12 Oakdale

Sunday, we met Kristina, Bryan and kids at Bonnet Springs Park for our annual Christmas visit. An easy drive for us from Orlando and those in Tampa and Plant City. Too far for Patten this year since he has joined the hurt back club. We chatted while the kids played.  With Kyle’s parents with dogs Rio and Vader in town, Stephanie was hosting Christmas dinner. Because of Aiden’s schedule, the main celebration was to be Christmas Eve, with our having a smaller, lighter meal the next day. Exact details TDB. That got changed when his mom flew out last minute Monday to visit her mother who was not well, so he and his dog Minnie were added back into the mix. Much anxiety. Patten was going to be alone on Christmas, however his back was killing him, so the thought of his driving up was not appealing. Perhaps Grant and I should bail on the Orlando crew and go south to cook. Much hemming and hawing. As things fell out, we floundered back to the original schedule. Patten toughed it out, drivin...

December 10, Alec and Winston appeared with our new 75” TV which has taken over the south wall of the living room, starting a domino effect. I agreed to have the 3 paintings be hung in our bedroom, but first I will paint the wall behind our bed. That will happen after Grant removes the existing screws and mollys, then patches the wall. Plus I have to measure the square footage to see if I have enough green paint left from the living room to avoid buying more. More importantly, it means we don’t have to make another color decision. For the nonce, the paintings are lying on the guest bed. We also can reclaim the bookcase for the books stacked on the ottoman and Dad’s sea chest. That means Suelen, the Brazilian woman I’ve hired to clean twice monthly ($115/visit) will have less stuff to move, dust, move dust.  She and her assistant Frabrina came December 20 and spent 5 hours deep cleaning the house ($250 and worth every penny). They scrubbed every surface, wiped the grime, mopped the ...

I varnished the porch doors after we moved in. I do pride myself on how good a varnisher I am, and the doors looked great. However, even under cover of the pool screen, our bedroom door has gotten enough sun to ruin the finish. The lowest part was missing varnish so the wood had weathered. Yes, I should have put another coat on every year, but I didn’t, so here we are. My first thought was to give up on the varnish, since I believe I can’t hire anyone to do it as well as I can. Probably not true, but that’s my claim. I also didn’t want to have to do all the work the door would need to look good if I revarnished it: sand to bare wood in some areas, stain, sand, varnish, sand, varnish, etc. I decided to paint it a royal purple which I thought would go with the blue-gray walls. The doors under the lanai are still in good condition, and I decided the purple and the varnish would complement each other. Then I decided it would be a waste to buy paint, when I have almost a full can of varnish...

I ran out to get the newspaper, clad only in my nightie as usual. Our whole front yard was flooded, and water bubbled out a hole. A dang leak between the meter and the house. Back inside, I hurried to put on clothes and boots while yelling at Grant to get up and get dressed. I called the plumber, first his cell which went to voice mail, then his service which took my message that I needed him NOW. Grant told me to turn off the water to the house, which I did after tromping through our soggy front yard. That did nothing. I opened the meter box, full of water, and felt around for a valve. Nothing seemed to turn. A quick call to Kyle who said to bail out the meter box. Duh, I should have thought of that. Back to the house for a measuring cup, back to the meter to kneel and bail. I found the valve but I couldn’t turn it. A picture sent to Kyle. He said get a wrench. Duh, again. To the garage for the wrench. Success, I turned the water off. Well, that was exciting before coffee. Troy called...

CC came Monday this week to finish digging out the torpedo grass that has taken over part of my front flower bed. I had culverted a big area of swamp twinflower (Dyschoriste humistrata), but while we were away, the grass covered and killed it. Nothing to be done but start over. While she dug, I cut back salvias to encourage new growth. We began hearing the beep, beep, beep of heavy equipment backing up. The house across the canal was being torn down. Diane, the previous owner, sold when she couldn’t get a variance to put in a pool closer to the canal than current regulations allow. Assuming the new house will be the usual 2-story, I wonder if the new owner will figure how to fit in a pool. Much speculation among the neighbors.  Wednesday, we sat over at the Orange County courthouse all day while Stephanie spent more time and money getting divorced. I wasn’t allowed in the courtroom because I was a potential witness about how we had bought her house and who paid what. I was never ca...

I am so pleased with how my painting the flamingo bathroom turned out. I’ve been thinking about doing it since we moved in. It had to be done. We’d hung our art on existing hooks and ignored the holes left when anchors had been removed.   I dithered about what color to pain the walls. Pink? What about FLAMINGO PINK? Too cliche? What about green as a counterpoint to pink? The glass tiles are grey, as are the floor tiles. I brought home paint chips and dithered. My friend Kathy suggested a brown to match part of the shower curtain. That would be different. I brought home more paint chips. I love my flamingos, but they need to be contained. Spaulding’s piano teacher, who also accompanied Patten and Mary at cello competition, was a flamingo fanatic. Her whole house was filled with flamingos. At Christmas, she staged a reenactment of the nativity scene in her front yard, using flamingos, with a flamingo Beany Baby for baby Jesus, who didn’t appear in the manager until Christmas Day. At ...