Thursday Night In Casselberry –

First let me tell you that last night I was blogging when Ringo made a jump on my desk and a dive for the wall and looked like he was listening to something intense. So I listened too. What was it? I saw no crawling bugs and then worried, what if? What if  rats were back in the attic or garage? I walked out to the garage with Ringo who inspected the territory  and could find nothing to kill. I felt that was a good sign. He then went out for the night and I sat at my desk and tuned into to the house, keeping my ears open to every creaky, creepy noise that comes with a 50 year old house and when it is dark outside, the imagination is ripe!   (Ringo finds nest of newborn rats in garage last October)
I still have traps set up in the attic and change them every few weeks, only time will tell. So far I hear no foot steps. That cat is a prankster, maybe he was just trying to liven things up. Tonight Frankie has taken over, she just stares into space, she’s old and that’s what she does. If she does what Ringo did, then I will freak out and call an exterminator,
This morning woke to the same old Dante’s Hell outside. I am hoping that by next week my computer will be fixed and my Photoshop and CD/DVDs will be able to be reinstalled and I can work on my art again. Photoshop is like colorfully applied heroin, I am not doing well without my daily fix, (not of heroin, of Photoshop.) “Au natural” is not working well for me. But at least my Alpha is back and the lens working. Here’s a few morning shots:

Actually the squirrel and jay were the day before.
Tonight I drove over to Casselberry where I thought the Arthouse was having a reception.   There was no one inside that I could see, but the door was open so I went in. No one was in the main Gallery, but I did hear voices in the back to discover artists painting away. It was a class. I felt dumb when no one knew of a reception, but did take time to notice the Gallery filled with an Exhibit I think was called Magnificent 7. The colors and theme were pleasing. Here are a few of the works:
and there was photography too  – The building itself is wonderfully serene.  I enjoy the view of the lake from all the windows.  Inside the walls invite you to exhibit.   I walked outside and came across a huge hawk who only sat still for seconds when he noticed me.  he was a gorgeous speciman!  But he was quick. The views around the building are wonderful as I have stated in past blogs. Have a look:  
The lake and walkway are fun, the landscaping has become so lush! But the lightning was becoming plentiful overhead even with a mostly blue sky.
I finally found out through another lost soul that the reception was inside the City Hall building. There I found Linda Moore,  the Recreation Coordinator there talking to some of the artists.  The exhibit is called “Dance of Life” and the passion was very intense.  I met artist, Gary Paduch. His stirring paintings were absorbed as soon as you walked in. I learned he also writes and has a book and plans on writing another. All can be seen at  his website at  http://gf.paduch.com he has a gorgeous and intense body of work. Take a peek and enjoy!  Here is a view of some of the “Dance of Life” exhibit,  the artists on display are,  Betty and Jim Bay, Stephanie Kindle. Mactruque, Dale Metz, Monte olinger, Berto Ortega, Gary Pauch and Steve Piscitelli. I am only showing a few paintings, the rest are for you to discover. http://www.casselberry.org/ I never knew Jim Bay was a painter, but he did this small jazz piece. Betty his talented wife must have rubbed off on him after all these years.  There were a few sculptures – go see it all yourself. 
When I left at about 7:45pm, the sky to the east and north were threatening. The sun was getting low when I reached Country Club but I veered off and tried to get a few pics   This is over Crystal Lake

The noisy bully of a storm was showing off overhead and thunder got louder.  The clouds over my own lake were very dark and menacing.  I did shoot a quick video as it was almost too dark. And as I shot, I noticed a heron in my pine, I have not seen a heron in about a month. I was excited by it’s presence and watched till it flew away, maybe tomorrow it will come back. Enjoy the storm that passed over,        have a great tomorrow and an even better one after that!

Monday under heat duress – I AM a slave to the machine!

Yep, summer is shamelessly flaunting itself. The air is hot, the lake is hot, the pavement is hot, the blood is curdling. Glad for air conditioning, but the bill is red hot –that muscle of a machine is working outside full time pumping cool air in.
Wildlife is an early morning or evening event, even then, nothing new and not much variety. I did come across some adorable muscovy ducklings when I stopped for gas near a retention pond. People give me the strangest looks as I wander off with my camera – I can’t help it if I my eye fixates and I must follow!
The days weave their paths into each other and I am just a drone to my slacker brain and the screen of the computer monitor.
I wonder and marvel at  how “A types” operate. I spoke with Kim Nelson today when I stopped to pick up the two pieces I had at an exhibit where she works. Kim is head coordinator at the Museum of Seminole County History while also teaching Humanities at Seminole State College and writing a novel.  She pulls total triple duty and is cool as a cucumber in her total ability to handle her priorities and have everything mapped out. I do believe it must be genetically engineered. I try and juggle and my balls are always on the ground all over.
She told me that during her last trip to Italy she found her family over there had a detailed geneology mapped back to the mid 1500’s — now that is a sign of great record keeping skills her family has passed down. Her novel is a work of fiction based upon her family, I have no doubt it will be a terrific read when she is finished. She inspired me to get excited about writing again, but only till I got back home and sat in front of a blank page that read, “add new” after I hit my abbesworld dashboard . I have a novel  I gave up finishing it over ten years ago.  Even with my writing group, once I found photography, it seemed so much easier as my eye and brain could coordinate and compute their efforts in silence without coaxing words from the brain. It didn’t require adjectives to describe taking photos.  People could bring their own thought when observing thus sparing me the words on paper.  When writing constructively via short story, poetry, etc.,  my brain must blast out cohesive thoughts and the gears need to be grinding and that is too much thinking in details, the stuff I dread anymore. Maybe because I am not sure if I come across well in my writing vision, but with photography, when I have an exhibit, my work speaks for itself – I like that! People really are not afraid to tell you how they feel, and you can read faces from across a room that makes me feel like I have accomplished something.  I guess I am doubting my creative flow and its’ results. For now, I have left some of my writing in the hands, or rather paws of my beat poet cat alter ego,
cool Ringo, my “Cat Kerouac”   or “Ringo ‘Kerou-cat’ as Kim called it.  And even though Ringo does have his own blog,  http://incatdreams.wordpress.com look at the last date I updated,  I need to write if Ringo is going to actually be a poetry-cat. I mean, how can you be thought of as a “serious” writer if you don’t write? (Blogging is just my excuse for looking busy.)  Oh well, enough  – here’s some quiet down time to enjoy the leisure Florida pace, Alice had her rabbit hole, I have abbesworld, and abberantsverse and art2submit, and and and….

I am still without my photoshop on my main computer and am using my son’s lap top as back up  to do some  editing till my friend helps find my missing driver lost inside the tower, oh such a  addictive AND vindictive machine. And maybe one day the Geek squad at Best Buy will see about getting my DSLR back to me – it’s been almost a damn frigging month already – hint hint Best Buy!
Oh don’t mind my cussing, it’s just between the heat, two computers, 5+ blogs and one digital camera, lack of sleep, politics, getting ready for photo exhibits, and looking for nature to enjoy, my brain is melting.   Creativity Kills!

I Think Ringo Is Cheating On Me

I think Ringo is cheating on me – I have had suspicions since he left a few weeks ago, casually strolling off and then I didn’t see him for two days – two very long and worried days.  In our years together, he has never done that. Why is it I am attracted to those bad boys with flashing blue eyes?  He IS fixed, (and then again, so was my ex-husband.) Somehow, both my ex and Ringo reached middle age and started exploring.  I could kick out a philandering husband,  but a cat – how do you tell a pet to go and not come back? Isn’t gonna happen.
Ringo left again last Thursday night after I came home from Tampa and didn’t show up till this morning, (Sunday) then he was all rubs and love. Typical ‘lost’ male syndrome, don’t admit to anything and try and smooth things over with an abundant show of love. 
He came in, ate, rested, then wanted back out. He’s snoozing on the porch for now. Wonder if he will go off again tonight? And for how long?  Maybe it’s because I was gone away for over a week, (though Adam is always here,) or because he’s not getting fresh fish, (I can’t help it that fishing has been terrible),  maybe some other family is spoiling Ringo with better food, I know they couldn’t love him any more than I do.  I don’t get it, I’m just not good at reading the male species anymore and I’m too old to play games,  but this is not normal Ringo behavior so what can I do? I love that crazy cat and do forgive him, but I hate when he disappears for so long.  I realize I can’t hang on to something still feral neither men nor cats. At least with Ringo, I don’t have
have any legal filings if he splits, a sign will do! 
Have been taking up the slack from being out of town. Guess reality means paying the bills and getting things back into order.
For two days it has been raining on and off, I love it, the oncoming dark clouds and penetrating thunder.  
The sky blackens and threatens and the rain comes down beautifully beating. When I returned everything was so dry, this rain has been just what was needed.         How about my new camera’s panorama view!  I am enjoying my new Sony Cybershot HX1. It has many wonderful features, but the viewfinder and macro modes are not one of them. It’s quite inferior to my Kodak and makes me miss that camera which suddenly went black, literally, you turn it on and there is nothing but a black screen, I have checked everything on it. I think it’s dead. I will have to contact Kodak and see who services them. And speaking of Kodak, I got the photo book I made, ‘Crow Tao‘  from their site. I was so disappointed, the cover was off center and the binding very cheap looking.
My Sony Alpha is still being repaired, so I am learning more and more about the Cybershot.
I am still lost in space regarding how to sell art. Are brains patterned to stick in neutral? Mine seems to want to just make art, take pictures and the thought of prepping the work, setting up the website, doing PayPal and all the detailed work freaks me out. I will do stupid stuff like tell myself each week, okay this is it, I am going to get things started, then I am lost again on a tangent of sameness, and getting nowhere.  Organization skills have never been bred into me! I might as well just buy a Lotto ticket each week instead of dreaming of selling my art, better odds with the Lotto!
The wildlife around here is minimal. The heat is turned up to broil, they say it is one of the hottest June and Julys on record in our state of Florida.  The sun stares you down as soon as it rises and there is only escape into stores and homes. Once you open the door on your vehicle, it’s like being submerged inside a La Brea Tar Pit – you feel drenched and exhausted when you shut the door and wait for the air to cool it back down. The only backyard sights  I see are redwing blackbirds, bluejays, a few squirrels, doves, dragonflies and grasshoppers. here’s the view:    Those grasshoppers are still everywhere.    The turtles are still looking for a handout at the lake
young redwing blackbirds.   Lily pad.

The cranes come to visit and go after old Miss Sealy   but
she escaped.
Papa crane makes his throaty noise.    Crow

And that’s the weekend, maybe by Tuesday or Wednesday I will be able to show more or tell you I have accomplished something. Right now it is Monday morning, the rains are supposed to continue, (a good thing) and I will leave you with a few views from inside and out my window at 8:14am :    The sun is literally a disk up there.   the red passion flowers finally back to taking over the fence
mocking bird on roof
AND, me cleaning off window to take a picture of the  inside – have a great week!  

Ringo Still Lost — Great Greek Restaurant Found

Stopped at animal services first.  The building is across form the Seminole County .    jail. It conjured up images of an incarcerated Ringo.  
I looked at all the strays they had, no Ringo. I looked at each cage, there were cats who wanted attention and called out for it, reaching their paws between bars for a point of human contact. I saw cats too scared to ask for anything. They had many many animals!
I was then ushered back up front to fill out a form about my missing cat and I left them with a photo. They said I had to check, they would not call and they only keep animals 5 days, so I will look again on Monday if he has not shown up. I left there with the ‘indifference’ weighing a bit heavily upon me. There was no sympathy at all. But maybe you get that way after seeing so many abuse cases and animals needing a home that will never have one. So many animals euthanized every day, animals that just want love and a decent life like we do. It must harden your heart if you are to survive the animal services job.
Wanted to take photos of the cuties in a cage, but waited for a supervisor who never came so I left. They were busy which was good,
unless all the people were dropping off animals.)
Left the Government compound and across the street is the Humane Society.     I stopped and left them with a photo and the woman encouraged me to look through their cats. While I walked around the cat cages, another woman approached and I told her why I was there and she was so very sweet and helpful and pointed to the doors where the cats were in small rooms hanging out. She said to check out each room and look at the outside fenced areas too.  They have a wonderful new facility where the cats can be “free in rooms that have access to outside via fenced in areas. The cats looked so relaxed and happy out there. This is truly the way it should be for animals awaiting adoption. There were many I could have taken home with me, but I still have the two other cats, and since none of these was Ringo, I left empty handed.  www.ohs-spca.org/ both agencies have sites to view the animals if you are considering adoption.
upon returning, I saw a couple of the neighbors, passed out flyers and listened to stories of their Ringo encounters. One woman said he was a terrific ‘rater’ and had seen Ringo kill rats on her property, another said Ringo would fish with his kids and they would feed him the fish, yep that is so Ringo!  One said Ringo had a regular run most days, spending time at his house, then next door on the neighbor’s carport, then he usually headed back to my house in late morning which is the way it was. He would come inside to sleep at around 11pm, then wake around 4am go out and be back on the porch waiting for breakfast,    leave for a few hours and come back and nap on the porch till fishing time. Where is he?

Adam thought he would take me to lunch to the new restaurant, Athenian Garden on H.E Thomas where Fishbones and Applebees is.
I only wish I had had my camera with me. They have just opened and it had a wonderful space and nice presence. The waitresses were helpful and the menu was loaded, excellent choices. I had a salad and spanakopita, Adam ordered a chicken gyro. Our meals were delicious and we had dessert of something I can’t say, Galatoboureko, a custard baked in Phylo with honey, YUM. I promise to go back and take photos, it was a beautiful presentation.  Go  and enjoy!
The draw of a new digital camera calls to me, must I wait for a sale? I think about it and rationalize a lot. Will see if Sunday’s papers bring something of a price drop on that Sony I like.
As we drove back home, I was hoping to see Ringo somewhere, but no such luck, I am thinking more and more that someone nabbed him. I put his face up on two stopsigns, no one has called, more and more I think someone liked his looks and drove away with him.
I only hope they love him and treat him like we did!  

Fox Squirrels!

I came back from Tampa yesterday as we thought our new grandchild was coming sooner rather than later, but after all doctors reports and tests, she will be coming on her own terms, not to a timespan set by the doctor for his surgical convenience. So figured I actually had a bit more time in between and thought I would spend time here and get things in order and today I was rewarded as I drove to run errands and saw a fox squirrel running on the golf course.    I drove home as fast as I could seeing I didn’t have a camera. I hoped that fox squirrel would be roaming nearby for a few minutes and I was right. Though when I got on the Mayfair Golf course, the rodent kept running away!  First I looked left and right to make sure I wasn’t going to be “whacked” by some golfer! But it had been raining and was still thundering so the place was empty.
Walking toward the animal was like trying to catch your cat who only lets you get so close and then runs off about twenty feet further just to tease you as you approach.  Here’s the pics, I was lucky that there was a second one not far from the first and he let me have some photo access at a distance.
Leaping away, I had to hurry, luckily a guy in a golf cart gave me a lift.

I wondered how close I could get before I could get a good shot.

Closer and closer… The darker one was not quite as jumpy as the first.    What a handsome face and coloring he had.   I love seeing them.

At home all was hot and quiet, the birds were just not very busy at all. The woodpecker is still busy feeding his brood.
Had one crow come visit this morning and of course, the young jays.
Oh, it’s good to be home again….

“Where The Wild Things Are” Exhibit Opens

Kim Nelson must be thanked for all the hard work she did in getting the Museum of Seminole County History’s latest exhibit up and running.  It is all about native animals and settings around our state of Florida. There are taxidermy samples on loan from The Student Museum which is supposed to be really something to see, I have never been there, must make note to go.  Here’s a look:  The art works shown are from artists:
Betty Bay, Jeanie Beline, Myrna Cumming, William Haight, Sil Horwitz, Pradeep Lodha, Robert Mier, Ted Page, Robin Maria Pedrero,
Mark W. Rice, Linda Shawde, Doug Snider, Julia Thompson, Rusty Wahl, Amy Weick, and “yours truly” are all displayed to show the intricacies that have inspired us as artists.  Here’s just a few so I don’t spoil it for you:   This beautiful bronze cast was done by Amy Wieck, she has two pieces that are so detailed that it keeps you looking and wondering how the process is done.

The wood carving by Mark W. Rice of two owls craved into a stump makes you smile. Rice was the 2003 national Champion of Chainsaw Sculpture – now that’s a title!   There were acrylics and photographs, sculpture and carvings. The turkey painting to the side is by Robert Mier – the woodpecker and marina painting belong to Myrna Cumming. There are more to ponder and it is up to you to get yourself and others over to take a look at the whole place. The exhibit will be up until August14.   Here’s some photos of the Museum itself.  
It was an old Folks Home at one time.   Always enjoy seeing the

cameras.  

1906 Blickendorfer Typewriter made a bit ‘arty’.   Remember, Celery was a big part of Seminole County history as were the Swedes who came here to work the crops.
Upon leaving, the new Courthouse is just around the bend.  
Get out and support the locals! Museum of Seminole County History in Sanford, Florida. Admission $3 for adults – $1 kids

300 Bush Boulevard
Sanford, FL 32773
Phone: (407) 665-2489

Monday with a crab leg and crow wars

This looks like a polished piece of porcelain with hairs sticking wayward, but it is a close up of an Alaskan King crab claw. That was dinner last night, (not mine, I ate shrimp and they were ‘shrimpy’ in comparison with the width of that leg!) But, when I saw the cracked claws, I had to take some close ups, the hair was just too bizarre! The orange was such a pretty color.
Outside it is like a blast furnace and everywhere I go, I notice the mockingbirds chasing everything out of their way. I did happen to get a few of the crow sitting on one of my cut off trees getting ‘buzzed’ at by the mockingbird. Here’s the story in pics:
the crow retreats to tree stump, he looks out at the oncoming vengeance of two mockingbirds.

They swoop down and fake attack that stubborn crow,  The crow took off,   heading
right in my direction and then veering off.  The crows and mockingbirds can be seen all over as the ‘mockers’ love to dive bomb the crows. The crows just go about their business looking overhead all the time.  Here’s some crow pics: 

My cranes were here on and off all afternoon, I witnessed the tender moments between parent and child by the lake. The babies do love to chase off the other birds, they have been taught well.    Here’s Mom grooming.   Baby watches to see how close the ducks get.     ah, the love!  It was so sweet how tenderly the mother would tap the baby’s beak.   My mallard pair are hanging around too. The foot that looked broken is up and running again I am glad to report. Birds must injure themselves from time to time. I have noticed my grackle since last year who has the mis-shapen toe,     notice that wayward toe on the right.
He hops on it, gets along well and makes up for the impediment by being very much of a bully.  

That grackle is a great example of  ‘making do’!
The flowers are looking good, but the heat is getting to them as there has been no rain for over a week and 90+ degree temps that actually feel like over 100!     It’s so hot even the doves

have become feisty!    Blue jay and dove eye to eye.   The dove was

“unflappable”  Stood its’ ground.     Then it actually moved forward at the jay and they both flew off.    The heat is making our tempers short. Confrontation isn’t limited to humans – I see well executed sparring right in my own yard!
P/S, now I am in possession of a dove that got pounced on by the neighbors cat.    I saw it out of the window and ran out. The poor dove was stunned and not flying. Right now it is sitting quietly inside the cat cage with food and drink, in a dark bedroom and later or in the morning I will let it loose…(When Ringo is in the house)

Nature’s Little Details

Very simply, there is so beautiful detailed bits of nature around here when you take pics with macro lenses. I am going to put up photos that give natures little details. First let me tell you I saw the mallard couple    and the male was limping, but nothing at all like the other day when he didn’t use his leg and held it up – happy to say he is improving. 

So lets take a look at some details, first Kim’s Sago palm,  This ‘projection’ means it is a male plant, here’s a bit closer look at the cone,   and look closer:   and another

And lets look at some creepy little bugs that chew up my milkweed plant

They are really so tiny you hardly notice they are there.  This cutie was busy too, I think he was eating those yellow buggy goobers.
these are natures tendrils,  little vines, love the way they curl:   

These are all

from the red passion flower vines.   crepe myrtle.

Canna lily, and canna lily photoshopped,    Look at the grasshopper –  he was splashing me with his juices.   That little golden bubble came out of it’s front left foot…   a sunflower and variations     periwinkle and

variation,    and this   and a soft shell turtle

—  The turtle was swimming around cursing me, telling the fish to hurry and go toward the middle of the lake where I couldn’t reach them. It worked too, I caught nothing tonight.   Ringo was mad and went back to the porch. What’s worse, a brooding feline or vindictive turtles?  While I stood there watching my bobber a long long time, a crow was helping myself to the bait, as much as he could shove in his mouth. What can you do, he’s part of nature’s details….

Mallard Duck has Injured foot

The rains have been coming off and on today. The heat is tremendous under the weight of all the humidity. The birds seemed to be panting.    They cooled off a lot in the bird baths.
The one baby and it’s mother were back.   I noticed that there were actually two fledgling babies begging for food, but she refused to feed the second one, (in the middle) though both seem fine because if they have to eat on their own, they do, they are just lazy.  The rejected baby at the bottom right of the photo finally got his own seed.
Have young jays coming in also,  Got nice photo of the handsome young male
They hear me clicking the camera from at my desk inside and jump!
I had a baby thrasher come in and eat, then get exhausted and sat down to relax.  I felt like that too, I had a hard time getting my camera to adjust to the heat outside, it took about ten minutes before I could defog my lens.|

The BOB’s, band of brothers stopped by for a drink, they ambled away into the steam of the afternoon. I walked down to the lake and saw the Mallard couple, the male is one of the BOM’s band of mallards from May, he was the weakest of them and they dominated him.   The two stronger ducks left. The weaker link stayed here and took a mate. His foot was injured back then he was limping. The female stays with him all the time, the pair stay on the edge of the lake as they are shy of people and head right out on the lake when I get too close.  He hobbles on the left leg. But today he got up and could hardly walk on it.  It was so pathetic watching him swim off not using that leg.  The leg looks broken poor guy. I hope the Band of Brothers don’t find him down there, they will take advantage of him for sure as they did with our sweet Carbs, the muscovy who was hanging out here last year until the BOB’s made him leave “their” lake, nature can be so very cruel.  (That’s Carbs)  What will happen? Oh, it is the secrets of the lake that keep us all guessing around here! Like, will I fish tonight? All I have to do is look at the lake to see the sky is telling me no!  

Monday Morning

Well, it’s a bit dark at 3:22am, but do have nature pics to upload from yesterday:
Loved all the grackles coming for breakfast.  There’s usually a flock and they sing and boss each other around.

Here’s a few out melody-ing each other.   As you can see, they grab as much as they can before flying away.    The grackle in the foreground is a youngster and was not quite sure how to gather the food so it began making a big racket about wanting something to eat too.  It’s Mama complied.

Really giving a thorough inspection.   It was very funny.
Those are the common grackles, the fancier ones come too.   Today it felt like a steam bath, they said it was in the 90’s but actually it was 103degrees from the humidity and it was humid, my lens had to be wiped many times during my sweaty venture into the yard.  Bees and bugs thought nothing of going about business as usual.     and even two enemies decided it was not worth arguing over the same plant.    The roses are blooming all over. They love this weather.

Now, I’m going to bed and will add to this later – Abbe

Sanford Artwalk and After Hours Art Affair

I bet you are wondering by that title what I did last night and maybe you’re conjuring up names possibly linking me to some guy I might be hooking up with, well you will have to read and find out won’t you? So let’s begin at the beginning, noontime Friday :
Lunch with my good friend and neighbor, Sonja Greenlee who is also a contributing monthly Culinary  Columnist for the Sanford Herald. We ate at Amura which is ALWAYS great! Their sushi is the best around – hands down, chopsticks up! Plus the conversation is fun as Sonja is a traveler and had just returned from New York where she got to hear Jill Biden and Caroline Kennedy Schlosberg  speak. We can chat away for hours. Afterwards when I was ready to drop her off, I requested a walk to see the garden as she has a wonderful green thumb and she uses that thumb to stir many a great meal she has created and garnished perfectly. Unlike me who feels mac and cheese made from the box and served on fine china qualifies as a gourmet meal, Sonja does not hesitate to cook from scratch using her variety of veggies and herbs. Everything she creates is ‘eat-a- licious!  Here’s a view,    and that’s just a portion of it. She has snow peas, squash, lettuces, chard, collard greens, tomatoes, cabbage, beans and herbs too, even corn this year,
and her flowers,  the  glorioso lily was a stunner.
Went shopping after that, wanted something new for Art Walk tonight, I needed some pants. But how is it, I went to Ross and ended up with dresses? Casual long kind of hippy dresses. I never wear them, but they felt so comfortable for summer and the price, $12.99 was so reasonable I got 3 of them and two pair of $9 sandals.   That cute cat bag I bought for Andrea.
All set I thought except I needed a short sweater, to cover up and I knew Andrea had a few. While my closet looks like a cluttered, flea market vendor, she has a designer closet and things are organized. So I ventured over there at 6pm as the art walk was beginning and she dragged out clothes and more clothes for me to try on. So by 7:30pm, I had a bag full of things and went back home fully prepared to wear a dress. Well, my bed bed became an abstract, fabric  artwall of color. Clothes splashed everywhere.  Yikes, my mind was as confused as my bed. while confusion is part of the alchemy of my gray matter, I ended up wearing clothes I already had in the closet – go figure?  Please don’t suggest clothes therapy, though I could use it as my normal look usually consists of T-shirts with peace symbols or funny sayings and jeans. As I stood in a spaghetti strapped long dress so completely comfortably, I felt kind of naked, like I had too much airspace. While liberating, it felt kind of like I was in a nightgown. Now here I was wearing, “Abbe-shabby-chic”, okay, forget the chic part, back to the comfort of old jeans and ‘t’s’. I will wear the dresses around the house. By then it was 8pm. later than I normally get there.
I drove upon a very crowded Art Walk in downtown Sanford. The night was perfect, a soft, nice breeze coming off Lake Monroe and the full moon were my escorts up and down First Street. I always run into people I know.  Here’s the view:
For $20 you can have a ride behind that huge Belgium horse.

The parking gets fuller and fuller at these venues! I stopped at The Gallery on First  http://galleryonfirst.com at the beginning of my artwalk. Painter, Stewart Jones  stewartjonesart.blogspot.com and I struck up a conversation and he gave me a post card proclaiming The Gallery On First was having their first annual summertime art show, it’s June 5th- June 27th. The reception is Saturday June 5, from 6pm to 9pm. Here’s some of Stewart’s work along with Cindy Sturla also a painter who shares the booth.
Also spoke to artists Lori Anne Harris and Sharon Rae Hyder, they are always so full of fun and family oriented in their booth, Lori’s son was there and told me his is working on his Anime art,  I told him I would stop by next month and check out his work, the talent pool continues to spread in their family, make more wall space!
Cherie Dacko was not there, but I did see her finished piece, the baby and it is very cool, but since she was not there, I didn’t want to take a photo without permission. It is facing the outside, so take a look a look if you are walking the downtown streets.
Mary K. Shaw is always a smiling face too, she is at the desk or helping people out, plus she too is a contributor Community Columnist for The Sanford Herald, does all the writing for the arts, so if you have a local exhibit coming up around Sanford, or are maybe you are a Local artist showing elsewhere, contact her via the Sanford Herald,  497-322-2611.  she will put it in the Herald.
Then I headed back to my home gallery, The Art Affair. (http://artaffairgallery.com)  – I say my home gallery because even though I don’t have work there,  Ronda never fails to make me feel like a ‘homie’!  I keep watching as that gallery under her watch expands and expands! It’s exciting to see the artists grow and the wheels turning in her head with ideas. Here’s some of the new work,
Marie DeCosta had brought this in and it was not hung yet, but loved the perspective. She and photographer Ken Elliott have been into ‘bikes’ lately.
Marie DeCosta     Ken Elliott

Really enjoyed the look of Patrick Flannery’s circus art.  Oh my, I don’t know who did this to give them credit.   Gum wrapper purses – Melinda Dadelis, budding artist.    

Mindy Colton has intaglia horse prints.   These collage prints are from Jolie Spellman.  Ronda has plenty of work over there too.  

Toelle Hovan has colorful paintings, check last months archive for her chair picture. She will also be teaching Acrylic Painting for adults in July. I really enjoyed her small purse paintings. 

Toelle and her husband were celebrating their anniversary and could not have looked any happier! Congrats, keep going!!! Check with gallery for art classes being offered this summer.
Then it was time for the new venue Ronda is featuring along with the restaurant, Two Blondes & a Shrimp! Every 4th Friday beginning tonight, The Art Affair will be having a meet and greet and mingle with the artists at 9pm at the restaurant until whenever the last person stops chatting! She was so excited to show off this new art venture.    She shooed us all out as she locked up and off we went to the restaurant.  The Rand building which houses 2Blondes & a Shrimp, was built in 1887, named for Frederic H. Rand general manager and Attorney for the Florida Land and Colonization Company. The interesting thing is going to the courthouse and doing research on land records and seeing the vast amount of property and land dealings that company did. The building was also home to the Newspaper, The Sanford Journal.  The ceiling, floors and bar are all original features.

(whoops, lousy night photo of the bar– that’s why I will be taking the photo class offered by Photographer Ken Elliott so I have control over the dark – (go on website at artaffair.com for details)
The old brick walls came alive with a flurry of assorted work. Ronda and Marie has hung everything that morning and wow, Ronda knows how to hang, hey Ronda, new sideline, offer to hang shows on the side for a nice price!  This collection will stay up for 6 months if I am not mistaken.  Here’s a look:
Sherri the operating owner and Ronda stand united on the notion of supporting the arts! (And so should you!) Come over and eat at Two Blondes & a Shrimp noted for their Tomato Pie, Shrimp and Grips, linguine and clams and soooo much more. Sherri had a wonderful area with hor doerves for us! I ordered a mixed green salad as it was past 10pm, and had a wonderful dressing, I think it was coconut vinaigrette. I will have to go for lunch. They are closed Mondays, open 11am-3pm for lunch Tues-Sat. and then reopen 5pm – 10pm weekdays, except Friday and Saturday at night they stay open till 1am.  Chris the manager will be glad to help with anything you need. 

The artist table was outside near the band,  I must say I was walking around snapping a few shots talking to painter, Trish Vevera about going to Poland and to artist Tom Abbott   who does dimensional art that has to be seen in person. Peter Cerreta too was there   his work has to be admired for the amazing patterns and symbolism. I did not go over and tell Peter how I enjoy his pieces,  so here is a shout out to tell you Peter.
The Lake Mary food critic,  http://lakemaryfoodcritic.blogspot.com/ Leon and I chatted about our mutual love for food, he is quite an amazing cook and caters the food at Art Affair from time to time. I shared my secret of beating Kraft spinach and artichoke Philadelphia cream cheese into my mashed potatoes – yum! As I am sitting here, I’m getting hungry!
I enjoyed speaking to others around the table, upcoming artists Melinda Dadelis.  She is going in very cool directions for her future. Marie DeCosta’s husband and I spoke about music and touched on Greg Allman as her husband works at the Daytona Beach Harley dealership and Greg had just been there. Now here is how the story goes full circle -6 degrees of separation: Sonja, who I had lunch with was married to Bob Greenlee, who passed away a few years ago, he owned Kingsnake Recording studio and in high school, Bob was in a band with both Greg and Duane Allman – a weird Kevin Bacon moment for sure!
Finally I had to get going and left a few faces still talking into the night. I drove home, my date followed closely, hovering over me street after street, it was my moon of course and the clouds beautifully veiled that moon as if I should be holding wolfbane as protection to ward off the spirits that might be invoked under that moon of the ancients.   

Now think about checking out ALL Sanford art and remember both the Art Affair Gallery and the 2 Blondes & a  Shrimp will be having the after Art walk meet the artists, next one June 24th – 9pm — You must take a good look at the local  talent and also enjoy a meal at 2 Blondes & a Shrimp in which you will be so busy looking at the art, you won’t remember who you are even eating with, a great place to take that someone who you really could care less about, but you owe them a meal – haha – But really, it has a great feel, like an eatery in a sophisticated big city scene. Go and let the walls and the food do all the talking…
SUPPORT THE ARTS AND ALL SANFORD BUSINESSES!

Paranoid Duck and Museum of Seminole County History

The poor duck in the duck box,   almost every time I pass by the box going toward the lake, this duck flies out and cries all across the lake to where she plunks herself in the water and screams and screams. I feel bad that she is so paranoid and worried when she hears me. When she was gone, I made Adam look in her box, he saw three eggs, that was last week, bet they have hatched.   I try not to go in front of the box, but she knows even when I am out there walking way off behind the box. the good news, she always comes back.
So many lubber grasshoppers all over, they are eating my plants.   but so what? Hey, they are hungry and I’m sure the birds find them a nice meal.
Stopped by Museum of Seminole County History   on Bush Blvd. and 17/92 to drop off a couple photos for “Where The Wild Things Are”. The poster,   was designed by the The museum’s Coordinator, Kim Nelson’s talented husband, Robert E. Mier who is a wonderful wildlife painter.  http://www.artnatureflorida.com
He’s a busy guy, he does a lot of art shows around the state, seems to have mastered marketing skills, a rarity for many artists like myself. I need to gather him to speak to our Gateway group, he has a lot of knowledge he could share on the business end.
The exhibit will be shown in their back building,   it has a lot of items unique to our Florida history throughout both buildings.   Kim will be working her magic to coordinate her space   into a wonderful exhibit featuring many Seminole county artists. The show begins June 15th through August 14th, hours:  Tuesday through Friday from 1 to 5 PM and Saturday from 9 to 1 PM –
Kim is quite an effective Coordinator and just a great person to talk with. So please come out to the Museum and not only visit the exhibit, but to walk through a huge history lesson.
Other than that, tonight is Artwalk, so gearing camera batteries up for that. Have been trying to take photos of the full moon, will be glad for that photo walk with Ken Elliott so he can teach me how to do it right by next full moon cycle! Here’s some nature pics to leave you with:

Learn your camera Walking with Photographer Ken Elliott

Seems like things are steady with the winged visitors, my mallard couple, the whistling ducks and the wood duck in the box are sticking around. Don’t want to bore you with details.
I took photos of mostly flowers yesterday under a very intense sun.

They are also saying there could be a storm brewing in the Caribbean, will it mean anything for the oil spill? I can’t take seeing the oil coated pelicans and the coated eggs! One has to wonder if there was a hurricane with all that oil and it is picked up by the winds, can you imagine the splatter of gook that will have to be cleaned off the homes nearer the water of a storm, it would be messy for sure! BP is going to be doing a lot more damage control when the cities closest to the water are coated in grease!
My flowers at end of blog, but look at this:
Ken Elliott, http://www.kenelliottphotography.com/ a fine Ormond Beach photographer who is currently exhibited at The Art Affair in Sanford is offering a wonderful way to learn your camera – A Camera Walk!  Here’s the details:
I’m going, come join us – class is limited, but this should be a real hands on way to learn and the price is soooo right! Hurry, space is limited.

TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR DIGITAL CAMERA

With Professional Photographer, KEN ELLIOTT

SATURDAY, JUNE 5, 2010, 3:00 PM

Professional Photographer, Ken Elliott, will show you how to take control of your camera and shoot under a variety of lighting conditions your camera might not otherwise be able to handle by learning what your sensor can do, and setting your camera on manual. The session includes an informative talk about your camera, and its settings, as well as a question and answer format geared to your individual level. With his extensive technical knowledge and gift for capturing the perfect shot, this session will be a treat for any level. It is a hands-on workshop followed by a photo walk led by Ken, where you will actually experience first-hand how he captures the great shots for which he is recognized.

NEED TO BRING: DIGITAL CAMERA and its MANUAL

APPROXIMATE TIME: 3 HOURS. Discussion inside the Gallery and a photo walk.

FEE: $29 per person.  CLASS SIZE LIMITED.

Ken is a professional photographer, located in Ormond Beach, Florida, specializing in fine art, commercial and event photography. Born and raised in Louisiana, Ken began shooting at the age of 8 years old, when his father (who had run the photo lab at a US Air Force base) gave him a Leica IIIc 35mm film camera, and then proceeded to teach him how to develop and print his images. This started a life-long love of photography.

Ken later started his first business as a commercial product photographer. He later joined the family manufacturing business, and photography became a hobby. Ken’s third business startup involved creating 3D computer models and outputting to video tape and large format printers. It was there that he began using Photoshop; and digital editing tools. As digital cameras became common, Ken found his two worlds merging. His experience in teaching AutoCAD, 3D Modeling, and Photoshop led to his teaching digital photography to other photographers in the area. After moving to Florida, Ken returned to fine art photography as a profession.

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LIABILITY-   ART AFFAIR GALLERY, RONDA RICHLEY, KEN ELLIOTT, KEN ELLIOTT AND ASSOCIATES, AND ANY OF THEIR AGENTS OR EMPLOYEES ,WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR LOSS OR DAMAGE TO PERSONAL PROPERTY, NOR TO INJURY, LOSS OF LIFE OR LIMB, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY DURIING THIS SESSION, TRAVEL TO AND FROM THIS SESSION. THE PARTICIPATION IN THIS SESSION OR ANY OTHER EVENT SPONSORED BY ART AFFAIR GALLERY WILL BE UNDERSTOOD TO IMPLY AGREEMENT AND CONSENT ON THE PART OF THE PARTICIPANT OR AGENT WITH THE CONDITIONS SET FORTH HERE.

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the rest will be some shots of flowers I have taken:

Caught a bass and has some fulvous whistling ducks come whistling

Yes, finally caught a bass! It’s been a long time, he was a nice size too. I threw him back and continued fishing with Ringo and Adam joined us. We caught a few shiners and fed the heron and Ringo got one too. As we fished we noticed that three ducks flew in the heron’s pine tree. They were whistling ducks!
Here’s some pics.  

These are very interesting ducks and they were whistling away for about an hour, loved hearing their songs.  They flew away toward the north and left the herons in the tree.  The herons still wait for the parents to feed them.    The large male came down and waited as we fished. And then one of the babies came down and did a funny dance in front of the parent.
then flew away.  The mallard pair was hanging around too, and the female flew into the duck box as it has a few times. We wondered if it is either nesting of thinking of nesting inside as they have been here everyday for a couple weeks.   Also the woodpeckers have babies in their knot of the dead stump and I saw a crow stick his head in the hole and try and grab a baby out! (He missed.)
The rain helped bring more green and flowers. My yard is still all weeds, but that’s fine with me, this way I get to see the bees and bugs that would normally be absent without the flowering weeds, here’s some pics:

how perfect is nature in it’s design!   

And here’s a face to say goodbye.    

Reflections from weekend

First the business of art:  Friday night the Casselberry ArtHouse held a reception for the exhibit,  “Celebration of life, Bohemians Redeaux” – saw a few of my old group members from  Womans Caucus for Art and their work. Here’s some of the art that will be on the walls for the next few weeks.

–
They had quite a nice reception and wish I could have stayed longer as I missed a lot of good people. And Rob, your quiche was delicious!   This was before it got crowded – it was a tribute to Sharon Pollard who talked 11 other artists to go with her to Paris a few years ago to spend time and together and to be themselves in a city known for great culture, the  10″ X 10″ paintings reflect their view . Sharon has since passed, but her legacy through art is very much alive and at the Arthouse, Enjoy!

The weekend flew away, the days melt like ice cream on a hot pavement.  I have enjoyed the squabbles of the crows versus the mockingbirds. Where ever you go you see familiar battles with the smaller mockingbird chasing the crows out of their domains. The mockers must be guarding nests.  

The crows love to aggravate and they are food hoarders, the load their mouths with as much as they can fly away with. This guy was hurrying to get everything!  The crows are sticking around lately.  Love their cocky demeanor.   So much fun to watch.
the heron babies are huge, fully grown, but they still come back at night to the nest to feed. I don’t think they know about landing on the land yet???   They are rigid young fliers.
As for the herons, spotted them yesterday out my window:   later I saw the mother enjoying a nice Sunday bath before rejoining the family for a stroll, here’s the sequence of pics:  
Her head fully submerged.  She was enjoying her time alone.   Sheddiing a feather.   laughing out loud at her own jokes.   refreshed!    
catching up with the family.   baby stretches his wings high in excitement.  Mother calms him down   more love  
They all groomed themselves.  the babies are great groomers.     And love their faces.
Then of course, must add some flowers and scene from the other night fishing, hope I have de-stressed you…

haha, this beauty is part of life here too.
and a visitor from Saturday    ….

Dragonflies

I have enjoyed the wonderful array of dragonflies down by the lake – here’s an assortment of photos and a quick glimpse

I’m Back and it’s May

Somehow these days have liquified and spilled away – I went to Tampa to paint the new house for the new baby. Painted bedrooms and the nursery which was a joy and every stroke was painted with love for the new life about to come our way. When I left, the chair rail was all cut, but not up yet, nor the border, but Aaron will get it all done and send me a photo of the end result.
The day I left Sanford, the baby herons had taken to flight and what fun it was watching their clumsy sailing from pine tree to pine tree where they would spend perched hours trying to determine when to fly back to the nest.   The first day they learned their wings worked was on the 28th of April. One of the babies took off and stayed away about 3 doors down in a tree top for 6 hours. The other was too afraid yet and stayed in the nest waiting one extra day to test it’s wings. Since then they come and go, always back at the nest for bed time.  They are very excited about flying, but as much as they go tree top to tree top, I have not seen them down in the water getting their food.
we enjoy our night time visitors and the flowers that have been blooming to make gorgeous photos:
Over in Riverview I really was too busy to take photos. I did stop and look closely at the blooms on the magnolias over there as there were so full and buzzing with bees.  I had never noticed how fuzzy the buds were. They looked like they were coated in hair.
— The house was in a subdivision 6 miles from Aaron’s current townhouse. As is the norm here in Florida, many acres of cleared land have farm animals upon them to get the owner a tax deduction. In the meantime, they don’t have to provide an ounce of shade at all for these animals. You know those cows and goats in the heat of a 90+ degree afternoon oppressive sun can’t feel too good. It’s wrong that animals are treated so cruelly and the owner benefits financially, use the money for some shade!
In their natural state on land that has not been denuded for developers, the cows and goats will be found under the trees taking in the shade on these brutal afternoons. It is quite sad that the owners of agricultural animals are not required to supply an area of shading via structures on this vacant land areas, anything to give them some shelter. Am I wrong in my thinking? PETA, where are you?
I stopped by one morning around 8am, the cows were close by the fence.  The first thing I saw was this bird who was intent on telling me this was its’ property.  Not sure what it is.  Here’s the cows:
So many look alikes.  
I got to pet one cows head and love the feel of the strong hide and the smell of these wonderful animals.
Back at the townhouse, the birds were scarce really, not much variety. The pond behind the townhomes had all these bed where the fish tilipia were nesting, they were huge, but, NO FISHING!  Here’s a look at the birds:  That limpkin was so chatty.
Then yesterday, I took off back for Orlando.  Always keep my camera handy as I approach downtown.
And after that, it was a day of getting back into order, tossing junk mail, paying bills, hugging my other two kids and cleaning and loving on the cats. It was a great time in Riverview and it’s always good to get back into the groove!

A week almost gone – art and wildlife you missed

WOW, can’t believe how fast time seems to dissolve before my eyes. Am I making it go fast spending endless hours behind this computer? It seems I start something online and the morning hours fade into afternoon and then the afternnon till the wee hours of the morning – HOW DARE THEY – it just ticks away too fast doesn’t it!
   I have been working on a website and have come to a standstill again with moving portions of it – so at a loss for right now and can’t even look at it I am so tired of the whole website thing. Instead first of all I will show you nature  from the past week, then move on to Fourth Fridays in Sanford last night.
      gerber daisy new blooms not ready to show their faces   
  my new mailbox snake, likes to hang out where the empty mockingbird nest is, maybe that’s why it’s empty.
  damsel fly eats hoursefly.         

Now for Friday night at Fourth Friday Artwalk.  Headed out and the first thing I thought, wow, the time change does make a difference, I can remember it almost last month as the sun being so low on the horizon,    but not tonight as I made my way to Sanford, rounding the corner on Commercial Street, I stopped and took a photo of a cool building that I would love to step into.      The first people I saw were members of the Gateway, as we walked up to the Welcome Center,      my favorite jazz guy was there –  saw Jane Kerle doing her Plein art painting.       The Welcome Center had a title of  “It’s All About People” for this month’s exhibit and I did a quick glance, then left to go met Adam and Ari at the clock.  We decided to go into Maya’s Books and you should too, it’s a very cool bookstore and has plenty of merchandise.
    Here he is with one of Giger’s art books, Necronomicon.  I left them looking through stacks and headed for The Gallery on First where several artists were present and working on their crafts, Debra Lapallo Ryan was painting a rock with cats, could not photograph them, but her rocks rocked – also Sharon Hyder gave me the tour of her booth, she shares her space with her daughterwho paints and does portraits, both do a wonderful job of painting and Sharon had so many pen and ink detailed drawings to look at, again, out of respect for the gallery no pictures, though Sharon let me take some, you will just have to look for yourself.
   Went to my ‘fav’ place where I can take as many photos as I want, The  ART AFFAIR of course! The theme was about ‘green art’,  everything made from recycled items. I was met as a celebrity and now I have been honored with my own official badge that hangs on their hook for these events or for anytime I just want to feel elevated – I grab my badge and feel like I am at home.      I am listed as “their favorite blogger” – how cool is that! The Art Affair Gallery is featuring artist Peter Cerreta’s work                This peace sign by Steve Stepp made of resin soldiers was one of my favorites, was told by Fern Matthews who herself  is a tremendous sculpture, no, I mean sculptor, so don’t ask to see the Fern Matthews sculpture.  She is also a gifted glass maker,  that Steve made this with plastic soldiers from the 1960s.  Here’s a close up:
     he also is a sculptor and has other work in the gallery. Here’s a few other views – you must visit and tell Ronda that Abbe sent you!        There are Julie Kessler metal scultures, her work is quite intricate – here’s one of her paintings:
          Mauricio’s gummy mugs          

              So many cute and affordable items.  I also ran into Chuck Dinkins who is now  executive director of the Seminole Cultural Arts Council. He’s a easy to talk to guy AND I didn’t know he was a professional skateboarder, (now retired) – it seems Chuck has worn many badges along the way to where he is now. I have to sit down and talk to him sometime, pay him a visit, he’s very interesting. 
    Headed back over to the Welcome center to watch the winners of the monthly artwork, I got there just as they finished, but I did see Rae Marie who owns Framing 508 Gallery on Sanford AVe. – she won and award and recognition for her dedication and hard work, she does so much for monthly shows, I am glad they did this, plus she came in second place for her artwork. Anyone who knows Rae Marie knows she is just a radiant sunbeam always smiling and happy and glad to see you. Her framing work is well known by many as is her painting.
    As I was going to take her photo, a dragonfly chose to rest upon her winning pastel.   She LOVES dragonflies. 
the details in her pastel were unbelievably precise – what a work of art– go to the Welcome Center and see all the pieces. There won’t be another exhibitition until September again.   Here are some of the entrys:       The First Place winner.   

     I loved the smoking guy, he was my favorite this time.  
    Left and took a few pictures of the buildings                The fire station.   
love the jazz guy in the dark too, think of the photo as an abstract because it came out so poorly   
And then I headed home, passing the electrig grid on 46 and back to the house where Adam was having movie night with his friends, Brothers Bloom was the featured movie. .     Now I am trying to figure out how 7:30am is now 7:06pm?  There is t goes, I’m in a time warp, oh well, perfect excuse to go fishing — byeeeeeee……

Sunday, a great weekend so far and baby cranes molting – waiting for rain…

Sunday morning and the light was vague and so is the mindset.  

I saw only three cranes out my desk window and the father was calling because one of the babies was missing. He looked in ever direction after he would call, listening to the chirps to hear if he could tell where the missing link was.   It took about a half hour and the baby showed up.

The babies are losing their ‘fluff’ and they look a bit messy – judge for yourself.  

The water is flat, perfect for fishing. A very light rain might fall for ten minutes and then nothing. Yesterday both my sons came out and fished. Aaron came from Tampa and even Adam joined in.  Ringo came out and was in a feisty mood, he was ready to ‘tangle’ with anyone petting him one time too many.   He will latch on like a wildcat and not let go. We all respect his wildside, (Ringo’s not Aaron’s)!
Adam left for work, but Aaron and I caught bass and I brought in a mudfish who was much like Ringo.   They too have nasty looking teeth and tempers.

Andrea bought me an adorable fishing Santa from the garage sale she was helping with. She is going to be a wonderful aunt in August, this new baby will be have a full closet with such a loving aunt and Andrea will be helping to work on her framed artwork for the nursery, she is such a talented artist.   We are all excited for August to come!
My garden is getting fuller and found that one red passion flower vine did not freeze as did my hibiscus, the vine is now just beginning to flower so should have a fence full in another couple months.  I watched a bee this morning taking his fill of pollen from flower to flower.
Made an “abb-strax” from it    And finally my sunflower opened after waiting for days to see it’s intricate face.  The lake is loaded with lilys too and the pads are thickening .  At least there has not been much algae yet.   That’s the wood duck, he was here with his mate this morning too.
The herons are making quite a racket in the trees, they are very big, but have not taken to try their wings.  
And being Sunday with the rain falling, it’s just a feeling of thankfulness – and it’s not even fishing time yet….
P/S – oh my, I just heard the cranes screaming like crazy – had to look outside    The fox came through and kept going, the babies were in hiding – so think he just moved on, and he was limping on right back leg.

Tuesday and working on website and not working on website

Yesterday I worked on a new website in the am then got tired of it all and had to run and get my taxes finished in Casselberry.  Distraction number one. Afterwards,  I stopped at the Goodwill, (distraction 2)  on the way to see what they had in baby necessities and wow, they had plenty. cribs, highchairs, strollers, toys bassinets, there was a lot of stuff. I guess I will need to be keeping some baby things of my own after the little he or she is born.  I have been amazed at the prices of car seats and cribs and miscellaneous at places like Target or Toys R Us – I am in sticker shock! Baby needs seem much more expensive these days. But it was fun looking. The only thing I saw that I was tempted by was a cute vibrating baby ‘recliner, kind of a reclining seat for a very young baby. It had a cute sea horse and fish theme that stretched above the seat on an arch and it was all supposed to move with batteries, but they had no way to test it, so I decided against it, but I would not mind an adult version it looked so relaxing! (OMG, is it time for a barcolounger for grandma/Abbe?)
Next to the Goodwill on 17/92 in Longwood is Decor Galore, a used furniture and antique store, (distraction3), since I am an antique myself and I love wandering and reminiscing.  They had a lot of interesting stuff, here’s some examples:

the buggy looked really old and right next to it was this…
I thought it would be very effective if this boar head was sitting in the baby buggy!
There was this velvet painting of an Indian, but did not understand the ‘hand moustache-beard thing’. What was this subliminal message saying?
It’s kind of scary!   a cool old childs car.   And then there was a wooden carved hawk by Ohio Artist, Spirit Williams who is a carver/sculptor.  It was about 2 feet long and hung on wall. The detailing was beautifully done, and it wasn’t cheap either,  over $300.  Click on pictures to look in detail.

http://www.sculpturebyspirit.com/  link for Sprirt Williams.
They had a good selection of pictures, lamps, chairs and knick knacks.

It’s always fun to go into these places and see things of familiarity. (As a distraction from building a website)
Today I didn’t even work on the site, Instead I traveled to another real antique,  

DeBary Hall, built in 1871 by Frederick Debary. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. And at one time it was quite a hunting and social lodge in it’s day. Four generations of deBary’s lived there and now it is owned by the state, managed by Volusia County. They have art shows there, but it is done by submission. I wanted to check out where they had the artwork displayed as at one point it was kept on easels in the deBary house, then for a while they displayed artists’ work in the barn.    

Now they keep it in the auditorium.    As I walked around the house I saw one rocker on the porch really moving. The wind was pretty brisk. But I preferred to think one of the deBary’s was on that porch rocking away. As I got ready to leave, I looked up and swear there was an image in the window looking out at me  

So I made my way on home again and tried working on a website and the photos I was putting on happened to come out really big, and gave up for a while. I still have not gone back to look and see what the problem is, it is much easier to blog. I think tonight I will list some pics on Etsy instead:      http://www.etsy.com/shop/incatdreams.
And now I will attempt at distraction #5,  so will try and fish though the wind is really whipping the water about and it almost seems worthless to try.
but anything seems easier than setting up a business! Why is this such a hard concept? Making money, what is wrong with a bit of capitalism. Maybe that spirit in the window was trying to scare me on home where I am supposed to be a slave to my keyboard and monitor.  But that spirit did not know the strength of the lake spirits that are calling for my presence. Yes, easily again I am leaving the screen and leaving the business of art behind – there’s alway hump day, and Thursday…