12 Oakdale

I woke up this morning and realized I have nothing hanging over my head. I could work in the yard, get caught up on financial paperwork, or bake bread, but nothing is overdue. Just the steady drumbeat of life. Last week I was crazed with shower preparations, and even though I had a schedule and was really on top of it, I woke up a couple of nights obsessing about all the different tasks. It all got done.  People seemed to enjoy the party, and Spaulding and Molly were pleased. We did run low on bbq and have tons of potato salad and cole slaw left, but that might be just because the guests included lots of young men. * My orange cake was a hit, and my mini cupcakes were delicious. I also made cookie gun almond cookies. I was pleased with the results. This week, I had a Toastmasters speech to prepare for my Presentation Mastery pathway. and one last survey to complete to finish my Engaging Humor pathway. I had been putting the latter off for almost 3 months. Tuesday morning, I got up,...

I’m ahead of where I normally am at this stage of the game when I’m organizing for a party. There are still 3 days to go, and the food is ordered, the desserts, except an orange cake, are made. The yard is in great shape thanks to CC and my working like dogs. She did get overzealous in one area and began clearing out the Spanish needles (Bidens alba) , a native weed that normally I rip out continuously. I got her stopped with enough left for all the little wildflower arrangements I want to make for the party. We’ll get the rest pulled up the next time she comes. Grant and I’ve made the list for the crudités, broccoli salad, beans, and rice he’s making. He will shop today. Steph is making decorations and labels for the little honey bear party favors. The porch is cleaned, and we’ve picked up the tables. We’ll borrow 8 chairs from our neighbor’s daughter tomorrow. Today, I want to get the rest of the house neatened and find the photos of Spaulding as a baby. Since he swears we have none ...

Definitely something I never wanted to see: the overhead sign on the turnpike which said, “Wrongway driver detected.”  It was already raining, so this seems like a good time to stop at the rest area just up the road and have lunch. If we didn’t meet that misdirected driver first. We were on our way to Fort Lauderdale for my Toastmasters club’s 60th anniversary party. The invitation was to dress like we would have in 1963. Most people thought hippies, but I knew better. My vintage wool skirt and white blouse, Grant’s madras shirt and khaki pants were what we would have worn. No jeans for us. I didn’t even own any. I dug through my jewelry and found my circle initial pin (PCS), and both my and Steve’s class rings, his worn on a chain around my neck. It still amuses me that Naples High School rings featured a swamp buggy on one side and the Naples pier on the other. No generics rings for us back then. I doubt that is true nowadays, if they even still have class rings. We’d both stuck ...

While we aren’t big time Parrotheads, we were always Jimmy Buffet fans. When he died September 1st, it seemed a part of me has slipped away. Not part of my distant youth, but something from my adult life. The first time we saw him play was at his last outdoor concert in Key West, at the local baseball fields. I remember it was free. We just walked in and sat down. For the life of me, I can’t figure out when it was. Likely the early 1980’s before Mary was born. And I can’t remember why we were in Key West. Probably camping at Long Key, heard about the concert, and drove down for the day. Grant forgets the details too. Proust, with his cup of tea, we are not. The second concert we went to was at the Knight’s Center in Miami. A few days before, we were at the Peaches Record Store (now a Hustler Hollywood Store) on Sunrise Boulevard. Grant was buying whatever we’d come in for, and I was perusing the bulletin board. Wow, do my children or grandchildren know what records or bulletin boards a...

Wednesday morning, Hurricane Idalia (e-DAH-li-ə) came ashore and devastated Cedar Key, but only provided slight winds and 1 1/2” of rain at our house. The impact for me was that my yard lady CC could not come for our morning session of yard work. I had planned for her to move a wooden edging and mist system in the front yard to create a bed along the front of the house.  Ah well, the rains would give us an excuse to work in the garage. First, we moved the bikes from the north wall to the center of the garage. Then we hung a shelf for the rechargeable drill, their batteries and the drill bits. The rechargeable circular saw hangs on one side of it. Last, we put a screw on the wall where we can hang the chainsaw. Now we can get to the drawer and cabinets without having to lean in over all those tools on the floor. I’m quite pleased with our efforts. Sometimes it takes an ill wind to motivate us.  After that, Grant took to his bed with a nasty cold. He had rallied by Saturday, so ...

Saturday, we drove to Fort Lauderdale to see our friend Diane in  Crazy in Love , the musical production her adult theater student class put on. While she had a non-speaking part, the lead was played by Sam, a young man we knew at our old congregation. He loves to dance, sing and act, and has hopes of a career. Tough life plan. Orlando is full of those hopes, but I guess a few pan out. As a confirmed audience member, I enjoy our local theater groups having a large pool of talent to draw from. I get plenty of stage time through my EarlyBird Toastmasters group, with my (self-induced) commitment to speak and to tell a joke once a month. Frankly, telling a joke is harder for me than speaking.  But we’re there to learn and practice. The other weeks I’m happy to take whatever role is needed.  September 16th, the club is celebrating its 60th anniversary. We are invited to come as we were in 1963. Way too early for hippies: the Summer of Love wasn’t until 1967. I found an origina...

Ninety eight percent of the time I figure out the daily Wordle. I’ve only had a couple of misses, and they were when the word was like match/latch/catch/watch, and I ran out of tries before I ran through the list. Mostly I finish in 4 tries, frequently 3 or 5 tries. I don’t have a favorite beginning word. I start by thinking of a 5-letter word that represents the day. Beach or plant or sandy. Not “weedy”, because it repeats a letter, or “ homes”, because I rarely see plurals as an answer. Today, I got it in 1! First time ever. I’m not sure how or why I chose my word. What was it? “Quest”. Still wonder about it. I don’t use “qu” often.  In any case, an unexpected start for my day. Patten drove up from Fort Lauderdale, and at noon, we picked up Clara to go to the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland. At the Orange Audubon fundraising auction, I’d won the bid for a training session with Uff-da, a black vulture who lives at the center. I’d bought it as a birthday present for Cl...