Saturday afternoon my neighbor came over and joined me at the back of the house in my computer room. We were talking when there was a loud "Boom Boom". We looked at each other and said "Shuttle!". We rushed to the living room to the television and watched the shuttle landing. It's always exciting to watch even if it's only on the tv. I live just an hour away and still haven't gone to the coast to watch it live. Something else I need to add to my Bucket List.

This Tiffany style lamp shade caught my eye. It is for sale in the local antique store but wouldn't fit either my budget or my decor but I like it very much.

Progress! The little post office downtown has moved from the back of the building to the front facing Broadway, our main street. While there yesterday, I took a photo of the road construction to show the progress they have made. This is the view from the opposite end of the street. The curbing is in and the ground has been leveled and compacted. Now for the hard part. Laying the bricks.
When it is is finished, I'll show it here.

Gatorland

This is the newly restored Gator head in front of the Gatorland attraction. Gatorland has been here since 1949 so it preceeded Disney World by many years. A few years ago there was a major fire that destroyed the shop and entrance and damaged the Gator head. It used to be at the entrance and you walked through it to enter the building. It has been restored and painted but now it's just to the right of the entrance.
The sign reads Orlando but it is just on Kissimmee's north border so we consider it Ours!

Here is a link to the GatorCam.

I have posted more photos from Paris on my Collage Maven blog.

It's beginning to look a bit like Paris. Well maybe not quite like Paris but there seems to be a trend in Downtown Kissimmmee to have cafe type tables and chairs outside. The new complex with condos, restaurants, cigar bars, bakeries, and a wine shop started the outside tables and they look great but now the trend is trickling down the street to the smaller, older country type restaurants.
These are in back of the pharmacy and it's recently re-opened cafe. They put tables in front, too, but since the restaurant is in back I don't think anyone will be eating there.
It's nice to see and seems timely with my trip to Paris.. Ha.. perhaps they've done it for moi.

This is a follow-up to my road construction post. This is one of the streets that has been completed. The streets are now paved with bricks and parking is separated by flowers & shrubs and the walkways are bricks laid in a different pattern. Very attractive. They are working on something in the middle of the main street this week but I don't know what it is. I'll be watching and if it's interesting, I'll post some photos.

I have posted more photos from Paris on my Collage Maven blog.

This is the new St. Cloud city hall. It spans what was a through street but now dead-ends here.


I just learned that the city was named after a Paris suburb and that there is a book available about St. Cloud, Florida.

This photo is of a mural on the side of one of the downtown buildings.

From the book review:"In the heart of Central Florida lies St. Cloud, an amiable city with a bright future and a colorful past. Located in Osceola County, only a short distance from the Sunshine State's most-visited tourist attractions, the city has benefited greatly from its unique locale. But long before the city attracted sightseers, it was a booming sugar exporter and a haven for retired Civil War veterans. The town, named for a Paris suburb, was incorporated in 1911 as a "soldier's colony" and was touted for its "health, climate, and productiveness of the soil." Today, St. Cloud celebrates its diverse population, ideal location, and agricultural history.

Original images, including scenes from the 1917 fire, underscored with informative text abound in Images of America: St. Cloud. Revealed inside is the impact that Hamilton Disston and the many army veterans who settled here had on the city's development. Highlighted in this delightful photo journal are communities such as Alligator Lake, Narcoossee, Runnymeade, and Ashton that are uniquely St. Cloud. Showcased are the diverse people, places, and events that make St. Cloud an enjoyable place to live and visit."

These are some of the fun soaps that were for sale at the local Flea & Farmer's market when I was there a week ago. She was also selling some nicely scented ones but these just tickled my funny bone.
I'm back from Atlantic City and spent most of the day recuperating. We had a great time but I didn't win any big jackpots and did leave some $$$ behind but enjoyed the boardwalk and beach and dinner with family.
I'll be out this week trying to get some more local photos and fill some requests and will get back to visiting my favorite blogs.

I had to detour to get to the downtown Post Office substation because they are making improvements to all of the small side streets off of Broadway, our main street. They are paving with bricks and putting in planters and recessed parking spaces. When finished the streets look very nice.
It's humorous in a way because way back when, the streets in this town were paved with the old red bricks and over the years have either been torn up or paved over. What do they say? Everything Old is New Again???

This is another photo from the vintage clothing store I posted yesterday. I'd love to say that this is a photo of my bedroom since I like the vintage, shabby chic look of it, but unfortunately it isn't. I do like it, though.

On our walk around downtown St. Cloud, we found this antique clothing store. It is next to and part of a larger antique store but his one was full of very old vintage clothing and hats. I liked this display and another one I'll post for tomorrow.
Today I am heading up to Atlantic City, New Jersey to stay at the Tropicana Casino and will be visitng family and walking on the boardwalk if it isn't too cold. There will most likely be some donations to the Slot Godess, also and I'm hoping she will reward me in return.
I may miss a day or two of blog posts but will work extra hard when I return.

The Wearing of the Green

I'm a day late but that's not unusual for me. Yesterday was St. Patrick's day so a friend and I went to lunch and then headed to our neighbor city of St. Cloud for dessert at the Irish pub. I had creme brulee made with Bailey's Irish Cream and it was so good. All of the local restaurants were advertising Corned Beef and Cabbage specials and lots of good Irish music and dancing in the evening hours. We decided to skip the entertainment and walk through downtown to work off dessert. I'll be posting more pictures of our adventures in the next few days.

Eye Candy

I couldn't resist taking a photo of this whimsical giraffe. It was in the Pop Gallery, an offshoot store of the fun Hoypoloi that's been at Downtown Disney for many years. It has unusual and one-of-a-kind art that is such fun to look at but only affordable by a few. For me it's eye candy.
The Giraffe artist is Todd Warner. Click on the links to enjoy more art and whimsey.

This is the huge AMC movie theatre at Downtown Disney. I love the architecture of the building and I've gone to see some movies there. It has 24 theatres but I don't think they've ever shown 24 movies at one time. They show the same one in 2 or more theatres but run them at different times.
My only fault with these huge mega theatres is that they have put almost all of the smaller local ones out of business.

This is the rotating green Monster at Planet Hollywood. Downtown Disney. Fun to look at and the inside is packed with memorabilia but I don't eat there. Tried it a few times some years ago and it was awful.

Tell me it isn't so!

I've been told and then read that by June all of the Virgin Megastores in the USA will be gone. It seems the Real Estate Group that owns/manages them has decided that they can get higher rents from other businesses. How stupid.

This is my favorite store. It is at Downtown Disney and is always busy and has a selection of CDs and DVDs that can't be found anywhere else except perhaps online. It is such fun to ride the escalator to the 2nd floor, to watch the movies on their huge screens with grand sound effects, to have coffee and sit out on the cantilevered balcony and watch the crowds go by. I usually head to the foreign films section up stairs to check to see what French movies are on sale and then down to the CDs.. This trip I found a 3 cd Edith Piaf for just $10.
Then I check all of the sale bins to see what other bargains I can find.

I really love this place and it's right accross from my favorite restaurant at Downtown Disney: Wolfgang Puck's. I stopped and had the Chef's Special Sushi roll when I was there and it was so good. If anyone if friends with Sir Richard Branson, can you ask him to step in and keep this one open for me.. :=]

Herbs

This is what I bought at the market today. I found a recipe on this blog for slow roasted plum tomatoes that called for fresh rosmary so I went to the plant seller and they had such a great variety of herbs that I'm tempted to get back to tending a small herb garden. I bought some Rosemary, Lemon Balm, and a nice Catnip plant for Les Chats. I also bought a large box of plum tomatoes to roast, two nice avacados, and some fresh garlic.

The last of the Oranges

Most of our Florida citrus has been picked and the trees have started putting out blossoms for next seasons fruit. A friend and I went to another friend's home to fill some bags with grapefruit and oranges from her lovely row of trees last week. Orange juice and grapefruit for breakfast ever since.
I have a sweet red naval orange and a lime tree that have a few left that need to be picked. It is so nice to just walk into my yard or a neighbors and fill a bag with orangesand carry them home to be washed and juiced. Besides tasting so good the smell is a delight. I will miss them.
Today I saw some California oranges in the stores so they will most likely appear at the Farmer's market in a few weeks. They look as good as ours but the taste just isn't the same.
Note my singer/musician from an earlier post in the background.

The 50's

My friend, Jeremy, at Lanier's Antiques has been busy rearranging the store. He's setting up areas by theme. This shot is of his area of 1950's kitsch. My favorite era. Some of the items are new and a few are reproductions but what fun it would be to have a whole house done this way.

The Music Man

Another new addition to our Thursday Kissimmee Farmer's Market was this man. He sang and played guitar and was very good. I didn't get his name but will if I can go this week. I'm driving a friend to tha airport on Thursday morning so hope I remember to stop on my way home. If it's late enough, I may even try one of those hotdogs.

Honey

Another one of our recent vendors. This is the Winter Park Honey
stand and the honey is handmade and very good. Also very good for you. Local honey is great to fight off allergies. Two teaspoons a day of local wildflower honey is best. I especially like the Orange Blossom honey which the bees should be out harvesting about now.

Our Downtown Kissimmee Farmer's Market seems to be growing.. Each week we have a new vendor or two. This week we had this hot dog stand and they seemed to be doing a booming business. It was too early in the morning for me to have one so I went to one of the local cafes for breakfast.

Yesterday I picked up my car and it looks as good as new. They did a wonderful job restoring it. I think it may be a new bumper but not sure. I paid a little extra to have it washed and detailed and it's so nice and clean both inside and out. I think a photo of the front might just show it smiling. Now to carefully watch to make sure no one hits me again.

It's Strawberry Season!

The luscious rich red strawberries are everywhere right now. It's Strawberry Season and a few miles away in Plant City, Florida they are having the annual Strawberry Festival. I haven't gone for a few years but always enjoyed it, especially for the Strawberry Shortcake. I have friends who go for the music and families go for the rides and the food.
But it's not necessary to attend the festival, just go to the local markets and the strawberries are ripe, plentiful, and cheap.

My 100th Post!

This is one of the large light fixtures at Spoodles.. a restaurant at Disney's Boardwalk.. Had dinner there a few weeks ago with my inherited daughter and her husband. It's a noisy fun place and the food is pretty good.
And this is my 100th post on this blog. It's been fun,too. I'll try for at least another hundred and thanks to all who post comments. I enjoy reading them even if I don't always get a chance to respond.

This was inside guarding the door at the huge antique store that had the lion outside. .. there was another one on the other side. It was about 8 foot tall and very impressive.

Spotted this almost life-sized lion outside an antique store last week. It's not in Kissimmee but just on the north side of Downtown Orlando. Store was amazing. It looked like a group of small shops but when you went wandering around it was just room after room and finally ending in a huge barnlike structure that was just full of the most amazing old "stuff"... Almost made me sorry that I'm at the downsizing stage and no longer aquiring "stuff".

Last Tuesday evening I was stopped at a traffic light and the car behind me didn't stop. Bam! What a loud noise. Luckily I had noticed her driving behind me in a rather erratic way and then saw that she wasn't going to stop. I pressed hard on my brake so I didn't hit the car in front of me. My car has damage to the rear bumpers and a gash in the trunk but nothing major so far.

Tomorrow it goes into the shop for repairs and they will check to make sure there isn't any hidden damage. I'm fine.. a bit achey but one accupuncture treatment and a lovely massage has me feeling much better.

The other driver's car was a cute PT Cruiser and the whole front end just crumbled. It amazed me that the other driver wasn't injured but I'm told that the front ends of cars today are made to collapse and absorb the impact. Still it is a bit frightening to see steam coming out of the front end and the grill all smashed.

Theme Day: Glass

Today is the first of March and is Theme Day for the City Daily Photo Blogs. This month the theme is Glass and my photo is of part of a mosaic I did around an opening in my kichen. Most of it is composed of stained and art glass with some ceramic pieces and plastic lettering. It always makes me smile when I take the time to look at it.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants