Long live the Queen...

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee

June 2-5

best iced tea maker ever...

source

I have recently started to use these pitchers made by Takeya for making my iced tea.  Made from BPA-free material, the 66 ounce pitcher features an infuser which can hold tea bags or loose tea.  Just fill with boiled water and screw on the lid with attached infuser. Let steep. Remove the infuser and cool. Place in the frig for freshly brewed iced tea all daylong.

Blend No. 24

 Steven Smith Teamakers

 Adding a few bags to the iced tea pot these days.

repurposed wellies...

Originally, these were a pair of fire-engine red wellies.  Eventually wear and tear took over.  So, I chopped off the top of each and they are convenient gardening clogs now.  When dirty, I simply hose them out and dry them in the sunshine.

Welcome, Discovery!

 Last week, the Space Shuttle, Discovery arrived in the Washington, D.C. area.  Sadly, I missed the glorious fly-by salute that was made prior to landing as I was driving back from Florida.  Discovery replaces the Enterprise (which has been re-located to the Intrepid in NY) at the Udvar-Hazy Center which is a component of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.

Note the worn and heavily-utilized appearance of the exterior.  

One of my duties as a volunteer at the UHC, is to take out a model of the space suit (shown here) worn by astronauts from the Shuttle and ISS missions. Look closely, you can see my reflection in the solar shield!

spring at my house

The warmer temperatures and rainy conditions allowed much to survive the winter.

..and Masters week begins

A Land Remembered

I have just completed the reading of this pure and simple story of a family of pioneer settlers, the MacIveys, in Florida. Full of plenty of guts and gumption, the family sets out to the undomesticated land in Florida and meets up with countless obstacles along the way. Astonishing characters and subliminal undertones of fine values, A Land Remembered, is effortless to read and makes known the history of the settlement of Florida, post-Civil War.

While playing golf once at the Shingle Creek Golf Club in Orlando, I noted a restaurant there which was named for the book.

Worth a read, especially if one spends any time at all in the state of Florida.