12 Oakdale

I don’t know if I caught something on our trip to Atlanta or some other place, but I’ve been dragging the past few days. I’d wake up with a scratchy throat, but a cup of coffee would make that go away. After a week, I was coughing. No fever. Wednesday and Thursday, I laid in bed and read, getting up to present a solstice invocation in Kip’s memory at EarlyBirds but skipping the Tree Board meeting after. They didn’t want to sit next to me coughing anyway. Before that, I was able to do some gardening in the mornings, then laze around all afternoons. We did get my sundial installed. My watercolor and other activities have been put aside. I called Delta and persuaded them to change our Sydney to Auckland flight to Wellington instead. That’s a relief. Another day, I reserved a hotel in Wellington, bought Zealandia tickets, and decided to take the train up to Auckland to meet Betsy and Keith. We will save money on that, because the upscale seats were all sold. Means we will have to bring our...

On a whim, I bought tickets to the Atlanta show of The Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds tour. They’d played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando on June 3rd, but I was in Fort Lauderdale at the tree conference. Other tour dates didn’t fit our calendar, so Atlanta it was. Friday, we walked 6.7 miles between at the airport, getting to the hotel from MARTA, visiting the Georgia Aquarium, going to dinner at the Twin Smokes BBQ where they serve chitlings rather than chips as a freebie, and trekking to and from the Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the concert.We are tired. Of course, we were amazed by the energy of 80-year-olds Mick and Keith plus 77yo Ronnie, but the fact that most of the audience seemed about their/our age was as impressive. We old geezers still can stay up past 9:00 PM. Of course, at the hotel breakfast next morning, we mostly looked like something the cat dragged in.  Best part? The Stones tour is sponsored by AARP. Saturday, we visited the High Museum to see the Dutch maste...

The rain finally came: almost an inch last evening. Plus lots of wind. We lost a big screen panel, so time to call Terry from Integrity Screens. He’d just been out to replace 3 lowers panels that were getting rather loose, and I worried Gracie would figure out how to escape. Little by little, I’m having him replace all the screens. I probably should just have him do it all at once, but the piece by piece approach seems less painful. I know, crazy thinking. (We were lucky. On the east side of town, a tornado knocked over a tree onto a car, killing a 14-year-old.) Before this rain, the yard was dry and crispy, no matter how much I watered. When the wild coffee and hamalia, both natives, start wilting, it’s dry. I’m having Cooper run a line down the south side, using city water, so we will have total coverage when needed, which I hope won’t be until next dry season. Crossing my fingers that the rainy season has finally started. He’s already extended the canal intake out another foot, and ...

 We bought 2 bananas (. ) and two Red Lady papayas which have “perfect” flowers so we don’t need a male and a female tree in order to have fruit. Since one of the loquat trees, known here in central Florida as Chinese plums, was tipping over more and more, I had Grant cut it down to make way for the papayas. Of course, the sprinkler just barely kisses the easternmost one, so I’ll have Cooper adjust the sprinkler head the next time he comes. In the meantime, we are watering it every day with the hose. Please let the rains start soon. The banana was planted over near the boathouse to replace the one I’d gotten from Spaulding which never grew. This is another place the sprinkler is iffy since I’ve grown tall rosinweed in its path. Another plant we are watering with a hose until Cooper comes to raise the sprinkler head. We planted the last banana just at the edge on the southwest corner, next to the canal. That one, at least, doesn’t need to be watered with a hose, but what the heck, w...

We slept in until 7:00 this morning, and it was a glorious feeling. Nine days of birding with Alex and Chris from Wildside Nature Tours is exhausting. However, we were successful in seeing all we had hoped for and more. First up, Magee Marsh in Ohio for the migrating warblers. Before the trip, I’d lallygagged and got through only half of the online warbler identification course I’d bought from Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, but it didn’t matter. Everyone along the boardwalk pointed out and named the birds we were seeing: prothonotary, Blackburnian, yellow, Tennessee, magnolia, etc. Having flown up from their winter homes in the southern hemisphere, the birds stop along the marsh to refuel before crossing Lake Erie and continuing their flights to Canada and the arctic. For us it was just a matter of standing and watching them, mostly at eye level. (Side note: Amish and Mennonite are big birders, hiring vans to drive them to Magee. Besides the large families, everyone over about 5 ye...

Starting our 5th year here in Windermere. The pandemic has receded from our collective minds, with a few people still wearing masks, the rest of us either fully up to date with Covid boosters or denying the need for either. The political chaos continues, the economy is either booming or a disaster, depending on one’s party affiliation. Grant and I muddle along.  I can see big changes arriving to our lives this year. We are both slowing down which means we have to hurry up and do whatever we hope to do. Any desired trips or events need to be put in the “now or never” file. At the same time, we are facing the reality that some things are starting to move from our lives. Will we ride bike again? If not, they need to find new homes. Same for much of our camping gear. I am sad about this. On the other hand, we are hale and hearty, with the now constant caveat, for our age. As my father said, we can still feed ourselves, and if  when we get to the point we can’t, someone will step u...

I am in a dither getting our house and yard in order before we go to Michigan and Ohio for a 10-day birding trip. The weather here is between spring and summer. The mid- day temperatures are getting to low-mid 90s with promises of  30% precipitation that doesn’t happen. Everything is dry and crispy. I’m running the front yard sprinklers everyday, using 2 programs on the timer so I can easily turn one off when the rains finally start. We are supposed to be on twice a week watering, however I have a few new plants who need help getting started, especially my fairy hibiscus (Hibiscus poeppigii) I planted under the oak and tiny gaillardias (Gaillardia grandiflora )  over in the bright sun. Were I to be home, I’d just throw a bucket of water on them each morning. We’ve started turning the AC during late afternoon and night. It’s still cool enough to open the house until about noon, but that’s about over. Until then, Gracie enjoys looking out the living room window, unfazed when th...