I leave today for Paris and my friend Sharon will be taking over this blog while I'm gone. She's over on the east coast and has some wonderful photos of wildlife and you may get a special treat and meet her unique cat, Jasper. I'll be posting to my CollageMaven blog from Paris (hopefully, if the computer works)..
For now I leave you with a Kissimmee video showing my area and all there is to do here.

More photos from The Greenfield Gallery. These Assemblages are by Tom O'Hara and are just two of the hundreds of art pieces hanging on the walls. There is also amazing jewelry, paintings in all mediums, and sculpture. Downtown Kissimmee is really moving up-town.

The Greenfield Gallery had a Grand Opening celebration on Saturday night. I missed it but had stopped by a few days earlier to visit with Carl Sheerin, who is the Director and one of the featured artists. He works with gourds. Not the crafty gourds that become bird houses or feeders but very funky artsy characters. The first photo (in case you can't tell) is Carl and the second is one of his jazzy creations.
Greenfield Gallery is at 106 Broadway in downtown Kissimmee, next to Lanier's Antique Store.

I often drive by the field where these three horses live. It is a large field surrounded on two sides by a walled subdivision, by trees to the south and a four lane road to the west. I have been wanting to stop and take photos for quite awhile and finally did yesterday.

They came to see what I was doing and since I had nothing of interest for them they walked away. They seem to be healthy and well fed but it bothers me that they have absolutely no shelter of any kind. This is Florida and we don't just have afternoon showers, we have raging, booming thunder and lightening storms. One is moving through as I write this and it was large and severe. I worry about these animals out all day and night with no shade from the sun or shelter from the rain.

I spotted this old Maytag wringer washing machine in Lanier's, my favorite antique emporium. There 's always something new to see or should I say something old? I like this because we had one of these when I was very young and I remember standing on a stool and putting the clothes through the wringer and into the large sink to rinse and then back again.
I don't think ours was a Maytag or was accented with the lovely aqua color but if I had a place to put it I'd be tempted to buy it. My kitchen is white and aqua and has a 50's feel to it and were there space, this would fit right in. These antique stores stay in business because so many of us are buying back our childhoods.

It's pumpkin time of year again. I started this blog last November and some of my first posts were of Halloween displays. While browsing in the local antique emporium this past week I came upon this display of terry cloth and fiber pumpkins. Halloween is still a month away but the stores shelves are filled with bags of candy and Halloween decorations.

There are also aisles of Christmas items on display. Way back when we didn't put them out until after Thanksgiving. Now we just have to get it out there early. By the time the actual holiday arrives, we're sick of it and pack it all up the next day.

Feel free to post your opinions.

This old red metal chair was outside the antique store in downtown Kissimme. I remember having six or seven of them when I lived in the country. It was nice to sit on the porch and rock while reading a good book. You didn't want to sit in one if it had been out in the hot sun, especially if you were wearing shorts. Ouch.

I spotted this little anole sitting on the head of my bird bath statue. He stayed quite awhile so I could get a few photos. There are many of them this year and I've spotted a bunch of little babies around so it's been a good year for them. I love to watch them. They are so cute.

A friend called me last week to tell me about a French Bakery and Bistro she had found on the west side of town. Yesterday she and I and another friend went there for lunch. It is Jean Pierre's Signature French Bakery. They have the best baquettes this side of the Atlantic. All of the food and pastries are freshly made. Jean Pierre had made cassolet for the special du jour and it was delicious. After lunch we shared a large napoleon and had very good coffee.

A taste of France close to home. Now I know where to go when I return and feel homesick for Paris.

Above photo is the entrance and my friends, Cathy and Diane. Below is Jean Pierre at the bar of the Bistro. It is located in the Water Tower Plaza on Hwy 192 near the entrance to Celebration.

ps... it's me. Sharon will take over when I leave.

Since I am going to be Karen's guest photographer while she's in Paris, I am doing a trial run while she's still in town. Living on the Space Coast I have seen many shuttle launches but never got to see a Saturn V launch and from what I have heard, it was spectacular. The rocket is so big that it can only be safely displayed horizontally in the Rocket Garden at the Kennedy Space Center.

This is one section of Lanier's Antique store. They seem to have accumulated a collection of taxidermied animals and animal heads. This is a steer. How yucky!

I like interesting or beautiful light fixtures. This is another one I found at the Grand Floridian. My guest blogger will be here today for a quick training session. She lives on the East Coast so will have a different photographic slant on central Florida.
Only 12 more days until Paris..

The Park Fare restaurant in the Grand Floridian is where we had breakfast last week and it was Vanessa's birthday. This is a Character breakfast and I think we took a photo of her with each one. Here she is with my favorite, Tigger. A fun time was had by all.

How it's done. They start with a detailed outline/drawing which is taped to a column. The pieces are precut and numbered and the tile setters work it like a jigsaw puzzle. Very interesting to watch. This is in the main lobby as you walk in so it features the most important characters. We spotted Mickey, Donald and Pluto but I'm sure there are more of them to discover.

Fancy inlaid marble floor featuring Peter Pan, Wendy, and the boys. This is on the second floor in front of the elevators at the Grand Floridian Resort. The tile craftsmen are working on the floor in front of the entrance and we enjoyed watching them do their magic. I will post some photos of them in a day or two.

Two weeks from today, I leave for Paris!!!

The star of the show! Here's Mickey!
Pressed for time so keeping this one short and sweet.

The elevators at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort. This is one of the loveliest hotels. Beautifully decorated and some of the best restaurants on Disney property. These elevators are glass on the opposite side so you can see the lobby as you ride up or down in them.

An ant's view of one of the huge chandeliers in the Grand Floridian lobby with glipses of the other two domes. There are three with the center one being the largest.
This photo could use some cropping but only my second day at this new computer and I haven't loaded my photo editing program yet. What a lot of work these beasties are.

This is one view of the beautiful lobby at Disney's Grand Floridian Hotel. It was my inherited daughter's birthday and I joined her and her husband for a fun character breakfast there. They were replacing old carpet in the entrance with wonderful tile work. I'll show that in another post.

I'm breaking in a new computer and don't have all my photos uploaded so using what was in the camera.

Okay, back to the wildlife. Cormorant was just sitting and let us get close enough to capture him with our cameras. The signs in the nature preserve say that the animals are used to the vehicles but can be wary of people. The ones we found didn't seem to pay us much attention at all.

I wandered into our local mall recently to find someone to do some alterations. This mall has been here for about twenty years but has never been successful. Stores open and close.. In the beginning there were a few big anchor stores but except for a nice department store at the far end, most of them have changed over the years. At the other end as I was leaving, I spotted this store which sold lingerie and other frilly items. This was the back view of the window display. It made me giggle.

A pair of Sandhill cranes visit my yard most days. This is the male and he was drinking from the birdbath when I grabbed my camera and captured him looking at the statue. They are not afraid of people and so the city has banned us from feeding them. I used to buy bags of corn for them but now and then I just give them some stale bread. They seem to do well with bugs and seeds they forage for themselves. I've even seen them capture a small mole. Beautiful creatures. I enjoy their visits.

This Wasp spider was busy weaving his web and working on the zig zag pattern that these Orb weavers put into the center of their webs. Click To learn more about the Family Araneidae and click on the photo to enlarge it.
I just took my own suggestion and clicked on it. The spider isn't working on it's web, it's processing a victim. Appears to be a dragonfly. And I've lost a follower.. Hope it isn't because of the spider. He's not poisonous.

Egret in the wetlands. A lovely clear day to reflect the bird image in the water.

This little guy was just minding his own business when a friend spotted a movement in the water. We both jumped out of the car with our cameras to capture him. His image, that is. He didn't seem to mind and I did use my zoom for the photos. I know not to mess with alligators.
I drove over to the east coast on Friday to meet my friend and we drove up to a nature preserve in Titusville. There is usually a great variety of birds to see but since it's still very hot and it was near midday there were only some egrets and a comorant. We did spot a fancy spider and this little guy so we plan to go back when the weather cools and try to get there earlier. I'll post the birds and the spider in the next few days.

There's a new Coffee Cafe in Kissimme. This is Craig and Christine behind the counter. The coffee selection is great and so is the selection of cakes and pastries but the best thing about Sonoma Coffee Cafe is the gelato.. It is so good and a nice selection of flavors. I'm afraid this will be my new hangout.
They also have some big comfortable chairs, free Wi-Fi and if you leave your laptop at home you can use their computer. They keep one out for customers to use. Nice.

I think this qualifies for SkyWatch Friday. It is just past dusk and there are storms to the East. The orange glow is the streetlight. The rains came a little while later.

To see more SkyWatch Friday posts, Click Here.

I think John will count as one of my Stranger photos but I haven't been counting. I'll need to go back and do that when I find time. A friend and I were having lunch at The Other Place cafe in our neighboring St. Cloud and John was behind the counter. He didn't mind striking a pose for my camera so I could share him with you.

Yesterday's theme of Big would describe today's photo, too. When I moved to Kissimmee over twenty years ago, I don't think there was a building over three stories high. A few years ago the new court house became the tallest building and last year the condos downtown went up and I think they are eight stories high.
Driving up to our new four lane road I spotted this construction site and stopped to take a photo. Most of our buildings here are built on site with cement blocks but this new Toho Water Authority building seems to be built from prefabricated slabs of concrete. I don't know how high it will go but will check back and give progress reports.

It's the first of the month and it's Theme Day for City Daily Photo blogs. Yesterday's Big Top should have been my Theme post for today but too late. So here's a different view of the really big balloon at the other end of Downtown Disney West. It's a fun way to view the area and you go up 400 feet. I took this photo from the round basket that hangs beneath the balloon.

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