Thursday, April 30, 2020

Good morning. A storm front rolled through around two in the morning. Of course the weather radio woke us up but aside from that, it’s a gorgeous start to the day. We have light rain and 70°. I was enjoying the peace and quiet on the front porch until Lynn and Ozzie walked by, Lynn wearing a red raincoat. Well that set off Mz Bee!  I bet she thought it was something crazy. Then Robs barked!

They both went in the house while I enjoyed my coffee.  ☔️ ☕️ 

So LaDonna and I have another art challenge. She must’ve been feeling quite psychedelic when she chose this for me ...

Yikes! 

So you see how this challenge is progressing. 😂

Mark hung the sign I finished yesterday ...

Cute, eh! 

We had happy hour on front porch with the kids and ate popcorn. It was really breezy and nice. After our dinner of chicken pot pies we talked with RanDawn. It was Randy’s nite to cook and he followed a Rachael Ray recipe. 

 

It looks good ... 

but Randy didn’t like it at all! (Dawn thought it was pretty good.)

That’s it. We had a good day. 

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Hey, how’d it get dark so fast. Ha! This Wednesday disappeared on us both!

LaDonna and Wayne asked us if we’d like a decorative glass plate with whiskey and a cigar on it. It sounded cool ... 

but entailed turning out the entire curiosity cabinets. 

There are 4 cabinets ... lots of polishing. I’d been procrastinating for 6 weeks on doing this job! Ha! It took a regift to motivate me. 😆

While I was working on that project, Mark got our hurricane fuel supply then took a load of aluminum recycling to the scrap yard. 

Back seat full ... bumper load full ... front seat loaded

Mark does a very good deed amassing this junk for recycling. Well done!  🌎 That’s his annual Earth Day 
contribution. ✅

At 4 o’clock we tidied up and had happy hour with Lynn on her pool deck. It was a gorgeous afternoon. Rose and Jim, Pat and Ken, Kim and Bob joined the fun. Lynn had us all well-spaced out, chairwise. Haha. We’re always spaced out said Ken. 😜 By 5:30 we were home to feed the Scotties. After dinner, we took the kids for a ride on The Caddy. 

There’s another lot being prepped for construction and this huge tree root was dug out. 

Massive, isn’t it!

The last big walk of the day was successful ...

Now it’s TV time. Ta ta til tomorrow. 

Wash 🧼 your 🖐 🤚 and stay healthy. ❤️

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Good morning. Mark, with facemask, and Bob, with facemask have gone to the Ocala forest to blaze a new trail. They haven’t been to the woods for at least six weeks and today was just the perfect temperature for a nice hike. Meanwhile, I did the morning chores and have tons of laundry to catch up on after going boating yesterday. With this darn virus everything goes in the wash after one wearing! 

Mark got back home about noon, we had lunch and he took the dogs for a ride to visit Ken and drop off a sprayer for his garden. meanwhile, I finished a painting for a friend, Nancy.

The cork reads the name of her favorite wine ... 19 Crimes! I hope she likes it. 

I took the painting to Nancy and we distanced ... me on the golf cart and she about 8’ away. We drank wine and yakked for an hour. It was fun catching up. 

And, she loved the painting. 

Now I must start the lettering on Mark’s sign! That’s it for today!  Stay safe ... 

Monday, April 27, 2020

Good morning. It is a bright beautiful sunshiny day here in Central Florida. Since it is only going to a high of 75 today we are going boating. You never know how many low humidity, lower temperature days we have coming to us in the next few months. It’s best to take advantage of them. It’s also a wonderful way to get out and just enjoy the great outdoors.

An odd thing happened yesterday, our friend and neighbor Lynn came to our door looking distressed and disheveled. Apparently she had gotten a B in her bonnet and started cleaning out Lew’s boathouse shed. She asked if Mark would come over and take any tools he wanted. (We were just sitting down to our Stavros dinner but I thought he should go over and have a look.) So about two hours later, Mark stuck his head in the door and said he would eat later. Marky Mark was invited to look too and I saw them hauling a tablesaw over to his property. Lynn had no idea of Lew’s  collection of ‘stuff.’ Apparently there were drawers full of washers, a bucket stuffed full of long paint stirrers and mass quantities of odds and ends. Lynn’s  son Benn was there helping, but he had hurt his back and was mostly standing off to the side. Lynn wanted it all gone, and gone right away. So the fellows grabbed the trash cans and threw all the “good stuff” in there for future sorting. Then they hauled the cans over to Marky Mark’s where they are going through it today. There was a lot of good stuff, but no time to just sort through it at leisure. 🤷‍♀️ 

After lunch, we took Wayne and LaDonna for a cruise around Lake Eustis, Haines Creek and the Dead River! It was a marvelous day; low 70’s, low humidity and sunny. 

Wayno and LaDonna

New tiki cover at Hurricane’s!

Mz Bee with her dad. 

We stopped at Palm Gardens and ordered fries, dockside. It was a grand day! 

Back home, we had dinner then I got into painting for an hour while Mark watched Waco. 

Stay safe! Wash wash wash and wear a mask when you go out in public. . 

 . 

Sunday, April 26, 2020

Good afternoon! Happy Sunday! 

Yesterday’s waterfall painting. 

We started our morning in the kitchen. I baked 100 Pumpkin Applesauce dog cookies while Mark cooked a big batch of ground turkey for the Scotties. 

Here are the Florida stats ... 31,528 cases of COVID-19 and Florida’s Ron DeSantis is letting the ‘stay at home’ and ‘shelter in place’ order expire on May 1st. We’re going to continue our social distancing and limit our grocery shopping to twice a month for the month of May ... at least. It’s not safe for us to be in the public, nor for anyone. This morning a 27 year old died with NO pre-existing  complications. The average age of the deaths is now 42-53. 

We know the Trumpers want the economy open so businesses must come up with a new mode of operations to keep their workers and customers safe. Until then, I believe a vast majority will remain safe at home. 

Last night we Zoomed with LaDonna & Wayne ... it was a blast. We had some hiccups but sorted out our problems quickly. 

Robbie’s giving BeeZee the side-eye. 🤣

Ta ta til tomorrow. 

Saturday April 25, 2020

Good morning sunshine. I was up early enough to watch purple martins and dragonflies darting about getting their breakfast. After the kids were bored with their backyard, I made coffee and we sat on the front porch to watch the sun come up. Hearing the birdsong is uplifting ... Cat Stevens song always comes to mind ‘Morning has broken like the first morning.’ It’s 68F here, dewy and fresh. 

We took the dogs for a half hour golf cart ride around the neighborhood before lunch. It is a gorgeous day here in Central Florida. Today’s lunch is going to be pastrami on rye ...

done in the panini press. YUMMERS ... we’ve been craving this! 

It was sure good! (Guess we’re missing Tillie’s!)

I talked to Sue this morning. It’s quite hot in South Florida, for April ... breaking records most days for the month of April. They played Mexican dominoes last night, just the two of them. That’s what being in isolation is all about. 🤷‍♀️ 

Randy & Dawn were cleaning the kitchen cabinets today. It’s Dawn‘s day to cook so Randy said he’s just going to chill out and watch. Ha ha. That will be a challenge for Randy, he won’t be able to sit still. They ordered a new piece for the kitchen ...

it’s pretty nice ... and they have just the space for it alongside the fridge! 😎

Tonight we’re working out the kinks on Zoom ... Wayne and LaDonna are signing on at 6:30 ... hope it works well. There’s a learning curve. 

Ta ta til tomorrow.  

Friday, April 24, 2020

Good afternoon y’all. We had a storm front chase down Florida’s peninsula early this morning.  By 6 o’clock it was beyond us and we went back to sleep for an hour. We’re tired today after the weather radio woke us several times during the night. 

After doing our Friday housekeeping it was grocery shopping time. Mark did the bi-monthly deed and I sanitized the goods as he hauled them in. WinnDixie had everything on our list! Yay!

I worked an online art class this afternoon, painting a waterfall scene. I always learn something from working with someone else ... the colors are very bold! 

What are your thoughts?

Here’s one I painted yesterday. The first one I did like it, or similar, I gave to Deenna.

It’s very relaxing to look at. 

We haven’t heard from anybody today, just puttered about ourselves. Mark began an art project himself! He must be getting caught up around the house. 

So that’s it for today.  Stay well. 😍

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Good afternoon. We’ve had a few hours on the front porch watching the lineman work on our power lines. It’s an upgrade about 6 months in the making. Finally, they are in front of our house hooking up a new transformer for us and a couple of neighbors. That’ll improve the power grid performance during hurricane season. Mark and I took our lunch outside and watched for a couple of hours. It’s highly technical just working all the truck lifts and equipment! 

It’s a gorgeous day ... breezy and 86F. After watching all that work, we had a two hour nap. Ha ha. It was hard work! 

Wayne and LaDonna had a fun (rednek?) lunch. They ordered subs delivered and sat on the tailgate of their truck in the shade to eat them. Haha. Well it was a beautiful afternoon. 

Randy and Dawn are making homemade onion rings tonight ... 

and they look yummy! 

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Good morning. I took the dogs outside at 5:30 ... there was a perfectly clear sky. While I was stargazing I spotted the Milky Way.! Now I don’t recall seeing that from Florida, ever. I came inside and checked the Internet ... sure enough today is the first day to clearly see it from Florida! (Through May 4th)  Just before dawn it is overhead. Our skies are so clear with less industry and traffic. 💫 

Happy Earth Day 

Mark suggested a boating day as it was a high of 81 and very low humidity. So we called Randy & Dawn to meet us for a takeout burger at Palm Gardens on the Dead River. Like Eustis was quite rough when we started out but the wind died off and the day became beautiful as we went through the Dora Canal. We putted around Lake Dora for a bit waiting for Randy & Dawn to meet us.  

Mz BeeZee looked at the Dora Queen, out of commission...and the beautiful Pavilion, weddings postponed indefinitely. 😢

Robbie sat with Mark the entire time! 

Here they are! 

The Dora Canal was beautiful today. 

We had burgers for lunch at the Palm Gardens but had to wait a long time as they were so busy! Mark said it looked like Fourth of July along the Dead River! It was fantastic to see Randy and Dawn in person. We social distanced of course, elbow taps were as close as we got. It was the perfect day. 

Take it easy ... be smart and be safe. 😘

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Good afternoon. It’s nearly 4 o’clock and we are going to test a zoom happy hour with Randy & Dawn, Pete and Karen, Wayne and LaDonna and us. If it works, we will schedule more of them and include others. We tried it last week and nobody got on with us. There is a learning curve. Ha ha ha.

Well, Randy & Dawn, Pete and Karen got on Zoom with us. We definitely messed up and didn’t see everyone all at once. (Wayne and LaDonna got busy and couldn’t sign on.) The video went between Randall on and Karen & Pete, almost equally. Sometimes the audio cut out so we have more work to do on this. We don’t know if it was possibly a Wi-Fi problem or user error‘s. Anyway, it was fun! 

RanDawn looked great!

Tonight, Lynn was running chores and picked up ribs for us at Oakwood smokehouse. We sat in her lanai and enjoyed dinner and some camaraderie with Marky Mark as well. It was a lovely evening.

Back home, we took the kids for a golf cart ride and then settled down to watch TV.  We hope you are sheltering in place and staying safe.  🥰

Monday, April 20, 2020

Good morning. We were both up by 8 o’clock, chores done by 9:30 and Mark was off to the Home Depot with a list of five or six items. I asked him to stop at the liquor store and get a bottle of Petrone Cafe XL for Deenna. I know she likes that ... and I did a Zen painting for her. Mark and I do up a care package with paper towels and the like Plus the painting and booze as a small thank you to the great gift of stained glass! 🥰

For happy hour today, Lynn and Marky-Mark both came over and had happy hour. They sat outside our screen room and had a drink or two. Lynn had Ozzie with her which caused Mz Bee to misbehave. 🤨 Robbie was pretty good, and tolerated Ozzie just fine. Tomorrow, Lynn has offered to pick up ribs for dinner from Oakwood and eat on her lanai. It’s a big place, so we can spread out and have dinner. It sounds like fun.

That’s it, our day is done. 

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Good afternoon. Well, it’s been a bit of a busy day. We got into watching the ‘one world at home’ concert last evening and forgot to finish the blog!

Aurelia had called Saturday afternoon and we chatted away for a bit. Everything was fine there but they are sure tired of the cold weather. They want to bring their motorhome to the driveway to do some cleanup on it and are hoping by next weekend it might warm up a bit. 

Randy & Dawn phoned after dinner ... Dawn is taking another two weeks leave from work. We are very glad she is doing this as they had her working as a cashier in the Walmart pharmacy while the optical center is closed due to the virus. 

Deenna and Eddie came by and presented us with an anniversary gift! Deenna makes stained glass and custom made us a Scottie dog for our front porch. It’s stunning! I’ll post a picture tomorrow morning as the sun is on it. (Here’s a sneak peek!)

Fantabulous eh? Wow! What a gift!!! 

Wayne & LaDonna had some storage drawers for Mark and thought they’d drop them at our driveway. We quickly sanitized and invited them in for a beer. Of course we sat on opposite sides of the room ... the dogs were ecstatic to have visitors! Their next stop was to see their granddaughter Henley. They stand on the driveway and Henley is in the garage behind the screen. Although she’s only three, she has a great understanding of the virus.  she told her Poppi that he can’t hug her now because of the sickness but he could hug her when she’s bigger. 🥰 

We watch TV for a while, caught up with the news and of course were amazed the stupidity of some people.

Hope you had a good Sunday and stayed safe. 💕

Saturday, April 18, 2020

Good morning. It’s 72° with 78% humidity this morning. Believe me, it feels great. Rain is forecast about 3 o’clock today so we will get our outside fun completed then have a relaxing afternoon watching TV. Hey, every day needs a plan during this COVID-19 era. 

The Jasmine is in full bloom ... Frangipani leafed out ... buds on the Gardenia! Tropical scents hang in the morning air. Schweeet.  

So the rain quit about 1 o’clock and we took the dogs for a nice golf cart ride. More rain was forecast for 6 o’clock but here we are sitting on the front porch with 84° and sunny. Mark made a batch of venison chili for his dinner and he is cooking me turkey burgers. We haven’t heard from anyone else today.

Friday, April 17, 2020

Good afternoon sunshine! It’s a nice coolish day at 76F. Mark’s been puttering about the kitchen making chocolates ... then tidying up about the yard. 

Last night was perfectly clear ... so we moved the new fireplace to the stone patio, lit a fire and drank wine. Robbie and BeeZee were happy to lay nearby on a blanket. 

Here’s a fun game ... the painting is by Jordan Monsell of a bar in San Francisco. The idea is to find the hidden drinks. There’s a list of the drinks at the bottom. (Mark found a bunch of them!) 

How many did you find? Heeheehee ... how many have you tried? 🤪

I started a painting today; two frogs. It’s cute. I may finish it tomorrow. 

The 🦠 numbers here in the Sunshine State keep climbing but regardless, Trump wants the country back to work! Trump puppet Santos is on board and Jacksonville beaches and all State Parks will open Friday. Geez Louise! We couldn’t even make it to the end of April! Our parents and grandparents dealt with plenty during the wars but we spoiled idiots can’t tolerate staying home. WTF! Our president is an idiot. 

Happy Friday y’all !!!