Patsy's Garden

here is my most recent page. When Adri and I were out in Calif we visited Patsy and Gerry in their new mountain home. Patsy had all these beautiful flowers that made you immediately want your picture taken in them. Ok, not everyone is as silly as me but it made me feel that way. Patsy said she gets in them to weed and it was ok to step on in. I don't think we trompled any. i spent several days working on this page. first I didn't know if I had enough pictures but blindly cut one inch squares in hopes there were enough. Then stupid me cut 2 pics incorrectly! So I had to wait until I could get to Costco and get them remade. I Get the pics and start cutting and miscalculated and goofed them up again! All was not lost, I rummaged through the cut pieces and this is the end result. I am pretty happy with it even with its imperfections. That way you know I did it. Hopefully you are not like Rick-he thinks it creepy that I cut us up.

My Cars First Boo Boo

I was tutoring yesterday when Quinn and I heard a noise. We look at each other and he asks "what do you think that was?" I say I think it was the garage. He asks "you think so? You don't think my mom hit your car?" I go "no" and then jumped up and say "I think I better check". Sure enough she had gone into auto pilot and forgotten I was there. Later he told me he didn't want to freak me out but he had seen my car move. It moved back about a foot judging by the skid marks on the driveway. I was parked at the edge to the far right and she parks in the middle of the garage so just my left front was hit. Of course the bumper is one piece as is the grill. I was mad at myself for not reminding her I was there and for leaving my take everywhere camera at home. I used my cell phone but I have not been able to upload the pics. Any one out there with a Sprint PCS? It is asking for a photo password-I never made one up-why is it asking?! I took these pics once I got home.

Street of Dreams

We have a fancy smancy neighborhood coming to Montverde. They have 8 builders that have designed these fabulous homes that you too can purchase for millions of dollars. As I have stated before I love looking through homes and so I went to view these modern marvels. I bought a 2 day pass and went thru 4 of the 8. Now I have to tell you some of the features are wonderful but some just aren't. I think I am too practical. I would look at some of the chandeliers or nooks and wonder who on earth was going to clean them! Well if you can buy a multi million dollar home then I guess it isn't your concern. The poor maid is going to have to figure out how to get to that chandelier that is 20 feet off the ground! I really liked the outside of one of the houses-that is the included house pic. While I liked the outside the inside was not my favorite. Pretty much I guess I would have to pick and chose the parts I liked from all houses we toured. My friend Sue went with me and after the first house she wondered what kind of people would live in a house like that. It was a little cold, not homey feeling at all. Luckily the other 3 did not send out that vibe. Here are some of the things that struck my fancy.
(Joe-do you have plans to visit before the 26th of November? It is open to the public until then)

Bok Butterflies

Who knew it was butterfly season? We sure didn't but it is. All over Central Florida there are butterfly walks going on. Rick and I went to Bok Tower to see the butterflies. We did not go on the official butterfly walk but we were directed to the best areas for viewing them. I think it was better that way because I had to stand around waiting for the butterflies to smile for their pictures. I made a collage and I sure hope when you click on it it becomes larger otherwise you won't be able to tell what is in the pic. The Tower has 2 swans in residence at all times and they were in their pool with these huge water lilies that looked like old milk bottle lids, only in color. The squirrel was literally at my feet. I was nervous it was going to run up me-one did that once before at the Tower! The bird was across the pond and I could not tell what it had in its mouth until this pic, then it became very obvious it was a frog. At first I thought it might be a baby bird but was a little relieved when it was a frog.

Edison-Ford homes

After the morning at the zoo we drove a little ways toward home and stopped in Fort Myers. Did you know Thomas Edison and Henry Ford were friends? They had winter homes next door to each other and for a small fee you can have a guided tour. Being an avid lookie lu I was pretty excited to see how they lived. Oh the disappointment when you couldn't actually go IN the houses! We could look in the windows and all the doors were half doors to look in. Didn't do much for viewing the upstairs! They also have a museum with all sorts of cool Edison inventions and also a gift shop. I bought an ornament that looks just like the pictured rose phonograph. On the grounds there is the Edison laboratory. It sounded as if it was mainly used to come up with a useable source for rubber. I imagine it must have been used for other inventions but that is what they talked about. Near the parking lot they have a Banyon tree that covers about an acre. It is the tree (yes all that is one tree) that is behind the Edison statue. Oops the phonograph came up twice and I don't see any way to delete the extra one. Usually when blogger makes this mistake I start over but I want to watch Survivor!

Naples Zoo

We spent the night in Naples and decided to go to the zoo. I did not have my Canon with the super zoom lens with me. We traveled light so I had my Casio. There were times I wished I had the big monster but I did ok with the little one. In the parking lot the Muscovy ducks came running and begging for food. I was putting on my shoes and they seemed to think it was a new food or something. We had animal crackers so Rick fed them a few. He made them work for the treat and they caught on real quick that you had to jump for it. In the zoo...well..... having many excursions to the San Diego Zoo, this one was tiny. It was ok though. The gators were making grunting noises at each other (sorry took video of that and can't post it) that at first confused everyone as to where the noise was coming from. We had heard it before but not so close. They have this boat ride that takes you out by little islands with different kinds of primates on them. The pic with the 3 Colobus monkeys was back lit so I had to lighten it quite a bit to get their faces to show. The sky was actually a very bright blue-a perfect day to go to the zoo! When we went past the lion he was sleeping with his back to us. Oh about 3 exhibits beyond him we heard this roaring noise. I ran back to get video of it and by the time I got there he had stopped-just as Rick predicted! That was ok-he was now visible and very cute. He looked like he had just gone to the groomers! Handsome dude! Then he decided to roar again. I switched to video mode and captured his roar! In all my visits to zoos this was the first lion roar. It was worth going just for that!

Plumeria Society Luau

After the Race For the Cure we rushed home, showered and got in the car for a 4 hr cruise down the highway. There was a plumeria exchange and Rick brought some cuttings and a tray of seedlings to exchange. He was more interested in getting rid of than actually picking up, but did come back with 2 plumerias he didn't have. We have attended a couple of events but most people were brand new to us. We knew Luc and Carol from our visit to their Plumeria ranch (the golfcart expedition). Luc gave a demonstration on plumeria grafting- he made it look like it was a breeze. There were some comments by onlookers thet they need 3 hands to do what Luc had done with his two. Then there was another demo on another method of grafting. It was actually interesting to see and those that are new to grafting were pleased to learn proper methods. Dinner was good and afterwards there was a raffle. Rick won a Gift certificate to a nursery and also a signed print of a watercolor. I didn't get very many pics and there are none of Rick and me. There was a professional photographer (one of the plumeria ladies) there that took some and she got some of us-we just have to wait until she posts them (I will only share if there is a good one). Luc and Carol had gone to Thailand with a horticultural group and gave a slide show of their trip. It was very interesting and has Rick wondering if he would like to go on their next trip.
Luc and Carol with Don between them. Don has real plumerias behind his ears.
This cake was done at WalMart!The print Rick won

Race for the Cure

As you know Rick and I particpated in the Race for the Cure on Sat. We arrived at 6:20 and easily spotted our team. The pink definitely stood out in the crowd! They had a welcome and then the racers lined up and we were off. The true runners started a little before the fun run/walkers so we weren't trompled by them. Rick had planned to do the mile walk as his knee was really bugging him but he got caught in the flow and he walked the 5K with me. In fact I would lose him every so often and look back to see how far back he was, only to find myself having to jog to catch up to him!
The whole morning was very inspiring. Everyone was pumped up and excited to be doing their part to help this great cause. It was truly moving to see how many people participated and even greater to hear that over $203,000 was raised. The IT was a huge part of it at $14,710.00. Thank you!
In the past few years I have lost 2 people that were very dear to me and as I was walking the emotion of their loss over came me for a few moments. Then I thought of those that we are fighting for and pushed on thinking about the good that can come from these walks. The Disney workers were cheering us on and really made us feel like we were making a difference.
On the lighter side of the day.....Rick and his silly wig. Ok, he looked the best! Strangers came up to him and asked if they could take his picture and one guy had to have his picture taken with Rick to send home. All along the route the onlookers would yell out to him, give him the high 5 and comments were heard to the effect that if they had a wig like that they might have worn it. By the end of the route Rick decided that he must really look hideous for so many to comment. I just laughed.
We didn't stay to the very end of all the after the Race talking but we did see the parade of survivors and it was a very impressive group. Our local newscaster is a breast cancer survivor and she was there talking about the "warriors" amongst us. It was a great morning. So great in fact our team is already planning for next year. Go IT Pink Patrol!
About the pics. The first is before the Race started. Ok my hair is still sticking out. No one mentioned it to me and I certainly didn't want to look in a mirror! It was doubled over in a pony tail at the back of my head-whatever. We started the race with the moon setting in the west and the sun rising in the east. It was kind of cool. The other 2 pics are race participants . As you can see we were a tight group of about 5000! Passing and being passed was a bit challenging, we needed those ching chings we had our on our trikes.
Rick and I had a Luau in Naples (about 4 hrs away) that afternoon and had to be on our way. I will post our trip south soon.

Ride and Drive

Rick, Adri and I went to the Car and Driver/Road and Track ride and Drive this past Sunday. It was a blast! Sorry no photos. They had 4 vehicles to test and took 3 to a car with each person getting 2 laps around the track for each car. There were professional drivers that didn't drive but sat in the front passenger seat and gave pointers to enhance your driving experience. 2 SUVs and 2 sedans. It was a cadillac event and yes the Caddies were a way more smooth ride We also drove the BMW 530i and a Lexus SUV. I was voted the scariest driver by Rick and Adri but they are sooooo wrong! I admit I did blow through the slow zone once with Adri in the back yelling "THIS IS A SLOW ZONE", but other than that I had better control of the cars. I guess it feels that way when you have the power, they each thought they had better control. I wasn't that thrilled with Rick's braking! Each time the seatbelt would slam me to the seat. Ok, I love to drive fast and this is the perfect opportunity to do it safely! Adri said I had her seatbelt so tight she had to remove it to get it comfortable.
I have to add in these pics. More proof that Florida skies are beautiful. Both are sunrises. 1 from last week and the other 2 are from this morning.