 |
| close-up of Magnolia next-door |
It's been an engrossing week here, but in the process I managed to collect snapshots, "blog fodder," as I like to call them. I'll begin with nature because when it involves flowers, the words flow out of my fingertips easily.
 |
| our neighbor's Magnolia tree |
The Magnolia's have read the memo, "It's time to bloom!" and they are, all over our community! From a distance the flowers look to me like popcorn on nearly every branch but up close, the milky blooms are large and graceful. They don't last long at all, but even as they are fading, the petals become a pleasing shade of goldy-brown.
 |
| Vanity plate at a car show |
Not to be outdone by the Magnolia trees, purple-pink field flowers grow wild alongside our North Central Florida highways. They make a carpet of deep blush that softens the reality of our increased traffic. It seems everybody wants to move to Florida! Or I should say, Floridahhh! (I have no picture of them from our moving vehicle.)
 |
| glass-topped table on our lanai overlooking the red Hibiscus bush |
We spend some time almost every day on the lanai with our books, puzzles, sometimes music, and just enjoying the peace of this retreat. As I type this afternoon, I am sitting at the table with a fan blowing toward me. We're at just about 90 degrees this afternoon.
 |
| car show in Dunnellon |
Both last Saturday and again today, we've gone to car shows. These have been our first since trading in the 2002 Ford Thunderbird for a small pick-up truck (2023 Ford Maverick).
 |
| 2002 Ford Thunderbird with only 16,000 miles photo by Terri D of Your Friend From Florida |
The truck has been more practical for our needs, but the T-Bird was like a special jewel in our garage. Those who know our story will remember that Gary acquired the car and me the same week, so wonderful memories are wrapped up with that. He likes to say, "I had to get the car to get the girl," which is absolutely not true, but the car did add some fun magic!
 |
| brand new Ford Maverick 2023 |
Yes, we've seen the news story on TV that our truck has yet another recall by Ford. It's the 3rd one since we bought it last fall, so we're not happy about that.
Gary bought this shirt for me as an early Mother's Day gift. We spent several hours at the Ford dealership getting a recall matter fixed, along with a routine tire rotation and an oil change.
As they say, "I digress." Getting back to the car shows, there's a lot of crazy stuff at these events. But admission is usually free and on a pleasant day, it's good entertainment with plenty of sunshine and free Vitamin D on the skin. Here are some of the wild things we saw today:
Gary knows the makes and years of the majority of what we see, being quite the car buff himself. Me, I just like to tag along and enjoy the time with my fella!
This last vehicle is an Econoline truck similar to what Gary drove in his USAF Air Police days. The ones he drove were dark blue with a red light on top that the fellas dubbed "the bubble gum machine."
By the way, once a security cop, always a security cop. This man knows the rules and he follows them!
 |
| sign is a recent purchase from Hobby Lobby with a birthday gift card 😊 Moving to other events of this past week, our kitchen has demanded unplanned attention with a water puddle on the tile floor. To condense the story, the water line to the refrigerator was fine, but something deep inside the inner workings of the 17-year old unit was awry. |
 |
| out with the old (a Kenmore Elite) |
We agreed it was time to shop for a new one. As my late husband liked to say, "Money -- there's more where that went!"
 |
| new refrigerator just unpacked from the truck |
Gary, who is excellent at product research (he takes a lot of clues from Consumer Reports magazine), narrowed the choices down and we made our final decision with a purchase at Lowe's.
 |
| in with the new! (Whirlpool) |
Features I love about this new appliance:
-- the easy-clean stainless steel that accepts refrigerator magnets
-- ice bucket inside the freezer drawer
-- water dispenser inside the refrigerator
-- deep door pockets
-- freezer drawer below refrigerator
Since it's been my lot in life to move many times, I have definite opinions on refrigerators. When I began cooking in Gary's kitchen I recognized that the refrigerator was not what I would have chosen, but it came with the house when he bought it and at the time it was operating well. Now we have a model we both like and I've added just a few magnets to the door:
Colorado Columbines
skyline of Boise, Idaho
Denver's skyline
Old Faithful
reminder magnet
We don't use ice much, so the ice bucket inside the freezer instead of outside on the door is my preference. I bought a scoop at Walmart and keep it in the bucket. I've done it this way before in a previous house and liked it just fine. There is also an easy-access inside water dispenser.
Gary's decorating style is less "busy" than mine, and that's okay. I've got a box of many more magnets, but these 5 will suffice, representing history from each of us.
 |
| my homemade cookbook binder sits on the counter full-time |
Before we leave the subject of the kitchen, we ended up making one more purchase this week -- another refrigerator! Gary's habit is to keep batteries in the fridge so they last longer. Also, when we combined our households, we both had a lot of ice bags of useful sizes that we wanted to keep. Of course all these non-food items take up valuable space!
 |
| retrieving refrigerator at Best Buy |
An "Insignia" brand, this little cutie fits perfectly at the end of the kitchen counter for easy access AND a little more counter surface when I need it.
Yes, we have two microwaves and they serve us well. 'Nuff said.
 |
| Pam and John Closed Doors Open Windows |
Our week also included some medical matters (all routine, all good), calls and an appointment regarding financial matters, walking in our neighborhood as time and weather allowed, and most fun of all, a drive one hour north of here to visit Pam and John.
Gary met these wonderful people about 18 months ago when their kids accepted into their consignment shop many of the knick-knacks and some furniture from when I was selling my house. Last week Gary told me he wanted us to go see them again, so the four of us met at a small country cafe for a wonderful lunch.
John and Gary have been employed by the government in law enforcement, so they have that in common. And of course, many of my readers know Pam and I met through our blogs in about 2017.
 |
| The Watchmaker's Daughter another recent purchase from Hobby Lobby with a birthday gift card 😊 |
As time allowed, I have been entranced with this book on the life of Corrie ten Boom. The movie of her story came out in the mid 1970's but I am only now reading the book. It is hard to put down and full of lessons on good character in the worst of times. I'm not done with it yet but I can sum it up this way:
ALL OF MY PROBLEMS ARE QUITE SMALL
 |
| Lawrence Jones, far left on Fox & Friends |
"You start getting tested... For me, the faith walk became real when life became real, and when you're alone and you don't have that support system being with you every single day.
Part of the Gospel itself is understanding that Christ paid it all because I'm imperfect. Anytime that we try to project ourselves as these perfect beings, I think we take His glory away, because .. if we have it all together, then He wouldn't need to pay it all on the cross for our sins." Faithwire.com
 |
| morning flowers on our golf course |
This past week has been full with mostly the requirements of keeping up with life. I thank the Lord for His provisions, protection, and personal relationship with His people. I hope you can say the same.
Until next time, grace and peace.
