter. Gayle does a really neat thing with the proceeds from these quilts. The moms give her the tee shirts that are special memories for their kids, pay for the fabric, and then make a donation to Food for Children. The quilts have a flannel back and will probably be used as cuddle quilts.

We're running some errands this afternoon, and there are some bushes that need to be trimmed again. I may even fire up the new power washer; parts of the sidewalk are getting green. The bike needs to be washed and I have a set of papers to grade. We're barbequing some ribs for supper. Hope the afternoon rains cooperate!

End of the Week

2007-09-01T17:32:00.000-04:00

Our second full week of school was one of those "long-short" weeks -- it went by quickly and had a lot packed into it. Gayle and I are on a new committee, the mentoring committee, at TCS. We helped in the formation of this committee over the summer and now Gayle is mentoring a brand new kindergarten teacher and I am the facilitator for the four mentors and their mentees. We had a brief meeting on Thursday before school just to see how things were going. Time is always a problem; the first days of school seem to have lots of changes in the schedule. We are finding that our mentoring document will need some tweaking -- reality has a way of doing that! My fifth graders were in charge of chapel on Friday, so we had to find time this week to practice. The focus this year is on the names of Jesus, so our chapel looked at many different names that we use during the week and then we came to the very best name, Jesus. I used some of the New Mexico pictures I had taken a couple of summers ago in a PowerPoint presentation I put together for a recital of Psalm 8 that the class did at the end of our chapel. I also had a spectacular picture of the Eagle Nebula taken by the Hubble telescope. That didn't hurt either! Gayle had a birthday party for one of her third graders on Friday. The kids got a little goofy with the frosting, but then it was the end of the day.

This is the tall and the short of things in third grade!

We took a trip to De Leon Springs State Park on the motorcycle this morning. We left the house at 7 AM and were home again before noon. It was a round trip of about 110 miles. We met Vern and Linda Stauffer, & their daughter Monica at the park for breakfast. Inside the park is a restaurant, The Old Spanish Sugarmill. They have griddles built into the tables and we cooked our own pancakes and eggs. They do the bacon/sausage in the kitchen; everything else is right at the table. Gayle got blueberries for her pancakes and thought that one pancake reminded her of one of Bob's watercolors. We did take a couple of stops on the way back; it's a long sit and we needed to

stretch. We did get back before the afternoon thunderstorms hit. We've been in a more normal
cycle of morning sunshine and afternoon rain the last couple of days after almost four weeks of hot
and mostly dry weather. It made my commute to school on the bike a dry run in the afternoons, but we do need the rain. Next week we should be at 40 to 50% probabilities for rain so I may just get wet...or I'll ride with Gayle. That's the joy of teaching at the same place! I'm getting about 40 MPG, and the 5.5 miles to school is just a fun ride. I find myself reciting Psalms and songs of praise as I ride to school.

Beginnings

2007-08-18T14:35:00.000-04:00

We finished our first week of school -- four days of in-service activities and getting our classrooms ready and a half day on Friday with our new students. It is so much fun to see these wide eyed kids come into their classroom, full of hope for the new year, a little intimidated by new surroundings, a new teacher, and new routines. I tell my fifth graders that they are fifth graders in name but they will ease into "real" fifth graders over the next several weeks. They are not quite sure what to do with that one! GB has several kids in her third grade that she also had as kindergarteners. One second-time little girl has a dad who often works in Jamaica and has gotten in the habit of giving GB Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. We received this wonderful variety of coffee again yesterday -- Wallenford Blue will be our Sunday coffee for the next couple of months! GB makes these amazingly creative thank-you cards, and we think Hugh keeps giving us this decadently delightful coffee just for the cards...Hope that Hurricane Dean doesn't smash Jamaica too badly, but this storm seems to be a whopper heading directly for the island.

GB and I are members of a new mentoring team at TCS. We worked with the school administration over the summer to put this much needed program on its feet. GB is one of four mentor/mentee teams and I am the facilitator of the mentoring committee. GB is working with her kdgn teacher replacement, a brand new just graduated teacher. We've had a good beginning to the program and it is doubly good because our school head's opening devotions focused on the Body of Christ. Great way to extend that idea on a personal level. GB has some new tools in her room -- a video projector that connects to her teacher computer, a document scanner that also feeds through the video projector, and a room audio system that has both a personal microphone on a lanyard for GB and a wireless hand held mike for students. GB is one of five teachers who have this new system. TCS wants to fine tune these rooms throughout the year. I'm hoping that my room will benefit from the next round of technology improvements. GB's third grade classroom is right next to my classroom, and my fifth grade partner who teaches the other section just across the hall also has a technology enhanced classroom. They both have offered their classrooms if/when I need to use the equipment, and I'm trying not to be jealous. We also have a portable projector and laptop on a cart, which I do plan to use already this next week.

This Monday we connected to the local cable company. Several reasons, the first being total frustration with the large national phone company that was providing internet service. New oxymoron: AT&T customer service. Impersonal, time consuming computer driven phone menus, dropped calls. Imagine! A phone company that can't complete the transfer of my call within its own company! We also get strong ghosting when planes fly overhead, which they do every two minutes coming in or leaving OIA. Minor joy of living within 10 minutes driving time of the airport and exactly north of the west runway. Now that we both have cell phones, we also decided that we did not need our land line so we are quitting Bellsouth/AT&T/Embarq the end of this month. So our internet is through the TV cable company; we've heard nothing but good about their service, and they really do have lots of real live people to help you. Whoa! What a concept! If you don't have our new e-mail or our cell phone numbers, better get in touch with us soon...

I Don't Bake Bread

2007-08-04T18:00:00.000-04:00

Gayle and I spent the afternoon giving our bromeliads some much needed attention. We cleaned the debris out from the leaves and split apart eight plants. In two cases we got three pots out of one crowded plant...love those pups! GB now has bromeliad plant lover's hands to go with her quilter's fingers -- the rough edges of the leaves chewed on us pretty good. The fun part is that I'm giving 11 plants away. I get plastic pots and potting soil from Home Depot and then share my hobby with others. One of these week-ends we're going back to Sarasota and Tropiflora for more bromeliads; I've got a $150 gift certificate from last year's 5th graders winking at me.

I brought three neoregelias into the kitchen. I like their names. The one on the right is 'Hannibal Lecter' #3 'The Governor's Plea'. The plant's hybridizer, Chester Skotak, apparently is a fan of Thomas Harris books. It has wonderful leaf color and really nasty teeth along the leaf margins, which perhaps is how he came to name it. The middle neo is called 'Angel Face' and has a great red blush in the middle of bright green leaves. The neo on the left is my second favorite, called 'Perfection'. The leaves are variegated, light and dark green, and have a deep red tint toward the center of the plant.

Fine'

2007-08-02T22:19:00.000-04:00

We completed our great room flooring project yesterday. We left weights on the T-moldings overnight; they are fastened by Liquid Nails and we wanted the stuff to cure for 24 hours. So this afternoon/early evening we put the room to rights. We think the room looks larger, but it may just be the elbow room we have now that all of the furniture is out of the two bedrooms and office! Here are some before and after pictures...

We're glad the interior rehabbing is done. We spent the day at TCS working on new school year stuff -- it's good to start getting back near the saddle again!

We've had a great deal of rain lately. To keep things all in perspective, the Lord gave us a roof leak -- again -- at the corner of the kitchen. I've roof tarred everything in sight, and called the roofing company -- again. To be continued...

Woohoo!

2007-07-28T16:22:00.000-04:00

We took a ride for breakfast this morning -- left about 7:15 and rode up to the farmer's market at Winter Park. It's really an upscale market; after all, it's Winter Park! Lots of yard plants for sale, as well as generic bromeliads and orchids, the kind you see at the Home Depot garden center. What we like are the food vendors. We had stuffed croissants and coffee, and then a nice ride back home. We are getting more comfortable riding together. The good thing about early morning rides is that the temps are pleasant, the sun is out and there is no rain yet, and traffic has not ramped up for the day.

This morning I put a second coat of white on two doors at the back of the hallway, and also a second coat on three louvered closet doors...which was the end of my painting for the summer! There may well be some touch-up after all is back, but that hardly counts. I re-installed the kitchen pantry door this afternoon, so the kitchen is finished. I borrowed a neighbor friend's pickup this afternoon and picked up the flooring from Lowe's. I drove home in a rain shower, but it's only a mile. We dried the boxes off and left them spread out on the floor just to make sure that the cardboard dried. I don't think any of the boards got wet. I expect that the floor will be in and the stuff moved back by the end of Wednesday, barring any unexpected challenges...

Kitchen Completed

2007-07-24T17:30:00.000-04:00

I finished the white trim (2 coats!) in the kitchen today. Except for the louvered closet door to the pantry, we're done with the kitchen. I put the ceiling picture in so you could see the contrast between the yellowed, tired ceiling and the new white. Painting this popcorn textured ceiling wasn't too bad. I just went slow and loaded on the paint. We used 4 1/2 gallons on the kitchen and great room ceiling and it took me a 1 1/2 days...truly, a pain in the neck!

We put the mineral red accent color on three walls -- the front window wall of the kitchen, the small wall next to the front door, and the high panel in the great room on the interior wall. The rest of the walls are covered in a color called parchment paper. With the white of the ceiling, it gives a bright, airy feel to the great room. I put in new wood plantation blinds in the two great room windows, and installed an under cupboard 18 inch light in the kitchen, in the corner between the stove and sink.

Pop Quiz

2007-07-19T20:37:00.000-04:00

Sharpen your pencils (figuratively speaking), boys & girls. Even though it's summer your education is still of paramount importance. Enter your educated guesseses and I'll let you know...sooner or later...if you were correct.
1. What is the popcorn ceiling texture stuff made out of?
2. What is xeriscape and where did it come from?
3. What central Florida city had pea-sized hail yesterday?
4. What is hotter than riding a motorcycle in July in Florida at 9 AM?

So, take your best shot and let me know...

Waiting for Sunset

2007-07-16T21:53:00.000-04:00

After supper we moved most of the furniture out of the great room so I could paint the ceiling tomorrow.
It got interesting trying to stuff large pieces of furniture into two bedrooms and an office.
We had the distinct feeling -- after cramming a couple of chairs, an extra lamp, the TV, and my laptop into our bedroom -- that we had seen rooms like this before. Somewhere...

Angry

2007-07-16T18:28:00.000-04:00

I was working on the yard this afternoon, cutting grass and trimming bushes. I spent some time in the back yard and when I came back to the front to clean up, I noticed that my power washer was gone. I keep it close to the front of the garage, near the door along the wall. The hose that connects the spray wand with the pump is still hanging on its hook farther in the garage. So I made a report to our Neighborhood Watch and the Orlando Police Department. This machine was less than 3 years old, a Sears Craftsman 3.5 hp power washer. I can't remember when I saw it last...not the kind of thing I use every week. We keep our garage door shut. Someone came by and grabbed our washer right out of the garage. Brazen move. I am angry, upset, and hoping that the degenerate who ripped us off wakes up at night with sweats and nameless fears, is smitten by guilt, and has a conversion experience. God will judge. If, by some unlikely chance, the police catch the thief, I will prosecute.

Office Redo

2007-07-16T12:50:00.000-04:00

Another week, another room...We moved back into the completed room this morning. This project was an enjoyable challenge. An 8 ft ceiling made painting the popcorn texture reasonable and the Arabian Sand color covered the light blue walls in one coat. I did put two coats on the white trim -- apparently the previous trim was either not bright white or it had dulled. The 135 square feet of floor made the ceramic tile job one of the "easier" tiling projects we have done. I also bought a pair of non-marking knee pads, which really helped! We laid all of the whole tiles, and then I rented a wet saw and we cut the perimeter pieces. Finally, we mixed the last of the thin set cement and set the pieces. That was a long day, but not a back breaker. We had a morning meeting at school so we started around 1 PM, took a break for supper, and were done with the clean-up by 10:15 PM. We waited two days and then did the grouting. (Lesson learned: Start with the recommended amount of water and slowly add a little of the thin set or grout, stir it in completely, and then add more. This bit by bit process keeps the mortar or grout from getting dry lumps.) After three days we sealed the grout with two coats of sealer. The colors of the room seem to have warmed it and really complement our Southwest mementos. We were able to squeeze our 2-drawer file cabinet into the closet by moving the shelves up 4 inches. Gotta love those movable shelf tracks!

We have the colors for the kitchen / great room picked out, as well as the flooring for the great room. I think we'll pull up the carpet tonight so we can get it out for the trash pickup tomorrow. The popcorn ceiling will be a challenge again, but I did buy some fluffier roller covers. We'll see if that helps. Only about 1/3 of the ceiling is really high; it does slope down quickly, so I should be able to reach most of it from the floor with my roller extension. The interesting logistical problem will be where to put the furniture while the ceiling gets painted!

Rolling Along

2007-07-08T14:18:00.000-04:00

At church this morning, Wycliffe friends of ours gave a brief synopsis of their next assignment. They will be leaving in January for southern China. To highlight the diversity of China's languages, Steve said that two people next to each other on a train might be reading the same article in the same newspaper and still not be able to converse with each other. I said to Gayle that the same thing could be said for people in the Southern United States! The paper today was full of the stories of the NASCAR Pepsi 400 at Daytona Beach. One picture showed a man playing "Redneck Horseshoes" -- the shoes were cut down toilet seats and the targets were traffic cones. I guess it's safer than lawn darts...

We finished painting our bedroom; used the same colors as the bathroom, ivory and blue-green. There were several challenges to this room also. The ceiling is 16 ft at the peak, so to cover the dreaded popcorn texture, I was on an 8 ft step ladder with a 6 ft roller extension. I had to cover the ceiling fan with tape and paper to keep the paint splatters and "popcorn rain" off. One coat of ceiling white, heavily applied, was all it took. Thankfully! We did need to do two coats on the walls -- the yellow in the ivory mandated that. We finished everything except the baseboards by Friday afternoon. I then cleaned the carpet; thank you, Bissell brother! On Saturday morning, I installed the new plantation blinds (I was glad to see the mini-blinds go!) and painted the baseboards. I painted the louvered closet doors in the garage -- had the garage ceiling fan on. It was mid-90's yesterday and no afternoon rainstorm. Not to complain though; this past week we had about 5.5 inches of rain.

Next target is the office. We have the paint and ceramic tile for the floor. The tile should make the transition from the garage to the house much easier for cleaning.

Philosophy Question

2007-07-03T20:22:00.000-04:00

Why do closets look so large when they're empty? Why does it feel good to organize stuff? And how in the world did we get so much stuff? I was thinking deep thoughts as GB and I painted our closet this morning...We don't have a huge master closet, but Tim and I lived in a room together that was just 2.5 times larger than our closet! We had a number of holes and one small shelf that we removed, so there was some spackling - 2 coats for a couple of larger holes. The ceiling was a medium popcorn texture; hateful stuff! I'm going to do the bedroom ceiling tomorrow afternoon, and I shudder to think what will happen with that *&%$##@ popcorn stuff. (*crummy) We'll have to move all of the furniture out and completely cover the floor. After the ceiling white is on, the walls and trim should be a cake walk. We're using the same colors as the bathroom - ivory for most of the walls and trim, and the blue/green for the wall panel above the closet. I think we can be done by Saturday.

We had a blinger of a thunderstorm this afternoon -- we're finally getting into the summer cycle of AM blue sky and PM showers. We had 5 inches of rain in less than 2 hours! I think the tree frogs thought they had died and gone to heaven! Ominous weather news: the first tropical wave of the year was on the weather report tonight. Too much dry air near it so it won't do much, but that's the first of many. And, the water temps in the Gulf and in the Atlantic / near east side of Florida are warm...

We're planning on a breakfast ride tomorrow morning. The idea is to do the outdoors stuff before traffic and heat get too stiff and be back home before the rains begin again. Should be fun! Hope the rains stop before the fireworks are scheduled to go off tomorrow night. :)

A Week in the Bathroom

2007-06-30T09:18:00.000-04:00

No, we weren't sick! It took us a week of good work to renew our master bathroom. We were tired of the wallpaper and bland look, and the room just needed attention. Here is a before picture -- the blinds are already down.

As with any home project, there are curve balls. We found that the previous owners had painted over one of the several layers of borders that topped the wall paper. We tired several methods but the most effective was water and elbow grease.

We also found some wall repairs under the paper -- probably why there was wallpaper in the first place. I got out my trowels and joint compound, and also used a new spray-on texture product to try and match the original. It worked well, but it took me longer to tape and mask than it did to spray the texture! I did primer the wallboard first, then spray the texture, and then I primed again. Time consuming but worth the effort...

We used to have a six foot mirror above the sinks. I paid a couple of yard workers in the neighborhood $5 each to help me take the mirror down and bring it to the garage. This also shows a repaired wall after the texture / priming.

We chose an ivory for the ceiling and three of the walls. We didn't realize how much gray was in the original paint. By the way, I used my 8 ft step ladder and the extention ladder to reach the ceiling and cut in the walls. That's not easy in a small room, working around the tub and the other fixtures!

The room is almost completed. We put in new lights and sink fixtures. Two mirrors are on order.

Here is the wall opposite the sinks. Another rod will go above and to the outside of the tub tile to hold the quilt top that Gayle is finishing. This was a good week's work. Next on the to-do list is our bedroom...

The Empty Suitcase -- We're Home!

2007-06-19T17:54:00.000-04:00

We were grateful to be able to swing up to Michigan last Monday. We went to the funeral of Gayle's dear Uncle Elmer Monday afternoon. Elmer Meiste was a saintly 81 and God called him home as he slept. He will be missed!
Last Tuesday morning we visited Mom & Art one more time. Mom took us to see Aunt Bea also. We were glad to have this unanticipated short visit also. After leaving Jenison we headed southeast toward Maryland. We planned on staying overnight in the Pittsburgh area, but had not factored in the US Open golf tournament. We ended up traveling another hour to Somerset in central PA and stayed there overnight. We went to Gettysburg and spent about 3 hours at the Civil War battlefield memorial...could have spent much more time there! I took many pictures, with one eye on my 5th grade social studies curriculum. It's a challenge to make an historical event more than 140 years old become real to 10 year olds.

Got in to Berwyn Heights, MD late afternoon on Wednesday and enjoyed 4 days with the kids and grandkids. Luke is still enjoying books, trucks, his little pool in the backyard, and an occasional roughhouse with Grandpa. Erin has grown dramatically since we saw her in April. She likes to sit up, holds her head up well, and even stands while we hold her. She is beginning to coo and is a happy little girl. We were delighted to witness Erin's baptism Sunday morning. Dr. Clark did an excellent job and Erin was bright-eyed and alert the whole time. While he talked about God's promises, Dr. Clark held her and walked around the congregation. Luke walked with them!

We left for home Monday morning; I-95 was actually rather kind this time. No problems, traffic moved well, and we got to Savannah, GA Monday evening. We arrived home around noon Tuesday. The Camry ran well, got around 33 mpg for the trip, and traveled 5150 miles in 23 days. We thank God for His providence and care!

Some more pictures for your enjoyment...

Life in a Suitcase - Work & Play

2007-06-10T18:00:00.000-04:00

So, we traveled 1,100 miles, driving two cars, to get to Emily in Lansing, IL on the way to Grand Rapids, MI to move Bob to Denver. We rented a small U-Haul truck and towing dolly, loaded the truck and cars with Bob's earthly possessions, and drove west for two days and another 1,100 miles to Denver / Aurora, CO. We unloaded Bob's stuff at sister Beth's house and helped him get settled. We spent some time cleaning three cars (thank you, Florida love bugs!), finding some book cases and other storage shelving for Bob, and helping Beth with a back yard planting project.

This past Monday we traveled 1,100 miles back to Lansing, IL in two days and have spent the balance of this week with Emily. Tuesday evening we heard a concert at Millenium Park in downtown Chicago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Yo Yo Ma. It was a cool concert in every sense of the word! The breeze was quite cool, Gayle had gloves on, and the concert was outstanding. We had great fun afterwards looking at the Cloud Gate sculpture - sort of looks like a shiny bean.

On Weds / Thurs / Fri we transformed Emily's living room and kitchen. We pulled out the old carpet, underlayment, and linoleum and put down wood flooring. It was hard work, our legs were sore, but the results were great! The rooms look larger and the beautiful oak planks compliment her kitchen cabinets and decor.

We took a break on Saturday and went to Chicago again for the day. We took the Metra train in to Millenium Station (the old Randolph Street) and walked to Navy Pier, where we had our lunch in front of a fountain. We then took an hour long architectural boat tour down the Chicago River - an excellent and informative guide gave us a truly impressive amount of information on the history of Chicago and its buildings. We also walked the length of Navy Pier and enjoyed the sights from the ferris wheel. Emily had made dinner reservations at a Thai restaurant, which we thoroughly enjoyed - four appetizers, two main courses, and two desserts. Finally, a leisurely walk to the train station and the trip home. Great day! Yep, we got a lot of sun...

School Is Out!

2007-05-25T14:40:00.000-04:00

My fifth grade room is closed up - the kids are gone, the walls are bare, and the desks are stacked. My end of the year To Do list is checked off. I helped Gayle for a while this morning. She has a great mound of materials to be moved up to the third floor third grade room, but that has to wait until the current teacher has cleared her materials out.

I'm a little sad this year. I liked my fifth graders, they worked hard, didn't quit, and even professed to appreciate my puns. At least that's what I got out of one comment: "I didn't think your puns were that bad." I truly enjoyed the routine of the year and feel somewhat at a loss now that vacation has begun. God affirmed strongly that we are right where we need to be - teaching at The Christ School in downtown Orlando. I am looking forward to the challenges that next year's class will bring, and I'm already aware of a few of them...by name!

I know that this feeling will change as we begin our vacation in a couple of days. I am looking forward to the travel (gas prices are coming down!) and seeing all of the kids and grandkids in the space of two weeks. I have our pastor's 15 year old son taking care of the yard while we're gone, so that's a great relief. I know he will do a good job. And I'm looking forward to doing some interior painting when we get back home. We may even put down some new flooring while we're at it!

Addendum

2007-04-30T17:15:00.001-04:00

I realized after I posted yesterday that I had missed a couple of flowers in the yard. This is our coral honeysuckle - we have lots of blossoms on the lattice house.

When I stand in the driveway, the smell of the Confederate Jasmine is glorious!

We still have haze today - thank you, SE Georgia, for the smoke...

Spring Has Sprang

2007-04-29T15:52:00.000-04:00

We have highs in the mid-80's and lows in the mid-60's predicted for this week. Temp is 86 degrees but it's tolerable because the humidity is low. It's hazy - we have smoke in the air from the SE Georgia fire 200 miles north of us. It's a reminder that we're in the dry season, and probably will smell smoke again and again before the summer rains begin. I took a walk around our yard with my camera after church today, and chronicled the flowers blooming. The first one is a hoya in flower. It's about 3 inches in diameter and has a waxy look to it.

Did you ever see a caladium flower? We have 4 varieties of

caladium and they all have these flowers right now.

Our "Charlie Rose" - the one that got flattened by Hurricane Charley in 2004 - has two blooms. This is the fresher of the two!

The Rangoon Creeper has begun blooming. White in the morning, pink by afternoon, and red the second day...It's not a sweet scent, but it's unique!

The second of our three gardenias has begun to bloom. Tiny insects seem to like the blooms, so you have to be careful not to sniff too deeply!

We have two bougainvillea in bloom. The red one at the back of the property is perhaps a tad less spectacular than this purple boug at the back of the house.

I have a bromeliad - Aechmea 'Gympie Gold' - in a large pot on the deck. I've had at least 8 flower stalks this spring, and this is the latest edition.

I have one orchid in bloom - it's a white 'Skinnerii' cattleya with 25 blossoms!

We have a variegated ornamental ginger in the front yard. It is full of waxy white clumps of flowers on the ends of each frond.

Our bed of amaryllis continue to bloom. Hard to remember, but at least 4 weeks of blooms.

Two of our three hibiscus are blooming. This red single bloom in the back yard took a slightly better picture than the pink single bloom in the front. Our fire & ice hibiscus in the front got whacked back significantly last week, so no flowers for a while!

...and our passion vine is giving us blooms on the front corner of the house. They are spectacular, complicated flowers.

The Past Ten Days

2007-04-21T15:15:00.001-04:00

...time to catch-up. Last week Wednesday evening, we hosted a pot-luck for our men's and women's Bible study groups. We had about 20 over. It was a beautiful evening and we used the deck. GB made two pans of lasagna and the others brought side dishes and desserts. I cleaned the river of its spring debris, so we had water music from the waterfall as we ate and talked. No bugs yet and the humidity is still low. We have had several new people at church recently, and one couple was able to join us -- great way to get to know each other! I think the last people finally left around 9:30...we do enjoy each other's company!

This past Thursday GB and I participated in a 5K walk / run. It was a fund raiser for a Florida wellness program. More importantly, it was for businesses, companies, and organizations to promote physical activity and wellness among their employees. GB and I went with about 20 people associated with The Christ School. We were small potatoes -- there were about 7,300 people participating! We mostly walked (jogged a little bit) and finished in a little over 43 minutes. Again, it was a beautiful evening with low humidity and no breeze. We first gathered in the Citrus Bowl, heard a lot of rah-rah, and then walked to the start-finish line just north of the Bowl. The walk / run took place on the streets around the Citrus Bowl. There's something that's fiendishly fun about walking with thousands of others across busy intersections and seeing stopped traffic stretched for blocks! And we got a tee shirt! We also got new walking shoes last night...

A Maryland Week-end

2007-04-10T22:00:00.000-04:00

Grandma's sweatshirt got a work-out --

it was cold! Luke with PlaDoh...making green.

When Erin concentrates, her mouth gets small & white!

Grandpa's favorite picture -- oh, if only we

could bottle that baby smell!

We finally got to see some cherry blossoms! Luke found some Emmy Em's on his Easter

egg hunt.

Erin, the Sleeping Beauty... ...a good looking Waterhouse family.

Saturday Adventure

2007-03-17T22:25:00.000-04:00

We left at 7 AM Saturday morning with friends Steve and Nancy Mercier and drove an hour north to DeLeon Springs State Park.

Within the park there is a unique restaurant, the Old Spanish Sugar Mill, a do-it-yourself pancake place so popular that there is a sign at the ranger station at the park entrance telling how long the wait is! A griddle is in the middle of the table, there are two kinds of pancake batter, and the spring is just outside...where was Ponce!

After breakfast we went for a walk (waddle?) to see one of the oldest bald cypress trees in Florida -- Old Methuselah is 400 - 500 years old.

We also found a newly hatched luna moth on the path trying to warm up.

We hopped into the car and drove north to Barberville and Barberville Produce...as you can see, they sell more than produce. They produce a great deal of STUFF! Definitely a 10 on the unique-o-meter.

Gayle found another chicken for her collection; unfortunately, we couldn't fit it in the trunk. While I was gawking at the incredible collection of STUFF, I took a shot in the head from flailing zebra hooves, but I recovered quickly.

Steve thought this cannon would be great for working out neighbor problems, but again, fit-in-the-trunk issues.

Next stop -- a car ferry across the St. John's River. It took about 10 minutes to find the pilot, 10 minutes to cross the river, and a $10 fee. Also a 10 on the unique-o-meter.

We then continued on to Mt. Dora for a walk around town and lunch, consisting of a scoop of ice cream. Those pancakes were still riding solidly in our tummies!

Lawn bowling..."We're more refined than bocce ball." And a lot older. Median age was 73.5, they had to wear white, and were very friendly. I think they were looking for more (younger) converts to the game who would then sit on benches watching a large elliptical ball - the bowl - roll s l o w l y toward the jack, a tennis ball sized white ball which is the target. And you get to say snappy quips as the bowl rolls s l o w l y toward the jack. Like, "Too much lawn" for a wide shot, or "Not enough arm" when it's short, or "It's in the ditch" when it goes way too far. My favorite -- When a bowl looks like it will be really close to the jack, you start vocalizing an "Oh" sound quiet and low. As the bowl gets closer, your "Oh" crescendos and slides up the scale. Then they cap off a good shot by actually standing up and doing the wave. Once. Wow. When about 40 old people do this it's another 10 on the unique-o-meter.

Of course, the leprechauns were out in Mt. Dora. It was St. Patrick's Day! This one was playing oldies in front of a very empty "All Things Irish" store. All the Irish and wanna-be Irish were in the bars drinking green beer. And that's a final 10 on the meter! What a great day!

Trip to Michigan - part 2

2007-03-17T21:15:00.000-04:00

One of our stops while in Michigan was to visit the Frederick Meijer Gardens. We saw orchids, sundews, feeding pitcher plants, arrays of spring flowers, and butterflies. What a display of butterflies!

Can you see the gnat stuck on the sundew?

How about that beautiful butterfly with all of the eye spots on Gayle's sock?

The one on the left is called The Clipper.

The butterfly on the branch at the right is a Tree Nymph.

Can you see the leaf through the wing of the butterfly on the left? It's called a Clear Wing.

The beauty on the right is a Common Rose.

A visit and lunch with Aunt Julie rounded out the day. And thanks to Roger and Maria VW for their wonderful hospitality!

Trip to Michigan - part 1

2007-03-17T20:40:00.000-04:00

We went to Michigan to enjoy Bob's senior art show. We got a sneak preview before the reception on Friday night. Helps to know the artist!

We went out for supper before the reception; the kids got crazy...yet again! Here's a double tonsil shot --

We were blessed with many friends and family who came to celebrate Bob's artistry.

Here are a couple of Bob's many presentations -- the first is a layout of sisal in small pinch pots. The second is seven delightful cups on shelves.

A Weekend for Hobbies

2007-02-25T18:40:00.000-05:00

So Beth and I got up Saturday -- much earlier than B wanted to -- and drove to Sarasota for the semi-annual sensory overload at Tropiflora. 40,000 square feet of bromeliads under net! That is the largest of about a dozen greenhouses for bromeliads and orchids. I think I had a smile on my face the whole time we were there. I bought a neoregelia named Hannibal Lector #3 'The Governor's Plea'. The man who developed this strain of bromeliad apparently likes a certain type of horror movie. Our fav for the day (and one I did not buy) was a neoregelia named Norman Bates which sold for a cool $50 / plant. Now that's a horror story!

The best part for me was to see Beth order a few bromeliads for shipment to Denver later in March...

On our way back, we stopped at a cigar company in Tampa. Tampa is known for expatriate Cubans who have developed a thriving industry in Tampa and Ybor City rolling cigars. It was interesting, but I didn't buy any. $7 for a single cigar (and some were as high as $20 EACH!) was too much.

Gayle finished her class quilt today. This is the quilt project that she will donate to The Christ School Mane Event auction & dinner on March 3. As you can see, she is happy and relieved to be done! The lion is the TCS mascot. Gayle put pictures of her 16 students and each student's handprint as a border around the quilt. Several moms have already let it be known that they have their eyes on the quilt. Gayle's quilts are a featured item of the live auction.

Another Game

2007-02-10T10:14:00.000-05:00

Last week Friday we had our annual Grandparents Day at TCS. We had great fun -- it's always a good time when grandparents come to see what the kids are doing. We had a chapel and open house on Friday morning and then everyone went home...which was fine by us also! This is a picture of my room, with the kids' science projects on display. They did a really good job!

We had a fairly typical week with the usual school related meetings. Mid-quarter grades went home on Wednesday for 2nd - 8th graders, so there was the usual child/student hyperventilation and parental concern and surprise over the grades and behavior. In 5th grade we send a "Thursday folder" of work home each week. We note any missing assignments and the parents have to sign the folder and then send it back. How any parent can be surprised at the report card after that kind of communication is beyond me, but then I've only taught for 33 years...

GB and I worked at school until after 6 PM last night and then went to the Amway Arena to watch an Orlando Magic basketball game. Our church had a group night together; we had seats in the last row of the upper deck! It was the nose-bleed section, but we had a surprisingly good view of the action. We did get our cardio-exercise in -- worked off the hot dog, soda, & soft pretzel just going up and down the steps to the food vendors!

We saw one of the best games we have ever seen, TV included! The Magic played the San Antonio Spurs. Magic did their usual give-away game the first half; at one point they were down by 18 points, but they worked their way back with some great shooting and passing. The game was tied at 104 with 5.9 seconds left and center Dwight Howard blocked a shot. The Magic called time with .8 seconds left on the clock and the in-bounds pass was a lob to the basket. Howard did a one hand grab & dunk to win the game. The Orlando Sentinel had a great headline this morning: Dunk & Go Nuts. Howard is in his third year as a pro. The Magic signed him directly out of a Christian high school in Atlanta. He's 6'11" and has a vertical leap of 39 inches. He can almost touch the top of the backboard, and one of his teammates said that he's seen Dwight jump and kiss the rim! What a great win!

Beth had her orientation and first shift at Fish Memorial, Orange City last night. It must have gone well; she worked 14 hours and got home after 5:30 AM!

Time to mow the grass. We are back into our normal February weather -- low 70's during the day, partly cloudy, and about 50 at night. We feel you Northerners' pain with the nasty cold temps you've been enduring lately...I think I'll put my shorts on.

Beautiful Week

2007-01-27T18:50:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-18T19:46:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-01T18:58:00.000-05:00

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).

Christmas 2006

2006-12-25T13:55:00.000-05:00

Here we are opening stockings on Christmas morning. Nothing like fresh coffee and more gifts to get the kids up and at 'em! Bob enjoyed his 20 Questions electronic game and shared with us...it even guessed my "orchid" in 20, and then insulted me with an "easy guess" comment.

Gayle found a single serving

skillet and small spatula for my fried eggs.

Emily found an ornament that fit me also - harks back to our Iowa farm house days. Yes, she's butchering a chicken.

Em tried out her toe spreaders. Bob read his Marvel comics graphic novel The Uncanny X-Men.

...and on the Christmas weather front, we are in the middle of severe thunderstorms. Lots of rain, dark skies, and a tornado touched down to the NW of Orlando. The TV weather boys are showing off their expensive radars and giving us a blow by blow of the storm. I don't think we'll be eating Christmas dinner out on the deck.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-24T13:31:00.000-05:00

We are waiting to head to the airport to pick up Emily. Thankfully she's the Chicago daughter and not the Denver one - Beth would have been delayed big time after this week's storm and snow. As it is she ended up with many extra shifts, lots of snow to shovel and many hours of overtime.

We're enjoying a restful vacation with Bob. He's been sleeping in, requesting his favorite meals, and working on his applications for grad school. Rob's been puttering in the yard and garden and I've been working on quilting - real vacation time for both of us.

Our camellia bush decidied to bloom big time with all the warm temperatures and rain, and since it sits behind the orchid stand and can't be seen from the house I decided to bring it's beauty indoors. We are also having fun watching our tomotoes grow on the deck this year. There are several quarter-sized tomatoes on and many blossoms.

2 1/2 Days

2006-12-20T17:25:00.000-05:00

Bob is home for Christmas, so we put him to work...and he was a good sport! We did the trim - a cream color - on Monday. It was a great day; we got all the trim done!

On Tuesday we did most of the wall color - a soft green. We got all but the east wall completed.

On Wednesday morning, after the dew burned off, we did the final wall and the accent color on the front of the house. The accent is a darker green.

Sure beats the old Florida pink!

We were glad we had a rather small house to paint. The stucco is hard to cover with a roller. No wonder paint spraying is popular with the painting crews! We were glad that Bob was home to help; he did most of the rolling, which was the hardest job. Now that we're done we have most of Christmas vacation to relax and do other, less strenuous stuff. And I think we did a pretty good job on the house!