angel

Here is the birdbath that Mary has in her front yard so that the birds and squirrels can get a drink of cool water on a hot summer day. The basin of the birdbath is shaped like a leaf. As a decoration Mary put an angel into the birdbath. As you explore around the picture, you will find so much to see. Like the bougainvillea plant to the right of the birdbath or the latticework that Mary put around the well. But wait, what is that lurking in the shadows to the left of the latticework?

Can you see it better now that I have it circled in yellow? Yes, it seems to be black and white. Perhaps we can get a better look.

But of course, it is Tammy the cat. Whenever I am working outside she likes to watch. She is absolutely fascinated by work. She can sit in the shade and watch me for hours laboring in the hot sun. So now who is the “dumb animal”; the cat resting in the shade on a hot day or the human laboring in the bright sun? Definitely something to think about. Have a nice cool day with a chilly cold icee from 7/11. The blue colored ones are my favorite icee. Lew

baby Tammy

This is Mary with her special cat Tammy. Mary raised it from a kitten and I guess that the cat thinks that it is still a kitten to be cradled by Mary. The cat has turned out to be a good one. But then, what shouldn't she. After all, she is spoiled rotten and gets everything and anything that she could possibly ever want. Food -- the best. Sleeping accomodations -- the best. Toys - expensive and plentiful. Medical care - the best. I could go on and on but you get the idea. By the way, the portrait on the wall behind Mary is one that she did of her mother. She is currently doing a portrait of my mom. Mary keeps busy with her painting. Have as cool of a day as you can. It just seems to be hot everywhere. Lew

brown pelican

This is Mary’s latest painting which is a brown pelican. Unfortunately, the bright flash of the camera bleaches out some of the color. Seeing it in person is much better. She seems to have the patience to sit there and laboriously put in the fine detail one stroke at a time. She has built up quite a collection of paintings which look a lot better than what I have seen at some of those art festivals. She has painted on just about every type of material imaginable: canvas board, wood, glass, and something that looks like a piece of masonite with one side a bright white. And the paints are just as varied: acrylics and oils and probably some others which I am just not aware of. And what about my artistic talents? The only thing that I can attest to is that I attempted the paint-by-number paint sets when I was very young and grew very frustrated and gave up because I was not able to stay within the lines of the paint-by-number and the finished product looked terrible. I guess that art just wasn’t my forte. I even tried carving wood once, also at a young age. There was a schoolmate who lived up the road and he would take a small twig, strip the bark off and carve little figures out of it. He did a pretty good job of it. I thought to myself, “I can do that.” So I took my cheap hunting knife and started carving when all of a sudden the knife slipped and made a very bad cut on my thumb near its base. Blood flowed forth like a fountain. I started crying and didn’t know what to do. Both of my parents were at work. From out of the house across the street came Mrs. Benson to the rescue. Remember Mrs. Benson? The Mayberry aunt Bee of our town. She came out of her house across to see what had happened to me. The picture of the Benson house was taken from the spot where as a young boy I cut my thumb.

She cleaned the wound and it was a really nasty one and bandaged it for me. And she didn’t get a single drop of blood on her apron which she wore all the time just like aunt Bee. What a sweet woman she really was. Always kind, always gentle, and always helping others. She led a good life and brought a lot of kindness into the world. But that was the end of my wood carving. I gave up the artistic pursuits and went back to my explorations of nature. To follow a stream to see where it went, to climb over a mountain to see what was on the other side (yes, I actually did that and it took me all day), to watch a caterpillar and marvel at its numerous legs as it crawled along a branch. Nature has always fascinated me. Go forth and have a pleasant day. Lew

Lillian's Gift

Lillian’s Gift

Isn’t this an absolutely magnificent flower. The colors are so intense. This flower was grown from a seed from the packet of wildflowers that Mary and I got at the reception of Lillian’s wedding.

Just look at how straight and tall it has grown. I would estimate its height at about three. It grew so tall so fast that it sort of reminds me of the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. I wonder if any of the other people had luck growing flowers from their seeds from the wedding.

She had a very nice wedding and Mary and I had a great time. Thank you Lillian for the wildflower seeds. They are a gift that keeps giving as they say. Yesterday Mary and I went to the library and Publix and got caught in one of those famous Florida tropical downpours replete with thunder and lightning. I am confident that Lillian remembers what the Florida downpours are like. But then up north in the winter those little raindrops freeze into snowflakes. So which is better, raindrops or snowflakes? At least with raindrops we can be "Singing in the Rain" and sayin g "raindrops keep falling on my head". Thanks again Lillian for the wildflower seeds. I am big on wildflowers. Lew

Ison Center

Here is Mary looking at a World War II jeep and trailer at the senior center that the American Legion had on display. I have seen these jeeps before but this is the first time that I have seen the trailer that was sometimes pulled behind the jeep. The jeep has been very nicely restored and is drivable as evidenced by the license plate on the back.

This individual had on one of the versions of the confederate uniform. He said that he participates in the several historical reenactments that occur in Florida.

This individual is standing next to the gatling gun. He was very knowledgeable about the gun and took the time to explain it to us in detail. He even gave us a demonstration of it by turning the crank so that the barrels rotated and having the firing chamber open so that we could see the actions of the firing pin. Actually, all of the people (about 20) who were putting on the exhibition were knowledgeable and readily explained what they had on exhibition. And everything was free including nice cold sodas on ice. They put on this show once a year here at the senior center. Now I must admit that I didn’t tell them that I was blue belly yankee from New York. I had a great time and it was a lot of fun. May everyone who reads this blog also have a great time today and lots of fun. Mary and I will be running a lot of odds and ends errands today. I try to work outside but I only get in about two hours a day because of the heat. As Buster Poindexter says, it is Hot, Hot, Hot. Lew

whistling dixie

This is a gatling gun that was on display at the senior center a couple of blocks from the house. They had quite a few items on display. At the time I didn’t know who was putting on the show. But tomorrow there is going to be a display by the sons of the confederacy. I guess that makes sense being here in the south. I mean I wouldn’t

expect for the show to be sponsored by the sons of the blue bellied Yankees. Being from the north I guess that would be me, a yankee.

I wouldn’t expect to see this union soldier reenactor their either. He would probably be greatly outnumbered and probably persona non-grata. I got the picture of this yankee soldier at a civil war reenactment near Kissimmee. I am looking forward to seeing all of the exhibits that I am sure that they will have. I have to go and practice whistling Dixie. Lew

a catbird

Kitty, kitty, where is the kitty? Can you find the kitty in this photograph?
But of course, there she is in the tree tops.

She has found a spot in the tree top where the tree branches off into four large branches creating what looks like would be a good spot for a bird to build a nest. The tree is a eucalyptus tree, the type that smells like cough drops. Once she is up in the tree, we can call and call and she won’t come down until she is ready. I think that she knows that we can’t get to her when she is up there and she likes this spot in the tree tops because she can stay outside as long as she wants. She doesn’t seem to have any difficulty getting up into the tree or coming down. Perhaps she was a bird in a former life. Right now it is early morning and the dawn of a new day, quite literally. The sun has not peeked up over the horizon yet but it is illuminating the clouds in colors of pinkish-red. I wonder what kind of a day this will be. A good day, I hope. Maybe I should be really optimistic and buy a lottery ticket. I could do the Mel Fisher routine as I sit in front of the television Saturday night with my lottery ticket in my hand watching the numbered balls come up. Like Mel Fisher, I could just keep saying Mel’s famous expression “Today’s the day.” What do you think. Would it work? It did for Mel Fisher. Have a lucky day. After all, today could be the day for you too. Lew

color of autumn in July

I grew up in a small town in New York. Actually this small town is so small that it is officially classified as a hamlet. The word hamlet makes it sounds like something out of the English countryside. But then, that is why they call that region of the country New England. Trees and bushes and vegetation were in grand abundance. Quite a difference from the concrete canyons of the city. And each fall a curious thing happened, all of the leaves on the trees turned to shades of red, yellow, and orange. And what a sight it was. I was walking in the backyard here in Florida when I saw some leaves with that same fiery red color of the autumn leaves of New England. But these red leaves were new leaves just starting out. Evidently as they mature they turn green. I couldn’t resist getting a picture of one of the leaves. The autumn colors of a northern fall right here in Florida. And the joys of autumn. My favorite pastime in the fall was to rake the fallen leaves into a very large pile and then jump into that soft pile of leaves. It was like a giant pillow and the earthy smell of the leaves were both pleasant and comforting. It was a great time. Mom and dad worked and paid the bills and all that I had to do was play. It doesn’t get much better than that. Lying on my back on the soft grass looking at the white fluffy clouds is another story for another time. Have a nice day and my assignment for everyone for today who reads this: pick a pleasant memory from the past and muse upon it for awhile. Savor the memory, enjoy the memory, and then try to create at least one more memorable pleasant memory today. Be kind to yourself and others. Lew

dragonfly

Can you find the dragonfly in this picture?

There he is, right on the tip of my car antenna. The dragonfly was just having a good time buzzing around the yard.

As a young child I feared them because the older kids told me that the long tail was a stinger and they would sting me. Well, that was enough to make me scream and shout and run away in horror. Now I have come to like them because someone once told me that the dragonfly eats mosquitoes. I was in the Everglades south of Miami on an observation of a grazing occultation of the moon with the members of the local astronomy club. It was the middle of summer and hot and the hordes of mosquitoes were voracious in their appetites. Most of the club members had two sets of clothing on and dripping with mosquito repellent for protection from the mosquitoes. It was early evening and still daylight but the sun was setting when I heard a tremendous cheer from some of the club members. I asked the fellow that I was standing next to what was happening. He told me that they were cheering because a large number of dragonflies had descended upon us. He told me that they were happy because the dragonflies would eat the mosquitoes. My friend told me to go stand in the middle of the dragonflies and I would be relatively safe from the mosquitoes which I did and he was right. But then after about half an hour the dragonflies moved on and the mosquitoes came back. I left also but the good thing is that I had learned about the fact that dragonflies eat mosquitoes and so here in Florida they are a good thing to have in the yard. So the next time you see a dragonfly just remember that he is really your best friend in the war on mosquitoes.

Hail to the might dragonfly, protector of humanity from the ravenous mosquito. Villager, how am I doing on the use of colorful metaphors? Lew

jam jars

So many food products come in plastic containers now. There was a time when glass was used. And glass is truly recyclable. We get our jam preserves in these thick-walled jars. When we are finished, we wash out the jars and remove the labels. You could drink out of them but we prefer to use them for storing left-over foods in. We even freeze food in them in the freezer. Even when there are liquids in the jar along with the food such as whole kernel corn which came from a can. We will pour the liquid from the can into the jar along with the corn and freeze it and the glass does not break because the walls of the glass jar are so thick and strong. Plus they are easy to pick up because of the handle which is a real plus when you take them out of the freezer. I just think that these jars are neat because they can be used for so many things instead of being discarded in the trash or put into the recycling bin. Breakfast this morning was fried eggs over easy on top of corned beef hash which had been cooked and browned under the broiler of the toaster oven. We also had cinnamon swirl cranberry toast which I put some pineapple jam onto my toast. I like the pineapple jam. It reminds me so much of pineapple pie which I like but is very hard to get. When I was very young I would get those indivual pies in pineapple at the local malt shop. I think that they cost a dime at the time. I also liked the blueberry individual pies but they could be messy if the blueberry filling dripped onto my white tee shirt. Have a nice day and don't forget to take time to smell the flowers which we have in great abundance here in Florida. Lew

creature comforts

What a life of leisure our cat Tammy has. Here she is lying on our bed which is one of her favorite spots. She spends most afternoons when it is hot on the bed asleep in air conditioned luxury. I think that she likes the bed because it is so soft. It is one of those air beds that you dial the comfort level with a remote control. The remote control is wireless which makes it nice. You can set a comfort setting for each half of the bed. The bed was a little pricey but it finally got rid of our aching backs. If you are in a situation where you can't have a waterbed like a wooden house or an apartment then the air beds are the way to go. I think that Tammy the cat would agree with me as demonstrated in the picture. I am just amazed by how lucky she was that Mary picked her up when she was a sick miserable starving kitten and now she is in the lap of kitty luxury. How lucky. Today we are going to the library. We have a bunch of DVD's to return to the library and pick up some more to watch. It is so hot now that I can't imagine what August will be like. How did they manage to live in Florida before there was air conditioning? Trying to stay cool. Lew

nose art

Nose art. No, I don’t mean nose rings or little gold studs in the nose. I mean the tradition of painting a picture on the nose of airplanes. This started with the bombers of world war II. Usually it was a pretty girl or a silly cat. Something for the crew of the airplane to identify with and that made their plane unique from all of the other airplanes. This helicopter at the Vietnam memorial museum had the image of Mickey Mouse on it for its nose art.

And this MASH unit is the only one that was officially given permission to use the image of Mickey on their aircraft.

This was a medical helicopter used to evacuate the wounded soldiers from the battlefield back to a medical unit. Thus the red cross on the plane.

It is really nice that the Vietnam war museum is preserving so much of the history of the Vietnam war for the future generations to see. A noble effort by noble men.
As I write this, dawn is starting to break and it is a new day. Last night we had a hamburger pizza from Little Caesar’s for supper. We had two slices each which is only half the pizza. There are four slices left which will be our lunch today. So the two of us got two meals each from a
$ 5.00 pizza. Now that is a good deal and we didn’t even have to cook it. Today we will see if the shuttle launches. I agree with seaside that they should pick a different time of day to launch the shuttle. After all, this is Florida and we all know that the summertime weather pattern is rain in the afternoon. A morning launch or a night launch would have a better chance of launching with respect to the weather. But I am sure that they have some good reasons for having to launch at that time. I feel sorry for the people who travel a long distance to see the launch and then get disappointed and have a long drive home. Seaside is lucky, all she has to do is open her front door to watch the launch. I go out into the front yard here in Orlando to see the shuttle go up but it is quite small and what we see most is the flame from the solid booster rockets and the smoke trail. Gotta go. Lew

vietnam revisited

This is the building where the small artifacts are stored. There are a jillion of them of a wide variety. I believe this is the backside of the museum but it is seen as you enter their site. Someone had done a very nice mural of Vietnam from the soldier’s perspective.

Someone has put a lot of work into the mural as it is quite large and covers the entire side of the building.

I just thought that this mural was a fine tribute to those soldiers who fought in an unpopular war. It is good to have reminders like this mural and the museum lest we forget. Have a nice day and get some Kentucky Fried Chicken to munch on while watching the shuttle launch (whenever it goes). Actually, the Banquet frozen fried chicken is pretty good and costs a lot less. With the money savings you could get a bag of frozen French fries to go with the chicken. Take care. Lew

keeping up with the neighbor

I guess that in a sense we are trying to keep up with our neighbor. You know the one, the neighbor with the vines covering his house. We had a single vine grow up in front of the rail. Although it is one of those vines with spikes for thorns we decided to let it grow and wrapped it around the railing. It is doing quite well. We have a lot of these types of vines around the house and like seaside's sister with the cacti, they seem to grow back as fast as I cut them. They just seem to be everywhere; in the magnolia bushes and on the chain link fences, and now on the front porch railing. With the coming of the summer rains, plants and grass seem to be growing in great profusion. Today is suppose to be a shuttle launch day. I hope that it is able to launch. Yesterday I sat for a period of time watching a live broadcast from the Kennedy space center of the shuttle sitting on the launch pad. Nothing happened because the launch was cancelled but the commentary by the newsmen was interesting and made it all worthwhile. Today it is off to the hospital. But not for any medical treatment but to discuss a blood work lab test that wasn't coded right for medical billing and was declined payment. So I have to get that straightened out which may or may not go easy. If I can't get it resolved then I am going to have to pay the hospital $ 78 which I don't want to do because for that amount I can get fifteen trips to Cicci's pizza buffet for that price and I would rather haver the pizza. And who doesn't like pizza? Have a nice cool day and stay indoors as much as possible and enjoy a cool macaroni salad or potato salad along with your hot dog. Lew

Vietnam revisited

There is a war museum and memorial for the Vietnam veterans on the east side of Orlando. They have a nice website www.nwmvocf.org Vietnam was an unpopular war and it is nice that there is a tribute to the veterans of that war here in Orlando. The facility here is quite extensive and has so many artifacts inside their museum building that they are too numerous to list. There was a large number of military vehicles on display also. Right behind me as I was taking this picture was an armored personnel carrier (APC).

They have done a nice job of restoration of the military vehicles. Inside the museum they had a large picture of some soldiers in Vietnam in their battle gear.

The whole complex of this museum was just so fascinating. I could have spent a lot more time there and probably should have. We got a guided tour of the entire site by a vietnam veteran. He was very nice and very informative. He explained everything to us. He said that he had been a crew chief on a helicopter during the Vietnam war.
Have a nice day and hopefully the shuttle will launch tonight. Lew

they're everywhere!!!

Those pretty blue wildflowers are multiplying and spreading. We are not cutting them down to see how many we can get since when the flowers open up they are quite pretty. They seem to be doing so well. We are trying to encourage those plants that grow well in this sandy soil since so many of our store bought plants don’t seem to do well. The gladiolus plants started out good but now they too seem to be struggling. Could the moles be damaging the gladiolus bulbs and roots? Anyway, we are practicing xerascape type landscaping which means encouraging those plants that do well with little care. Can you count the plants? Here is a little help.

Have a good day and if you don’t have any pets to keep you company just get an Uncle Milton’s Ant Farm and watch the little ants hard at work. Remember those? I had several of them when I was very young and absolutely loved it. My mom was always afraid of the ants getting out. Smile, and then smile some more. Lew

what time is it?

It must be four o'clock because the flowers on this four o'clock plant are open. The flowers open in the late afternoon around four o'clock and thus the name of the flowers is four o'clock. It is always fascinating to me how flowers know when to open and when to close since they don't have a brain or nervous system. And how do they accomplish this motion of the petals since they don't have muscles? And I believe that the sunflower plant will actually follow the sun. I really don't know if that is true, but I have heard it. The colors of these flowers are so bright. This is how they look before four o'clock. Closed up tight and as snug as a bug in a rug. Lew

While living in the hot desert city of Phoenix, Arizona I heard an indian story. It was told that when a young Indian passed from childhood to becoming a young brave that the medicine man of the tribe would take him out into the desert. The medicine man would search for a cactus. A particular cactus. A special cactus. When the medicine man finally found just the right cactus, he told the young brave that this was his cactus. He was to care for the cactus and make sure that it got water once a month. The young brave was to take water out to the cactus. The cactus was the young braves responsibility. He was told that he would have to care for this cactus always as now there was a sort of bond between him and the cactus. It was “his” cactus. It was to teach the young brave responsibility. Only the young brave and the medicine man knew which cactus was his. I liked the story so much that on my next trip into the desert I selected a cactus and once a month I would take a five gallon container of water to it and pour the water around the base of the cactus. I did this monthly but unlike the young Indian brave who did this for life, after about a year I tired of it and stopped. I did not know then that the important thing in life is how you conduct yourself by helping others and God's creatues and not how much money or material goods you amass. There are values and lessons to be learned from every culture including this tale from the Indian culture. The cactus in the picture is one that Mary’s husband, Herbert, gave to her. She dutifully cares for it and it has grown from a small dime store sized cactus into this large cactus that you see now. We recently transplanted it from a large pot into the ground. It had outgrown the pot. The soil is sandy just like the desert and it gets plenty of water dripping off the eave of the roof. And when it was in the pot I would give it liquid fertilizer. The cactus and the care that it receives reminded me of this Indian story from long ago. And perhaps there is a moral in this in that you can’t save all of the cactus in the desert but you can save just one and by saving even just one you have done some good with your life. Much like my religious life was to

Father Galucci. I was his cactus. Lew

oxymoron

Oxymoron

That word almost sounds insulting. I feel like saying “Who’s a moron?” Of course we know that it is a combination of contradictory words. The first time that I ever heard of the term oxymoron was in the movie Renaissance Man starring Danny Devito. I don’t know the derivation or origin of the word but I like it. Oxymorons are everywhere. I saw some oxymoronic phrases on the internet such as: small crowd, soft rock, sweet sorrow (Shakespeare?), peace force, twelve-ounce pound cake, and the list just goes on and on. Then one day I was driving in downtown Miami when I saw this sign. I couldn’t believe my eyes that they would put both of these onto the same billboard. Could this be considered an oxymoron also?

The top half of the sign is promoting smoking and the bottom half of the sign warns of dangers to the lung from radon gas. It just doesn’t make sense to me since it is generally accepted that smoking has a risk of lung cancer with. Curiously though, my great grandfather who lived into his very late 80’s smoked camels all his life and never got lung cancer or any kind of cancer. So you just never know but I found this sign curious none-the-less.

Elsa, the lioness?

Elsa the lioness? No, just Tammy the felinis domesticus (the scientific Latin name for house cat). She is pretending to be the great hunter but in actuality there is probably just a bug or something down in the grass that has caught her attention.

In a sense she reminds me of myself when I was very young in that all I had to do all day long was to play and explore. I didn’t worry about how the bills were going to be paid, go to work, and all of the other things that my parents had to be concerned with. My concern was playtime. Well, I did work once. I had a kool-aid stand one summer on a wooden box by the road in front of my house. I didn’t sell any of the kool aid but all was not lost, I ended up drinking the kool aid myself. And to make matters better, it was my favorite flavor, cherry. I think that most children had a little kool-aid stand set up at one time or another in their childhood. So Tammy the cat has a good time all day long playing outside with the other cats in the neighborhood, then comes in for lunch,

and then wants to go back outside for more fun.

We don't have to call her for meal time. She seems to know lunch time and supper pretty well. By the way, I loved the book Born Free about Elsa the lioness. A great story and over the years I have reread it. They made a movie of the book but as they say the book is always better than the movie. In this case I have to agree. I liked the book better than the movie. A great book for anyone who hasn't read it, go to the library and check out a copy. It will tug at your heart strings. Very sentimental. Have a good day and enjoy your pets whatever they may be. Lew

bang, pop, and boom

Quite a spectacular fireworks show across the street. It looks as though there is an out-of-control fire. Actually it is just a type of fireworks called fountains. The long exposure time of the camera made everything blur together so that it looked like a blazing inferno.

This picture is more of what it really looked like. I have no idea how much they spent on fireworks but I would say it was a considerable amount. There were also numerous aerial fireworks but I couldn’t adequately capture the pictures because, once again, of the long exposure times. The fireworks lasted until about midnight and then everything went quiet. There were a lot of fireworks set off by the neighbors but I don’t think that it was the same amount as last year. Perhaps it is a sign of the economic times. Like Roosevelt, I hope that president Obama can get the mess that the economy is in straightened out. Time will tell. I hope that everyone out there had a safe and happy Fourth of July. Lew

shrimp boat

Here is Mary's latest art work. A shrimp boat much like Seaside's pictures. For some reason it reminds me of the Andrea Gail from the movie The Perfect Storm which I liked a lot. Mary works at the paintings very hard putting in a lot of detail. I wouldn't have enough patience to slowly and painfully put in all of the detail but the paintings look really nice as a result. And speaking of shrimp, we went to Captain D's a few weeks ago and got their coconut shrimp and they are pretty good. Of course Red Lobster has nice shrimp. There are certain nights when the Golden Corral has coconut shrimp on their buffet. Let's all go get some butterfly coconut shrimp. Yummy. Lew

local fireworks

This is a picture of a lilly that Mary has growing by an old large stump. There are a number of the lilly plants growing around its base. Saturday morning we had fried eggs with some broiled spam light and a cinnamon bagel. And then it was off to the Mt. Dora flea market. We had lunch there which was a corn dog, small fries and a soda for each of us. The corn dog was good. The corn meal coating gave it a nice flavor. Of course I literally drowned the french fries in ketchup which made them extra special good. Where we ate at the flea market it was air conditioned and they had nice tables and benches to sit on. But most of the flea market was not air conditioned. When we arrived in the late morning, it was already hot at the flea market. The vendors stalls are inside a long structure with a tin roof. I was sweating profusely and my shirt was getting wet from the perspiration running down. We had lunch in air conditioned comfort at 12:30 and then headed back into the hot non-air conditioned area. Hot is an understatement. They had numerous fans up by the ceiling about every 20 feet to circulate the air. In the afternoon they turned on misters which sprayed a fine mist of water in front of the fan. I couldn’t tell that it helped that much. Perhaps it would have been worse without the misters. But it was oppressively hot. It reminded me of the movie The Bridge Over the River Kwai where Alec Guiness is put into a box in the hot sun as punishment. The same is true of the movie Cool Hand Luke where Paul Newman is put into a box in the hot sun for punishment. Well, that was how I felt, like I was in a hot box in the sun which is where I was in a sense. The building could be considered just a great big box and the hot sun was beating down on it heating the interior to intolerable discomfort. But Mary and I found some good buys and so everything did work out for the best. Then it was on to home after making a couple of stops along the way. Mary always gets vegetable at the flea markets whenever we go. The vegetables always look so good and at the peak of ripeness. Mary got some romaine lettuce and some plum tomatoes which were served at supper which was teriyaki roast pork loin and pasta salad on the side. The afternoon was spent in the house because of the intense heat outside. Iwas looking forward to an incredible fireworks display right here in the neighborhood put on by the surrounding neighbors. It is always a nice display each year. All of the firecrackers makes it sound like a war zone and the rockets in the sky look like downtown Baghdad at the beginning of Desert Storm. The smell of the gunpowder from the fireworks just permeates the air and lies like a heavy fog which reminds of the beach scene in the movie with Robert Duvall in the movie Apocalypse Now where he says “There’s nothing like the smell of napalm in the morning”. I guess that I am just a movie buff but I do like the movies. The thunderous uproar of the fireworks always continues until around midnight. I elected not to buy any of the fireworks because of the prices. They seem to be so expensive. I couldn’t believe what they were selling for at Wal-Mart. So I will just stand out on the front porch and watch the neighbors set off their fireworks. This morning we had powdered sugar donuts and grits for breakfast. I always like my grits very well cooked and so I started the preparation of my grits early. I don’t like for grits to taste gritty. The donuts are really cranberry orange muffins made in a donut baking pan. Lew

camera case

My digital camera didn’t come with a camera case. I was afraid of the LCD screen on the back of the camera getting scratched. I asked Mary if she could make me a camera case to protect the LCD screen. She made the cloth case below.

It is a nice case because the material is heavyweight which gives a lot of protection to the camera, it has a Velcro closure which makes it easy to open and close, it has a short strap on it, and it is very flexible so I can just stuff it into my pocket when I take the camera out of it. It is really a nice case for the camera.

I have a 1 gigabyte SD memory card in the camera which gives me plenty of storage. I really like the blue color of the camera. Today is a day at the Mt. Dora flea market. I like the Mt. Dora flea market because it is indoors and air conditioned. It is very large with row after row of vendors. And if you walk the entire flea market, you have gotten your exercise. Mary and I each carry a celfone in case we should get separated we can communicate with one another. You know, something like, "Hello Mary? munch. I am by the hot dog stand. munch, munch. Where are you? munch. No, I am not eating a hot dog. munch, gulp, slurp." Lew