art festival

This is a picture of the Mt. Dora art festival that Mary and I went to a couple of years ago. It was so crowded that I couldn’t wait to get out of there and back home. Just way too many visitors. We had to pay to park miles away and ride a bus to the art festival. The bus dropped us a couple of blocks from the art festival. There were many food booths of food and snack vendors but they charged too much. Let me correct that, they charged way too much. If we go to street fairs it is usually at Lake Eola where the crowds are not nearly as bad and we can stroll along and look at the displays. Plus we can also have lunch either at a nice little patio restaurant by the swan boats or purchase something for a food vendor. All in all, much more enjoyable than Mt. Dora. However, I would like to visit the historic district of Mt. Dora at some point in the future when there aren’t any festivals going on. I am curious what the home of Pat Frank looks like. He is the sci-fi author who wrote the novel Alas, Babylon which takes place in a community in central Florida. Mt. Dora was used as the model of this fictional community. I am just curious if I can gain some insight into what his inspiration for the book might have been. Tammy the cat is free at last. Her mandatory three days of indoor recuperation from her cat scratch infection is over and she was glad to get outside once again. Mary gives her oral antibiotics with a medicine dropper twice a day and the kitty is doing well. I sometimes wonder which “bully” cat scratched her. Bullies, I think that we all grew up with them and had at least one that would torment us. But that is another story. Have nice day outside in the mornings and indoors in the afternoons. Be cool (weather-wise). Lew

a round tuit

Mary planted my scallion seeds for me. I was procrastinating on it because “I just hadn’t gotten a round tuit” as they say. I got the scallion seeds because I like scallions plus they grew wild in the front yard when I was young. My mother would ask me to go pick some “wild onions” as we called them and I would go out to the yard and start pulling them up. My mother thought that it was novel to have wild onions growing in the yard and anytime you wanted some, just go out and pick them. They were smaller than the scallions that are in the grocery store but very tasty. My mother would clean them and cut off the roots and put them into a small glass of water for the supper table. Now that is growing up in the country is all about. The onions were there every year. We didn’t have to plant them, they just kept replenishing themselves. And evidently they braved the harshness of winter just fine. The seeds that Mary planted were so small. I thought that the scallions would grow from bulbs. I looked all over the various seed racks at WalMart but didn’t see any bulbs for planting, just seeds. I seem to be having a tough time: no hummingbirds came to drink at the hummingbird feeder, no cardinals came to feed at the bird feeder, no squirrels came to the bird feeder to steal the birdseed, and my sunflowers are never as big as the Rider’s sunflowers. I hope that the scallion seeds germinate and grow into huge luscious scallions. However, to every cloud there is a silver lining and I put some of the hummingbird nectar into a small old cat food can and the ants love the nectar. They are lined up at the edge of the nectar drinking away like hogs at the trough. But that is the good news. Remember, the old saying “I have good news and I have bad news”? Well, the good news of the ants drinking the nectar is followed by the bad news that the ants are fire ants who will definitely “bite the hand that feeds them”. The term “sugar sand” sounds so nice and sweet. But it is basically beach sand and that is the soil that we have here. So imagine trying to grow plants in beach sand that has no nutrients in it. I think that is the problem of trying to grow things in the yard because the soil here is sugar sand. Gotta go. Everyone have a nice day. Today the air conditioning man comes for the spring tune-up of the central AC unit. We want to make sure that we have a nice cool summer here inside the house. Adios amigos. Lew

Dumb and Dumber

Idiot. Complete idiot #1, a.k.a. Lew. Place: Phoenix, Arizona, circa 1970. Location: dry riverbed of the Salt River where the storm drain of the city empties into the dry river bed. Idiot climbing down the storm drain cover grate: me. Why would I be doing such a thing? Young and dumb. Thinking that this would be an adventure.

Good idea, my accomplice Rick is pretending that he is trapped behind the grating. This cast iron grating was extremely heavy and very difficult to move. The water was very clear and did not have any odor to it so I wasn’t too worried about it.

Accomplice: idiot #2: a.k.a. Rick, a coworker of mine. Why was he idiot #2? Because he followed idiot #1 on a zany adventure. The movie “Dumb and Dumber” comes to mind. The cement pipe was so large that it was very easy to stand up in it. My concern was a sudden storm while we exploring the storm drain pipe.

Here is water gushing in from a side drain pipe. I would estimate that we went several miles up the drain pipe because we ended up under downtown Phoenix. Never really had much problem with carbon monoxide until near the end of our adventure. Breathing became labored and I figured that it was due to carbon monoxide from the car exhausts on the streets above us filtering down since it is heavier than air. This is when we decided to turn back because of the heaviness with the breathing. It was a grand adventure which most people wouldn’t do. At least sane intelligent people. I was always exploring; abandoned mine shafts, ghost towns, treasure hunts for buried treasure, etc. I was very active when I lived in Phoenix, Arizona. There were times when I would even brave the summer heat but not for long when the temperature would hit 118 degrees. It was a good time in my life. I worked hard (62 hours per week routinely), had fun with my adventures and enjoyed attending college at Arizona State University. I had the energy of youth. Now I have a lot of wonderful memories and tales to tell. Everyone have a nice day and may today be an adventure for one and all. Lew

Yesterday, Mary and I went to visit the Mary, Queen of the Universe Shrine. It was really quite impressive by its artistry and its scale. It is located in Kissimmee near Downtown Disney. The three sets of doors behind Mary are massive brass doors with brass religious scenes in relief in the panels of the door. There are numerous panels in each door each with a different scene.
The interior of the church was spectacular as well but I wish that it had more of the gothic Notre Dame cathedral or St. Patrick’s cathedral theme to it.

It was interesting that there was a colonnade of columns running down both sides of the church with Romanesque arches between them and carved capstones on top of the columns. This is more of the style that I find pleasing. The church in my hometown had this same design with the colonnade but on a much smaller scale. Between the stained glass windows were classical paintings depicting the Stations of the Cross which was always my favorite mass traditionally held on Friday nights. There is so much to describe but should be seen in person to be fully appreciated. A nice church which seats two thousand people at a time.
Mary and I spent quite a bit of time at the church taking a leisurely exploration of both the interior of the church and the exterior grounds which contained other structures. When we had finished, it was lunch time and we went Panera’s for lunch. Panera’s is sort of an upscale sandwich restaurant. I had my favorite which was a cheddar broccoli soup in a bread bowl. The soup was thick, heart, and savory. In other words, it was pretty good. Mary had a Sierra Turkey sandwich which was smoked turkey breast with chipotle mayonnaise, field greens & red onions on Asiago Cheese Focaccia bread. She enjoyed it.
After lunch we returned home and watched part of a DVD movie from the library. It was a rather casual and relaxing day. Today we get to see an exhibition of paintings by the Highwaymen. I like their paintings because of the splash of color in their paintings and rural Florida themes. Everyone have a great day. Lew

war monger

This is an early Lew. A group picture of my squadron of the Air Force ROTC which stands for Reserve Office Training Corps. I was attending the University of Miami at the time. I wanted to be a navigator on a B-52. Can you spot me in the group picture? Back row, number 6 counting from the right. Such a serious expression. It must have been my war face as they call

it.

They were a great bunch of guys but I wonder how many of them came back from Vietnam. Oh, to be young again. Our uniforms had to be just so. The shirt had to be tucked together at the sides and not in the back. Since at that time in my life my shoulders were wider than my waist there was quite a bit of shirt to tuck together at the sides. One of my squadron buddies told me of a tailor near the university that knew just how to trim the shirt in so that there would be very little if any at all tucked in at the sides. He did the shirts for everyone. After he finished with my shirt it looked very neat. If you enlarge the group picture you can see the battle ribbons above my left shirt pocket. I don’t have the battle ribbons anymore and I think that I have one of my two chevrons left, I gave one to my daughter but I don’t know if she still has it. I got to fly a large airplane whiled in the Air Force ROTC. It was a large twin engine transport plane and we were flying all around over the city of Miami at night. It was neat to look out the left canopy window and see the left engine and then turn my head and look out the right canopy window and see the right engine. Yep, both engines were still there and not on fire like you see in the movies. It was a good time and we all have a high point in our lives and my time at the University of Miami was the high point of my life. Everything was going great and nothing was going wrong. I was working weekends as an x-ray technician, getting and education and having fun at Suntan U as they called the university then. By the way, this picture was from my University of Miami yearbook. Today Mary and I are going to the Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe which is a Catholic shrine and church. I have never been there but the pictures that I have seen of it are quite impressive. Everyone have a great day. Lew

sinking feeling

Isn’t there a song lyric that goes “I’ve got that sinking feeling”? Well, close enough anyway. This picture is from when I worked in Sanford. I was driving down a street when I saw the sinkhole form but it did expand while I was there. Of course, I called the police and that night I saw the sinkhole on the news so a film crew must have shown up after I left. Kind of scary how the ground can just open up like that. Never a dull moment here in Orlando. If it isn’t sinkholes, then it is hurricanes. Today is Sunday which is medium breakfast day which will consist of a bowl of grits, blueberry muffin donuts, and maple sausage. A bowl of grits, I guess that lets me know that I am in the deep south. When I was growing up in New York, we didn’t know what grits was. On our first vacation to Florida and we had a breakfast of eggs, toast and grits at a restaurant, neither my parents or I knew what to make of the grits. The waitress explained to us about grits. My dad asked if they had any hash browns and the waitress said that they only had grits. We tried the grits and we all liked them and I still like them to this day. But I must admit that if I had a choice between grits or hash browns, I would pick the hash browns. Mind you, I like grits but I love hash browns. See the difference? Sort of like an old television commercial for Stove Top stuffing where the mother asks the family sitting at the table whether they would like to have mashed potatoes or stuffing and the family all yells “stuffing” in unison. I am not sure what is on the agenda for today but there is always something. After all, I live in Orlando, tourist capital of the world where there is always something to do. And when I can’t think of anything, then there is always Downtown Disney to take a nice stroll and there is a McDonalds there so inexpensive food is available. There is also a quasi-church near Downtown Disney. I say quasi-church because it is not a part of the archdiocese and so it is not really a Catholic church. It looks just like a real Catholic church but it can’t be so I use the term “quasi” But the grounds are beautiful from what I have seen on their website. That would be nice to visit since it is Sunday. There is a bread store that we go to at Hiawassee and Silver Star and after we have made our purchase and are leaving the woman always says “Have a blessed day.” So being Sunday, I will borrow her phrase and say, Have a blessed day. Lew

pet buddy

I have given up on the hummingbirds because I haven’ seen any and the level of the red colored nectar has not gone down in the hummingbird feeder. I have moved the humming bird feeder to a different location and put this bird feeder called Pet Buddy in its place. There are lots of red cardinals around the property and perhaps I will get to see them at the feeder. I am worried that the cardinals are good sized birds and I wonder if they will have any trouble feeding at the feeder. There are also finches in the area and thanks to the numerous squirrels I am sure that the bird food will not go to waste. But if the feeder fails to attract birds, it may just be simpler to go to Michael’s, the arts and crafts store, and buy a couple of those realistic fake birds (oxymoron?) and tie them to the feeder with string. This is Saturday which is big breakfast day and Mary is going to make fried eggs, bacon, and blueberry doughnuts. The blueberry doughnuts are made from blueberry muffin mix which makes for guilt free doughnuts. She puts the blueberry batter into a doughnut pan so that they come out looking like doughnuts. Hot doughnuts with breakfast. Now isn’t that a treat. Today we will be going to the library to check out some more DVD’s. I have also ordered Lords of War starring Nicholas Cage from the library for home delivery. It will be coming from the main library in downtown Orlando. That main library is absolutely huge and has anything and everything a person could want. They even have a restaurant inside the library where you can get something to eat and drink. How’s that for a library. Gotta go, pretty soon it will be blueberry donut (muffin) time. Have a yummy day like I am about to have. Lew