June Musings

It really hasn’t been that interesting of a month.

Lots of little everyday, normal things that make me happy, that make me sad, that drag me on through the day. 

Got the new Dean Koontz "Odd Thomas" book from the library. Just finished it today, and it was thoroughly enjoyable. Kinda depressed that I'm done with it, though. 

Had to bake a casserole last Saturday for the Father’s Day breakfast at church.

It was pretty good, although the recipe said to let it soak overnight, which I didn’t do. Didn’t have time. Oh well.

It’s been raining here every afternoon it seems. Makes me feel a little bad for the orb spiders who spend so much effort on their webs, just to have them knocked down everyday.

Well, not that bad. I keep having to remind myself to walk around this one on the sidewalk up to my neighbor’s house.

Speaking of the neighbors, I’m house/dog/cat sitting again. Different neighbor, though. This one has two dogs and three cats. It used to be A LOT more. I mean A LOT! She had six dogs and seven cats at one point in time. I mourn the loss of those animals, but I do not miss having to clean up all those litter boxes or feed all those dogs.

These pics are of my favorites in the fur pool. I love all of them, but these two stand out in particular.

 

Copper is a cocker spaniel that Carol rescued after finding him on the side of the road with a displaced hip joint. He’s full of it, doesn’t like to eat his food (unless I stay standing right over him) and howls like a hound dog.

Dharma is a tabby cat that Carol rescued after she’d been hit by a car. Unfortunately at the time they had to remove her front left leg. She gets around fine just the same, and has never lost her kitten attitude! She waits for me every morning to come in and give her scratches on her chin and cheek.

Aunt Joyce and Bumpa came over on Wednesday to pick up some fertilizer from my dad. They stayed and ate lunch with us (provided by Maryland Fried Chicken!)

It was nice to get the chance to visit over fried chicken and sweet iced tea. Plus, their visit was impetus enough to hang our new Leya artwork in mom's room. Russ and Lana sent us both the canvas print of Leya and her first paintings a few weeks ago. A wonderful edition to the room, even if it does make us miss them even more!

Blueberry Gleaning

The Young Adult ministry at church was offered the opportunity last week to glean some blueberries from the Tom West Blueberry Fields in Ocoee. All the blueberries that we gleaned would go to the Christian Service Center, also in Ocoee, to be given away through their soup kitchen.

Never picked blueberries before. Wasn't really sure what to expect. Made sure I had sunscreen at least!

It was a lot of fun and we picked A TON of blueberries. Actually filled up our cooler and had some left over to take home. I gave my extras to Julie and Steve, and they're still eating on them!

Here's some pics.

Group pic before we commenced gleaning

Forgot a belt, had to improvise

Richard, gleaning MY blueberries!

Can you believe these were what were left!

Bagging the fruit. Yes those trays were all picked by us!

FULL COOLER!

Juicy juicy berries!

Group pic at the drying table.

Stormy clouds over my head

I'd painted this theme a few years ago, but never actually finished the piece.
Russ gave the canvas to a friend of his who loved it anyways.

So, I wanted to revisit the idea, and use it for a piece to hang over my bed.

Still don't like it, but I feel that it encompasses many different ideas in one stormscape.

See if you can pick out some of them.

Birthdays come and gone

Birthdays in the core Wiggins' family all occur in the month of May:17, 24, 30, 31.

So May often ends up feeling like the big celebration month. Mother's Day, birthdays, end of school, it all falls around the same time.

Mom and I decided that this year we'd take a short trip, just the two of us to some parks in Florida that we'd never been to.

We picked Kissimmee Prairie Preserve and Corkscrew.

Here's some pics.

 These were all taken at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve: Softshell turtle, Eastern Meadowlark, Yellow Crowned Night Heron, shot down the Prairie access road, Crested Cara Cara, Eastern Bobwhite Quail, Red-shouldered Hawk taking off, Black Swallowtail Butterfly on Thistle.

We stopped by a little park called Lake June in Winter Scrub State Park, because mom had been told it was a great place to hike the trails and eat a picnic lunch.

Let's just say that the description was not truthful. We had a GREAT time, but only because the both of us have a twisted sense of humor.  First of all to get to the park, you had to go on a winding road around the lake, turn off down a neighborhood street, and then what?. . . .call for directions. . .turn around, go down another road, end up at a dirt driveway, call again, turn around, take another dirt road across to the road you previously turned down, to the dirt road that you thought was a dead end. Take that dirt road down to the entrance of the park.

And then you enter Utopia. . .wait, not really. . .you enter a scrubby area, with a little picnic pavilion, an outhouse, and a rather obstructed view of the lake. Plus, all the trails were closed for maintenance.
However, the big blooming bay tree  made up for most of the hassle. . .and of course the laughter!

Corkscrew is a park sponsored by the Audubon society and is right outside of Naples, FL.
We went in the evening, so there weren't a lot of birds to be seen. Still, pretty neat park.
TONS of bromeliads. 

Little Black Racer, checking me out

Mom beneath the bald cypress on the boardwalk

We had a good time. Trip was WAAAAYY too short, but that was ok. We took the time to do nothing, hanging out at the hotel, sleeping in, going to the beach (very briefly) and going to see Iron Man 3.

Great trip. . .and then I threw my back out.