12 Oakdale

Each year, an anonymous donor gives Bloom and Grow Garden Society* entry tickets and a table for 10 to the Habitat for Humanity’s Rock the House fundraising auction. Any members who want to go put their name in a basket for 2 seats. This year I finally got lucky. Maybe. I assumed this was an uptown affair. Nope, under a big tent in a field. *So Winter Garden to be a society, not a club. One other factor in the plot is that each table competes in a table decoration contest. Our group decided on a bee theme, since the club promotes pollinator power. To make a long story probably too long, Ellen designed a huge centerpiece, making an old fashioned bee skep from a basket turned upside down atop an orange crate with lanterns and lights around it. Little bees were scattered on the table, and ribbon was strategically swooped throughout. Gold chargers topped by black and white checkered plates added glamour. We had painted sunflowers on chair-back covers, and best of all, dressed up like bees....

I have to learn the all words to the US armed forces hymns. It seems Central Florida is very patriotic, and at every musical event, a medley of the different military songs, including the Coast Guard’s, is played. I can sing the first line or two of all of them, except the Coast Guard’s, then I “humble”, Rev Amy’s word for humming and mumbling, which she rightfully claims most people do in church when they don’t have a hymnal. In any case, the military medley was played by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra at last night’s Music Among the Lakes, a free concert sponsored by Windermere Wine and Dine, with an opportunity to donate funds for Second Harvest Food Bank via a QR code. Very efficient. When the $10,000 goal was met, we all got to light up our free wrist bands to blue, (at half way, we turned them on to glow white). We’d already made our annual gift to Second Harvest, but decided to cough up $50, since we liked event and wanted it to happen again.  The show started with the O...