Quiet Summer in Florida

Outdoor sketching in the summer here in Florida is touch and go.  Many days in late June the predicted high is close to 100 degrees and that's the real temp.  The humidity is stunning!  

So I head out by 8:30 if possible and close up by 11.  
This week we had 5 of us out sketching around Pete's yard (which is next door to my house!  (How convenient is that!).  

Just barely behind Pete's striped awning you can see a tall strange plant (called an Agave) that is in my yard and is now about 15' tall.  Much taller than the house now and it's blooming (even as I speak) odd yellow spiked flowerets are popping out up there.  Two days ago there was no color.  What an amazing Dr Seuss plant!  

The stalk looked like an asparagus on steroids for awhile..growing 6" a day for two weeks until it sprouted out what look like a hat tree at the top.  Then the pods and now the flowers.  

So on Tuesday morning the group scattered around about Pete and Katie's lovely yard sketching.  Keeping our social distance but chatting now and then.  Listening to the splashing fountains and sipping iced drinks.  

This being our first summer here (even though we've lived here for 13 years!) we find the flowers that have bloomed all through the park to be fascinating and new...things we've never seen before. 

The languid way that life evolves in the heat..is new...even if it were not a pandemic...things start moving so slowly.  Like moving through a thick liquid.   The clubs and and activities are always really limited in summer.  But they used to have shuffleboard and bingo and the art room would be open and exercise groups and day trips planned for lunches out.  You know.

This year there is nothing that involves a group except the pool.  Statistics show the virus on the uptake again in FL and no one wants to take a chance.  People get together on screen porches 6' apart to have cool drinks in the evening and chat.

 I love curling up in the late afternoon to read and keep tabs on the beautiful clouds that move in and often bring brief and hard rain.

Yesterday a small (4') alligator climbed out of our pond in our yard to have a bit of sun.  YIKES.  

The last prompt

The last prompt: let your pencil randomly hit a letter and then think of something that starts with that letter.  T= Toast.  Perfect.

Four small sketches

This little sketch in my Stillman & Birns notebook is from a visit to friends Bill and Theresa.  They are HUGE bird lovers and I sketched these on their front porch before we went inside and saw their videos of humming birds from Arizona.  Fantastic!

One of many restaurant sketches. This was done at the Breakfast Station restaurant on the way up to the Villages for Greg's Essential Tremor Support Group meeting.  Great minestrone soup!  

A double page...two tiny sketches.  One from friend Autumn's wonderful porch overlooking the Palatlakaha River!  Lots of good conversation and sharing! Her flowers on the porch steps were gorgeous.  And then below another restaurant sketch from lunch at Bob Evans in Eustis during the Off The Beaten Path Art Tour on Saturday after the Rummage Sale at Hawthorne Park.  

A Walk With Friends and Family

6 x 9 sketch in ink and wc

Sometimes you walk in a valley for awhile.  All seems pretty darn dark and scary. But friends, loved ones, family all find you there and take your hand and your heart and help to turn things around.

Some friends (like Autumn above) remind you of cheer and sunshine and light with some flowers.  Her lovely yellow and red tulips are lighting up my home this week.  Others, like my daughters, call me (Face Time) with loving faces.  Or hop on a plane and leave home to be with us for a few days.

Friends come to visit, email and text, call, come to pray, come to laugh, and come to share.  Thanks everyone.